When he walked away, Yun Mi couldn't help speaking up for him: "Isn't that a bit much?"
Xie Yue was confused: "What's too much?"
Yun Mi thought Xie Yue was acting like a thug. She said: "Chen Yiyang... he doesn't have much money."
She had just overheard him arguing with his father over forty thousand yuan, and his grandfather was in the hospital. It was really tough.
Hearing this, Xie Yue looked as if he'd seen a ghost and nearly slammed the table: "Him, broke? He reeks of money from head to toe!"
He leaned in with an expression of "Sister, you've been fooled" and said with pain: "Chen Yiyang's dad does business in Shenzhen, earning tens of millions a year. He sends him tens of thousands in allowance every month. If he's broke, I'll go be a beggar in Xingfuli right now!"
"!"
Xie Yue watched the girl's expression change from shock to surprise to grievance, and he got scared.
Yun Mi hated Chen Yiyang even more.
Xie Yue quickly asked: "What's wrong, sis?"
Yun Mi shook her head.
She thought about how foolish she'd been.
She had put six hundred yuan in her WeChat wallet. This morning it was over five hundred. Now it was only two fifty.
All because of Chen Yiyang.
What was that saying?
"Feel sorry for a boy, and you'll be unlucky all night."
Boo hoo. Two hundred fifty. She was the fool.
-
Yun Mi was still brooding over the money she'd spent because of Chen Yiyang.
There were eight days until the monthly exam. The days crept closer, and the study atmosphere at Shanfu grew intense.
The workbook she bought over the weekend helped a lot—her quiz scores improved.
Because of the money issue, Du Yun had asked to meet with her parents. Yun Mi didn't tell Aunt Wen or Chen Yiyang; she only asked the tutoring teacher who had done the trial lesson to help.
After school that afternoon, the two of them were kicked out of the math office by Du Yun. Yun Mi obediently followed the older brother figure, quietly reporting her recent progress.
The tutor was silent for a moment, then spoke bluntly and coldly: "At this rate, it'll be hard for you to catch up. You scored eighty-nine on this quiz, while the person above you scored nearly twenty points more. Your grades are too poor—hopeless."
The tutor had graduated from Shancheng University's math department and specialized in college entrance exam math training. He was a genuine 985 bachelor's and master's graduate, scoring 142 on the gaokao math exam.
They had just been criticized by Du Yun. Aware that the tutor was frustrated, Yun Mi softly said, "Mm."
"Your math teacher wasn't wrong. The principal requires you to be in the top 50% of your grade by the final exam, and you're still messing around with school anniversary activities—neglecting your main work."
Yun Mi quietly corrected him: "I didn't really participate. I just came up with the idea."
The tutor dismissed it as a child's stubbornness. His tone was cold and hard: "Whatever you say. If you say you didn't participate, fine."
Being so blatantly doubted, Yun Mi stopped walking, looked up, and repeated seriously: "I really didn't participate much."
Ding Yuan hadn't bothered her again.
The tutor retorted: "But you were listed as a participant, weren't you? Your name is on the list."
Yun Mi had nothing to say.
The tutor couldn't be bothered to argue over words. He said perfunctorily: "Fine, fine, you didn't participate. Let's say you didn't." He paused, then asked, "Yun Mi, tell me, what do you plan to do from now on? What school do you want to get into?"
Before coming to Shancheng, Yun Mi had always ranked first in her age group in the training team.
The coach said that if she kept it up, she would be recommended to Qinghua or Peking University, like her senior sisters.
Thinking of the past, Yun Mi lowered her head and said quietly, "The best ones."
The tutor was irritated by Yun Mi's stubbornness. He had been chewed out by Du Yun and had to play the fool, which already put him in a bad mood. Upon hearing her answer, his tone turned from contempt to sarcasm, and his voice rose, deliberately loud enough for passing students to hear: "You? You want to get into the best schools? I think you're daydreaming!"
...
"A Yang, isn't that Yun Mi?"
Across a road, amid the flowing traffic and crowds, Zhou Shihui spotted the girl on the sidewalk at a glance.
Chen Yiyang glanced over. The girl was slender in her blue-and-white school uniform, with a plain ponytail.
Her fair face was tilted up, stubbornly refusing to bow.
Confirming it was her, he gave a light "Mm."
The next second, his arm was clapped hard by Zhou Shihui.
"Hey, hey, what's going on? Is Yun Mi about to cry? Or am I seeing things? Her eyes are really red."
Car horns blared, and clusters of students with arms around each other's shoulders blocked the view.
Yun Mi stood at the end of the crosswalk, eyes downcast, neither speaking nor moving, her eye sockets clearly reddened.
Zhou Shihui's voice grew urgent: "Who's that guy... looks awful. Pointing at her and cursing—what's his problem?"
Before he could finish, something was thrown at him.