Chapter 36 - Punishment (1/2)

Chapter 36: Punishment

They returned from the school store. In addition to stocking up their snacks, they also got a carton of peach flavoured yogurt each.

Peeling off the foil lid, Qin Xu started off with licking off the yogurt remnants before using the spoon to scoop out the yogurt.

But the moment he heard Wu Tong’s name Qin Xu felt so complicated inside that he didn’t manage to control his strength well and ended up breaking the plastic spoon.

Qin Xu: “…….” Now great. How can I have the rest of the yogurt?

Huang Shao naturally didn’t suspect that this action of his had anything to do with him and only laughed at his misfortune.

Jiang Yang pretty much just ignored what had happened and continued to eat his own yogurt. He didn’t spare him a single glance and he didn’t have any hint of sympathy in his eyes.

Qin Xu: “Lend me your spoon.”

Jiang Yang rejected this idea without any hesitation: “No.”

Qin Xu deliberately sighed and acted disappointed: “Xiao Yang Yang you shouldn’t be like this. We can be considered brothers for a day and should feel gratitude for a hundred days.”

Hearing him say this so naturally, Huang Shao was momentarily confused: “……….Xu brother, I don’t think the original phrase went like that.”

Qin Xu casually shrugged it off. He indifferently picked up the half broken spoon to eat the rest of his yogurt as he said: “Xiao Yang Yang, you must be a yogurt addict. I see you have it everyday and there are lots in your fridge too.”

Jiang Yang glared at him: “You have a problem with that?”

Qin Xu bit onto his spoon and shook his head innocently, “No. I just thought that your preferences are pretty good. Very girly.”

Jiang Yang paused for a moment and, because his hands were full, without thinking he threw a kick instead. Qin Xu had already anticipated this and very quickly dodged his attack. These moves of the two were so agile and fast that it almost looked like they were filming a fight between masters in a martial arts film. These two, they can’t even keep still when they’re having yogurt.

Huang (bystander) Shao watched the two and only reacted a second too late: “Eh? Xu brother, when did you go to Jiang Yang’s place?”

Unfortunately, the two were still busy arguing and didn’t have the time to spare him any attention. Even if they heard his question, they would definitely pretend that they hadn’t heard it.

After their short break ended, they checked their class schedule and noticed that it was time for music class. The students in class 5, one by one, headed to the music classrooms on the next floor.

When they arrived at the classroom, the students sat in the same seats as they have in their original classroom. The desks were a little different to those in their normal classrooms and there was a piano placed at the corner of the podium.

When class had not yet formally started, a mechanical sound appeared in Qin Xu’s mind: “Random task: Please teach Jiang Yang the songs taught in today’s lesson. Time limit is until 18 o’clock today. There will be a punishment if you fail.”

Qin Xu heard this and suddenly laughed: “You want me to teach that tone deaf guy? It’ll be faster if you tell me to go die.”

That’s right, Jiang Yang is very wonderfully tone deaf. When he sings, every note would be out of tune. It really isn’t an easy feat to be able to do that. It was almost like selecting the wrong answer for every single question in an exam. Even if you threw the answer sheet and stepped on it, you wouldn’t get zero.

Qin Xu blurted out these words, but he didn’t say it internally. Jiang Yang who sat closest to him naturally heard his words and he quickly guessed that it was probably a task assigned by the system. He naturally knew that the task this time is a little more difficult but hearing the other guy making fun of him, he felt very unpleasant. Inside he wondered if his singing is really as bad as he had made it out to be. He then turned towards Qin Xu and revealed a ‘friendly’ smile: “What did you just say?”

Qin Xu instantly shook his head, “I didn’t say anything!”

Singing had always been Jiang Yang’s weakness, so he would generally choose to —— lip sync. Amongst all his classmates, he could easily blend in and avoid being discovered. That is, of course, unless they happened to have a strict and serious music teacher.

However, they just happened to have such a teacher for this semester. She is in her twenties and despite her appearance not being very outstanding, perhaps it is because of her occupation, her voice is gentle and sweet. However, a gentle appearance doesn’t always translate to an amiable teacher. She hates it when students don’t treat music classes seriously and very sincerely hopes that the students would learn to appreciate music more.

And so, for a student like Jiang Yang she would definitely ensure that he is taught properly.

The music teacher played the piano as accompaniment and occasionally patiently gave out pointers on where to improve. Naturally, this is on the premise that the students did not step on her bottom line. They sang for a while and, with a deep frown, her gaze fell to Jiang Yang’s direction: “The boy next to the window on the third row, your lip shape is not right. Don’t be lazy. Stand here alone and sing a few lines.

Jiang Yang who was caught felt his heart go cold: “……….”

The melodious sound of the piano started playing and Jiang Yang opened his mouth but he didn’t produce any sounds. Only until the teacher sent him a glare did he reluctantly sing out. As expected, not a single note was right.

The music teacher was dissatisfied: “This classmate. Please take this more seriously. You’re not singing properly.”

Jiang Yang who just sang his heart out very seriously wanted to die.

On the side, Qin Xu laughed like crazy to the point that it looked like he was about to collapse. Finally, under the pressuring glare from his desk partner, he raised his hand to help explain: “Teacher, it isn’t because he’s not taking it seriously. He’s tone deaf.”

The music teacher is surprised, and the other students started laughing. Jiang Yang…..wanted to beat his desk partner to death. It might’ve been better if you didn’t try to help!

The music teacher immediately settled the students down and said seriously: “It’s probably not tone deaf. He probably just didn’t get a good grasp of the melody and tempo. Once you find the correct method, then you’re good to go. You should be more confident in yourself. The key point is to not give up on yourself.”

In just a few sentences, the words spoken by the teacher was filled with fighting spirit. She was even more passionate than Jiang Yang himself.

Jiang Yang felt complicated inside. Thank you teacher for your kind intentions but I really can’t accept it.

The music teacher has always been very passionate about teaching students how to sing but couldn’t only focus her attention on one student. She could only call Jiang Yang up at the end of the class and tell him: “If you sing seriously, you can slowly improve.” She then gave him a few more pointers and allowed him to leave.

At this moment, the other students had also left the classroom and started making their way back to their classroom. Qin Xu had not left and stayed behind. Seeing that the music teacher still wanted to teach Jiang Yang he said: “Teacher, I have a suggestion. Why don’t I teach him?”

The music teacher stopped and then said:  “Sing this passage here.”

Qin Xu nodded and simply sang it out. Even without piano accompaniment, the youth’s low timbre voice was smooth and sounded very pleasing to the ear. Although there were still some minor problems here and there, for a science student it can be considered as a pretty good achievement.

The teacher couldn’t help but smile and nod while praising: “You sing very well.”

Jiang Yang was also a little stunned. Qin Xu didn’t usually sing and when they sang as a whole class his voice would often be drowned out by the others. Now that he heard him sing alone, he was surprised and momentarily felt a little moved inside.

The teacher asked him what he thought of that proposal, but Jiang Yang didn’t hear her question. It was only when he saw Qin Xu’s sly expression did he come back to his senses and nod his head in response.

The music teacher thought, “You have class for the rest of the day so only this afternoon after class….ah but I’ll need to go pick up by child……..”

The teacher was troubled.

Qin Xu took the initiative to speak up: “Teacher, can we borrow the key to the music classroom so that I can teach him?”

The music teacher thought for a moment. It seems like a feasible idea? And nowadays, it is rare finding students who are willing to take music classes so seriously and the teacher hoped that she could help them out. As so, after a moment of hesitation the teacher agreed: “This is the key to the music room. You can give it back to me tomorrow at the office. I’ll find a classmate who can play piano to play the accompaniment.”

Qin Xu and Jiang Yang quickly waved their hands, “No need for the trouble teacher. “

If others were involved, then it would be inconvenient for them to complete the task. Not to mention Jiang Yang is also very reluctant to let others know that he is tone deaf.

However, the music teacher continued to insist on it and they could only reluctantly accept.

After school, Jiang Yang and Qin Xu headed towards the music classrooms. On their way, they happened to run into Wu Tong and their junior brother He Shuo at the stairs.

Jiang Yang and Qin Xu froze and immediately recalled the shocking event that happened on the weekend. They then calmly nodded their head in greeting and proceeded forward but it turns out they were heading in the same direction. When their eyes met, they initially thought that it must’ve just been a coincidence but after going in the same direction for a few turns, Jiang Yang had a bad premonition: “Are you going to the music classroom?”

Wu Tong raised his eyebrows: “Were you also called by the music teacher?”

Very good. They could now confirm that they are extremely unlucky.

Qin Xu and Jiang Yang’s expressions were no longer calm, and they could only nod helplessly.

And so, the four people headed to the music classroom awkwardly.

At first, Jiang Yang thought that Wu Tong was asked by the teacher to help out, but he unexpectedly saw the tall and strong He Shuo sit down in front of the piano and skilfully play out a tune.

Both Jiang Yang and Qin Xu were surprised. They looked at the strong and tough man who happened to have a soft and gentle heart and then moved their line of sight to Wu Tong who leaned against the piano and gazed and him with loving eyes.

Jiang Yang and Qin Xu: “………..”

They couldn’t help but feel their backs go cold as their gazes met ——- That guy, he probably doesn’t know that Wu Tong is actually male right?

Wu Tong didn’t spare them any attention. When He Shuo finished playing a piece he immediately praised him: “You play so well.”

He Shuo looked away in embarrassment. He rubbed his hair and smiled purely but didn’t dare to look directly at the person he likes.

Jiang Yang and Qin Xu: Silently lighting a candle for the junior brother. He has completely fallen into the hands of this scary guy.

During the practice session, the four people were practically split into two groups. Disregarding the others in the room, Wu Tong unrelentingly scattered dog food and forced it into Jiang Yang and Qin Xu’s mouth. One was forced to learn how to sing in tune while the other was almost driven crazy by his stupid classmate who just didn’t seem to improve.

There was only a half an hour time frame between the end of school and the deadline for the task at six in the evening. Qin Xu originally thought that it was achievable through effort alone but when he actually had to do it, he realised that he was too naïve. If not for not seeing Jiang Yang secretly laughing, he would have suspected that Jiang Yang was deliberately playing with him. He was so off pitch that it almost reached the end of the universe!

Wu Tong watched the two bicker and couldn’t help but laugh. Despite arguing back and forth, they didn’t give up and leave. It really was a wonderful display of affection.

If those two heard his thoughts, they would definitely refute it: “If not for that rubbish system, why should I torture myself like this?!”

When Jiang Yang was once again called stupid by Qin Xu, he lost his patience. The two angrily threw their books onto the desk as if they were about to start a fight.

He Shuo who was not familiar with them didn’t realise that this was their usual manner of interaction spoke up and tried to placate them: “Senior brother, don’t rush. Take your time and sing slowly.”

Hearing his junior brothers’ words, Jiang Yang suppressed the irritation inside him and did his best to settle his emotions down. He turned towards him and smiled, “Thank you. Sorry for troubling you today with the accompaniment.”

He Shuo shook his head and responded politely: “It’s okay. It’s a good chance to practice piano.”

A second earlier he was quarrelling with Qin Xu with a wretched expression but a second later he had changed his expression completely and even smiled at someone else! Qin Xu pursed his lips in dissatisfaction. He worked so hard trying to teach him and, in addition to never giving him a good attitude, he’s even treating him so differently to the others!