Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Finals?!!!

”Qianqian, Old Niu is off to another meeting. What do you think Old Niu talks about at those meetings?” He Wenyu shrugged and slumped onto the desk, glancing at the Chinese teacher on the podium.

Luo Qianqian, looking at the spread-out exercise book before her and also feeling somewhat vexed, closed the exercise book and said, ”Discussing the development of animal husbandry, debating whether cows can produce milk without eating grass.”

”Qianqian, pass it on.” Zhang Sheng’s hand, hidden under Luo Qianqian’s desk, held a crumpled piece of paper.

”What?” He Wenyu leaned in, reading the note that said: Want to hang out this weekend? Let’s go watch a movie.

Luo Qianqian laughed. She’d never really seen a movie in this era. Just as she was about to reply, the note was snatched away by He Wenyu, who wrote back: Who all is going?

Then, the note was tossed by He Wenyu onto Zhang Sheng’s desk. After glancing at it, he passed it to his deskmate Ye Chen. Ye Chen wrote something without looking up, and soon, the paper was back on Luo Qianqian’s desk. The reply, clearly in different handwriting from the above, read: Jiang Qian, Zhang Sheng, me.

After reading, Luo Qianqian handed the note to He Wenyu. Not to mention the issue of spending weekends at Old Zhang’s house for class, movies were quite expensive these days. Was it really appropriate for a bunch of kids to go to the movies?

All He Wenyu wrote back was: TBD. And then the note arced through the air, landing once more on Zhang Sheng’s desk.

”I don’t actually want to go to the movies; remember that erasable pen we saw at the supermarket? I want to get that,” He Wenyu whispered to Luo Qianqian.

Luo Qianqian raised an eyebrow and nodded without a word. She felt that they wouldn’t have the leisure for such an outing on the weekend anyway.

Finally, class ended. As soon as the Chinese teacher stepped out, a beaming Geng Zhi rushed into the classroom, startling the teacher who paused at the classroom entrance: ”Luo Qianqian, you’ve made it to the finals!”

Luo Qianqian was stunned. He Wenyu was the first to react, hugging Luo Qianqian: ”Congratulations, Qianqian.”

”Oh.” Luo Qianqian’s face twitched, unsure of what to say. She could only pat her excited friend on the back.

”Let’s give a round of applause, and wish Little One a triumphant start!” Geng Zhi was very pleased. Having a student from his class in the semifinals was already a source of pride for him; after all, it was a contest for middle and elementary school students, not just elementary. He hadn’t expected someone to make it to the finals, and he was sure to receive a commendation from the city: ”The finals are scheduled for the winter break. You’ll probably be informed before the holiday starts, so don’t worry.”

But most in the class hadn’t even participated in the preliminary rounds, so they didn’t feel strongly about the competition, nor were they particularly envious of Luo Qianqian.

”Qianqian, congratulations.” As Geng Zhi declared the end of class, Luo Qianqian and He Wenyu sat down, and Jiang Qian came straight over from the back door: ”I heard the prelims were really tough. How did you pull it off?”

”It’s nothing much, my brother is amazing so he always makes me study, that’s all.” Luo Qianqian smiled at her friend, keeping secrets even from He Wenyu—how could she tell others? Rebirth, that was a secret, one to be taken to the grave.

”How come I don’t have a brother like that?” Zhang Sheng turned around to complain: ”Otherwise, I could have snagged a first place too.”

”Qianqian’s Brother also tells me to study hard,” He Wenyu said indifferently, glancing at Zhang Sheng: ”It’s because Qianqian is naturally smart, okay?”

”Yes, yes, your Qianqian is the smartest in the world, but someday she will leave you to get married, hehe.” Zhang Sheng looked smugly at He Wenyu: ”To one of these smelly guys you look down on.”

Seeing He Wenyu about to explode, Luo Qianqian pressed her lips together and smiled: ”Xiao Yu, the person I marry will have your approval. If you don’t agree, I won’t marry. You have to be okay with them too.” Thinking of Zhao Wenxuan’s matter, Luo Qianqian’s face grew cold—she’d rather never cross paths with him again than to let him regret ever knowing her!

”Sure, sure.” He Wenyu enthusiastically hugged Luo Qianqian: ”I knew Qianqian was the best. Did you all see that? Qianqian said she’d listen to me, huh.” Then, extending her pinky, she said, ”Let’s make a pinky promise. I’ll definitely tell Qianqian first when I find a boyfriend, and if Qianqian disagrees, he can go squat in a hole in Siberia’s Nanshan Gully. You too, okay?”

”Alright, let’s make a pinky promise.” Luo Qianqian’s eyes twinkled with amusement as she hooked her pinky with He Wenyu’s:

”Pinky promise, hang for a hundred years, no backing out. If you do, you’re a puppy, barking loud.”

”Pinky promise, hang for a hundred years, no backing out. A liar must swallow a thousand needles.”

He Wenyu and Luo Qianqian spoke in unison, each with a different pledge, then paused, looked at each other, and burst into laughter, embracing again.

”Pfft—Official, let’s do it too~” Zhang Sheng said, wiggling his pinky at Ye Chen and extending his slender finger.

”Get lost.” Ye Chen felt a shiver down his spine at Zhang Sheng’s antics, shaking his arm before grinning mischievously: ”Sure, why don’t we take this to the nurse’s office then?”

Upon hearing this, He Wenyu burst into laughter, clutching her stomach as tears streamed down: ”Hahaha, Zhang Sheng, you’ve lost.”

Indeed, Zhang Sheng had lost. The nurse’s office—it took him a moment to catch on, but as He Wenyu’s laughter rang out, it hit him. The scene from the novel He Wenyu had shown him where he’d thrown his book—it was set in the nurse’s office, wasn’t it?

His face instantly turned red, and he angrily said, ”Go away, it’s called the infirmary in our school.”

Luo Qianqian understood what was going on with the three of them and remained silent, smiling, keeping up the good baby act.

”What, what? What are you guys talking about? How come I don’t know?” Jiang Qian was a bit puzzled as she looked at He Wenyu laughing with the group and Zhang Sheng, who seemed to be angry for some reason.

He Wenyu pulled out the novel he dared not bring home from inside his seat and handed it to Jiang Qian: ”Here, take your time reading it.”

”It’s better not to read it.” Ye Chen, with a burst of goodwill, chimed in as he saw He Wenyu’s amused expression.

Jiang Qian ignored Ye Chen and took the novel back to her seat to start reading.

Before school was out in the afternoon, Jiang Qian, with her cheeks flushed, returned the novel to He Wenyu and stealthily asked, ”Do you have any more?”

Luo Qianqian could only sigh to herself: Once you dive into the world of fandom, it’s like the deep sea; from then on, integrity is but a passerby.

He Wenyu nodded: ”I have comics too, you want to read them?”

Jiang Qian nodded repeatedly.

He Wenyu whispered, ”Then I’ll bring them to you tomorrow, but you can’t read them at school, or it will be terrible if the teachers find out and call your parents.”

”Alright, don’t forget then,” Jiang Qian nodded and went back to her seat to pack her bag.

”You’ve corrupted another innocent, successfully leading her astray,” Luo Qianqian said to her friend with a faint voice only after Jiang Qian left: ”If your godmother finds out, I reckon you’ll be banned from eating meat for at least a week.”

”How would she find out?” He Wenyu pouted, unconcerned, saying, ”I already told her not to read it at school, there’s no problem if she reads it at home.”

Luo Qianqian shrugged and went with He Wenyu to wait at the school gate for Luo Shufan and Bai Yizhu, the duo who braved wind and rain without fail.

”Brother, why are you unhappy?” Seeing Luo Shufan with a gloomy face, Luo Qianqian felt something was off. She turned to Bai Yizhu and asked, ”Who upset my brother? Why didn’t you hit him?”

Bai Yizhu was at a loss for words, simply pointing a finger at Luo Qianqian without speaking.

”Me?” Luo Qianqian pointed at herself, taking a moment to recover: ”Brother, I did snack on your pig’s trotters yesterday, but didn’t I leave the bones for you to clean up?” Seeing her brother’s expression showing no signs of improvement, Luo Qianqian continued with a frown, ”Was that the ink on your seat cushion? I didn’t mean to, I wanted to wash it off, but then the water was too cold, so I didn’t.” Seeing her brother’s face become even more clouded, Luo Qianqian had a bad feeling, but still kept a gentle smile, tugging at her brother’s sleeve: ”Then it must have been the day before yesterday, after you finished eating, there were only carrots and bell peppers left. Brother knows, I don’t like them, so I ate all the meat... It’s not like I intentionally misled Brother and Mom into making just stir-fried carrots and stir-fried bell peppers. I was just afraid Brother would tattle on me.” Watching her brother’s face darken as if a storm was coming, Luo Qianqian decided to keep silent, not speak any further. She just tugged Luo Shufan’s sleeve, looking at him with a pitiful expression.

”Do you know Yhan Miyuan?” Luo Shufan asked with a cold face.

”Yhan Miyuan?” Luo Qianqian felt a chill, wondering if her brother also met him. Wasn’t this untrustworthy guy supposed to stay away from her brother? She steadied herself and said, ”I’ve met him once, the last time he treated me and Aunt Zhou to dinner and brought back a lot of tasty things to our house, it was that guy.”

”Then how does he know my school’s address? And why did he specifically ask me to give it to you?” Luo Shufan took out an envelope and handed it to Luo Qianqian with stiff movements.

Luo Qianqian, seeing the clearly crumpled envelope which however showed no signs of being opened, lightly smiled: ”Brother, if you were suspicious, why didn’t you just open it and look?”

Speaking of which, Luo Qianqian nervously opened the envelope, and inside there were six meal vouchers and an attached note: ’Pay more attention to the song, okay~’ Signed with an R. Luo Qianqian let out a sigh of relief, and as she turned over the envelope, she saw it was addressed to Luo Shufan (to be forwarded to Luo Qianqian), from Yhan Miyuan.

”Brother, why are you angry?” Seeing there was nothing amiss, Luo Qianqian feigned ignorance: ”Of course, I have to be compensated for my labor, so why is Brother angry?”

”You wrote a song for him?” He knew about his sister writing songs, but his classmates said this Yhan Miyuan was a very handsome child star, so why wouldn’t he be misunderstood?

Thinking this, Luo Shufan felt his anger was somewhat unjustified, but still kept a stern face and said, ”You’ve dirtied my cushion, now what are you going to do about it?” Hearing his sister was not chasing stars, he breathed a sigh of relief, but he had to maintain his brotherly dignity.

Luo Qianqian stuck out her tongue and took the easy way out: ”I’ll go home and clean it, alright? Look at these meal vouchers, kids under 1.3 meters eat for free, so Xiao Yu and I can eat for free, Mom, Brother, godfather, and godmother, that’s four vouchers used, and Zhuzi still has two. You and your brother should go eat, okay?” Luo Qianqian scrutinized the instructions, smiled radiantly, and handed two vouchers to Bai Yizhu.

Bai Yizhu was taken aback, could this work? He accepted them somewhat baffled: ”Thanks.”

”Why so formal? You’re my brother’s good friend,” Luo Qianqian smiled, ”No homework today, I’ll go home and tell Mom.” With that, she waved the meal vouchers in her hand.