Chapter 25: Xia Xia, They’re Just Jealous of You
Wen Xia ran her second lap, clearly struggling with her stamina. She gasped for air and looked at Qin Mo beside her. “Husband, I want to have some milk tea later.”
Qin Mo had a habit of jogging in the morning, and after they got married, he would always drag her along to run with him. She would make small requests, and only after he agreed would she go with him.
“Okay.”
Qin Mo chuckled softly, glanced at the distance between Wen Xia and the runner in fifth place, then said, “Slow down a bit, catch your breath, and sprint the last fifty meters.”
Wen Xia picked up speed in the final fifty meters, overtaking the runner in third place and securing a third-place finish, which earned the class an extra three points.
This was the first score of the day, and of course, Cao Jun was delighted. He generously gave money to the class monitor to buy lollipops for everyone, even Qin Mo got one.
Taking advantage of Cao Jun’s good mood, Wen Xia requested an hour off. Perhaps because of Qin Mo, Cao Jun didn’t ask for any reasons and simply signed the leave slip.
This gave the couple the chance to sneak in a little date under the watchful eyes of their classmates.
They left the playground and walked toward the school gate. Qin Mo opened the lollipop he had in his hand and handed it to Wen Xia. She knew he didn’t like such things, so she took it and popped it into her mouth.
She smiled and said, “Old Cao really likes you. If I ever asked for leave before, my dad would have to be called.”
Qin Mo laughed. “After the senior year exams, we should find some time to visit Teacher Cao.”
Just thinking about how Cao Jun knew they were a couple made Wen Xia laugh even harder.
Once they exited the school gates, they went to a milk tea shop, where they ordered one milk tea and one lemon juice. They didn’t say much, just quietly sitting for several minutes.
With half an hour left until Qin Mo’s leave time, he escorted Wen Xia back to the school gate before hailing a taxi back to No.1 Middle School.
The competition at the sports field was still ongoing when Wen Xia returned to Class 8, carrying two cups of milk tea. She handed the drinks to Jiang Yan and Liu An’an. “Cousin asked me to give these to you.”
The two of them immediately praised her, laughing in unison, “Handsome cousin is so nice, handsome cousin is the best in the world.”
Wen Xia: “…”
After sitting down, Liu An’an leaned toward her and said, “Xia Xia, you should have seen it earlier. Jiang Xu jumped 2.86 meters and took first place.”
Wen Xia couldn’t help but think about how she could only jump… Well, she didn’t even want to say it out loud and sighed softly. “That really is quite a long jump.”
“Did you feel your heart race?” Jiang Yan nudged her with her elbow, looking mischievous.
Wen Xia pretended to reach for the milk tea in her hands. “I’m taking back the milk tea on behalf of my handsome cousin.”
…
The sports day ended on Wednesday afternoon, and evening self-study began.
Cao Jun brought a stack of test papers and directly announced that he would use the next two periods to go over the tests.
The advantage of being the homeroom teacher was that he could take over self-study periods.
The students groaned in unison.
He slammed the blackboard eraser onto the desk, suddenly dropping his usual easygoing attitude, and with a stern face, said, “How dare you complain? What’s there to complain about? Let’s see how you did—most of you got basic textbook theory questions wrong. So many of you scored in the 30s and 40s. Did you think you were just here for fun?!”
“After I hand out the papers, anyone who scored below 60 will have to copy the entire test.”
No student dared to speak up now. Everyone buried their heads in silence.
Then, Cao Jun began to read out names and scores. “He Wen, 89; Xu Min, 87; Ren Jianhua, 81; Wen Xia, 80…”
When he reached Wen Xia’s score, he paused for a moment, giving her a pleased look. He turned to the class and praised, “Wen Xia did really well this time. Let’s all give her a round of applause.”
The entire class let out an astonished “Wow,” but unlike the previous admiring exclamations, this one was laced with clear disbelief.
Wen Xia’s previous scores had been in the 40s, so it was hard for anyone to believe she suddenly scored 80.
But Wen Xia didn’t pay much attention to their reactions. She stood up to collect her test paper, and Cao Jun encouraged her with a smile, “Wen Xia, keep it up. Try to catch up to your cousin.”
He knew Wen Xia well—her grades in middle school had been excellent, but in high school, her performance had dropped. It was obvious she wasn’t putting in much effort.
Wen Xia glanced at the mistakes on her paper. There were two questions she knew how to solve but had made careless mistakes. She circled them with a red pen and noted to be more careful next time.
Seeing her focused on her paper, Liu An’an and Jiang Yan exchanged glances, thinking she was upset.
Liu An’an leaned in, giving her a thumbs-up. “Xia Xia, you’re amazing.”
“Xia Xia, don’t mind them, they’re just jealous of you,” Jiang Yan whispered.
Wen Xia smiled warmly after glancing at the two of them. “I’m fine.”
Wen Xia was fine, but Liu An’an and Jiang Yan weren’t. They were the ones stuck with the dreaded 30s and 40s that Cao Jun had mentioned.
Though it wasn’t their first time scoring that low, it didn’t make them feel any better about it.
The two self-study periods dragged on. With Cao Jun lecturing and criticizing at the same time, he only got to the third fill-in-the-blank question in the physics test. At this rate, he might not finish the whole paper by the end of the week.
When they returned to the dorm after evening self-study, Liu An’an and Jiang Yan borrowed Wen Xia’s test paper to copy.
Wen Xia “resignedly” fetched a large bucket of water for them, so they could wash their feet and face after the lights went out.
Before climbing into bed, she even set out milk for them, thoughtfully inserting straws.
Liu An’an took a sip and blew her a kiss. “Xia Xia, I love you to death.”
“Xia Xia, I love you too!” Jiang Yan nodded in agreement.
“Alright, enough with the flattery. Don’t just copy, actually try to remember the answers. These are all basic theory questions, not hard,” Wen Xia said, laughing at the two of them.
*
Dormitory Balcony
Zhou Qing watched the three of them inside, then leaned toward Xu Min, who was near the washbasin. She whispered, “Min Min, did Wen Xia copy your test?”
“No.”
Xu Min was usually a solitary person, not very good at socializing. Her relationship with Zhou Qing was just okay, and she didn’t like gossiping behind people’s backs. She grabbed a basin and went into the bathroom.
*
By the end of the second class that morning, the test papers for the remaining five subjects had been handed out.
Wen Xia looked at her math score: 62. Qin Mo hadn’t been wrong in his estimate—six subjects combined, she scored just under 480.
Not bad.
She gave herself a small mental pat on the back.
“Oh my God, my total score is only 324! I’m doomed!” Liu An’an buried her head in her papers, wailing dramatically.
Jiang Yan also did the math. Her score was 30 points higher than Liu An’an’s, mostly because her English score was always pretty good, which pulled her overall score up. The rest of her subjects were similar to Liu An’an’s.
“An’an, it’s over. Stop crying. I’ll buy you a lollipop at lunch, to mourn the death of your lost points.”
“Two,” Liu An’an mumbled, still buried in her papers, holding up two fingers.
“Stop sulking. I’ll treat you both to ribs at lunch to get those brains working again. Next time, let’s try harder,” Wen Xia comforted, gently patting Liu An’an’s head.
Liu An’an was on the path of art exams, so her academic scores didn’t need to be top-tier. She had used her drawing skills to get into a prestigious university, and now she ran a training institution. Among the three of them, she was the little rich girl.
Liu An’an suddenly looked up, threw her arms around Wen Xia, and laughed, “Xia Xia, you’re such an angel.” She planted a kiss on Wen Xia’s cheek.
“Go away, go away, cut it out,” Wen Xia said, feigning disgust and leaning backward.
**TN
So there are two Zhou Qings in this story; Zhou Qing guy, friends with Lu Boyi; Zhou Qing girl, Wen Xia’s dormmate
