Chapter 23: Teacher Yu, this nickname is allowed?…

Yu Ting looked up and saw Lu Jue standing at the courtyard entrance.

He didn’t know when he had gotten here.

Yu Ting put away his phone and said to him, “The gate isn’t locked.”

The courtyard gate was a simple wooden paling.

Little Minmin also noticed someone had arrived. Biting her Little Pudding, she turned around and saw Lu Jue.

Even Lu Jue’s smile was cold, let alone his expressionless face. The little girl was a bit scared. She dodged behind Yu Ting in a few steps, her big, clever eyes secretly peeking at Lu Jue. She asked in a tiny voice, “Big Brother, who is he?”

Before Yu Ting could speak, Lu Jue walked over and answered for him. “A friend of ‘The Rain Stopped’ brother.” He looked at Yu Ting, the corner of his eye lifting slightly. “You’ve got quite a few nicknames. Want me to think of one too?”

“…”

Yu Ting ignored him and gave a simple introduction for Little Minmin. “My aunt’s daughter, Minmin.”

Lu Jue was clearly not interested in kids. He was carrying a fruit basket and a crate of milk. “Should I go in and put these down myself?”

The fruit basket had the usual common fruits; the only expensive thing was cherries. The milk was also a common brand. Yu Ting took them. “Let’s go in together.”

He called to Little Minmin, “Minmin, go back inside and play.”

Little Minmin ran even faster. She darted into the house like a rabbit and first told the adults about the new big brother who had arrived.

Zhao Rufei dried her hands and immediately came out of the kitchen. Lu Jue had just changed his shoes. Seeing Zhao Rufei, he politely greeted her at once. “Aunt Fei, sorry to intrude.”

Zhao Rufei asked with concern, “Have you fully recovered?”

Lu Jue nodded. “All better.” He looked at Yu Ting again. “I had a bad fever that day and couldn’t find anyone. Yu Ting took care of me.”

Zhao Rufei smiled. “Just ask Yu Ting if you need anything in the future.”

Lu Jue’s gaze hadn’t left Yu Ting. Hearing this, the corner of his mouth lifted. “Alright.”

After chatting a few more sentences, Zhang Minhua called from the kitchen that dinner was ready. Zhao Rufei went back to help and soon came out carrying a steaming hotpot.

The dining table at Yu Ting’s house was a very ordinary square table. Usually, it was just mother and son eating, so it wasn’t big. Today, there were five adults and one child; it was a tight squeeze but enough to sit. Only there weren’t enough stools—just four. Zhao Rufei went to the storage room and rummaged out a long bench for Yu Ting and Little Minmin to sit on.

“I want to sit by myself!” Little Minmin first climbed onto a single stool and declared, “I’m a grown-up now!”

The adults were all amused by her. Zhao Rufei patted her head. Just as she was about to go sit with Yu Ting on the long bench, a tall figure sat down first. Lu Jue smiled and said, “I’ll sit here.”

Zhang Minhua stole several more glances at Lu Jue. She felt like she’d seen him somewhere before.

With such a striking appearance, she definitely had seen him!

A moment later, Zhang Minhua’s husband came out carrying a live octopus.

“Ahhhh, it’s still moving!” Little Minmin immediately covered her eyes but couldn’t resist her curiosity, opening a crack between her fingers to secretly peek at the plate.

Zhang Minhua’s husband quickly used scissors to cut up a few of the octopuses and dumped the entire large plate into the pot.

The pot already had scallops, crabs, prawns, and fish cakes. Zhang Minhua had also brought several boxes of sliced beef.

“This box here is Australian Wagyu, M12 grade. They say it has a creamy taste when you eat it, only five slices per box! You guys try it.” Zhang Minhua opened a box of beef and dropped the slices in with a sizzle. “That Young Master Lu hasn’t been around lately. When he’s not home, all the ingredients the kitchen buys end up benefiting us cheaply.”

Yu Ting glanced at the person involved from the corner of his eye. Lu Jue had no expression, his eyes indifferent. Noticing Yu Ting looking at him, Lu Jue looked back, his eyes instantly showing a hint of a smile.

“What is it?”

Yu Ting shook his head and picked up a piece of octopus. Fresh octopus has a very crisp texture, but Yu Ting didn’t like it much. He ate one piece and didn’t take any more.

He also didn’t touch the Wagyu slices.

During the meal, Zhao Rufei couldn’t talk easily, so Zhang Minhua chatted with Yu Ting and the others. “Little Ting, I heard from your mom you’ve decided to take the computer science exam?”

Yu Ting’s chopsticks paused for a second. He shoveled a mouthful of rice. “Not yet.”

Zhao Rufei put down her chopsticks but before she could gesture, Zhang Minhua said with a smile, “I also think studying computer science is good. Sitting in an office every day, making money just by typing on a computer—much easier than us doing manual labor.”

Zhang Minhua’s husband added a line. “My colleague’s son took the computer science exam last year too. Computers are the hottest major right now.”

Zhao Rufei also gestured, “I asked Lele’s homeroom teacher. With Lele’s grades, he’s guaranteed to get into the best major at the best university in the country. Lele is obedient; he’ll study computer science.”

Yu Ting buried his head in his meal and made no sound. The lively atmosphere from before suddenly cooled.

Zhao Rufei was about to gesture again when Little Minmin suddenly said in her childish voice, “I want to go to university too! One for sewing clothes!”

The child’s favorite activity right now was sewing clothes for her dolls.

The adults couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, okay. Minmin will definitely get into the best university for sewing clothes in the country too.”

A child’s innocent words melted the almost stiff atmosphere at the dinner table. Yu Ting still kept his head down, eating. Suddenly, a slice of beef roll landed in his bowl.

He turned his head to look at Lu Jue. Lu Jue had put down the serving chopsticks. “Have one slice. The taste is pretty good.”

Yu Ting ate it. Lu Jue wasn’t wrong; it was a very rich and intense beef flavor. Eating one slice was just right; one more would have been too greasy.

Yu Ting set down his bowl after one bowl of rice.

After dinner, Zhang Minhua’s family stayed a bit longer before heading home.

Around nine o’clock, Lu Jue also got up to leave.

He asked Yu Ting, “Which bus number do I take to get back to the school side?”

Yu Ting had assumed Lu Jue, like Li Chengxi, would have a chauffeur come pick him up when it got late.

He turned his head and called out, “Mom, I’m taking Lu Jue to the bus stop.”

From his house to the bus stop was a ten-minute walk, or three or four minutes by bike.

Zhao Rufei immediately came out of the bedroom. She gestured, “There’s no school tomorrow either. Stay the night!”

Yu Ting’s eyelashes lowered slightly. Lu Jue smiled and said, “Next time. I have something to do back home.”

Zhao Rufei nodded and told them to be careful on the way.

Yu Ting pushed out his bicycle. Outside the courtyard gate, he got on the bike but waited a long time for Lu Jue to get on behind him. He turned his head slightly. The moonlight mixed with the light from a not-too-distant streetlamp onto Lu Jue’s face; he didn’t look well.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Ting asked.

“I ate too much. It hurts to move.” Lu Jue’s expression soured even more. “Maybe we walk there?”

“Fine.” Yu Ting had no objection. Getting off the bike, he suddenly thought of the salted ice pops in the fridge. “Wait for me a moment.”

He ran back inside and grabbed a salted ice pop.

Tonight’s moonlight was very bright. Shining in Lu Jue’s eyes, his dark pupils seemed as dense as a few hundred ink sticks mixed.

He took the ice pop. “Thanks.”

After tearing the wrapper, he didn’t throw it away but held it in his hand.

The streetlights had been fixed, shining so brightly that the flowering vines climbing out from the roadside looked exquisitely pink and tender. Both sides of the road were residential houses; the sounds of television and conversation drifted out from time to time. Occasionally, a small cat would dart past.

Lu Jue really did seem uncomfortable. He didn’t speak for a stretch of road, slowly eating the salted ice pop.

Yu Ting wasn’t a talkative person either. Walking without talking didn’t feel awkward.

Nearing the bus stop, Lu Jue suddenly asked, “What do you think?”

Yu Ting didn’t understand. “What about?”

“Which is tastier, ice pops or Little Pudding?”

“…”

Yu Ting couldn’t help a thought popping into his head. Did Lu Jue have a grudge against Little Pudding?

He just stated a fact. “I’ve never eaten Little Pudding.”

“Then don’t ever eat it in the future.” Lu Jue swallowed the last bite of his ice pop, the corners of his eyes curving up severely. “It’s really hard to eat.”

The last bus soon arrived. There were only a few passengers onboard. Lu Jue was about to get on when Yu Ting suddenly thought of a problem. “Do you have any change?”

Lu Jue: “Nope.”

Yu Ting fished a one-yuan coin from his pocket. Using a student card would be cheaper, but he still needed his on Monday.

Lu Jue just took it directly. “Thanks.” He got on the bus.

It wasn’t until the bus doors closed that Yu Ting, pushing his bike to leave, took a few steps and suddenly turned back, glancing at the trash can at the stop.

Had Lu Jue not thrown away the ice pop wrapper?

On the bus, Lu Jue stuffed a pink banknote into the coin slot.

The driver had sharp eyes. “Hey hey hey! Don’t randomly put that in! No change given back!”

Lu Jue replied, “No need for change.”

He found a single seat and sat down.

~

Monday morning, just as the class bell rang, Yang Shuyun walked in holding a pile of test papers.

She looked somewhat stern.

She glanced at Yu Ting’s and Lu Jue’s seats but didn’t hand out the papers first. Instead, she announced the exam results.

“For this monthly exam, the first-ranked student in the grade is still Yu Ting.”

The students of Grade 11 Class 3 had no reaction—they were used to it.

Then Yang Shuyun changed tack. “Regarding the grade ranking, our class’s average score is ranked second.”

The classroom immediately buzzed with discussion.

No. 2 High School didn’t have special “rocket classes” or “experimental classes,” but Class 3 and Class 4 in Grade 11 were the two classes that received the most attention. Based on the teachers’ estimates, the college admission rate for Classes 3 and 4 could be as high as seventy percent.

This time Class 3 wasn’t first, so that could only mean Class 4 was.

This served as a little motivation for the students of Class 3. During break time, noticeably fewer people went out to play; most stayed at their seats, looking over their tests.

“Yu Ting, come to my office for a minute.” Yang Shuyun called out.

Yu Ting stood up. Before leaving, he glanced at Lu Jue’s test paper—a stark red 29 points.

Inside the office, besides Yu Ting, other teachers’ desks also had students standing before them.

It was just that those students had been called in for scoring too poorly.

Yang Shuyun picked up her enamel mug, took a few sips of tea, and let out a sigh. “Yu Ting, can you help Lu Jue study? Besides English, all his other subjects are very poor.”

“In the past, you helped Li Chengxi raise his rank by over a hundred places in one month. He said he can understand your teaching method.”

“It’s fine if you refuse. Your own studies must come first; you can’t let this delay your own work.”

Yu Ting asked, “Is he willing himself?”

Yang Shuyun paused. She hadn’t considered that point. “You two have a good relationship. He shouldn’t oppose it.”

Yu Ting fell silent. After a brief few seconds, he said calmly, “If he’s willing, I have no problem.”

Yang Shuyun breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright then. Go back to the classroom and have him come to the office. If he agrees, I won’t announce the exact score ranking this month and won’t change the seating.”

Yu Ting returned to the classroom. Another round of test papers had already been handed out, and his paper had been taken by the physics class representative.

“God Ting, let me see your paper!”

Yu Ting took his seat. Lu Jue was slumped over, sleeping, with half his test sheet pushed over onto Yu Ting’s.

A filled-in paper—33 points, a bit better than math.

Yu Ting’s expression didn’t change. He called out to him, “Lu Jue, the homeroom teacher wants you in her office right now.”

The person who had been deeply asleep woke up instantly.

Lu Jue straightened up, pulled out his chair, and left.

Yu Ting thought for a moment, then pulled out his scratch paper. He buried his head and started writing rapidly.

A moment later, Lu Jue came back, and the class bell just happened to ring. Yu Ting finished writing the last problem. Suddenly, a scent like a salted ice pop drew near. Lu Jue whispered in his ear, “Teacher Yu, is this nickname okay?”