Getting Caught Up In His Cycle Of Passionate Love - Chapter 5
“This cat is so ugly—just like you.”
Xu Tao Yue stopped teasing him, unwrapped a piece of candy from the desk drawer, and popped it into her mouth right in front of him:
“Thanks, Classmate Lu!”
Lu Que turned away from her, ignoring her, but the pink tips of his ears gave away what he was really feeling inside:
“…”
Just then, Ye Wan arrived carrying a stack of documents, followed by Xia Xiang Yang. Lu Que casually stood up, his eyes lingering on Xia Xiang Yang with obvious vigilance. Xu Tao Yue took the documents from Ye Wan’s hands:
“Wan Wan, you’re so fast.”
“Mr. Xiang said there’s going to be a quiz during night study session.”
Xu Tao Yue didn’t care:
“A quiz is fine, whatever.”
“But the thing is, this one’s supposedly hell-level difficulty,” Ye Wan sighed. “Then it’s just one test after another—mock exams, finals, college entrance exams. What do we do?”
Xu Tao Yue froze.
If she remembered right… hadn’t school just started like, a week ago?
“Peach, why aren’t you freaking out?”
Xu Tao Yue chuckled proudly.
Please.
She had already survived the college entrance exam once.
Sure, she hadn’t gotten into a prestigious university or anything—but it was still a proper undergraduate program, okay?
“Where do you get this totally unearned confidence?” Ye Wan asked.
Lu Que threw his workbook at Xu Tao Yue:
“You? You sure you can handle this?”
“Are you doubting me?” Xu Tao Yue said confidently, pointing at herself as she flipped the workbook open and took a glance at the questions.
Ye Wan watched with admiration, and even Xia Xiang Yang was curious to see how she’d do.
Five minutes later, Xu Tao Yue tossed the pen aside and collapsed onto her desk, staring at the still-blank worksheet.
“I’m doomed.”
“Totally doomed.”
She looked at Lu Que’s workbook with despair, trying to justify herself:
“It’s not that I don’t get the questions! I just… don’t know how to apply the formulas.”
Lu Que couldn’t help but laugh and flipped the cover of the book toward her:
“This is chemistry.”
Xu Tao Yue: “……”
Ye Wan burst into laughter, then pushed Xia Xiang Yang to turn around and look:
“Peach, I think you better start studying. I won’t bother you anymore.”
Xu Tao Yue: “……”
She turned to her deskmate for emotional support:
“Was she laughing at me?”
“No.”
Lu Que had to fight back a laugh as he turned away.
Seriously?! What kind of author wrote this book?!
Xu Tao Yue sighed and resigned herself to her fate, pulling out her own textbook to start reading carefully.
“It’s fine. I’ve already taken this exam once. There’s no way I’ll fail that badly…”
After the quiz, Xu Tao Yue was reborn.
She was back to happily chatting with the people around her.
Lu Que slipped his finished test paper into his bag:
“What, you answered everything? You look so happy.”
Xu Tao Yue patted her chest confidently:
“Of course! I actually thought the test was pretty easy.”
Lu Que paused while packing:
“You thought it was easy?”
Xu Tao Yue nodded and slung an arm over Ye Wan’s shoulder:
“Yeah! Wasn’t it?”
Ye Wan gave her a complicated expression:
“Actually… I left a lot of questions blank.”
“Tsk, you guys are hopeless.” Xu Tao Yue scoffed, then turned to Xia Xiang Yang: “What about you?”
“I thought it was easy too.”
Xu Tao Yue nodded smugly:
“See? And you guys call yourselves top students? I’m the real deal here.”
The next day, Xu Tao Yue couldn’t laugh anymore.
Ms. Xiang Bai Jie slammed the test papers down on the teacher’s desk. Leaning on it with both hands, she stared them down with heavy pressure. Xu Tao Yue started to panic and tugged discreetly at the sleeve of the person next to her.
“Lu Que… you don’t think she’s gonna murder us, right?”
“Nope.”
Xu Tao Yue breathed a sigh of relief—
“She won’t murder me.”
Xu Tao Yue: “……”
Ms. Xiang unfolded the papers:
“The grade sheet is up here. Class rep, hand out the papers. Anyone who failed, bring your test and come see me in the office.”
Then she walked out.
The class rep looked at the scores and shook their head subtly at Xu Tao Yue.
Panicking, she rushed up to take a look:
“!”
“Holy crap!” Xia Xiang Yang gave her a thumbs-up. “Out of 30-something students, you ranked 29th!”
Xu Tao Yue: “……”
But she clearly remembered thinking the test was super easy…
So why was she the only one in their study group who failed?!
“Ye Wan! Didn’t you say the test was super hard? Didn’t you say you left a bunch of questions blank? Why are you second place?!”
Xu Tao Yue exploded.
Ye Wan adjusted her glasses calmly:
“Yeah, I didn’t know a few, so I was like ten points behind the top score.”
Xu Tao Yue: “……”
So this is what academic elitism looks like.
Ye Wan, fine. But then Xu Tao Yue locked eyes with Xia Xiang Yang.
She remembered—in the original novel, he was a total slacker rich kid!
“Xia Xiang Yang! Why’d you do better than me?!”
“I told you, the test was easy.”
Xu Tao Yue: “……”
Fine.
She admitted it.
She had zero skill.
So she unilaterally announced a one-period friendship breakup with all three of them during night study.
Lu Que hadn’t even looked at the grades yet, but when he got Xu Tao Yue’s paper, he glanced at it and raised a brow.
She had some foundation—but not much.
Xu Tao Yue gloomily took her test and walked to the office.
“Excuse me.”
Ms. Xiang looked up and gestured for her to sit:
“What happened this time?”
Xu Tao Yue sighed silently, staring at her 80-point test (likely out of 150).
Ms. Xiang handed her a packet:
“I went over your mistakes and made some corrections. Go through this carefully. You’ve clearly got some basics, but you overcomplicated the formulas.”
Xu Tao Yue nodded, and only when she returned to her seat did she let out a sigh of relief.
“How’d it go?” Ye Wan turned around.
“Homework tripled,” Xu Tao Yue groaned, flopping on her desk.
She clearly remembered passing back in the day. How did she become dumber after going to college?
She’d forgotten all her high school material.
Ye Wan consoled her quietly:
“It’s okay. You’ve got the top-ranked student sitting next to you.”
Xu Tao Yue turned slowly to look at Lu Que.
Lu Que: “?”
Ye Wan gave her a knowing look, and Xu Tao Yue got the message right away.
Next second, Xu Tao Yue hugged her test corrections dramatically, wailing loud enough for Lu Que to hear:
“Ahhh! What am I gonna dooooo?!”
Lu Que yanked the papers out of her hands:
“Enough. If you yell any louder, the whole building’s gonna know you came second to last.”
Xu Tao Yue: “……”
She tried one last defense:
“Let’s not focus on the whole ‘second to last’ thing—”
“Can’t ignore that.”
Xu Tao Yue couldn’t understand how Lu Que could deliver such cold lines with a perfectly neutral tone.
“……”
No wonder he’s ranked first.
After just a few explanations from Lu Que, her thoughts finally started to click.
She finished all of Ms. Xiang’s assigned problems and collapsed on her desk.
“Lu Que~”
“…”
Xu Tao Yue tugged on his school uniform:
“Little Lu~ Classmate~”
“…”
She was just about to invent another nickname when Lu Que cut her off:
“What?”
Xu Tao Yue stayed limp on the desk:
“I think all my brain cells are dead.”
Lu Que glanced at her:
“I didn’t think you had any to begin with.”
Xu Tao Yue giggled dumbly and was about to nap when Lu Que woke her up:
“You planning to catch a cold by sleeping here and kill the only brain cells you’ve got left?”
“…”
“But it’s summer…”
“Oh, so you want to cook your brain cells instead?”
Xu Tao Yue got up lazily:
“Okay, okay, master, stop lecturing me!”
As she grabbed her bag and headed outside, she asked:
“Lu Que~ what university are you planning to apply to?”
Lu Que was about to answer, but she interrupted:
“Let me guess. North China University, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t you want to know how I guessed?”
“No.”
“I knew you’d say that!” She bumped shoulders with him.
“But I’m not telling, hehe.”
Lu Que: “…”
Sometimes he really thought Xu Tao Yue was just a little nuts.
Before he could say anything else, a weak meowing came from the bushes nearby. Xu Tao Yue paused, listening closely.
“Is that a cat?”
Lu Que stopped as well:
“Yeah.”
The sky had turned cloudy, the wind rustling through the trees. Car engines rumbled near the school’s back gate.
The meowing was faint. Xu Tao Yue didn’t hesitate—she ran through the bushes.
Lu Que heard her shout:
“Lu Que!”
He rushed in and saw that the cat wasn’t just in the bushes—it was stuck in the wall behind the school gate.
It had probably been trying to find shelter and squeezed into a crevice that it couldn’t escape from.
Xu Tao Yue tried to pull the gap open, but Lu Que stopped her:
“Be careful—you’ll cut your hands.”
“What do we do?” she asked, flustered.
Lu Que tried shaking the wall—it didn’t budge.
Xu Tao Yue tried comforting the cat:
“Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. Big sis is here.”
But the cat was terrified and shrunk back even more.
Raindrops started to fall.
“Lu Que, should we break it?” she asked, knowing it was a bad idea—but they were out of options.
Lu Que didn’t question her. He told her to step back and found something to use as a tool.
The cat, sensing their kindness, rubbed gently against Xu Tao Yue’s hand.
When they finally got it out, part of the wall was damaged. Xu Tao Yue cradled the cat in her arms.
Just then, the rain poured.
Lu Que took off his jacket and held it over both of them.
“Let’s go.”
They ran back into the school building with the cat.
“Looks like this rain won’t stop anytime soon.”
Lu Que nodded, watching Xu Tao Yue cuddle the cat.
“Let big sis see… who’s this poor little kitty~ You’re safe now~”
She cooed, raising her voice to a pitch:
“Sweetie~ wanna come home with big sis~?”
The cat responded, meowing back at her.
Then it became a full conversation—she’d talk, it would meow.
Lu Que couldn’t help the smile tugging at his lips. His eyes softened.
The cat, now much more lively, rubbed affectionately against both of them.
“This cat… is so ugly. Just like you.”
Xu Tao Yue: “!”
She quickly covered the cat’s ears:
“Lu Que! How could you say that! What if it heard?!”
Lu Que: “…Oh.”