Chapter 19: Could You Just… Get a Face Change?

They left school around the same time, so they basically arrived home simultaneously.

However, since Su Tian unilaterally didn’t want to walk with him, they weren’t exactly going home together – rather, one in front and one behind, maintaining a distance between them.

It’s a peculiar feeling, knowing someone is following behind you.

Su Tian was the one walking in front.

When she got home at noon, her mother was still angry with her, not saying a word when she saw her, coldly finishing lunch before returning to the bedroom. Her father hadn’t come back, probably busy with company matters.

Su Tian quietly returned to her room and checked the detailed score sheet that the class monitor had forwarded to the class group chat, which included rankings for the entire school.

She, who had never fallen out of the top hundred in her grade, now ranked 375th.

Su Tian looked at it for a while, then checked the names in the top hundred – mostly familiar names.

The top student was still Zhao Yingxue from Class 2 next door. Chinese: 120, Math: 110, English: 120.

She thought of Jiang Chiyu’s three test papers and figured that by the next monthly exam, there would be a new person in first place.

If Jiang Chiyu could rank first in the grade, she would be satisfied just staying in the top hundred.

After doing some practice problems, with half an hour left before school, Su Tian worried she’d be more tired in the afternoon without a nap, so she quickly lay down for a brief rest.

When leaving, she unconsciously glanced at Jiang Chiyu’s house.

Only yellow maple leaves were falling, landing quietly in front of the yard.

She withdrew her gaze.

By the time Su Tian arrived at class, Jiang Chiyu was already there. She sat down and after a moment of hesitation, said, “It’s not like it’s impossible.”

Jiang Chiyu, who had been writing something, stopped his pen upon hearing this and glanced at her.

Su Tian continued: “But you should at least let me audit first.” She calculated, “Even cram schools offer free trial classes.”

Jiang Chiyu finally understood she was continuing their conversation from lunch break.

He raised an eyebrow and gave an “Oh.”

Su Tian thought he had agreed and took out the chemistry test paper she hadn’t finished correcting in the morning, but then heard him say leisurely, “I don’t want to teach anymore.”

Su Tian’s movements froze, and she turned her head to glare at him fiercely, “You’re playing with me again!”

She was truly angry!

Jiang Chiyu continued unhurriedly: “That last sentence was playing with you.”

He even admitted it so righteously?!

Su Tian wanted to retort, but suddenly realized what he meant.

The last sentence, which one? “I don’t want to teach anymore”?

That means he wants to teach again.

Jiang Chiyu: “The morning conversation was also just a joke.”

Su Tian was getting dizzy from his roundabout way of speaking, “Speak plainly!”

Jiang Chiyu turned his head, his brown eyes sparkling with subtle light, corners of his mouth slightly upturned.

Again with that drawling, teasing tone—

“How could a big brother charge his little sister for tutoring?”

Su Tian’s heart skipped several beats.

“Isn’t this,” he took the chemistry test paper from Su Tian’s desk, turning directly to the back where only two big questions remained uncorrected, “what I should do?”

The change came too suddenly. Su Tian slowly released a long-held breath, feeling her ears getting hot.

She calmed her racing heart, gripping her clothes’ hem, trying not to let the demon-like weirdo beside her notice anything amiss. “Jiang Chiyu.”

“Hmm?”

“Could you,” Su Tian spoke tactfully yet seriously, “could you not talk like that?”

This statement somehow hit Jiang Chiyu’s funny bone, and he started laughing silently, half-lying on the desk, “Like what?”

“Like a playboy.”

“…”

“I originally thought Old Gao put the transfer student next to me because the transfer student was a foreigner who wasn’t good at Chinese.”

“…”

“But the transfer student is you, so I thought maybe you weren’t good at Chinese.”

“…”

“Now, I realize you just purely have a problem with your tongue.”

Su Tian tactfully patted Jiang Chiyu’s shoulder, her words quite direct, “You really sound like a playboy.”

The “playboy” stopped laughing, looking somewhat withdrawn.

Thus, he didn’t see Su Tian’s tight grip on her clothes or her red-tipped ears.

Jokes aside, Jiang Chiyu still took the time during break to thoroughly explain the two chemistry problems to her.

He seemed to know that Su Tian’s logical ability was relatively weak, usually relying on rote memorization, so for every concept he covered, he would ask Su Tian to explain it back to him, checking whether she had merely memorized it or truly understood.

If she had just memorized it, he would re-explain the concept itself rather than limiting the explanation to the problem at hand.

The afternoon passed quickly, and it was time for the last class.

This class was also self-study.

Su Tian rubbed the skin under her eyes, then unscrewed her water bottle cap and took a sip, lowering her eyes to review the physics test paper.

When she reached the last question, she suddenly didn’t understand one of the steps again. Looking at the textbook didn’t help her remember, so she tugged at Jiang Chiyu’s sleeve.

Jiang Chiyu hardly seemed like he was there for school – he had gotten hold of some extracurricular book from somewhere and was reading it with great interest, one hand pressing down the pages.

When Su Tian pulled at him, he immediately knew what was up and turned his head to look where she was pointing. As he moved, his hand lost its grip on the book pages, which snapped shut, revealing the cover.

Su Tian caught a glimpse of the title, which read “The Little Prince.”

…

…

Su Tian: “…”

Was it a coincidence?

Jiang Chiyu seemed completely unconcerned, letting her look while he lowered his voice to explain the problem, “You got part of this question right on the front, but I told you you’d definitely forget.”

The classroom was very quiet, and to avoid disturbing others, they had to lean in close to talk.

At first, seeing Jiang Chiyu’s otherworldly face up close made Su Tian completely rigid, but later she managed to calm down by focusing entirely on the problem.

Yet now she suddenly found herself unable to stay calm.

When Jiang Chiyu got no response, he looked up at her. Their eyes met unexpectedly.

The young girl’s face was slightly red, her wide eyes clear and pure, flashing with a hint of panic.

Jiang Chiyu paused, then used his pen to point at the area under her left eye from a distance, “It’s very red here.”

Su Tian was already feeling guilty, constantly on guard against Jiang Chiyu saying something “playboy-like,” and immediately misinterpreted his meaning, “You’re the one who’s red.”

“Oh my.” Jiang Chiyu smiled, “Now your whole face is red.”

Su Tian wanted to beat him up, only feeling satisfied if she could turn his face into a pig’s head.

She asked sincerely and tactfully: “Could you just… get a face change?”

Facing this face while talking really tested one’s self-control.

“That won’t work.” Jiang Chiyu put down his pen, his voice low and amused.

“If I changed to a different face, I wouldn’t be able to make Tian-tian’s face turn red in just two sentences.”

Su Tian closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying hard to reduce the heat in her face.

Heaven and earth were witnesses.

This face was simply too outrageous.

She reached up to scratch the skin under her eye again, and only then suddenly understood that the spot Jiang Chiyu had pointed to earlier was where she’d been bitten by a mosquito – naturally it was red.

She had overthought it.

The heat that had just barely subsided showed signs of rising again.

The skin on her face really itched.

Su Tian didn’t dare scratch it for fear of breaking the skin, so she could only press it several times with her fingertips.

Jiang Chiyu’s face, however, slowly grew serious.