Chapter 23

  On Monday, He Qizhen failed to fulfill the gambling agreement, so when he saw Yu Cai, he hid. The relationship between the two took a 180-degree turn, which made Yu Cai extremely satisfied.

  The mid-term exam results are out, Yucai's scores are stable, bilingual geography still has high scores, physics and chemistry are still dragging down, the total score is ranked in the bottom ten or so in the class, Old Mei was very helpless about this, called Yucai out for a scolding, but just listened to it perfunctorily.

  On Thursday evening, Yucai's aunt was worried that Yucai's dormitory did not have a phone and it would be difficult to find someone over the weekend, so she skipped class the next day and came to XX High School to see Yucai.

  According to Yu's mother, Yu's aunt found Class 5 of the first year of high school, but after looking for half a day, she didn't see Yu's figure, so she had to ask the teacher on duty if Yu usually doesn't come to school for evening self-study.

  It just so happened that the teacher on duty that night was Lao Mei. Lao Mei briefly explained the situation, and although Xiaoyi was suspicious of Yucai, this suddenly appearing nephew, she remained silent and asked about Yucai's behavior in school instead.

  Yu Cai, although she was dragging her feet in physics and chemistry, always came first in English, so Old Mei was still very satisfied with her. Therefore, she gave Yu Cai a lot of face by praising her for a while, of course not forgetting to mention that it would be even better if Yu Cai wasn't so one-sided.

  Xiao Yi got a relatively satisfactory reply, her mood slightly improved, and she went to Class 12 again. At a glance, she saw Yu Cai, and of course, she also saw Qi Shi, who was sitting next to Yu Cai. Xiao Yi immediately recognized that this young man was the boy from that day, and her face suddenly darkened again.

  Yu Cai was concentrating on tackling the difficult math problem when she suddenly felt someone tugging at her sleeve. She looked up in the direction of her classmate's pointing finger and immediately saw her own aunt and future uncle.

  Yu Cai immediately stood up and walked out of the classroom. Her aunt asked with a serious face, "Didn't you say you had nothing to do with that boy? Why were you sitting together during evening study?"

  Yu Cai awkwardly smiled, "Little auntie, it's really not what you think. It's inconvenient to talk here, I'll go get my backpack, let's go out first."

  Xiao Yi nodded, Yu Cai entered the classroom and greeted Qi Shi Zhi, who also recognized Yu Cai's aunt. She packed her things to leave with Yu Cai, but Yu Cai hastily stopped her, not wanting Qi Shi Zhi to ignore her. However, Qi Shi Zhi didn't care about Yu Cai at all, packed up her belongings and left the classroom first.

  With a heavy heart and feeling half-dead, I had no choice but to follow him out.

  Xiao Yi saw Qi Shi's expression and it became even worse, but Xiao Shu seemed to be very interested in Qi Shi, staring at him with a thoughtful gaze.

  A few people quietly left the teaching building, Yu Cai suggested finding a cake shop to sit down and talk, Xiao Yi immediately said, "Ah Cai, who did you learn this from? Your mother doesn't earn money easily, let you waste like this!"

  Yu Cai had always liked and respected this clever, hardworking and simple aunt. Hearing this, she could only smile apologetically at Zhai Xi and sit down on a stone table and chair in the schoolyard.

  The little uncle saw the heavy atmosphere and smiled, "A Cai, who is this classmate?"

  Yu Cai nodded, "This is a release, this year is also high one".

  "A Zhai, I don't recall you having a cousin like him."

  Yu Cai simply recounted the situation and said that in order to prevent others from gossiping, they had no choice but to pretend to be siblings.

  Auntie disagreed, "The three years of high school are the most important, your family doesn't need the little money you earn, don't waste your studies".

  Yu Cai hurriedly guaranteed, "It won't, when I tutored Qi Shi, I also learned a lot of things myself, and every day I only supplemented for one hour, not delaying my studies at all. My grades have always been very stable, don't believe me? Go ask our class teacher."

  This little aunt has already asked, and naturally doesn't need to confirm again, "You are now in the stage of having a vague crush on the opposite sex, too much contact will..."

  Yu Cai was taken aback, but if it were just her, it wouldn't be a problem. However, with Qi Xie still by her side, she hastily interrupted him, "Don't worry about this, I was introduced by our class teacher, and Qi Xie's father has also met me before. Since they trust us, they must have their reasons. Little aunt, you don't believe me, but do you not believe them either?"

  Auntie thought for a moment and indeed made sense, slightly easing her expression, "You guys also need to be careful..."

  Yu Cai felt even more embarrassed, "How can this topic never end? She pointed to her own face, 'Little Auntie, you're too confident in me, aren't you?'"

  Young aunt was dissatisfied, "How come, only inner temperament and moral integrity can be considered true beauty, how long can those external ones last!"

  "Right," said her uncle, "just like your aunt, beauty comes from within!"

  The little aunt awkwardly poked her elbow at Little Aunt's husband, and he exaggeratedly let out a loud "ouch", the atmosphere became more harmonious.

  My aunt and uncle were normal school classmates, after which my aunt was sent to university and then went on to get a master's degree and Ph.D., while my uncle graduated and became a teacher at an elementary school in the county. When they announced their relationship, my aunt was still in graduate school, so of course our family didn't agree with it. After many twists and turns, they finally got together, but at that time they were probably still in a secret relationship.

  Yu Cai immediately turned the tables, "Right, Little Auntie, does your family know this Mr. Right?"

  Auntie's face was indeed shrouded in a layer of gloom, "Wait for a while".

  "Alas, I'm still in a period where I don't see the light."

  Yu Cai patted his shoulder, "Don't worry, think about the Long March of 25,000 miles, wasn't it tiring? Think about the revolutionary veterans who fought in the war, bring out the spirit of those revolutionary veterans and you'll see the light someday!"

  The little aunt and uncle both burst out laughing, and the group chatted for a while. The uncle left his phone number, telling Yucai to contact him if anything came up, before taking his leave.

  Yu Cai sent the two out of the school gate, and then followed Qi Shi towards the teaching building, thinking that her uncle had mysteriously pulled her before leaving, "Ah Cai, this young man looks good, and he's handsome too. You should make a move quickly, don't let others get ahead of you!" Yu Cai couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  Qī shì zhe niǔ guò tóu kàn tā, "xiào shén me?"

  Translation:

  Ji Shi turned his head to look at her, "What are you smiling about?"

  Yu Cai pouted, "I was thinking, what I said a few days ago has been proven true today. I'm indeed being suspected of having designs on you, this beautiful young man!"

  Ji Shi's words were somewhat unnatural, and Yu Cai burst out laughing. "You adults like to make a big deal out of nothing! We're only fifteen, our teeth aren't even fully grown yet, what's the point of thinking so much!"

  Although there was no expression on his face, a hint of smile appeared in his eyes. Ah, he's only 15 after all!

  "By the way, do you want to go back to the classroom and read some more?"

  Shaking head in prayer

  "I don't want to go either, so are you going home now?"

  "Waiting for him to hit the ball."

  Yu Cai glanced at her watch, "There's still half an hour before self-study is over, do you want me to go call him for you?"

  Qī shì zhī diǎn tóu dā yìng, yù cǎi jiāng zì jǐ shǒu shàng de shū bāo dì gěi tā, xiǎo pǎo zhe jìn le jiào xué lóu, tōu tōu ràng chuān biān de tóng xué jiào hé qí chū lái.

  He Qi listened and immediately packed up his things and left the classroom. The three of them walked towards the playground together. Yu Cai didn't want to go back to the dormitory, nor did he want Qizhi and the others to know that he would take a half-hour walk every night. So he climbed onto the horizontal bar near the basketball court and swung his legs while watching them play ball.

  Before long, perhaps fearing she would be bored, He Qi called out, "Come down, we'll teach you how to play."

  "Never mind, you guys go ahead and fight, just pretend I'm not here."

  He Qi hugged the ball and ran over, "You're so bored standing alone, come here".

  Yu Cai had no choice but to jump down. "Let's make one thing clear, I don't want to fight for the ball like you guys do. I'm most afraid of competing with others."

  He Qi nodded, "You learn to shoot first, watch closely, like me, use your wrist," He Qi jumped lightly, the basketball drew a elegant arc into the hoop.

  When necessary, Yu Cai was not stingy with his praise, especially for his students. Hei Qi, although not his student, was a friend of the students, so Yu Cai spoke very sincerely, "Absolutely right!"

  "That's for sure!" He Qizhen said with a smile, handing the ball to Yu Cai, "Come on, try it out, first make a standing shot, stand at this point".

  Yu Cai had learned basketball, in her first semester of physical education in college was Tai Chi, the second semester was basketball, and she ended up making up for it, of course with a very low score, which made her miss out on a first-class scholarship. In the third semester, she vowed to get back up from where she fell, and chose basketball again, only to fall again. In the fourth semester, her temper flared up, and she chose basketball once more, finally achieving success through hard work, as she had indeed put in effort, often going to practice after self-study, her fixed-point shooting reached its peak, basically making nine out of ten shots, although she had to stand a bit closer, the three-step shooting motion also met standards, even though the physical education teacher evaluated that her movements were too stiff and lacked beauty.

  Yu Cai stood on the free throw line, and while He Qi wasn't paying attention, she quietly took a step forward, just like that time in the final exam when she got 80 points in gym class. Then, with a forceful wrist motion, the ball hit the backboard once before going into the hoop.

  He casually thought she was a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse and said indifferently, "Not bad, come again."

  Yu Jie received the ball and threw it out again, this time still smashing the backboard into the frame.

  He was somewhat surprised and picked up the ball again, handing it to her. Yu Cai still threw one in after another, sometimes empty, sometimes hitting the bar.

  He had finally reached his fifth, and He Qi couldn't help but ask, "Have you practiced before?"

  Yu nodded, "But I can only fix a point, if the location moves a bit, I won't be able to get in".

  "So you can always make it in every time?"

  "Uh, it's almost okay, but if there are too many, I won't be able to take it. At most ten, and I'll lose my energy, can't get in anymore."

  He stared at her in silence, "A Shi, I found your cousin is simply a freak!"

  "Hmm, is this strange?" She was also forced out by exams, okay?!

  "Shall I teach you how to play ball?"

  Yu Cai immediately shook her head, "I won't compete with others for the ball, you guys play, I'll just watch."

  "It's really fun, don't you want to try?"

  Yucai's head shook even faster.

  "Alright, we three take turns throwing, no rushing, and the person on the side is in charge of picking up the ball."

  Yu Cai nodded, and the three of them started playing, still quite in sync. One person would throw, while the other two stood on either side waiting to pick up the ball. Of course, He Qi Zhi was showing off his skills, effortlessly dunking with various poses. Yu Cai, on the other hand, stiffly held onto the ball and walked to a specific spot before shooting.

  Yu Zai played for less than half an hour and was exhausted to the point of being half dead, refusing to play anymore. He retreated to the side to watch them fight, only to be ridiculed by He Qi once again.

  After the two boys had their fun, it was already half past ten. Before leaving, He Qi asked Yu Cai what she would play, and Yu Cai replied that she only knew a little badminton, with super rotten skills. He Qi teased her again, and Yu Cai could only pretend not to hear.