Chapter 12

The last class of the morning was math with Teacher Ding.

The first thing she did was to go over the previous day’s math homework.

“Today, I want to ask two students to come up to the blackboard and demonstrate the last problem from yesterday’s homework.”

As soon as Teacher Ding said this, everyone looked at Ling Mo.

But Ling Mo was still looking down at his book.

“Mo Xiaobai, you come up and write this problem.”

Qu Yun heard the teacher call “Mo Xiaobai,” and he didn’t realize she was calling him until the classmate behind him poked him.

Li Yuanhang looked at him with a malicious smile, mouthing “The fatso is done for.”

Other students also looked at Qu Yun with sympathetic eyes.

Unexpectedly, Teacher Ding walked to Li Yuanhang’s desk and tapped his desk with her finger, “Li Yuanhang, the other person is you.”

“Ah? Teacher… why is it me?” Li Yuanhang widened his eyes.

“Don’t you know how to do it?”

As soon as Teacher Ding asked this, Li Yuanhang was stuck, unable to say a word. The few students who had been called to the parents’ meeting because they copied Li Yuanhang’s homework all showed a mysterious smile.

Li Yuanhang dawdled for a while before going up. Qu Yun, who was standing on the other side of the blackboard, had already written several lines with his chalk.

Li Yuanhang was completely dumbfounded. He desperately tried to recall how he copied Ling Mo’s homework, but he could only squeeze out two or three lines.

On the other hand, Qu Yun, Ling Mo had explained the problem to him, Qu Yun’s thinking logic was fine, and he kept writing. Even Teacher Ding was surprised.

She had heard that Ling Mo had stayed at this child’s house last night. His math had always been bad. Suddenly, this child solved such a difficult type of problem. Teacher Ding couldn’t help but think, “Could it be that he copied Ling Mo’s?” But she didn’t expect him to solve it himself.

When the final answer came out, Qu Yun touched the back of his head.

“How come this answer doesn’t seem right?”

Qu Yun took the chalk and checked each line.

When he got to the third line from the end, he heard a light cough from behind.

Qu Yun’s eyes lit up, “Hey, that’s where it’s wrong! Such a simple multiplication, I got it wrong. I was too nervous!”

Chu Ning, the English class representative, turned her head following the cough, and saw Ling Mo, who usually didn’t care about other people’s business, propping his chin and looking at the blackboard.

To be precise, he was looking at the little fatso.

When Qu Yun stepped back to reveal his calculation results, Teacher Ding nodded, and Ling Mo, who was looking up at the ceiling, slightly curled the corner of his lips and lowered his head to continue looking at his book.

Qu Yun’s palms were sweating, and his heart was also nervous.

“Mo Xiaobai, you can go back to your seat now.” Teacher Ding smiled and nodded.

Qu Yun received the teacher’s approving gaze, and fireworks exploded in his heart.

He looked in Ling Mo’s direction, but he was disappointed to find that Ling Mo didn’t care.

“Ah, forget it!”

On the other hand, Li Yuanhang was still standing on the podium, erasing the blackboard countless times. He wanted to secretly look at Qu Yun’s answer on the other side, but it was the first time Qu Yun had gone up to answer a question. He didn’t have any experience, and his handwriting was smaller than his palm, so he couldn’t see clearly!

Teacher Ding patiently waited for three minutes before coldly saying, “That’s enough, Li Yuanhang. This is how you do homework, you know it, you know it, you don’t know it, you don’t know it. I know you don’t know, that’s why I put extra effort into teaching you. You’re pretending to know now, but the high school entrance exam can’t be faked.”

The students below didn’t give face and burst into laughter.

Li Yuanhang’s ears turned red.

He was so angry… The guy behind him, Chen Qiao, even said sarcastically, “He’s a habitual offender when it comes to copying other people’s homework.”

“You – ” Li Yuanhang turned around and glared at Chen Qiao.

But Chen Qiao lazily looked in another direction, “You’re not even as good as Mo Xiaobai, why are you blaming others?”

After class, Qu Yun went to Ling Mo and smiled foolishly.

“Thank you for teaching me.”

Ling Mo didn’t say anything, he just snorted.

“You said I was hopeless, look, didn’t you bring me back to life?”

Qu Yun continued to be shameless and hung around in front of Ling Mo.

“Okay, you even know how to use the word ‘bring back to life.'”

As soon as Ling Mo looked up, he was stunned.

Because Qu Yun was pressing his hand on his belly, squeezing out a chubby heart with his fingers.

“Making a heart for you!”

Ling Mo stretched out his finger and poked the center of the chubby heart, “You’re crazy.”

“… I’m sad now.”

Qu Yun let go of his hand and turned around to go back to his seat.

A few seconds later, Ling Mo raised his hand to cover his mouth with his chin, lowered his head and looked at his book.

But Chu Ning, the English class representative, who had been observing him the whole time, felt like he was smiling.

At noon, the students could eat at the school cafeteria. Students who lived close by could go home.

Li Yuanhang had money, he looked at Ling Mo proudly. Ling Mo had slept at someone else’s house last night and didn’t go home, so Chen Li naturally didn’t give him lunch money.

But Ling Mo didn’t care at all.

Qu Yun took his house keys, moved to Ling Mo’s side, and said, “Let’s go, go home for lunch.”

Ling Mo nodded, “Yeah, you go back.”

Qu Yun saw his look and knew that he was being stubborn again.

“Hey… you know my mom said she’s going to make braised pork chops when she went out, you’re not going… My mom will definitely be sad, and I’ll be forced to eat your portion too, my stomach is going to explode. Don’t you feel sorry for me?”

Ling Mo still didn’t move.

Qu Yun started putting his hands on his belly and squeezing, “You’re not going to eat, I’ll keep making a heart for you, heart! Heart! Heart! Aren’t you my crazy person? I’m going to drive you crazy!”

Ling Mo lowered his head and pressed Qu Yun’s belly with his hand, “Okay, stop it.”

Looking at his cold look, Qu Yun sighed in his heart.

“Go back and eat meat, it’s not like you’re eating poop, can you be happier?”

“I’m happy.”

“I can’t tell.”

“Then I won’t go.”

“Don’t! You should still come!”

When they got back home, as soon as they opened the door, they smelled the delicious aroma of food.

Looking at the table, wow…

Potato stewed with beef, braised pork chops, pine nut fish…

“Mom – is it Chinese New Year today?” Qu Yun was about to use his chopsticks to grab a piece of pork chop, but Liang Ru slapped the back of his hand hard.

“Go wash your hands!”

So Qu Yun and Ling Mo went to the bathroom to wash their hands.

As soon as Qu Yun put soap on his hands, he suddenly thought of something and said to Ling Mo behind him, “Put your hands out.”

“Why?”

Qu Yun rubbed his hands on Ling Mo’s hands, “I put too much soap on, I’ll share some with you.”

“No need to share, disgusting.”

“Your hands are so pretty.”

Qu Yun smiled with narrowed eyes, not caring if Ling Mo was happy or not, and walked out.

Ling Mo stood in front of the sink, washed his hands, then looked at himself in the mirror, raised his hand, tilted his head and looked at it, as if trying to figure out what was so pretty about his hands. Actually, for Qu Yun, the hands of a high-level intellectual were naturally

A voice came from outside the door, “Mom – you don’t have to go to work? How come you have time to cook so much?”

“I worked overtime a few days ago, and I’m taking a day off this week!”

“Oh no, you must cook a lot every day, I’m going to get fat.”

“Who am I cooking for? I’m cooking for Ling Mo.”

“Are you saying that I’m not your real son, but Ling Mo is your son?”

“Heh, it’s only because you’re my real son, otherwise, I would have thrown you out long ago!”

Ling Mo wiped his hands clean and sat down at the dinner table. Liang Ru had already served him a big bowl of rice.

“Look, you’re too thin, eat more!”

Ling Mo was stunned, motionless.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like pork chops?” Liang Ru asked.

“No, thank you, Auntie. It’s been a long time since anyone has served me food.”

Ling Mo lowered his head and took a bite of the pork chop.

Qu Yun also stretched out his chopsticks and said in a muffled voice, “Then you should come here every day, I’ll serve you food every day, I guarantee you’ll eat until you’re twice my size!”

“I’m not eating your saliva.” Ling Mo said coldly.

Qu Yun was about to throw the beef into Ling Mo’s bowl, but he had to stop.

“Cut it out! You don’t eat it, I’ll eat it!”

As soon as Qu Yun was about to put the beef back in his bowl, Ling Mo said coldly, “No sincerity.”

“Here! Here!”

Qu Yun ate slower than usual because he knew that eating too fast and stuffing too much would only make him fatter. He would leave the task of getting fat to Ling Mo. He had to get thinner and more handsome, to blind the eyes of those who called him “fatso!”

After finishing their meal, Ling Mo was about to help Liang Ru wash the dishes, but Liang Ru patted him and said, “You should go back to school with Xiaobai, you can sleep on the desk for a while.”

“Thank you, Auntie.”

“What are you thanking me for. Come over for dinner tonight? I just came up with a new recipe for glutinous rice chicken, I’ll try it out tonight.”

“Auntie, I’ll go home tonight. After all, my house is there.”

Liang Ru thought for a moment, “That’s right. After all, that’s your house, you don’t go back and you won’t know what your aunt is going to do. And if you don’t go back, she’s so petty, she’ll think you’re giving her the cold shoulder.”

“Thank you, Auntie, for understanding.”

“It’s okay, I know all her little tricks. You should pack a few sets of clothes and put them here. If they make you uncomfortable, just come and live here.”

“Yeah.” Ling Mo pursed his lips and said, “Thank you, Auntie.”

Very seriously.

Qu Yun knew that Ling Mo wouldn’t easily reveal his feelings, but for those he truly cared about, he would do anything to protect them.