Chapter 122: Little Things About Dating ⑥
When the class bell rang, Nie Qiu had finished her test paper. After carefully checking it several times, she handed it to the group leader who came to collect the papers. After the group leader collected the papers, they would hand them to the class representative, who would then carry the papers into the office.
After handing in her test paper, Peng Yu Yang breathed a sigh of relief. He felt good and thought he had probably done well. Huang Yan felt the same way. After handing in her test paper, Huang Yan pulled Nie Qiu along to go to the restroom. This was perhaps a common habit among girls who were good friends in junior high school: they always went to the restroom together.
Peng Yu Yang watched Huang Yan and Nie Qiu walk out of the classroom, his gaze shifting to the shoes on Nie Qiu’s feet. He had to admit, those shoes looked very beautiful on Nie Qiu. Nie Qiu’s skin wasn’t fair; it was the traditional Chinese complexion. However, there were no obvious scars on her calves or feet. These shoes, with their pink sequins, made her feet look even more attractive. He remembered the astonishment Nie Qiu had caused among the boys in the class when she first wore these shoes to school, paired with the skirt her relative had given her. Many boys had jokingly called Nie Qiu beautiful, and some had even joked about wanting her to be their girlfriend. Yes, she was very beautiful! Besides that, what truly caught his attention was the brand of these shoes. Yes, he recognized it; it was a brand his mother liked. He also remembered the logo printed on the bag of the gift Li Kai was going to give Nie Qiu. He didn’t think Nie Qiu would buy such shoes for herself. Peng Yu Yang considered himself to have some understanding of Nie Qiu’s family background. At least… the way her mother acted, her restrained demeanor and expressions when she took Nie Qiu to their restaurant for a meal, was the first time he had noticed it.
Someone who was reluctant to spend a few hundred yuan on a meal, how could they possibly afford to buy shoes that cost several thousand yuan? Then… there was only one possibility: Nie Qiu had accepted the gift from Li Kai!
What did this represent? Peng Yu Yang didn’t want to think too deeply. Such an expensive item, Li Kai was willing to give it, and Nie Qiu was willing to accept it. Did this mean… Nie Qiu liked Li Kai? It wasn’t impossible, really. If he were a girl, he would also like a boy like Li Kai.
Since the last basketball game, many girls from other classes had started to like Li Kai’s appearance when he was shooting hoops. Sunshine, sweat, and youthfulness. Any girl who had even the slightest connection to their classmates would find opportunities to visit their classroom, just to catch a glimpse of Li Kai.
Li Kai’s popularity stemmed from him perfectly embodying the current imagination of girls regarding love. He was good-looking, came from a good family, was skilled at basketball, and possessed an unrestrained aura. Such boys were actually very popular, at least… popular with the girls in their class. He had once seen girls bringing water and towels to Li Kai while he was playing basketball, and he had also seen bold girls come to their classroom to directly ask for Li Kai’s QQ number and phone number.
He took a deep breath, looking at the book in his hands. Nie Qiu… had she accepted Li Kai? To be honest, if Nie Qiu accepted Li Kai, besides feeling very upset, he and Huang Yan shared the same worry: would Li Kai just be playing with Nie Qiu? Would it be a prank?
Furthermore… if Nie Qiu and Li Kai got together, the homeroom teacher would definitely find out, and both of them would have to have their parents called in! More than anything, he was worried that if Nie Qiu and Li Kai got together, it would affect their grades.
He still remembered Nie Qiu standing on the lectern, saying ‘no regrets’ with such confidence and passion. He didn’t want Nie Qiu to delay her studies because of this. It would make him lose a lot of his belief, making him feel that if Nie Qiu had given up, what was he still holding onto?
Li Kai felt defeated, running his hands through his hair. He was sure he had done very poorly on the test! Half of his multiple-choice questions were his own work, and the other half were guesses. For the ones he did himself, he wasn’t even sure if they were right or wrong, and the guesses were even harder to determine. His answers to the reading comprehension questions were a mess, let alone writing an essay in English. It was the first time he realized how big the gap was between him and Nie Qiu!
Seeing Nie Qiu hand in her paper with such confidence, he felt extremely upset. When would he ever be able to catch up to Nie Qiu?
Li Kai was in a bad mood, so after school, he didn’t hang out with Luo Xu and the others and went straight home. Upon arriving home, he went directly to his father’s study.
Li Shubai was a little surprised. Li Kai rarely barged into his study like this. To be honest, apart from Li Kai’s love for playing and not-so-good grades since childhood, he was generally well-behaved at home. At least he knew not to disturb his father while he was working. Therefore, Li Kai’s action of barging into the study surprised him somewhat. He closed the document in his hands and stood up from his office chair, walking towards Li Kai. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Li Kai thought for a moment, bit his lip, and looked up at Li Shubai. “Dad, can you hire me a tutor?”
Li Shubai smiled. He had actually been thinking about this for a long time. It was one thing for his child to dislike studying before; he himself didn’t like studying when he was young, but he still took over his father’s company when he grew up. In his opinion, it wasn’t a big deal if a child didn’t like studying; as long as the child wanted to do something when they grew up, he could try his best to satisfy them. However, now that his child wanted to study, he had been wondering whether to hire a tutor or not. As a parent, as a father, he naturally loved his child. Of course, among friends and classmates, his child had always been a point of comparison. He also hoped that at gatherings, he could proudly say that his son was in a prestigious high school in the city and ranked such-and-such, which would be enough to make him proud. Just like last month, when his daughter obtained her CET-6 English certificate, he took his daughter to an old classmate’s son’s birthday party, where she could converse fluently with foreigners, making many old classmates look at him with envy.
But he was afraid that if he hired a tutor, Li Kai might resist and it would have the opposite effect, so he had only thought about it and hadn’t taken any action.
Now that Li Kai had actively requested a tutor, what did that mean? It meant his son was serious! Serious about wanting to study!
As parents, how could they not be happy? Li Shubai was no exception. He laughed heartily, patting Li Kai’s shoulder with loud smacks, showing how happy he was! After laughing for a while, he asked, “What kind of tutor? What do you want to learn?”
“I want to learn everything! Preferably someone who is very good at every subject, and I want to learn every subject well,” Li Kai said firmly. “And, most importantly, English!”
“English?” Li Mingxue walked in holding two cups of hot tea. She went to the desk, replaced the coffee on the desk with the tea, and then turned to Li Kai with a smile. “You want to study English?”
Li Kai nodded. “Sister, are there any students at your university who are particularly good at studying and are willing to be tutors? Someone who is good at every subject…”
Li Mingxue thought for a moment. “At university, we are all studying our major subjects and rarely touch upon junior high and high school knowledge. Only those who frequently tutor would be more familiar with junior and high school knowledge. How about… I go back to school tomorrow and ask for you?”
“Would that be too much trouble? I heard there’s an elite tutoring class, and the teachers there are good. It’s a class opened by a professor. How about… we hire a tutor from there?” Li Shubai suggested.
