Sissy (Niang Niang Qiang) - Chap 26
Chapter 26
Li Chengxiu finally resigned.
The moment he threw those IOUs into the trash can, he felt as if he had been given a new lease on life.
He could say goodbye to the past. Now he had new goals, and most importantly, a lover.
Li Chengxiu’s heart was full of gratitude and admiration for Shao Qun.
Shao Qun for him was like the warm sun in the winter, like charcoal heating in the cold snow. He treated Li Chengxiu so well, that it made him feel as if he had value and deserved to be cared for. For the first time ever, he felt that God treated him so kindly by sending Shao Qun to him.
So Li Chengxiu was now relying on Shao Qun in almost everything. Before the month was out he quit his restaurant job.
He also seriously wrote an IOU to Shao Qun, including the debt that Shao Qun helped him repay and the money he paid for his schooling.
Although it was also an IOU, this one didn’t make Li Chengxiu feel like it was a burden, rather it was a motivation for him to study hard and work hard in order to treat Shao Qun kindly and repay him for everything he had done for Li Chengxiu.
Shao Qun gave the IOU a perfunctory glance, shoved it into the drawer, turned around and pressed Li Chengxiu onto the big mahogany table in the study, intending to ask for something he was really interested in in return.
The class that Shao Qun registered him for only happened on Mondays and Wednesdays, however it ran from nine o’clock in the morning until four in the afternoon, with one-and-a-half-hour break at noon.
On the first day, he heard many people complaining that such a long condensed class was too tiring. However, Li Chengxiu enjoyed every minute and every second of sitting in the classroom and studying instead of working in a smoky kitchen. He didn’t feel tired at all, but rather regretted not being able to attend classes every day. There were only two classes a week, so what was he going to do on the other five days? That seemed to be a waste.
Li Chengxiu scribbled on his scratch paper, calculating his recent expenses and trying to figure out how long his existing savings of tens of thousands of RMB would last.
“Hi.”
A brisk voice startled him, and his hand shook. The tip of Li Chengxiu’s pencil scratched the table, and the lead immediately broke.
“Hahaha, I scared you.”
The girl talking was his deskmate. They were always the ones who arrived in class first. After seeing each other a few times, the two of them often sat together.
The girl was outgoing and talkative and didn’t care at all that Li Chengxiu was very reserved.
She took a bite from the bun she was holding: “Do you know who was invited as a guest lecturer this afternoon?”
“No.”
“He’s actually someone incredible. I heard that he is the shareholder of this school[7], and he is also the boss of an amazing accounting firm. You have definitely heard of it. If you get good grades, you can intern at this firm.”
Li Chengxiu nodded: “I have heard of it.” When he just came to school, he heard that if he got the best exam results for three consecutive months, he would have the opportunity to go to the top accounting firm in China for an internship. This was a great opportunity for every newbie.
The girl suddenly leaned over to Li Chengxiu’s side and whispered, “I’ve also heard…”
Li Chengxiu looked at her with a smile, wondering why she heard so much about this person.
There was an obvious excitement in her voice: “I’ve heard that this guy is handsome.”
Li Chengxiu smiled and nodded: “That’s good.”
For as long as he could remember, his deskmate was the only woman he had ever come into contact with other than his mother. Before that, he felt that women lived in a different world than him. Now, he felt that women were very cute.
“I heard that he’s only in his thirties. And that he’s really rich. I really really want to see him soon!”
Classes continued as usual in the morning. At noon, Li Chengxiu took out the lunchbox he had prepared and gave it to his deskmate. Considering that last time when she saw his lunch, she couldn’t stop talking about it, he brought an extra one with him every time he cooked. It wasn’t much of a hassle after all.
“So good! Li Chengxiu, you’re such a talented cook! Any woman would be lucky to marry you!”
Li Chengxiu smiled shyly and lowered his head to eat.
The girl slanted her eyes to sneak a peek at Li Chengxiu.
Since Li Chengxiu and Shao Qun were together, Shao Qun no longer allowed him to go out in his store-bought clothes. All Li Chengxiu’s attires were now purchased by Shao Qun. Although Li Chengxiu didn’t realize it himself, but from head to toe he was wearing famous brands. The clothes were well-matched, and the tailoring was exquisite. Coupled with his fresh hairstyle and an already fair and beautiful face, he looked warm and handsome.
Also, his “girliness” stayed well hidden because he hardly talked to anyone. Since the classes started, many girls have been secretly thinking about him. At the same time they couldn’t wait to look at his collar to see if he was wearing Versace or Armani on any given day.
His deskmate was however a bit confused, as she pondered on Li Chengxiu – he was rich, gentle, and good-looking. One would think he was a perfect man… Unfortunately, his personality and behavior were really very girly…
After the lunch break, the head of the school and several teachers entered the classroom together with an unknown man.
As soon as the man came in, Li Chengxiu could hear excited low-pitched screams of his female classmates.
The man was pretty attractive. He looked like he was in his early thirties, tall and straight, with wide shoulders and narrow waist. His white shirt and gray trousers were ironed with precision, and his facial features revealed a mature and intellectual temperament. There was a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on his tall nose. His gait was firm and confident, and he swayed lightly as he walked. The kind of charm that this man had transcended even his appearance, making ordinary people feel ashamed around him.
The man walked to the front of the podium where he stopped with his arms outstretched and a gentle smile on his face: “Dear students, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Honestly, this is the most anticipated day of the year, because it is my only chance to see so many great people in front of me at the same time.”
All the students in the class laughed, and the tense atmosphere disappeared at once.
“All right, let me introduce myself. My name is Li Shuo. It’s the same “Li” (黎)[8] as in the word “daybreak” (黎明) and the same “Shuo” (朔) as in the word “new moon” (朔月). I will be replacing your teacher Chen today to give you this afternoon’s class and also share with you some details about my personal career as an accountant. I hope it will be helpful to the future accountants in this classroom…”
After the class was over, everyone was in awe of Li Shuo.
He was wise, funny, and approachable. He could turn boring numbers into sheet music. He could make everyone laugh at any time, and he didn’t mind putting himself down, which made everyone admire him even more for his humility and open-mindedness.
The girls around Li Chengxiu were so excited that they were tugging on Li Chengxiu’s sleeves throughout the class: “Wow, how can he be so handsome! How can such an attractive man exist! God, I’m losing my mind.”
“Look at him! His legs are so long, and his body looks so good! OMG, OMG, I wonder if he is married! It’s definitely over, if he is. Maybe he is divorced?”
Li Chengxiu shook his head helplessly, while intently taking notes.
He could understand why these girls were so obsessed. This man was indeed charming, and it made him envious.
Li Shuo asked a question and was going to pick someone from the class to give an answer.
He looked at the register in his hand and called out a name. By chance, it was the name of Li Chengxiu’s deskmate.
When the girl next to him heard her name out of Li Shuo’s mouth, she was stunned. She was obsessing over Li Shuo during the whole session and didn’t actually listen to him at all. How would she know what Li Shuo was even talking about right now?
She stiffly raised her hand.
Li Shuo looked at her with a smile: “Oh, it’s a lovely young lady. I’m very lucky.” He then blinked and asked, “Can you answer my question just now?”
The girl stared at the whiteboard and smiled awkwardly.
Li Chengxiu tried to whisper the answer to her. But as the classroom was too quiet, he didn’t dare to speak too loud, so in the end she couldn’t hear what he was trying to tell her at all.
Li Shuo smiled at her again: “Don’t be nervous. How about we let the gentleman next to you answer the question? He has been trying to help you, so I have to give him this chance.”
Everyone laughed again and looked at Li Chengxiu.
Li Chengxiu’s face turned red, as he unconsciously got up from his seat.
He still felt like he was in junior high, so when the teacher asked a question, he felt like he had to stand up. When he realized that he didn’t need to do that, he didn’t know how to sit down in front of everyone without it being awkward.
He heard everything that Li Shuo said just now. He also knew the answer but he just couldn’t speak.
What he was most afraid of was being humiliated in public. Those eyes of other students that kept looking at him were cutting at Li Chengxiu’s sanity like a knife. Every second was a torment for him. All he could do was tremble with anxiety – speaking was out of the question.
The person next to Li Chengxiu nudged him but saw that he was unresponsive, so he said loudly, “Mr. Li, this student is shy, and he can’t speak in front of so many people. But he certainly knows the answer.
Li Shuo looked at Li Chengxiu, who was blushing like a tomato, with some interest. He then tapped the whiteboard with his fingers: “In this case, this gentleman can come up and write the answer on the board. Just give a demonstration of this arithmetic to your classmates.”
Li Chengxiu was unable to refuse, so he stiffly walked over and tremblingly took the pen from Li Shuo’s hand.
Li Shuo leaned in to admire his rosy and delicate face. Then he patted his shoulder with a smile: “Don’t be nervous. Even if you make a mistake, I’m not allowed to punish you.” After that, he turned towards the classroom and helplessly said to everyone, “This is the bad thing about commercial training institutions.
Everyone laughed.
The thick voice that strangely echoed in Li Chengxiu’s ears calmed his beating heart a little, and he felt less nervous.
With his back turned to dozens of pairs of eyes behind him, he quickly wrote his calculations on the whiteboard.
Li Shuo clapped his hands in admiration: “Very good, thank you… Your name?”
“……Li.”
“Thank you, Mr. Li. You are the hero that saved the beauty.”
There was another burst of laughter in the classroom.
Li Chengxiu hurriedly lowered his head and returned to his seat, feeling that he was sweating profusely.
The girl next to him exclaimed, “I really envy you for getting so close to him.”
Li Chengxiu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
In the afternoon after school, it suddenly started to rain.
Most of Li Chengxiu’s classmates took a taxi back. Some guys who came in their own cars diligently took the initiative to take their female classmates home.
Li Chengxiu usually walked home. It was only half an hour to forty minutes’ walk to where he lived, so he could save 4 RMB a day and have some exercise at the same time.
Now that it was raining, he had no choice but to stay on the first floor and wait for the rain to stop. But even when all his classmates were gone, the rain still didn’t show any signs of being over soon. Li Chengxiu looked at the time and realized that Shao Qun was about to come by the apartment, and he needed to go back to cook. He gritted his teeth – he had to run to the nearest bus stop in the rain.
Not long after he ran out of the building, a car horn sounded behind him, signaling non-stop.
Li Chengxiu turned around to see a black sedan driving slowly behind him.
He didn’t understand what he did wrong. He thought he might have been blocking the driveway, but when he looked back he realized it wasn’t the case.
Li Chengxiu turned around and continued running, when the car window rolled down:
“Mr. Li.”
Li Chengxiu looked back again, and saw Li Shuo sitting in the car, smiling and waving at him: “Get in.”
Li Chengxiu looked at him blankly.
“Get in quickly. It’s inconvenient to run in the rain. I’ll send you off.”
Li Chengxiu pointed to his clothes: “Wet…wet.”
Li Shuo smiled and said, “It doesn’t matter. I have to wash my car after the rain anyway. Come on, get in.”
Li Chengxiu couldn’t resist Li Shuo’s goodwill and friendliness, so opened the car door and got into the seat.
Li Shuo rolled the car window up, took out a tissue and handed it to Li Chengxiu: “Here, wipe yourself.”
“Thank you.” Li Chengxiu took the tissue and wiped his face dry.
As he was driving, Li Shuo said: “What a coincidence. I chatted with the school teacher for a while and I happened to see you when I came out.”
Li Chengxiu bowed slightly to him: “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, it’s no problem. Oh, by the way, where do you live?”
Li Chengxiu gave him his address.
Li Shuo smiled and said, “That’s a good place.”
Li Chengxiu said with some embarrassment, “It’s a friend’s… house.”
Li Shuo smiled without saying a word. Li Chengxiu also sat upright, staring straight ahead.
“Where are you currently employed, Mr.Li?”
“I don’t have a job right now.”
“Oh, then you have more time to study, which is good too.”
Li Chengxiu said “Um”.
The two fell silent again.
Li Shuo felt a little embarrassed. He had rarely met such a withdrawn person. Even though usually money and power helped him deal with any kinds of situations, he really wasn’t good at communicating with very aloof strangers.
But even if communication was out of the question, this Mr. Li looked just like his type of guy. In such gloomy and dark weather, just having a pleasant person to accompany him for a drive was a nice treat after a tiring day.
By the time Li Shuo took him home, the rain was almost over. Li Chengxiu stood in front of the car window and repeatedly thanked him.
Li Shuo said that he was welcome. The two shook hands and said goodbye. Before leaving, Li Shuo left his business card.
Li Chengxiu now had even more respect for Li Shuo in his heart. This man was not only capable at what he did, but he was also kind and enthusiastic. Li Shuo was such a role model, and it was an honor to be helped by him.
When Li Chengxiu returned home in a very good mood, he found that Shao Qun had already returned to the apartment long ago. He was sitting on the sofa with his arms folded over his chest, his face as gloomy as the weather outside.
Illustration of Li Shuo (from 188 Group weibo account, also see the watermark)
At the first glance he seems to be your typical 2nd ML but he is much deeper than that. And I’m saying it as someone who dislikes him for a lot of reasons that were articulated in “Additional Inheritance” where he plays a big part and in “Winner takes All” where he is the main character.
