When he got home and turned on his phone, William Carter realized that today was Youth Day. He then noticed a notification from Alipay: at eight o'clock this morning, Emily's Desk Mate had stolen his energy. Coincidentally, he immediately received a QQ message from Emily's Desk Mate.

　　Emily D.: Help me!

　　William Carter was taken aback and typed back: What's wrong?

　　Emily D.: Which translation app is good? And help me with some math problems.

　　William Carter: What's going on with you?

　　Emily D.: That old pervert just gave me ten essay topics—not only do I have to write them, I have to memorize them! He even gave me three sets of test papers. You won't believe it, but two of them are math papers!

　　Emily D.: [picture]

　　Emily D.: [picture]

　　Emily D.: voice message 12''

　　William Carter: Oh, just don't do them then.

　　In his impression, Emily was always fearless—like, "Go ahead and beat me if you dare!"

　　Emily D.: The problem is, he told my mom to supervise me.

　　William Carter: Is your mom that tough?

　　Emily D.: Not really, but she'll cut my food, won't let my dad cook me good stuff, and will change the computer password so I can't get online.

　　William Carter: Got it. Well, I usually use Google and Youdao Translate, use both and then check if anything needs to be changed. Send it to me when you're done and I'll take a look.

　　Emily D.: No need for thanks, I'll bring you a guokui the day after tomorrow!

　　William Carter: Okay.

Chapter 9: Badminton

　　May 5th, Sunday, the lunar April had arrived.

　　William Carter had a day off.

　　But he still got up early, studying the test paper images that Emily's Desk Mate had sent him last night.

　　He skipped the English paper—his English grades were terrible anyway, only the essay section could reliably get him some points, and for the rest, he had to rely on luck for even half the answers.

　　His math, on the other hand, was quite good.

　　They said there were two sets of math papers, but actually it was just two A3 sheets. All the questions were handwritten, the black fountain pen strokes looking messy yet forceful—not the handwriting of the English teacher, nor that of William Carter's math teacher.

　　For senior high school students, these unofficial test papers were nothing new—they were teachers' private collections, packed with distilled experience.

　　No multiple choice, all long-answer questions.

　　And very difficult.

　　Doing them would be a real brain workout.

　　But the payoff was high.

　　So William Carter copied the questions from the images into his homework notebook, and without dawdling, buried himself in solving them.

　　He started with a few that looked easier to warm up his brain, and just as he finished, Aunt Harris called him for breakfast. Aunt Harris felt a bit sorry for how hard William Carter was working, telling him he could relax a little. William Carter just nodded and brushed it off.

　　He came back and kept working.

　　By this time, Emily's Desk Mate was up too. After stealing another round of energy, she sent William Carter a message—

　　Emily D.: I can't even do the first question, what should I do?

　　William Carter glanced at the first question.

　　William Carter: voice message 53''

　　William Carter: voice message 36''

　　Explaining it to someone after solving it himself helped reinforce his memory—perfect!

　　He kept at it until noon. Just as Emily's Desk Mate was complaining to him that the lamb soup was ruined, someone knocked on William Carter's door.

　　"Time to eat." It was Helen Reed's voice.

　　"Okay."

　　William Carter put down his phone and went to eat.

　　Stir-fried cabbage with pork, braised pig's trotters with soybeans, Kung Pao chicken, and a clay pot of chicken soup. On the side were two spicy rabbit heads bought from outside, which Aunt Harris had specially gotten for him.

　　Aunt Harris came out of the kitchen carrying the last dish, stir-fried fern root.

　　"Eat! What are you waiting for me for?"

　　So the two brothers dug in.

　　Helen Reed picked up a piece of fern root, put it in his mouth, scooped up some rice, and chewed slowly. Suddenly, he turned to look at William Carter, eyes narrowing slightly: "How about we go play badminton after lunch?"

　　He meant badminton.

　　Before William Carter could answer, Aunt Harris chimed in, "Sure, William Carter, you've been working too hard lately, you should balance work and rest. Just don't exercise too hard right after eating, it's not good for your health. Sit for a while at home before you go!"

　　William Carter thought for a moment, then nodded, "Okay."

　　Helen Reed picked out a peanut from the Kung Pao chicken: "Gym or No. 3 Primary School?"

　　"No. 3 Primary."

　　"Okay."

　　Helen Reed nodded, and seeing William Carter eating quickly, he sped up as well.

　　After the meal, William Carter put on disposable gloves and started gnawing on the rabbit heads. Aunt Harris and Helen Reed both stared at him without blinking, their eyes a mix of curiosity and surprise.

　　When he finished the rabbit heads, William Carter and Helen Reed agreed to leave at 1:30 in the afternoon, and William Carter went back to his room.

　　He focused on the problems for another half hour, took a nap, and was woken up by his phone alarm. While turning off the alarm, William Carter saw a string of QQ messages.

　　Emily D.: voice message 12''

　　Emily D.: [picture]

　　Emily D.: voice message 9''

　　Emily D.: voice message 3''

　　Emily D.: [emoji]

　　Emily D.: voice message 11''

　　……

　　So many voice messages.

　　William Carter had absolutely no desire to open them. He changed into a pair of loose harem pants, then switched to a sports T-shirt, and slipped on his slippers before leaving the room.

　　Helen Reed was already sitting on the sofa, racket in hand, waiting.

　　He was wearing a plain white cotton T-shirt, no pattern, and a pair of shorts—very fresh and clean.

　　"Ready to go?" Helen Reed stood up.