Reborn with My Genius Husband

Chapter 208: Your Qualifications Do Not Meet Our Requirements

Students milled about on the tree-lined path, heading to and from class.

Standing in the crowd, Mortimer Quincy looked at Holly Winslow’s crestfallen expression. He patted her head. "Didn’t understand?"

Holly Winslow shook her head, her face fallen. "I didn’t get any of it. It’s too hard, and the professor talks so fast. I felt like I was on a rocket ship... no, like I was moving at the speed of light." She made a quick gesture with her hands as she spoke.

’So damn cute.’

Mortimer Quincy couldn’t stop chuckling, drawing the eyes of passersby.

"Is it funny, Quincy the Puppy?!" Holly Winslow felt like Mortimer Quincy was mocking her and shot him a "fierce" glare.

Seeing his wife about to get her hackles up, Mortimer Quincy reined in his laughter. He leaned in and said in a voice only they could hear, "Bribe your hubby with something nice, and he’ll help you with the problems."

"If you don’t help me, I’ll just go ask the guys in our class. We have plenty of geniuses, you know." Holly Winslow refused to be threatened, lifting her chin defiantly.

Mortimer Quincy’s eyes narrowed. "If you dare," he said menacingly, "I dare to get you pregnant."

He even added one more word: "Twins."

Holly Winslow: "..."

’So shameless.’

The two of them had no classes in the afternoon, so they returned to Lyrion Community.

Time to go over the problems.

The study hall was good for reading, not for tutoring.

He turned on the heat, and once it warmed up, Mortimer Quincy took off his jacket, revealing a black hoodie underneath.

He opened Holly Winslow’s textbook and, after looking through it with her notes for a few minutes, said, "This problem is asking for the monotonicity of the function in the specified domain..."

Holly Winslow, who had just flopped onto the sofa: "..."

’Sometimes she didn’t get it. When this guy was serious, he was really serious. When he wasn’t, he was a total rogue.’

’Most people were one or the other, but he was both.’

’And strangely enough, it gave him a certain masculine charm.’

She sat up and habitually snuggled into his arms. Mortimer Quincy shifted to the side to let her get comfortable, then leaned back against the sofa himself.

They began going over the problems in this position, only stopping three or four hours later.

Mortimer Quincy’s mouth was dry. He reached for the cup in front of him and took a few sips. He saw the girl looking up at him with pleading eyes, her meaning clear: ’Leave a sip for me.’

He leaned down and gave her a kiss. "You should drink warm water." With that, he got up to get her some.

After finishing her water, Holly Winslow glanced at her watch. It was already past five. Mortimer Quincy had a class at seven. "Should we go back to campus to eat? Or I can make some noodles now?"

"We’ll eat when I get back. I’ll go buy groceries and cook after class." Mortimer Quincy had a little plan in mind.

Hearing that they would be staying here again tonight, Holly Winslow understood what he was thinking. She shook her head. "I have to go back to campus later. I have a debate tournament tomorrow."

That rascal Mortimer Quincy deliberately changed the subject. "Want some sweet and sour pork ribs?"

Holly Winslow: "..."

To win over her stomach, that rascal Mortimer Quincy had once taken expensive cooking classes—the kind that cost a thousand yuan an hour—just to learn her favorite dishes.

Ever since, he’d always used it to tempt her into agreeing to certain things.

She did want the sweet and sour pork ribs, but they were freshmen, and the resident advisor came to check the dorms once a week. You’d get points deducted if you weren’t there. The last check had been on Wednesday.

"I can’t. I really have to go back. The RA is probably coming to check tonight."

Hearing her uncertainty, Mortimer Quincy couldn’t help but grin. "They won’t. The RA isn’t checking until tomorrow."

Holly Winslow propped up her head and eyed him sideways. "Did you plant a tracking device on the RA?"

Mortimer Quincy raised an eyebrow nonchalantly. "I planted one on you last night."

Holly Winslow instantly understood his veiled innuendo. "..."

’Damn you, Mortimer Quincy.’

’He’s so dirty, the only white thing left on him is his teeth.’

The two went to the supermarket to buy groceries. They didn’t buy much, since they wouldn’t be coming back for the next couple of days.

As they were about to pay, Holly Winslow saw Mortimer Quincy reach for a box on the counter. She didn’t get a good look at it, just noticed the colorful, pretty packaging and assumed it was some kind of breath-freshening candy.

She leaned in to see what flavor it was, but the cashier had already scanned the barcode and put it in the bag.

She tilted her head to look at him. "What flavor is it? I like watermelon."

Mortimer Quincy gave her a look full of profound meaning.

The middle-aged cashier was already unfazed by young couples buying condoms. As she rang them up, she said, "They have watermelon flavor. It’s on the bottom shelf."

Holly Winslow glanced down, and her eyes suddenly widened.

Durex.

"..."

’She suddenly felt the urge to curse.’

Seeing that she had discovered the "truth," Mortimer Quincy, standing beside her, couldn’t hold back a grin. "If you like it, we’ll buy it," he teased.

He reached out, grabbed a box, and placed it on the counter to pay.

Holly Winslow: "..."

Then, Mortimer Quincy also grabbed a pack of watermelon-flavored candies.

Once they were out of the supermarket, a mortified Holly Winslow jumped up and threw her arms around Mortimer Quincy’s neck. "Quincy the Puppy," she seethed, "how thick is your skin?!"

Mortimer Quincy chuckled, smoothly hoisting her onto his back. "Why don’t you give it a squeeze and find out, honey?" he said roguishly.

"It’s too thick! I can’t even pinch it."

Holly Winslow gave him a pinch and then huffed. Mortimer Quincy turned his head to give her a kiss. "You can take your time pinching it at home."

Zeke Zane and Pantheon, who were walking toward them from the opposite direction: "..."

’Damn it.’

’My eyes!’

’We’re already so far from campus.’

’And we still run into these two.’

’It must be fate. A fate filled with dog food.’

’There’s no escape.’

Pantheon clapped Zeke Zane on the shoulder. "Bro, I can’t walk anymore."

"I’m too stuffed."

Zeke Zane was "stuffed," too. ’We’re both in relationships, so why does my life feel like I’m single?’

Seeing the two of them standing there dumbfounded, Mortimer Quincy didn’t put Holly Winslow down. He shot them a cool, almost disdainful glance, then walked right past.

Pantheon and Zeke Zane: "..."

’Now their wattage wasn’t high enough to even be noticed.’

’No, wait, their lights had gone out completely.’

Holly Winslow glanced back at Pantheon and Zeke Zane, who were still standing in the same spot. She kept her arms around Mortimer Quincy’s neck and said, "Honey, maybe we should ask them to eat with us..."

’...and I’ll call Anna and my second cousin,’ she had been about to add.

Mortimer Quincy didn’t like other people setting foot in the home he shared with Holly Winslow—he really didn’t like it. He cut her off. "They’re already full."

Holly Winslow: "..."

Mortimer Quincy went to class, while Holly Winslow stayed home to wash the vegetables. When she saw the two boxes of... *those things* in the bag, she casually tucked them into a kitchen cabinet.

She had no idea that her unintentional act had just made things very convenient for that rascal Mortimer Quincy.

...

The English competition finals were the next day. The results were watered down; Holly Winslow scored high but didn’t win, because someone had already pulled strings to have the winner predetermined.

Holly Winslow won second prize, which came with a budget-friendly tablet.

If something like this had happened to her when she was a naive seventeen or eighteen-year-old who didn’t know how the world worked, she might have been furious and felt it was unfair.

But she wasn’t that person anymore.

’The fundamental nature of society is that there is no true fairness.’

During her university internship search, she had meticulously done her homework, researching what the companies did, but she still lost out to an undergraduate who was clueless about everything they asked.

One of the HR representatives told her, "Your educational background is lacking. You don’t meet our requirements."

At the time, she’d wondered why ability was so tied to academic qualifications. ’Does being bad at studying mean you’re bad at everything else, too?’

She even asked them that.

The HR representative replied earnestly, "You’re all fresh graduates with no experience. The only thing we have to go on is your academic record."

"And yes, while a degree doesn’t equate to ability, it does show us a person’s capacity for learning. To put it bluntly, I don’t believe someone who couldn’t even handle their studies can have a better learning ability than someone who excelled."

"A job is also something you have to learn."

Back then, Holly Winslow had been indignant, feeling they were prejudiced against people who weren’t good students. Only later did she come to understand the meaning behind their words.

Mortimer Quincy’s expression had been dark ever since he heard the results. Holly Winslow looped her arm through his and said with a bright smile, "Honey, it’s okay. It’s not like I’m going to work in a company in the future anyway."

Mortimer Quincy pursed his lips, then patted her head reassuringly. "Don’t be discouraged, honey."

"I’m not discouraged."

Holly Winslow was already in a much better place now. She wouldn’t be discouraged. She would definitely pick herself up and try again.

’Keep fighting.’