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Chapter Seventy-Six: In the Translation Class, Sumu’s Trouble
After staring at Sumu for two seconds, the teacher’s first reaction was not to reprimand her, but to ask who she was.
Probably only Sumu could receive such treatment.
No matter the situation, she always seemed to dissolve perfectly into the crowd, leaving no impression.
Habitually ignored, habitually forgotten, although Sumu had quite a striking appearance among the boys, most people did not care about her gender; they simply regarded her as a relatively cute girl.
In physical education class, she was always assigned to the girls’ side, but when she sneaked away, no one paid attention.
In a sense, her poor physical fitness was partly to blame: fear of gym class due to poor fitness → running away in the middle of class → no chance to exercise.
No one cared about such matters anyway, so it didn’t matter.
But thinking of Luo Jialan, who always urged her to work on her fitness, Sumu added to herself in her heart.
At least it used to be that way.
“I’m Sumu. I was just called by Teacher Liang to help.”
Without changing her expression, Sumu continued to side-eye Mr. Tree, as he could not possibly jump out to prove she was lying.
That’s right, college students can casually come up with all sorts of extravagant excuses for being late or skipping class.
“Oh, okay, then sit down. Remember to let me know in advance next time.”
After recalling it in her mind, the teacher vaguely remembered that there was indeed someone named Sumu, and he half-heartedly told her to sit back down.
Sumu tiptoed through the gaps between desks, avoiding knocking over the books of those on either side. Even after many years, this habit was still etched deep in her consciousness.
No one raised their heads to look at her again, which relieved her but also made her feel inexplicably melancholic.
If Ye Wanjing were here, she might have sneakily taken a photo of her backside while she walked past or quietly stuck a heart-shaped tissue seal on her back.
But how could that possibly happen?
Sumu self-deprecatingly thought as she silently sat down in that familiar empty seat.
The lively reading voice began to sound scattered again, and Sumu nodded along, mumbling a few lines.
“Late-night play with fire, sinking into the kang…”
Could it be that I really have to sit here for forty-five minutes, listening to her finish this class?
“You silly, little Sumu, since you can remember this class so clearly, it must mean there are some important memory points in it.”
Exploring the second layer of dreams is not simply about entering new areas, but about illuminating as many memory points as possible, just like when Sumu touched those objects in Ning Xi’s dream.
“That makes sense.”
Listening to Irina’s words, Sumu nodded as if she gained some insight and continued reading.
At this point, the class representative was about to finish distributing the answer sheets from the last exam, and thankfully, if not for Sumu’s earlier incident, she probably wouldn’t have found the owner of that paper.
“Okay, today we will go over the monthly exam paper, everyone take out your papers.”
Suddenly, it clicked.
Sumu looked at the increasingly blurry Chinese test paper and directly flipped it over to the classical Chinese translation question.
“A person has a love for their dog, the dog sometimes sinks into the well…”
This is it.
This translation’s answer seemed a bit ridiculous.
The segment read earlier obviously did not correspond to the explanation of this paper, but due to the dream, they were intertwined.
The link was the same character “sink.”
Yes, although it means drowning, in this context, it signifies something light and floating.
Most students found it hard to connect, not only because the question was tricky, but also because fitting such a word into classical translation was somewhat odd.
Yet Sumu was among the few who made the correct answer because of that line, “Late-night play with fire, sinking into the kang.”
Logically, this should be a cause for celebration, but when Sumu recalled it, there was no trace of a smile on her face.
Those who truly want to win never wear smiles.
In fact, for Sumu, this was an unpleasant farce.
“Students, although the scores haven’t been finalized, I have completed the answers, let’s take a look together, okay?”
Just for a moment, the teacher’s words began to fade, only to clearly hear her next sentence:
“Okay, now let’s look at the translation question, the first question, everyone sees this sentence, right? It feels quite strange. Has anyone translated what this ‘sink’ means?”
Aside from Sumu, the others naturally had doubts about the answer, after all, “sink” in the context of drowning didn’t make sense.
Knowing the answer, Sumu felt conflicted, took a deep breath, and raised her hand.
Just like she had done before, but this time she raised it straighter and more decisively.
“Student Sumu, very good, do you know how this character should be translated?”
“It means floating and light.”
As soon as she said it, all the eyes on her instantly curved up in amusement, including the teacher.
Indeed, the teacher, who had written the question with her head down, couldn’t come up with the correct answer either, but the issue was that, as a Chinese teacher for many years, she naturally had complete confidence in her answer. So when she heard this reasonable yet absurd answer, she couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Hahaha, how could that be? The meaning of this character should be…”
Laughter erupted around, drowning Sumu like a tidal wave, filling her with an inexplicable chill and a desire to bury her head in the desk.
It was supposed to be a rare opportunity to find some confidence…
I should be right.
“Sinking Degree: 20%”
How the teacher explained afterward, Sumu could barely recall; in summary, it was a forced interpretation.
What she remembered most clearly was standing at the back of the classroom, being stared at and laughed at by everyone.
But even knowing the outcome would be like this, Sumu wouldn’t choose to back down because she was indeed right.
It’s just that she had never had the courage to question or resist.
So should I confront her directly and tell her she is wrong?
“Anything goes, you’ve successfully illuminated this memory point; how you choose is up to you.”
Irina unusually offered no suggestions.
“Because my choice is the same as yours, even without asking me, you should know what to do.”
With you saying this, doesn’t it give me confidence?
I used to be the timid Sumu, but now I am the genius girl Irina!
Dare to laugh at me? Do you believe I can make you fly?
Suddenly, Sumu slammed the desk, sending her pencil case flying, startling everyone around her nearly jumping up.
“You, you, and you, laughing so heartily, you go ahead and laugh! Tell me what you filled in!”
