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Chapter 9: Pleasant Sounds
Upon handing in her exam papers, Suzi turned her attention towards the basketball court, spotting three energetic people.  Li Erqin clumsily attempted to shoot a basket, as Peng Zige demonstrated the correct position at the other side. Then there was Rong Si standing tall and confident by Erqin’s side, with his left hand in his pocket and his right hand in front of Erqin already anticipating the ball’s trajectory.
Her initial intention was to return to the hostel to read, but instead she headed towards the basketball courts.
When she arrived at the sideline of the basketball court, loudly she cleared her throat intentionally, successfully attracting the attention of the 3 persons on the court. Rong Si brings his hand down and silently watched her, while Peng Zige gets all excited and holler, “Wow, why’s our basketball court attracting so many girls from our class?”
Suzi pushed her messy hair behind her ear as she silently smiled.
“Wanna play some ball with us?” Peng Zige invited her over enthusiastically, “Li Erqin is a beginner too.”
Suzi proudly glanced at Rong Si, and passed Li Erqin lithely, as she stole the ball from Erqin’s hands effortlessly.
1, 2, 3, a perfect 3 step basket shot.
PengZige let out a loud whistle
“Didn’t see that coming!”
Most updated translations are from MerakiTranslations. You should be reading from tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom. Otherwise, you’re in the wrong place and helping thieves make some bucks off of free translation work
Suzi challenged him confidently with the uplift of her chin, “Wanna compete?”
Peng Zige stepped up to accept her challenge, without another word, leaving Li Erqin still standing awkwardly.
After silently watching the 2 person battling out on the court, Rong Si causally asked, ”the geography exam, you didn’t have any problems with it?”
LiErqin’s lips twitched, “not a problem, even if I wrote any more, I’ll only get that much more points.”
Rong Si paused in shocked at her respond, then pointing to the sidelines, “Do you want to sit together for a while?”
“Are we going to play together anymore?”
Rong Si looked at the other two deeply engrossed and engaging in the game, softly concluding, “you won’t even get to touch the ball.”
“Eh?”
“Let’s go sit for a while.” Rong Si placed his hands gently on Li Erqin’s shoulder, directing her out of the court, then quickly relinquishing it, “After a whole day of exams, I’m tired out.”
Li Erqin expression swiftly changed to that of disdain, “You’ve only used up a third of my time to complete the exam.”
When Rong Si turned his attention towards Li Erqin, she wasn’t able to hide her disdain, and her indignant expression.
He broke out laughing, not saying any more.
That night, naturally the 4 of them went together to have dinner at the cafeteria. Since the game ended, Peng Zige had went through the exam answers with Suzi repeatedly, enthusiastically debating with her.
Peng Zige was unable to compete with Suzi’s eloquent comebacks, so he glares angrily at her: “Suzi, you look all demure, but why can’t you learn from Li Erqin, talk less and eat more?”
Li Erqin, who has been eating, choked at his comment, spluttering in response
“I don’t eat much.” This could be counted as her token form of rebuttal.
Most updated translations are from MerakiTranslations. You should be reading from tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom. Otherwise, you’re in the wrong place and helping thieves make some bucks off of free translation work
“Pooey!” Suzi stubbornly expressed, instantly losing steam, “Eh, Erqin how did you fare in the exams?”
Biting on her spoon, Li Erqin vaguely replied “About…okay…ha ha.”
Suzi nodded, then pretending to casually ask Rong Si inadvertently: “Rong Si, how well did you do?”
“About…okay.” He cast a glance at Li Erqin, causing her to blush immediately, her face getting redder by the moment.
PengZige recalled that Li Erqin had been kicked out of the examination hall, and anxiously asked, “You won’t have any problem with your geography paper right?”
Casting her gaze into the distance, Li Erqin said: “No problems….at all…”
Naturally, no matter what, Peng Zige wouldn’t have realized that when he got a 98 on his geography paper and considered it “No problems”, the same cannot be said for Li Erqin, who meant a score of 48  when she said “No problems”.
Peng Zige turned and asked Rong Si with a straight face, “How much is your ‘About….okay’?”
Rong Si nonchalantly pass his exam paper that was put to the side towards Peng Zige, while continuing to work on this workbook.
“Is studying your life’s greatest pleasure?” Peng Zige scorned Rong Si as he looked down at the exam paper in his hands.
His world came to a standstill.
“Rong Si, are you even human?!”
At this commotion, even Suzi couldn’t resist and turn back to look.
“Suzi, how much did you score in the exam?”
“What about you?”
“89.”
Suzi face revealed her elation “93.”
Peng Zige expounded to Rong Si, “you see here, this is what you call a normal person!” Ending his explanation, he points toward Rong Si and Li Erqin,”you two are just heterogeneous.”
“Did Rong Si get 48 marks too?” Being lump together as ‘heterogeneous’ Li Erqin somehow doesn’t follow the thought, lost in the muddled misunderstanding.
Upon hearing Li Erqin’s words, Rong Si, who had not failed any exams ever since he had started school looked up from his assessment workbook. Even in his calmness had he never in a million years experienced a moment where he found himself at a loss for words.
Peng Zige scrolls up Rong Si’s exam, lightly tapping it on Li Erqin’s head, “What are you even thinking! Rong Si scored full marks!”
“Full marks?!” Li Erqin snatched the exam papers unbelieving, “Isn’t this exam supposed to be content only to be taught this term? That’s also why I didn’t do so well. Eh….. no wonder…..”
She returned the papers to Rong Si, and honestly spoke, “Rong Si, are you good at everything?”
Rong Si considers this seriously for a moment, “Not really.”
“Then what can’t you do?” Li Erqin asked earnestly.
Score 48 marks.”
“…….”
Li Erqin looked at Peng Zige, frustrated: “ We definitely can’t be friends.”
“Hahahahaha!” PengZige laughed out loud, “It’s alright, our scores are close enough, we definitely can be friends!”
Li Erqin recalled PengZige score, 89. What hogwash!… close?! When she turned, her eyes met Suzi’s, and recalled too that Suzi scored 93.
“All of you had better get far away from me.”
“Hahahahahaha!” PengZige smacked the desk laughing, “What are we to do, Rong Si? Erqin doesn’t want to be friends with us!”
Rong Si moved away without any farce, “Don’t get happy too soon.”
Thus it could be said, that Rong Si stood out as a male god, not just because of his good looks.
However, when the English results were distributed later, the situation took a major turn of tables.
Most updated translations are from MerakiTranslations. You should be reading from tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom. Otherwise, you’re in the wrong place and helping thieves make some bucks off of free translation work
Peng Zige remembered that after the English paper, with a look of being ravaged, he had caught hold of the passing LiErqin and asked “How did your exam go?
At that time, Li Erqin had replied “Should be alright.”
Unexpectedly, this time, Li Erqin’s “Should be alright’ resulted in 148 marks.
Peng Zige really wanted to pry open Li Erqin’s brain and have a look at how it’s constructed “Erqin, the gap between your “Should be alright” and your “no problem”, is 48 to 148?
“No, not really!” in order to counter Peng Zige’s subtle ridicule tone, Li Erqin replied very seriously, “It’s all within my normal expected performance, so naturally it’s considered should be alright.”
“Is your partiality to subjects really that serious? Peng Zige returned.
Li Erqin had a look at Peng Zige’s English paper results, and then she looked back at him, “From where you stand, what grounds do you have to make any comments about me?”
Peng Zige face stiffened and lowered.
Ugh. 76 marks.
A second look at Rong Si’s score, 149.
“Are you two Heterogeneous?” Peng Zige asked yet again.
Minodayz66 Blurb :
Well the boys are getting popular among the female population in school and have stumbled upon a secret of Li Erqin but how they respond proves a delight. Plus our dear Li Erqin, who’s just wired differently makes some misconstrued connection as to how her secret was discovered. If it was enough to get Rong Si laughing, how can I not laugh along too! Enjoy!
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Most updated translations are from MerakiTranslations. You should be reading from tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom. Otherwise, you’re in the wrong place and helping thieves make some bucks off of free translation work
After the mock exams, Li Erqin and the others formally began their learning journey. PengZige had managed to settled into the class effortless, returning to his fair (whiter) self, and beginning to receive the attention of female students. Even the apparently cold and aloof Rong Si, had begun to receive love letters that had been passed on by Peng Zige and his other male classmates.
A few days before the monthly exam, Rong Si had began to notice something.  Li Erqin happens to be the only one in the class that hadn’t joined any cliques or formed relationship with anyone else or any  groups.
That day, when he was walking with Peng Zige to the local dairy shop, he chanced upon a lone person Li Erqin walking towards the sport’s field.
He stopped in his tracks and asked Peng Zige, “Does Li Erqin eat by herself?”
“Yup, Class Rep, are you concerned about the welfare of your classmates?” PengZige playfully continues “Erqin has always been like that. I’ve politely invited her a few times, but she always shirks and says she has things to do.”
“Has things to do?”
“Doesn’t seem like it!” Peng Zige shared, “She seems so bored in class that she draws sheet music. Uh? Where is Erqin heading too?”
Rong Si noticed the direction that Erqin is heading, suddenly recalling a night before, “I’m going over to have a look.”
“Let’s go together then” Peng Zige followed without another word.
After following for a while, Peng Zige made a note that while Li Erqin is fairly petite, she sure walked quickly. She had already become hidden in the small forest behind the sports field.
Peng Zige’s footsteps began to falter, but Rong Si seems to be familiar with where he is going as he keeps on moving forward.
“Seeing you like this, have you followed Erqin here before?”
Rong Si noncommittally replied: “I patrol twice a week.”
“Master Class Rep,  you seem to have developed a concern for things regarding LiErqin, right?”
Rong Si laughed: “You could say that.”
“Whoa?” Peng Zige exclaimed, “Don’t tell me the Class Rep heart has secretly been promised to someone?”
Peng Zige strange musing didn’t deem any answer; he only received Rong Si’s contemptuous glance. Just when he was about to say more, Rong Si motioned for him to be quiet.  Quickly, he obediently complied.
It was because Li Erqin was standing not to far off, doing some stretches.
“Is she coming to such a remote place to get a tan?” Peng Zige was caught up in astonishment with his nonsensical musing.
Most updated translations are from MerakiTranslations. You should be reading from tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom. Otherwise, you’re in the wrong place and helping thieves make some bucks off of free translation work
It was at this moment, that his ears picked up a melodious sound that was crystal clear and extremely comforting. Peng Zige looked at where the sound had come from, and realized that this finding was much for astonishing that his musing of her tanning in such a remote place.
“Rong Si….”
“Let’s go now.” Rong Si patted his shoulder, leaving silently.
Peng Zige also followed behind lightfootedly, “ Is she participating in some talent contest? She’s practicing all by herself in this remote place.”
“Do you think it looked like that?”
Peng Zige shook his head, and contemplated a while and said “I feel that Li Erqin is somewhat unique.”
“Umm.” Rong Si replied absentmindedly, “Zige, don’t let Li Erqin know that we saw what she was going this afternoon.”
“Are you worried that she would feel awkward?” Peng Zige seemed to get the hint. For someone to secretly hide and practice, one would definitely have no intention of anyone else finding out. “I understand, I’m not that dense!”
Rong Si looked at him with doubt in his eyes.
When  Li Erqin returned to class at noon, Peng Zige made a show of slapping LiErqin’s shoulders: “Erqin, your singing wasn’t too shabby!”
Li Erqin frowned.
Rong Si took out his assessment workbook.
“How did you know?” Li Erqin asked
“I saw it this afternoon!” Peng Zige guiltily replied.
“I was in such a remote place and you still saw me?”
Peng Zige nodded.
Li Erqin doubtfully asked “What were you doing going to such a remote place?”
Even under threat of being beaten, Peng Zige would not divulge that he had “followed her”, so he could only mischievously giggle.
Li Erqin pondered and considered Peng Zige for a while, and in a small voice asked: “Which girl did you lure out for a tryst?”
Peng Zige was so caught by surprise with her question, “That’s not it! I was with Rong Si!”
Li Erqin quickly sweep her gaze over to Rong Si’s head, the latter very calmly raised his head, “We were taking a stroll.”
“Oh.” Li Erqin turn back towards them and sat down “I need to think about this.”
PengZige and Rong Si both were dumbfounded.
Suddenly, Li Erqin patted Suzi’s shoulder, “No one else is going to be able to steal these two. They’ve already begun.”
“Hey! Li Erqin does your brain not function like a normal human?” PengZige interrupted her.
“Um?” Li Erqin hesitantly looked back, “Have I misunderstood?”
PengZige is totally dumbfounded, “Did you really think that was really possible?”
“If not, then what happened?”
Peng Zige bewilderingly looked towards Rong Si.  Rong Si broke out in another one of his rare laughs.
Minodayz blurb : hmmmm…. I almost like to cast Yalkun Merxat as PengZige’s character. The young hot blooded, scrumptious looking, squigginess…hahahaha, he’ll easily compliment Rong Si’s stoic dazzling good looks with his vibrant, gregarious looks. More drools…
Translated by minodayz
Edited and TL checked by tranzgeek