Chapter 43: Are You Freaking Kidding Me?
Feeling extremely guilty, Su Keke lightly poked Qin Xing’s arm with her finger and asked in a low voice, “If… if I was also stuffed in by my family, would you… hate me?”
Qin Xing paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered that this girl was very likely someone her Fourth Uncle had personally shoved in.
That was… awkward.
Qin Xing forced out a dry laugh.
“Of course not. You’re not like those people I was talking about. They’re here just to coast along. Are you here to coast along too?”
Su Keke shook her head frantically.
“Of course not! I promised Uncle I’d study hard! It’s just—just that there’s so much I don’t know. Like this, for example—what is this? Is it pinyin? It doesn’t really look like it. When I came to the capital a couple of days ago, I saw lots of shop signs with this kind of stuff I couldn’t read. Could this be what my master mentioned—foreign letters?”
Qin Xing stared at the sentence Su Keke was pointing at:
Tangent AB…
Her finger landed right on the AB.
Qin Xing’s mouth twitched.
This… you don’t know?
You don’t even recognize English letters? Are you fucking with me?!
Qin Xing stared at Su Keke for a full ten seconds. In the end, she confirmed that Su Keke really wasn’t messing with her—she genuinely didn’t know.
“Su Keke, where did you go to school before?” Qin Xing leaned in and asked quietly. “Tell me softly—don’t let others hear.”
Sure enough, Su Keke covered her mouth with her hand and whispered, “I’ve never gone to school. I taught myself how to read.”
Qin Xing stared at her in shock for a long time before asking, “Then… have you ever read junior high textbooks?”
Su Keke shook her head.
After learning to read, all she’d studied were her master’s treasured feng shui books, talisman manuals, and various texts on metaphysics and Daoist studies.
Qin Xing struggled to squeeze out another question: “Elementary school textbooks… then?”
Su Keke was about to shake her head again, but suddenly remembered something and nodded vigorously. “Yes! Those I have read!”
Back in Peach Blossom Village, there’d been a recycling depot piled with discarded textbooks. Su Keke was likable, so the auntie there gave her a few old books. That was why she knew many classic stories—The Fox and the Crow, The Fox Borrowing the Tiger’s Might, The Crow Drinking Water, and so on.
Looking at Su Keke’s bright, proud little face, Qin Xing silently swallowed the words she’d been about to say.
Heh.
Since when was having read elementary school textbooks something to be proud of?
The class bell rang, and Qin Xing had no choice but to return to her seat. Bao Chen, who’d just come back from his “bathroom escape,” took advantage of the teacher not having arrived yet and turned around to talk to Su Keke.
“This seat of yours is really weird. The last two students who sat here—one was sick for ages, the other got into a car accident and ended up hospitalized. If you want to know more, how about we exchange info?”
Su Keke looked at Bao Chen’s face for a moment, then suddenly said, “Disaster comes from the mouth. You’d better be careful in the future.”
Bao Chen froze, displeased.
She looked cute enough—why did she talk so unpleasantly?
Su Keke didn’t attend the next two classes. She was called to the office by the homeroom teacher.
The teacher looked kind, so Su Keke wasn’t afraid.
“Teacher, did you call me here for something?”
“Sit down first.” Zhao Changxing pointed to an empty chair beside him.
“This is your campus all-in-one card—meal card, library card, access card. And this is the key to Dorm 313. The school board secretary personally delivered them earlier. Keep them safe.”
Su Keke took the card and key. Looking at him, she felt that Teacher Zhao still had something to say.
“You might not have heard of me, Old Zhao,” he said. “But with me, even if the son of a national leader comes here, don’t think about using status to pressure me. Everything is done by the rules.”
Su Keke nodded obediently.
“I know, Teacher. Your facial features already told me—upright and incorruptible. If this were ancient times, you’d definitely be a fair and honest official.”
Zhao Changxing had been about to give the new student a proper lecture, but who would’ve thought this well-behaved-looking child was actually a little flatterer?
“Oh? You can read faces too?”
Su Keke said shyly, “I understand a bit of metaphysics.”
Zhao Changxing’s interest was immediately piqued.
“Metaphysics? The Dao De Jing says: ‘Profound and again profound, the gateway to all wonders.’ Dao De Jing, Zhuangzi, and I Ching are called the ‘Three Mysteries.’ Have you read them?”
Su Keke smiled, her eyes curving beautifully.
“Yes, Teacher. I read them when I was very young—especially the I Ching. I can recite it backwards now.”
Zhao Changxing casually asked a few questions, and Su Keke answered fluently every time. Old Zhao was delighted.
Kids these days only read storybooks and comics—who was still willing to settle down and read the wisdom left behind by their ancestors?
“I have a few test papers here. Do them now.”
Su Keke suddenly became nervous.
T-tests…?
“Don’t be afraid. It’s just to roughly understand your academic level so the teachers have a reference. If you do well, we’ll be happy. If you don’t, that’s fine too—we’ll point out your weak areas so you can focus on reviewing them.”
Su Keke softly replied, “Okay, Teacher.”
After Su Keke handed in her papers and left, Zhao Changxing chuckled and muttered,
“Finished so quickly—looks like a top student.”
He glanced at the Chinese paper, and his smile deepened, the wrinkles on his face all creasing up.
But when he looked at the next paper—math—his smile froze.
The next one—physics—his mouth twitched.
The English paper—deadpan expression.
—
When Qin Xing found out that Su Keke was indeed staying in the same dorm as her, everything clicked.
Tsk tsk—definitely arranged by Fourth Uncle.
The more she thought about it, the more curious she became. What exactly was the relationship between Su Keke and her poker-faced Fourth Uncle?
She was his biological niece, yet he never showed her this much concern.
Such blatant favoritism!
Qin Xing treated Su Keke like her own “little underling,” bringing her along to meals, back to the dorm, and acting as a full-on tour guide along the way.
“…That just now was the west cafeteria—not Western food, but the cafeteria on the west side. There’s also an east cafeteria in the other direction. The sports field’s over there—I won’t take you today, it’s way too hot lately. Here we are—the girls’ dorms. The first and second floors are for senior girls; we’re on the third floor.”
Each dorm housed four students. The environment was nice, even stylish—the bookshelves on the desks were shaped like irregular tree branches.
When Qin Xing brought Su Keke back, one girl was already in the room.
She had her hair in a ponytail, sitting upright at the desk, showing only her profile and a stretch of fair neck. Her eyes were lowered as she focused on her book. The still scene gave off a quiet, gentle beauty.
Su Keke recognized her.
Her name was Luo Man.
She remembered her so clearly not only because Qin Xing had mentioned her earlier, but because—
Su Keke’s eyes lit up when she looked at Luo Man.
Radiance of the Wenqu Star—an academic genius among geniuses. Amazing!
As someone who’d been called stupid by her master since childhood, Su Keke especially admired people blessed by the Wenqu Star.
In ancient times, this person would’ve definitely placed first in the imperial examinations.
“Is she our roommate?” Su Keke asked Qin Xing eagerly.
Qin Xing glanced at Luo Man and nodded.
“Me, Zhao Kexin, and Luo Man. There was also Jiang Yueyue, but she moved out on her own.”
Su Keke was about to ask why that person moved out when her phone suddenly rang.
She took it out—and the moment she saw the caller ID, her eyes lit up instantly.
