Outtake One The Beauty Rankings
On the night of the farewell basketball match for the graduates, Xiao Nai stayed over on campus.
Because of their win over the Engineering Faculty, Yu Gong was very cheerful. After celebrating outside, he still wasn’t satisfied so he dragged over two people from another quad, got a table of mah-jong and a table of cards going. They put out a little beer and snacks. Everybody played and chatted.
Chatting and chatting, they couldn’t help but take up the pink incident that shocked everybody this night. Xiao- genius has rocketed into stardom right before graduation, getting paired up with campus beauty Bei Wei Wei.
Laoqi said: “I know that laosan is always efficient but not this efficient. So sneaky and fast to pin down the second most beautiful in the school. I admire him, really admire.”
Hou Zi Jiu: “Actually, if laosan had gotten the first place Meng Yi Ran, I wouldn’t be so shocked. Laosanseems to know Meng Yi Ran?”
Laoda usually didn’t gossip but started talking after the beer: “I remember there was conflict over who was going to be first. In the end, sandimei lost?”
Mo Zha Ta said: “Supposedly, it was because sansao wasn’t as innocent as that Meng person.”
In the midst of the ruckus, the male in question, Xiao Nai, spoke: “What ranking?”
Everybody: “… …”
Yu Gong, who was playing cards, yelled: “You actually don’t know that our school has a beauty ranking?”
Xiao Nai said: “I didn’t know.”
Yu Gong was excited. He threw down his cards and opened his laptop. He openedthe university forum and found the post before handing it over to Xiao Nai: “Look! Our university beauty ranking, it even has photos.”
The people in the dorms excitedly waited for Xiao Nai to speak but Xiao Nai only looked once. He kept on dealing tiles with one hand while his other hand started typing.
Was he going to also leave a message online?
Everybody was even more excited.
After typing for a while, Xiao Nai gave the laptop back to Yu Gong. Hou Zi Jiu yelled: “Read what laosansaid.”
Yu Gong answered: “Ok, ok, ok.”
But when he refreshed, the webpage stated ––Cannot find the webpage. Yu Gong disbelievingly refreshed again and again. He found that he couldn’t open the post again at all. But if he clicked on the other posts in the forum, there were no problems.
Yu Gong raged: “What did you do?”
“Why would you keep such a ranking with major problems in its data? “Xiao Nai’s tone was faint. He then pushed down the tiles in front of him, “Thirteen end, mah-jong.”
Outtake Three
[1]婆婆: mother-in-law, mother of the husband.
[2] 肖宝贝: 肖(xiao) – a homonym is 小 meaning little. 宝贝 – baby. So it’s little baby. “j
Professor Lin was happy to the point of exhaustion today. Why? Her daughter-in-law was pregnant. Professor Lin was so happy. She had been an early-twenties mother and she had thought that was early. She didn’t think that, at the age of forty-seven this year, she would be a grandma soon.
Professor Lin didn’t focus on her work today. She kept on finding more people to tell. Each person she would speak to for at least ten minutes. As a result, before lunch, the entire history faculty knew that the Xiao Family was going to have a new genius. By the time they were done for the day, all the professors of UA knew this shocking news.
Right after work, Professor Lin took along an old dictionary and headed straight for the nearby home of her son.
She was welcomed by her daughter-in-law. She sat down on the sofa, her daughter-in-law opposite her. Professor Lin looked on with even more affection than usual. Ah, she had liked her when she had seen her first that year. Now, she looks even better, even more lovable. The girls now, especially the beautiful ones, really paid attention to their bodies. None of them would be willing to have a baby this soon, not like her.
Professor Lin examined every aspect of Wei Wei before speaking: “I’m here today, to discuss my grandson’s name.”
Wei Wei had seen the dictionary her popo[1] had come in with so she wasn’t shocked.
“But on the way here, I already thought of the name.”
Professor Lin smiled and said: “How about Xiao Bao Bei.”
Wei Wei froze in shock.
What was making the coarse elegant, what was disguising genius by dullness, this was. Professor Lin was too satisfied. She thought that she had created the perfect name. Afraid that her son and his wife wouldn’t understand the benefits of this name, Professor Lin hurriedly explained.
“Wei Wei, look. Your surname is in this name. Everybody would know that you gave birth to him from looking at the name.”
Wei Wei: “… …”
“Son, look. Putting Wei Wei’s surname in the grandson’s name, everybody can see you love your wife.”
Xiao Nai: “… …”
Professor Lin thought that the more she explained, the more she liked the name. The meaning was a good one, it was also easy to speak. It was perfect for her long-awaited grandson. But the name helped determine a person’s life, so they had to be careful.
“I’ll just call a friend of mine who’s an expert in names and ask more.”
Professor Lin was clearly over-excited today. She instantly dialled the phone beside the sofa and started conversing with the person on the other side without end.
On the opposite sofa, Wei Wei’s soul had left her body. Xiao Nai went closer and said quietly beside her ear: “Can I go and play games instead?”
He wanted to leave her along to deal with her popo! Wei Wei glared at him: “A person has to be responsible for their actions, you dare leave?”
Xiao Nai’s handsome eyebrow raised, a flicker of mirth flashing behind his eyes. He deliberately slowed his words: “You’re sure that it was only me alone that did the deed?”
… …
Can you be more shameless? Wei Wei used her eyes to express her distain.
Yes, he could.
Da Shen used his speech to show the heights he could reach: “Furen don’t be angry, I will definitely … …”
A light pause, a smile, “take responsibility.”
On the other side, Professor Lin had finished communicating with the expert. She put down the phone and happily said: “The expert said this name was very good. I think we can finalize it. It’s suitable for both genders.”
God, no. She doesn’t want to be blamed for a lifetime by her child. Wei Wei was trying to think of a suitable excuse when Xiao Nai preceded her and said: “No way,”
“Why not?” Rejected by her son, Professor Lin was very angry.
“It’s a repeat of another name.”
Wei Wei suspiciously looked at him. Really? This name was so shocking and jiong, there’s others with this name.
Professor Lin apparently thought the same. Xiao Nai, under the disbelieving eyes of his wife and mother, said steadily: “I know a person with this name. Yesterday, I had called her that many times.”
Wei Wei was sure that Da Shen was messing around. Yesterday was Sunday and it had been raining. The two of them had secluded themselves in their home. Where would they know somebody called “Xiao Bao Bei”, and called a few times … …
Wait!
Xiao Bao Bei, Xiao Bao Bei [2]… … Little Bao Bei … …baby… …
No way!
A few scenes from last night and a lot of the nights before that flashed through Wei Wei’s mind. She looked at a certain person. A certain person faintly smiled at her.
Wei Wei’s face turned ––
Red.
Green.
Purple.
……
… …
In the end, a certain Da Shen’s foot was very fiercely stomped on.
“Really a repeat name? That’s not good. My grandson’s name has to be unique.” Not paying attention to the changing colors of her daughter-in-law’s face, Professor Lin started flipping through the dictionary again. She asked in distress, “What should the name be?”
The night was darkening. It was almost the busy time. The mom was still here but the dad was at home hungry. Therefore Xiao Nai simply concluded: “Doesn’t he have hands? When he is born, he can flip for himself.”
… …
… …
A certain mother: Why did I give birth to this kind of son?
A certain wife: Why did I marry this kind of a husband?
A certain … …”shocked” embryo: Why did I have to have this kind of father? I want to reincarnate.