"You don't even care about other people's grades?"
"Why don't you just look at these things yourself?"
"Ji Li has always been an all-rounder with no weaknesses. Besides him, have you ever seen anyone else in the humanities class who got a perfect score in math? Back in the first year of high school, he could get first place in six out of nine subjects in the grade."
"Then why did he choose to study literature?"
“Uh…” Jian Mingyuan couldn’t answer.
He also found it quite amazing that Ji Li chose humanities. It wasn't that humanities were inferior to sciences, but the slogan "Master math, physics, and chemistry and you'll be able to go anywhere in the world" had been around for so many years that many parents and even students themselves would bring some unnecessary biases when making choices. In addition, Chiao Tung High School emphasized science over humanities, and the number of science students each year was always greater than that of humanities students.
Unless someone's science scores are disastrously low compared to their humanities scores, like Ye Ruhui, most people would grit their teeth and choose science.
When Jian Mingyuan learned that the former top student in the grade had chosen literature, he was genuinely surprised for quite a while.
Ye Ruhui didn't get an answer from him, so he turned to the person in question: "Class monitor, why did you choose humanities?"
Ji Li was holding a thermos and looking out the window when he heard this, and replied, "Because I like it."
Ye Ruhui was taken aback.
The word "like" is not far removed from them; they can say they like games, basketball, fried skewers, milk tea, and ice cream, but it is difficult for them to apply it to a specific academic subject.
When I was filling out the class assignment slip, an elder reminded me that it could very well affect the rest of my life, so I should be careful, think it over carefully, and consider whether I really liked the path to the future that the checkmark indicated.
Ye Ruhui never imagined that he chose literature simply because he excelled in humanities subjects.
Jian Mingyuan never imagined that his choice of text was simply the optimal solution selected after his parents helped him analyze it.
Have you decided what major you want to choose in college yet?
"archeology."
"Why?"
Ji Li thought for a moment: "Perhaps it's due to family education?"
Jian Mingyuan clapped his hands, his eyes burning: "Aren't you one of those legendary families of archaeologists?"
“It’s not that exaggerated.” Ji Li shook his head. “It’s just that my mother used to work in this field, and I’ve always been influenced by her and have always liked it.”
Jian Mingyuan's eyes lit up even more as he looked at him: "Then have you personally seen many cultural relics? Have you ever touched Qi Baishi's shrimp? Xu Beihong's horse? And the cup used by Qin Shi Huang?"
Ji Li chuckled: "These things can't be touched by hand."
The conversation was eventually interrupted by the school bell.
Ji Li walked from the window to his seat, and out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly called out, "Zhu Yi."
Zhu Yi looked up blankly: "Huh?"
"Your workbook."
Zhu Yi lowered his head and realized that because he had been distracted, the pen tip had lingered on the paper for too long, causing a blot of ink to spread.
He hurriedly moved the pen away, and a tissue was handed to him from behind: "Press it down."
Zhu Yi answered, "Thank you."
Ji Li pulled out a chair.
Zhu Yi used a tissue to slowly absorb the ink from the horizontal lines, but even with his best efforts, it was only slightly better than nothing.
.
After class at noon, Ji Li waited until the people in the corridor dispersed before getting up. When he turned into the hall, he almost bumped into someone running towards him.
"You fucking watch where you're going..." Tong Siliang started cursing, then suddenly stopped.
Ji Li also saw the person in front of him clearly. Before he could even say "sorry," the other person seemed to have seen a monster. All his violent and aggressive aura vanished, and he turned and ran away.
He stood there for two seconds, a question mark popping into his head.
Even if what happened in the meeting room back then, normally most people would feel resentment and keep their distance from him, rather than be so afraid of him, right?
Suddenly someone called out from behind: "Ji Li".
He turned his head.
Ying Yunsheng walked over unnoticed: "Have you eaten?"
"without."
Can we come together?
Ji Li didn't think for more than a few seconds before nodding: "Okay."
When the two went to the cafeteria, the cleaning staff had already started cleaning.
As usual, Ying Yunsheng ordered the cheapest five-yuan set meal. Just as he put the plate on the table, the person in front of him handed him a box of orange juice.
He looked up and saw that the other person's plate had the exact same arrangement as his own.
"What's wrong?" Ji Li noticed the gaze on him. "Aren't you going to eat?"
"No." Ying Yunsheng paused for a few seconds, thinking about his words. "Have you noticed that you seem to be sending me things all the time?"
Ji Li listened and asked, "What's the problem?"
Ying Yunsheng tried to make his tone as tactful as possible: "I still haven't paid back what you gave me before."
Ji Li: "Do I buy ice cream in the summer because the supermarket will pay me back if I eat it?"
"This is different."
"What's different?"
Ying Yunsheng frowned: "You buy ice cream because you need it yourself, but it's not necessary for me."
"But I can completely skip ice cream in the summer."
"Eating cold food can bring a sense of pleasure."
"Bringing you food will bring me the same pleasure."
“Uh…” Ji Li was completely oblivious to the fact that he had confused the other person: “I know what you’re trying to say.”
Ying Yunsheng: "You don't know."
“I know,” Ji Li said. “You feel that I lost out by giving you these things because you only see the surface. Not everything in this world demands an obvious return. Some people spend money every day to support their idols, yet their idols may never even know they have such a person behind them; some people travel across half the country just to eat authentic stinky tofu, but the round-trip airfare alone costs hundreds or thousands of times more than the tofu's price; some people risk being punished by their parents by stealing change from the shoe rack to buy game cards outside of school, but the cards they obtain through such hardship are just virtual data entered into the computer, and they can forget the account and password before they even grow up. Can you say that their willingness back then was foolish? Is the momentary satisfaction of getting what you want fake?”
Ying Yunsheng remained silent.
"If everything I do in my life has to be for the ultimate pursuit of material gain, then life would be too exhausting. Isn't it enough that treating you to a meal makes me happy?"
Ying Yunsheng couldn't answer, nor did he want to.
He should have known that once they confronted each other, he would never win an argument with Ji Li. The other party could always find a hundred reasons to refute his righteous indignation.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been unable to refuse the other party's kindness every time.
Ji Li poked open the foil film, held the straw to his lips, and said with a smile, "So please, have some fun and let me have a good time."
"Uh..." Ying Yunsheng paused for a few seconds, then lowered his head, bit the straw, and drank a sip of orange juice from his hand.
Just then, a loud voice suddenly rang out from behind: "Ji Li—"
Lin Chengshuang slammed on the brakes at the dinner table, staring blankly as the two of them turned to look at him at the same time. He subconsciously took a step back and said, "Sorry to bother you."
A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 19
Chapter 19
ice cream
Lin Chengshuang sat at the dining table, her expression as if she had been forced to the execution ground.
After about ten minutes of silence, he finally couldn't help but speak: "Ji Li."
"Um."
Why aren't you replying to my messages?
Ji Li listened and said, "I don't look at my phone while I'm eating."
That's true.
Lin Chengshuang had been in the same class as him for a year and knew his habits, but she still felt wronged.
If it weren't for the fact that he hadn't received a reply to his message earlier, he wouldn't have been looking around as he went down the stairs in the cafeteria, and he wouldn't have happened to see Ji Li at the corner table, and he wouldn't have excitedly shouted and run over, only to receive the stares of the two people sitting opposite him.
Although the two people didn't mean to be mean to him, he inexplicably felt like he had stumbled upon something terrible.
The only saving grace was that there were hardly any students left in the cafeteria, so his shout only attracted the attention of the cleaning ladies for a few seconds, preventing his table from becoming the target of everyone's ire.
Ji Li didn't understand where his worries came from: "Didn't I tell you that I knew him before?"
“You don’t understand.” Lin Chengshuang sighed. “If Erpang told me that he and so-and-so from so-and-so class were childhood friends, I would at most think that my own pig ran away and recognized an outside cow as its brother.”
Ji Li waited for his follow-up.
"But when you tell me that you and Ying Yunsheng were actually elementary school classmates, it feels like the idol I've been a fan of all my life is actually married to the rival I swore I'd hate for life. It's a complete collapse, okay?"
Whether the description is appropriate or not is another matter, but the shift in the relationship seems a bit strange.
Lin Chengshuang pondered for a while before finally remembering the purpose of her visit: "It's my birthday this Wednesday, and I'm planning to invite a few people over. Will you come?"
Ji Li: "I'll try asking for leave."
Lin Chengshuang became a day student this week, which means she can freely enter and leave the school, but boarding students cannot.
“I told you to apply for day student accommodation as soon as possible. Even if it’s inconvenient for you to live alone, my family has a place for you to stay.”
Ying Yunsheng poked at his plate with his chopsticks and suddenly asked, "You two live together?"
"Huh? No." Lin Chengshuang shook his head subconsciously. "We're across the hall from each other, but they only have a nanny, so she occasionally comes over for a meal or something." He then asked, as a formality, "By the way, do you want to come over and visit?"
Ying Yunsheng asked, "Sixteenth birthday?"
"Seventeen," Lin Chengshuang said. "You're already in your second year of high school. Who celebrates their sixteenth birthday? At least you haven't started puberty yet."
Ying Yunsheng: "..."