The Silent World And Him - Chapter 20

When Pu Chen returned home, she didn’t bother with her homework and instead laid out all the chocolates and candies on the coffee table. She counted them; there were a total of five types of chocolates and four flavors of candies, all from brands she had never heard of before. The packaging was exquisite and special, perfectly meeting her aesthetic preferences.

Pu Wanli, having prepared breakfast ingredients for the next day, came out of the kitchen and smiled at his daughter, saying, “Did your aunt secretly buy you all these chocolates?”

Pu Chen told her father the truth, “It was brought by Qin Yu and Mom during their business trip. Thank you for the supper you made for Qin Yu.”

Pu Wanli didn’t doubt the truthfulness of her words at all. If it were him, someone taking care of his daughter’s diet during the Spring Festival would also warrant a thoughtful gift.

“Thank Qin Yu for me, Dad.”

“Thanks have been given.” While her father wasn’t paying attention, Pu Chen slipped a piece of chocolate into her pocket and went back to her room to do her math homework.

In her bedroom, Pu Wenxin pretended to digest while standing on the balcony, absentmindedly watching the activity below. The window was slightly open, and the cold wind blew on her face. People and cars were moving downstairs, and Qin Yu was also casually walking back within her sight, but she didn’t recognize him.

“Chenchen, Auntie wanted…” When Pu Wenxin turned her face, she happened to catch Pu Chen secretly nibbling on chocolate, looking sneaky. She paused mid-sentence and laughed, “Eating chocolate so late, be careful not to get fat.”

Pu Chen hurriedly wiped her mouth with a tissue, masking her earlier panic. As for why she was flustered, she couldn’t even explain it to herself.

She asked her aunt, “What were you just about to tell me?”

Pu Wenxin didn’t know the chocolates were brought by Qin Yu just now; she was merely reminding her niece not to indulge in delicious treats so late at night.

She sat back beside her niece, having carefully considered and deliberated the result for a long time, and told her, “Chenchen, Auntie is thinking of applying for a project at the company, overseas, for about two and a half years. I can come back during that time.”

Seizing such a good opportunity, she wanted to earn more money. If medical technology develops to the point where it can treat her niece’s vocal cords, the treatment will definitely be expensive. It wouldn’t be regrettable if she couldn’t be treated, but if it were due to lack of money, she would surely regret it.

Last time she gave up the opportunity to go abroad to develop the market because her sister-in-law had just passed away not long ago, her brother couldn’t walk normally, and her niece’s vocal cords had also been damaged in the accident. She couldn’t let go of her family at that time.

It’s different now; Chenchen’s condition is gradually improving, her brother can walk normally, and there’s also Lu Bosheng here. She doesn’t have much to worry about.

Pu Chen fully supported her aunt’s career and reassured her, “I’m grown up now and can take care of Dad. Auntie, when you go abroad, take good care of yourself and don’t get too busy to forget to eat.”

Pu Wenxin rubbed her niece’s head and sighed softly, “I know, Auntie will definitely take care of herself. You focus on your homework; I’ll go talk to your dad.” She got up and gently closed the door.

Pu Chen stared at the draft paper absentmindedly, thinking how good it would be if Qin Yu could speak normally. Maybe he would also have the opportunity to study abroad.

“The chocolate is delicious, thank you.” Just to send Qin Yu another message, she said something meaningless.

Qin Yu pushed open the door, and his mother was sorting out the things brought back from abroad.

He took off his coat and went straight to his room.

Qin Mingyi called her son, “Your dad just called me.”

Qin Yu’s hand happened to touch the doorknob, and he turned to look at his mother, asking, “When did he decide to get married?”

Seeing her son was not teasing but asking seriously, Qin Mingyi kindly explained, “Your dad spent his few days off in Sucheng with you. He probably doesn’t have a girlfriend. I can’t ask too much about this. He called to ask me if you want to participate in this year’s math competition.”

Qin Yu stood still for a moment, thinking of Pu Chen. She hoped he would study hard.

He replied to his mother, “Okay.”

Qin Mingyi felt relieved, “I’ll talk to your dad later and ask him to arrange some tutoring for you. Oh, by the way, I bought the bottled water you drink; I saw that there was none left in the storeroom. You didn’t tell me earlier. For the next few days, make do with other water.”

Qin Yu: “Don’t buy it anymore.”

“If I don’t buy it, what will you drink?”

“I’ll drink the water in the school tea room; it’s free.”

Qin Mingyi: “…”

He actually knew how to save money.

Qin Mingyi looked at her son and felt that after the Spring Festival, he seemed more sensible.

She worried, “Can you tolerate the water provided by the school?”

Qin Yu “Hmm” and pushed open the door into his room.

Actually, he couldn’t stand the school’s water, but having the opportunity for Pu Chen to help him fetch water was worth it.

Qin Yu leaned back in his swivel chair, played a few games, and won every time. It was quite boring.

He turned on the computer and entered study mode.

In order to have Pu Chen’s breakfast, he had to do well and be the first.

Since promising his parents to participate in the competition, Qin Yu had been earnestly preparing, with half of his energy devoted to solving competition problems.

During break time that day, Qin Yu encountered a difficult problem and asked Pu Chen, “Which floor is the math teacher’s office on?”

Pu Chen hurriedly asked, “What’s wrong?”

“No problem, let me ask the teacher about the question.” Qin Yu stood up with the paper and said, “There’s actually a question I don’t know.”

Pu Chen chuckled silently. If she could make a sound, she would definitely burst into laughter. Qin Yu squeezed past her from behind, pulled the hood of her jacket over her head, and rubbed her head twice, saying, “Laugh as much as you want now, but you won’t be laughing after the monthly exams.”

—

At the end of March, the first monthly exam finally arrived. The weather was getting warmer, and most students on campus had switched from their winter uniforms to spring and autumn ones. In front of the cafeteria, the old tree whose branches had been broken by heavy snow quietly sprouted new buds.

The exam room assignments were based on the results of the previous final exam. Qin Yu was in the last exam room, separated from Pu Chen’s exam room by one teaching building. The only student from Class Ten in his exam room was Zhao Shu.

Zhao Shu sat in the first seat of the exam room, while he sat in the second-to-last seat. On the day of the math exam, Qin Yu entered the exam room ten minutes early. Passing by Zhao Shu’s seat, she greeted him, her chin resting in her hand, in a good mood, “Good luck! Everything will go smoothly. Aim to be closer to my seat next time.”

His seat number in this exam room was 029, while Zhao Shu’s was 001. Being closer to her seat meant he needed to improve by more than twenty places in the grade. Qin Yu paused and said, “Getting closer to your seat is a bit difficult. Next time, I’ll aim for seat number 001 in the first exam room.”

Zhao Shu: “…” She rolled her eyes in her mind, never having encountered someone so arrogant and ignorant of their own limitations.

The invigilator entered the classroom with sealed exam papers. Qin Yu switched his phone to airplane mode and placed it on the lectern, then walked briskly to his seat with his pencil case in hand. The invigilator glanced at Qin Yu and then at the phone on the lectern. He knew many students ignored the school’s rules and often brought phones onto campus, but someone like Qin Yu who did so openly was a first for him.

Since Qin Yu had already surrendered his phone, the invigilator didn’t give him a hard time. Qin Yu didn’t recognize the invigilator, but Zhao Shu did; he was the head of the math teaching and research group for their grade. Apart from Qin Yu, the students in this exam room, like Zhao Shu, were not particularly good at math.

As the exam progressed, everyone struggled with the larger problems on the paper. The invigilator paced around the classroom with his hands behind his back. Whenever he passed by Qin Yu’s desk, he unconsciously paused for a moment, afraid of disturbing Qin Yu’s concentration, but he never stayed for long.

With half an hour left until the end of the exam, Qin Yu packed up his pencil case and submitted his paper early. Everyone looked at him. The invigilator skimmed through Qin Yu’s paper from start to finish, then after finishing the last big question, asked him, “Can I borrow your rough paper to have a look?”

In these small exams, rough paper wasn’t collected. Qin Yu took out a long strip of folded rough paper from his pencil case and handed it to the invigilator. The invigilator nodded and set his rough paper aside.

Qin Yu left the exam room and headed straight for the building ahead to wait for Peng Jingyang to finish lunch. He submitted his paper early just to avoid waiting in line at the cafeteria. After waiting for more than ten minutes, Peng Jingyang finally finished and came out.

Before anything else, his first words to Qin Yu were, “You didn’t leave any blanks at the end again, did you?” During the previous semester’s final exam, Qin Yu had left seventy points of the math paper undone, so it wasn’t surprising that Peng Jingyang doubted his ability to complete the paper this time.

Qin Yu replied, “No, I finished every question.” Peng Jingyang looked at him skeptically, “You didn’t just guess, did you?” Qin Yu shook his head, “No.” “That’s good. I can only manage 147 points in math this time; one small question was beyond my knowledge area.”

Peng Jingyang turned to him, “How about you?” Qin Yu replied, “Just three points higher than you.” Peng Jingyang was taken aback and laughed helplessly, “At least leave me some face.”

He had a feeling that Qin Yu would dominate all the top students this time.

As predicted by Qin Yu, he scored a perfect mark in mathematics, the only one in the entire grade. The second place went to Peng Jingyang, who scored 147 points. After the scores were released, some teachers suspected Qin Yu of cheating, as no one believed a student from the last examination room could achieve a perfect score in mathematics. However, they then thought that Qin Yu lacked the opportunity to cheat, as the exam questions were from their school’s internal sources and could not be found online. Even if one tried to look up each problem’s solution, there wouldn’t be enough time during the exam.

“No cheating, the scratch paper is still with me,” said the head of the mathematics teaching and research group, who also supervised Qin Yu’s exam room that day. When the teachers examined the scratch paper, they all fell silent.

The midterm exam results were released on Friday of the same week. After the early reading class, Zhao Shu walked to the window with her water cup, leaning on the windowsill to talk to Qin Yu, “Hey, you elementary school slacker, can’t you take the exams seriously? Even if you don’t know the answers, you should be dedicated and stay until the last minute. Except for the Chinese exam, you handed in every other paper early. That’s not a good attitude.”

Qin Yu was reading “Nature” and looked up at Zhao Shu, “The first class is English, right?” Zhao Shu nodded, “Yes, Mr. Lu will announce the scores.” Qin Yu checked his phone, “Enjoy your next seven minutes,” implying she would soon find out she was at the bottom.

Zhao Shu, sipping her water, asked, “What do you mean?” Qin Yu replied, “Nothing, just that class starts in seven minutes.” He continued reading his magazine. Pu Chen glanced at Qin Yu, unsure of his results. She hoped he would improve by at least a few dozen ranks, moving from the last exam room to the second last.

Qin Yu noticed her staring and poked her arm with a pen, “What are you thinking about?” Pu Chen, embarrassed, sat up straight. She couldn’t tell him she was worried about his scores. She texted him, “I’m a bit nervous. Mr. Lu will announce the scores soon, and I didn’t do well in math.”

Qin Yu reassured her, “I’ll teach you from now on. There are two and a half years until the college entrance exam. If you study seriously, you might even rank second in the grade.” Pu Chen smiled faintly, feeling comforted by the joke.

The bell rang, and Lu Bosheng entered the classroom just as it stopped ringing, without the English test papers. A student asked, “Mr. Lu, haven’t the midterm scores been released?” Lu Bosheng replied, “Yes, the scores are out, but I haven’t got the test papers yet. I’ll go over them next class.” He pulled out a score sheet from his textbook.

As the tense moment arrived, Pu Chen felt her heart race, anxious for both her own and Qin Yu’s results. “Qin Yu,” Lu Bosheng called out. Pu Chen’s heart sank, expecting him to be last again. But then Lu Bosheng announced, “English: 149 points.”

The class was shocked to learn that Qin Yu not only topped English but also scored the highest in mathematics and physics, ranking first in the grade, eleven points ahead of Peng Jingyang.

The classroom buzzed with disbelief. “How is that possible?” was written on everyone’s face. Lu Bosheng briefly explained, “He has always been a top student but is currently rebelling and deliberately not studying. Don’t follow his example.” He continued announcing the scores.

Many students were still stunned by Qin Yu’s results and missed their own scores. They asked around, “Did you hear my score?” Pu Chen also missed hers, almost thinking Mr. Lu hadn’t called her name. “English: 126 points, class rank: 22,” Qin Yu quietly told her. Pu Chen was slow to react, realizing Qin Yu had remembered her score and rank for her.

She couldn’t believe Qin Yu was first in the grade. Not only was he excellent in math and science, but he also scored high in Chinese, despite never writing weekly journals. This state of shock lasted until the end of the class. Qin Yu, giving her time to process, went to refill his water cup, taking Pu Chen’s cup as well.

This midterm, the grade’s first place being taken by a regular class student was a blow to the top students in the advanced class. Qin Yu became famous, with the girls in the class admiring him since the end of the lesson, frequently glancing his way.

Pu Chen, still in a daze, heard Qin Yu say, “Don’t forget to bring me breakfast starting tomorrow.” As he returned with the water, Pu Chen felt everything was surreal. She asked him, “Do you have any preferences for breakfast?”

“No requirements, I’ll eat whatever Uncle Pu makes,” Qin Yu explained to her. “Earlier, it wasn’t intentional to hide my actual grades from you. After transferring, I didn’t plan to study seriously.”

Pu Chen understood him: “It’s okay, you must have your reasons. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have transferred from Beijing to Sucheng.” He spent the New Year alone, so his family situation must be quite complex.

Qin Yu handed the notes he had organized over the past month to Pu Chen: “I’ll lend these to you, as a benefit of having a top student as a desk mate.”

Pu Chen accepted them like a treasure: “Thank you.”

She couldn’t understand: “You don’t pay attention in class, and you’re not that serious after class either. How did you score so high? What’s your secret?”

Qin Yu replied, “No secret, maybe just a bit more talent for learning than the average person.”

Pu Chen: “…”

She blinked, at a loss for words.

Qin Yu tactfully offered, “For any subject, feel free to ask me if you don’t understand something. I have plenty of time to explain it to you.” So you don’t have to bother Peng Jingyang to help you anymore.

He looked at her and said, “I got first place in the grade. Shouldn’t I get a reward?”

Pu Chen didn’t know how to reward him.

Qin Yu opened the lid of his cup, handed it to her, and said, “Then reward me by putting two candies in here.”