Chapter 51: Sharing a Desk, Being Fed Water
Qin Xing stared wide-eyed.
Luo Man, on the other hand, frowned slightly.
If she didn’t trust Su Keke’s character, she would have suspected that Su Keke had secretly coated the paper figurine with some kind of chemical reagent beforehand, which was why the flames had turned green.
However, something even stranger followed.
The paper box was clearly made of the same material as the paper figurine—both were paper—yet while the figurine had burned to ashes, the paper box itself was completely unharmed!
“Keke, was what you sprayed just now really water?” Qin Xing asked.
If there was anything special about the paper box, it was only that Su Keke had sprayed a mouthful of water on it earlier.
Su Keke took another sip in front of her, making a loud glug sound, then handed the cup over with a beaming smile. “It’s plain boiled water. If you don’t believe me, you can taste it.”
Qin Xing didn’t stand on ceremony and took a sip.
It really was water—no strange taste at all.
“But if it’s just water, how come it’s not afraid of fire?” Qin Xing muttered in confusion.
“It’s spirit-infusion, not spraying water,” Su Keke corrected seriously.
Qin Xing silently decided it was better not to talk anymore.
Just then, an even more bizarre scene appeared.
A gust of wind blew past, tossing their bangs into disarray, yet the paper box… didn’t move at all. The ashes inside swirled and danced within the box but never escaped that small space, as if—
They were bound inside by something invisible.
It wasn’t exactly a terrifying scene, yet goosebumps rose all over Luo Man’s arms.
Even Qin Xing, who prided herself on being brave, felt a chill crawl up her spine.
…Too weird.
Su Keke lifted her head and flashed the two of them a grin—silly and sweet—forming a stark contrast with the eerie scene.
Qin Xing couldn’t help swallowing hard.
Once the paper figurine had completely burned away, Su Keke gathered the ashes inside, poured them into her palm, then dismantled the paper box and put it into her bag, planning to reuse it later.
“Keke, why are you holding onto those ashes? Hurry up and throw them away!”
Su Keke shook her head and explained, “Even throwing them away has its rules. They need to be scattered in crowded places, like crossroads or T-junctions. Places with lots of people have strong life energy, which can dispel filth and evil yin energy.”
The area between the teaching building and the cafeteria had the heaviest foot traffic. Su Keke scattered the ashes into the soil of the greenery on both sides of the path.
“Keke, that’s it?” Qin Xing asked softly.
Su Keke smiled. “Yep.”
After this incident, Qin Xing and Luo Man suddenly realized that Su Keke, this little fortune-teller, actually seemed to have some real skills.
“Now that we’re done, let’s hurry back to the dorm! I need to study!” Su Keke slung on her small backpack and ran ahead of the two, brimming with motivation.
The two behind her paused for a moment before following.
Because of the bet with Jiang Yueyue, both Qin Xing and Luo Man were very proactive in helping Su Keke review her lessons.
However, when they discovered that Su Keke truly didn’t understand anything—and wasn’t just being modest—Luo Man fell silent.
No wonder she had to start with elementary school textbooks…
Qin Xing already knew earlier than her that Su Keke was a pitiful kid who had never gone to school, so she was comparatively calmer.
“…When you made that bet with Jiang Yueyue, I really wanted to stop you. But in that situation, stopping you would’ve been like killing our own morale and boosting hers, so after thinking it over, I just let you go with it. Ahem…”
Luo Man had nothing to say.
So why exactly was Su Keke able to be so confident about memorizing everything?
With zero foundation, how was she supposed to memorize it all?
Pure rote memorization, one hundred percent? Wouldn’t that kind of cramming mean remembering today and forgetting tomorrow?
Yet when Su Keke could look at a math problem two or three times and then write it out completely from memory, both Qin Xing and Luo Man were shocked.
Holy crap!
That memory… This was a freaking memory genius, wasn’t it?
“Keke, do you know what this formula means?” Luo Man couldn’t help asking when she saw how smoothly Su Keke wrote it.
Su Keke replied, “Nope. I just memorized it.”
Luo Man: …
Although pleasantly surprised by Su Keke’s memory, Luo Man didn’t relax.
Next, she tested Su Keke on several other subjects, and the further she went, the more complicated her feelings became.
“Manman, can I still be saved?” Su Keke asked, her pitch-black, bright eyes staring straight at Luo Man.
Luo Man took a moment, organized her emotions, then made a cheering gesture at her. “Keke, your memory is outstanding. You can definitely memorize everything. Go for it!”
It wasn’t all bad news. At least Su Keke was fairly good at Chinese, especially classical Chinese and poetry appreciation—her analyses were quite solid.
After analyzing Su Keke’s strengths and weaknesses, Luo Man tailored a study plan specifically for her.
With Luo Man being so reliable, Qin Xing didn’t lag behind either and contributed plenty of… unconventional ideas.
For example, for multiple-choice questions, if you don’t know anything, just pick one option—A, B, C, or D—and use the same choice for all multiple-choice questions; for true-or-false questions, either mark all true or all false; for Chinese essays, argumentative essays were best and easier to score high on.
Su Keke’s mind never stopped working, carefully memorizing everything the two of them said.
That evening, she excitedly discussed the whole thing with her uncle, then dove straight into the study room, as energized as if she’d been injected with chicken blood.
Watching the little girl’s tap-tap-tap retreating figure, a trace of softness flashed through Qin Mochen’s eyes.
Kids really were kids—just one bet was enough to fill her with drive.
When Qin Mochen entered the study, Su Keke was already focused on doing all kinds of exercises from the elementary school textbooks.
Some things looked simple, but when you actually did them, they weren’t necessarily so easy. Su Keke always remembered her master’s words: a good memory wasn’t as reliable as diligent writing—everything needed to be written and practiced more.
Qin Mochen moved lightly and sat down at his chair, watching the little girl for a while.
Then he turned on his computer and started handling his own work.
In the spacious study, the two shared the same desk, separated by the width of one person.
One dealt with official business; the other studied.
The sound of keyboard tapping mixed with the soft rustle of turning pages, making the room exceptionally quiet.
Partway through, Aunt Lin brought in two glasses of cooled boiled water. She didn’t dare disturb the two inside, simply set them on the desk and left.
Qin Mochen casually took one cup and drank. Seeing that the little girl beside him didn’t even lift her head, he handed the other cup to her.
Su Keke immediately puckered her lips and took the rim of the cup into her mouth.
Qin Mochen: …
His intention had been for the little girl to take the cup and drink it herself, but—
The angle of the cup wasn’t ideal, so Su Keke simply stretched her neck, her small mouth holding the cup as she tilted it slightly downward, gulping noisily.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Qin Mochen tilted the cup, cooperating with her.
Su Keke let out a satisfied “Ah~” and added a quick thank-you, “Thanks, Uncle!”
Then she went right back to burying her head and scribble scribble doing problems.
Qin Mochen glanced at the nearly empty cup, the corner of his lips moving slightly. He didn’t say anything, just gently set the cup back on the desk.
