Chapter 61: A Boat

Ning Li had to slightly lift her head up to look at him. “I’ll take it.”

Lu Huaiyu moved his ear closer to her. “Tell me.”

She blinked in slight surprise when his handsome side face came closer. Softly, she asked, “Second Brother, may I take a raincheck on this wish first?”

As her quiet voice entered his ears with her warm breath, Lu Huaiyu turned to her.

They were already rather close, so when he turned to her, they were only an inch away. He could feel her breath while she could see herself in his abysmal eyes.

The girl was greedy. She was practically asking for a blank cheque that she could use anytime.

At that very moment, the tension was broken as Cheng Xiyue brought the car over. He honked at them to signal them to get in.

Lu Huaiyu straightened his body and curved his lips.

“Okay.”

…

It was already 10:00 p.m. when Ning Li returned to the Ye family.

Ye Ci and Su Yuan were sitting on the couch in the living room when she came back.

Ye Ci looked at Ning Li when she walked in. Her eyes were reddish as if she had just cried. She stood up nervously and said, “Sister Ning Li, you’re back!”

Su Yuan looked like she had something to say though no words escaped her parted lips.

Ning Li paused. “Yes?”

Ye Ci took a deep breath. “I-I was waiting for you to come back because…because I want to apologize…” she said while biting her lips. She then glanced at Su Yuan and added, “I should not have called Mom today before I found out about the truth. I’m sorry, Sister Ning Li.”

Ye Ci realized what her mistake was the moment she came back. After asking her mother, she found out that the teacher told Ning Li to call her mother because someone had copied her answers during the monthly test, not because she had cheated.

Ning Li had achieved first place with her own merit.

In addition to that, Su Yuan had also embarrassed herself in front of the teachers and parents, hence her bitter mood.

Even though her mother did not lash out at her, Ye Ci sharply sensed that something was not right, so she stayed up and waited for Ning Li.

Ning Li raised a brow. “I didn’t lose anything, thus you don’t have to apologize to me. You should apologize to someone else though.”

Ye Ci gulped nervously.

Su Yuan also reacted differently to her words. She stood up with slightly furrowed brows.

She already felt bad and guilty for having wrongly assumed that Ning Li cheated in the monthly test, so when Ye Ci insisted on waiting for Ning Li and apologizing to her, she decided to stay up and accompany her.

Who would have expected Ning Li’s words to be this harsh though?

Ning Li’s words were like a reminder to Su Yuan, reminding her how embarrassingly she had behaved in the teacher’s office.

“Ning Li, Ye Ci did something wrong this time, but she did it because she was worried about you. If she had not called me, I wouldn’t have even known that the teacher wanted you to call your parents. Plus, she’s apologizing to you sincerely—”

Ning Li reacted with a cold expression. “This is not the first time I was told to call my parents. You should know that better than anyone.”

Su Yuan’s heart skipped a beat as she started to feel like she was suffocating.

“Moreover, she can apologize, but it’s up to me whether to forgive her or not. Should I forget about everything just because she says she’s sorry?”

It would be a little too easy for Ye Ci if Ning Li just forgave her in a snap.

While Ye Ci tightened her lips, Ning Li glanced at her. “If you have the time to make the call, why don’t you take the time to learn new vocabulary? Getting 17th place in the entire third year is a little tough to make the cut to Xijing University, don’t you think?”

Ye Ci tightened her fists.

By then, Ning Li probably viewed her as a hoke.

She simply left the mother and daughter and went back to her room.

…

Ning Li took her books out after she returned to her room.

Suddenly, a piece of paper fell out from her bag. She picked it up and noticed that it was the answer that Lu Huaiyu had written earlier.

His handwriting was neat and rigid and was beautiful to look at.

The paper reminded her of the little moment they had shared before she left Lu Huaiyu’s mansion. The question that he had asked and the way he had gone close to her left a strong impression on her.

‘Do you want to make a wish?’

The words echoed in her head even now.

Ning Li picked up her pen and pondered for a long while before she wrote in the lower empty space of the paper.

Then, she folded the paper into a paper boat and grabbed a glass jar that she had placed on her table.

There was a picture on the glass jar. Maybe because both the jar and the picture were old, the color on the picture had faded.

This jar was one of the few items that she had brought to the Ye residence.

She liked eating candies when she was younger, but she had been poor back then. Furthermore, her grandmother was worried about her getting cavities, so she barely got a chance to savor the sweetness.

After Ning Haizhou’s incident, her grandmother had bought her a full jar of candies and said that her parents would be back after she finished them at the rate of one candy per week.

One week went by after another, and when she was down to her last candy, all she was left with was an empty jar.

She put the paper boat into the empty candy jar.

…

Duan Xu’s disciplinary punishment was announced the next day.

His copying Ning Li’s answer during the test and getting a perfect score in certain sections became the topic of the day. The news spread among the students like wildfire.

There were rumors about Ning Li cheating on the test because her mother had been called to the school, but after Duan Xu’s punishment was announced, the rumor dissolved instantly.

The first period in the afternoon was gym class. After a short training session, the students were allowed to move freely.

Ning Li was jogging on the track.

A while later, someone caught up to her.

“Hey, genius!”

She turned around and saw Duan Xu whose legs seemed to go on for miles. He was running backward in a childish way as he apologized to Ning Li, “I’m sorry, genius! I really dragged you down this time!”

He should be fully responsible for this little incident.

Because Ning Li left too quickly yesterday, he did not get to officially apologize to her, thus he felt bad.

“It’s nothing,” Ning Li simply said.

Duan Xu was actually on the losing end. He did not get an ideal score for copying her answers and even got punished.

Ning Li had no idea how he could have copied her answers and ended up in this current situation.

Duan Xu scratched his head awkwardly. The genius seemed to be a cold person, but she was not mad even after he dragged her down! He was impressed by her patience and generosity.

He smiled widely, flashing his snow-white teeth. “I owe you one this time, genius! If you need me for anything, just call me and I’ll be there!”

Ning Li really could not think of anything that Duan Xu could do for her.

“I don’t need anything from you.”

Others would have left when she gave them the cold shoulder but not Duan Xu. For some reason, he had a feeling that the genius was overflowing with generosity and patience.

…

“Is that Ning Li and Duan Xu?”

Ren Qian and the others came back from the basketball court and were resting. They coincidentally caught sight of Duan Xu and Ning Li jogging together.

The guys watched the scene curiously.

“Does our class belle know Duan Xu?”

“Have you not heard? Duan Xu copied her answers during the test!”

“It has nothing to do with Ning Li. Duan Xu is an idiot! He should have modified the answers he copied from her!”

“However, they do look rather close, don’t you think? Hmm, doesn’t this reek of conspiracy? Our class belle is an ice queen, yet Duan Xu is able to chat with her for so long!”

Ren Qian frowned. “What are you talking about? Duan Xu is an enthusiastic idiot. He can yap to anyone for three days and three nights straight.”

One of the guys roared in laughter. “I’m so sure about that! The better a girl is, the higher the chances of her falling for Duan Xu. Duan Xu has never shown such enthusiasm towards any girls in the past!”

Duan Xu might not have excelled in his studies, but his character made him quite popular with the girls.

“Maybe—”

Bang!

Before the guy could finish, a basketball flew towards him and knocked him in the chest.

Pei Song came over, devoid of emotions. “Go on.”