Chapter 38: If I get a good score, in the future...

Xu Xiaoming wanted to step forward and snatch the envelope away. Qi Mu was not like Fang Junqi; he was quick with his hands and eyes, and immediately slipped the pink envelope into his backpack.

Xu Xiaoming cried out, “Let me see it! It might not be for you; it could be for me and just placed in the wrong spot.”

Qi Mu couldn’t be bothered to respond.

Xu Xiaoming felt quite unbalanced: Fang Junqi had received a love letter yesterday, and now Qi Mu had received one too. Why was it that he hadn’t received one? He wanted to get out of the single life even more than they did. Why couldn’t the girls understand this? Instead of considering him, an outstanding boyfriend, they chose to confess to these people who didn’t understand romance!

“Brother Mu, just let me have a look. I only want to see the envelope, I definitely won’t open it,” Xu Xiaoming persisted. “It’s pink… Yesterday’s love letter for Fang Junqi was blue. The girl who confessed to you must be even sweeter, like strawberry-flavored.”

Qi Mu felt a bit embarrassed: “Go away, letters are private. Don’t you have any basic common sense?”

Xu Xiaoming pouted and, just as he saw Yin Xiuzhu coming, he started making a fuss again. “Qi Mu received a love letter! It must be that my fresh milk from yesterday gave him a little girlfriend. Oh my god…” Xu Xiaoming lamented, “Why didn’t I give myself a sip of that milk?” If he had, he would have had a girlfriend today.

For some reason, seeing Yin Xiuzhu approaching made Qi Mu feel a bit uneasy.

Yin Xiuzhu looked over at him.
Qi Mu said, “Don’t listen to Xu Xiaoming’s nonsense.”

Xu Xiaoming retorted, “Didn’t you receive a love letter?”

Qi Mu glanced at Yin Xiuzhu and replied to Xu Xiaoming, “It’s just a letter. I haven’t even looked at its contents, yet you know everything about it.”

Xu Xiaoming grumbled, “A pink envelope… What else could it be other than a love letter?”

Qi Mu put down his backpack and reminded him, “Wake up. The teacher has arrived. Do you want to be sent out for standing punishment?”

Xu Xiaoming, feeling a bit sheepish, decided not to push it further—after all, not receiving a love letter was one thing, but being sent out for standing punishment in such hot weather was something he wanted to avoid. Who would want to stand out in the sun?

He finally quieted down, and Qi Mu lowered his voice to ask Yin Xiuzhu, “Why are you so late to the classroom?”

Actually, Yin Xiuzhu had arrived earlier than anyone. After dropping off the envelope in the classroom, he had gone back outside and walked around for a long time. Only after seeing Qi Mu enter the classroom did he come back inside.

Of course, he couldn’t explain this to Qi Mu and had to change the subject.

Yin Xiuzhu also lowered his voice and asked Qi Mu, “Did someone write you a letter?”

Qi Mu hesitated for a moment before pulling the pink envelope out of his backpack. “I don’t know who put it here. It might not be for me.”

Yin Xiuzhu said, “It was placed on your desk. How could it not be for you?”

Qi Mu scratched his head and said nothing, feeling oddly uncomfortable inside: It was so strange, why would someone write me a letter?

Yin Xiuzhu asked, “Aren’t you going to open it and see?”

Qi Mu shook his head. “Forget it.”

Yin Xiuzhu’s heart tightened as he asked, “Why not take a look?”

Qi Mu replied, “I don’t know what’s written inside.”

Yin Xiuzhu said, “If you look, you’ll find out.”

Qi Mu pondered for a moment and said, “Even if I find out, what difference does it make?”

Yin Xiuzhu’s heart skipped a beat.

Qi Mu explained, “If this letter contains someone else’s feelings, and I look at it but can’t respond to her, isn’t that quite troubling?”

Yin Xiuzhu’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. “If someone wrote you a letter, they want you to see their feelings. Even if you can’t reply, they still hope you know.”

Yin Xiuzhu made a valid point, but Qi Mu still felt some resistance. He muttered, “It’s such a hassle.”

Yin Xiuzhu, seeming to speak casually, said, “Aren’t you really curious? Maybe it’s from a very pretty girl. Maybe you’d like her if you saw her. Maybe you…”

As Yin Xiuzhu spoke, he felt his own heartache profoundly—what was essentially an unfounded matter became a series of invisible knives, stabbing mercilessly at his heart.

It was unfounded now, but eventually, the day would come.

Qi Mu interrupted him, “I won’t agree to it.”

Yin Xiuzhu turned sharply to look at him. “Why not?”

Qi Mu was momentarily stunned by the question. “Why would there be a reason? I haven’t even heard what they have to say, how could I like them?”

Yin Xiuzhu couldn’t help but ask, “So what do you think it takes to like someone?”

Qi Mu said, “It should be about getting to know each other well, having known each other for a long time, understanding each other… Anyway…” As he spoke, he realized he had no experience and didn’t truly understand. He abruptly stopped, “Anyway, it’s not like this!”

Yin Xiuzhu had no more questions to ask. He glanced at the letter and still hoped Qi Mu would take a look.

If Qi Mu was destined to receive a confession, he hoped this first person would be him, even if it was in such a timid manner.

Yin Xiuzhu said, “You should still take a look at the letter. Since the person went through the trouble of writing it and mustered up the courage to give it to you, they hope you’ll see it. You don’t have to respond, but you should at least give them a chance to express their feelings.”

His words persuaded Qi Mu.

Qi Mu said, “That’s true. I should respect her feelings, no matter what. Even if I can’t accept them, I should at least explain it to her face to face!”

Yin Xiuzhu’s heart was pricked. Although he could never confess to Qi Mu, so Qi Mu would never have the chance to reject him in person, Yin Xiuzhu still vaguely imagined that scene.

It was both simple and cruel.

Once Qi Mu made up his mind, he no longer hesitated. He opened the envelope and saw the clean letter paper inside.

Although he didn’t know who had written the letter, the envelope, and letter paper both suggested that the writer was a thoughtful and tidy girl.

But that wasn’t a trait exclusive to girls. Yin Xiuzhu, although a boy, was tidier than anyone. If Yin Xiuzhu were to write a letter, he would certainly fold the paper as neatly.

For some reason, an absurd thought popped into Qi Mu’s mind—what if this letter was written by Yin Xiuzhu?

Impossible! Qi Mu’s face grew warm, feeling embarrassed. He took a deep breath and decided to distance himself from Xu Xiaoming—he must have been infected by his nonsense!

After completely unfolding the letter, Qi Mu saw the neat handwriting on the paper. What surged up in his heart was an indescribable sense of loss.

The handwriting was very beautiful but felt foreign. Of course, it felt foreign—could it be that it was written by someone he knew?

Qi Mu suddenly didn’t want to read it anymore… He realized he wasn’t really interested in knowing what was written inside and wasn’t very curious. He glanced at Yin Xiuzhu, who was already working on his problems.

Remembering Yin Xiuzhu’s words, Qi Mu thought he should still respect the writer’s feelings and resolved to read the letter patiently.

Yin Xiuzhu, sitting beside him, appeared to be working on the test paper, but the pen tip had been stuck on one question for a full three minutes. He wasn’t doing the problem; he couldn’t even make sense of it.

As Qi Mu read the letter, Yin Xiuzhu sighed with relief, glad that he finally took a look. At the same time, he felt uneasy, wondering how Qi Mu felt after reading it.

Would he be curious about this nonexistent girl?

Would he want to get to know her because of the letter? Or would he be completely uninterested in it, even repelled?

No matter what the outcome was, Yin Xiuzhu couldn’t feel happy.

He hoped Qi Mu would like the content of the letter but also didn’t want him to be moved by it.

This conflicting emotion tormented him, but ultimately, it was his own fault.

Qi Mu stared at the letter for a while after finishing it.

Yin Xiuzhu pretended to have completed a problem and turned to look at him. “So?”

Qi Mu said, “She didn’t leave her name.”
Yin Xiuzhu asked, “She confessed to you but didn’t leave her name?”

Qi Mu frowned slightly and explained, “She mentioned that we’re still too young and that she wants to tell me who she is later.”

Yin Xiuzhu, of course, knew the content of the letter, as he had written it himself. He swallowed and asked Qi Mu, “So, what do you think?”

Qi Mu hesitated for a moment and smiled. “It’s quite interesting.”

Yin Xiuzhu felt a pang of discomfort hearing this. He asked, “If she does find you in the future, you…”

Qi Mu said, “I’ll thank her properly. Even though I can’t reciprocate her feelings, I need to thank her for her sincerity.”

Yin Xiuzhu couldn’t quite figure out his own feelings.

After class, Xu Xiaoming, extremely curious, came up to ask about the love letter.

Qi Mu, familiar with Xu Xiaoming’s tendencies, knew that if he didn’t clarify things, Xu Xiaoming might cause some more trouble. So, he briefly explained the situation.

Xu Xiaoming was astonished. “She didn’t leave her name?”

Qi Mu shook his head.

Xu Xiaoming puzzled, “Then why did she give you this letter? What’s the point? If she doesn’t leave her name, what kind of confession is this?”

Qi Mu had no idea.

Suddenly, Xu Xiaoming had a burst of inspiration and said, “What if she knows you’ve never been confessed to before, so she wanted to be the first one to confess to you?”

Qi Mu laughed and scolded him, “What nonsense are you talking about? You’re so good at making up stories; why don’t you write novels?”

Xu Xiaoming was moved by his own imagination. “Oh my gosh, Brother Mu, this person is so deeply in love with you. Years later, you might end up falling for her.”

Qi Mu punched him lightly. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you cursing me?”

Xu Xiaoming, acting mysteriously, said, “No, I’m making a prophecy!”

Qi Mu replied, “I think you’re just itching for a fight.”

The “prophet” Xu Xiaoming couldn’t hold back and started shouting, “A gentleman uses his hands, not his mouth…”

They playfully bickered, but Yin Xiuzhu’s back became tense.
—Xu Xiaoming’s careless words had actually revealed the truth.

That evening, after returning home, Qi Mu took the letter out again in his bedroom.

The room was brightly lit, and the light illuminated the letter, making the patterns on the paper distinctly visible.

The content of the letter was brief: she expressed her feelings for him but didn’t want to disturb his life. She didn’t want to confess at such a young age and preferred to wait until a better time when she could present herself to him in a more mature and refined manner.

Qi Mu read and re-read the letter, unable to describe his feelings. He just wanted to look at it, turning it over and over, as if trying to find something between the lines.

Until…

Qi Mu suddenly sat up straight, his grip on the letter so tight that his hand turned white.

The letter ended with a period—a particularly round period, so round it looked as if it had been printed.

Not long ago, Xu Xiaoming had complained, “Isn’t Yin Xiuzhu’s essay printed by a printer? The period is so perfectly round.”

Qi Mu had been annoyed, “If you can’t write it, don’t criticize others.”

Xu Xiaoming had examined the punctuation marks, pointing out, “Look at this period—can it be any rounder? Is this really drawn by a person? Show me how you’d draw it!”

Looking at the small period, Qi Mu found it endearing. He huffed and said, “Don’t sour grapes just because you can’t have them.”

Xu Xiaoming was indeed a bit sour, saying, “People really are infuriating.”

Qi Mu, feeling quite pleased, happily went to check Yin Xiuzhu’s essay. He discovered that it was meticulously neat, with periods that looked as if they had been printed.

Thinking about how Yin Xiuzhu had secretly practiced drawing periods at home, Qi Mu couldn’t help but smile—how adorable!

So now, Qi Mu found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the perfectly round period on the letter.

He knew it couldn’t possibly have been written by Yin Xiuzhu, yet the slight resemblance changed his mood. The more he looked at the letter, the more he liked it. The more he read, the more interesting the content seemed, and that tiny period grew increasingly… cute.

Originally, he had thought about throwing the letter away, but at that moment, he retrieved a small box from under his bed and put it inside.

He decided to keep it—for that tiny, perfect period.

The storm of the love letter passed, and soon after came the final graduation exams.

On the exam day, Qiao Jin personally cooked two fried eggs and paired them with a piece of youtiao (fried dough stick).¹A fried youtiao with two eggs put together is like “100”—a funny tradition for parents to wish their child to get a perfect score.

Qi Dashan laughed heartily, “Son, don’t let your mother down.”

Qi Mu responded, “Mom, is this all I’m getting?”

Qiao Jin said, “This is how your grandmother used to make it for me. Every time I ate it, I did exceptionally well. So, make me proud and get a good result!”

Qi Mu looked at the pitifully small dough stick and then at the delicate fried egg, and said, “Mom, are you trying to starve me?”

Qiao Jin: “…”

Qi Dashan laughed heartily, “He’s taking two exams today. Make him a ‘double hundred.'”

Qi Mu glared at his dad, “Two dough sticks and four fried eggs can fill me up?”

Qi Dashan said, “To get full marks, what’s a little hunger!”

Qi Mu, fueled by anger, snatched the sandwich from Qi Dashan’s hand and ate it in one bite.

Qi Dashan was furious, “That was a sandwich your mom made with love for me, you little rascal, how dare you steal it!”

Qiao Jin was speechless: These two were like a pair of clucking chickens…

Later, Qi Mu ate two bowls of noodles with a sausage, which could count as “100” points.

Qiao Jin felt very conflicted, “Mu Mu won’t grow up to be a little fatty, right? He eats too much!”

Qi Dashan said, “What’s the big deal? When I was his age, I could eat six steamed buns in one meal.”

Qiao Jin: “…”

When Mrs. Qiao returned to the kitchen, she noticed, huh, where did the fried eggs go? Could it be that Qi Mu couldn’t even leave those eggs alone? Puberty is really scary, especially the appetite of teenage boys…

Actually, Qi Mu didn’t eat them. He packed the two fried eggs and a sausage in a lunch box.

When he arrived at the exam venue, he immediately spotted Yin Xiuzhu and called out to him, “Come over here.”

Yin Xiuzhu came, only bringing two pens without even an eraser – that’s how a top student is, never making mistakes on answer sheets.

Yin Xiuzhu asked him, “Did you bring everything you needed?”

Qi Mu had a shoulder bag with all his stuff in it, and he said, “Don’t worry, I have everything.” Saying this, he opened his bag and took out a lunch box, “Did you have breakfast? If not, eat this while it’s hot.”

Yin Xiuzhu was stunned, “This is…”

Qi Mu chuckled, “My mom’s fried eggs and sausage, eat them, and you’ll definitely score a hundred.”

Yin Xiuzhu felt a warmth in his heart, “Have you eaten?”

Qi Mu said, “That doesn’t matter. It’s more important that you eat them so it’s more effective.”

Yin Xiuzhu wanted to say more, but Qi Mu said, “I went through a lot to bring them here. It’ll be a waste once they get cold.”

Yin Xiuzhu, not wanting to waste Qi Mu’s kindness, quickly said, “Alright.”

Qiao Jin rarely did any housework, only cooking a few times a year. Her cooking was decent, but she was too much of a perfectionist. For instance, her small fried eggs were perfectly round and looked nice, but they were too small. The boys could eat ten in one bite.

Because they were small, Qi Mu brought them. This way, even if Yin Xiuzhu had already had breakfast, he could still eat these.

Yin Xiuzhu opened the lunch box and was about to pick up the fried egg when Qi Mu said, “Eat the sausage first.”

Yin Xiuzhu: “Huh?”

Qi Mu bared his little tiger teeth and said, “To score a hundred, you have to start with one. What sense does it make to start with zero? Do you want to score just one point?”

Yin Xiuzhu nodded seriously, “Alright, I’ll eat the sausage first.”

Qi Mu was satisfied, watching eagerly as Yin Xiuzhu finished eating.

Yin Xiuzhu put away the lunch box and said, “I’ll take it back, wash it, and return it to you.”

Qi Mu grabbed it back, “You didn’t even bring your bag. Where are you going to put it? On the exam desk to press down your test papers?” Thinking about that scene, Qi Mu laughed.

He put the lunch box back in his bag, patted Yin Xiuzhu on the shoulder, and said, “Good luck!”

Yin Xiuzhu smiled at him, “Thanks!”

After entering the exam hall, Qi Mu suddenly realized, “Damn, the full score for Chinese, Math, and English is 120. If Yin Xiuzhu only scores 100, wouldn’t that be a disaster?” For him, scoring 100 would be extraordinary, but for Yin Xiuzhu, scoring 100 would be like falling from grace!

He quickly sent Yin Xiuzhu a message to explain.

Yin Xiuzhu replied swiftly: “How many points do you want me to score?”

What kind of question was that? Qi Mu laughed, “Can you really score as much as I want?”

Yin Xiuzhu: “Let’s try.”

Qi Mu felt that Yin Xiuzhu was boasting a bit too much, so he said, “Alright, let’s try it out. If you score it, I’ll grant you a wish!”

Yin Xiuzhu replied, “It’s a deal.”

Seeing Yin Xiuzhu’s confidence, Qi Mu’s competitive spirit was ignited: “If you don’t reach it, I’ll punish you!”

Yin Xiuzhu’s hand trembled slightly as he held his phone: “Okay.”

Qi Mu felt a little regretful after sending the score, so he said, “Alright, alright, I’m just joking. Don’t feel pressured. Even if you don’t score well, I’ll still grant your wish.” Could it be that Yin Xiuzhu has something he really wants to do? Just say it, and he would definitely fulfill it!

Yin Xiuzhu felt his throat go dry, but luckily Qi Mu couldn’t know that over the phone. He replied, “I’m actually a year older than you.”

Qi Mu blinked.

Yin Xiuzhu sent a second message: “If I score the points you wrote, can you call me ‘brother’ from now on?”

Qi Mu stared at the message, his heart trembling. What the heck!
When the results were announced, Yin Xiuzhu’s scores were legendary.

Except for the comprehensive humanities subject, he scored full marks in everything else. The five points lost in humanities were because he left two questions blank.

Others might not know, but Qi Mu knew clearly that the score he gave Yin Xiuzhu was only five points short of full marks in humanities.

If it weren’t for him cheekily shorting those five points, would Yin Xiuzhu have gotten full marks in every subject?

This was the high school entrance exam, not something to joke about! But looking down at his own score, Tyrant Qi felt the harsh reality of life.

Wait, Qi Mu felt his vision go dark again—did this mean that in high school, he would have to call Yin Xiuzhu ‘brother’?