Chapter 60: Bai Qingxia: Lu Yuanqiu Is Truly Remarkable

Cao Shuang said, "One is Liu Jie from Class 2 of Grade 12, another is Li Yanping from Class 10 of Grade 12, and the last is Sun Ruofei from Class 11 of Grade 12."

"They were all in the same class as Xu Yan during Grade 10. Oh, and Bai Qingxia from your class was also in that class in Grade 10," Cao Shuang added.

Lu Yuanqiu asked cautiously, "Did you find out who they locked in the restroom when you were investigating?"

Cao Shuang shook his head. "That I don't know. I just looked into who was close to Xu Yan, and it so happened that someone saw the three of them sneaking out of the first floor of the Grade 11 building at noon that day."

"Brother Qiu, you don’t know who they locked up? Should I ask around?"

Lu Yuanqiu immediately shook his head. "No need. Don’t ask."

Cao Shuang nodded obediently.

Lu Yuanqiu had no impression of these three girls, so he continued to ask, "What are their family backgrounds?"

Cao Shuang replied, "Just average families, nothing special. Brother Qiu, just say the word, when do we act?"

Lu Yuanqiu didn't rush to answer. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating. Seeing him eat, Cao Shuang also began to eat the food on his own tray.

After a moment, Lu Yuanqiu finally spoke. "Cao Shuang, you’re not a bad guy, you’re loyal, you’ve got guts. I treat you as a brother, that’s why I’m telling you this. I hope you’ll disband that group of brothers at school."

Hearing this, Cao Shuang put down his chopsticks in surprise.

He stared blankly across the table.

He suddenly noticed that this buzz-cut boy, who had always seemed wild and unruly in his memory, now carried a different aura. Behind him, the orange-red sunset outside the window seemed to cloak his shoulders like a mantle.

At this moment, Lu Yuanqiu looked a bit like the Monkey King from TV in Cao Shuang’s eyes.

Snapping back to reality, Cao Shuang asked, "Brother Qiu, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?"

Lu Yuanqiu reached out and playfully tugged at Cao Shuang’s side-swept bangs that covered one eye, smiling. "What do you mean, nothing’s happened. And your hair—get it cut soon."

"Hehe, gotta look cool," Cao Shuang scratched his head, embarrassed.

Lu Yuanqiu grew serious. "When you graduate, I’ll have my uncle arrange a job for you. You’ll get a stable salary, and your mother’s medical expenses will be taken care of."

Cao Shuang froze, sitting up straight, disbelief in his eyes as he flicked his bangs aside, revealing clear eyes. "Brother Qiu, someone would hire me? I don’t even have a diploma."

Lu Yuanqiu said, "That’s called pulling strings, understand? But you’ll have to start from the bottom."

"Good… good! Alright! I’ll do whatever you say!"

Cao Shuang nodded excitedly, sitting up even straighter, and pushed his chicken nuggets toward Lu Yuanqiu. "Brother Qiu, eat!"

He vaguely remembered it was the year 2013, three years later, when Cao Shuang got mixed up with a big shot in society, was tricked, and ended up unknowingly doing something illegal, taking the fall and landing in prison.

He came from a single-parent home, and his sick mother had no one to care for her, eventually passing away in sorrow.

Lu Yuanqiu lowered his head and ate.

Since he had been reborn and knew these things ahead of time, he would help if he could.

After all, Cao Shuang never took money for helping Lu Yuanqiu, always calling him "Brother Qiu" with real respect.

Lu Yuanqiu said, "Don’t corner those three girls at school. Watch their routes home after school, and when you’ve figured it out, come find me in Class 28."

"Got it!"

...

The day after the monthly exam, during the big break.

"Damn! Lu Yuanqiu, did you cheat on your essay?"

"What cheating! As if I could predict the English essay topic in advance!"

At the back of the classroom, Zhong Jincheng stared in disbelief at the English essay on Lu Yuanqiu’s test paper. Even he found several sentence structures unfamiliar.

He gave Lu Yuanqiu a sharp look, then glanced elsewhere, looking at the marks corrected in red pen. "Damn… all correct on English listening?!! Are you kidding me? You bastard, I missed two myself."

The last period had been English, and Su Miaomiao had already checked answers with everyone.

Lu Yuanqiu crossed his arms, bouncing his leg proudly. "See how awesome your dad is?"

Zhong Jincheng snapped, "Get lost."

He kept flipping through the papers.

The second in the grade was shocked, and unwilling to accept it.

Sitting in her seat, Bai Qingxia smiled softly as she watched the scene.

Lu Yuanqiu’s good grades meant that somewhere in the world, there was a girl named Bai who would be happy.

"Only one mistake in reading comprehension?! Damn… well, at least you made more mistakes in the cloze, more than me."

Zhong Jincheng commented as he looked back, finally tallying up the scores, his smile slowly fading.

If Lu Yuanqiu got full marks for his English essay, his total would be 140!

And if Zhong Jincheng got full marks, his total would also be 140!

But Zhong Jincheng knew he couldn’t possibly get full marks for his essay.

Lu Yuanqiu’s, on the other hand, might actually get that perfect score.

"Not fun, boring, I’m out."

He stuffed the paper back into Lu Yuanqiu’s hands and left without looking back, as if making some kind of decision.

The commotion drew attention from the front of the classroom. Hu Caiwei turned around and asked, "What’s going on?"

Wang Haoran replied, "Seems like Lu Yuanqiu got every question right in English listening…"

"What?!" Hu Caiwei was stunned, her lips twitching, "How’s that possible? Him?"

Lu Yuanqiu returned to his seat with his test paper, bouncing his leg proudly, his smile as bright as a chrysanthemum.

Two girls in the front row turned around, asking in surprise, "Lu Yuanqiu, can we see your paper?"

"Go ahead, take a look!"

Lu Yuanqiu handed it over.

The two girls exchanged shocked glances, unable to believe this was Lu Yuanqiu’s English paper. But it was true that his English speaking had changed a lot recently.

"Lu Yuanqiu, did you do well in your other subjects too?"

One girl asked.

This… was exactly the topic he didn’t want to bring up. Only English was worth showing off.

Lu Yuanqiu cleared his throat. "No rush, I’ve been working hard lately. If only I’d studied properly before, taken notes in class, it'd be easier now. Looking at the blank pages in my textbook, I don’t understand a thing."

Notes… Bai Qingxia, sitting nearby, quietly listened, softly murmuring the word and secretly remembered it.

One of the girls in front said, "But you’ve made huge progress, it’s really surprising."

"Of course, who do you think I am?"

Lu Yuanqiu boasted.

After the girls turned back, Lu Yuanqiu placed his English paper on Bai Qingxia’s desk and asked her, "Aren’t I impressive?"

Bai Qingxia smiled and nodded. "Impressive."

Lu Yuanqiu leaned in mischievously. "Then say, 'Lu Yuanqiu is so amazing!'"

The girl glanced at him, pursed her lips, and with her earlobes turning red, softly repeated, "Lu Yuanqiu is so amazing."

Ah~ so satisfying, so sweet... Lu Yuanqiu raised his head, his eyes dreamy.

That sweet, soft voice~

He pushed his luck, "Say it again, 'Lu Yuanqiu is so amazing, I’m your little fangirl~'"

Bai Qingxia gripped her pen tightly, lowered her head, pursed her lips hard, and turned away, refusing to answer.

"Hey, what’s there to be embarrassed about? You just said it."

Lu Yuanqiu tugged at her soft arm, but the girl shrank her shoulder, blushing and ignoring him.

"What are you doing?! Lu Yuanqiu!" At that moment, Liu Wei knocked on the door and glared at Lu Yuanqiu from the doorway.

Lu Yuanqiu immediately straightened up, stopped pestering Bai Qingxia, and sat back in his seat, staring solemnly at his English paper.

"This paper really looks like a paper."

He muttered to himself.

Liu Wei walked into the classroom and said, "I have something to announce."