Chapter 16: 15. One Head, Two Sizes Too Big (Monthly votes, follow-up reads, please)
Zhang Luo did not have much of an impression of Li Miaomiao. He only knew that she later went abroad to study, and after she came back, within five years, she married twice and divorced twice, becoming the central topic of gossip in their high school circle.
As for why she had such a turbulent and complicated romantic history, Zhang Luo had no idea.
In his memory, she had been an extremely flamboyant girl. However, in his previous life, Zhang Luo had never had any direct conflict with Li Miaomiao.
This time, because he had become the English class representative, Zhang Luo got a firsthand taste of her flamboyance.
The classroom had gone quiet.
Everyone was looking at them.
Li Miaomiao glared at Zhang Luo with perfect confidence.
Zhang Luo sighed helplessly.
“You just listed so many reasons why you should be the English class representative—”
“Don’t you think they’re enough?” Li Miaomiao asked.
“It’s not that I think they’re not enough.” Zhang Luo asked, “What I want to ask is, does Teacher Chu know about all these reasons?”
Li Miaomiao: “What?”
“If you only told me and didn’t tell Teacher Chu, how would Teacher Chu know you have a professor for a father, that you’ve been going abroad with him since you were little, and that your English is incredibly good?” Zhang Luo asked with a perfectly serious expression. “If Teacher Chu doesn’t know, then isn’t it a little… putting the cart before the horse for you to question why Teacher Chu didn’t ask you to be the English class representative?”
Li Miaomiao froze completely.
Zhang Luo pressed, “Does she know?”
Li Miaomiao opened her mouth, wanting to speak, but no words came out.
Her expression became somewhat embarrassed—though she tried hard to hide it.
One look, and Zhang Luo knew the answer:
No.
Zhang Luo said, “I suggest you go talk to Teacher Chu. If you want to be the class representative, just tell her directly.”
Li Miaomiao: “I’m not going to take the initiative to say it. That would make it seem like I want to be class representative so badly.”
After saying that, she turned and walked out of the classroom.
Zhang Luo: “…”
Xu Da silently remarked, “Is there something wrong with her?”
Zhang Luo shrugged.
-
In the afternoon, after school, Zhang Luo went as usual to play soccer with Xu Da and the others for a while. It was almost six-thirty by the time he was ready to go home.
He was just thinking about how to bring up the debate competition with Jiang Xiaoyu when Jiang Xiaoyu appeared before his eyes.
“Why are you standing here?” Zhang Luo looked curiously at Jiang Xiaoyu, who was standing by the bicycle shed.
“Waiting for you,” Jiang Xiaoyu said.
“Waiting for me?” Zhang Luo asked in surprise. “What for?”
Jiang Xiaoyu: “I pitied you. You’ve even been called uncoordinated, so I decided to do a good deed and teach you the recess exercises.”
Zhang Luo: “…No need.”
Jiang Xiaoyu: “Aren’t you afraid of getting criticized by your homeroom teacher again?”
“I’ve pretty much learned them already.” Zhang Luo did not want to continue this topic.
With the soul of a thirty-year-old, he really could not stand seriously learning from another person how to do radio calisthenics—
Especially when that person was Jiang Xiaoyu.
Jiang Xiaoyu: “Suit yourself. I’m not the one getting criticized anyway.”
Zhang Luo took out his key.
“I’ll give you a ride back.”
Jiang Xiaoyu: “You go back by yourself. I’ll walk.”
After saying that, Jiang Xiaoyu really did walk away.
?
Zhang Luo quickly unlocked his bicycle and pushed it after her.
“You’re… unhappy?”
“No.”
“No, I mean, with something like radio calisthenics, it’s enough to just do them. Why do them that well?” Zhang Luo explained.
Then again, she had specifically waited for him and kindly wanted to help him, and he had flatly rejected her.
What was wrong with his mouth today?
Offending one person wasn’t enough.
No, what was wrong with middle school students?
Why were every single one of them so fragile?
Jiang Xiaoyu glanced at him. “So you think there’s no need for me to be an exercise leader, right?”
“Huh? When did I say that?” Zhang Luo felt like his one head had become two.
Jiang Xiaoyu: “You don’t know what’s good for you.”
“Yes, yes, I don’t know what’s good for me.” Zhang Luo smiled. “I was wrong. I apologize.”
The two of them walked out of the school gate together.
At that moment, the sun was setting in the west, the enormous fireball nearly sinking below the horizon.
Most of the students had already gone home.
There were unusually few people at the school gate.
Hot wind came rolling toward them.
The clothes on their backs were blown up into great bulging humps.
“Have you heard the school is going to hold a debate competition?” Zhang Luo asked.
“Debate competition?” Jiang Xiaoyu shook her head. “Haven’t heard.”
“My homeroom teacher talked to me about it today. Do you want to participate when the time comes?”
“I’ve never done debate before.”
“I heard the school is taking this competition pretty seriously. They’re organizing it personally, and later they might even invite famous commentators and hosts to be judges,” Zhang Luo said.
Jiang Xiaoyu: “Our school? Invite famous commentators? How? The principal is bragging.”
Zhang Luo thought to himself, The principal really wasn’t bragging.
“That’s what I heard, anyway,” Zhang Luo said. “But this information is confidential. Otherwise, a lot of people would definitely be fighting to join this debate competition.”
“Even if famous commentators were judges, that wouldn’t make everyone fight to participate, would it?” Jiang Xiaoyu said.
Zhang Luo said with a smile, “Who knows? If someone performs well, maybe they’ll catch their eye and get invited to record one of their programs.”
Jiang Xiaoyu: “…”
She looked at Zhang Luo with some doubt.
“Who did you hear all this from?”
Zhang Luo: “My homeroom teacher. She asked me to participate.”
A half-believing, half-doubting expression appeared on Jiang Xiaoyu’s face.
Seeing her like this, Zhang Luo knew it was enough. Jiang Xiaoyu had taken it to heart.
He hoped she would be able to participate smoothly this time, and not once again be left with regret, missing this opportunity.
-
That night, when he got home, the food his mother had brought back that afternoon was already in the fridge. He only needed to take it out and heat it up before he could eat.
As Zhang Luo ate, he pondered how to improve his grades in every subject.
Ideals were beautiful, but the moment he sat down at his desk and began doing homework, reality revealed its bony side.
There was no computer at home, so he couldn’t go online to look up materials.
As for supplementary workbooks… he couldn’t say they were useless, but they weren’t that useful either. Fortunately, he had not thrown away his middle school books.
Zhang Luo rummaged through boxes and cabinets, found his middle school textbooks, and decided to read through them over the next few days to first recover some of the fundamentals he had lost. Otherwise, no matter how hard he worked, he would only be trying to build a castle in the air.
Luckily, he had been reborn back to fifteen years old, to his first year of high school, not his third.
If he had returned to his final year, then right now, aside from being utterly at a loss, he would probably have to study desperately with his hair tied to the beam and an awl stabbing his thigh.
At ten-thirty that night, he came out after taking a shower, just as his parents returned home.
“Have you finished your homework?” That was the first thing his mother asked.
“Pretty much,” Zhang Luo said. “Just a little left. I’ll finish it in a bit.”
His mother opened the fridge and took a look.
“How were the meatballs?”
“Delicious. I ate them all.”
“If you like them, I’ll make more next time and put them in the fridge. Later, you can steam them or cook them in soup. Either is fine.”
“Mm,” Zhang Luo said. “Actually, you don’t need to make a special trip back in the afternoon. It’s so hot out.”
“If I don’t cook it and leave it at home for you, how will you keep up your nutrition? You’re still growing.”
Zhang Luo said, “I can eat at the cafeteria first and then come home.”
Completed older book with ten thousand subscriptions, high-energy and no bad ending~