Chapter 52: Actually, I Didn’t Really Want to See It Either

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Actually, I Didn’t Really Want to See It Either

Chen Jingle thought for a moment. "I assume no one is bullying Chen Qiyun in class?"

Li Beixing chuckled lightly. "You’re overthinking it, Mr. Chen. Although our school’s teaching standards aren’t on par with the First and Second High Schools, the overall atmosphere in our class is quite good. At least so far, no such incidents have occurred. Also..."

She paused, carefully considering her words before continuing. "Actually, Chen Qiyun is quite popular in class. Everyone is willing to take the initiative to hang out with her. So, you really don’t need to worry about that, Mr. Chen."

She wasn’t just brushing him off; it was the truth. Even Li Beixing herself couldn’t quite figure it out. She could only attribute it to Chen Qiyun having her own unique charm.

"That’s good." Chen Jingle nodded. "I don’t have any more questions."

Li Beixing hesitated for a couple of seconds. "If it’s convenient for you, Mr. Chen, you can add my WeChat. If there are any special circumstances, I’ll contact you." She paused again, then added, "For the sake of the child’s healthy growth."

She just didn’t know why, but when she said that, her cheeks felt a little hot, and she felt slightly unnatural.

"Sure." Chen Jingle didn’t think too much about it. He took out his phone, and the two exchanged WeChat contacts.

Li Beixing’s nickname was "The Bleak Autumn Wind Returns," and her profile picture was a silhouette of her back at the beach.

Chen Jingle raised his eyebrows slightly. "But the World Has Changed."

Li Beixing pursed her lips into a smile. "Yes."

As for Chen Jingle’s nickname, "I Don’t Want To Move Every Day"... Well, she’d withhold her judgment.

Chen Jingle saved her contact alias and checked the time. "Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to care about our Qiyun’s situation, Teacher Li. I won’t bother you any longer. I’ll leave you to your work. Goodbye."

"Alright, goodbye. Take care."

When Li Beixing returned to the office, she saw everyone looking at her with beaming smiles.

"What is it? Did my makeup smudge?" she asked, confused.

"No, no." Everyone laughed, their smiles meaningful.

Li Beixing inexplicably shuddered. She thought, "Ugh, how creepy!"

Returning to her desk, Li Beixing thought for a moment, then pulled out her phone. She clicked on the newly added contact, wanting to see if she could glean any information from Chen Jingle’s Friends Circle.

But when she opened it, the only post read: "Stop looking, there’s nothing in my Friends Circle." An attached image of a big and a small panda seemed to be mocking her from behind the screen.

Uh.

Li Beixing’s mouth twitched, and she chose to exit the page. She muttered, "Fine, I didn’t even want to look that much anyway." She added in her mind, "Besides, you’re acting a bit pretentious."

After the third period ended, many students who were a bit slow to catch on to the news crowded around Chen Qiyun.

"Sister Yun, is that really your brother?"

"Sister Yun, does your brother have a girlfriend? I have an older sister who is still single."

"I also have a cousin who doesn’t have a boyfriend."

"My aunt..."

While Chen Qiyun felt smug inside, she was also endlessly annoyed. She thought in frustration, "If I had known, I wouldn’t have let Chen Jingle come!

"If you were just here for a meeting, why did you have to show your face in front of everyone?

"Now look what happened, you’ve stolen all the spotlight!

"Hmph!"

"Chen Qiyun, come here for a second." Li Beixing waved her over from the classroom door and called Chen Qiyun back to the office. She handed her a bag containing a tin box of mooncakes. "Happy Mid-Autumn Festival. The school handed these out, but I don’t really like mooncakes, so you can have them. Don’t just focus on playing during the holiday. Don’t forget you promised me you’d pull up the grades of your weaker subjects."

The school had distributed a total of two boxes of Jinjiu mooncakes, along with some rice and peanut oil. She had divided them all among the students whose family conditions were only average.

Chen Qiyun held the mooncakes, feeling a bit dazed. "Thank you, teacher..."

"Alright, go on back. Be safe on the road," Li Beixing said with a smile, rubbing her small head.

"Teacher Li gave this to you?" Chen Jingle looked at the mooncakes in Chen Qiyun’s hands and just remembered. "Oh right, tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Before he knew it, time had really flown by.

"Since she gave them to you, just accept them with peace of mind. You’ve already brought them back, so there’s no reason to return them. The best way to repay her is to do better on your next monthly exam and make her proud. Of course, if you think that’s too hard, maintaining your current level is fine too. It’s up to you."

"Oh."

"By the way, don’t let it slip that I went to the school for the parent-teacher meeting in their place," Chen Jingle thought for a moment and added. He was mainly afraid that Second Uncle and Second Aunt would blame him for acting on his own and harbor some resentment.

"Got it!"

"Alright. Go back home for now, and come over for dinner later," Chen Jingle said, waving his hand.

Chen Qiyun skipped away happily.

"Mid-Autumn..." Chen Jingle lightly tapped his fingers on the armrest of his rocking chair.

His parents were working out of town and couldn’t make it back, so he needed to visit the relatives on their behalf. It was essentially just gifting mooncakes, a traditional custom in these parts. You gift them to me, I gift them to you. The mooncakes sent out would change hands countless times, only to ultimately return to one’s own hands, completely unopened.

This kind of situation happened all the time. Chen Jingle was giving them out late this year, so it was unlikely that the above scenario would happen to him.

He muttered, "Tomorrow I’ll buy some gifts and take them to my two uncles and two aunts. Then I’ll visit Grandpa, Grandma, and Second Uncle’s family."

It was really just the thought that counted. Ordinary families weren’t so particular, unlike wealthy families and company bosses, where one had to agonizingly ponder over what to gift, playing the game of "I don’t remember who gave me a gift, but I definitely know who didn’t."

Two years ago, everyone just gave two pounds of pork, a bag of tangerines, and a box of mooncakes. If one was visiting their father-in-law and mother-in-law, the gifts might be a bit more generous. However, Chen Jingle didn’t have to go through that procedure.

The real headache was that he would have to run around for at least half the day tomorrow, which meant he had to coordinate his schedule with the system again. And he hadn’t even made up for the classes he had postponed today yet.

Chen Jingle sighed. "If this were reality, asking for a leave of absence from a teacher or boss every day over these little things probably wouldn’t get approved."

Thinking about it this way, the system was quite humane. At the end of the day, it was because there were too many inhumane bosses in reality, making the system seem more human than they were.

At dinner.

Because Chen Jingle mentioned that her teacher had praised her usual performance at school today, he made a small, special dessert just for Chen Qiyun.

Chen Qiyun felt like she was going to burst with happiness.

"If only every day could be like this," she said, licking her lips after finishing and hinting as hard as she could.

"Keep dreaming." Chen Jingle sneered. "Focus on getting into the First High School first. Your teacher did praise you, sure, but she also offered some critiques. She just didn’t say them bluntly because she was afraid you couldn’t take it. With your grades in math and English, even a dog would shake its head in disappointment."

Chen Qiyun felt humiliated, but she didn’t dare talk back because she really was terrible at those two subjects.

Of course, she was cursing him in her mind. She thought, "How bold of you, Chen Jingle! To dare treat me like a mere child—this is outright mutiny!

"You look down on me, huh? Just wait and see how I slap you in the face with my success!"

On the surface, Chen Qiyun’s pout was so pronounced you could hang an oil bottle from it, but in her heart, she was already plotting. She would study fiercely before the monthly exams arrived, pull off a blockbuster performance, and leave Chen Jingle so dumbfounded he’d bow down in awe.

She cackled inwardly, "Mwahahaha!"

After chasing Chen Qiyun back home, Chen Jingle prepared to take a shower.

He had originally coordinated with the system to take the third period off in the afternoon, but his conversation with Li Beixing hadn’t lasted very long. After returning, he had made up for his missed push-ups, squats, and other exercises. It was equivalent to only taking a half-hour leave.

Thanks to his persistence over the past week, his strength was growing rapidly; his capacity had already increased by forty kilograms. Although he was still a weakling, he believed that as long as he kept working hard, sooner or later, he would be able to knock out Tyson with a single punch.

He muttered, "I’ll shower first, call Mom and Dad later, and then do my usual reading and studying."

Yup, that was it for today.

However, why did he feel like he was forgetting something?