Chapter 152: The two Ren Xiaosus
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
“You’re saying you sent your bike in for maintenance?” Yang Xiaojin verified again with a strange look on her face.
“Yeah,” Ren Xiaosu replied as he vaguely realized he might have said something wrong when he saw her expression. But he still did not know what he had said wrong.
Then in broad daylight, Ren Xiaosu watch Yang Xiaojin laugh so hard at the school’s entrance she doubled over.
“What’s so funny about that?” Ren Xiaosu walked into the school with a dark expression, leaving Yang Xiaojin behind as she continued laughing crazily outside the entrance.
After Ren Xiaosu entered the classroom, Yang Xiaojin followed close behind him. They sat in the last row and became new deskmates all of a sudden. At this moment, Yang Xiaojin was trying her best to restrain herself from looking at Ren Xiaosu. Otherwise, she would break out into a fit of laughter if she glanced at him.
“What’s so funny?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.
“If you couldn’t learn to ride a bike, just admit it.” Yang Xiaojin said, “Why did you come up with such a bad excuse?”
“But when I asked Luo Lan about his vehicle yesterday, he told me that he sent it in for maintenance,” Ren Xiaosu said puzzledly.
“He drives a car.” Yang Xiaojin explained through laughter, “Maintenance for cars refers to changing the engine oil and filters, stuff like that. As if your bike has any oil filters!”
Ren Xiaosu understood where he had gone wrong. So it turned out there wasn’t a need to send bicycles in for maintenance. This was truly a case of being disadvantaged due to poverty!
Ren Xiaosu raised his eyebrows. “So what if I didn’t learn how to ride a bike? Did you master it on your first attempt?!”
Yang Xiaojin said in a serious tone, “That’s right, I did master it on my first attempt.”
Ren Xiaosu fell silent. He thought to himself if he should use the Basic Skill Duplication Scroll to copy cycling from her. Judging from his past experiences, Yang Xiaojin would most likely be an advanced or even master cyclist.
However, Ren Xiaosu had wised up by now. Before learning anything, he would first check with the palace. “What’s Yang Xiaojin’s cycling proficiency?”
The palace voice said, “She doesn’t have any bicycle-related skills.”
Ren Xiaosu turned around and stared at Yang Xiaojin in a daze. ‘Then what are you bragging to me about! You might as well go to Heaven!’
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu realized that this girl, Yang Xiaojin, did not even need to “write a draft” 1 before lying. She just spoke irresponsibly!
Ren Xiaosu had learned about this idiom in class. But later on, he found out that it should have been “to speak daftly” 1 instead when checking through the old dictionaries that Zhang Jinglin kept. So he asked Zhang Jinglin why the idiom was written differently.
However, Zhang Jinglin said that it might have been a rebus character 1 from the past and that it was written as “draft” instead of “daft” these days. It was basically an idiom that could be used to describe someone who spoke nonsensically.
After the conversation about bicycles, Ren Xiaosu felt he had to synthesize any information he received from Yang Xiaojin.
When the bell rang, the teacher who taught math to Class 12-3 walked into the classroom. He stood at the lectern and said very slowly, “I will temporarily be teaching math for you. Everyone, open up your books. Today, we’ll be reviewing probability.”
Ren Xiaosu couldn’t understand any of the lessons that had not been taught in town. Therefore, he decided to start studying according to his own study plan in order to catch up with the class as soon as possible.
He heard from Jiang Wu that the final exams would be starting soon. He was bound to fail the upcoming exam and could only hope to do better on the next one. According to Jiang Wu, he could finish studying the 12th grade curriculum within a year as long as he worked hard enough. If he was smart enough, it was also possible to finish it within half a year.
Ren Xiaosu thought that if he could catch up with the required progress by the college entrance examinations, he might even be able to qualify for university and have a look around there.
Suddenly, Ren Xiaosu discovered that Yang Xiaojin had fallen asleep at the bench. He wrote a note and poked Yang Xiaojin’s arm. The note read, “Don’t you have to study? Why are you coming to school?”
Yang Xiaojin got up and shot him a look. Then she replied on the note, “I’m here to sleep.”
Ren Xiaosu replied on the note, “Why are you coming here to sleep instead of sleeping at home?”
“I can sleep better at school.”
In reality, Ren Xiaosu had another purpose in writing the note. He wanted to verify that Yang Xiaojin was the one who had slotted the note under the threshold of their shop’s door.
However, it seemed like Yang Xiaojin knew of Ren Xiaosu’s intention. Even though the two of them sat at the same table, they continued to test each other while playing dumb.
Ren Xiaosu kept writing more notes to her, while Yang Xiaojin deliberately refrained from using her usual handwriting.
Ren Xiaosu wrote, “Any good eats around here?
“What vehicles can’t be sent in for maintenance besides bicycles?
“What’d you have for dinner last night?”
The notes they exchanged were basically nonsense. Ren Xiaosu refused to believe that Yang Xiaojin could keep on pretending!
After passing back a series of notes filled with nonsense for a while, Yang Xiaojin frowned and switched her handwriting to the one she usually wrote in. “I’m the one who slotted the note into the shop, so just get to the point!” She decided to stop pretending and laid all her cards on the table.
Ren Xiaosu replied on the note, “So you told me not to overstay in this place because you were afraid that I might find out you stole my identity?”
With that, Yang Xiaojin completely ignored Ren Xiaosu.
Suddenly, the math teacher who was standing at the lectern said, “You two in the back, please stop passing notes back and forth.”
All of the students in class gave Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin ambiguous looks. They heard the math teacher ask, “You two, what are your names?”
“I’m Ren Xiaosu.”
“I’m also Ren Xiaosu!”
The math teacher got furious. “Do I look gullible to you?”
Ren Xiaosu felt badly wronged…
A student said softly to the math teacher, “Teacher, both of them are really called Ren Xiaosu.”
“Um, Teacher, it’s true….”
The math teacher was dumbfounded. He went to the office to get the roster for Class 12-7 and discovered to his surprise that there were really two Ren Xiaosus. What the hell!
After pondering it for a while, he realized it was indeed a misunderstanding. But he could not just leave it at that. “The Ren Xiaosu wearing the cap, I want you to answer the question on the blackboard.”
Ren Xiaosu was elated. ‘Serves you right, Yang Xiaojin!’
But a second later, Ren Xiaosu was stunned. He watched Yang Xiaojin take off her cap and put it on his head as though no one could see them. ‘Is this even allowed?!’ But Ren Xiaosu could not think about anything else at this moment. He was astounded by Yang Xiaojin’s delicate and stunning face.
In that instant, Ren Xiaosu felt Yang Xiaojin might have only worn a cap to hide her beauty, not because she wanted to hide her identity.
This was the first time Ren Xiaosu had seen her take off her cap, and he was absolutely astonished by how beautiful she was.
All the students held their breath. Like Ren Xiaosu, they did not expect Yang Xiaojin to look so beautiful.
In the entirety of the classroom, only the old math teacher remained calm and collected. “The Ren Xiaosu wearing the cap, stand up and answer the question.”
Ren Xiaosu pointed at himself after recovering from his shock. “Me?”
“Yes, you!” the math teacher said.
Ren Xiaosu was taken aback again. “Teacher, didn’t you see that this cap was just placed on me?”
The math teacher chuckled. “She’s such a lovely young lady that I can’t bear to make her answer the question, so hurry up and answer the questions.”
Ren Xiaosu was speechless.