Hopeless Romance (GL) - Chapter 26

Chapter 26

After Chen Pupu finished flipping through her Physics workbook for the second time, she couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. The thought of finally making it into the top twenty during finals, only to face a brand-new subject like Physics next semester while her foundation was still shaky, enveloped her in a cloud of gloom.

Qin Wei, looking ahead with a pragmatic eye, sensed that Pupu wasn’t exactly a natural at Physics. Deciding that the “clumsy bird should fly early,” she shopped around and found a tutoring center to sign Pupu up for a Math and Physics package. The sessions were scheduled for the two hours around lunchtime; Pupu found it difficult enough just to stay awake, let alone understand what the teacher was saying.

“Student Chen Pupu, can you solve these just by staring at them without picking up a pen? Have you become that powerful?” Qin Wei walked in carrying freshly sliced watermelon, only to find Pupu staring miserably at the worksheets she’d brought home from the cram school.

“Mom, you’re teasing me again.” Pupu set down the paper, her pout nearly reaching her nose as she turned toward her mother.

“I’m not! If you’re really stuck, just ask your teachers or classmates.”

“But Ye Du is in intensive training right now. I can’t disturb her.” Aside from the phone call the day before the camp started, the two hadn’t been in contact at all. Pupu felt a distinct emptiness in her heart.

“Is Ye Du the only person in the world you can ask?” Qin Wei was happy they were friends, but she didn’t want Pupu to be so single-minded, as if she relied on Ye Du for everything.

“Yes. Only Ye Du doesn’t think I’m stupid. She explains things so carefully.” Sometimes when Ye Du wasn’t around, Pupu would ask the class monitor, Qin Zibei. He was serious and diligent in his explanations, but Pupu usually ended up more confused than before. She was too embarrassed to take up more of his time. Ye Du was different; she not only knew how to solve the problem but seemed to know exactly where Pupu would trip up. She was never impatient, no matter how many times Pupu asked. It felt as though if Ye Du was the one explaining it, there was nothing Pupu couldn’t understand.

“Pah, pah, pah! Don’t say that, or you’ll actually get stupider,” Qin Wei thought to herself, figured the kid was already struggling enough. “Alright, take a break. Eat some fruit. I’m going to go start dinner.”

As she took her first bite of watermelon, Pupu suddenly remembered it was Ye Du’s favorite fruit. She wondered if Ye Du had managed to buy a shaved ice treat, and if she’d remembered to tell the boss to add extra watermelon and skip the coconut jelly. She wondered if those “impossible” problems Ye Du mentioned were finally being solved.

Passing the kitchen, Pupu asked her mom if she could cook enough for an extra person. Before Qin Wei could ask who was coming over, she only heard the sound of the front door slamming shut.

…

When the teacher told Ye Du someone was looking for her, her first instinct was that it was Ye Sangshu, though she quickly dismissed the thought. Seeing Chen Pupu standing there brought a wave of relief she couldn’t quite put into words. She had occasionally thought about how her friends said they would visit, but since no date was set and she had no way to contact them during the closed-off training, she had suppressed the hope. She hadn’t dared to assume Pupu would actually come. But there she was.

“If you didn’t come out soon, the shaved ice would have melted.” Pupu’s hands were damp from holding the cold container for so long.

“I just finished class. As soon as the teacher told me, I ran over.” Ye Du pulled out some tissues, taking the shaved ice with one hand while wiping the water droplets off Pupu’s hand with the other.

“Can you come out for dinner?” Pupu asked. Her mom was making braised pork today, and since Pupu had finished her first phase of tutoring, she had rushed over to the school even though she wasn’t sure she’d see Ye Du. She really wanted Ye Du to taste her favorite food.

“Probably not. I have to apply for leave in advance.” Ye Du scooped up a bit of watermelon, red bean, and crushed ice, sending it into her mouth in one go.

“Oh, okay.” Squatting outside the school gate, Pupu propped her chin in her hands, her face falling instantly.

“How about this: I’ll apply to eat out for dinner tomorrow. We’ll go to that shop you’ve always wanted to try.” As soon as Ye Du said this, Pupu perked up, though she still looked a bit droopy—as if she were the one locked inside doing math problems all day.

“I’ll go tomorrow then!” Pupu chirped, her mood swinging back to happiness.

“Ye Du, have you been really tired lately? I’ve been tutoring too, and man, studying is exhausting.” Pupu got a headache just thinking about concepts like velocity and echoes.

“It is exhausting. Sometimes I fall asleep while doing homework; Shang Ruixi has had to wake me up a few times. If you really can’t absorb the tutoring, maybe don’t go. But you’ll have to consolidate last semester’s knowledge on your own, or next semester will be very hard.” Ye Du didn’t even notice that no matter what Pupu talked about, she listened and responded with total seriousness.

“How are you and Shang Ruixi getting along?” According to Jiang Xinwan, Shang Ruixi was Ye Du’s biggest rival. Pupu was worried they wouldn’t click, given that Ye Du was often perceived as cold by classmates outside their inner circle.

“It’s fine. Qin Zibei and I often do problems together.” Having them there helped; though it wasn’t the same as her best friends, having someone to talk to kept the pressure from becoming unbearable.

“Ye Du… does taking care of my studies delay you much? I feel like I waste a lot of your time.” The image of Shang Ruixi and Ye Du studying together—two scholars in a silent, high-level battle—flashed through Pupu’s mind. Comparing herself to that, she felt like a burden.

“Why would you say that?” Ye Du squatted down beside her, her spoon pausing mid-air.

“I mean, you must be so much more efficient when you’re with people like Shang Ruixi.” For some reason, Pupu felt a twinge of bitterness. She had never intended to compare herself to Shang Ruixi, but at this moment, she felt a strange sense of inadequacy. She suddenly wished she could be just a little bit better at school.

“It doesn’t affect me. Explaining problems to you is just another way for me to review. It’s a task I have to complete anyway, so it doesn’t waste time at all. In fact, it’s killing two birds with one stone.” Hearing this, the clouds in Pupu’s heart scattered. That was Ye Du’s magic: she always knew how to make Pupu feel better.

…

On the day of the team assessment, the atmosphere in the intensive camp turned electric with tension. Everyone was like a tightly wound string; it was just a matter of who could hold out. When the moment of truth came, some would snap under the pressure of failure, while others would surge forward with the momentum of victory. All they could do now was wait.

Ye Du tried to keep herself steady. Before the exam, she went to the restroom twice despite not having drunk much water. But the moment the teacher announced the start, she forced herself to focus. Shang Ruixi and Qin Zibei weren’t doing much better—their nerves stemmed from a lack of confidence. They were used to being the “math stars,” but here, there were too many formidable players. It wasn’t uncommon for the three of them to forget to eat while obsessing over a single problem. The exam was split into “Foundational” and “Advanced” sections; students would be selected based on different difficulty tiers to form the final team for the provincial competition.

When Ye Du found out she had been selected, she wasn’t sure if she was surprised or not. This was truly the first time she had felt challenged by learning, but in the moment when there was no turning back, she found a strange well of courage. Perhaps it was because there was no way to go but forward.

Of the three, only Qin Zibei failed to make the cut. To say he wasn’t disappointed would be a lie. As a boy who had been praised his whole life, he rarely faced failure and didn’t quite know how to handle it. The calm he displayed was merely a mask for his fear of losing face.

When Ye Du’s name was called, Shang Ruixi was hit by that familiar sense of defeat. But ten seconds later, hearing her own name—the name everyone called out daily—saved her. Her clenched fists slowly relaxed, and her shoulders slumped with relief. She couldn’t help but look at Ye Du and smile. It was a precious moment for her, and she wanted to share it with someone, even if that someone was her rival. Ye Du didn’t say anything, but she nodded back at Shang Ruixi’s shining eyes. It was a beautiful day.

…

As Ye Du walked out of the school gates with her suitcase, she was immediately caught in a bear hug by a charging Jiang Xinwan. Thanks to her height, Ye Du’s face survived the impact. Jiang Xinwan, ever the pro, grabbed the suitcase and waited for Pupu and Wang Zhu to catch up.

Seeing Xinwan’s eager expression, Ye Du couldn’t help but tease, “You’re making me feel like I’ve just been released from prison.”

“Pretty much! Pupu told us how hard you were training. You’ve even lost weight!” Ye Du tried to remember what exactly she had said to Pupu during their two brief meetings.

“Ye Du, congrats on getting ‘paroled’!” Before she could process Xinwan’s antics, Ye Du heard Wang Zhu’s “congratulations” and looked at Pupu with a distorted, questioning brow.

“They’re doing it on purpose,” Pupu said, covering her mouth with her hand and laughing. Pupu had simply told them Ye Du couldn’t leave school without a report; her friends had escalated that into a dramatic prison-break scenario, insisting they had to treat her well once she “got out.”

Ye Du was happy to play along. She let go of her suitcase and took Pupu’s hand. Before they moved away from the school, she took one last look around. She had wanted to wait a bit longer, but Xinwan and Wang Zhu were already dragging her off, claiming that if they didn’t hurry, they wouldn’t get seats for the three-flavor clay pot rice noodles. Ye Du didn’t quite understand the logic of eating boiling hot food in this scorching weather, but it didn’t matter. The joy of being reunited was enough to fill her up.