Exactly the Same Resu1t (2)

According to regulations, congratulatory words like “Congratulations Jiang Xiaoman for placing first on XX City highschool entrance examination” were not allowed. Since those words were not allowed, saying something such as “Congratulations Jiang Xiaoman for winning the-thing-that-shall-not-be-named” was not allowed either…

But there would always be loophole to any rule. Although the rankings could not be publicized, the school’s smart brains still found a way to do it.

The school did everything possible to put up the poster: “Congratulations to Jiang Xiaoman for getting exactly the same resu1t⁴“.

On the day she returned to school, Jiang Xiaoman looked at the poster on the wall, completely stunned.

She felt that she all the Language lessons she had learnt were in vain, and her reading comprehension instantly reverted to a kindergartener’s level, because she actually couldn’t understand the meaning of the words on the poster.

Jiang Xiaoman looked up for a long time.

Yu Qingshi stood behind her, staring at the swirls on her head, and asked softly, “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about this ‘exactly the same resu1t’, what exactly is ‘resu1t’?” Jiang Xiaoman touched her chin, thinking very seriously, “Is this a mysterious industry benchmark that we don’t know about? Does ‘exactly the same resu1t’ have another meaning? Exactly the same result as who, as what?”

“…” Yu Qingshi paused and asked her, “What place were you in the city during the try-outs?”

“First place.” When she blurted that out, Jiang Xiaoman suddenly reacted and was stunned.

…exactly same resu1t turned out to be the exact same result as the one she got in the try-out.

Oh, the one who came up with that was really too clever.

Jiang Xiaoman was not convinced. She curled her mouth and muttered in a low voice, “How could you tell?”

Yu Qingshi glanced at her and pointed to the line under her name: “Congratulations to Yu Qingshi for achieving exactly the same re2ult1.”

Jiang Xiaoman: “…”

Jiang Xiaoman reflected on it for a while. She felt that she was wrong, so she patted his shoulder to comfort him, “I’m sorry, you really don’t have a sense of existence.”

Yu Qingshi: “…”

She only looked at the part with her name, and felt guilty to Yu Qingshi.

When she left school, it was around three or four in the afternoon.

Jiang Xiaoman was a little tired from the scorching sun. She sat at the milk tea shop and refused to leave. Yu Qingshi knew that she was afraid of the heat, and proactively said, “I, I will give you a ride back.”

“Huh?” Jiang Xiaoman wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it, she had never sat in Yu Qingshi’s back seat after all these years. She thought about it and wanted to agree, but suddenly her eyes rolled and she shook her head. “No, I’ll give you a ride. I’m afraid you won’t be able to handle it.”

Yu Qingshi glared at her and ignored the rascal.

This time it was Yu Qingshi’s turn to throw a tantrum.

He unlocked the bicycle, and just as he got on it, a weight suddenly appeared on the back seat. It was Jiang Xiaoman who sat behind him.

A smile appeared on the corners of Yu Qingshi’s lips, but his voice was still cold and indifferent, “Weren’t you afraid that I couldn’t handle it?”

“Young people have to endure more hardships and exercise more.” Jiang Xiaoman patted him on the shoulder, “Let’s go.”

The tires ran across the ground lightly, not fast and very stable. Jiang Xiaoman retracted the hand that had originally wanted to hold his waist, and supported her body on the back seat with one hand.

She was wearing a light blue dress and a pair of white canvas shoes. Sitting on the back seat, listening to the sound of the bicycle’s bell, even the scorching wind felt that it had become quite peaceful.

The two went all the way through the hustle and bustle of the city and went home.

When they reached the villa area, the surroundings were quiet.

Yu Qingshi, who was silent all the way, suddenly said, “What are your plans for summer vacation?”

“I do not know.”

“Do you want to go play?”

“Where should we go?”

Yu Qingshi paused slightly, and quickly said, “How about the beach, I haven’t taken you there yet.”

The salty sea water, the cool sea breeze and the golden beaches.

A handsome man, a beautiful woman, two young adolescents…

“Okay, okay!” Jiang Xiaoman nodded in a hurry, as if she was afraid she would regret it, “When is it? Only the two of us?”

“…If you want to bring someone else, you can.” His voice sounded a bit unhappy.

Jiang Xiaoman thought about it seriously.

Grandma definitely wouldn’t go. She said that she couldn’t stand moving around too much at her age, and it would take a long time for her to go to the beach. Uncle was too busy to go.

As for her friends, it seemed that they already announced their summer vacation plans, and she had already liked³ each and every one of them yesterday.

It seemed that only the two of them were going.

Jiang Xiaoman nodded, “Okay, just us then.”

Yu Qingshi smiled, pedaling harder, going as fast as the wind.

Aaaahhh!!!

He was going to the beach with Jiang Xiaoman!

Vacation!

Travel!!

This was barely a date, right?

If he rounded it up, it could even be considered a honeymoon!!!

The big boy was so excited that he couldn’t sleep all night, and woke up with dark circles under his eyes the next day.

But this still didn’t dampen Yu Qingshi’s enthusiasm. He began to prepare the things that he would use very meticulously.

Jiang Xiaoman was forgetful, she would definitely forget a lot of things.

When the time came, he would make up for anything she forgot. If he didn’t pack for her, she would definitely end up without anything.

Yu Qingshi made preparations for about a week, and was full of expectations for this trip, even his usually cold face had a little bit more smile.

It was just that, in the end he still didn’t get to go.

Footnote:

3. Like as in liking a post in social media

4. The word they choose to describe exactly the same here contains the word for “one”. A literal translation would be something along made from one mold, of one same type. But for Yu Qingshi’s portion they just swapped the word for “one” with the word for “two”. It was hard to translate the pun into English while keeping the punchline so I went with resu1t and re2ult. It will appear in the title of this chapter and throughout the chapter.