The Moon is Coming to Me

When Tao Xi came out of the drinking water room, there were already some people in the classroom. People who came later did not seem to know what happened before. The chatting, the copying of homework, even the atmosphere was the same as usual.

 

Class monitor Li Xiaoyuan patrolled the classroom with a discipline book while participating in small talks everywhere. He was about to turn around to patrol another row of seats when he bumped into Tao Xi who was walking in the back row. He froze and immediately greeted with a smile:

 

“Hi, classmate Xiao Tao, good morning!”

 

Li Xiaoyuan had just gotten the general understanding of the morning gossip through the private group of CIA boys established by Bi Chengfei. In order to protect the dignity of the fragile new classmate, Li Xiaoyuan gave a deadly order and asked all the members of the group to shut up, especially Bi Chengfei who couldn’t control his mouth. He was determined not to mention the matter in front of Tao Xi.

 

Thinking of this, Li Xiaoyuan grinned even more, hoping to dissolve the sadness of this poor man with his kind and bright smile.

 

As a result, Tao Xi who was holding a water bottle with his hands greeted him with a smile: “Good morning! Monitor.”

 

Then he walked briskly past him and went straight to the back seat.

 

Li Xiaoyuan’s bright smile froze.

 

Was the information wrong? No matter how he looked at Tao Xi, he didn’t have the despair he expected.

 

On the contrary, still a little happy?

 

Why wasn’t Bi Chengfei coming? Li Xiaoyuan couldn’t help his desire to gossip.

 

Tao Xi returned to his seat and saw Lin Qinhe lowered his head to read, just like usual.

 

After sitting down, he put the water bottle in his hand on Lin Qinhe’s table and turned his side slightly, looked at Lin Qinhe’s deep profile face looking down and reading. He said in a redundant gesture: “The water is ready.”

 

In fact, he just poured the water out of the bottle and filled it again with water.

 

Lin Qinhe hummed carelessly, turned a page and continued reading.

 

Normally, if he ignored Tao Xi, Tao Xi should wisely turn around to do his own thing, but after more than ten seconds this person actually stared at him motionlessly, he couldn’t help turning his face slightly and said coldly:

 

“What’s up?”

 

His eyes happened to hit Tao Xi and he looked at his gaze. His beautifully shaped eyes were full with moist and dampness, but they flickered slightly, like the starlight that filled Qinghe1.

 

Lin Qinhe turned around naturally and continued reading, turning another page.

 

Tao Xi looked at the competition book and said, “You haven’t finished reading the page just now.”

 

Unless there was a real quantum wave speed reading method, geniuses couldn’t read a page so quickly.

 

Lin Qinhe who was about to continue turning the page with his fingers, turned to look at Tao Xi, frowned slightly and said with impatience, “What’s the matter?”

 

Tao Xi just wanted to speak, but the sound of reading in the classroom suddenly became very loud and turned into a morning market, just because the grade director had just passed by with a cough from the door.

 

He was afraid that Lin Qinhe would not be able to hear him, so he leaned towards Lin Qinhe in the midst of loud and enthusiastic morning reading, half-covered his lips with his right hand, and whispered word by word in Lin Qinhe’s ear: “I want to say, thank, you!”

 

Li Xiaoyuan, who was on patrol, kept secretly observing the situation in the last row. He suddenly had an earthquake of magnitude 8 when he saw Tao Xi approaching Lin Qinhe and whispering to him. The slender and white neck was slightly raised, and in order to maintain the balance of the body, his left hand was casually placed on the edge of the table in front of Lin Qinhe while his chest was almost hanging onto Lin Qinhe.

 

The new classmate was courageous!

 

Who in their class didn’t know that Lin Qinhe hated others for being too close to him.

 

Li Xiaoyuan had already imagined a hundred tragic endings for Tao Xi, but in the end he didn’t see the expected scenes. Lin Qinhe didn’t make any movements, and Tao Xi was whispering to him!

 

Tao Xi, who didn’t know he was being closely observed, retracted his slanted upper body after speaking, tilted his head and continued to look at Lin Qinhe. The slightly raised eyelashes were as moist as the morning dew, but the corners of the mouth were curved in a beautiful arc, as if they had eaten some candy.

 

Lin Qinhe glanced at Tao Xi’s bright eyes. He quickly retracted his gaze, and smoothed the uneven pages of the book that he had just folded with his fingers and with a colder tone than usual, he replied: “No need to.”

 

As the grade director left, the sound of reading in the classroom became sparse, mixed with the sound of small talk.

 

Tao Xi put up the Chinese textbook with his hand to block his head, lying his head down on the desk with his face sideways and seriously said something to the tablemate: “Why are you here so early today?”

 

Usually this person strived to be the last, however, it was because of Lin Qinhe loved to be late that Tao Xi had the opportunity to occasionally see Lin Qinhe being punished by Bi Aoxue to read English on the screen in the past.

 

“…There is no traffic jam on the road today.” Lin Qinhe closed the book without reading the opened pages at all, didn’t even look at Tao Xi.

 

Tao Xi lay on the desk, looking at Lin Qinhe’s beautiful jaw line looking up from below and the rolling Adam’s apple when he was talking, he suddenly remembered seeing Lin Qinhe on the podium for the first time on the first day of school. At that time, Zhou Qiang asked him why he was late. He said that there was a car accident on the road.

 

At that time, he didn’t laugh, but now he laughed. Tao Xi tried his best to suppress the corners of his mouth and asked: “Then how do you know that I didn’t take it? If it is found out, wouldn’t you be embarrassed?”

 

Lin Qinhe said dismissively: “You don’t even have a mobile phone. What do you want earphones for?”

 

Tao Xi’s expression was slightly embarrassed, and he retorted in a low voice, “I obviously have a cassette player.”

 

Lin Qinhe raised the corner of his lips slightly and put the book into the drawer, but his hand touched the cassette tape he had brought. He paused his hand, pushed the tape inside and said to Tao Xi:

 

“Give me.”

 

Tao Xi was taken aback, and asked blankly: “Do you want the cassette player?”

 

“…”

 

Lin Qinhe bent his index finger and knocked on Tao Xi’s table.

 

Tao Xi suddenly realized that Lin Qinhe was referring to “stolen goods”. He quickly put his hand into the drawer, searched for it for a while and found a small box. Then he took it out from under the desk and quickly handed it to Lin Qinhe, like a spy passing confidential information.

 

Lin Qinhe threw it into his schoolbag casually like trash, then took out a pen and played with it in his hand.

 

“What are you going to do with it?” Tao Xi asked curiously. This earphones should be very expensive.

 

“Throw.” Lin Qinhe showed no mercy.

 

Tao Xi thought this was the only way to go. He looked at Lin Qinhe’s slender fingers in a daze, and remembered the scene of Lin Qinhe playing the piano that day. He thought about painting the hands next time, but suddenly heard Lin Qinhe whispered:

 

“Do you know now? You don’t have to respond to everyone who gives you small favour, and don’t be so grateful just because others treat you a little better.”

 

“?”

 

Tao Xi was stunned. Was Lin Qinhe preaching to him about this lesson?

 

He was at a loss for a while before he figured out that Lin Qinhe might be referring to the fact that he helped Jiang Xinyun draw a blackboard newspaper because of the a bottle of water that costed 12 yuan. If it weren’t for this, perhaps he wouldn’t be involved in this.

 

He didn’t understand why Lin Qinhe always cared about the blackboard newspaper. Was he still brooding over the flowers he painted?

 

Tao Xi still covered his head with the book and moved towards Lin Qinhe’s desk, with his chin resting on his elbow. He didn’t realize that he had crossed the line. He tilted his head and raised his eyelashes to look at Lin Qinhe, asking him:

 

“Then if there are very, very few people who treat me well, if I don’t respond to anything, won’t no one be willing to treat me well in the future?”

 

For him, even the good of his parents and relatives was vain, and no one in this world would treat him unconditionally.

 

Lin Qinhe looked down at Tao Xi’s eyes. He unscrewed the cap of the pen with a slight force in his hand, then quickly closed it again. After a silence, he replied: “You can only respond well to people who are really good to you.”

 

There was no good for no reason. Whether it was good intentions or malicious intentions, it was mixed with various purposes and ideas.

 

Tao Xi was stunned. He looked at Lin Qinhe and suddenly laughed, with a smile trembling gently on the long eyelashes.

 

Lin Qinhe pursed his lips and said stiffly, “What are you laughing at?”

 

Was there any normal person who could still smile so freely after experiencing the thing in the morning?

 

Tao Xi suppressed his smile, but the corners of his mouth were still tilted. He happily said:

 

“Because I know whom to treat.”

 

He smiled and looked at Lin Qinhe, but Lin Qinhe didn’t seem to want to talk to him anymore, so he had to get off from the table, put the Chinese textbook, and stared at the book in a daze, thinking about something in his heart.

 

But suddenly three blank composition papers and a black pen appeared on the opened Chinese textbook, and then an indisputable voice said to him:

 

“Didn’t you say that I can ask you to write anything? Then write a self-review of what happened this morning, reflect on the mistakes, and give it to me before night study.”

 

Tao Xi stared at the three sheets of paper and pen in front of him in a daze.

 

Although he had promised Lin Qinhe, he never expected Lin Qinhe would ask him to write a self-review.

 

Tao Xi did write a lot of self-reviews in elementary and middle school. For fighting, for skipping classes, for contradicting teachers, for speaking during class…

 

After going to high school, he learned to behave well, and his good grades were favoured by the teachers, so no one had asked him to write a self-review anymore.

 

Tao Xi felt a little embarrassed and couldn’t help but to talk back: “What did I do wrong? Why write a self-review?”

 

But when Lin Qinhe glanced at him lightly, his eyes were calm but full of pressure, and he was clearly dissatisfied with his contradiction.

 

Tao Xi gave up and muffled: “Okay, I was wrong, I will write.”

 

He picked up the black pen, held it in his palm and realized that there was still the temperature of Lin Qinhe’s hand on it. He used some strength to hold it tightly. Then on the first line of the first sheet, the three words “Written Self-Review”2 were written very solemnly.

 

As for how to write it, he had no idea at all. Those reviews he wrote before in high school were all made up without seriousness, but this was written for Lin Qinhe, so he couldn’t make a joke of it.

 

Tao Xi scratched his head in distress, and frantically searched through the thought reports and reviews he had seen before.

 

 

 

During the night self-study, Zhou Qiang suddenly came to the classroom to find Tao Xi, and said softly to him: “Tao Xi, come out with me.” After that, he left the classroom first.

 

Tao Xi was taken aback, and before leaving his seat, he quickly put the self-review he had just finished on Lin Qinhe’s desk, and then hurried out of the classroom.

 

Zhou Qiang took Tao Xi out of the teaching building, walked to a secluded flowerbed, and started talking after confirming that there was no one nearby:

 

“Tao Xi, I learned about what happened in the morning. I’m really sorry. I want to say I’m sorry. As the head teacher, I didn’t know that there was a conflict in the class and almost made you misunderstood.”

 

Zhou Qiang was very cautious in his words, and obviously he still cared about the faces of the girls, but his tone was so sincere, so sincere that Tao Xi was a little confused.

 

Tao Xi thought about his self-review, and shook his head: “Teacher, there is no need to apologize, it is not your fault.”

 

No matter how powerful the head teacher was, it was impossible to control the emotions and malices of every student in the class.

 

Zhou Qiang sighed, raised his hand and patted Tao Xi’s shoulder: “Good boy, it is not easy for you to come to our school. I thought it would be fine if you were placed next to Lin Qinhe. I didn’t expect that something went wrong. Fortunately, it wasn’t a big matter.”

 

If the trouble was big, even if Tao Xi was innocent, it would be very ugly. Zhou Qiang still had the lingering fears.

 

Tao Xi was startled and asked, “Why did you arrange for me to sit next to Lin Qinhe?”

 

Obviously Lin Qinhe hated having tablemate so much.

 

Zhou Qiang paused and explained: “Every child in the first class is excellent, and it is precisely because they are so excellent. Except for the unsurpassable Lin Qinhe, many people are actually competing with each other secretly. You are a newcomer after all, and I am worried that it will be difficult for you to blend in.”

 

Although Zhou Qiang was very euphemistic, Tao Xi still understood.

 

Except for the people in Class 1 who were born with simple mind like Bi Chengfei, most of the people in Class 1 were very good and strong. He was a poor student from a poverty-stricken county. Even if Class 1 students accepted him amicably out of self-cultivation3 at the beginning, but if he showed too much difference, this kind of friendliness would likely turn into contempt or even exclusion.

 

But Tao Xi still didn’t understand what this had to do with placing him next to Lin Qinhe. He still wanted to ask Zhou Qiang about it when Zhou Qiang changed the subject and started to be verbose:

 

“If you have any difficulties in life and study, you must tell me. The scholarship that the school gives you should be used. If it is not enough, you can write an application to the school. The sponsor of this project is very generous. Your tuition and living expenses actually come from the fund that the sponsor gives to the school, so you don’t have to worry about spending the school’s money… “

 

Tao Xi couldn’t help but curiously asked: “Teacher, can I know who the sponsor is?”

 

He always thought that this project was a collaboration between the Qingshui County Government and Wenhua No.1 High School. It seemed that there was a specific funder who had funded all his expenses to Wenhua No. 1 High School.

 

Tao Xi remembered that after the mid-term exam in the first half of the year, the principal of Qingshui No. 1 High School suddenly announced the news that the Top 1 in final exam would “study abroad” at Wenhua No. 1 High School. From then on, he started preparing for the exam.

 

The topic seemed to be a little taboo for Zhou Qiang. He thought Tao Xi wanted to thank him in person, so he kindly said: “Good boy, you just need to concentrate on studying so in the future, you can go to a good university. It is the best reward.”

 

 

 

In the classroom at this time, the students were all quietly studying on their own. Of course, there was also a fleas like Bi Chengfei, who was restless and waiting for it to end.

 

He was bored and his gaze wandering around. He was looking at the book in front of him when he suddenly heard a laugh from behind.

 

The laughter was extremely short and quiet, but Bi Chengfei’s big ears still heard it. He turned his head and looked at desk behind him like a ghost. There was only one Lin Qinhe in the back row holding a few pieces of composition paper and looking at it

 

“???”

 

Bi Chengfei felt that he really saw a ghost. Tao Xi was not there, then it could only be Lin Qinhe who laughed, but when did Lin Qinhe laugh out loud?

 

He squinted his eyes and stared at Lin Qinhe’s face carefully, trying to dig a little smile from this perfect face to prove that it was not his hallucination. However, Lin Qinhe looked as cold as before, just looking intently at the composition paper.

 

Bi Chengfei couldn’t help but stretched his neck and leaned over there, and asked in a low voice curiously: “Xueshen, what is so funny, can you show me?”

 

As a result, Lin Qinhe turned the composition paper over and put it on the desk. He coldly spitted out a word: “Scram.”

 

Bi Chengfei retracted his neck and turned around aggrievedly.

 

He thought he would not only go to his father to sign up at Neurology Department, he might also sign up at ENT Department4.

 

How could Lin Qinhe laugh out loud?

 

Even if he read joke books to him, this person wouldn’t laugh.

 

He must have heard it wrong.

 

But a scene suddenly flashed in Bi Chengfei’s mind. Thinking of his freshman year in high school, he used to run errands to get the letters sent to Class 1 from the guards. Sure enough, he saw that most of them were sent to Lin Qinhe from Qingshui County, and he knew from the handwriting that they came from a little girl.

 

Most of them were sent by the same girl. Bi Chengfei was deeply impressed by this unique handwriting, because every time he went to get a letter, there would be a letter from this girl. There were six or seven letters every month and an extra one was added during the holidays.

 

He was almost moved by this spirit, but this girl didn’t seem to have a good taste, and her handwriting was the same as non-mainstream Martian writing5.

 

Bi Chengfei sorted out the letter as usual and put it on Lin Qinhe’s desk. At that time, Lin Qinhe seemed to be reading a copy of an excellent full-point essay sent by He Wenjiao a long time ago.

 

Bi Chengfei couldn’t help but joked: “Xueshen, I now seriously suspect that you are deliberately late every time in my aunt’s English class. Let the little girl in Qingshui No. 1 High School see you reading English on the screen, and then write a love letter to you, right? “

 

Of course he was talking nonsense. With Lin Qinhe’s indifferent character, all the letters sent to him must had been thrown away. He didn’t throw it in the trash can because of his personality. How could he embarrassed himself coming late just for a person thousands of kilometres away.

 

Bi Chengfei felt that Lin Qinhe would say “scram” to him coldly, or simply ignore him.

 

As a result, Lin Qinhe didn’t say anything at the time, but smiled slightly, and then put all the envelopes into his schoolbag.

 

The smile was fleeting, it made Bi Chengfei think that he had an hallucination.

 

Bi Chengfei remembered the gossip that Li Xiaoyuan shared with him during the day, and suddenly felt that he was a little negligent as the CIA group owner.

 

At this time, Lin Qinhe in the back row turned the composition paper over again, and looked at the last paragraph of the beautiful handwriting:

 

I solemnly review and will earnestly implement Lin Qinhe’s important Thought of Represent6 and adhere to the three unswervingly principles of “Believe in Lin Qinhe unswervingly”, “Listen to Lin Qinhe unswervingly”, and “Learn from Lin Qinhe unswervingly”, and keep moving closer to the Lin Qinhe’s important thoughts. I will strictly follow his words and deeds with high standards, so as to “learn to reject”, “do not respond casually to small favors”, “do not waste time doing meaningless things”, study earnestly, work hard and strive to enter the top fifty in the mid-term exam, and live up to the glorious mission of being Lin Qinhe tablemate!

 

Reviewer: Tao Xi

 

 

 

1

A county in southeast Hebei province. This is how it looks like (1, 2, 3)

2

检讨书 : it means written self-criticism. Went to baidu and it shows the English word for it apparently review book but I just feel it weird to leave it as Review book or written self-criticism, so I change it to self-review instead.

3

Not the cultivation as in martial arts story. 修养 refers to a person’s behavior and conservation, which is closely linked with his personality, psychological state, moral view, cultural knowledge and things. It is the overall quality of a person.
So it is a big word. It can refer to how much a person knows in a particular area, or how a person treat the others, or many things else. (cr: coolcfan)

4

Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) or Otorhinolaryngology

5

Martian text/writing: usually it consists of symbols, traditional characters, Japanese, Korean. Usually they use words with homophones, similar sounds, or special symbol, and it also got quite strange grammar so it’s quite hard for people to understand it.
Ex:
martian writing: ㊣礒與龢鮃啇基礎 (zhèng yǐ yǔ hépíng dì jīchǔ / the eng translation doesn’t make sense)
simplified: 正义与和平的基础 (zhèngyì yǔ hé píng de jīchǔ / eng: The foundation of justice and peace)

6

Refers to Three Represent. The Three Represents or the important thought of Three Represents is a guiding socio-political theory within China