Chapter 961
IF156
“You must be joking, right?” Li Zhuangsheng said cautiously.
"Do you think I'm joking?"
Lin Yuehua ate the chicken strips with a blank expression. The school's chicken strips tasted pretty good, just a bit salty.
"No way, you're serious!" Li Zhuangsheng lamented.
"Really." Lin Yuehua raised her eyebrows. "Good luck with your midterms tomorrow, or I'll hand your phone over to Teacher Fan."
"But I... I've only been studying seriously for a few days! Asking me to be fifty places higher than in the last monthly exam is too much to ask!"
Lin Yuehua ignored Li Zhuangsheng's complaints and ate the chicken strips with gusto.
"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you. Eating so fast isn't good for your stomach!" Li Zhuangsheng said irritably, unscrewing a bottle of cola and handing it to Lin Yuehua.
Lin Yuehua was complaining that the chicken strips were too salty, so she took the cola and gulped it down. As a result, she accidentally let out a very loud burp.
"puff……"
Li Zhuangsheng tried to suppress his laughter, but he couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
Lin Yuehua bit her lip, her cheeks burning. Somewhat flustered, she twisted the bottle cap shut, her expression a mixture of shame and anger.
"I told you to slow down, but you're going so fast, it's not good for your health!" Li Zhuangsheng suppressed his smile slightly, but couldn't help looking Lin Yuehua up and down, and said with a smile, "Haha, sometimes I feel like you are Lin Daiyu, and sometimes I feel like you are Wang Xifeng."
Having gotten to know Lin Yuehua a bit better these past few days, Li Zhuangsheng felt that she wasn't as unapproachable as he thought. Of course, it was also possible that Lin Yuehua had developed some goodwill towards him because he had spoken up for her and donated five hundred yuan as "money for selling herself."
Lin Yuehua pursed her lips slightly: "Don't talk nonsense, hurry up and look at your review outline, or I'll get angry!"
She was neither like Lin Yuehua nor like Wang Xifeng. She lacked Lin Daiyu's talent and beauty, and Wang Xifeng's shrewdness. She possessed Lin Daiyu's aloofness and Wang Xifeng's arrogance, and could be said to have combined the flaws of both.
Li Zhuangsheng obediently lowered his head and flipped through the outline, but he couldn't concentrate on it for long. After a while, he looked up again:
"Hey, do you like beef? My mom bought some spiced beef and told me to do well on my exam."
"Then why don't you study hard? Otherwise, how can you live up to your mother's beef?" Lin Yuehua said quietly.
"Uh, yeah, it would be a waste if I ate it, so I'll bring it to you tomorrow." Li Zhuangsheng said with a grin.
"no need."
"Don't be so polite with me, didn't I eat your apple today?"
"You don't seem to really like eating this."
"Because your apples aren't very good..." Li Zhuang thought to himself. Although he had never been particularly interested in apples to begin with.
"I don't really like eating fruit, but your family seems to sell fruit, right?" Li Zhuangsheng blinked. "What kind of fruit do you sell?"
"Nothing much, just apples, pears, oranges and the like."
"Do you have any pears?" Li Zhuangsheng's eyes lit up slightly. "Then bring me a pear tomorrow, and I'll bring you some beef in return."
"No need for beef. If you study hard, I can bring you some every day," Lin Yuehua said in a nonchalant tone.
Li Zhuangsheng grumbled, "Well, you said it yourself, so starting tomorrow, bring me an extra pear. Don't always think about eating it all by yourself!"
Lin Yuehua glared at him: "Read the book!"
"Oh oh oh!"
Li Zhuangsheng looked down at the review outline again and muttered the contents to himself.
Lin Yuehua turned her head and glanced at Li Zhuangsheng through the reflected glass. A slight smile seemed to curve her lips, but it quickly returned to its cold expression. Li Zhuangsheng had been stealing glances at Lin Yuehua's face every now and then, something he'd been doing for days. On the surface, Lin Yuehua remained the same as before, as if nothing had happened, but Li Zhuangsheng noticed her frequently lost in thought, her eyes always revealing a lonely sadness.
Li Zhuangsheng felt that Lin Yuehua was indeed somewhat like Lin Daiyu; they were both talented women who had lost both parents. However, upon closer examination, Lin Yuehua's fate was even more tragic, as she never even had the chance to be a young lady of high birth.
A crane's shadow crosses the pond, the cold moon buries the flower's soul.
He wanted to help her, even though all he could do was feed her a little bit every day and occasionally crack jokes to distract her.
Good people should be rewarded, princes and princesses should live happily ever after, and hardworking people should have a wonderful life.
Although Li Zhuangsheng knew it would be difficult.
The next day, Li Zhuangsheng packed his spiced beef into a disposable lunchbox, and since Li Xiuyu wasn't very interested in the spiced beef, Li Zhuangsheng asked her for some more.
Based on his observations over the past few days, Li Zhuangsheng had already discovered that Lin Yuehua was not actually a cold and aloof person who didn't care about food. In fact, she loved to eat delicious food and sweets.
This is somewhat similar to Confucius's saying, "One should not be too particular about the fineness of food or the delicacy of its preparation." In fact, Confucius also said, "A single bamboo bowl of rice, a gourd of water, living in a humble alley—others would find such hardship unbearable, but Yan Hui did not change his joy." However, the two are not contradictory.
"so much?"
During the last morning self-study session before the midterm exams, Lin Yuehua hesitated as she looked at the lunchbox in Li Zhuangsheng's hand.
"My mom knew the top student in the grade was helping me with my studies, so she bought this especially for you. She even said she wanted to thank you!" Li Zhuangsheng made up a story on the spot, stuffing the lunchbox into Lin Yuehua's arms. "Where are my pears? I ate too much beef at home, I'm so thirsty!"
Lin Yuehua was silent for a moment, then took a pear out of her schoolbag. Li Zhuangsheng took it without washing it, just symbolically wiped it with a tissue, took a bite, and found the taste surprisingly good.
The fruit Lin Yuehua sells is probably all cheap stuff, like the apple I shamelessly asked her for yesterday—it was dry and sour. Surprisingly, the pears today taste pretty good.
Aren't you going to wash it?
"I'm too lazy to wash it. A little dirt won't hurt," Li Zhuangsheng said with a grin. "Eat the beef quickly, it won't taste good when it's cold."
Lin Yuehua stared at the slices of spiced beef inside and couldn't help but swallow hard: "Have you eaten yet?"
"Of course, I ate breakfast before I came!"
Li Zhuangsheng's voice was relaxed, but he felt a little regretful. Actually, he hadn't eaten breakfast, and now seeing so much spiced beef made him a little tempted. He should have eaten a couple of pieces first.
"Forget it, I've already given it all away. It's too inconvenient to ask for it back now!" Li Zhuangsheng thought to himself.
Lin Yuehua stared at the beef Li Zhuangsheng had given her and nodded.
"Eat slowly, don't choke." Li Zhuangsheng swallowed hard. "Eating too fast is bad for your health, really, I'm not kidding. Oh, right, I'm going out for a bit. My stomach hurts, I need to use the restroom!"
After saying that, he didn't care that it was early morning study time. He quickly left the classroom and went to the shop. After eating two crispy sausages, he finally suppressed his cravings and hunger. So he bought Lin Yuehua a cup of milk tea.
He was worried about being discovered by his teachers on the way back, so he kept the milk tea in his pocket and only took it out when he returned to his seat.
"Here, I also brought you a cup of milk tea. It's hot." Li Zhuangsheng said casually.
"Weren't you going to the toilet?" Lin Yuehua asked, glancing sideways.
"You can't buy milk tea if you go to the toilet!" Li Zhuangsheng said with a straight face, "Eating only beef is probably too salty, so have a cup of milk tea. Do your best on the exams these next few days, don't embarrass your apprentice! With an apprentice as smart and witty as me, how can your master not be number one in the grade?"
As he spoke, he inserted the straw into the milk tea and pushed it directly onto Lin Yuehua's table.
Lin Yuehua slowly shifted her gaze from Li Zhuangsheng's face, a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.
"Mmm," she said softly. (End of Chapter)