Shi Ling's expression grew even colder. "Just how many days do you owe?"
She didn't have the patience to talk to Chi Cheng one by one, so she rummaged through her drawer and threw a notebook at him.
The daily homework was neatly recorded inside.
Her handwriting is also extremely beautiful, a smooth and standard running script.
Zhang Yilin approached us without us noticing.
"Can I borrow it to take a look? Fang Ze, that idiot, just told me I got the homework wrong. Damn it, I finished writing it before I realized it was wrong."
He had just picked up Shi Ling's notebook when she turned around and pressed her fingers, which were as delicate as scallions, with round and beautiful nails, onto the notebook.
She didn't refuse, saying, "I'll take a picture and post it in the group chat, then you can all see it."
Hearing this, She Jiaxin rolled her eyes again and whispered to Li Qiuling, "What are you pretending for? Who wants her to get rich?"
They couldn't sit still for long before they got restless.
"I've written two essays already, can I hand them in now?"
"Elsa said we were four or five papers behind."
"Damn it, whatever, let's go play games. I'll write another one tomorrow morning, that'll make it five in total."
"Let's go, let's go."
Chi Cheng glanced at Shi Ling's back; her hand, still holding the pen, was writing nonstop.
"You guys go ahead, I haven't even finished writing two articles yet."
"No way, Brother Chi, you're so slow."
Chi Cheng leaned back, propping his long legs up on the ground, causing the chair to sway precariously backward.
He glanced at the group of people and said, "It's better than going too fast, isn't it?"
The group clearly understood the veiled meaning in Chi Cheng's words and chuckled softly.
Chi Cheng, presumably taking a break from writing an essay, snapped his fingers in the direction of Li Qiuling and She Jiaxin.
"What, want to verify it?"
They always joked around like this, but Shi Ling pretended not to hear and kept her head down reading.
However, with her gaze lowered, she caught a glimpse of She Jiaxin beckoning to Chi Cheng from under the table.
After their commotion, the group actually left Chi Cheng there and went out of the classroom together. Before leaving, Zhang Yilin glanced at Shi Ling, who was expressionlessly flipping through her book, completely ignoring their noisy behavior.
Fang Ze hesitated for a long time about whether to stay or not.
Actually, among this group, only he and Chi Chengshen attended relatively good schools with high IELTS requirements. Most of the others had already achieved a 5.5 IELTS score for language courses, but simply wanted to shorten their study time.
Like Chi Cheng, Fang Ze studied at a university in Hong Kong or Macau. He had a high GPA and a decent foundation in English, but he was just as lazy as Chi Cheng.
He previously scored 7 points in Thailand, but his sub-scores were not high enough. Fang Ze himself didn't care, but his parents had heard that language classes carried the risk of deportation, so they made him take the test a couple more times no matter what.
Fang Ze asked Chi Cheng, "Brother Chi, do you think I should keep pushing forward?"
Chi Cheng rolled his eyes. "Can you sit still? Go back now."
Fang Ze's rebellious spirit was stirred by his words, "How can I not sit still? I'll show you how to sit in meditation like an old monk."
Chi Cheng scoffed, "I'd rather be Guanyin sitting on a lotus."
When only the two of them were speaking, the sounds in the classroom became clear.
Fang Ze glanced at Shi Ling sitting in front of him and gestured with his chin, "Keep your voice down."
The next second, Chi Cheng pulled Shi Ling's headphones off from behind, and her tied-up hair became a little messy.
Chi Cheng fiddled with the headphones for a moment. "You think she's listening to a hearing test? I bet there's nothing in her headphones. She's just been listening to us talk."
After saying that, he brought the earphone to his ear, shrugged, raised an eyebrow and smiled at Shi Ling, "I told you so, didn't I?"
Chi Cheng knew that Shi Ling was not as boring and rigid as she appeared, but Fang Ze had never had any private contact with Shi Ling, so he was a little worried that Shi Ling might get angry.
Shi Ling maintained her calm expression, then frowned slightly and said to Chi Cheng and Fang Ze, "My headphones suddenly broke."
Fang Ze believed him and asked, "Do you want to borrow mine?"
He lowered his head and rummaged through his drawers.
Shi Ling glared at Chi Cheng and mouthed in a low voice, "Give it back to me."
It is unclear whether it was out of gratitude for the traditional Chinese medicine or due to several secret encounters between the two that were not considered a personal relationship.
Chi Cheng had been leaning over to remove Shi Ling's headphones while he was already sitting on the table, so this time he put them on her directly from behind.
He sat directly behind her, leaned over and put the earphones on her ears from both sides, almost as if he were wrapping his arms around her from behind, his fingertips brushing against her face.
Shi Ling knew about his flirtatious tricks, but she pretended not to notice.
With only the three of them left in the classroom, it would be easier for them to concentrate on their studies once they stopped fighting.
Fang Ze wrote an essay for a while, then rubbed his wrist and asked, "Besides 'punish,' what other punishments are there?"
Chi Cheng: "Can't you check my phone?"
Fang Ze: "I just couldn't find it. Only penalize looks a bit strange."
Shi Ling's voice was clear and cold, and although the volume was low, it was heard very clearly. "That's the verb for 'penalty,' it's better to use a noun."
Fang Ze: "Oh right, I remember there was something else, it was penalty."
After asking Shi Ling several times, she answered fluently each time, and Fang Ze sincerely envied her: "Your English is really good. What score did you get on the test before?"
Shi Ling shook her head: "These are all rote memorization. I only got 6.5."
"Isn't 6.5 enough? That's enough for language learning."
"I don't really want to study languages, and my score isn't high enough."
Sure enough, after changing her oral English teacher these past two days, Shi Ling's problems were exposed.
The previous oral English teacher simply went through Parts 1, 2, and 3 quickly to help them accumulate vocabulary, and had them record their own practice sessions and send them over.
After the oral English teacher completed the assignment, a new foreign teacher was assigned.
Ask anyone to answer.
Shi Ling's spoken language sounded off-key and stiff in front of a group of Cantonese people from a coastal province.
She doesn't speak fast, no wonder her spoken English score is low.
Li Qiuling and She Jiaxin exchanged mocking glances below.
Shi Ling didn't care about them, but she knew that her spoken language had always been a weakness of hers. She didn't show it on her face, but she was anxious inside.
After the American foreign teacher Dylan gave them the Part 1 questions, they asked each other to ask each other questions.
Shi Ling turned around and saw that Chi Cheng was clearly staring blankly into space. When he saw Shi Ling looking at him, he subconsciously teased her, "Am I too handsome?"
Shi Ling pointed to the PowerPoint presentation, "Questions and answers, mutual practice."
Chi Cheng glanced at the projector; the topic was "Traveling in long distance." He propped his head up and looked at the projector sideways, speaking in a pure and fluent American accent. He read the question and lazily watched Shi Ling wait for her answer.
Chi Cheng's English proficiency is thanks to the foreign language experimental high school he attended all the way through. He received four years of pure English instruction in Macau. If he hadn't wanted to take the GRE, his parents would have wanted him to study in the United States for two years.
Shi Ling had never heard him speak English properly before, and it was clear that his spoken English was much better than those who had been called on earlier.
Shi Ling hesitated for a moment and did not answer for a long time.
She asked herself if she was single-minded and indifferent to the ridicule of others. At this moment, the word was on the tip of her tongue, but she hesitated and couldn't say it.
She was certain that Chi Cheng could read embarrassment in her eyes.
Instead of helping her out, he raised an eyebrow and gestured, "Your turn."
Author's Note: Not every chapter can be a climax. This chapter is rather bland, but it will be more exciting tomorrow.
I don't know if the memory divider I added will look a bit out of place.
The ending of this chapter has been revised.
Chapter 10
(Flashback)
Although Chi Cheng wears a different set of clothes every day, sometimes even in the morning and afternoon, changing them very frequently, he doesn't wash them himself.
After his writing class in the afternoon, his mother sent him a WeChat message saying that she happened to be at a nearby beauty salon today, so he didn't have to wait until the weekend to bring his dirty clothes home.
He packed a bag of dirty clothes and went downstairs.
As instructed by Chi's mother, wait at the intersection so that she can go straight home later.
However, after waiting and waiting, Chi Cheng turned around and saw a small shop. He went over and planned to buy a pack of cigarettes.
As I was paying, I caught a glimpse of a dark-looking Guilin rice noodle shop next door.
There was a familiar figure inside, sitting with his back to the door.
Chi Cheng went in and plopped down opposite her.
Shi Ling's bowl was covered in red oil, and it looked like she had just started eating.
Shi Ling has fair skin, and after eating something hot and spicy, her face turned pink, her upturned nose was covered with fine beads of sweat, and the area around her eyes was moist and red.
She looked up at Chi Cheng and nodded as usual in greeting.
He casually placed the large bag he was carrying on the stool next to him, still clutching a cigarette case in his hand. If it weren't for his delicate face, he would have looked exactly like a migrant worker.
Chi Cheng glanced at her bowl. "Do you eat out all the time?"
I rarely see her in the cafeteria.
Shi Ling did not deny it, saying, "I want to eat something spicy."
As if remembering something, Shi Ling said, "What do you want to eat? It's my treat."
Chi Cheng hadn't accepted her money transfer for the Chinese medicine last time and had told her to treat him to a meal, but Shi Ling hadn't replied. I didn't expect her to still remember it.
Chi Cheng chuckled, "Is this all you're going to treat me to? That's too lenient."