Chapter 4 The Ball, Commonly Known as an Egg. Calling It a “Testicle” Is Fine Too.

The cleaning area for Class 6 was the small bamboo grove beneath the main teaching building for the third-year students.

Dew clung to the emerald bamboo leaves. A light breeze passed, making them rustle. A thin layer of fallen leaves covered the path paved with white pebbles.

Ye Xiaoyang told Luo Yi to sweep the fallen leaves clean while he took the trash can into the bamboo grove to pick up litter and miscellaneous debris that had been carelessly thrown around.

“Meow.” A familiar cat cry came from the bamboo grove. A Fei leisurely strolled out.

A Fei must have remembered that Luo Yi had fed it something delicious the night before. When it saw Luo Yi, its movements became affectionate.

Its tail stood high as it continuously rubbed its chin against Luo Yi’s calf.

Luo Yi squatted down to stroke its round little head.

“Meow meow.” A Fei called even more cheerfully, then simply rolled onto the ground and flipped over its plump belly, meaning “come play with me.”

“Why are you so naughty?” Luo Yi said. “You have little babies in your belly. You can’t do strenuous exercise.”

A Fei completely ignored Luo Yi’s words. Ye Xiaoyang, however, paused at what she said.

“It’s pregnant?” Ye Xiaoyang raised his brows.

“What else? Its belly is so big.” Luo Yi stroked A Fei’s snow-white belly. “I don’t even know which bastard did this to it.”

Ye Xiaoyang lowered his eyes and glanced at A Fei. This cat was considered the school cat of No.1 High.

It was said that A Fei’s original owner had lived near No.1 High. Later the area was demolished and the owner moved away, irresponsibly abandoning A Fei.

A Fei wandered to No.1 High, discovered that campus life was very comfortable, and settled down here.

A domestic cat was completely different from the other stray cats on campus. The greatest advantage was that it was friendly with people.

A Fei swaggered around every corner of the school all year round. Both students and teachers liked it whenever they saw it, and without realizing it they had fed it into its current appearance. Of course, the reason it had grown so fat might also include another factor, for example, the fact that it was an orange cat.

“It’s a male cat,” Ye Xiaoyang cruelly pointed out the truth.

“A… male cat?” Luo Yi widened her eyes, unable to believe that A Fei had fallen from a hardworking pregnant mother-to-be into a pot-bellied male cat.

Seeing A Fei rolling around on the ground without the slightest restraint, Luo Yi vaguely began to believe Ye Xiaoyang’s words.

Pregnant animals should not behave like this… Thinking of this, the maternal radiance that had been radiating from Luo Yi’s entire body vanished.

“How do you know it’s a male cat?” Luo Yi asked.

Ye Xiaoyang fell silent for a moment.

She could not tell the gender of kittens and puppies?

Seeing that Ye Xiaoyang did not speak, Luo Yi furrowed her brows and muttered softly, “Could it be that you don’t know either?”

What a huge joke. He, Ye Xiaoyang, knew the principles of celestial motion above and organic and inorganic reactions below. How could he be stumped by such a simple question?

A desire for knowledge flickered in the girl’s pair of moist black eyes.

Ye Xiaoyang set down the trash can in his hand, walked straight over to her side, and squatted down. Then he pointed beneath A Fei’s tail and said, “See that?”

Luo Yi blinked and showed a confused expression. “See what?”

Ye Xiaoyang: “……”

If the girl’s expression had not been so innocent, he might have thought she was doing it on purpose.

However, she really seemed not to understand.

“It has two…” Ye Xiaoyang paused, then decided to use a more euphemistic wording so that it would not sound so vulgar, “balls.”

Balls, commonly known as eggs. Calling them little eggs was also fine, if you wanted to act cute.

“So it’s the main culprit harming the other female cats on campus,” Ye Xiaoyang announced A Fei’s crime.

Luo Yi looked at the two little furry balls beneath the root of A Fei’s tail that resembled small kumquats. She stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly her blood rushed upward and her face flushed red with a “whoosh.”

Her skin was fair and tender. Under the morning light it looked faintly translucent.

As soon as she became shy, the tiny capillaries beneath her skin became clearly visible.

Luo Yi squatted on the ground for a long time without recovering.

So she had been deceived in her feelings by a cat?

Scumbag cat!

From now on she would never feed it sausage again!

Luo Yi stood up indignantly, picked up the broom, and vigorously swept the ground, no longer paying attention to Ye Xiaoyang.

After all, she also did not know what to say to him.

Ye Xiaoyang should not have done it on purpose. His tone had been very serious. He had only been giving her popular science.

She did not understand why she was being so shy. It was strangely affected.

Ye Xiaoyang saw the unpredictable changes in Luo Yi’s expression and for a moment could not figure out whether she was shy or angry.

He remembered the way she had lain on the grass the night before last. She had been quite well-behaved, just like a little rabbit.

At that time he had only not wanted to be discovered by Fang Dahai. He had not expected to drag her into such a mess, the two of them getting invited for tea together as a group.

The other group members arrived one after another. Ye Xiaoyang no longer paid attention to her and skillfully directed them to clean the contracted area thoroughly.

Saturdays were school days as usual. Although No.1 High was a provincial key school, it could not compare to those schools in Beijing and Shanghai that were enthusiastic about quality education.

In a major college-entrance-exam province like Province X, trying to cross the single-plank bridge of the college entrance exam through quality education was basically a dead end. To guarantee the rate of advancement, one had to rely on diligent study and hard practice.

There were no regular classes on Saturday. The school uniformly organized weekly practice. Each subject issued one paper to be completed and handed in within a set time, equivalent to a small quiz.

The advantage was that no other homework was assigned. Students could freely arrange the remaining time.

Because most students would later choose the science track, physics and chemistry enjoyed the treatment of main subjects. Each week they had two more class periods than the other secondary subjects and almost daily homework. The other minor subjects in principle left no homework. Even Chinese was reduced wherever possible.

This was not good news for Luo Yi. She was not good at physics and chemistry. Instead, she had a special fondness for subjects like Chinese and history.

For example, right now she was frowning at the physics paper in front of her.

She had never studied more than half the content on this paper, so she could not write a single word.

She randomly filled in the multiple-choice questions. The remaining time was truly boring, so she used the tip of her pen to poke at the agate Buddhist prayer bead bracelet on her left wrist.

She counted it again and again until the dismissal bell finally rang. The students in the last row stood up to collect the papers.

Luo Yi let out a long breath. For her, this was a form of liberation.

After the weekly practice ended, there was a long activity period.

Some boys took basketballs and went out. Luo Yi subconsciously glanced toward Ye Xiaoyang.

He did not go to kick a ball. Instead he took several books and went out.

“What do you want to play?” Qian Jiayun draped one arm over Luo Yi’s shoulder. “Want to go to the gymnasium to play badminton? I brought rackets.”

“No.” She had been weak since birth and was not suited for strenuous exercise. She had always kept a respectful distance from activities like badminton.

“Oh, right. Have you chosen your electives yet?”

“Electives?”

“Our school’s physical education classes use the university elective system. Several administrative classes have lessons together. Every student has to choose a class, for example basketball, soccer, badminton, and so on.”

“Isn’t there anything else?” Luo Yi asked. “My health isn’t very good. I can’t play those.”

“There is.” Qian Jiayun had a sudden inspiration. “Martial arts class. It suits you.”

Mar… tial arts?

Luo Yi wanted to rub her ears, then wanted to shake Qian Jiayun’s shoulders.

Was she joking?

She was someone who got out of breath after running just a few steps, and they wanted her to practice martial arts?

Shaolin style or Wudang style? If she could not get into university, maybe she could gain an extra livelihood, like delivering packages by flying over roofs and walking on walls?

Seeing Luo Yi frozen like a wooden chicken, Qian Jiayun let out a “pfft” of laughter.

“What are you thinking?” she teased. “You still want to become a martial arts master?”

“Martial arts class is just practicing tai chi and the tai chi sword. Just like the old uncles and aunties in the park. Commonly known as a health-preservation class.”

So that was it. She had been startled.

“Martial arts class is held on the sports field. When the time comes, just go there directly.”

Since Luo Yi could not play badminton, Qian Jiayun decided to take her to tour the school’s history museum.

Xishui No.1 High was a century-old school whose history could be traced back to the late Qing Dynasty. So the museum held quite a few things worth seeing.

When the two passed the empty classroom at the westernmost end of the first floor, Luo Yi discovered that more than twenty people were sitting inside this classroom.

Homeroom teacher Ji Changming was teaching at the podium. The blackboard was covered with writing she could not understand.

“This is the physics competition class,” Qian Jiayun said. “There was a selection exam at the start of the first year. Only a little over forty people were chosen from the entire grade. After one semester, only this many are left.”

“Old Ji is the head of the physics group. The physics competition class was built by him alone.”

“The school also has math, chemistry, and programming classes. They usually concentrate the lessons during evening self-study and weekends.”

This was probably a place where only the top students among top students could remain. Luo Yi could not help feeling a bit curious.

She stood outside the window, wanting to take a longer look inside, but unexpectedly she came face to face with Ye Xiaoyang sitting in the back row.

No wonder he had not gone to kick a ball. So he was here.

After they finished sweeping the cleaning area yesterday morning, they had not spoken again.

Ye Xiaoyang’s gaze lingered lightly on her for one second, then immediately turned back to the blackboard.

In the moment Luo Yi was distracted, the girl sitting by the window “whooshed” the curtain closed.

Luo Yi: “……”

She suddenly felt a sense of humiliation at being shut out by the top-student club.

“Damn,” Qian Jiayun got angry. “This Chen Shuang, just attending a competition class and she thinks she’s something special!”

Chen Shuang? Luo Yi vaguely remembered this person was in the same class as her.

She was a transfer student. Chen Shuang should recognize her, yet the action she had taken was far too unfriendly.

“Let’s go,” Luo Yi said after being given the cold shoulder, pulling Qian Jiayun away.

All the way Qian Jiayun kept talking about Chen Shuang’s faults, such as looking down on other classmates because of her good grades and so on.

“Isn’t it just attending a competition class? As if she’s already won an award and been recommended for admission to Tsinghua.” Qian Jiayun was indignant. “Ye Xiaoyang’s grades are much better than hers. What’s she putting on airs for?”

There did not seem to be any necessary connection between Ye Xiaoyang’s grades and Chen Shuang’s behavior, did there? Luo Yi thought.

Chen Shuang did indeed have capital for pride.

“Anyway, all these good students are a bit stuck-up,” Qian Jiayun said. “Chen Shuang is openly stuck-up. Ye Xiaoyang is inwardly stuck-up.”

“Inwardly stuck-up?” Luo Yi did not understand.

“It means he doesn’t show it on the surface, but in his heart he’s thinking ‘I’m number one under heaven, who the hell are you?’” Qian Jiayun said with certainty. “Simply put, he’s a repressed flirt.”

A repressed flirt?

Was he very flirty? She could not tell.

This small interlude passed just like that.

During evening self-study, Luo Yi was looking at English words at her desk when a hand suddenly knocked on her desktop.

She looked up. It was Ji Changming.

Luo Yi followed Ji Changming out of the classroom with an uneasy heart and arrived at the physics office.

Ji Changming pulled a paper out from under his lesson plans. It was exactly the physics weekly practice she had written that afternoon. The multiple-choice questions were full of red crosses, and the large questions were almost blank.

“Didn’t you read the book?” Ji Changming asked.

“I did,” Luo Yi said sullenly. “I didn’t understand it.”

Ji Changming patiently began explaining from the first question. This was the most basic knowledge of Newtonian mechanics, yet Luo Yi could not even figure out force analysis.

Luo Yi’s foundation in physics was weak. Making up for it was not something that could be finished in a short time.

When they reached the third question, someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

The door was pushed open. Ye Xiaoyang walked in.

“Teacher Ji, Teacher Zhang asked me to come ask you when you’re going to the meeting.”

Ji Changming looked at the time. He had almost forgotten about the evening meeting.

“I’ll go right now.” Ji Changming stood up, then suddenly remembered something and asked Ye Xiaoyang, “Do you have anything else tonight?”

“Nothing. I’ve already finished the competition problems,” he answered.

“Then it’s perfect.” Ji Changming pointed at Luo Yi, who was still looking at the test questions with a puzzled face. “Help her go over the weekly practice questions.”