Chapter 9
Ms. Liang did not expect that this female student's sense of English was so good.
Moreover, she did not miss a single word and made no mistakes at all.
It was as if she was reading an article.
Even better than reading, her emotion was more abundant. Ms. Liang also had a college degree, her English was decent, she passed the level 4 test, but her English was dumb English, she could not do what this female student did, able to memorize it quickly in a short time, and even her spoken language was so good, it was amazing. She believed that even if teachers were invited, they may not necessarily have the same feeling as this girl.
"You are very good," Ms. Liang praised.
"Your English is so strong, how come your high school entrance exam score was so bad, was it a mistake?" The same female student could not help but interrupt again, because she felt she definitely had no hope, so she relaxed instead.
Su Xiaoqi shook her head, and did not answer.
She let the others continue with the interview.
Next up was Lin Min. Lin Min's performance was also good, he basically translated the article, but he could not recite it word for word like Su Xiaoqi. His sense of language was also not as good as Su Xiaoqi’s.
The other two students were even more stuttering, but they could get the general meaning across, so their performances were still considered decent.
But with Su Xiaoqi ahead, naturally there was no comparison.
"You can come tomorrow afternoon. My daughter went to her grandmother's house today. She should be happy to meet you when she comes back tomorrow," Ms. Liang said as she stood up and shook Su Xiaoqi’s hand.
Su Xiaoqi was somewhat flattered. She stiffly stretched out her hand which was sweaty.
The few of them went downstairs. Lu Jiaojiao, the female classmate of Lin Min, introduced herself again: "My name is Lu Jiaojiao. Su Xiaoqi you are so amazing!"
The male classmate also looked at her admiringly: "My name is Wang Ding, you can call me Nail. Let’s hang out sometime if we have the chance. The students from your high school are so awesome!"
Su Xiaoqi felt somewhat ashamed. She had actually been stuttering before as well, at best just a little better than Lu Jiaojiao.
But amidst the shame, it also increased her determination to study hard.
No matter whether there were buffs or not, at least what she learned would be her own.
She thought when she went back, she would go to the bookstore and read more books. That was definitely the right thing to do. She understood too little, and got nervous when encountering people and events. The other two still had other tutoring jobs, so they left first.
Lin Min stayed behind.
"Brother Lin Min, thank you. Ms. Liang should have chosen you this morning."
Having just introduced herself as his younger sister, Su Xiaoqi simply called him brother openly. It did not feel so difficult after calling him that.
With just the two of them now, Lin Min was somewhat embarrassed instead, especially upon hearing her address him as brother.
They had been neighbors for so long, yet they had barely addressed each other.
"No need to thank me, you earned it yourself through your own efforts. I could see Ms. Liang had very high requirements. She probably wouldn't have been satisfied with my capabilities either. She must have interviewed many batches of applicants without finding a satisfactory one, otherwise she wouldn't have offered such a high pay. I have something to do in the afternoon too, so I'll get going first."
Lin Min only felt that the girl in front of him seemed different from before, or rather, had always been a little different, but he never got to know her. Now that he truly interacted with her, he found that she was even better than he had imagined.
She was no longer the girl with a towel wrapped around her head, wiping her damp hair, looking cute and aloof. She had become much more.
Her tearful look, her serious and hardworking attitude.
"I'll get going first, see you around." After saying that, Lin Min hurriedly left.
Leaving Su Xiaoqi alone.
Watching the neighbor's boy run away like the wind, she felt a bit amused and touched.
She was very happy at this moment.
She had found a tutoring job. Next, she wanted to get herself a lighter pair of glasses. Her current ones were too big. There were imprints on her nose everyday, and her vision seemed to have worsened again in her third year of high school. But she had always felt too embarrassed to ask her parents to get her a new pair.
Although she still had over 1,000 yuan in her pocket, a considerable sum for her, Su Xiaoqi still did not have the feeling of spending money freely. After all, living frugally had been ingrained in her since young. Her parents even had to sell blood to support the family.
So she found an optical shop and got a student package - frame and lenses for 188 yuan.
Silver, metal edges, oval shaped, much lighter than her previous big black frame. Wearing the new prescription glasses, her vision brightened. Her previous lenses had been scratched and the prescription was no longer strong enough.
After getting her new glasses, she had originally wanted to go to the library, but figured there wouldn't be enough time to get a card in the afternoon. So she went straight to Xinhua Bookstore instead.
The bookstore was not too far, within walking distance.
Now her reflex was to walk whenever possible. Who would take transport if they could walk!
While walking, she was still reminiscing the article she had recited earlier.
It was really well written. She felt she should learn from every point made in it. Due to poverty, there was a huge conflict between her living environment and family background. She tended to be more extreme and selfish.
Not a very likeable personality, rather gloomy. But her youth diluted this gloominess.
If she continued growing up this way, she would definitely suffer losses when entering society.
The huge watershed of the college entrance exam, the crossroad in life, made Su Xiaoqi mature a lot all at once.
Like with her aunt, most of the time she had taken her kindness for granted, seldom reciprocating, feeling that her company was the best reciprocation. But that was not actually the case.
Su Xiaoqi thought she should treat her aunt and parents better.
Unconsciously, she had arrived at the pedestrian crossing opposite the bookstore, about to cross the road, when she saw an old lady walking down the stairs from a planter box next to her. With a thud, the old lady fell right in front of her not far away.
The old lady sat tremblingly on the ground.
In an instant, the people around all took a few steps back.
Lost in thought, Su Xiaoqi did not react in time, so she was the closest.
Ever since the news report of someone helping an old lady up only to get scammed afterwards, there had been extensive discussion about whether to help old ladies up. The same discussions happened in their school.
And now, right in front of her eyes, an old lady had fallen down with a thud. Should she help or not?
Normally Su Xiaoqi would have turned away, or retreated into the spectating crowd, because her family was truly poor, her parents even had to sell blood to get by. They couldn't afford to get scammed.
But she had money now.
That was not the real reason though. She saw the old lady's foot seemed to be limping even before falling.
She hoped that if her dad fell, someone would be willing to help him up, so she still walked up and helped the old lady up, picking up her cane and handing it to her.
Some in the crowd had already taken out their phones to record.
The old lady who was helped up did not make a big fuss. She thanked normally: "Thank you young lady. I'm fine, just slipped and fell. I can walk after getting up."
The old lady slowly walked away leaning on her cane. The vehicles on the road all gave way to her.
Su Xiaoqi heaved a sigh of relief. She smiled at the people around and continued walking towards the bookstore.
No big incident, no applause, no scam. Just doing a small good deed, she felt relieved. This was good.
"Host helped up an old person who fell down, increasing positive energy in society for the first time. System level unlocked, system upgraded to Level 2 Positive Energy System. Host will gain 0.2 yuan for every step, capped at 20,000 steps daily."
A mechanical voice sounded in her ear.
With a thud, Su Xiaoqi fell at the entrance of the bookstore. Then she saw the interface in front of her eyes increase by 0.2 yuan.