Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: A Fox Borrowing the Tiger’s Might, Takes in a Young Tiger Cub as a Student (Part 2)

I feel like I’ve stumbled upon some incredible secret. He Wenyu lowered his head and silently thought while eating the freshly served cake.

”I’m not saying I can’t help you, do you want to become my apprentice?” Luo Qianqian, realizing that she had been thoroughly investigated by the other party, decided not to fake it anymore. Pretending to be a child was exhausting anyway.

Bai Yizhu almost spit out his milk tea, ”What? Become your apprentice? What do I need to learn, national essence or some cultural heritage that needs to be passed down?”

”Age does not define one’s ability to learn, the accomplished are the teachers.” Luo Qianqian squinted, sipping her milk, the warm sweetness of the milk was irresistibly delicious.

”You’re awesome, but, shouldn’t this learning thing be a teacher-student relationship?” Bai Yizhu watched Luo Qianqian enjoy her milk and wondered if it really tasted that good, thinking maybe he should try a cup too: ”Master and disciple are for learning skills, right?”

”Who said I’m only good at studying?” Do you know about Audition? Do you know about LOL? Do you know about Temple Run? Do you know about Honor of Kings? Do you know about Onmyoji? Humph, I’m also good at playing games, okay?

”What else can you do? As far as I know, you’re not good at cooking, you sing off-key, and you gave up on learning musical instruments after just starting.” Bai Yizhu leisurely took two sips from his milk tea with a teasing smile on his face.

”Do you know that your current behavior does not match your outward image of a good child?” Luo Qianqian put down her milk and pulled out a book from her bag, ”Can you understand this?”

’Andersen fairy tales’ was written on the book cover.

”And... and (and), dream (dream), first (first), tell (tell)? Talking to the first dream? It sounds like a horror suspense story.” Bai Yizhu scratched his head; these letters gave him a headache.

”The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen.” Luo Qianqian placed the book on the table: ”I admit I have my weaknesses, but I’m making an effort to learn. If you keep going at this level, by the time I’m in the first year of middle school, you’ll still be stuck in the first year.”

”That’s why I’ve secretly found someone to teach me. If those people I used to know see me studying, they’d laugh me to death. It’s all my brother’s fault, why did he make me go back to school?” Bai Yizhu looked at the book on the table with its cover depicting the little girl with the fireplace and roasted duck, which was indeed Andersen’s fairy tales.

”I can teach you, but there’s a condition.” Luo Qianqian was somewhat touched by Bai Yizhu’s words; it was Bai Yixian, the brother, who made him come back to school. Brothers always think about their younger siblings. Considering the kidnapping meal that time, she decided to help this once.

”You name it, I’ll do it without hesitation.” Bai Yizhu showed a serious face, without a trace of doubt.

Luo Qianqian looked steadily into Bai Yizhu’s eyes, no evasion or concealment, ”Help me protect my brother from being bullied, in secret.”

”No problem,” Bai Yizhu affirmed with a nod while looking into Luo Qianqian’s eyes. Yet, he found it somewhat amusing inside; when he talked with Luo Shufan, Shufan sent him to find and protect Luo Qianqian. Now Luo Qianqian was asking for the same but for protecting Luo Shufan in secret. The sibling bond was really strong. Unlike his brother, who only left him with messes, gave him tasks, and otherwise just told him to study or run errands.

”That’s settled then. What do you want to learn, at what level?” Luo Qianqian opened her backpack, took out a piece of paper, and handed it to Bai Yizhu, ”Write it down, and I’ll see how I can help you.”

A pair of calculating eyes outside the bakery closely watched the three people before finally leaving.

Luo Qianqian eyed the retreating figure with narrowed eyes, better not offend me, or I’ll let you know what true skill is!

”Zhuzi, is this...” Luo Qianqian looked at the crooked writing, her mouth twitching slightly, paused, then with a tremble in her voice asked, ”Don’t tell me you’re serious.”

He Wenyu, listening to Luo Qianqian’s tone, put down his cake and turned to Bai Yizhu’s paper with a face full of curiosity, ”Hahaha, why don’t you join our class.”

```Hanyu Pinyin marks the beginning of Chinese language classes, and English starts with the 26 letters, but not a single Math problem had been written, and then there’s politics, biology, geography, history.

”Don’t call me Zhuzi, feels like a dog’s name.” Bai Yizhu scratched his head with a blush, ”I’m just better at Math, since the allowance my brother gives me is so limited that I have to budget carefully.”

”Then what...what do you do during other classes?” Luo Qianqian shifted her gaze away from the blank paper, looking at Bai Yizhu with an inquisitive stare.

”...I don’t go to class, I skip it,” Bai Yizhu muttered, lowering his head under Luo Qianqian’s piercing gaze, turning the cup in his hands with both hands.

Luo Qianqian sighed, packing up the papers and books on the table: ”Thank you for the milk, remember to come on time tomorrow. As long as you protect my brother and study with him, we can still make it happen.”

”I haven’t finished yet...” He Wenyu watched Luo Qianqian, then bowed his head and stuffed cake into his mouth.

”Leaving so early?” Bai Yizhu looked at Luo Qianqian who had already packed her backpack, irritated by the memory of being dumped with the kids just for a soccer game, plus considering the task his brother had set for him, he reluctantly accepted his fate.

”If we get home late, it’ll worry our families. We’re two little girls; it’s different for boys like my brother. We’ll inform our families where we’re studying at night,” Luo Qianqian relayed reluctantly from the bottom of her heart. Other than food, there was no benefit to her and it also disrupted her mood for studying other subjects at night.

But thinking about Luo Xiying, who showed up once and then disappeared without a trace, and that so-called uncle who sped up the police case investigation to unprecedented levels, resulting in a hefty compensation that cleared the family’s bank loans, yet that man had vanished without a word. She didn’t want the clue she had just obtained to break here. However, weak and powerless as she was, if she could get help from people like Bai Yixian and Bai Yizhu, there might still be clues out there. So, she had to keep Bai Yizhu close.

”Alright,” Bai Yizhu felt there was some sense in that, but then realized the person saying it was daydreaming with vacant eyes, ”Hey, what are you daydreaming about?”

Caught in her own thoughts, Luo Qianqian was snapped back to reality by Bai Yizhu: ”Heh, I was just picturing what it would be like if you called me ’teacher’.”

”Keep dreaming.” Bai Yizhu had been conflicted all afternoon; as grown as he was, going to learn from a kid not even fully grown — wouldn’t that be laughable? How would he ever hold his head high in the community?

Luo Qianqian, hearing Bai Yizhu’s words, knew he didn’t want to call her teacher. After all, she was still a kid who hadn’t grown as tall as an adult: ”There’s an order to learning, and specialization in trades. In things like sports and games, you’re definitely better than me. I’m just a kid, not that strong, only able to read books. You exercise and play outside every day, naturally you can’t match someone who’s been confined at home studying like me.”

”Of course, if I weren’t better at sports, there’d be no point to my size,” Bai Yizhu said proudly, his head held high, rather pleased with Luo Qianqian’s remark.

”So if I learn something from you where you’re better, I should call you ’teacher’, right?” Luo Qianqian began to coax gently.

”Of course,” came the response. Isn’t that obvious? Something so fundamental, everyone knows it.

”Then it’s settled. So when I learn from you, I should call you ’teacher’, right?”

Luo Qianqian watched Bai Yizhu pondering with a frown before she continued: ”If I have to call you ’teacher’ for you to agree to teach me, then you don’t need to when learning from me? Is that a double standard? Are you a government official and I, a mere citizen?”

Luo Qianqian would never admit she was just bored, playing with the kid by twisting logic.

”But you’re so young...” Bai Yizhu grew even more conflicted listening to Luo Qianqian’s argument.

”’Anyone who is not born knowledgeable is bound to have doubts. If they do not seek out a teacher when they have doubts, those doubts will never be resolved. If someone was born before me and happened to come across knowledge first, then naturally I would learn from them. Similarly, if someone was born after me but also stumbled upon knowledge ahead of me, I would learn from them as well. I am following the knowledge, not the age. Therefore, there should be no distinction between the noble and the lowly, the old and the young; wherever the knowledge resides, there lies the teacher.’ ” Luo Qianqian stood up, seeing that He Wenyu had finished eating, and continued, ”This is your homework for today. Understand this first before you speak.”

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