Chapter 716: Me, Pitying Tan You?
Li Fugui nodded. "Understood. Principal, you have that much faith in Tan You?"
"They have even more faith in her than I do," Principal Hu said, glancing out the window. "Before they came, I wouldn’t have dared to imagine it. But now, I see these teachers are far more ambitious than I am. Since that’s the case, we can’t lose face. We can’t let ourselves be outdone by teachers from another school."
He deliberately stressed the words "another school." It dawned on Li Fugui. "I understand. I’ll have Tan You focus solely on her studies when I get back."
"Exactly. You’re a quick one," Principal Hu said with a laugh. "For now, just let her go for it and see how far she can get. If we can’t help her with the competition material, then we can at least take good care of her in her daily life."
"I’ve noticed you always have her attend the evening study sessions. Why don’t you let her skip those for the time being..."
Li Fugui nodded repeatedly. "Got it. I’ll talk to her when I get back. Rest assured, I absolutely won’t get in the way of her competition training."
He was still holding the notebook full of tips from that other competition teacher. ’A teacher from another school has such high hopes for Tan You. As her homeroom teacher, how could I possibly hold her back?’
’Could Tan You really achieve something amazing in the competition?’ The thought made Li Fugui so excited it felt like his hair was standing on end.
By the time Li Fugui and the principal returned, the third evening study session had just ended. This last period was purely for self-study, which meant Tan You could finally take a break.
When the students saw Li Fugui walk into the classroom holding a thick stack of papers, all their faces fell. Li Fugui looked around at them. "Don’t worry, they’re not for you."
Everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief. No one asked any more questions. ’What if he changes his mind and gives them to us later?’ So, they all buried their heads in their in-class assignment—a set of math problems from the class president that required some serious thought to solve.
Li Fugui, however, placed the entire stack of papers on Tan You’s desk. Cao Haiyan glanced over, then quickly looked down and let out another quiet sigh of relief. ’That’s so many papers, more than I’ve gotten all month. How long is it going to take Tan You to finish all that?’
’Thank goodness those papers aren’t for me.’ Thinking this, Cao Haiyan couldn’t help but shoot Tan You a sympathetic glance. But when she saw the look of pure excitement on Tan You’s face, Cao Haiyan sighed.
’And here I am pitying her. Does she even need my pity? I’m working myself to death just to finish my schoolwork, but for Tan You, it’s a breeze. She spends most of her energy on things outside of class.’
The thought filled Cao Haiyan with indignation.
Tan You’s eyebrows shot up when she saw the notebook of competition notes. "Thank you, Teacher Li."
Li Fugui lowered his voice. "The teacher from the other school gave it to you; I just brought it over. Teacher Lin and I will come find you tonight. We have something to discuss."
Tan You thought for a moment. "Okay. In that case, let’s have a late-night snack together."
’As for her big rice cooker, she’d just have to ask Cao Haiyan and the others to help bring it back to the dorm. It wasn’t far, anyway—only a few minutes away.’
Recalling Tan You’s cooking skills, Li Fugui found himself shamelessly looking forward to it. "Alright. We’ll talk more tonight."
Of course, Cao Haiyan and Gu Qiuxia overheard the conversation. They exchanged a look. After Li Fugui had left, Cao Haiyan asked, "So, should we bring the rice cooker back to your dorm for you later tonight, after we’ve had our snack?"
"Yes, please. Thanks for the trouble, I need it for tomorrow." Tan You didn’t stand on ceremony. ’This is just how classmates help each other. If you get too hung up on keeping score, there’s not much friendship left.’
"It’s no trouble at all," Cao Haiyan said, quickly waving her hand. "You go back to your reading. We’ll get back to our practice problems."
Gu Qiuxia, on the other hand, was lost in a reverie. ’With one less person tonight, does that mean I can have a few extra bites? Sigh, it’s tough being a big-eater and a carnivore. If it weren’t for Tan You feeding me every few days, I honestly don’t think I could survive another day of high school.’
After the evening study session ended, Tan You deliberately waited in the classroom for a couple of minutes. By then, most of the students had already left, and the academic building suddenly felt deserted.
She said a quick hello to the student in charge of locking the classroom door and headed to the faculty office. Inside, only Li Fugui and Huang Ruixiang remained. Both were homeroom teachers—one for liberal arts, the other for sciences—and despite that, they got along remarkably well.
Seeing Tan You walk in with the black-covered notebook, Li Fugui grinned. "Planning to keep at it when you get back tonight?"
"Yep," Tan You smiled back. "I’ve always just studied on my own, so I never had a systematic approach. This teacher’s notes have been a huge help."
"Alright, but don’t come asking me if you get stuck. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to figure it out," Li Fugui said, fully aware of his own limits and getting a preemptive warning in. "I got that teacher’s phone number for you. Later, if you don’t understand something, you can call them and schedule a time to ask your questions."
"Understood. Thank you, Teacher Li." Tan You smiled, revealing a pair of dimples. ’Speaking of which, after getting the Beauty System, there were two things that made Tan You happiest. One was her increased Intelligence Value, and the other was winning this pair of dimples in the system’s lottery.’
’The two little dimples were quite shallow, but Tan You was confident that they’d get deeper once she lost more weight.’
Tan You’s dimples even caught Li Fugui by surprise for a moment. "I rarely see you smile so happily. But have you lost some weight recently? I can see your dimples now; I never noticed them before."
Tan You’s voice was light. "I have lost a little weight recently. I’m still working on it."
Li Fugui said, "You look fine as you are. Don’t ruin your health trying to lose weight. What’s wrong with being fair and a little plump? It gives you a fortunate-looking air."
Huang Ruixiang let out a snort of laughter. He took another look at Tan You. ’She really does look quite fortunate.’
Tan You replied, "Teacher Li, calling a girl ’fair and plump’ isn’t exactly a compliment these days."
Teacher Li retorted, "Your Teacher Lin is fair and plump, too. Isn’t she adorable?"
Tan You rolled her eyes. "I shouldn’t have even bothered saying anything. But Teacher Lin really is adorable, like a white jade steamed bun. Especially with that round face of hers, it’s super cute."
Li Fugui glared at her in mock disapproval. "That’s your teacher’s wife you’re talking about. Have some respect."
Tan You just laughed. ’As if she didn’t know what Li Fugui was really getting at.’ Honestly, Li Fugui and Teacher Lin had a wonderful relationship. There were a couple of other married teachers at the school, but there was something unique about Li Fugui and Teacher Lin.
Compared to the scrawny Li Fugui, Teacher Lin was a bit taller and more full-figured. And in contrast to Li Fugui’s spontaneous personality, Teacher Lin was much more composed.
A couple like that was just too perfect to ship.
Not wanting to leave Huang Ruixiang out of the conversation, and since they were neighbors, Li Fugui extended an invitation. "Teacher Lin and I are having a late-night snack with Tan You tonight. Mr. Huang, care to join us?"
Huang Ruixiang glanced at Tan You. "Is Tan You cooking?"
Tan You laughed. "That’s right. Since the weather’s so hot, we should eat something cooling. Let’s have cold noodles tonight. They’re quick and easy to make, not much trouble at all."
"Sounds great," Li Fugui was the first to chime in. "I happen to have some cucumbers and carrots at my place."
Tan You said, "That’s plenty. I’ll just whip up another cold side dish, and we’ll be all set."
The three of them were still discussing the late-night meal as they arrived at the dormitory, where Teacher Lin was already in the middle of her prep work. As it turned out, she was also planning on making cold noodles. It was as if they were telepathically connected.