248 Chicken becoming a phoenix
Everyone was asking Han Zixin about his trick for the exam when the exam ended three hours later. He just shrugged not revealing his secret strategy for exams that was getting viral on the school forum.
A brave student reached the door of the science block for asking Lu Xuan if he knew anything about Han Zixin’s new strategy for the exam.
In the beginning, Lu Xuan used to be annoyed when people were always associating with that rumoured boyfriend of his but with time, he learnt to ignore it and now he even started teasing people.
“Eat five cloves of garlic every morning with a glass of milk, ” Lu Xuan told the student who was very interested in knowing Han Zixin’s new and effective exam strategy. “It will boost your memory and concentration.”
Song Xueyun, who was leaving the class, rolled her eyes at the stupid trick but don’t say anything. She quietly left the class.
“Hi?” Someone patted Son Xueyun’s shoulder and she turned to find Li Sicheng.
“I think I messed up eight questions once again, “Li Sicheng said.
“It’s alright, ” Song Xueyun said. “Although I don’t find trigonometry that tough but I hate it a lot.”
“Same, dude, same, ” Li Sicheng said. “I will buy you lunch if you share your physics notes with me. I am not sure about mine.”
“Did you read the books I gave you?” Song Xueyun asked him.
“You know with school and my odd jobs, I couldn’t prepare that well for physics, ” Li Sicheng shrugged sadly. “I just wish that I just have one extra hour every day for myself. I just…”
Song Xueyun and Li Sicheng were an odd friendship that the class had seen in recent times. Once they had heard her scolding this boy but they didn’t know when they got this close.
What many students in the class didn’t know was how hard Li Sicheng worked to pay for his education.
“Li Sicheng, would you think about leaving your night job?” Song Xueyun asked as they walked into the empty corridor.
“You know I can’t, ” Li Sicheng sighed as he held his school bag’s straps. “Although the scholarship covers my school expenses, I don’t know about college. I just want to save a little amount for college and my mom is a sole bread earner in the family.”
“I’m not asking you to stop working, ” Song Xueyun said. “There is a student in tenth grade and his parents approached me for tutoring. Last year, I did the unthinkable — helped Han Zixin in improving his grade. Why don’t you teach this kid?”
“Isn’t Han Zixin good at studies now? Why not stop tutoring him?” Li Sicheng asked.
“Well, I have some personal reasons, ” Song Xueyun smiled. She had promised Han Nanxian that she would help Han Zixin as long as she could. She could not go back on her promise even if her best friend was no longer around.
“About this student of Tenth grade…”
“Rich. Prodigal. Daddy is a shareholder of the school, ” Song Xueyun summarised. “As long as you teach this student, you will get a good fee and more time for yourself. Initially, I was thinking of asking Peng Cheng but he seemed to have some prejudice against rich kids. You are a tough cookie. Tame the student and afford college.”
“Thank you, Song Xueyun, ” Li Sicheng smiled at her.
“About physics notes, I will send you a pdf, ” Song Xueyun said as she walked ahead leaving the boy confused. He seriously couldn’t figure out this girl.
Meanwhile, Song Xueyun had to go to the administrative block for giving the name of Li Sicheng for the tutoring job when she met Han Zixin’s grandfather there.
“Grandpa Han, how are you doing?” Song Xueyun went to him and politely asked.
,ᴄᴏm “Oh, Yunyun?” Han Qian softly called out her name. “I was here to get some documents for Ah Xian. You know those foreign colleges know nothing but nitpick how my boy could be so intelligent. Hah, couldn’t they see that he got his intelligence from me?”
Song Xueyun ended up smiling and appeasing the old man, she said, “You are right, grandpa Han. Will you go back with Zixin? The exam just ended a few minutes ago. He will be out with Xiulan.”
“Oh, how will I find them?” Han Qian asked in worry. “It’s such a big school.”
“If you find Xiulan, you will easily see Han Zixin, ” Song Xueyun asked. “Here, see it. Student, did you see An Xiulan anywhere?”
“Oh, campus belle is on the school gate, ” The boy said shyly.
“See, it’s this easy, ” Song Xueyun replied.
“Yeye, what are you doing here?” Han Zixin asked the old man. “Shouldn’t you be resting at home?”
“Calm down, boy, ” Grandpa Han said. “I came to school for some paperwork related to Nanxian. His college is asking for some sort of documents that I could only get from school and his father isn’t in the city either.”
“Still, you shouldn’t be out of bed, ” Han Zixin said as he hold his grandfather’s hand and helped him to the car.
At a distance, Mu Wanwan was looking at his mother who seemed to have frozen.
“Mom, what are you looking at?” Mu Wanwan grabbed Yang Zi’s hand.
“N-nothing, ” Yang Zi said in a cracked voice as she saw Han Zixin leaving with a very familiar old man.
“Mom, do you know that old man?” Mu Wanwan asked.
“Yes, ” Yang Zi whispered. “He is the patriarch of the Han family.”
“Then, why is he with this boy?” Mu Wanwan asked. “I heard he rides a bicycle and lives a poor life but he has some rich friends like An Xiulan, Ji Mao’er, Lu Xuan and Gu Shangyan. Never mind, just because he has nice friends doesn’t mean a no-name chicken like him can dream of becoming a Phoenix.”
Yang Zi gave a stern look to Mu Wanwan. “I never taught you to belittle other children. Rich or poor, no one gets to be born in a family of their choice. It’s in god’s hands. Be kind to everyone.”