Cafeteria
The three of them carried their tray and sat in the corner with their plates.
Gu Qi habitually stretched out her chopsticks to help Mu Yuan clipped out the coriander from the dish, but paused.
She pursed her lips, took out a piece of paper and put it on the table, and put the coriander she had just picked out.
A habit.
Jiang Lechuan asked in surprise: "You don’t eat coriander? None of us eat it. As expected, we are one family!"
He stretched out his chopsticks as he spoke and immediately joined in, picking out all the coriander from Mu Yuan's plate. He proudly declared: "Okay, you can eat it."
After that, he quickly snatched a piece of pork ribs from the plate in front of Gu Qi, and lowered his head to munch with an expression as if nothing had happened.
Gu Qi looked at Jiang Lechuan helplessly. She couldn't possibly scold him for this piece of ribs. She just lowered her head, clipped up the largest piece of ribs from the remaining ribs in front, and then put it in front of Mu Yuan, saying, "You eat it too."
Mu Yuan was slightly stunned.
The day before yesterday, he was still thinking about how to use those toys to actively show his goodwill to Elder Sister, but Elder Sister became the same as before. Elder Sister still remembered his preferences and would still help him pick out the coriander he hated the most. At this moment, this subconscious behavior and details finally gave Mu Yuan the last reassurance.
When Elder Sister came to participate in his school's sports meeting, she would prepare the items prepared for Jiang Lechuan for him, and even gave the ribs that Jiang Lechuan had taken away to him.
Gu Qi treated him the same as before. His and Jiang Lechuan's status in Elder Sister's mind was the same... at least not too different.
The tightening feeling in his heart gradually eased.
It was... the feeling of completely losing and regaining.
Jiang Lechuan helped him pick out coriander.
It didn't seem too annoying.
No——
He took back the above thoughts. They were both annoying.
When the afternoon three-legged race started, Gu Qi and Jiang Lechuan lifted him up on the left and right. As the three of them struggled forward together, the students watching in the field burst into laughter.
Mu Yuan looked at his feet, which were tied to them but slightly suspended in the air. He didn't need to exert any effort to move forward in this race. He could only feel his stomach churning.
On the left was Gu Qi comforting him: "Hold on!"
On the right was a smug Jiang Lechuan: "Like I said, this method works! Look! They are all left behind by us!"
He felt that many people were taking pictures of them with their mobile phones.
Mu Yuan hung his head, obviously finding it very embarrassing to show his face in the camera at this time. The corners of his lips twitched wildly. He silently said in his heart: calm down, calm down.
How could he calm down!
Mu Yuan was speechless.
When they won first place in the three-legged race with an absolute advantage, a warm applause rang out again and Jiang Lechuan and Gu Qi each pulled up one of his hands to cheer. Finally, his feet touched the ground and he raised his hands in cooperation.
Forget it...
It was fine since they won in the end.
Finally, as they planned, after participating in countless events, they won first place today with an absolute advantage.
The three of them squeezed on the first place award podium, which was supposed to be for only one person. Each of them had a gold medal around their neck. There was also a huge trophy.
And Mu Yuan was holding a computer bag in his hand, which contained a brand new laptop. This was also the ‘goal’ they strived for.
The principal came to take a photo with them in person. When he saw that the first place in the sports days was the first place in the grade, he was stunned. The 70-year-old man grinned from ear to ear. He held the microphone and praised Mu Yuan as a good student with all-round development of ‘morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor’ and the pride of Imperial Capital No. 1 High School!
After the award ceremony, the director made a summary speech for the day on the stage.
Then —
Jiang Lechuan chatted with the principal with his fierce/bandit-like social skills. The two of them only had one thing to do together - that was to praise Mu Yuan together.
Principal: "Your family cultivated him!"
Jiang Lechuan: "No, no! It's the school that teaches well!"
Gu Qi & Mu Yuan: "..."
Can't stand it at all.
The two looked at each other again, but this time there was no helplessness in their eyes, but a bit of numbness that they had gotten accustomed to.
The principal suddenly noticed Gu Qi, pushed his glasses, looked carefully for a few seconds, and then widened his eyes wide, saying: "You are... you are the one who did brilliantly in the college entrance examination a few years ago! Jiang... Jiang..."
"Jiang Qi." Gu Qi finished the principal's words. It went without saying, she didn't bother to explain the messy matters about changing the name and just smiled at him politely.
"Yes, yes, yes! That's the name!" The principal's eyes had never been so wide in his life. It was obvious that he didn't go online much at his age, since it wasn't until now that he knew that the student who ‘unexpectedly’ entered the top ten in the province from an ordinary class in the college entrance examination was actually a family member of their school's current ace, Mu Yuan, who was always the first in the grade!
"So it wasn’t that you performed exceptionally well back then, but it's family genes of high IQ." The principal remarked with a smile that almost defined the wrinkles on his face. He turned back to Jiang Lechuan and asked with concern: "You are one family and look smart, you must be from our No. 1 School! Which class? How was your college entrance examination score?"
Jiang Lechuan scratched the back of his head a little embarrassedly: "... I wanted to go to No. 1 School, but I didn't get admitted."
The principal immediately showed a hint of surprise on his face: "How can it be? Aren't you one family? Younger Brother and Elder Sister are so outstanding, how can you not do well in the exam?"
Jiang Lechuan's smile was a little stiff on his face.
He had always been carefree. The only sensitive spot was that his academic performance was occasionally compared.
He knew that he wasn't that brilliant. During junior high school, he was in the rebellious period and hardly listened to the class. He just barely passed the high school entrance examination and entered a normal high school. It was difficult for his family to get into the No. 1 School even if they stuffed money. More importantly, he had no desire to study at that time and didn't want to enter at all.
So Dad and Mom didn't force him, letting him study in a normal high school closest to home.
Gu Qi saw Jiang Lechuan's disappointment and immediately smiled at the principal, "You may not know, he is an acting student, a little different from us who were pure literacy students. He was the first in the provincial examination of the acting major in the imperial capital art examination three years ago. Quite impressive."
At the side, Mu Yuan nodded.
"So that's how it is." The principal showed an expression of sudden enlightenment, expressing that he understood: "I understand, this is called specialization! Sure enough, all are well taught at home and each of them is so excellent."
The principal smiled and asked Gu Qi: "Who was your homeroom teacher at that time? Did you see him today? Can he still recognize you?"
Gu Qi replied: "He’s probably not working in the school anymore."
The teachers in the Capital No. 1 School rarely change. It had always been only teachers from other schools who were scrambling to get into the No. 1 High School and very few left.
The principal was even more surprised and asked, "Who is it?"
Once Gu Qi said that name, it dawned on the principal instantly, "Oh, that person, he went abroad."
The smile on the principal's face faded again. He shook his head and his mood became much lower. He sighed and continued, "That kind of thing happened in your class at that time... Your homeroom teacher blamed himself too much and felt that he wasn't worthy of being a teacher, so he resigned later."
Gu Qi didn't say anything to refute, but just maintained her slight smile.
Mu Yuan frowned slightly.
For some reason, he suddenly sensed that Elder Sister was a little unhappy.
So Mu Yuan said, "I'm tired, can I go back?"
The principal halted for a moment and quickly agreed, saying that they should go back and rest early.
The three walked toward the back door of the school, preparing to leave early.
On the way, Jiang Lechuan asked curiously: "What did the principal mean just now? What happened in your class at that time?"
How did it get to the point where the homeroom teacher had to resign to ‘apologize’?
Gu Qi looked up in the direction of the teaching building and replied indifferently: "At that time, a girl committed suicide."
Jiang Lechuan widened his eyes and exclaimed in shock: "Why? Were you close to that girl?"
"Not very familiar." Gu Qi replied, paused for a few seconds, and added: "We can barely be considered friends."
After all, the number of times they talked could be counted on one hand.
But they communicated through some ‘letters’ in various ways.
"Is that so?" Jiang Lechuan showed a look of pity on his face, but he couldn't help asking: "Why commit suicide? Was it because of too much pressure from studying? Or encounter something bad?"
"Why are you asking so many questions?" Gu Qi patted Jiang Lechuan's head and quickened her pace, saying: "Let's go. Let's go eat."
"I'm just asking casually! Be gentle!" Jiang Lechuan wailed while covering the back of his head. Then he slapped Mu Yuan on the head with lightning speed.
Jiang Lechuan ran away, continuing to promote Gu Qi's ‘magical theory’: "If you want to blame someone, blame Elder Sister! She hit her Younger Brother! I have to hit my Younger Brother too!"
Mu Yuan: "..."
He was mental.