Chapter Eleven

  The mid-term exam is approaching, and the English of Ji Shi has already made up for the content of the second year of junior high school. Yu Cai's geography can basically be used freely, and mathematics should also barely reach a medium level. The key is physics and chemistry.

  At that time, when others were buried in their studies, Uchihama Reto was possessed and entangled all day with whether to take the exam or not, whether to escape the whole body or just escape physics and chemistry.

  When the mid-term exam finally arrived, Yucai's thoughts of being a good girl for many years took over, and she went to the examination room with a solemn face.

  After the mid-term exam is over, it's the first parent-teacher conference in high school. Old Mei instructed that we must notify them, and if they can't come, parents should call to ask for leave themselves.

  Yu Cai was again torn between telling her parents the truth and asking someone to pretend to be her father to call in sick. Although she had done well on the exam, especially in geography, where she was only two points away from a perfect score, her physics and chemistry scores were dragging her down, putting her near the bottom of her class. And her father was always concerned about saving face...

  With the deadline approaching, Yu Cai called her mother with a mindset of no return. Her mother didn't react much and just said that as long as Yu Cai had thought it through, it was fine. Overjoyed, Yu Cai immediately asked her mother to call Lao Mei to excuse herself from attending the parents' meeting.

  Yu's mother hesitated for a moment and said she wanted to discuss it with Yu's father, so Yu Zai had no choice but to hang up the phone, saying he would call again the next day.

  The next day when he called again, it was Yu's father who answered the phone. Yu's father first seriously criticized Yu Cai, saying that Old Mei had said that Yu Cai did poorly in physics and chemistry because she often lost focus during class and didn't review afterwards. He then took out Yu Cai's perfect middle school entrance exam scores in physics and chemistry as an example, explaining that she only did poorly because she disliked the subjects, not because she was truly incapable of learning them.

  Yu Cai could only nod and listen, Yu Fu scolded for a while, and finally remembered to ask his own daughter's opinion, asking if she really planned to choose liberal arts.

  Yu Cai knew that her father had always hoped she would study science, and at the time, choosing science was largely due to her father's influence. However, now Yu Cai wouldn't force herself just because of this, and she quickly made her attitude clear.

  Yu's father fell silent upon hearing this and then spoke again about the reasons for studying reason.

  Yu Cai's daughter listened intently, and after Yu's father finished a long speech, she took out her trump card. "Dad, you should have heard what our class teacher said, my English is very good, so I hope to study English in the future. You also know that English is very popular now, and I've heard that choosing liberal arts is better for learning English, many schools' foreign language departments don't even accept science students."

  "Is there such a thing?"

  Yu Cai hastily guaranteed, "Of course there is, if you don't believe me go check it out, or else call Old Mei to ask".

  Yu's father hesitated and reluctantly agreed to let Yu Cai pass, but insisted on going to the parent-teacher conference, saying he had already promised Old Mei.

  Yu Cai had no choice but to compromise.

  Yu Cai was still sleeping when her parents arrived at her and Ding Si's small house, accompanied by Ding Si's father.

  Yu's mother had originally planned to help Yu Cai with the laundry and tidy up, but found that Yu Cai and Ding Si's small house was spotless and all the dirty clothes were washed and hung outside. So she decided to go to the parent-teacher conference with Yu's father instead.

  Yu Cai suddenly regretted it and wished she hadn't spent so much time cleaning and washing clothes the night before.

  Yu Cai sent Yu Father and Yu Mother into the classroom, then found an empty classroom to read a book. At 11:30, she went to the square in front of the teaching building on time to pick them up.

  A large number of parents rushed out, and Yu Cai spent half a day's effort to reunite with Yu Father and Yu Mother.

  Yu's mother had a smile all over her face, but Yu's father's expression was somewhat strange. Yu Cai was a bit bewildered, but there were too many people and it wasn't convenient to talk, so he led them out of the school.

  As they walked to the school gate, the crowd gradually dispersed. Yu Cai spoke up, "Mom, let's go eat at a small restaurant outside."

  "I've brought some dishes, let's go to the cafeteria and get a few portions of rice, just add one more vegetable dish will be fine."

  Yu Cai knew that her parents were always frugal, so she took them back to the cafeteria, and on the way, they ran into He Qi again.

  Yu Cai hastily lowered her head in the hope that he hadn't seen her, but unexpectedly the guy waved from afar and said, "Yu Cai, are these your parents?"

  Yu Cai could only nod.

  "Uncle and Auntie, hello! I'm He Qi, Yu Cai's classmate."

  Yu's mother said with a smile, "Oh, it's you. Your parents are busy, so you came to the parent-teacher conference by yourself."

  Yu Cai felt a pang of regret, why didn't she think of such a wonderful idea herself.

  "He is an excellent student and should help Yucai more in the future!"

  "Uncle is too polite, Yu Cai's grades are very good, Teacher Mei often asks us to learn from her."

  Yu's father said with a mix of pride and humility, "She is just slightly better at English, but her other main subjects like math, science, and chemistry are far behind."

  "Yu Cai has the best English in our class, everyone says it's because her aunt is an English teacher, and she has a good family foundation!"

  Yu's mother laughed even more happily, "What does our countryside know? Just blindly teach them."

  "Auntie, you're just casually teaching and managed to produce the top English student in the whole year. If you were to teach seriously, wouldn't you be able to produce the top student in the entire country?!"

  You're full of complaints, fine. Little white face, maybe next time I should give you a new nickname - Flatterer.

  Yu's father was unhappy, "She is just slightly better at English, but her other subjects are very poor".

  He Qi immediately said, "Yu Caiyu's language is also very good, our teacher said that her composition has reached the level of publication."

  "Really?" Yu's father raised an eyebrow slightly.

  How keenly he observed people's words and expressions! "Uncle, could it be that you're a language teacher?"

  Yu's father nodded, and He Qi immediately began to flatter more loudly, "No wonder Yu Cai's composition is so well-written. Our teacher said that at her age, having such a writing style must have been taught well in the past, indeed..."

  Yu Cai saw that the three of them were getting more and more agitated, so she hastily interrupted, "Dad, Mom, it's late already, they still need to go home for dinner!"

  "Right, He Qi and classmates, let's just eat together casually?"

  Yu Cai saw Xiao Bai's face showing a tendency to respond, and hurriedly said in a neither-clear-nor-obscure tone, "He classmate, our whole family has finally gathered together, you wouldn't be thinking of being a human cannonball, would you?"

  Yu's mother immediately scolded with a smile, "How can you talk like that, girl? You don't even have half the manners of others!"

  He Qi saw Yu Cai's gloomy expression and politely declined Yu's parents' kind intentions.

  Until they finished dinner, Yu's father and mother kept talking about how smart and capable He Qi was and how polite he was. Yu felt extremely depressed and frustrated. Unexpectedly, after dinner, his father started talking about Qiao Jia again.

  Qiao Jia and she were both admitted from the same town, but Qiao Jia was from the urban area while she was from the countryside. They had similar scores and were the only two girls in the entire town to be admitted to XX High School, and they ended up in the same class. At this meeting, Yu's father happened to sit next to Qiao's father again, and Yu couldn't help but sigh, "What a fate!"

  Qiao Jiake's grades were not outstanding, but they were all good. Added together, he ranked in the top ten or so in a class of over eighty people. His father was very envious when speaking about it.

  Yu's mother saw Yu Cai's poor complexion and hastily intervened, "I heard that Qiao Jia's family bought a house in the county town. Her parents go out early and return late just to accompany her studying."

  Yu Cai nodded in confirmation, and Yu's mother sighed, saying that their family didn't have the financial ability, so Yu Cai had to suffer.

  Yu Cai doesn't care about this now, and I guess if Yu's parents really moved in, she would still feel unfree.

  Yu's father immediately retorted, "Those who study well are those who study well. Even if a family that doesn't study well moves to the edge of the sky, it won't work." Later facts proved Yu's father's strategic foresight at the time. Qiao Jia was already in her twenties when she took the college entrance exam and fell short by more than 20 points, and only got into a second-tier university after re-studying for a year.

  Because they were afraid it would be inconvenient to take a taxi later, Yu's father and mother ate dinner, strolled through the supermarket to help Yu buy some food, and then hurried away. Yu saw that there was still plenty of time and didn't feel like reading, so he followed his parents downstairs and watched their figures disappear from view at the fork in the road before slowly heading towards the internet cafe.

  Not long after the parent-teacher conference, Ding Si and Yu Cai began to have small frictions. This time, Ding Si's grades were not good, and all subjects were in the middle to lower level, unlike Yu Cai who had a halo of English excellence to cover up his shortcomings.

  Having not done well on the exam, her mood was naturally bad. Facing Yu Cai, who was known as the top English student in the entire grade, made her mood even worse. She couldn't help but pick out small mistakes and flaws in everyday life. After being accompanied by Yu Cai for over ten days with great care, she finally exploded after Ding Si declared that she didn't want to talk for a few days and told Yu Cai not to mind her.

  Yu Cai was so gloomy for the entire second half of the semester that year because of Ding Si's cold violence. At school, she faced Qiao Jia, and at home, she faced Ding Si, one soft violence and one cold violence, Yu Cai still feels resentful to this day when thinking about it.

  For her own sake and for the sake of maintaining this fragile friendship, Yucai decided to move out.

  To highlight the importance of this matter and her own grievances, Yu Zai got up early on the second day and called home before morning reading.

  Yu's mother was shocked when Yu Cai called at this time. After listening to her daughter's endless grievances, she immediately agreed to let her move out and live on her own.

  Yu Cai originally wanted to post a rental ad, but she didn't have a mobile phone and it was inconvenient, so she had to ask her mother to ask around among acquaintances if there were any houses for rent nearby, even small and old ones would be fine, and if not, they could look again next semester.

  Yu Zai's eyes were still red when she arrived at class, and Qiao Jia was very concerned about her since finding out that Yu Zai is Xi Zhixi's cousin. She immediately asked what was wrong, even Li Mou was startled. Yu Zai had no choice but to say that she didn't sleep well last night and rubbed her eyes this morning.

  After class, Yucai asked several good friends including Gu Yueyue to help her inquire if there were any houses for rent, and then tried to stay in school every day waiting for news.

  The house near XX High School is really in high demand, and all the rentals are already taken. Now it's midterm break, and after searching for half a day, she only found one family who was very eager to make money and willing to rent out a storage room to her.

  Yu Cai looked at the shabby and drafty storage room, thinking of the approaching winter, feeling indignant and wondering how she had been driven to this point. Was it really because she was too incompetent as a person? Having lived ten more years, she still couldn't even handle a high school girl!

  Told the landlord to give him a reply after one day, Yu Cai came out with a gloomy face. The house also had its advantages, at least it was in the school, convenient and safe!

  As she walked, Yu Cai's attention was caught by a bright and vibrant piece of clothing in front of her, only to discover that although there were few people living here, the high school still had dormitories!

  The girls' dormitory was not a building, but rather a series of tile-roofed houses surrounded by walls. Yu Cai saw that the gate to the courtyard was open and walked in, seeing that one of the dormitory doors was also open, she poked her head inside to take a look, only to see a girl eating and reading at the same time, who asked "Who are you looking for?"

  Yu Caihou pushed open the door and walked in, "Does xxx live here?"

  The girl shook her head, "Our dorm doesn't have this person."

  "How is this possible? She told me she lived around here!"

  "You must have remembered wrongly, or you can go ask at other dormitories."

  "But all the other dormitories have closed their doors."

  "It's also like now, basically either sleeping or going to class."

  Yu Cai's gaze swept around the surroundings with an air of nonchalance, "Your place isn't bad, it's better than where I live. How many people are living here?"

  "There are three people, it's a bit noisy, unlike renting a house outside where it's quiet and convenient for studying."

  "That's right, how much does one semester cost?"

  "It's only 400 yuan per year, very cheap."

  "Wow, it's really cheap! I have to pay 300 yuan per month when I rent a place outside, and that's even with a roommate."

  The girl smiled and said, "Yes, so if you want to save money, consider living in a dormitory."

  Yu Cai Shen nodded heavily and said, "I'll go back and think about it carefully."

  Out of the dormitory door, Yu Cai had already made up her mind to live in the dormitory. Anyway, she was in school and could find a classroom to study if needed. After self-study at night, it was already 10 o'clock, and going to bed at 12 o'clock, this period of time couldn't read much books either. In the future, she could also sleep early and get up early in the morning. Moreover, although the dormitory was old, at least it wasn't like that room with wind blowing from all sides!

  Made a phone call at the school gate, told Yu's mother that I wanted to live in the dormitory. Yu's mother was hesitant, but after Yu explained the situation and said it would only cost 400 yuan for a year, thrifty Yu's mother immediately agreed.

  Here is the translation:

  The problem was with the dormitory. The first class in the afternoon was math, and Yu Cai didn't dare to skip it. But the second class was Chinese, and Yu Cai said something, and the good-tempered Chinese teacher agreed without saying another word.

  All the way to the dormitory management office, the aunt on duty inside was given a hard and stiff sentence that could only be applied at the beginning of the semester, and no matter how she begged, she would not care about her again.

  Yu Cai had no choice but to withdraw his troops and, with the noble principle of seeking help from leaders in times of difficulty, walked towards the office.

  It was office hours and there were few teachers in the office, fortunately Lao Mei didn't have class and was correcting homework.

  Yu Cai continued to make up a story, saying that her grandfather was ill and needed care, her younger brother had to study, and in short, she wanted to move into the dormitory to save expenses.

  Lao Mei looked at her with great disapproval, saying that the dormitory conditions were too poor and there were too many people, which was not conducive to her studies.

  Yu Cai repeated what she had said to Yu's mother, and also said that her parents agreed. However, Lao Mei was not fooled at all, and pointed out that it was class time now, and Yu Cai's behavior of going back and forth was really not like a student, so she chased her back to the classroom.

  Yu Cai could only hang her head in shame and return to the classroom, sitting back down in her seat under the gaze of everyone's eyes.

  The next morning, when Old Mei entered the classroom, Yu Cai was already thinking about how to make use of the cowhide glue. Just as she was about to speak, Old Mei beckoned her to go out first.

  As soon as they left the classroom, Old Mei spoke up and said, "I called your mom yesterday, she said that the girls you live with are bullying you and not letting you talk to her, why didn't you tell the truth?"

  Yu Cai couldn't have imagined that Lao Mei would reject her and immediately call Yu's mother, who was very moved and said with tears in her eyes, "She may just be having a bad mood temporarily, it's not like she's bullying me. I just feel that her bad mood is affecting my mood too, and this has been going on for some time now. I'm afraid it will affect my studies, so I wanted to move out. If I tell you the truth, I'm afraid you'll say I'm not getting along well with my classmates and love to stir up trouble."

  Lao Mei immediately became dissatisfied, "Will I be so indiscriminate? In the future, if there is any difficulty, I will definitely tell the teacher truthfully, and the teacher will definitely try his best to help you solve it!"

  Yu Cai had never seen Lao Mei so gentle and kind, her nose turned sour, she blinked for half a day but still couldn't control the tears that fell from her eyes.

  Lao Mei saw that her few words had moved Deyidemen Sheng to tears, on the one hand she was proud of herself, and on the other hand she sighed, this girl must have suffered a lot in these few days. With an even more kindly expression, "I've already spoken with the dormitory management staff, they've agreed to let you move in, you don't need to pay the dormitory fees for this semester, just move out next semester, don't affect your studies. You can go over now and get the key, take a look at the dormitory, hurry up, don't be late for class."

  Yu Cai was even more moved, covering her nose and barely controlling the urge to rush up and hug him, she bowed deeply, "Thank you, teacher!" and ran away in a flash.

  Lao Mei watched Yu Cai's fleeing figure, smiled with satisfaction, and indeed helping others is the root of happiness. She herself had only made a small effort, but look at how happy this girl was!

  After school, she called home and her mother insisted on coming over on Saturday to help Yucai move house. Yucai couldn't persuade her otherwise and had no choice but to agree.

  "On Friday night, Yu Cai Ping calmly told Ding Si Dao, 'I know you've been feeling down lately and don't want to talk to me. I can understand that, but your attitude has affected my mood and studies. So, I've decided to move out. I'll continue to pay the rent until the end of the semester. My mom is coming over tomorrow to help me move.'"

  Ding looked stunned and said unnaturally, "I wasn't targeting you."

  "I know you're not targeting me, but it feels like you are, and I saw you laughing with your classmates when I walked past your class."

  Ding Si's words were stuck in her throat, Yu Cai no longer paid attention to her, washed up and went to bed, Ding Si looked at the book for a while before going to bed too.

  Ding Si seemed to feel guilty too, and got up early the next day. Yu Cai was woken up by her, but soon fell asleep again in a daze, until her parents came knocking on the door to wake her up.

  Yu's mother said Yu Cai had suffered as soon as she entered the door. Ding Siyi took one look and knew that her temper was bad, but unexpectedly it was so bad that it was directed at her own daughter. She thought back to when she used to teach Ding Siyi's class and wasn't bad to her either.

  Her father was even more direct, saying fortunately she wasn't around today, otherwise he would have definitely given her a good scolding.

  Yu Cai saw her parents unconditionally protecting herself, laughing extremely brightly. The thing that had troubled her for the entire first year of high school was solved just like that. She no longer wanted to be the timid and sensitive pushover she used to be.

  The father and daughter were busy packing things up, it was already ten o'clock. Since they were close by, the few people present worked together like ants moving a house, carrying things bit by bit, making several trips back and forth until everything was moved.

  Because it was Saturday, several people were in the dormitory. There were three bunk beds in the dormitory. The original two people slept on the lower bunks, and the upper bunks were used to store things. They had already received notice that one bed would be vacated for her. Yu Zai naturally knew that she was bringing trouble to others by moving in, so she spoke very politely. Yu's mother even brought out some local specialties from home and handed them out. The smiles on the faces of the other two girls also became more natural.

  It only took one morning to finish moving, Yu's mother brought some braised pork ribs and meatball soup from home in a thermos, and the three of them still had three portions of food in the cafeteria, with a dish of vegetables, eating lunch with relish.

  Yu's mother said that Yu originally wanted to follow along too, but after being rejected, she strongly requested to bring back the leftover hamburger and fried chicken from last time.

  Just as they were about to buy a pack of junk food, Yu Fu suddenly pulled Yu Cai over and pointed to the table by the window. At this moment, Yu Cai's eyesight was still pretty good, and she immediately saw Mo Fei and Qiao Jia, Xiao Bai Lian and the girl who sat on the pirate ship that day chatting and laughing while eating.

  Yu Cai quickly lowered her head and pulled her parents out. Yu's mother, due to poor eyesight, hadn't figured out the situation yet and hastily asked questions.

  Yu's father was furious this time, "I said it before, no matter how far you move, if you don't study hard, it's useless! And that Qiao Jia actually went out to play with a boy!"

  Yu's mother also sighed and immediately warned Yu Cai, "A Cai, you are not allowed to study poorly!"

  Yu Cai wiped away her sweat and said hastily, "Mom, it's normal for classmates to go out and have fun together during the holidays, and there are four of them, not just two."

  Yu's father immediately retorted, "Two boys and two girls, are we fools? Qiao Jia's grades will definitely drop at the end of the semester!"

  Yu Cai really wanted to say that Qiao Jia's grades actually declined after her sophomore year heartbreak, but wisely chose to keep quiet. Nuo nodded in response.

  Yu's father spoke again, "There was a boy who seemed to be He Qi, the one who talked to us last time."

  "Ah, that kid looks pretty good, and he's also having an early romance."

  Yu Cai is sweating even more. Mother, it's too rash to determine that someone is in a puppy love just because they had dinner together.

  "In short, stay away from He Qiujia from now on, don't learn any bad habits," Yu Fu concluded strategically.

  "Isn't Ah Cai sitting at the same table as Qiao Jia?"

  "Why don't I call Teacher Mei and ask her to help Yu Cai switch seats?"

  Yu Cai hastily stopped him, "Dad, this time the dormitory trouble has already troubled Teacher Mei enough, and also exempted me from half a semester's dormitory fees. It's not good to trouble him again so soon?"

  Yu's mother nodded in agreement immediately, while Yu's father still hesitated a little.

  "Besides, think about it, if you call Teacher Mei, how are you going to tell her that Qiao Jia is dating? Let's not do things like tattling behind someone's back, okay?"

  "How can this be called reporting? We're also doing it for her own good!"

  Yu Cai exclaimed loudly, "Dad, she's not even your daughter, why are you being so good to her? I wish everyone would just go fall in love and leave me alone to take the university exam. If I don't get into Peking University, at least I can still get into Tsinghua!"

  Yu's mother was amused by Yu Cai's tone, and nodded in agreement, "What Yu Cai said is right, Qiao Jia will also be competing with Yu Cai three years later."

  Yu's father couldn't win against Yu and her mother, so he had to give in. "Anyway, no matter what, don't have too much contact with them."

  Yu Cai endured great hardship and finally restrained the urge to speak ill of others behind their backs, making a ghostly face. "You can rest assured, Qiao Jia is beautiful, intelligent, generous, and has a good temperament, that's why someone is pursuing her. Your daughter is like this, even if she pays for it, no one wants her!"

  Yu's mother smiled and patted her head, "My daughter is even more beautiful, intelligent, elegant and charming than Qiao Jia, in the future, she will definitely be chased by a house full of people."

  Yu's father grunted in dissatisfaction, "What are you telling her this for!"

  Yu Mu smiled and said, "Originally it was like that, not to mention anything else, Qiao Jia's skin is not as good as ours A Cai, there are several acne on her face..."

  Beading with sweat, Mother, aren't your eyesight not good? How can you see the acne on someone's face?

  After seeing off her parents, Yu Zai looked around the street for half a day and finally chose three identical dolls of different colors. She gave one each to Li Xue and Wu Ranran in the same dormitory, and kept one for herself, thus successfully moving into Room 118.