Chapter 49: So This Is Your Study Partner?

Page (1/3)

A little after seven in the morning, just as the students of Yunqi No. 1 High School were starting their morning exercises, Li Wanyin awoke from her dreams. Perhaps it was the pleasant words Chen Shian had said to her the night before, telling her she was destined for great fortune; her sister had, for once, had a beautiful dream and awoke feeling spirited and full of energy.

But Li Wanyin knew well enough that kind words and good dreams were one thing—reality was quite another, and she was all too clear on her current circumstances.

“The future still has to be earned with one’s own efforts—!”

Standing before the mirror at her vanity, she spoke quietly to her reflection, giving herself a little encouragement.

When she opened the door and stepped out, she heard the sound of the television coming from the living room.

She was a bit curious—was it possible that Shian hadn't left for class yet, even though it was already past seven?

But as she walked out, she discovered it was only the lazy black cat sprawled on the sofa, watching TV.

“Shimo, is it you watching television?”

“Meow.”

“All right, you go ahead and watch… Eh?”

It was only then that Li Wanyin realized—was it normal for a cat to be watching TV on its own so early in the morning? Had Shian left the TV on for it by accident? Surely the cat couldn’t have turned the television on by itself!

“Shimo, did you turn the television on yourself...?”

The black cat gave her a sidelong glance, as if to say, “I’m a cat, am I supposed to speak to you? City people are strange, always talking to cats and asking themselves questions.”

Li Wanyin found it all very novel. She picked up the remote beside the cat and pressed a button to turn off the TV.

The black cat glanced at her again. It was only a cat, but she almost thought she could see a puzzled expression on its face.

She had barely put down the remote when the black cat reached out with a paw and pressed it firmly on the power button, turning the television back on.

“Shimo! So it really was you who turned on the TV!”

The cat only blinked at her.

“Amazing! You actually know how to turn on the television!”

Li Wanyin was astonished. She had only shown Shimo how to do it out of boredom the night before, never expecting the cat to pick it up so quickly!

Granted, it was a simple command, but for the cat to learn so fast and turn on the TV to watch by itself truly surprised her.

“Shimo, you’re too clever! You can use the bathroom and even turn on the TV… Can you understand what you’re watching?”

The cat remained silent.

“But it’s fine if you can’t. Honestly, if I were stuck alone in the house, I’d be bored too.”

Li Wanyin, excited, took out her phone and snapped a picture of the cat watching TV on the sofa, sending it to Chen Shian on WeChat.

Little Echo: [photo]
Little Echo: [So amazing! Shimo can turn on the TV by itself!]

Chen Shian was at school, and, judging by his phone habits, probably wouldn’t see the message until after classes.

But Li Wanyin didn’t mind; she just wanted to share this amusing little moment with him—after all, it was his cat.

Since graduating and stepping into society, friends to share such fresh little stories with had become fewer. The joys and sorrows of people rarely coincide; Li Wanyin understood this more and more.

Just as she was about to put away her phone and wash up, she was surprised to receive a reply from Chen Shian.

Chen Shian: [Did the TV wake you up, Wanyin? I’ll give it a good scolding when I get home.]
Little Echo: [No, no, Shimo is very well-behaved. Are you on your phone at school?]
Chen Shian: [I set my phone to vibrate last night, got your message right after morning exercises. Don’t you start work at ten? Why are you up so early?]

Page (2/3)

Little Echo: [I’ve got an interview at nine, and then a part-time job afterward. You focus on your classes, I won’t keep bothering you.]
Chen Shian: [Good luck, Wanyin!]
Little Echo: [Thanks! You too!]

The sun shone brightly that day, and Li Wanyin was in excellent spirits.

She put her phone on to charge, quickly washed up, and went to the kitchen to make a simple bowl of egg noodles.

The black cat on the sofa, lured by the scent, trotted over.

“Meow.”

“Shimo, you want some too? Didn’t Shian give you anything to eat?”

“Meow…”

“All right, all right, you can have all the egg.”

The black cat had only meant to beg for a bite, but Li Wanyin went ahead and gave over more than half the egg from her bowl, placing it in the cat’s dish.

Shimo almost felt a little embarrassed. It curled its tail around itself, glanced at the egg in the bowl, then looked up at her as she hurriedly slurped her noodles.

“Hm? What’s wrong, Shimo? You don’t like eggs?”

The black cat reached out, tapped the edge of the bowl with its paw, and pushed it toward her, then looked up again.

“Hm? Are you offering it to me?”

Li Wanyin remembered that when she was young, the family had kept a cat, and sometimes when the cat caught a big rat, it would place it at her feet as an offering—though she certainly never ate it…

“Meow.”

Seeing she didn’t react, the black cat nudged the bowl again.

Li Wanyin couldn’t help but laugh, reaching over to stroke its head naturally.

It was only after she did so that she realized—this was the first time she’d ever managed to pet Shimo! And this time, the cat didn’t dodge away.

“Go ahead and eat, Shimo. Once I’m making good money, I’ll buy you treats every day.”

Hearing this, the black cat finally stopped being polite and quickly devoured the egg in its bowl.

Li Wanyin, addicted to petting the cat, was about to reach out again, but this time Shimo darted away to the sofa, resuming its television viewing.

Time was running short. Li Wanyin tidied up, grabbed her backpack, and checked how many copies of her resume she had left.

“Sis is heading out now. I’ll bring you some fish snacks tonight, bye-bye.”

The black cat on the sofa turned to look at her.

She waved as though truly bidding farewell to a family member, then gently closed the door behind her.

Shimo looked away and returned to watching television.

Hearing the faint drip-drip of water, it hopped down from the sofa, ran to the kitchen, and tightened the faucet she’d forgotten in her rush.

Some water splashed onto its fur, and the black cat shook its paw as if shocked.

It returned to the living room, turned off the TV, then ran to the balcony and, with a leap, sprang onto the nearby wall and bounded away as if walking on solid ground…

For those who needed to go to school or work, it was time. And for Shimo, it was time to take a stroll, too.

…

The midday bell rang, signaling the end of classes, and the classroom filled with lively chatter.

Page (3/3)

Chen Shian emerged from his flow state, put away his seventh-grade math textbook, and stretched.

In these last two periods of self-study during biology and chemistry, along with yesterday’s progress, Chen Shian had already finished all the material for the first half of seventh-grade mathematics. With a few more physics classes and an evening self-study session, he would have fully mastered the subject.

His pace was truly remarkable—while other students spent an entire semester learning this material, Chen Shian had completed it in less than two days.

Even Lin Mengqiu was left wide-eyed.

Ever since the academic tracks and classes had been divided in her first year of high school, and the top student in liberal arts had left, no one had ever threatened her position as number one. Was Chen Shian really about to dethrone her, despite having been academically behind for so many years?

Just a day ago, Lin Mengqiu would have thought it impossible, but after witnessing Chen Shian’s speed in learning both mathematics and English, she no longer dared to underestimate him.

There was, however, a little spark of happiness in her heart at seeing that, during biology and chemistry, Chen Shian had chosen to study math instead of English.

Even Lin Mengqiu herself couldn’t quite explain this small burst of joy—maybe it was because his study partner taught him English, while she helped him with math.

On classes unrelated to either subject, instead of using the English materials from his partner, he picked up the math workbook she’d given him. This somehow gave her a faint and peculiar sense of victory.

Of course, this was not the sort of girlish feeling she could let him know about. In fact, when she realized she actually cared about something so trivial, she felt a little embarrassed herself.

Who could say why she’d come to care about such a strange thing!

Meanwhile, Chen Shian had already stood up from his seat.

He had now fully embraced the role of “desk mate”—whenever it was time to leave, like at the end of classes, he would always stand up first, tuck in his chair, and gather his things without blocking Lin Mengqiu’s way, whether or not she was ready to get up. He never made things difficult for her.

Lin Mengqiu, of course, noticed these small gestures. She had to admit, in all her years as a student, Chen Shian was the most unusual desk mate she’d ever had.

“Class president, we don’t need to clean the classroom at noon, right?”

“No need.”

“All right, then I’ll just clean the blackboard…”

Before Chen Shian could finish, he saw Lin Mengqiu stand up and walk straight to the blackboard, rag in hand, to wipe it clean.

When the teachers wrote too high for her to reach, she would even stand on tiptoe.

Chen Shian blinked. In certain things, Lin Mengqiu had her own stubbornness. For instance, when taking out the trash, even if she was holding her breath and nearly suffocating, she would still insist on carrying the bucket with him. If he had cleaned the blackboard twice in the morning, she had to do it twice as well—she wouldn’t take even the smallest advantage.

Since Lin Mengqiu was cleaning the blackboard this time, Chen Shian had nothing else to do and left the classroom first.

At noon, the stairways were packed with students heading home.

Chen Shian followed the crowd down to the first floor, then waited in an open corridor.

After about five minutes, he spotted a petite figure making her way down the stairs.

Now that she had someone waiting to eat with her, Wen Zhixia didn’t want to keep Chen Shian waiting. She quickly packed up after class and squeezed her way down from the fourth floor.

“Taoist!”

“You’re fast today, Little Cicada!”

“Let’s hurry! Soon it’ll be crowded again! Do you want to try the first cafeteria today?”

“Sure.”

The two of them walked briskly toward the cafeteria.

At that moment, Lin Mengqiu stepped out from the corridor, her gaze drifting over Chen Shian and Wen Zhixia’s departing figures.

Her expression was calm, but as the afternoon sunlight fell over her, she narrowed her eyes just a little…