Chapter 210

That night, Xiao Qi still went to the elective Japanese class and signed up for the course.

She arrived early at Classroom 6 in Yong’an Building.

The classroom next door was still very lively, with the teacher adjusting the computer and playing the famous opera "Sha Family Beach" on the big screen projector while students gradually filtered in in large numbers.

In contrast, Classroom 6 remained cold and empty, and Xiao Qi was actually the earliest to arrive.

Since she planned to record audio today, she sat at the front-most desk in the middle of the classroom.

Before class, she even went for a run around the building, probably because the incident of Chu Yu falling ill had frightened her dormmates, who joined Xiao Qi for the run.

Xiao Qi knew running required persistence to keep up, but since her roommates wanted to run, she ran a few laps with them.

Taking the roommates on a run was actually more tiring for her than running alone.

They didn’t take it seriously, especially Honey, who kept chatting while jogging, panting for air until Xiao Qi almost lost her breath from the effort of talking while running. Her face was still flushed red now.

It was rare to see her looking slightly more lively than usual.

Recalling the System’s last evaluation, that Mr. Yamamoto was a teacher in hopeless despair...it had given Xiao Qi nightmares for a whole night. She wondered what she could do.

But even for such a desperate person, just because one irrelevant student studied diligently, he gained positive energy and hope. Xiao Qi felt that he wasn’t actually in hopeless despair, but had probably endured terrible experiences, so even a small piece of good news made him feel particularly hopeful.

Having regained the language sense buff these last two days, Xiao Qi increased her English and Japanese study time, focusing especially on reading for at least an extra hour every day.

With the language sense buff, learning Japanese flowed more smoothly.

Mr. Yamamoto entered right on the chime of the bell, dressed as meticulously as ever: Xiao Qi noticed he was wearing the same wrinkled pants with white crease lines especially visible over the knees.

His shirt was different from last time, a slightly oversized white button-down that didn’t seem to fit well. It didn’t look new either; Mr. Yamamoto just seemed too thin, as if he had previously worn more fitted sizes.

Upon entering, Mr. Yamamoto greeting the students dutifully in Japanese with utmost formality, not bothering about how many were present. That was the etiquette he had to observe. This time Xiao Qi also stood up to return his greeting before sitting down, speaking very authentic conversational Japanese.

She had been repeatedly practicing the past two days.

Mr. Yamamoto was taken aback for a moment before resuming class without any extra expression.

He taught at an unhurried pace, still on hiragana and katakana.

This speed suited beginners well; it wouldn’t be difficult with some preview study.

Although Mr. Yamamoto spoke in Japanese, he covered textbook content.

This lesson, Xiao Qi was the only new student. The others were unlucky juniors and seniors in their third and fourth years, there to retake the elementary course after failing it previously. But since it was introductory material, they were all reading other books, though there was no chit-chatting.

Mr. Yamamoto didn’t care if they read other stuff, as long as they didn’t disrupt class order. Otherwise, the old man would erupt in anger, kicking troublemakers straight out of the classroom: everyone had witnessed it happen before.

With even fewer students this lesson, some newcomers interested in learning Japanese had also enrolled, but after experiencing Mr. Yamamoto’s class they felt it was better value to pay for private lessons themselves. The cram schools all advertised easy credit through tests, but Mr. Yamamoto’s class made passing seem uncertain; one might even fail an elective. Not worth it.

So essentially it became like a private one-on-one class between student Xiao Qi and the Japanese visiting teacher.

Aside from Mr. Yamamoto's gaunt, stern face, Xiao Qi felt he taught exceptionally well: even better and more comprehensive than her previous Japanese makeup lessons with Teacher Zhou. He was extremely rigorous, explaining every aspect in detail without suddenly jumping around to unrelated topics like Teacher Zhou did. Instead Mr. Yamamoto took true earnestness to another level, explaining each hiragana and katakana individually as if a Japanese dictionary.

At the same time, it reinforced many vocabulary words Xiao Qi had memorized, as Mr. Yamamoto's lectures deeply imprinted them.

With this one-to-one teaching dynamic, the two nighttime hours passed swiftly for Xiao Qi.

Before she realized, class was already over.

Not adept at casual conversation, and the teacher appearing stern, Xiao Qi bid Mr. Yamamoto goodbye upon dismissal before leaving as usual.

Mr. Yamamoto remained alone seated at the lectern, slowly packing up as if determined to oversee everything until the last student's exit, taking responsibility to switch off all the lights as well.

Returning from class to her dorm, Xiao Qi unexpectedly heard the System's familiar mechanical voice sound again in her ears: "Host studies diligently and maintains a positive attitude, bringing a ray of hope and positivity to the heart of a teacher in hopeless despair. Reward: Memory buff, 30 days."

Xiao Qi: ...

If not for the change in reward content, she would've thought the System was broken, repeating the previous evaluation verbatim about her diligent studies, positive attitude, still labeling Mr. Yamamoto a hopeless despairing soul...but this time it was a memory buff.

In Xiao Qi’s opinion, the memory buff was the most amazing boon. While endowed with it she could skim content just once for near-perfect memorization. And this time it was for thirty days!

With the memory buff, learning efficiency improved exponentially. However there were also some side effects: taxing mental exertion. Memory-buff powered study sessions couldn’t last too long without leaving an emptied feeling in her head, sometimes even headaches.

As Xiao Qi understood it, this remained her own innate ability. The memory buff was merely unlocking the full potential of her brain's memory instead of mutating it. So ultimately her regular learning capacity was still only that much; the memory buff just shortened the time taken.

Thus even with the memory buff she couldn’t, for example, study ceaselessly at full blast all day long. That kind of overdrive brought no benefits either. It enhanced only short-term retention, while total learning efficiency was still constant. Yet the sheer ability to stimulate memory itself was already formidable.

Xiao Qi felt her recall had improved tremendously even compared to high school days: back then she couldn't be said to slack in studies, putting in daily effort, but always lagged in efficiency with fleeting attention.

Such gradual enhancements arose from continuous, unrelenting practice.

Additionally, Xiao Qi found that the most outwardly grim or unapproachable individuals often nursed the gentlest hearts inside, take Brother Lin Min for instance, or Mr. Yamamoto. She hadn't actually done much for Mr. Yamamoto, not expending any effort on his behalf even. She merely studied diligently for her own sake. Yet somehow that alone managed to move Mr. Yamamoto, make him feel touched and hopeful. So much that the System granted rich rewards in response.

Such reactions resonated deeply with Xiao Qi.

She felt as if she'd grasped at something, some realization, yet it remained intangible.

Missing Brother Lin Min all of a sudden, she messaged him on WeChat, asking how he was recently.

At that time Lin Min had a roadside bookstall set up under some streetlamps. It was just after classes ended when student traffic peaked, so he didn’t have time to read then, wholly focused on engaging passersby.

Two girls sorted through and picked three books for 20 yuan total.

He took out his phone for them to scan payment, but one girl piped up, “Let me add you on WeChat instead. I’ll hit you up directly next time I want books, and just transfer you the money.”

Under the lamplight the schoolgirl smiled sweetly at Lin Min, the hems of her pink knee-length skirt fluttering slightly in the breeze.

He shook his head. “I'm always stationed here. Just tell me next time what books you need, and I'll keep an eye out for them.”

Lin Min stuck to scanning their payment code, not adding the student's WeChat.

The two girls walked off looking quite disappointed.

Just then Lin Min noticed the new message on his phone.

His pinned WeChat conversation with Xiao Qi popped up: Brother Lin Min, how have you been recently? I heard you started a small bookstall business. Must be tiring for you? I also found a part-time job on campus with my roommate at the horse club. It's pretty nice.

Lin Min’s heart rate quickened slightly, as if seeing Xiao Qi standing right before him.

He glanced around: everything else was same old.

He replied to the message: Pretty good, not tired, take good care of yourself, saw that you got the first place in the top ten singers, haven't congratulated you yet, next time when you have time come over to our school to hang out, I'll treat you.

Xiao Qi replied: OK, my roommates all want to go sightseeing at Qingmeng University, next time when I go I'll call you to be our tour guide.

After Xiao Qi put away her phone, the mechanical sound next to her ear immediately rang out: "The host took the initiative to care about the life of the blackening teenager, bringing positive energy to the moderately blackening youth, slowing down the speed of his blackening, rewarding the host with longer fingers +1."

Xiao Qi: ......