Reborn with My Genius Husband-Chapter 136: How Could a Cousin Kiss Her Cousin?
Mortimer Quincy heard this but showed no unusual reaction. While toweling his hair dry, he asked, "Got a problem with that?"
’So blatant about their puppy love!’
Pantheon was sick of their PDA. He turned and got into his bunk, sighing dramatically, "Alas, what a cruel and arduous world..."
The others were confused, wondering why he’d suddenly started spouting classical poetry.
You could almost smell it—the sour stench of jealousy.
"Mortimer, you’re just too rich! Spending five hundred yuan to boost a poll? Jealousy is making me ugly," Paul Powell wailed, his face a mask of cosmic injustice.
Chase Hawkins saw his opening and twisted the knife. "You don’t need jealousy to be ugly."
"Get first in our year, and you can do it too."
Mortimer Quincy replied coolly, then decided not to waste any more time on them. He got into his bunk to call his girlfriend, but she didn’t pick up after a long while. ’She must be in the shower,’ he figured.
Paul Powell was only just recovering from the blow of Mortimer’s words.
’Back in middle school, I was always first in my class.’
"Mortimer, does anything in your life ever not go your way?"
"In some aspects, my life is more satisfying than yours," Mortimer said, looking down to text his girl.
Zeke Zane laughed wickedly. Seeing that they still hadn’t caught on, he "kindly" explained, "Mortimer means his love life is more satisfying than yours."
Paul Powell: "..."
’Fuck.’
A few minutes later, Holly Winslow called back, and the two began another one of their half-hour-long phone calls.
For most of that time, they each just worked on their own homework.
If the top students were doing their homework... ahem, what excuse did the rest of them have to slack off? Pantheon and the others pulled out their assignments to work on.
Boris Owens was the only other person in the dorm besides Mortimer Quincy who had a phone. He was about to start a game, but then he saw everyone else doing their homework. "..."
He suddenly had a feeling that if he didn’t study now, his scores on the next midterms would plummet.
"Holy shit! It’s like everyone’s possessed."
A few seconds later, he too pulled out his homework and got to work.
When Gabe Chaucer came by to check the dorms, he was astonished to see them all doing homework. This had never happened before.
Even though these students had good grades, they were still teenagers, so it was only natural for them to want to mess around a little.
He stood at the door for a moment, not wanting to disturb them, and took a photo with his phone.
Dorm Room 206: "..."
After leaving the dorm room, Gabe Chaucer chuckled as he told the other teachers, "My students are really applying themselves today. Look, they’re all doing homework. It actually gave me a bit of a shock."
The other teachers glanced at the photo, and a wave of bitterness washed over them as they thought about the students in their own classes.
’The good students are always in someone else’s class.’
...
After the morning self-study session, Holly Winslow’s stomach hurt. She needed to use the restroom, so she had Mortimer Quincy take their meal containers and go get food first.
Breakfast wasn’t like lunch or dinner; if you went even a little late, all the better-tasting buns would be gone. This was especially true for the congee—if you were last in line, you might end up with nothing but broth.
When Holly Winslow came out of the restroom, she happened to make eye contact with two boys. The one in the black t-shirt was staring at her in a very strange way.
She glanced down at her clothes, but nothing seemed out of place. She rubbed her nose. "Can I help you?"
The two boys shook their heads.
’Weird.’
Holly Winslow rubbed her nose again and walked away.
Once she was a safe distance away, the two boys behind her started talking. The one in the black t-shirt had a shocked expression. "Holy shit, wasn’t that Mortimer Quincy’s cousin from yesterday? Her hair looks exactly like hers." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
The boy in the striped t-shirt—the same one who had first seen Mortimer Quincy kissing someone yesterday—gave him a strange look. "What the hell are you talking about? There’s no way a guy would be making out with his own cousin."
"No sane person would do that."
The first boy who had spoken: "..."
’He’s right, that’s probably impossible.’
’Was I mistaken?’
"But she really looked like her."
"Lots of people have similar hair. Hey, some people even say I look like Mortimer Quincy," the boy in the striped shirt said smugly.
The boy in the black t-shirt immediately scoffed, giving him a disgusted look. "Fuck, are those people blind? Mortimer Quincy has a cold, shitty personality, but you can’t deny he’s seriously handsome."
"You, on the other hand, just qualify as ’generically ugly.’"
"Get lost," the boy in the striped shirt said, kicking him indignantly.
And so, with their conversation, the truth drifted further and further off course.
...
「Dining Hall」
Mortimer Quincy stood at the entrance, his gaze fixed on the academic building. Before long, he saw a girl running toward him, her ponytail swinging, radiating youthful energy.
Just then, the girl spotted him too and waved.
He let out a low chuckle and raised a hand in response.
Holly Winslow was sweating from her run. She reached into his pocket to look for a tissue. Inside, she found a hair tie and some candy. She switched to his other pocket, felt around for a moment, and whispered, "You even carry pads around?"
"Yeah. It’s almost time," Mortimer Quincy nodded.
Holly Winslow felt a small surge of warmth. "Did you get the food? What are we having, red bean buns or youtiao?"
As soon as he heard that, Mortimer Quincy knew his girl wanted both. "I’ll go buy them," he said dotingly. "Go sit down and start eating."
Zeke Zane and the others were already halfway through their meal. After sitting down, Holly Winslow took a sip of congee and then began watching the line to see where Mortimer Quincy was.
Suddenly, Pantheon leaned in and said mysteriously, "Cousin, I’ve got a secret to tell you. It’s about your boyfriend."
Holly Winslow: "..."
’Why does it sound like he’s about to tell me Mortimer’s cheating on me?’
"What is it?"
Seeing her this close, Pantheon once again marveled internally at how good Holly Winslow’s skin was. It was fair and clear, and even the one or two pimples on her forehead didn’t detract from her good looks.
’Guess having a few pimples has nothing to do with whether you’re beautiful or not.’
"Mortimer Quincy spent five hundred yuan to boost your ranking in the Campus Beauty poll."
’The Campus Beauty poll?’
Holly Winslow remembered Mortimer Quincy saying he was boosting a ranking during last night’s study hall, but she had never heard of a Campus Beauty poll. "What’s that?"
"It’s a poll to decide who’s the best-looking girl, and Cousin, you’re number one," Pantheon explained. He added, "A lot of guys voted to boost your rank."
Holly Winslow: "..."
Her focus was stuck on the first part of what he said. ’He spent five hundred yuan just to decide who’s the best-looking?’
’That guy Mortimer has way too much money to burn. I’m confiscating all of it later.’
Mortimer Quincy had no idea that Pantheon had just ratted him out. As he walked over with the youtiao and red bean buns, he heard Holly Winslow huff twice.
He sat down. "What’s wrong?"
Holly Winslow gave him a fake smile. "Do I look like I’m worth five hundred yuan?" she asked, tilting her head.
Mortimer Quincy: "..."
He immediately lifted his gaze to look at Pantheon.
Pantheon rubbed his nose and timidly averted his eyes.
In front of others, Holly Winslow decided to give her man some face. She didn’t say anything else and continued eating her breakfast.
After they finished washing their bowls, Mortimer Quincy and Holly Winslow went off on their own, parting ways with Pantheon and the others.
Holly Winslow switched into lecture mode. "I’m not trying to nag you, but you’re always wasting money! You could do so much with five hundred yuan."
Mortimer Quincy: "..."
His years of "marital" experience told him that the best first move was to stay silent.
After she’d been talking for several minutes without a response from him, Holly Winslow said unhappily, "So now you’ve decided to go quiet? Why didn’t you think about it when you were spending the money? You could have done so much with five hundred yuan."
"If you don’t say something, we’re going to have a cold war."
Mortimer Quincy: "..."
He considered this for a moment before saying, tentatively, "I was wrong."
