CH 49

Jiang Li was invited by the old man into the house. Chi Fang was still standing at the door, holding the door handle, and didn’t move. He was really baffled by the fact that Jiang Li had suddenly become his tutor.

“Xiao Fang, what are you standing there for, come and serve.” The old man saw Chi Fang only standing still at the door, and called out to him.

“Oh.”

Chi Fang bristled, closed the door, returned to the living room, and took the teapot from the hands of the old man to pour tea for Jiang Li.

Jiang Li saw this and hurriedly stood up, waved his hand, and said, “No need to serve me.”

“That’s not okay.” The old man disapproved and told Chi Fang to treat Jiang Li well, and he went back to the kitchen.

The only two people left in the living room were Jiang Li and Chi Fang. Chi Fang poured Jiang Li a cup of tea and then sat on a chair beside him. He lowered his voice and asked Jiang Li what was going on.

Jiang Li told Chi Fang about their encounter in the bookstore and how after the old man had found out that they were schoolmates, he had requested him to help tutor Chi Fang. 

“Impossible.” Chi Fang didn’t believe his words. “Although the old man is unreliable sometimes, he won’t simply find someone to tutor me.”

He wanted to ask Jiang Li if he had set up the old man but thought that Jiang Li shouldn’t be such a person, so he threatened in a low voice, “Honestly explain now, or you will be swept out of the house.”

“The old man asked me how many points I got in English, and as soon as I told him, he asked me to come over.” Jiang Li said in a soft voice.

“…” Chi Fang remembered the high score of 148 on Jiang Li’s unit exam paper and was somewhat dumbfounded. This score was indeed able to give him a remedial lesson.

Jiang Li looked at him, speechless and slightly mad. A smile flashed across his eyes and he added naughtily, “The old man also told me that you only scored sixty points, so I decided to come to help you make up for the lesson.”

“…”

You only scored sixty points. Although his points were really too shabby to look at in front of Jiang Li, when he heard the word “only”, he didn’t feel good – as if he was useless – so he dissed back, “There are so many people who failed exams in school, how come I didn’t see you give them extra lessons? You’re just poking your nose into others’ business like dogs catching mice.”

“But they didn’t save me before.” Jiang Li said without thinking and wasn’t angry at Chi Fang comparing him to a dog. He looked at him with seriousness, “My life was saved by you, but I have nothing to repay you, only this learning ability may be able to help you.”

Chi Fang was stunned by his words.

Jiang Li took a deep breath, clenching his fists tightly that were placed on his lap. His eyes fixed on him. He sounded as if he was pleading, “Let me try, I will teach you well, okay?”

His eyes were clear and bright, like the light that brightened up the darkness, with a firm and pleading look in his eyes; as if the matter of tutoring Chi Fang was not enough compared to the kindness of him saving Jiang Li, he really placed the kindness of Chi Fang who saved him in his heart at all times.

Chi Fang met his eyes unintentionally and could only feel that he was burnt by the gratitude that was almost flowing out from his eyes. His heart skipped a beat unconsciously and he avoided his gaze embarrassingly just after they looked at each other for a few seconds.

“Whatever.” Chi Fang said with a deep, gruff voice and didn’t want to be alone with him anymore.

He got up and returned to his room. He then accidentally hit a small wooden stool on the way. He cursed in a low tone and bent over to directly carry the stool back into this room. 

His back looked like he was fleeing in defeat. Jiang Li froze looking at him, there was a moment he actually felt that the back of the person in front of him and the back of Jiang Zhan when he fled back to his room after being teased overlapped.

… Jiang Zhan.

Jiang Li moved his lips and called out this name silently. His eyes felt dry, and his sight became blurry, tears nearly flowed out. 

What should I do? One life clearly passed, but I still have not learned how to get used to the days without you. If you know, you must be laughing at me again, right?

Jiang Li laughed at himself, lowered his head to hide his slightly reddened eyes, and sat drinking tea like nothing happened when Chi Fang came out again; but he didn’t know why the tea was getting more and more bitter as he drank.

After finishing the cup of tea, Jiang Li and Chi Fang went back to the room. Jiang Li prepared to start helping him with his tutoring.

Chi Fang’s room was not large, but it was very simple and clean, it could be seen that it was often cleaned.

There weren’t very many books on the bookcase, instead, it was mostly filled with robot models and animation figures. But what attracted Jiang Li’s attention was the lighter in the showcase at the top of the bookcase.

Jiang Li estimated that there were about two dozen lighters of various kinds in the showcase. Looking at them, most of them were made of metal and silver. Some lighters also had intricate patterns carved on them, placed on the black flannel, which looked exquisite and expensive.

Chi Fang looked at him staring at his precious collection, his tone was a little proud, “I collected all of them, do you want to take a look?”

Jiang Li knew that many people had their own precious things that they wouldn’t usually show to others easily. He didn’t smoke, it was just that all these lighters were so exquisite and beautiful that he did have some desire to see them up close. Hearing him say so, he asked, “Can I?”

“Yes.”

Chi Fang saw his eyes light up because he agreed, and only then he slowly said, “You can look, but not touch.”

Jiang Li: “… … …”

Seeing Jiang Li puff out his mouth, Chi Fang was pleased to feel that he had made a comeback and whistled as he took down the lighter display board from the showcase.

He especially found someone to custom-make the display board to specially place the lighters. Each groove was just right to put a lighter, not only Jiang Li, but Feng Yu could also only see but not touch when he came over.

Chi Fang put the display board on the desk and raised his chin to indicate for Jiang Li to take a look.

Jiang Li kept his words, he only looked at them and didn’t touch them, though in his heart he really wanted to use his fingers and feel the texture.

By looking at them closely, Jiang Li could feel how exquisite and expensive they were, more so than looking at them from afar. The word “Chi” was engraved on the bottom right part of each lighter, in the exact same position as the one he picked up last time.

“Why do you have such a large collection of lighters? I remember you don’t seem to smoke?” Jiang Li looked up and asked Chi Fang. He remembered that Chi Fang didn’t smoke the two times he went to the cafe, and he didn’t smell of smoke.

“I like it.” Chi Fang put the display board back in the showcase and sat at the table. He turned the globe as he asked, “Don’t you have something you like?”

“Of course I do.” Jiang Li said.

Chi Fang became interested: “What is it?”

“Money.” 1

“What?” Chi Fang thought he had misheard.

“Money,” Jiang Li repeated, explaining word for word, “M, O, N, E, Y, Money, or Renminbi, commonly known as money, banknotes.”

Chi Fang: “… … …”

You like money, I can understand, but I just failed English, it doesn’t mean that I don’t understand a single English word. You make me feel like a retard by specifically explaining it.

Jiang Li took the prepared textbooks out of his bag, put them on the desktop, and said to Chi Fang, “Let’s start studying.”

Chi Fang looked down at the books he brought, only to see that the cover of the top book had a big title written on it – English Phonetic Learning Basic Introduction.

Chi Fang: “…”

The veins on his forehead jumped twice, and Chi Fang felt that he was indeed being treated like a retard by Jiang Li.

“I didn’t read your previous test papers and wasn’t sure exactly where your English level was, so I brought over books of different levels.” Jiang Li patted the books beside his hand, he had brought a total of seven or eight of them, “but… if you don’t mind, can you show me all the previous test papers?”

Sorry, laozi minds a lot. 

Chi Fang complained in his heart, sitting on the table motionless, obviously not wanting to cooperate.

Jiang Li understood very well his mood of not wanting to show the test papers with only low scores, he nodded and said, “It doesn’t matter if I don’t take a look at them, I brought new test questions here today, it’s the same if you do it again.”

Chi Fang: “…” What the hell, Jiang Li?

Jiang Li pulled out a test paper from his bag. This was the senior English test paper he bought yesterday in the book store on the way after promising the old man. Considering Chi Fang’s failing grade, he chose the easiest one.

After looking at the time, Jiang Li gave the test paper and pen to Chi Fang. “The same amount of time as the usual test at school, now the test starts, Chi Fang tongxue, good luck.”

The address “Chi Fang tongxue” sounded different in Chi Fang’s ears. Usually, when Jiang Li called him Chi Fang tongxue, it sounded like they were classmates; but this Chi Fang tongxue sounded like they had a teacher-student relationship. 

This change made Chi Fang feel awkward, and felt that he should not have been soft-hearted to have agreed to let Jiang Li be his tutor. This was only the first day and the identity of the two had changed. 

However, since Chi Fang had already promised him, he would not fail to keep his word. Besides, Jiang Li was so poor, he could get an extra salary for tutoring, so he considered it as helping him out.

After some random thoughts, Chi Fang felt that he was almost touched by himself. He suddenly heard two “knocks” by his ears, and when he looked up, he saw Jiang Li standing next to him; the sound just now was of him tapping on the table.

“Chi Fang tongxue.” Jiang Li called out to him, holding the alarm clock in his left hand and handing it to him, indicating him to look at the time on it, “Ten minutes have passed, and you’re still thinking about the first multiple-choice question?”

Chi Fang: “…”

…

The room was quiet. Jiang Li sat on a chair by the window reading a book. He turned the pages very lightly, as if he was afraid of disturbing Chi Fang, who was in the middle of the exam.

After Chi Fang completed the multiple-choice questions, he raised his hand and rubbed his shoulders. His gaze inadvertently glanced at Jiang Li’s side profile, and his movements paused for a moment.

The sunlight spilled in through the window from the gap between the leaves. Spots of lights refracted on Jiang Li’s side profile. His too-pale skin was filtered with a soft layer of warm yellow, like a shimmering light enveloping his whole person, which made him look warm.

Chi Fang looked at him and suddenly felt that the time they spent together was peaceful and comfortable. 

“Congratulations Host, the male lead’s favorability rose 10%. The current favorability is 20%.”

System’s voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

En? The favorability has gone up?

Jiang Li raised his head from the book, coincidentally meeting the sight of Chi Fang. He could not help but smile at him and softly asked, “What’s wrong?”

“… Nothing.”

Chi Fang put away his gaze and continued doing the test, but his mind was slowly drifting away. His ears heard the rustling of leaves blown by the wind outside, heard the wind chimes tinkling in someone’s house; these sounds coincidentally converged together, like playing a tune he had never heard before.

The time for the exam passed quickly. Jiang Li gave a basic exercise book to Chi Fang to read, and he went to the side to correct the test paper.

Although Chi Fang’s English result was not good, his English words were beautiful. They were written naturally like flowing water. However, other than that, other aspects were not presentable. The major problems at the back were mostly blank, the only two lines that were written were copied from the question.

It took less than five minutes to mark the paper. Jiang Li calculated the score, and his final score was unbearable to look at. He had an urge to throw the test paper to his face. 

Chi Fang noticed that Jiang Li’s gaze was weird. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Chi Fang tongxue.” Jiang Li turned the test paper over, pointing out the score on it, and said bitterly, “Did you copy others in the last test paper in which you had scored 60 points?”

Chi Fang: “…”

I didn’t, I didn’t!

T/N: Hi guys not locking up the chapters ‘cuz I’m too lazy to lock all of them up since I work on many novels. If this translation is stolen, then… just let it be, I’m only translating this novel because I like it anyways. I’ll only stop translating when the authorities ask me to remove the translations. Remember to join Dummy’s discord server so you get updates every time something happens. Hope I get to finish this novel since it’s almost 50 chapters done. Thanks for reading as always!