Chapter 42: The Dates Won't Be Sweet

Yu Ci leaned lazily against the chair back, hearing this he raised an eyebrow, his tone teasing: 'A Jin, did you two discuss getting the same score?'

Jiang Liangjin didn't turn his head: 'If you spent more time doing practice problems, you wouldn't keep hovering around 130.'

Practice problems?

What practice problems? He doesn't even have time to play!

Yu Ci immediately shut up, his estimated score this time was also around 130: 'We balance work and rest, how did you pull so far ahead of me……'

Saying that, he let out a 'humph'.

He hasn't even seen how Jiang Liangjin does practice problems!

Gu Xingnan laughed and tapped his head: 'It's fine, our A Ci has an inheritance to look forward to.'

It's made it so nobody's the same.

……

Teacher Liu saw the two take their papers, his tone a bit more severe: 'Not only are their total scores top-notch, their patriotic-themed essays are models for the whole grade! Both students only lost two points!'

Exclamations rose from below.

'Jin Ge's essay lost another two points!'

'The new student is the same too!'

'Truly deserving of being desk mates.'

Teacher Liu waited for everyone to quiet down, then continued: 'Student Jiang's essay "The Rivers and Mountains Span Ten Thousand Miles, It Is Our Duty to Stand" goes from the shattered rivers and mountains of modern history to today's prosperous era, then to the youth's stance…… I gave it a score on the spot while grading!'

As soon as he said that, the gasps in the classroom doubled, and the front-row students couldn't help turning to look at Jiang Liangjin's seat.

All they saw was the person involved wearing a calm expression.

Teacher Liu then thought of Mu Youyu's paper, his eyes crinkling: 'Student Mu's essay "Grandma's Red Flag" shows more thought, starting from the old red flag her grandmother treasured, writing about how the elder sent her son to join the army and now teaches her grandchildren to sing the national anthem—no grand principles, just everyday trifles, yet it makes patriotism especially genuine and heartwarming; I couldn't help laughing while reading it.'

'Wow! Both styles are amazing!' someone whispered in admiration, and the nearby student quickly nodded.

'Whoa, just looking at the topic makes me want to keep reading!'

'That's called arousing the reader's interest!'

Teacher Liu laughed and suggested: 'If you want to read them, you can ask the two students to lend them.'

Yu Ci leaned close to Gu Xingnan's ear and whispered: 'Oh no, oh no, I wrote my essay about a soccer match, saying bringing glory to the country is patriotism, but now it sounds like I've gone off topic.'

Sigh, essay writing is really hard; maybe he'll just count money in the CEO's office later.

Gu Xingnan held back his laughter and patted his arm: 'At least you didn't make it up; after all, genuine feeling… is the rarest.'

Teacher Liu began reading the next batch of scores: 'Gu Xingnan, 138 points, excellent!'

Gu Xingnan naturally walked up to take his paper.

The audience below gave a unified 'Wow!'

Yu Ci leaned over to get a clear look at Gu Xingnan's paper, catching the last line of the essay on the back: 'What is home and country? It's someone who has guarded the years; we continue to protect the warmth of everyday life.'

He couldn't help lowering his voice to complain: 'A Nan, when you were little you wrote about patriotism and said you wanted to be a hacker; now you're all about righteousness.'

Gu Xingnan's face darkened at the memory; this counts as his black history.

Back then, in elementary school, the essay topic was also 'My Country.'

Gu Xingnan's content was about hacker knowledge.

Anyway, he was always writing about learning computers to prevent foreign invasions, protect the country, and everyone should study……

Those years, the classmates jokingly called him…… a hacker.

Whenever anything computer-related came up, they'd call on him to solve it; letting him solve it was fine, but they'd add, 'Teacher, you don't know, our class has a hacker who's the best at playing with computers!'

Gu Xingnan shoved his paper at Yu Ci, indicating he didn't want to deal with it.

Teacher Liu then said: 'Bai Yun, 137 points! Her essay lost only five points—no wonder she's my class representative!'

Bai Yun first let out a 'Wow,' walked up, and said, 'Same as my estimate.'

Xia Chao Yi laughed: 'Really impressive, you got your estimate right for the first time.'

Bai Yun glared at him and said nothing.

'Yu Ci, 131 points.' Teacher Liu paused deliberately when he said that name, and the whole class couldn't help laughing.

After all, Yu Ci's Chinese scores have long hovered around 130, unusually stable.

Teacher Liu looked at the paper and teased: 'Student Yu, the idea that sportsmanship is another form of patriotism is fine, but your whole essay only writes about star players scoring and winning championships, without mentioning how youth should learn and rely on that spirit—next time remember to bring the thread back.'

After he finished, the class burst into another round of laughter.

Yu Ci replied good-naturedly: 'Definitely next time.'

……

When the dismissal bell rang, Mu Youyu and Jiang Liangjin exchanged papers to look at them.

'When we were little, you always liked to write essays the opposite of me,' Mu Youyu whispered.

Clearly, he's an essay teacher.

The desk mate who loves to do the opposite of her raised his eyebrows, a hint of smile in his eyes: 'Really?'

She was about to say more when Bai Yun in front suddenly turned her head, eyes shining: 'Xiao Youyu, can I borrow your paper to take a look?'

Jiang Liangjin had already finished reading her essay.

Mu Youyu then handed her paper to Bai Yun: 'Of course you can.'

Bai Yun took it and boldly asked Mu Youyu: 'Can you get Jiang Shao's paper for me?'

Saying that, she also put on a pleading expression.

Young Master Jiang dislikes others touching his things the most……

But with Xiao Youyu and his relationship, it's definitely different!

Looking at how they usually get along, if Xiao Youyu agrees, Young Master Jiang will go along with whatever she says!

Mu Youyu raised her eyebrows and looked at the person beside her.

Jiang Liangjin understood the meaning, and in a good mood handed the test papers to Bai Yun.

Bai Yun took the two test papers, thanked him, and turned back.

Several people gathered around.

Class monitor, you can! I got both test papers for you!

Class monitor, I want to see too!

Let me worship, worship the essay that lost two points!

……

Many people gathered to Bai Yun's side.

Yu Ci then got up, went to Mu Youyu and Jiang Liangjin's desk, spread his own test paper on the desk, pointed to the essay page, and sighed.

You two really don't leave anyone a way out—one writes about national righteousness, the other about family warmth; I wrote about a soccer match and the teacher said it lacked cohesion. If I'd known, I would have learned more from you when I was young.

Gu Xingnan also came over, glanced at Yu Ci's test paper, couldn't help laughing, "When we were kids, you weren't not learning—you were always trying to copy mine……"

I remember in third grade we also wrote patriotic-themed essays; he wrote that he wanted to be a programmer to protect network security and protect the nation.

Yu Ci simply changed it to wanting to be a soccer player to protect field order and protect the nation.

The teacher read it aloud in front of everyone, and the whole class laughed for half a lesson.

That's not because we were young!

Yu Ci rebutted, then turned to Mu Youyu, "Youbao, you just wrote about your grandmother in the essay—I suddenly remembered when I was little going to your grandmother's house, her red date porridge was especially sweet……Jiang Liangjin, to help you pick the dates from the tree, even fell and insisted he wasn't hurt."

Mu Youyu recalled, her eyes brightened, she turned her head to look at Jiang Liangjin, "I remember! Your knee was badly scraped back then, yet you insisted on giving me the dates first, and as a result you got scolded by Jiang Ye Ye when you got home."

Jiang Liangjin lightly brushed the tip of her hair with his palm, his tone somewhat helpless: "Someone was fussing back then that the dates weren't sweet—I couldn't just let that person wait for nothing."

Mu Youyu couldn't help feeling embarrassed.

At that time she was only seven.

Forgetting who said it, she always thought that dates picked early were sweeter, while those picked later had no flavor.

Grandmother also liked quietness, so there was only a butler in the courtyard.

The butler was still busy outside at that time.

So she became unhappy, pouting, saying that the dates weren't sweet.

Jiang Liangjin couldn't bear to see her like that, so he simply climbed the tree himself.