Minodayz : PZG, PZG…you are just an expert at digging a hole and jumping in it… I just love how he just sticks his foot into his mouth and the other 3 just help me stuff it in too! LOL – RS gets tag for a task….find out what!!!
Chapter 21.2 : Black and White
Translated by Minodayz
Edited by Librismuse, Miss Bookie & maripaz
The spell from the beauty of the first snowfall was now broken.
Morning self-study (revision).
Since the monthly exams had just finished, most of the students were slacking off. The sound of people actually doing morning revising was spa.r.s.e, and it was mingled with a variety of idle chatter.
Peng Zige was bored to death memorising English vocabulary, and he desperately wanted to find someone to chat with. However, he very quickly struck Rong Si off his list (of people to chat with). After all, the "Great G.o.d" would always have his own things to do.
Even if it had nothing to do with the cla.s.s work.
He turned and leaned across to look at the book Rong Si was reading, only to see a bunch of incomprehensible characters.
"What"s all this gibberish?" he grumbled as he stole a glance around the cla.s.sroom. Noting the absence of the teacher, he then sprawled across his table and used his fingers to prod Li Erqin. In a soft voice he called out, "Erqin."
(Minodayz: not sure if you"re like me and have noticed that the group is slowly calling her Erqin more often rather than her full name – kinda sweet really!)
Li Erqin looked back.
Her arm was resting on her worksheet and revealed that it was once again Physics.
Is this how she"s making her mark on Physics?
"What"s the matter?"
Peng Zige took his time replying, and Li Erqin looked at him quizzically.
He curiously asked, "Why did you say that I have to suffer humiliation in silence to learn a lesson?" (note previous idiom reference : 忍辱负重 Idiom : to endure humiliation as part of an important mission or to suffer in silence)
"Just a pa.s.sing remark."
"… … "
He then went on to poke Su Zi. "Su Zi, Su Zi."
Su Zi looked back suspiciously.
"If my results are better than yours this round, why don"t you begin calling me "big brother?" (TN: the phonetic sound for older brother is "ge")
Su Zi rolled her eyes and couldn"t even be bothered with a reply.
"Su Zi, Su Zi." He continued to jab her : "If you call me Ge, you won"t lose out."
"Zige." Rong Si suddenly spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"Your name already has a song "ge" in it.
(TN: It"s a play on the phonetic word Peng Zi "Ge" and Brother "Ge". PZG"s "Ge" means song.)
"SO?" Peng Zige didn"t understand.
Li Erqin helped explain in her monotonous voice (平淡无波: bland voice that doesn"t even cause waves) without inflection, "Zi ge… GE!"
(she uses 子歌歌 = Zi Ge song – instead of Zi Ge brother = 子歌哥 – the play of the two similar sounding word.)
Peng Zige"s whole body shivered in comprehension.
After a moment of silence, he jabbed yet again at Su Zi. "Su Zi, Su Zi."
Su Zi turned back.
"Forget it," he said.
It was yet another uneventful morning.
The various teachers took turns coming in to review and explain answers from the last monthly exams, and there was a splattering of saliva across the blackboard as they used a range of methods (a gaggle of hands and legs – using every part of their body) to communicate.
The freezing cold seemed to have mounted an attack, and the cla.s.sroom"s heater was cranked up especially high. Those sitting in the back rows were getting drowsy while those in the front rows were under the pressure of being in proximity to the teacher and had to fight to stay awake. The long antic.i.p.ated afternoon of self revision was dampened by the arrival of the form (homeroom) teacher and his stack of papers.
Sweeping his eyes around the cla.s.s, his face was grave as he lamented, "In this round of monthly exams, most of your results have dipped significantly! What do you have to say about that, especially when you haven"t put your heart into your revision? How in the world could you hope to achieve better results? In less than a month, it will be the mock exams (final exam for the first semester), but you all don"t even seem to have any sense of urgency. When I came to cla.s.s at noon, there wasn"t a single one of you here, again!"
This time though, Peng Zige wasn"t so dumb as to attempt to answer the teacher.
However, the form teacher turned his attention towards their direction and, noting Peng Zige"s subservient lowered head, he felt satisfied and carried on, "During this upcoming month, all of you need to put in extra effort so that you can take your good grades home for the Lunar New Year, and you might even be able to receive (fight for) two red packets."
Someone let out a laugh.
The form teacher paused slightly before breaking out into a tiny smile. "However, for this afternoon, you can first put your pens down. It"s going to be the school"s annual Lunar New Year Festival soon, and every cla.s.s has to perform. Let"s discuss what our cla.s.s will do at the festival."
Upon hearing this news, everyone very naturally began to stir to life. Even those who had earlier planned to ignore the form teacher and carry on with their revision found themselves putting down their pens.
"How about this," said the form teacher as he took the blackboard duster and began to clean the board, "those with any special skills can volunteer themselves."
Silence.
The form teacher lifted the chalk and waited for a while. Then he turned back, puzzled, and noted that all eyes were on him. He laughed, "n.o.body?"
Finally, a courageous person yelled out, "Peng Zige can definitely show off (i.e. be the cla.s.s clown), does that count as a special skill?"
The whole cla.s.s erupted in laughter.
In the midst of the laughter, an indignant Peng Zige countered, "Wanna see the end of my fist?"
The form teacher once again looked in his direction, and there arose in his heart an inexplicable sense of pride.
This was THE group of excellent students – a golden triangle (trio) of the highest caliber.
"Teacher!" Another small voice piped up: "Student Rong Si can play the piano."
It was said so swiftly that no one knew who had spoken up. However, the form teacher"s attention instinctively transferred to Rong Si and eyed him lovingly. "You can play the piano?"
Rong Si quietly hugged his arm around the back of the chair, his bangs obscuring his eyes.
No answer was forthcoming.
Along with the others, Li Erqin waited for his reply, and with a sense of misgiving, she turned back.
It can"t be that he is unhappy, right?
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