Chapter 10 (4)

  After waking up early, Yu Xiang had nothing to do. After leaving the dormitory, he was greeted by a refreshing breeze and decided to take a walk in the garden. The morning of Shi Nan San Zhong was very beautiful, with large tracts of forest seemingly awakening from sleep, feeling cool and comfortable. The garden hidden among them could bring even more enjoyment. Yu Xiang walked towards the direction where birds were chirping. On the stone bench at the edge of the garden, a girl was reading English, and Yu Xiang's footsteps also became lighter, afraid of disturbing her tranquility. Yu Xiang believed that the morning garden was the purest, because only at this time, there were no campus lovers strolling inside, "the magic of love is not greater than the temptation of bed", this proverb can also be understood in this way - a person full of sleepiness would rather not talk about romance. After all, sometimes staying in bed is more attractive than getting out of bed.

  But still, someone ruined the perfect atmosphere. In the depths of the garden, Yuexiang saw a boy who looked no more than 7th grade waiting for someone. At first, Yuexiang didn't think much about it, but in less than five minutes, a girl who seemed even younger ran over from afar. The boy glanced at his watch and smiled at her, saying "You're late." The girl spread out her hands and stuck out her tongue, saying "Sorry, I was delayed by some things!" Yuexiang was only a tree away from the two of them and heard their conversation, which seemed eerily familiar, like something out of a romance novel. He thought to himself, could it be that these two... no way, at such a young age how could they understand what love is? Love should be an unknown thing to them.

  As a result, the two boys and girls are like physicists, who like to challenge unknown fields. The girl blushed: "It's really beautiful here. Why did you ask me to come here?" After finishing, she pulled her hair back, lowered her head and waited.

  The boy hesitated and then said, "I've been feeling really frustrated lately. I think I'm making the biggest decision of my life."

  Yu Xiang's face showed even more surprise than the girl, he couldn't believe such words came from a young boy's mouth, it sounded awkward and made him want to laugh. He cleared his throat twice to hint that there was someone else present, so they shouldn't speak too loudly. The two turned their heads and saw Yu Xiang, but didn't show any surprise, in their eyes, Yu Xiang's existence seemed like the negligible air resistance when an object falls freely, it could be ignored.

  The girl bowed her head for a long time, then suddenly raised her head and said: "Look into my eyes and answer, is it for me?"

  The boy seemed to have hidden his desire to cultivate immortality for thousands of years, but was seen through and said: "I couldn't deceive myself, I'm doing it all for you."

  Yu Xiao exerted himself to control his laughter and coughed dryly twice.

  The girl couldn't stand the dry cough ruining the romance and said: "Let's change places."

  The boy said, "Follow your own path, no matter what others say. I have something to tell you."

  The girl's face quickly turned red, and she fiddled with her hem, saying: "Now?"

  The man said: "Now, yes, I can no longer wait!" This sentence was like a critical illness notice, giving the girl a psychological preparation.

  The man said, "Do you know? From the moment I first saw you, I was deeply captivated by you. This is the happiness that heaven has bestowed upon me, and I am unwilling to let go. I have always wanted to say this to you..."

  The girl asked knowingly: "Which sentence?"

  "I like you."

  The girl widened her long-prepared eyes: "But, isn't this too sudden?"

  The man said: "No, not at all, I'd give up everything for you."

  The girl couldn't help it, with a hint of intoxication in her eyes, asked: "Really?"

  The boy said: "Really, it's true, not in a dream. I'd give up everything for you, including my studies."

  The girl looked flustered: "All of this is like something out of a book. What should I do? I'm helpless, I'm bewildered..."

  Yu Xiang no longer had the urge to laugh, thinking about how much harm those sappy TV dramas had caused. He left the garden feeling nauseous and didn't even have an appetite for breakfast. There were already a few people in the classroom, and the summer homework essays had just been handed out. Yu Xiang's essay was overly elaborate, with large sections plagiarized from "Guanzhi Bian". The result was that when he saw the feedback, he almost died of anger. His essay had large sections crossed out with red lines, with the comment: "The evidence is quite rich, but it's obvious you're forcing it, and you need to let go." Yu Xiang didn't bother to respond, and instead started cursing Qiong Yao, feeling refreshed after venting his anger. A few days later, when he submitted his essay again, Yu Xiang was eagerly waiting for Mei Xuan to write some feedback expressing her approval. When the essay was returned, Yu Xiang's heart was racing with excitement, and he even felt a little nostalgic for Ma Debao - it was his first time going out to study, and naturally, he hoped to gain recognition from his class teacher. His mind was filled with fantasies, thinking that Mei would definitely praise him for his profound and unique insights, as well as his sharp and mature writing style. But when he opened the essay, all he saw was a small hook, and even that was extremely small and not impressive at all. When he flipped to the next page, there was another underdeveloped hook, and it wasn't until he put the two hooks together that they formed a complete one - this method was similar to the current practice in the catering industry of splitting one portion into two. There wasn't even a single word of feedback near the hooks. Yu Xiang felt extremely angry after seeing this, as if he had been arguing with someone and the other person suddenly fell silent, leaving him feeling unfulfilled. Mei Xuan was like the Qing government's attitude towards its enemies - cold and unyielding. But Yu Xiang didn't have the grandeur of the British Empire, and he felt inferior. He glanced at Xie Jingyuan's essay and saw a large and impressive hook, which seemed like a leader's annual summary report - it was long-winded and went on for pages, stretching out like someone stretching their arms in bed, making others feel envious. This large hook made Yu Xiang's hook look tiny in comparison, and he felt discontented. He picked up Xie Jingyuan's essay and saw that he had written about his determination to study hard and build the country. Yu Xiang snorted in disdain and threw down the essay, saying: "I've seen this kind of cliché many times before."

  Xie Jingyuan said slowly: "This is not a cliché, this is a manifestation of determination."

  Yu Xiang said with disgust: "Writing and not writing are no different."

  Qian Rong was bragging, surrounded by a dozen or so girls who were laughing and leaning forward. Qian Rong became more and more enthusiastic: "When I was twelve years old, my dad took me to Beijing, the first person we visited was Xiao Fuxing..." "Wow!" one of the girls who knew Xiao Fuxing exclaimed. Qian Rong continued: "My dad brought my composition, Xiao Fuxing took one look and predicted that I would achieve great things in literature."

  "Wow, have you ever published an article?"

  "Publish my article? Ha! Those newspapers don't even have the qualifications to publish my work!" Qian Rong said, belittling all the newspapers in the world as worthless paper. Yu Xiang stood up for his father and listened intently on the side. Qian Rong scolded without restraint, not letting up even when he had reduced them to nothing: "With my dad's connections with those people inside, publishing an article would be a piece of cake! And my personality is such that I'm destined to be a free spirit, playing it cool and detached from fame and fortune..."

  Yu Xiang splashed cold water and said, "I'm afraid it's not good enough." Unexpectedly, the cold water hadn't even splashed onto Qian Rong's body when a girl blocked it and retorted, "What qualifications do you have to speak like that!"

  Lin Yuxiang said, "At least I've published an article!" Lin Yuxiang's article was like a bowl of cold rice that could be stir-fried again at any time to make others drool. Someone among the girls remembered and said, "Isn't it him? The one who introduced himself as having published articles?" "Right, right, I remember now, Lin Yuxiang."

  Qian Rong hastily asked: "How many words have you published in your article?"

  Yu Xiang was greatly embarrassed and couldn't pat his chest proudly to say that he had written 600 words, so he pretended to be muddled and said: "I don't remember how many." Qian Rong said: "Maybe it's just one article." This casual belittling remark hit the mark, Yu Xiang turned around with a smile and said: "Will I? Next week I'll bring my article over." After saying this, he was also afraid.

  Qian Rongdao said: "May I borrow your notebook to read?" He intentionally pronounced the two words "read" in a drowsy and weak tone, as if he hadn't woken up yet.

  Yu Xiang told the truth this time: "I didn't write well."