Sunny Joy - CHAPTER 8

This day, when Song Ciyue was changing clothes, she found something in the pocket of her cotton-padded jacket, besides paper it was money. To her surprise, it was a one-hundred-yuan bill.

Yang Liu and a group of roommates were also very happy.

Yang Liu proposed her constructive opinion: “Yue, I’ve looked at this money, it’s from 2014, now it’s 2024, it’s already expired, I’ll take a little loss and accept it for 80!”

Song Ciyue: “Isn’t this used to trick children out of their money?”

Yang Liu touched her head: “Hmm, isn’t that just a child?”

Song Ciyue is the youngest in the dorm, and very innocent, isn’t she just a child?

Shang Nuan looked at a specific part of the money and asked them: “Do you know what is written on the seal below?”

The few of them huddled together, and Song Ciyue: “I can’t see clearly.”

“Could it be ‘Commanded by Heaven, eternal longevity and prosperity’?”

Yang Liu retorted: “This is not a jade seal!”

Shang Nuan also agreed: “Yeah, that’s already eight characters.”

“I think it looks like the seal of the bank president.”

Song Ciyue took a careful look: “I have to say, it does look like it.”

Chu Xi’s studies with her little friends are still ongoing. Today’s college students have their own unique insistences, such as not engaging in online romances, not meeting in real life, not looking at photos of online friends, and not using voice chat with them.

The main point is to maintain a certain distance between themselves and the other party, which makes it tough for Chu Xi as a teacher. She feels very tired from typing.

After having taught for several days, Chu Xi feels that the other party has mastered relative clauses.

In fact, Chu Xi initially didn’t plan to teach this. She has never passed the CET-6 and hasn’t taken the time to study English properly for so long. What if she leads someone astray…

Unfortunately, she couldn’t withstand the other’s enthusiasm for English.

Xi: No exercises, just translations. Starting from the second line, first tell me what kind of clause it is.

(The sentence goes here: He was not one of those dogs who ran shouting into the wind in groups.)

Friend: Object clause.

Chu Xi fell silent; she couldn’t understand. Following the principle of asking when in doubt: Did I teach you about object clauses? So proactive.

Friend: Oh no, I got it wrong, it’s a relative clause.

Xi: Just as well, then copy the sentence down, operate on the picture, you should find it quite difficult.

She felt that just giving answers was already quite hard, writing it down should be a bit better.

Friend: You really care about me.

Xi: Am I going to be like you? Waiting for those who don’t even know how to navigate the map.

Friend: Today I’m behind you, you went first.

Friend: I’m done copying.

Xi: Draw out the clause.

(The other person sent a photo)

Chu Xi looked at what the other person had drawn; yes, all correct.

Xi: Alright, we are ready!

Xi: Now translate it.

Friend: Okay! The main clause is he doesn’t want that dog.

(The main clause is this: He was not one of those dogs)

Chu Xi was already silent for the second time. She was very curious how this person managed to do it; there were no difficult words, so why was the translation so absurd?

Xi: Be good; the dog didn’t even realize it was disliked by itself.

Friend: Isn’t there a “not”?

Oh, they even argued back! But let’s take it a little at a time.

Xi: Forget it, tell me what the verb is.

Friend: ran.

Friend: I still think the translation is fine.

Chu Xi thought to herself, hmm, this will be black history in the future, I must write it down! It’s better to share the fun than to enjoy it alone.

Xi: I must write these things down for you!

Friend: Go ahead and write.

Xi: What’s the verb in the main clause? Didn’t you just translate the main clause?

Friend: was, right?

Xi: Exactly, child, what does was mean?

Friend: It means “to be.”

Xi: Add a not.

Friend: It isn’t.

Xi: Let’s translate it together.

Friend: He isn’t a dog here.

Where did the friend find “here”? How come she couldn’t find it? She heard that when playing games, one should find older kids to guide them, as they supposedly have a good cost-performance ratio.

Boys often have ulterior motives, but this friend is quite normal; her only motive for now is English. But do the older kids even need to teach English?

Well, even though the friend is nice, she has taken away her sleep time. Shouldn’t she find older kids to guide her sometime?

Though she thought this way, she still had to teach the other person.

Xi: Where did you find “here”?

Friend, aggrieved: Isn’t those “these and those”?

Xi: Hmm… don’t you know one of?

Friend: One?

Xi: … One of it means “one of.”

Friend: I see now.

Xi: So, the main clause should be like this—he is not one of those dogs, the following relative clause modifies those dogs.

The rest of the story is temporarily put aside, to prevent revealing Chu Xi’s true level of English.

Life continues here; another winter vacation has passed, and Song Ciyue is not very happy.

It’s not because she and Chu Xi each won a lottery scratch-off ticket during New Year’s and neither of them won; nor is it because when school started, Shang Nuan said she scratched off and won fifty, while someone in her friend circle won five hundred; even less is it because the cold wave postponed the start of school by two days, but they will have to attend classes for ten consecutive days.

It’s because she has encountered a non-working group leader.

Laying flat and slacking off, this way of life is gone forever; she hopes it was just that period.

Today is a bit different because her roommate is wearing a fluffy outfit that looks nice to touch.

Song Ciyue is restless and secretly comments: The texture feels good.

So, she touches it once, then touches it again, and then again; she could go for one last touch…

Her roommate noticed her little actions, and Song Ciyue had an innocent expression: I was just touching.

Roommate: “It’s okay, you can touch; if it gets dirty, just wash it for me.”

Her roommate is being bad, trying to make her do laundry for free! No, no!

Song Ciyue immediately declined: “No.”

Other roommates also came over to ask what was happening.

Roommate: “It’s nothing, she’s touching my clothes; I said if it gets dirty, she’ll wash it for me.”

Yang Liu started touching it, saying: “Really, why are you touching our Jia Jia~”

Shang Nuan also joined the touching team: “Yeah, why are you touching us?”

Qiu Qiu also stretched out a hand.

Suddenly, the roommate had several hands on her body. Song Ciyue secretly laughed, see, the texture is good.

Song Ciyue is wearing a white shirt this time, she moved closer: “Jia Jia, you can touch me, just remember to wash it for me later.”

White clothes get dirty the easiest; she is calculating in her mind.

Jia Jia saw through her immediately: “I’m not touching.”

Song Ciyue: QAQ