Chapter 70: No, I Want to Eat!

“Since it’s not hard, just learn it.”

Borrowing a famous phrase, how much effort does learning really take?

“To put it bluntly, even if you can’t make up for your past foundational gaps before the high school entrance exam, you still have three years of high school. But I think, as long as you put your heart into it, two years is more than enough. You’re not really stupid, after all.”

Chen Jingle rubbed her little head, which made Little Douding very dissatisfied.

She grumbled inwardly, “If you’re going to talk, just talk! Why do you have to get hands-on? So annoying!”

However, the thought of having to relearn several years’ worth of primary school material left her speechless and a bit irritated.

Seeing her impatience, Chen Jingle smiled and said, “For the primary school material, you can start with grades four to six. If you still don’t get it, go further back. You’ll most likely only need to skim through those textbooks once. There’s no need to look so miserable.”

Chen Qiyun snorted softly, her lips pouting high. “Easy for you to say. No matter how simple they are, that’s still six books to read.”

Chen Jingle carefully chose his words. “It’s not like I’m forcing you to study. I just hope you can understand one thing. Today’s society is different from the era of the planned economy. Back then, it was perfectly normal not to get into a university. You could just go straight to work, and being a worker was a glorious status. No one dared to look down on you.

“But that won’t work anymore.

“Now, the competition is fierce. People compete over degrees, abilities, and family backgrounds. If you don’t study well, can’t get into a good school, and can’t find a decent job, what awaits you might be low-end blue-collar positions. After all, in terms of family background, being born into a small rural family doesn’t give you any advantage over others. Your parents can’t help you.

“The problem is your personality. You don’t look like someone who enjoys dealing with people. If you don’t want to work in sales or customer service, I advise you to study hard and learn as much as you can. Otherwise, with your honest personality, you’ll easily be taken advantage of when facing difficult people. Only when you reach a certain height can you decide what you want, rather than having others decide for you.”

Chen Qiyun remained silent.

As a middle school student, she couldn’t understand such profound concepts, or rather, she didn’t have much of a grasp on how the outside world was developing, despite her habit of scrolling through various short videos and news.

However, she did understand what Chen Jingle meant about her personality and low-end jobs. She definitely didn’t want to work a menial job, nor did she want to end up with a salary so low she couldn’t even afford to feed herself.

“I got it,” she replied softly.

Chen Jingle smiled faintly. “It’s good that you understand. You’re quite smart, and communicating with smart people is always easy. Alright, we’re done with the language arts test paper, let’s look at the English one…”

“I haven’t finished the English one yet.”

“That’s fine, let’s just look at the parts you’ve done.”

Chen Qiyun’s English proficiency wasn’t much better than her language arts. Again, it was a foundational issue.

Students from rural towns definitely couldn’t compare to city students in terms of foundational English. Even after all these years, nothing had changed; the gap hadn’t narrowed, but had instead continued to widen. They were in a suburban area close to the city center, so it was easy to imagine how much worse the situation was in the remote countryside.

When Chen Jingle explained the questions Chen Qiyun didn’t understand or got wrong, he often had to break down each knowledge point into bite-sized pieces and spoon-feed them to her, making it easier for her to swallow and digest.

Thinking back to the language environment issues he had pondered when learning foreign languages himself, Chen Jingle took out his tablet and opened a vlog of a foreign couple traveling in China. “From now on, whenever you come over for meals, watch an episode while you’re at it. When you no longer need subtitles, it means your level is good enough to handle exams.”

“Without subtitles…?” Chen Qiyun immediately looked troubled.

“I’m not asking you to do it in two or three days. What are you afraid of?” Chen Jingle said in exasperation. “Learning is a long-term process that requires perseverance. Who do you think you are, me? Able to learn everything after seeing it just once?”

Chen Qiyun curled her lips, assuming he was just bragging. If he were really that amazing, he wouldn’t have just gotten into a regular university; he would have gone to Qingbei.

However, the travel vlog was indeed interesting. After watching it for a short while, Chen Qiyun quickly became immersed. Although she had to rely on the subtitles most of the time to understand what they were saying, the subtitles were bilingual, allowing her to pick up a few new words and phrases.

The key was that she was interested in it. Interest is a child’s best teacher.

[Great job, baby! You have successfully completed the educational practice task. Reward: One-time elimination of internal body dampness.]

Chen Jingle was speechless. “Why is there a reward for eliminating dampness? What’s the difference between this and drinking herbal tea? This is a bit too much.”

Lingnan people spent their entire lives trying to eliminate dampness from their bodies.

[Herbal tea is very bitter. Are you sure you want to substitute the direct system reward with herbal tea, baby?]

“That won’t be necessary. This is fine.” Chen Jingle hastily shook his head. He was just complaining; he wasn’t a masochist.

However, whether it was a placebo effect or the system’s dampness-eliminating effect was genuinely that strong, he felt a bit light on his feet, as if he had just returned from an intense cupping therapy session at a traditional Chinese medicine clinic. He sneakily checked the mirror and found that his complexion had even improved slightly.

Oh, not bad! He decided to take back his previous complaints about the reward.

The entire morning’s practical lesson was spent on Chen Qiyun, leaving Chen Jingle to scramble for time to make lunch, resulting in a relatively simple midday meal.

He spent twenty minutes whipping up two bowls of rice mixed with stir-fried meat and green peppers. He used green peppers that had about the same spice level as the sauce packet in braised beef instant noodles, rather than the intensely spicy screw peppers. These peppers were only a tiny bit spicier than bell peppers, perfectly suited for the constitution of Lingnan people.

And yes, they could eliminate dampness.

Even so, Chen Qiyun still broke out in a slight sweat as she ate. It was fragrant, spicy, and satisfying—she scarfed it down non-stop!

After stir-frying, the aroma of the peppers was fully unlocked and blended with the savory scent of the meat. Through an even mix of various seasonings, the complex overall flavor reached its peak. The sauce alone was so good that one could eat several bowls of rice with it, even without the peppers and meat.

It was absolutely mouth-watering!

This was the first time Chen Qiyun hadn’t resisted eating spicy food. It was way spicier than braised beef instant noodles. She’d like to see who dared say she couldn’t handle spice after this!

“Cooking is so much easier than tutoring,” Chen Jingle sighed.

Tutoring required considering someone else’s feelings, while cooking only needed pure, unadulterated output. Even if he used too much force, the wok wouldn’t cry out in pain.

“Should I come over again this afternoon?” Chen Qiyun asked after they finished eating, tilting her little head.

Chen Jingle didn’t refuse. “Up to you. If you do come over, it’ll be just like this morning. Spend the first hour doing test papers by yourself, and once you’re done, I’ll go over them with you.”

“Okay!” Chen Qiyun seemed a bit excited. “By the way, are we eating this again this afternoon?”

“You don’t want to?”

“No, I do want to eat it!”

“Then I’ll make something else.”

Chen Qiyun puffed her cheeks. “I said I want to eat it!”

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I said I’ll make something else.”

“Chen Jingle, you’re so annoying!” Chen Qiyun grabbed her test papers and stationery and ran off in a huff.

Chen Jingle watched her leave from behind, laughing in sheer delight.