Chapter 129: The Useless Ally

Gu Ting was momentarily stunned, but his body reacted faster than his mind. He lunged forward to catch her, but before he could even touch her, Shen Qing had already hooked her hand onto the car door and pulled herself inside with effortless grace.

Gu Ting’s outstretched hands hovered awkwardly in mid-air.

Shi Yi watched, dumbfounded. This wasn't how the script was supposed to go!

Shen Qing sat down and glanced at Gu Ting outside, a hint of provocation in her eyes. "Tsk."

Shi Yi thought: Master Ting just got disdained.

Gu Ting paused for a second, then chuckled at Shen Qing before quickly climbing in and taking the seat beside her.

"What was that just now? Are you feeling unwell?" Gu Ting pulled the door shut and asked with genuine concern.

"Just lost my footing," Shen Qing replied, leaning back against the seat. She caught a glimpse of the rearview mirror and locked eyes with Shi Yi’s gossiping gaze.

"Your driver has quite the appetite," the girl remarked, closing her eyes, her long, curled lashes standing out distinctly.

Capable of eating and drinking, yet looking so weary?

Gu Ting’s expression darkened slightly. He glanced sideways at the person in the driver’s seat, causing Shi Yi to jump in fright.

"He’s been on a diet, probably just starving," Gu Ting added.

The man suddenly put on a diet chimed in with a grin: "Ah, yes! Miss Shen, I’m not like you—you can eat three bowls at a meal and still stay so thin."

"..."

"..." A real teammate from hell. Truly a teammate from hell.

***

The medication provided by Old Man Qi had been taken for nearly a month, and the drug resistance was building up again.

Bloodshot veins had reappeared in Shen Qing’s eyes, though they were not as prominent as they had been a month ago.

"Sister Qing, what are you doing?" Yao Panpan noticed Shen Qing standing at the classroom entrance and walked over to take a look.

The girl was looking down at her phone, seemingly typing a message. Yao Panpan glanced over and saw a string of English characters. Just as she looked, Shen Qing finished typing and sent one final word: *OK.*

*Huh?* Sister Qing was actually chatting with someone in English?

"What’s wrong?" Shen Qing quickly exited the chat interface and turned to look at Yao Panpan.

"Nothing, I just saw you standing outside and not coming in," Yao Panpan paused before asking, "Sister Qing, you can read English?"

"Is my English really that bad?" Shen Qing countered.

"Er, no, it's not," Yao Panpan took a small step back. At the very least, she could manage sending an "OK."

"Hmm." Shen Qing pocketed her phone and walked into the classroom.

As soon as the bell rang, Xie Mingming walked in clutching a thick textbook.

"Students, the monthly exam is the day after tomorrow. I want everyone to prepare well, identify your weaknesses, and take the time to overcome them so you can achieve good results in the joint examination in January. The difficulty of that joint exam is on par with the college entrance exam, so you can use it to test the waters."

"Huh? The college entrance exam level? Won't that be incredibly hard?"

"I’m getting nervous."

"Me too, I feel like it's going to be brutal."

As soon as Xie Mingming finished speaking, the classroom erupted into a buzz of discussion about the joint exam papers.

"Quiet, quiet! It’s just a joint exam, not the real college entrance exam. Only ten high schools in Fancheng are participating. When the real college entrance exam comes, there will be tens of thousands of schools—are you all going to cry then?" Xie Mingming swept her gaze over the room; only the last two rows were relatively quiet.

"So, everyone, study hard and take it seriously! Even if you don't do well, we must learn to summarize. Where exactly did things go wrong?"

"Teacher, my brain went wrong," a boy chimed in, drawing a roar of laughter from the class.

"Then shake your head and see if you hear anything rattling around inside," Xie Mingming said, hands behind her back, watching him with a smirk.

"I don't hear anything."

"So, it’s not even flooded, yet it's still broken?"

"Hehe..."

Xie Mingming cleared her throat. "Students, failure is not scary. The key is to find the root cause within that failure. That’s enough for now, let’s begin the lesson."

Xie Mingming picked up a piece of chalk and glanced toward the back. Shen Qing was slumped over her desk, fast asleep.

"How is this child so capable of sleeping?" Xie Mingming muttered. Spring lethargy, summer hibernation, autumn fatigue, winter slumber—that pretty much summed up Shen Qing’s study habits.

The students in the front row didn't hear her clearly and assumed she had mentioned a key point. Someone asked, "Teacher, what did you say just now? We didn't quite catch it."

Xie Mingming smiled awkwardly, "It's nothing, let's continue with the lesson."