Chapter 143: Times Have Changed ③
The two siblings sat on the bed and talked for over two hours, racking their brains but unable to come up with a way for Nie Qiu to forgive Li Kai. Li Mingxue frustratedly tapped Li Kai’s forehead. “Go to bed early! You have to get up early for school tomorrow.”
“Okay…” Li Kai’s eyes were wide open, his gaze vacant. He too had racked his brains but couldn’t think of anything he could do to earn Nie Qiu’s forgiveness.
Li Mingxue shook her head, turned, and opened the door to leave Li Kai’s room. Li Kai turned off the bedside lamp and stared at the ceiling in the dark room, his face set with determination.
The next morning, Nie Qiu and Nie Aifang got up very early. Because they had to go pick up goods early now, Nie Aifang, who normally got up at five to make breakfast for Nie Qiu, couldn’t do so anymore. Every day, she would grind a cup of soy milk for Nie Qiu with a small stone mill, have Nie Qiu sit on her tricycle, and stop at the breakfast selling area at the fork in the road.
“Boss, five meat buns, packed separately. Three in one bag, two in another,” Nie Aifang called out from the tricycle.
The boss, who was packing buns for other customers, quickly responded. He skillfully packed the buns as Nie Aifang requested and brought them over. “That’ll be five yuan.”
Sitting behind the tricycle, Nie Qiu smiled and took the buns. Nie Aifang took money from her purse and asked with a smile, “Did the buns go up in price?”
“Where did they go up!” The boss of the bun shop took the money Nie Aifang handed him and said, “Vegetable buns are eighty cents each, two for one dollar fifty. Meat buns are now a dollar each.”
Nie Aifang smiled, took the buns Nie Qiu handed her, and said with a smile, “Then give me two vegetable buns and a small cup of soy milk for fifty cents.”
The boss of the bun shop continued to smile and took the buns from Nie Aifang. Regardless, he would still receive five yuan, it was just a bit more trouble. Isn’t that what business is all about?
The vegetable buns were much larger than the meat buns. Nie Aifang ate two vegetable buns and held a small cup of soy milk. Nie Qiu ate three meat buns and held soy milk that Nie Aifang had ground herself and put in a thermos. Nie Qiu jumped off the tricycle, took out a meat bun from her own bag, and handed it to Nie Aifang. “Mom, here. I want to eat a vegetable bun, give me a vegetable bun.”
Nie Aifang smiled, took a vegetable bun from her pocket, and handed it to Nie Qiu. She also took the meat bun Nie Qiu handed her. “Eat up and hurry to school!”
Nie Qiu nodded. “Mom, I’m leaving then.” Saying this, she walked towards the school while eating her bun and drinking her soy milk.
Nie Aifang watched Nie Qiu’s back. She quickly finished her bun and drank her soy milk, then released the handbrake, stepped on the tricycle, and headed towards the place to procure goods.
As usual, Nie Qiu finished her breakfast before entering the school gate. When she arrived at the classroom, most of the class had already arrived. She placed her schoolbag on the lectern, took out her notebook, flipped through it, and began to explain the problems in it. Often, her lectures were not prepared; she would talk about whatever she had in hand. When she got animated, the classmates in the classroom would listen with equal enthusiasm.
After lecturing, Nie Qiu stopped her chatter ten minutes before morning self-study began and returned to her seat. She didn’t look at Li Kai. To be honest, Nie Aifang had told Nie Qiu that morning to avoid Li Kai, but since they were deskmates, it was quite difficult to avoid him. So, Nie Qiu didn’t deliberately try to avoid Li Kai, she just didn’t let her gaze meet his and spoke to him less.
They didn’t talk much when they sat together before, and now they spoke even less. Apart from necessary exchanges like passing homework, they hardly spoke at all.
Li Kai was filled with regret. He knew Nie Qiu’s mom had told her to avoid him, but in this situation, Li Kai felt a bit at a loss. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Huang Yan approaching with two bottles of yogurt.
“Nie Qiu, here! You’ve been talking for so long, you must be thirsty! Have some milk.” Huang Yan placed one bottle of milk on Nie Qiu’s desk, opened the other for herself, and took a sip. Then she said, “Peng Yu Yang just went to buy it.”
Nie Qiu didn’t refuse. She smiled, picked up the milk Huang Yan gave her, opened the cap, and took a sip. “You’re right, I am thirsty. How’s it going? Have you decided what you want to run for?”
Li Kai looked at the yogurt in his desk drawer and suddenly felt a pang of acidity. Wang Chao Lei finished his homework, stood up, and walked to Li Kai’s desk, smiling. “A Kai, class is about to start. I’m going to the toilet, want to come along?”
Li Kai shook his head and picked up the pen on his desk. “I still have homework to do, so I won’t go.”
Zhang Haiyang, sitting in the front row, called out, “I want to go, I want to go! Let’s go together.” Saying this, he stood up and went to the toilet with Wang Chao Lei.
When Li Kai snapped back to attention and looked at Nie Qiu, he happened to hear Nie Qiu quietly asking Huang Yan what kind of person Peng Yu Yang was.
Hearing this, the words exploded in his mind. Could it be… could it be that Nie Qiu liked that Peng Yu Yang?
“You and I are both participating, so Peng Yu Yang must participate too,” Huang Yan said, smiling and holding Nie Qiu’s hand. “Our trio, no matter who becomes the Art Committee Member, it’s all good. That way, we can choose the people from our class who will perform, hahaha… The Art Committee Member is the most, most, most relaxed and fun class officer.”
“Teacher Yang will be here during morning self-study, right?” Nie Qiu asked with a smile. “We’re studying so hard and seriously now, Teacher Yang won’t take up our other classes to vote for an Art Committee Member. I think it’s only possible during morning self-study. Aren’t you going to prepare?”
“Ah!” Huang Yan exclaimed, almost jumping up. “If you hadn’t said anything, I would have thought Teacher Yang would choose during his class! You’re right, usually no teacher comes during morning self-study, so Teacher Yang will definitely come during morning self-study. What should I do? What should I do? There are only two minutes until class starts!”
Nie Qiu smiled. “You know there are only two minutes left? Hurry back to your seat!” The class bell hadn’t rung yet, and the classmates were also returning to the classroom one after another.
Huang Yan looked annoyed, said goodbye to Nie Qiu, and returned to her seat. Not long after she sat down, the class bell rang, and Teacher Yang walked into the classroom right on time.
“Attention!” Li Kai was the first to stand up. The classmates also stood up and said in unison, “Good morning, Teacher.”
“Good morning, students. Please sit down.” Teacher Yang stood on the lectern. After seeing that all the students had sat down, he smiled and said, “First, I have some good news to tell you all. Our school has decided to hold the 29th Art Festival!”
As soon as Teacher Yang finished speaking, many boys and girls who had the same idea as Huang Yan to relax cheered. Some clapped, some banged on their desks, and some whistled, showing how happy the classmates in the class were.
An art festival! It meant a holiday, watching performances, and playing!
“Alright, alright, don’t be noisy. I know you’re happy!” Teacher Yang stopped the class’s commotion and smiled. “The art festival requires each class to present three programs. Normally, the task of preparing programs should be assigned to the Art Committee Member and the music teacher. However, our class’s Art Committee Member, Chen Li, transferred schools this year due to some family matters. Today, I wanted to ask if anyone in our class would like to volunteer to be the Art Committee Member?”
