Chapter 4 - TMCTM Chapter 4

Sure enough, in the next few classes, the teachers lesson were as fast as being chased by a dog and at some parts, the teachers simply said, “I won’t talk more after you have learned it during the summer vacation”.

Tao Xi’s head was full of “?”

Moreover, he found that Wenhua No. 1 High School couldn’t be separated with electronic devices. Many students naturally took out their phones or tablets to take pictures on the blackboard during class, or directly used the tablets to take notes.

Although Tao Xi had developed a very powerful note-taking ability during his one-year live broadcast study, but now he was completely down because he hadn’t kept up with the progress.

Could he understand and remember anything?

What surprised him even more was that Lin Qinhe was also taking notes!

He didn’t use a mobile phone or a tablet. He just took a pen to write on a black notebook without rush or unhurriedly. He didn’t even look up at the blackboard, as if he was doing excerpts as he pleased.

But Tao Xi still used his 5.0 vision to look beside him countless times and roughly saw the contents of the notebook, which was indeed what was taught in class, and they were clearly organized like teaching supplementary materials. The kind that you couldn’t buy it.

He thought that Lin Qinhe was the kind of non-human creature that got a perfect score in the sleeping exam in class.

It seemed that geniuses had to work hard, Tao Xi felt a little balanced.

During Chemistry class, Tao Xi still stared at Lin Qinhe’s black notebook from the corner of his eyes, just like a starving person staring at the sumptuous meal, only to answer with drops of water.

But as soon as the bell rang at the end of the period, the owner of the notebook neatly closed the pen and the notebook, and then took out the phone to play the game.

It was actually boring.

Tao Xi retracted his gaze unwillingly, struggling for a long time and still didn’t say “Can you lend me a notebook?”

He was a face-saving person, and he also had embarrassment phobia. Lin Qinhe probably would say “no” again, he was afraid that it was really that bad.

Fortunately, Bi Chengfei was an enthusiastic citizen and very considerately lent all materials for summer vacation to Tao Xi.

Tao Xi had been through the lessons for the day. There was also a natural refrigerator beside him that radiated air-conditioning for free. When he left the school building at night, he had the illusion of returning from the underworld to the sun.

Most of the people in a class were day-students¹Students who don’t live at the school’s dorm..Tao Xi went back to the dormitory alone, and when he opened the door of the dormitory, he saw a little fat man holding a handful of potato chips and stuffing it into his mouth. He stood up from his chair and said vaguely to him: “Hello!²He said this in Guangdong Cantonese dialect. (泥猴啊)“

Tao Xi smiled politely. He put a large stack of materials on the table and briefly introduced himself.

Obviously, the little fat man had already inquired clearly about the information of the new roommate so he did not show much curiosity. He swallowed the potato chips with difficulty, handed the bag of potato chips to Tao Xi and said cheerfully: “My name is Pan Yan, can count as your new roommate. It’s too lonely with only me and Old Xu!”

Tao Xi glanced at Pan Yan’s fingers stained with paint. After a pause, he still took out a slice of potato chips from the bag. He looked at the drawing board not far away and asked: “Are you an art student?”

On the drawing board was an unfinished gouache painting. It was a painting of melons and fruits commonly practiced by art students. On the table beside it, there were a few props and fruits that had wilted.

Pan Yan sighed, picked up the palette and paintbrush and sat down in front of the drawing board. He began to complain: “Little friend, you don’t know, my grandfather is a painter, he forced me to be an art student and asked me to enter the Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts, but I’m not good at this at all!!”

His dream was to open a fried chicken shop, but he rushed to work and paint here every day.

Tao Xi walked to Pan Yan and watched him adjust the color for a while. Feeling that this person was not humble, he couldn’t help but said: “Lemon yellow has increased.”

Pan Yan was taken aback, and looked suspiciously at Tao Xi: “You can paint? Would you like to adjust this color for me?”

Tao Xi was not polite, took the palette and paintbrush and adjusted the colors very skillfully.

Pan Yan didn’t dare to take it lightly now. He gave up his seat respectfully, and put a smile on his face to please: “My roommate, can you help me add the color of this fruit by the way?”

Tao Xi raised his eyebrows and said, “Just one, I have to do homework.”

“Of course, you³The formal you (您) excuse me.” Pan Yan dragged out a box of Coke⁴Raw: 肥宅快乐水 (lit. Happy Water in the Fat House). It generally refers to Coke from under the table, and put a bottle of it on the table for Tao Xi in flattery.

Tao Xi had a headache facing this painting. Pan Yan was indeed not suitable for painting. The composition of the painting was problematic. The color of the background was simply a disaster. No matter how good the color of the fruit was, it was nothing more than a refreshing paint on the old wooden board.

He resisted his disgust and colored the fruit with just the right shades, making the lifeless painting alive in an instant.

Pan Yan opened his mouth wide. Just as he was about to brag about it, the bedroom door was suddenly opened and another roommate walked in.

“Old Xu! Look, this is our new roommate, named Tao Xi. He is very good at painting!”

Tao Xi returned the paintbrush to Pan Yan, got up and looked over. The man who came in was tall and thin, with dark skin, and wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses. He glanced at him and said in a cold tone, “My name is Xu Ziqi.”

Tao Xi smiled with the corner of his mouth, but narrowed his eyes, keenly discovering that this person was hostile to him.

Pan Yan sighed to Tao Xi and said, “If you had come a year earlier, it would be fine. At that time, Old Xu was still in the first class. You can still be classmates. Unlike me, the art class is as far away. You have to run to death if you want to play together.”

Xu Ziqi’s expression turned gloomy for an instant, and after saying “I’m going to take a bath first”, he turned around and went to the bathroom.

“Old Xu seems to be in a bad mood, don’t mind him. He usually isn’t like this.” Pan Yan said to Tao Xi empathetically.

Tao Xi looked at the red-mouthed and white-toothed little fat man in front of him. He pulled the corners of his mouth and smiled.

Hey, this dormitory was definitely not a good point.

But Tao Xi didn’t worry at all and simply refused Pan Yan’s request for him to continue painting. After taking a shower, he took out the materials and started learning.

He wanted to cover a class of self-study for a month during the summer vacation within a week.

“By the way, Xiao Xi ge, I forgot to tell you that all the dormitories will turn off the lights on time at 11 o’clock.” Pan Yan said, lying on the bed at 10:59.

As soon as the voice fell, Tao Xi’s eyes became dark, but this seemed to be considered good.

“…”

It’s okay, he brought a flashlight specially.

When he was living in Qingshui No. 1 High School, he lived in a ten-person room. At night, he took a flashlight and carried a stool to the balcony to study. Although the mosquitoes bit and the cold wind blew, they were nothing.

He took the flashlight and when just moved the stool to go to the balcony, he heard Pan Yan said: “The dormitory is super strict and there are dormitory patrols inside and out. If they see light coming through, they will deduct discipline points from the dormitory. If there are too many deductions, you will be fined to clean the corridors and balconies of the dormitory. I did it for a semester last year!”

Tao Xi was speechless for a while and asked, “Then how do you finish your homework?”

Xu Ziqi, who had never spoken much, said abruptly: “A group of people can do their homework before going to bed.”

The tone was full of B⁵This whole sentence means Xu Ziqi is arrogant..

Pan Yan said leisurely: “That’s a class of students. Don’t you also hide in the quilt and use a flashlight to catch up with your homework?”

“When did I?!” Xu Ziqi suddenly sat up from the bed like a corpse.

“Ah no? I had a nightmare in the middle of the night last semester. I woke up and saw light in your quilt. Was it a dream in a dream?” Pan Yan said innocently.

Tsk, Tao Xi understood it.

Xu Ziqi had just left the first class, so he was unhappy when he saw the student from Class 1, while Pan Yan was purely unhappy with Xu Ziqi because he was also suffering⁶Raw: 殃及池鱼. it’s from an idiom ‘城门失火，殃及池鱼’ (a fire in the city gates is also a calamity for the fish in the moat). the whole idiom means the bystander will also suffer. due to him.

But hiding in the quilt with a flashlight was a good way.

Tao Xi ignored the two fierce roommates, took the torch and the materials, slumped into the quilt and began to study.

Fortunately, the air-conditioning in the dormitory was fine otherwise it would be hot to death before suffocating.

He studied a little bit before going to sleep. At six o’clock the next day, he could get up on time without an alarm clock. This biological clock was trained in Qingshui within a year.

However, enemy always met on narrow road. He was about to go to the bathroom but bumped into Xu Ziqi, while Pan Yan was still asleep on the bed. Obviously the master woke up only after the bell rang.

The two were in a stalemate on the balcony, letting no one passed.

“I woke up early today because of holding pee.” Xu Ziqi stared at Tao Xi and said that, wanting to cover it up.

My ass.

Tao Xi said: “So? Want me to pee for you?”

“…” Xu Ziqi choked, staring at Tao Xi with embarrassment and annoyance, and turned to enter the bathroom.

After washing up, Tao Xi read the ancient poems on the balcony in the light of the sky outside. Xu Ziqi, who climbed onto the bed to pretend to be sleeping, was actually practicing English listening.

When he arrived at the classroom early to study, Tao Xi realized that he was not the first one. There was a girl sitting alone and silently studying English. She didn’t have deskmate, her face was as white as paper, and she did not even lift her face up when she saw him come in.

Tao Xi knew this girl’s name, it was Huang Qing. She was a study committee member of their class.

Naturally, he didn’t take the initiative to say hello, so he returned to his seat and continued to read the notes while eating steamed buns and drinking milk.

People came to the classroom one after another. Only Bi Chengfei was the most active, fluttering in front of Tao Xi like a moth, “Good morning! I heard that Xu Ziqi is your roommate?”

The news was pretty clear, Tao Xi nodded and continued to read the notes.

Bi Chengfei waited for a while but didn’t hear what he wanted to hear, so he couldn’t help but ask: “What do you think of him?”

This tone was like a stinky boy in a gossiping class with a little sister.

The little sister Tao Xi took a sip of the milk and put it down, then dropped four words: “Pretentious.”

‘Pa!’ Bi Chengfei slapped the table violently, and the milk was almost overturned. He said happily: “Right, ba! I think so too!”

As someone with a high presence in the class, in the first year of high school, Xu Ziqi often looked inexplicably superior. He had long been uncomfortable with him. Now that Xu Ziqi fell into the second class, he wanted to buy firecrackers.

Tao Xi watched Bi Chengfei slapped the table while indignantly accusing Xu Ziqi, silently moved the milk aside and changed the subject: “I heard that all of you can finish your homework before eleven o’clock?”

“Which idiot is making a rumor?” Bi Chengfei was furious, and for a moment he forgot about Xu Ziqi. He snapped, “How is it possible? I write until one or two o’clock every day, ba! Except for one pervert, no one else in our class will go to bed before twelve o’clock!”

As soon as the voice fell, the pervert entered through the back door.

Bi Chengfei extinguished the flame instantly and said with a grin: “Xueshen, why are you here so early today?”

Lin Qinhe ignored Bi Chengfei, did not sit down but frowned and stared at something on his desk from half a meter away.

Tao Xi followed his gaze and saw that he had “crossed the boundary” after drinking half of the milk.

Hey, really particular.

He quickly moved the milk back to his table, looked up at Lin Qinhe and said, “Sorry, should I wipe the table for you?”

This was actually mean, but when Tao Xi raised his eyes to look at people, there was a bit of guilt and caution in his eyes so it was easy for the person being looked at to feel that they were unkind.

Lin Qinhe glanced at him, flatly said “no need to”, pulled the chair away and sat down.

Bi Chengfei glanced back and forth between the two of them and said: “It’s tablemate, it’s tablemate. It’s normal to put things on each other table. There are still my papers piled up at my tablemate table.”

Just after he finished talking, the girl named Hu Tong next to him slapped a stack of papers on his desk and cursed: “Put it here and I’ll chop your hand!”

Bi Chengfei hurriedly turned around to coax the tablemate.

Tao Xi was happy, but didn’t laugh, and instead quickly drank the milk. A shot dropped the cup accurately into the trash can in the corner.

He glanced to the side and found that Lin Qinhe was wearing headphones again, reading a physics competition book, and the black notebook that made him envious was on the desk.

This person actually engaged in more than one competition?

Tao Xi had learned that in the five college subjects⁷Five college subjects competition: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Informatics. competition, there were very few people who engage in double subject competitions. Even if there were generally two subjects that were not prominent, they could take two provinces at most. Therefore, the school would only encourage students to choose the one that they were best at.

And Mathematics and Physics were the two most difficult subjects with the highest influence.

Bi Chengfei was right, Lin Qinhe was indeed a pervert.

But such a pervert would actually take basic notes honestly during class, Tao Xi was a little confused.

A new day’s class soon followed. Tao Xi didn’t mind to try to figure out the abnormal ice sculpture next to him and rushed into the class with all his heart.

But the gap lied here, even if he was a genius, he couldn’t cultivate successfully overnight.

By the end of the third period, Tao Xi couldn’t hold it anymore. He didn’t have a mobile phone to take pictures on the blackboard and screen, nor could he keep up with the teacher’s progress to write notes. It felt like his head almost exploded.

Tao Xi casted his faint eyes on Lin Qinhe’s black notebook for countless times. Lin Qinhe had just closed it, and at this time he was playing with his mobile phone.

Tao Xi felt that he had weighed in on the importance of academic performance and face.

He was lying on the desk with his pointed chin cushioned with neatly stacked hands. He tilted his head to look at the boy on the side, lifted up his curly eyelashes, and asked in a very soft tone:

“Classmate Lin, can I borrow your notebook and copy it?”

He was not so pure when he asked Liu Rui to borrow money to buy teaching aids when he was the petty ghost’s tablemate.

Bi Chengfei in the front row leaned back unintentionally, and his big ears opened.

Lin Qinhe swiped his thumb on the phone screen and passed the latest level of Xiaoxiaole⁸I googled and it’s anipop/kaixin xiaoxiaole(开心消消乐) game successfully. A huge treasure chest and “Congratulation” flashed on the screen.

Not bad.

Lin Qinhe should have fun after passing the level. If he was in a good mood, he would lend it to him. Tao Xi’s mouth had a smile.

“Cannot.”

Lin Qinhe left two words coldly and didn’t even look at him.

“…”

Fuck.

Tao Xi’s smile froze at the corner of his mouth.

Bi Chengfei in the front row couldn’t bear to listen, silently leaning his upper body forward.

Tao Xi felt it was fine. It was just a small scene. He even thought to himself that Lin Qinhe said three words to himself in total, “no way”, “no need to”, “cannot”.

Why didn’t this person change his name to Lin Sanbu⁹san = 3. Bu = no. The first no is 不行 (bùxíng): no way; the second no is 不用 (bùyòng): no need to, the third no is 不能 (bùnéng): cannot.?

Tao Xi felt that his embarrassing phobia was almost cured. This was far from the embarrassment when Lin Qinhe refused to be his deskmate in front of the class on the first day of school.

He was just about to say something to give himself a step down, when a loud noise suddenly came from the door.

“Yakult, you are finally here, I miss you badly!” a boy in the first row shouted with a smile.

• 1Students who don’t live at the school’s dorm.
• 2He said this in Guangdong Cantonese dialect. (泥猴啊)
• 3The formal you (您)
• 4Raw: 肥宅快乐水 (lit. Happy Water in the Fat House). It generally refers to Coke
• 5This whole sentence means Xu Ziqi is arrogant.
• 6Raw: 殃及池鱼. it’s from an idiom ‘城门失火，殃及池鱼’ (a fire in the city gates is also a calamity for the fish in the moat). the whole idiom means the bystander will also suffer.
• 7Five college subjects competition: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Informatics.
• 8I googled and it’s anipop/kaixin xiaoxiaole(开心消消乐) game
• 9san = 3. Bu = no. The first no is 不行 (bùxíng): no way; the second no is 不用 (bùyòng): no need to, the third no is 不能 (bùnéng): cannot.