Honghu Academy.
After the hour of Shen, Tang Jue's stomach started growling. He touched his stomach, took out his food box from the drawer, and stuffed the last snack into his mouth.
Yang Jingyuan heard the sound of him sneaking food. He looked back at Tang Jue and raised his eyebrows, indicating that he also wanted one. Tang Jue showed him the empty food box. Yang Jingyuan was extremely disappointed and slumped in his chair.
Tang Jue glanced at Liu Yizhu who was completely undisturbed by them. He whispered, "Let's go eat. Don't mind them."
Yang Jingyuan looked far at the equally diligent Zhong Liangyu and shook his head. "Forget it. I'll keep reading."
"No!" Tang Jue tried hard to win him back and tempted, "I'll treat you to wine and meat!"
A few days ago, Liu Yizhu inexplicably went crazy, immersed in books and unable to get out. As expected, Zhong Liangyu soon fell into the trap as well. Now there was only Yang Jingyuan left as his good buddy. He couldn't just watch him slip away too.
In the end, Yang Jingyuan couldn't resist the temptation of wine. He put away his books and followed Tang Jue out.
When the two arrived at the restaurant, Tang Jue wanted to order a jar as usual, but Yang Jingyuan told the waiter that one pot would be enough.
"One pot is enough?" This was no longer the Yang Jingyuan that Tang Jue knew. He was slightly surprised and ridiculed, "You're so conscientious today, actually wanting to save me money."
"Just drink two cups. I still want to read when I go back," Yang Jingyuan said.
"You've gone crazy too?"
Tang Jue covered his heart. The feeling of losing a companion was really too painful.
"I'm not crazy," Yang Jingyuan said lightly. "Among the four of us, I was the worst to begin with. If I slack off more, I might have to just watch you guys move forward."
Tang Jue tapped the table and said solemnly, "But in the eyes of the whole academy, you're still an outstanding talent. Not succeeding this year just means trying again next year. Why put yourself down like this?"
Yang Jingyuan smiled wryly. It was just an academy. Even if he was an outstanding talent, so what? In the whole town and region, what was he?
He picked up the wine cup, drank down all the wine in one gulp, and felt endless sadness in his heart.
"You started learning early, and had private tutoring from teachers since you were young. At school, teachers pay special attention to you too. Even if you like to play around and occasionally miss classes, they'll still report it to your father to help you catch up. It's hard for you to fall behind no matter what."
"As for Yizhu, his foundation was a bit weaker, but he worked hard. I'd go to bed and he'd still be reading. When we first moved in together, I wondered every day if he was made of iron and didn't need any sleep at all."
"After class every day, he'd either go find this teacher or that teacher. If he didn't understand something, he'd make sure to figure it out. He really made up for things bit by bit all by himself. I don't have that kind of perseverance and can't compare with him."
"As for Liangyu, his grandfather was a teacher too. He grew up in the classroom since he was little, and genuinely enjoys reading. He ranked first in our town, but met Liu Yizhu after coming to the county. Becoming second place, he couldn't swallow it and wanted to surpass Yizhu every day, never daring to relax."
"As for me, you could say I have some talent, managed to become a xiucai without much effort, but then it stopped there. Can't be too harsh on myself either, hovering high or low, it still feels pretty bad."
Seeing how hard the top students worked, if he didn't buck up, he might as well stop studying and go farm instead. At least he passed the xiucai exam, so he'd get some tax breaks for farming.
Tang Jue listened silently to Yang Jingyuan's pent-up feelings and was somewhat persuaded. After Yang Jingyuan finished, he respectfully toasted him and said, "Alright, let's drink this cup and go all out these next two years to go to the capital together!"
Yang Jingyuan smiled and clinked cups with him. "Good! Let's take a look at the flowery world out there. When the time comes, treat me to some of the wine in the capital too. I wonder what that tastes like."
"You're still trying to take advantage of me," Tang Jue looked at him with disgust for a moment and held up one finger. "Fine, fine, just one pot."
"Hey! Stingy," Yang Jingyuan also looked disgusted and held up a finger. "One jar."
"Alright, alright."
Tang Jue agreed and drank that last pot of wine with him, supporting each other as they went back to work hard.
Seeing them come back so early without looking drunk, Zhong Liangyu couldn't help but poke his head out from his book. "Did the sun rise from the west today, or did the moon rise from the west?"
Liu Yizhu was also extremely surprised. "You walked back yourselves?"
Yang Jingyuan said resentfully, "You two are really annoying."
He put his arm around Tang Jue's shoulder. "Our Tang Gongzi and I are also very studious! We only had two light cups and hurried back to study."
"Is that so?"
Neither of them really believed it. Yang Jingyuan and Tang Jue exchanged glances, hugging each other tightly and secretly vowing in their hearts to make them look at them with admiration!
Seeing their encouraging manner, Liu Yizhu couldn't help but smile. He put down his brush, twisted his somewhat stiff neck, and took out the purse Mingwei gave him to look at it. Instantly, he was full of motivation again.
Zhong Liangyu scoffed and subconsciously felt his bosom too. Feeling wronged, he wanted to cry because there was nothing there.
Yang Jingyuan pulled out his handkerchief from his sleeve and forcibly stuffed it into Zhong Liangyu’s arms. “Now you’re touching it. Now there's something.”
“Are you sick!” Zhong Liangyu forcefully slapped Yang Jingyuan’s sweaty handkerchief back at him and said speechlessly, “Hers is a nice little purse that makes her think of her sweetheart. What’s mine, a stinky sweat cloth? She’s thinking of her love, who am I thinking of? You?”
“Why not? We haven't seen each other for half a moment. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, isn’t this worth several months?”
He put his arm around Zhong Liangyu's shoulder. “We’ve been friends for over ten years since we were kids. You don’t miss me after not seeing me for a few months?”
“I want to throw up!” Zhong Liangyu yelled.
“Hahahahaha!”
Tang Jue laughed so hard he bent back and forth. Then he started feeling sad and held his waist, groaning twice, “Can’t stand it, can’t stand it! Liu Yizhu, come help support me, my waist is going to break from laughter.”
Liu Yizhu turned to look at him. Seeing Tang Jue’s broad grinning face also showing a trace of pain, he quickly went over to support him. “Where does it hurt?”
Tang Jue pointed at his lower back. “Here.”
Yang Jingyuan and Zhong Liangyu were startled, and quickly stopped fooling around to come help. “It really broke?”
Liu Yizhu had them take Tang Jue to the bed. He massaged Tang Jue’s lower back. Tang Jue grimaced in pain and cried out twice. Strangely, it felt better somehow.
He praised, “Brother Liu, you can even do this!”
“My mother’s waist isn’t good either.”
“Ah, no wonder.” Tang Jue lay back on the bed, relieved, and happily said, “Luckily it’s no big deal. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to watch the sunset with you all at Shaohua Mountain the day after tomorrow.”
Yang Jingyuan thought...
He was like this but still thinking about playing around. Was this teammate of his really reliable?
