Chapter 59

The sky in Lvshan City darkened later in the evening.

After finishing swimming practice in the afternoon, Xiaoqi went home to cook dinner. After eating, she went to the school next door to review her lessons while the sky was still not dark.

Coach Wu praised her again and vigorously encouraged her, saying she was very promising and swam better than many members of their swim team.

She really liked Coach Wu. He was always encouraging and never scolded her even when she had her period during training. He just kept praising her.

But because of this, she felt her current state was largely due to the coach's encouragement rather than her own ability. She didn't dare be arrogant since she wasn't a genius.

Today her memorization buff was gone. While reviewing her lessons on the school track, she felt there was a noticeable difference.

The content in New Concept English Book 4 was more difficult to begin with. Usually she would read through a lesson three times and roughly remember it. Then when she went back and copied it out, she would remember more clearly. Reviewing it again the next day would deeply imprint the memory.

Now after reading the same lesson five times, she still only vaguely grasped it. She estimated that when she went back she would have to copy it out at least twice, and still review and consolidate it the next two days.

That was her plan. She would just double her previous efforts. With this pattern, it should be adequate.

Today was the last day of her language sense buff. She read very carefully, desperately hoping to remember this feeling.

Luckily she had the language sense buff and memorization buff at the same time recently, so she was able remember what it felt like when she read English.

And recently the amount of English she read aloud was probably her total for the previous semester.

Previously she had always felt too shy and embarrassed to read aloud, so she had learned "deaf-mute English". But recently whenever possible she tried to read out loud.

She also listened to the English program on Ximalaya every day.

She hoped she would have a chance to go abroad someday and see what it was like.

This desire didn't just suddenly pop into her head. It came up yesterday when the tutor Jingzhi, who had excellent English, asked Xiaoqi how she learned English and commented her language sense was also very good. Jingzhi said her aunt had married to America, so whenever she was on break she went to visit. Her aunt's family all spoke English there, so her language sense was quite natural.

It described another distant, distant world that Xiaoqi never dared dream of before. But now she thought of it a little bit.

She walked while reviewing her book. When she got tired from walking she would sit under a streetlamp and rest for a bit, then continue reviewing.

After reviewing for two hours, she felt like her brain was spent—used up.

She decided to go for a run.

She still hadn't reached her 30,000 daily step goal.

She left her school bag under a conspicuous streetlight and started jogging slowly while listening to the English program on Ximalaya to pass time.

When her back was drenched in sweat, she saw she had almost reached 30,000 steps. She had run for about an hour and was already very tired. At this point it felt like both her body and brain were spent. She sat under the streetlight, exhausted. Then she lay down on the sports field.

Looking up, she saw the night sky.

Beside the streetlight in front tonight, angled slightly above, there was a new crescent moon—a slender crescent.

She thought it looked especially beautiful and took out her phone to snap a picture. But she discovered a cell phone camera has difficulty capturing the moon and stars, especially with a streetlight right there. The glow from the streetlight dominated the frame and obscured the moonlight so the picture just showed a lone streetlight.

Yet it was still rather nice—no one realized there was a moon hidden behind that streetlight.

She took out her phone and, oddly today, WeChat showed many message notices.

She had been busy all day picking up her dad and then swimming practice, so she was only checking now.

Opening WeChat, she discovered many Qixi festival blessings.

They were clearly mass text messages.

Jiajia had also contacted her and asked if she had any plans today.

Glancing through Moments, there were indeed many show-off couple posts as expected.

She didn't have many friends added, yet there were still quite a few show-off posts.

She couldn't believe it was Qixi Festival already.

Lying on the sports field looking up at the night sky, Xiaoqi strained to see one or two faint stars. Unlike back home in Gumula Village where you just looked up to see a sky full of bright stars—so many, never-ending.

She didn't have Shaowei added, but she had added Ruan from that day. Though it was Ruan who actively added her.

Her feelings were complex. At the time she readily agreed when Ruan added her. Ruan had posted a big bouquet of roses on Moments and a gigantic teddy bear she was leaning against, looking very petite with her long hair dangling. Her eyes brimmed with smiles. Then there was a photo of them holding hands.

The caption said "Our first Qixi Festival."

Xiaoqi felt a bit sour and sad inside.

The sports field was getting cool. She got up with her bag on her back and headed out.

After showering at the hospital, it was rather late, but she still couldn't fall asleep. She decided to practice calligraphy for a bit.

After resting for a while, someone suddenly knocked on the door. Xiaoqi assumed it was her aunt and said "Come in."

But after a brief pause she realized she had locked the door and her aunt didn't have the key on her. She got up to open the door and, to her surprise, it was Min, who she hadn't seen for a long time.

She saw he was holding a pomelo in his arms.

"I saw your light was still on so I figured you hadn't slept yet. My friend brought a bunch of pomelos back from his hometown and they're very sweet. I brought one over for you."

Xiaoqi was a bit dumbfounded. She hadn't yet received a neighborly gift—it had been her giving things out both times before.

But she quite liked eating pomelo.

"Thanks, Brother Min. Haven't seen you for several days."

Xiaoqi drew back the curtain and Min stood at the doorway, peering inside. It looked totally transformed. He had heard from his sister that Xiaoqi had put up wallpaper by herself, and now she wanted to as well but didn't know how. She asked Min to help out.

The room now had white walls and antique jars filled with bright flowers.

The flowers were brought back by Xiaoqi's aunt from the patient rooms. Patients often received more fruit and flowers than they could handle. Fresh ones were frequently tossed because some patients really couldn't tolerate the smell.

So now the staff dorm changed out the bouquet every day—a whole basin full of flowers making it look very lovely.

Sumei had also changed out the light bulb because her niece often studied at night. She specially installed a brighter one. Previously the room was a bit dingy so she felt a darker bulb was fine. But now that it was so clean and tidy, it of course should be brighter. Not having seen it for several days, Min now saw such an elegant room, feeling as if they lived in completely different worlds.

After all, it was right next door, yet the girl's room was clean and neat. There were books on the desk, schedules posted on the wall.

Shoes were neatly stowed under the cabinet.

Clothes were neatly folded alongside the bed.

Xiaoqi was still wearing an oversized t-shirt. He knew she wore this big white tee as pajamas at night. It could almost pass as a nightgown it was so big, making her look even more petite.

Her chest protruded slightly.

When his gaze shifted there, Min's ears turned a bit red.

"These past several days I was with my friends. We organized a short-term training class with pretty good income. Want to come help out?" Min asked.

If it was previously, Xiaoqi would have readily agreed. But considering her schedule recently—she had to train for the swim competition—plus she already had 7 students and didn't feel right taking money without working for it by preparing lessons and whatnot, she probably wouldn't be able to manage. She could only decline with a shake of her head.

"That student you introduced last time brought me six more students, so I'm a bit busy now and can't go. But Brother Min, you're so capable!"

In fact, Min didn't plan to invite her in the first place. The training class he organized with his friends operated on a partnership model with far higher returns than what he could earn independently tutoring. But it was also kind of illegal—essentially an underground operation. Yet the profits were extremely high.

They already had over 80 enrolled students seeking tutoring or to retake exams. Riding on Min's reputation of being admitted to Qingmeng University, they kept attracting more students.

They earned several thousand yuan a day. Sometimes during peak registration periods they even earned over 10,000 yuan a day.

He was brimming with ambition and quite conceited these days. He didn't even come back to sleep recently.

He didn't like this dim tunnel. Buried here was his dark life and dark past. He eagerly wanted to pursue a new life and move out—flee this place.

But in this moment, seeing this clean little bedroom, he grew confused again.

Xiaoqi politely bid farewell and good night, then closed the door.

Beside the vase of flowers on the table was a large yellow pomelo. The room now carried an additional fruity fragrance blended in.

She stretched lazily and saw it was past midnight already.

Qixi Festival had ended.

She lay down.

"The host tidied up the room and brought a ray of warmth to the dark heart of the moderately darkening teenager, relieving the speed of the teenager's darkening, and rewarding the host with the unreachable buff for 20 days."

The mechanical sound that I haven't heard in a long time suddenly sounded, strangely feeling a bit intimate.

The drowsy Su Xiaoqi opened her eyes, always feeling that the neighbor Lin Min was simply an NPC for brushing equipment. Every time she met him, no matter what she did or didn't do, there were always rewards.

What on earth is the unreachable buff??