Chapter 250: Li Kai’s Sense of Crisis ③
“Whatever you want. If you don’t catch up to them, don’t come back crying to me,” Ye Lian glared at Ye Haifei and quickened her pace without another word.
Ye Haifei tugged at his schoolbag strap and chased after her.
By the time Li Kai got home, the sky was already darkening. Thinking that he had to attend evening self-study in half an hour, he quickened his steps. His meal was warming in the microwave on the dining table. He sat down, opened the microwave, and started eating. He grabbed a pair of chopsticks and ate quickly, not caring about the flavor. He had already heard from Huang Yan that Nie Qiu wanted to get into Provincial First High School. His current ranking was similar to Huang Yan’s, within the top fifty in the entire grade. However, he knew himself that this was far from enough. Being in the top fifty for monthly exams was nothing; as long as he put in effort this month, he could do well. But for the Senior High School Entrance Examination, he thought, last year over a hundred people got into Provincial First High School. If he could rank in the top 100, he would definitely be able to get into Provincial First High School!
Li Mingxue stood upstairs, looking at Li Kai eating in the kitchen with a face full of heartache. She knew that Xiao Kai had privately hired her classmate Chen Ke as a tutor, which was why she felt heartache. When had her Xiao Kai ever suffered like this? He woke up at five in the morning to go to school, went to tutoring after school, rushed home to eat, and then went back to school for evening self-study. After evening self-study, he would do homework until almost midnight before sleeping. How could she not feel heartache?
Li Shubai walked out of the study and saw Li Mingxue standing at the entrance of the rotating staircase. He walked over and was about to speak when he saw the heartache in his daughter’s eyes. Following his daughter’s gaze, he saw his son. His son ate very quickly, swallowing his food after only a few chews. The full bowl was emptied in a few repeated motions, and then he saw him pick up his schoolbag, open the door, and leave. Li Shubai sighed and looked at Li Mingxue, “Xiao Xue, how is your job search going? Do you want to help out at the company?”
Li Mingxue turned to look at Li Shubai, “Dad… Xiao Kai he…” Why was he working so hard?
Given their family’s status, what school couldn’t Xiao Kai attend? Why did he have to work so hard?
“Xiao Kai wants to get into a good school with his own abilities!” Li Shubai said to Li Mingxue with a smile, “Don’t worry, Xiao Kai knows what he’s doing.”
“How can I not worry? Dad, if Xiao Kai continues like this, he’ll ruin his health. Did you see how Xiao Kai was eating just now? It was no different from wolfing down his food. Dad, you care most about health preservation. You always say that chewing slowly aids digestion and is good for the body. You’ve forgotten what illnesses can result from prolonged wolfing down food?” Li Mingxue said somewhat agitatedly, “Even if Xiao Kai wants to get into a better school, wants to get into a good school with his own abilities, and doesn’t want to use the family’s connections to get into high school, if he doesn’t get in this year, he can try again next year!”
“Xiao Xue, do you think… Xiao Kai genuinely likes that girl named Nie Qiu, or is it just a fleeting infatuation of youth?” Li Shubai lowered his head and looked at his daughter, “I actually think Xiao Kai is doing well like this. At least… in my opinion, Xiao Kai’s relationship is very pure, so pure… that it’s clean.” It easily reminded him of himself in his youth.
“Dad… are you saying that Xiao Kai is working so hard and pushing himself because Nie Qiu participated in that program and he felt pressured?” Li Mingxue’s eyes widened as she looked at Li Shubai, “Is that right?”
Li Shubai nodded, smiling with relief, “I didn’t expect that girl to win a national championship, to stand out among so many talents from schools across the country. This girl is not simple. Xiao Kai has good taste.”
Li Mingxue fell silent, glanced at Li Shubai, then quickly walked downstairs and called out loudly, “Aunt Li, Aunt Li? Are you there? I need to tell you about the dishes for tomorrow.” They had to be nutritious and easy to digest.
Li Shubai watched Li Mingxue’s retreating back and shook his head. It seemed… he should have a good talk with Xiao Kai when he got home tonight. Youth is a good thing, love is a good thing, studying is a good thing, effort is a good thing, but pushing oneself to the limit is not a good thing.
Someone once said that four hours of deep sleep a day is enough, and any extra sleep is a waste of life. Clearly, this statement is not entirely correct. As Li Kai once again closed his eyes while resting his head on his book during the evening self-study session, Nie Qiu frowned, put down her book, and reached out to shake Li Kai.
Li Kai suddenly woke up and smiled when he saw Nie Qiu’s worried face, “Sorry, I accidentally fell asleep.”
At the beginning of this semester, Nie Qiu also had to attend evening self-study, without exception. Nie Qiu did not refuse Teacher Yang’s suggestion. She had been an exception last year, and if she were to be an exception again this year, it might cause dissatisfaction among classmates from other classes. Nie Qiu knew that the study pressure was quite high during this period. Students usually did homework at home until midnight. She herself was fine; the homework assigned by the teacher didn’t take much time to complete after school and after evening self-study. However, the classmates in her class had a slower start. If they wanted to avoid mistakes, they had to do their homework carefully, step by step, which took a longer time.
Nie Qiu looked at Li Kai and said after some thought, “Li Kai, we need to talk.”
Li Kai sat up straight and said seriously, “What do we need to talk about? You say it, I’ll listen.” In his heart, he was extremely worried. His recent studies had kept him on edge. Ai Si Yuan had come to find Nie Qiu twice, once for an English workbook and once to discuss a mathematics problem with Nie Qiu. He sat next to Nie Qiu, but he couldn’t understand anything.
His heart felt cold. He realized how big the gap was between him and Nie Qiu.
Could it be… Nie Qiu was going to say that they had no common topics? That she wanted to break up with him? His heart clenched. He forced a smile, took Nie Qiu’s hand, and said with a smile, “What’s wrong? What do you want to say?” As long as it wasn’t about breaking up, anything was fine.
“What’s been going on with you lately? I’ve seen you dozing off in evening self-study for the third time,” Nie Qiu sighed, “Is it too tiring to study?”
“No, I’m not tired at all. Not tired, not at all,” Li Kai said with a smile, “I’ll be careful from now on and won’t doze off during evening self-study.”
Nie Qiu reached out. The dark circles under Li Kai’s eyes were a bit unsightly. She reached out to wipe them, but they didn’t come off. “Go home and get a good night’s sleep tonight. I’ll help you with your homework.”
“No, I’ll do my own homework,” Li Kai smiled and held Nie Qiu’s hand. “You have a lot of homework too. If you do mine as well as yours, I don’t know when you’ll get to sleep. I’ll do it myself. Everyone is like this.”
