There Was Once a...
Pressing the answer button, Gui Zixiao's voice came through filled with sadness.
"Xia Yu!"
"What's wrong?" Xia Yu asked.
"Come out and have a drink with me."
"No."
"Then you may never see me again." Gui Zixiao threatened.
"Call dad."
"Grandpa!"
"Where is the address?"
After finding out, Xia Yu walked out of the room, told Yuxue, called his regular taxi driver, waited for five minutes to get on the car, and headed towards Gui Zixiao's location.
Getting off the car, Xia Yu saw Gui Zixiao waving at him at the intersection.
"Why are you carrying a bag?" Gui Zixiao reached out and unzipped Xia Yu's backpack.
Reaching in, he pulled out a Lan Gang exam paper.
Quickly putting the test paper back into Xia Yu's bag, Gui Zixiao sighed in relief.
He said to Xia Yu, "Don't let me see the test paper again, I have a headache because of it."
"Then you're probably going to have a headache for a long time." Xia Yu said.
"What do you mean?"
"You'll find out soon."
Entering a barbecue restaurant with Gui Zixiao, they ordered skewers, and Xia Yu took out the Lan Gang exam paper and started working on it.
"Do you have to do questions even when we're eating?" Gui Zixiao said helplessly.
"Time is precious, eliminate waste." Xia Yu answered.
"To sing or retreat." Gui Zixiao reflexively added, then coughed and asked Xia Yu what he wanted to drink.
Xia Yu wanted Sprite.
"Can't you have a drink today since I'm sad?" Although he said so, Gui Zixiao still brought back two bottles of Sprite.
Opening the Sprite, Xia Yu said a bold "Cheers" and then drank a full mouthful.
"Even though it's got the momentum, it's still a soft drink!" Gui Zixiao complained and sighed.
"Tell me what's going on." While brushing up on the questions, Xia Yu asked.
"Didn't I do well in this month's exam?" Gui Zixiao started with a prelude.
If his score this time were part of the college entrance exam, he would have a chance to get into a good university.
"And then?" Xia Yu knew there would be a twist next.
"Then my dad got happy and raised the reward for getting into a good university from a regular laptop to a high-performance gaming laptop." Gui Zixiao grimaced, having not expected this month's exam to cause trouble.
"Would your dad not even give you a laptop for college if you don't meet the requirements?" Xia Yu was suspicious about this reward.
"If I don't meet the requirements, it's a light and thin laptop worth about 3,000 yuan." Gui Zixiao said, "If I meet the requirements, it's a gaming laptop. A light and thin laptop without gaming ability has no meaning to me."
"So you didn't object when he increased the requirement?" Xia Yu asked again.
"He felt that I could achieve it, and he even changed the original reward of a 7,000-8,000 yuan gaming laptop to a Pig-Head Man laptop." Gui Zixiao's face showed longing and regret.
Xia Yu took the grilled skewers brought by the boss and put them in the center of the table, pointing the skewers towards himself.
He and Gui Zixiao started eating.
"You have no problem with your exam this time, just review well next time, and there is still hope to reach the higher university requirement." With one hand holding a pen and the other holding a skewer, Xia Yu was multitasking between answering questions, eating, and chatting.
Gui Zixiao was silent for a moment, and then whispered to Xia Yu, "Don't you think my grades this time are a bit abnormal?"
Xia Yu stopped writing with the pen in his hand, looked up at Gui Zixiao, and asked, "Did you cheat?"
"I took the math test by myself, and I've done similar ones for the language test," said Gui Zixiao, pausing for a moment, "but for history... You know I'm not good at history. There are at least twenty points in my history score that are inflated!"
"…You're just sabotaging yourself at this point." Xia Yu couldn't find a reason to comfort Gui Zixiao.
"At one point, I had a history paper in front of me, and when I looked back, I regretted it. The most painful thing in the world is this. If God could give me another chance, I would say to that history paper: 'I won't cheat, get out!' If there has to be a time limit for this oath, I hope it's 10,000 years."
"You should just keep pushing. You might really get in!" Xia Yu could only say this.
In fact, he knew that Gui Zixiao had already exceeded his usual performance in this month's test. Gui Zixiao was usually just a second-tier student.
So, Gui Zixiao would probably only be able to afford a thin laptop when he went to college.
After taking a sip of Sprite, Gui Zixiao sighed incessantly.
Xia Yu, while eating skewers and brushing questions, quickly finished this Blue Ridge Secret Volume.
Yawning, he put down the pen in his hand.
At this moment, a young man and woman walked past him.
The girl pointed to Xia Yu and told her boyfriend, "Look, even when he's eating skewers, he's studying!"
The guy, who was very jealous of Xia Yu's appearance, said to himself, "He's just showing off."
Not only does a woman's beauty bring trouble, but a man's as well.
Xia Yu wasn't good-tempered. He glanced at the guy and said, "Get lost."
At the moment when he met Xia Yu's gaze, the young man felt hairy worms crawl out of Xia Yu's hair and towards him.
"Ah!" The young man was so scared that he retreated and tripped over the door frame, falling to the ground.
"What's wrong?" The girl hurried to help him.
The guy said while pulling his girlfriend, "Let's go." And they left in a hurry.
Xia Yu stretched lazily, feeling pleased.
Under the influence of the man, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind.
He asked Gui Zixiao, "Are you interested in learning math with me?"
"What?" Gui Zixiao didn't understand.
"Maybe it'll raise your math score by ten or twenty points, then you'll be able to hit the first-tier score line," said Xia Yu. After all, the skill of exam-oriented education is not used for exams, but for teaching students.
He couldn't find any practice questions to do now, and he was tired of brushing questions, so using the teaching method to accumulate proficiency was also a good idea.
"Really?" Gui Zixiao didn't quite believe it.
"Come on, do a problem and see." Xia Yu placed the Blue Ridge Secret Volume in front of Gui Zixiao.
"But you've already finished it. How am I supposed to do it?"
"I just wrote the answer, there's no process in it," Xia Yu replied.
"What about your process?" Gui Zixiao asked in surprise.
"Just like when I ask you what eleven times eleven equals, the answer of one hundred twenty-one must appear in your mind at the first moment, but if you want to write down the process, you need to think a second time."
"I have to give this full marks." Gui Zixiao opened the pen cap and started working on the penultimate question.
He only solved the first sub-question, got stuck halfway through the second sub-question, and didn't even bother with the third sub-question.
Taking the pen, Xia Yu explained to Gui Zixiao, "For this kind of question, there are usually three general methods of solving it. Let me explain the one used here..."
After finishing the explanation, Xia Yu found a similar question with the same solution pattern for Gui Zixiao to work on. Following Xia Yu's formula, Gui Zixiao stumbled through it.
"Can it really work?" Gui Zixiao looked at Xia Yu in surprise.
"Let's try some other ones."
The two of them began discussing and solving problems at the barbecue restaurant table.
Their serious atmosphere affected the other customers. At the table next to them, a primary school student who had brought their backpack to dinner silently took out their homework.
In front of them, two college students took out their notebooks and began discussing a thesis.
Behind them, four colleagues who were having dinner took out their phones, opened documents, and began discussing work.
New customers coming in from outside saw the serious atmosphere, retracted their feet, and quickly left.
At seven-thirty, under the personal escort of the boss, Xia Yu and Gui Zixiao left the barbecue restaurant.
"How about it, should we do it?" Xia Yu looked at Gui Zixiao.
"Let's do it!" Gui Zixiao said spiritedly.