Let's Do Some Questions - Chapter 21

Chu Fengqiu didn’t hesitate to take Song Man’s hand and gently placed it on her abdomen.

The warm feeling returned, and Chu Fengqiu narrowed her eyes in pleasure.

“I heard brown sugar water helps. Want me to get some for you?” Song Man asked, tilting her head.

“No need.” She didn’t really like the taste of brown sugar.

But Song Man misunderstood Chu Fengqiu, thinking she was just trying to avoid trouble.

Song Man took out her phone from the drawer, ready to message one of her followers to borrow some brown sugar. As she took it out, she saw a few messages on WeChat.

【Lingnan】: Hi, are you there?

【Lingnan】: I’m feeling a bit better, want to PK?

【Lingnan】: If it’s not convenient, it’s okay to refuse. I can just stream instead.

【Lingnan】: Hmm… looks like you’re busy for now. See you later then.

Song Man’s finger slid across the screen, and she replied to Lingnan that she had just been in class.

After she swiped out of that chat window, she saw the messages Zhuazhua had sent her.

【Zhuazhua】: Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap

【Zhuazhua】: Lingnan is streaming!

【Zhuazhua】: It’s a girl!

【Zhuazhua】: She’s actually quite pretty, but it’s a shame she’s sick. She’s really thin and looks terrifyingly frail.

Song Man was a little surprised, but only for a moment. Gender didn’t matter to her. That was a former opponent, now loosely a friend. Male or female wasn’t the issue, skill was. She just felt a bit regretful. Sickness, old age, and death are common, but for Lingnan, perhaps this illness came too early.

【A Man】: You watched the stream?

【Zhuazhua】: Of course.

【A Man】: Not in class?

【Zhuazhua】: Slacking off during politics class to watch.

Zhuazhua was able to do whatever he wanted because of his good memory. Choosing the liberal arts stream was no pressure for him; his comprehensive liberal arts score was excellent. Combined with his high scores in Chinese and English, his only issue was math. He could only remember theorems; his logical thinking was poor, so he desperately studied others’ logic. His overall score still made him a standout top student in the school, so teachers ignored his slacking.

【Zhuazhua】: Lingnan ended the stream because of her health. You can watch it when you have time, no, there’s a recording replay.

【A Man】: Maybe later, I have class.

Song Man messaged one of her younger followers to borrow brown sugar, specifically telling her to be polite, since they were borrowing something and didn’t want people to think they were trying to bully someone.

【Zhuazhua】: My god, Brother Man is attending class? How did the prodigal son return?

Zhuazhua had known Song Man for a while. He at least paid attention in class, but Song Man seemed to be either doing practice problems, playing games, or on her way to play games. Listening in class was completely absent from her dictionary.

【Zhuazhua】: Brother Man, you said back then that listening in class was impossible, but now you’re actually doing it!

【A Man】: What’s it to you?

Song Man couldn’t possibly say that her dad found someone to tutor her and keep an eye on her. Zhuazhua would definitely dig for details, and she didn’t want to reveal her family situation.

【A Man】: Class is starting, talk later.

【Zhuazhua】: okok, I’ll wait for you on the Question Bank tonight. Are you PKing today?

【A Man】: Lingnan asked me, but it depends on her health.

【Zhuazhua】: Got it.

When Song Man put down her phone, someone ran in and placed the brown sugar on Song Man’s desk.

“Were you polite?”

“Man Jie, don’t you trust me? I guarantee I was polite.”

Song Man was quite particular about how she managed her followers, making sure they were reasonable people.

Song Man poured the goji berry water from Chu Fengqiu’s cup into her own. When she found there wasn’t enough space, she took a few big gulps from her own cup, then finished pouring. She added some brown sugar to Chu Fengqiu’s cup.

“Give it back.”

“Okay!” The girl took back the item, her eyes lingering on Chu Fengqiu, filled with curiosity. It was the first time she’d seen Man Jie take care of someone, especially someone who looked like a good student, like a flower. It was truly strange.

“Wait, I’ll go get you some water.”

The water dispenser was only in the teachers’ office. Even in the summer, some health-conscious teachers drank hot water, so the hot water machine in the teachers’ office was usually on.

Chu Fengqiu didn’t stop Song Man. Watching Song Man rush out energetically, she felt that Song Man was a really good person. In Song Man’s words, she was very loyal.

When Song Man entered the office, the homeroom teacher was there and saw the brown sugar in Song Man’s cup.

“Feeling unwell?”

“Not me, it’s for Chu Fengqiu. Her stomach is a bit uncomfortable.”

The homeroom teacher was a little surprised, not expecting Song Man to be so caring towards a classmate. She changed her opinion of Song Man slightly, watching Song Man finish pouring the water and rush out of the office.

Song Man tightly closed the cup and shook it up and down to dissolve the sugar. Without a spoon, this was the only way. Luckily, she hadn’t added too much, afraid it would be too sweet for Chu Fengqiu.

When it was mostly mixed, she placed it in front of Chu Fengqiu.

“All done, drink up.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Chu Fengqiu unscrewed the cup, and a sugary smell wafted out. She felt the water temperature and swallowed it sip by sip.

Before she even finished, her eyebrows had unconsciously furrowed.

“What’s wrong? Is it really bad?”

“It feels a bit too sweet, but it’s much better.”

Chu Fengqiu pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, swirling the taste around.

She didn’t like overly sweet things and sometimes preferred to just endure, but this was Song Man’s gesture, and she was very happy.

“Good that you feel better. Is it really sweet? Let me try.”

Song Man picked up Chu Fengqiu’s cup, took a sip, smacked her lips, and found the taste was okay. She finished the rest of the brown sugar water.

“I’ll go wash the cup for you, I’ll make sure it’s spotless.” Song Man belatedly realized she had picked it up too naturally. She gave Chu Fengqiu an apologetic look and ran out to wash the cup.

Chu Fengqiu’s words, ‘It’s okay if you used it,’ were swallowed back.

Song Man finished washing the cup, and the physics teacher arrived just then.

Song Man listened intermittently, her mind on the messages Lingnan had sent her.

Out of humanitarian spirit and a sense of camaraderie with a former opponent, Song Man was quite concerned about her seriously ill classmate, Lingnan.

She wanted to get her phone but was a little afraid of Chu Fengqiu getting angry.

After struggling with this for a few minutes, Song Man realized.

Why should she be afraid of Chu Fengqiu getting angry at her?! This thought was too strange. They were just friends, weren’t they? Although Chu Fengqiu hoped she would study hard, improve, and supervise her, she hadn’t made any promises like ‘I will absolutely not play on my phone in class’ or ‘I will definitely study hard.’ Why was she feeling so guilty?!

At most, Chu Fengqiu would say a few things, and she could just play it off with a smile. Anyway, it wasn’t like she actually didn’t know how to do those problems. She was almost getting too into the persona and had even fooled herself.

Song Man hesitantly put her hand into the drawer, but for some reason, she didn’t take it out.

Song Man’s brain said it really wanted to play on her phone, while her hand said, ‘No, you don’t.’

Ah, damn, what’s going on?!

Song Man wrestled with herself for two minutes and finally gave in, taking out paper and pen to write a small note.

Song Man looked at the paper, thinking about what kind of tone she should use.

Asking for permission? Joking? Or a non-negotiable statement?

【Can I play on my phone for a bit?】

Song Man thought for a long time, then passed the note over, but then felt it wasn’t right.

Why was it so lacking in presence?! This wasn’t her style! Why did it sound like she was asking for permission?!

Song Man thought for a moment and decided it must be because she couldn’t stand her friend worrying about her like an old mother, heartbroken that she wasn’t studying.

Chu Fengqiu raised an eyebrow at the beautiful handwriting on the note. So this was why Song Man had been distracted. She thought for a moment, then nodded at Song Man. If Song Man was just hiding it, letting her play for a bit was fine. If Song Man was serious about wanting to, pushing too hard wasn’t good either.

Song Man breathed a sigh of relief, took out her phone, and saw Lingnan’s message, sent just a minute ago.

【Lingnan】: Oh right, sorry, I forgot you have class. Let me know when you’re free. It’s best if we can PK together. I can still hold on for now.

【A Man】: How about now? I’m free, but you might have to wait a few minutes for me.

【Lingnan】: Okay, I’ll wait for you.

Song Man put her phone in her pocket, raised her hand to tell the teacher she needed to go to the bathroom, gave Chu Fengqiu an apologetic look, and then headed straight for the school gate, familiar with the route.

Doing practice problems required a certain atmosphere.