Chapter 10: Homework and Retribution
“Didn't you say that either I could take your car back, or I could come to your house tonight to help you with your homework? I chose the second option.” After saying this in one breath, Xiang Yang didn’t dare to take a single breath.
She felt a kind of bravery akin to being placed in a desperate situation and choosing to fight back. Otherwise, what gave her the courage to dare to retort to Fu Guanxian like this?
However, even though she was extremely scared inside, Xiang Yang kept reassuring herself: “Don't be afraid, don't be afraid! If he dares to hit me, I'll just shout loudly; after all, Mom is downstairs.”
Fu Guanxian didn't miss her change of expression throughout the entire exchange; he could even easily guess what she was thinking with almost perfect accuracy.
Fu Guanxian straightened up and took two steps closer to her direction.
Xiang Yang instinctively stepped back in fright.
He snorted coldly, “Since you love doing homework so much, then I'll let you do enough of it!”
Huh? Just like that?
Xiang Yang was a bit surprised; he wasn't going to pursue the matter of her going home early?
Seeing the look of confusion on her face, Fu Guanxian walked a few steps into his bedroom and turned back to see her still standing there in a daze. He said impatiently, “What are you still standing there for? Do you need me to send eight carriages to invite you?”
Xiang Yang was taken aback, unsure of what he was up to. After years of knowing Fu Guanxian, she always felt that he wouldn't let things go so easily.
Fu Guanxian always repaid grudges.
Even after sitting down at his desk, Xiang Yang still felt uneasy.
Fu Guanxian sat in a swivel chair not far from her, leisurely spinning around while occasionally glancing at Xiang Yang.
Feeling guilty under his gaze, Xiang Yang had no choice but to grit her teeth and ask, “What’s your homework for tonight?”
In truth, she didn’t like helping him with homework at all.
For the assignments that were above her grade level, she could manage to understand the humanities subjects with some effort, but for the sciences, without Fu Guanxian’s guidance by her side, just reading and trying to understand the material could take her an entire night to solve a few problems.
Perhaps because they were familiar with each other, Xiang Yang clearly knew the gap between her and Fu Guanxian.
Fu Guanxian was very smart; he could easily grasp concepts...
He could easily grasp concepts and apply them in different situations.
But Xiang Yang didn't have that ability. Her good grades were the result of her hard work and effort.
Fu Guanxian, on the other hand, seemed to live a carefree and easygoing life, yet his grades were far superior to hers.
“Hey! What are you thinking about! If you don't want to write, don't come! No one is forcing you.”
“I don't want to come.” Xiang Yang mumbled softly.
“What did you say?”
“I said which subject's homework should we do first.” Xiang Yang flipped through the textbooks on his desk, pretending to be sincere.
Fu Guanxian narrowed his eyes slightly, “You didn't say that at all.”
“I did say that.” Xiang Yang took out her Chinese textbook and pretended to be calm as she answered.
Fu Guanxian stood aside, observing her with a meaningful look, then he snorted twice with a meaningful look – Xiang Yang, you're getting bold! You've only been in school for less than half a semester, and you dare to disobey me, and now you even dare to lie.
Fu Guanxian's aura was off, Xiang Yang turned her head to look at him with confusion, and found that his face was not good.
Xiang Yang's heart skipped a beat, and she didn't dare to speak.
Did I just ruffle the lion's fur?
The two of them just stood there, you don't ask, I don't say. You don't say, I don't move. After a while, Fu Guanxian said in a bad tone, “Write a self-criticism.”
Hearing his words, she subconsciously wanted to find her notebook, but she suddenly stopped, “Self-criticism? Self-criticism for what?” Xiang Yang was surprised, what did he do wrong at school again?
Fu Guanxian lazily lifted his eyelids and said slowly, “Just write about how people who don't keep their promises should make others believe them in the future.”
Xiang Yang seemed to understand something, he was being sarcastic!
She lowered her head, just not wanting to write.
Fu Guanxian saw this and laughed, “What? When it comes to yourself, you don't know how to self-criticize? Xiang Yang, when you were criticizing me for not keeping my promise to Lian Rui, why didn't you think about yourself today?”
Xiang Yang moved her lips, not wanting to argue with him.
She hadn't broken her promise at all. He only told her to wait for him at the school gate, but she never agreed to it from beginning to end.
Xiang Yang remained silent for a moment, then asked, “What about the other homework?”
“There's no other homework, just this one.”
Xiang Yang: "..." Fu Guanxian, you're doing this on purpose!
“Write or not, it's up to you.” Fu Guanxian crossed his arms, put them behind his head, and said casually.
Xiang Yang pondered for a moment and asked him, “What will happen if I don't write it?”
Fu Guanxian smiled, “Why would I tell you, a person who doesn't keep their promises?”
Xiang Yang was speechless again.
You're the one who doesn't keep your promises!
Xiang Yang gritted her teeth, angrily flipped open her notebook, picked up her pen and stabbed the paper hard, writing with a bad mood.
When did I need to write self-criticism like those mischievous classmates? But Fu Guanxian made her write the first self-criticism of her life that she was unwilling to write.
Well, which student would willingly write a self-criticism.
Xiang Yang struggled to squeeze out the words, and Fu Guanxian seemed to be urging her on, sitting next to her, watching her slowly write one word at a time, with disdain in his heart: Even a turtle crawls faster than your writing!
Finally, after writing it, Xiang Yang handed the notebook to him, displeased, “Is that good enough?”
Fu Guanxian glanced down and found that she had even managed to quote scriptures and write hundreds of words.
“Hehe, I wonder if your teacher will praise you for being so talented even in writing self-criticism?”
Xiang Yang blushed and wanted to grab it back, but Fu Guanxian seemed to have anticipated it, raising his hand, Xiang Yang immediately missed.
Xiang Yang was originally very proud of her writing talent. But that day, their head teacher talked to her in the office about the shortcomings in her writing. After finishing, the head teacher added, “Xiang Yang, you are more talented in writing than all the other students. Practice more, and you will become even better in the future!”
Xiang Yang took her notebook at the time, feeling a little excited inside. She smiled and said, “Thank you, teacher.” As she turned to leave the office, she realized that Fu Guanxian was also there.
Later, Fu Guanxian teased her once, “A person with writing talent can still be caught with their pants down and have their shortcomings pointed out for ten minutes. It's really quite talented to think about it!”
Xiang Yang felt ashamed at the time.
Now, he was making her feel ashamed again.
“Fu Guanxian, I've done what you said, but I hope you respect me, this self-criticism...”
“A talented person, you forgot to sign your self-criticism.”
“Why should I sign it?”
“Without a signature, what will you do if you break your promise and need to be held accountable? Of course, you don't need to thank me too much, I'm just helping you review the lessons about being a good person that your elementary school teacher taught you.”
Finally, when Xiang Yang wrote her name and the date on the back of the self-criticism, she felt that Fu Guanxian was actually not at a loss at all. Because he knew that the two options he gave her were both a form of torture for her.
His purpose of finding pleasure in tormenting her would never fail.
When Xiang Yang went back, she couldn't sleep all night. For the first time, she seriously considered, if she stood up to Fu Guanxian, what kind of life and fate would she have in the future?
She couldn't figure it out, so she didn't dare to act rashly.
Winter arrived, and the temperature was very low every morning. Xiang Yang was used to getting up early, so she could still get up half an hour earlier every day than many of her classmates who complained about not being able to get out of bed, to recite ancient poems, classical Chinese, or English words.
Fu Guanxian, on the other hand, was the kind of person who could be late for several days in a row just to sleep in.
One day during morning reading class, Xiang Yang was helping Hou Xingrou take her math homework to the teacher's office when she saw Fu Guanxian standing at the classroom door with his backpack, and their head teacher was grimly criticizing him, “Fu Guanxian, count how many times you've been late in the past two weeks! If you keep being late like this, we don't even know if our class can make it into the ‘Excellent Class Selection’ at the end of the semester!”
The teacher's voice was high and thin, so Xiang Yang and Hou Xingrou couldn't hear very clearly, but they still got the gist of it.
Hou Xingrou smiled and pointed at Fu Guanxian to Xiang Yang, “I can't believe the top student in our grade dares to be late! But top students always have some special treatment in front of teachers, Fu Guanxian is really bold!”
Xiang Yang looked at Fu Guanxian, who was talking to his head teacher with a playful smile, and thought to herself: When has Fu Guanxian ever been afraid!
Author's Note:
Xiang Yang has no sympathy: When has Fu Guanxian ever been afraid!
Fu Guanxian: Actually, I'm afraid too – when you turn around without hesitation and leave me to embrace someone else's arms.
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