Translator: Henyee Editor: Henyee
“I’ve already recovered, so I came back to school,” Tang Xi replied with a smile at Ning Ke. “Thank you for your concern.”
Ning Ke scratched his head with a smile and said, “You’re welcome.” Then he thought of something and continued, “I made notes on the recent classes for you. Would you like to have a look?”
In fact, these courses were not difficult at all for Tang Xi now; she only needed to review them, especially math. She was very good at math, so she didn’t need the notes at all. However… Tang Xi, looking at Ning Ke’s shy yet expectant eyes, could not muster the heart to refuse the kindness of the thirteen-year-old boy. She would feel guilty if she did!
She nodded with a smile. “Thank you, Student Ning.”
A glimmer of light shone in Ning Ke’s black eyes and he looked a bit excited as he said, “Wait just a minute. Let me fetch it for you.”
The corner of Tang Xi’s eyes twitched as she looked at Ning Ke’s cheerful figure. He would not become her little fan, would he?
But before Tang Xi could fall into a reverie, she was surrounded by numerous female students, as well as male students. A gleam of surprise flickered across her eyes as she looked at the students surrounding around her and she asked, “Well… what can I do for you all?”
“Are you really twenty-three?” a boy asked incredulously.
Tang Xi chuckled but complained in her heart. 008, why did you give me a junior high school diploma?! Thanks to you, I have to study in senior high school and be watched like a zoo animal!
If somebody became a senior high school or college student when he was thirteen, people would call him a child prodigy. However, if you were still a first-year student in senior high school at age twenty-three, others would think you were weird and foolish. Fortunately, she didn’t perform badly in class, or else others would definitely look down upon her.
“Yes,” Tang Xi answered with a hollow laugh. “I don’t look that ‘old’, right?”
Everyone nodded. Tang Xi raised an eyebrow, thinking to herself, ‘Are these people asking me this because I don’t look like a twenty-three-year-old girl?’
“Yes. Though you are very pretty, you look like a teenager. I never expected that you’re already twenty-three years old!” one surprised girl exclaimed, and then she asked, “Is your skin in such good condition because of the good air in the mountains?”
Her skin was even tenderer and softer than babies, and she was so fair. The girl was so envious of Tang Xi!
Good air in the mountains?
Tang Xi recalled what she looked like when she became Xiao Rou, sniggered and shook her head before replying, “No. Maybe my skin is good because my mom often gives me some skin-care products to use.”
By the time Ning Ke had come to Tang Xi again with his notes, she was surrounded by people. Standing outside the crowd, he watched Tang Xi answer each student’s questions with a smile. He looked down at the notes in his hand and continued to wait.
“Xiao Rou, do you get such good grades because you’ve studied the lessons before?” a boy asked. “Is it because your math teacher back in that rural school is better than ours?”
Tang Xi’s face changed, wondering whether the boy was really naive or was deliberately touching Xiao Rou’s sore spot. She smiled and answered, “That’s because my mom gave me extra tutoring. My mom is amazing!”
“Wow, Xiao Rou, your mom is awesome!” some of the female students exclaimed. “She cooks you beauty soup, and tutors you too!”
Tang Xi smiled and boasted of her mom. “Yes, my mom is super awesome. You can tell that from my brothers.”
“By the way, Xiao Rou, the teachers said at the start of school term that we would be electing class leaders at the end of September. You have such good grades and are older than us. You must be much more mature than us too. Would you become our class leader?” One girl looked at Tang Xi with a little anticipation as she asked this.
As the class leader had to help her classmates unconditionally, the girl could ask Xiao Rou to help her with math. She was not good at math, and she was admitted to the experimental class because of her good grades in other subjects. If she managed to improve her math grades, she would rank among the top ten in her entire year.
“Sorry, but I’ll probably be taking the grade-skipping exam in October,” Tang Xi replied as she looked at the students surrounding her with a smile. “Thank you, but I’m older than you all, so I want to skip a grade.”
The students looked disappointed. Tang Xi smiled and reassured them that they were still good classmates and could still be friends even if she skipped a grade. After the students left, Ning Ke came over with his notes. He looked at Tang Xi with a frown and asked, “You’re going to skip a grade?”
Tang Xi nodded. “Yes. I’m actually old enough to be your aunt. It’s only because something happened before that I didn’t get into high school as I wished. Now that I’ve finally entered high school and my grades are okay, I want to get the diploma as soon as possible and then find a job.”
Ning Ke frowned and his voice turned cold. “Was it because of that woman?”
Tang Xi knew he was talking about Xiao Jinning, but in the beginning, Xiao Jinning hadn’t known she was actually not the child of the Xiao Family. She smiled and replied, “No, she isn’t to blame for it. My biological mom mistook me with her. Xiao Jinning didn’t play a part in it, so it wasn’t her fault.”
Ning Ke’s face turned more solemn at Tang Xi’s words. “She is to blame because she stole what was supposed to be yours.”
Tang Xi shook her head as she looked at the stubborn child before her, then took over his notes and said with a smile, “Thank you. If you have time, you can go out with your brother and his friends for fun. I often hang out with them.”
“My brother?” Ning Ke frowned. “You know my brother?”
Tang Xi pretended not to see Ning Ke’s look and smiled as she replied, “Yes, Ning Yan and I are friends. We often hang out together. You can join us.”
Ning Ke looked at Tang Xi and asked in surprise, “Don’t you even review your lessons?”
Tang Xi fell into momentary silence. “… Everyone needs recreation. Only after taking enough rest can we improve efficiency. Look, I’m better at math than you because I don’t study mechanically. I usually alternate study with rest, which works well.”
Ning Ke pursed his lips and replied, “I’ll have a try.” Then he left.
Tang Xi looked at Ning Ke’s retreating figure and her eyes flashed with worry. Did she just lead a good boy astray?
But Ning Yan had said Ning Ke was a child prodigy. He probably wouldn’t get a poor mark just because he had some recreation time, right? With this thought in mind, Tang Xi shouted after Ning Ke, “Hey, Ning, it’s actually good to study hard. You can play after graduation.”