Chapter 111: I Won't Be Harsh with You Again Next Time

Ren Qingtian walked over holding a cup of water, observing the first three questions. A female student named Zhou Hui was still struggling with the fourth question, painstakingly squeezing out a single letter after a long time, erasing and rewriting repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Ren Qingtian had already started grading the first three questions in front of the whole class.

"Correct, correct, correct, all done quite well, the process is very accurate."

When he reached Zhou Hui’s side, he furrowed his brow. "Alright, that's enough, step down and stand by your desk. How many times have I told you about this type of question and you still don’t get it?"

Zhou Hui blushed and lowered her head, quietly standing by her seat.

Seeing that she was blocking the students behind her, Ren Qingtian waved his hand. "Forget it, sit down. Remember next time, when you face this kind of question, what do you do first? Come on, everyone watch me..."

He began teaching from the podium.

In the corner by the window, Lu Yuanqiu gazed tenderly at the girl beside him.

"Come here, give me your little hand."

Lu Yuanqiu took her hand, noticing the chalk dust on her palm and feeling a pang of sympathy. He skillfully reached into Bai Qingxia’s pants pocket and pulled out a tissue, gently wiping the chalk dust off her palm.

Bai Qingxia’s leg trembled slightly as he took the tissue, and her ears flushed red as she tried to pull her hand back.

Lu Yuanqiu clicked his tongue and glared at her, pulling her hand back and continuing to wipe the chalk dust.

"I'm sorry. I won’t be harsh with you again. It was my fault. I didn’t expect that even after I scolded you, you’d still help me with the problems. You’re really kind."

While speaking, Lu Yuanqiu kept wiping.

Bai Qingxia glanced up at him and seemed to genuinely believe his words. Her small hand no longer resisted, allowing him to clean it.

After school in the evening.

Bai Qingxia once again ran out of the classroom with her backpack, and Lu Yuanqiu couldn’t stop her. That girl was definitely going to buy water for him again.

In fact, the staff at the cinema provided drinks on site.

...

Today’s competition had one class on a bye round, and the remaining 14 classes drew lots to face off in pairs.

Class 28 was matched against Class 19, which was Cao Shuang’s class.

There was almost no suspense in this match. After a hard-fought first half against Lu Yuanqiu and his teammates, Cao Shuang deliberately gave up in the second half, even intentionally conceding points to Lu Yuanqiu to boost his personal score.

Midway through, Lu Yuanqiu glanced back at the students watching and spotted Zhang Yifei. Zhang Yifei had indeed come to watch his game.

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Beside Zhang Yifei was the same fair-faced but somewhat aloof-looking girl from before. Their relationship was evidently special.

What surprised Lu Yuanqiu even more was that Zheng Yifeng exchanged several looks with the girl beside Zhang Yifei.

It seemed Zheng Yifeng knew that girl.

...

After evening self-study, on the way to the supermarket, Lu Yuanqiu rode his bike, saying to the girl sitting on the back seat, "Don’t buy me water next time. You always buy three bottles. Where do you get the money to spend like that?"

"It’s not expensive," the girl stubbornly replied with three words.

Lu Yuanqiu said, "They provide water at the venue. It’s free."

Upon hearing this, Bai Qingxia fell silent. The bike’s tire ran over a stone, jolting her on the seat. She quickly wrapped her arms around Lu Yuanqiu’s waist.

Startled, Lu Yuanqiu exclaimed, "What are you doing?! Why are you hugging me?! You little rascal! Female hooligan!"

Bai Qingxia’s ears flushed crimson with embarrassment. She lightly pinched Lu Yuanqiu’s stomach. She didn’t dare pinch hard, so it didn’t hurt at all—it felt more like a playful gesture.

At the supermarket, Bai Qingxia noticed her father had already changed into the red vest of the store. Today, Uncle Lu wasn’t there to guide him, yet he had already learned to move stock from the warehouse. The girl turned by the shelves, watching attentively with a faint smile.

Suddenly, Bai Songzhe tripped over the threshold and fell to the ground, scattering the contents of a cardboard box everywhere.

From a distance, Bai Qingxia was startled and hurried over.

When she reached her father, she saw two other men rushing over as well. The three arrived almost simultaneously.

Lu Yuanqiu, Lu Tian, and Bai Qingxia looked at each other. Lu Yuanqiu immediately stepped forward to help Bai Songzhe up.

"It was that! It was that! Not me! I didn’t do it! Not me!" Bai Songzhe frantically pointed at the raised threshold, panicked and shouting loudly, drawing the attention of customers in the supermarket.

Bai Qingxia quickly went to her father’s side, patting his back to comfort him. "I know, I know, it’s not you. It’s okay, it’s okay..."

Only then did she look down at the broken cardboard box and the spilled contents: a pile of fruit.

There were many boxes of fruit like this. Lu Tian had stocked a large amount of fruit this time.

Seeing the girl’s puzzled expression, Lu Tian explained, "The end of the month is Halloween."

Bai Qingxia asked, "Selling fruit to kids?"

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Lu Tian raised his eyebrows and smacked his lips. "Not exactly. We’ll give it away for free, but not just to kids..."

Lu Yuanqiu smiled and took over the conversation, looking at the girl. "You’ll see when the time comes. It’s a tradition at our supermarket."

After speaking, he looked at Lu Tian. "Dad, let me go with Bai Qingxia next time."

"You’ve never liked doing this, always complaining about waking up early. Have you finally come to your senses?" Lu Tian sneered.

Lu Yuanqiu nodded solemnly. "Yes, I have."

Indeed, he had come to his senses about many things lately... Lu Tian silently observed his son. For instance, Lu Yuanqiu rarely helped at the supermarket before, but now he came nearly every day.

Without further questioning, Lu Tian bent down and grabbed a handful of fruit, stuffing it into Bai Songzhe’s pockets.

"Take it home and eat."

Bai Songzhe happily danced around. "Give it to Xiaxia to eat!"

He then pulled fruit out and stuffed it into Bai Qingxia’s pockets, while Lu Tian kept putting fruit into Bai Songzhe’s pockets, and Bai Songzhe returned the gesture by putting fruit into his daughter’s pockets.

Back and forth like this, Bai Qingxia’s face showed a troubled expression as she shook her hands. "Uncle, stop taking more!"

Father and son burst out laughing.

...

Time passed to Friday.

After school, Lu Yuanqiu and four others stood on the basketball court. Today was the final match within the senior grade.

The last game was Senior Class 12 versus Senior Class 28.

After five days of competition, Class 28’s reputation had spread throughout the campus, especially the fame of Zheng Yifeng and Lu Yuanqiu.

One was a magical dribbler with strikingly handsome looks. Wherever Zheng Yifeng played, the stands were always packed with girls.

The other was Lu Yuanqiu, the six-sided warrior of the basketball court with explosive dunking skills. Every suspended dunk drew the loudest screams from the crowd.

(The chapter ends)