Chapter 20

Wen Xiangyi turned back to Li Changsheng and said, “A friend.”

Li Changsheng finally reminded Wen Xiangyi to remember to go home the next day and quickly left.

The two returned to the coffee table. The chrysanthemum charcoal was burning less vigorously now. Song Cheng poked it and asked Wen Xiangyi, “Do you want to roast some more?”

Wen Xiangyi’s smile was faint, as usual. “I’m done eating.”

After sitting for a while, the movie lost its appeal completely. Wen Xiangyi got up and went to her bedroom, not forgetting to wish Song Cheng goodnight before she left.

“Song Cheng, goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Once Song Cheng had finished speaking, she was left alone in the living room. The movie continued to play relentlessly. Song Cheng finished the remaining oranges while watching and then extinguished the copper heater before going to bed.

Perhaps because she had eaten something warm before bed, she slept soundly that night, and even though she had seen someone from a past life, she didn’t dream about it.

The next morning, when she woke up, the house was quiet.

When she reached the door of Wen Xiangyi’s room and heard no movement inside, she didn’t knock. Instead, she went back to the kitchen and made a ham and egg sandwich with toast.

She ate half of it herself, left the other half for Wen Xiangyi, and left a note on the coffee table before leaving quietly.

When she got home, Song Rongjian was at work, and Ni Yun ignored her, finishing her meal on her own, helping Ni Guang wipe his mouth, and taking him to his extracurricular class.

Sometimes Song Cheng felt she didn’t like talking also because no one at home seemed to want to talk to her.

Just like now, no one asked where she had been the night before.

But whether they asked or not made no difference.

She went back to her room to pack the clothes and miscellaneous items she needed for school.

She didn’t have many things, so she quickly finished packing. Song Cheng then slowly recalled where her current phone was.

Her phone was an old model replaced by Song Rongjian, barely functional but not allowed to be taken to school. Ni Guang always wanted to play with it, so Song Cheng had hidden it in a small box when she went to school.

She fumbled in the drawer to find the box, and the phone was indeed inside, but the screen was shattered beyond repair, apparently having endured something she wasn’t aware of.

Song Cheng didn’t remember if this had happened in her past life; such incidents were quite common in her life.

She tossed the phone into the trash can, grabbed her backpack and a black handbag, and left the house, catching the bus to the third middle school.

She arrived at school early, and since it was still morning, she decided not to go to the classroom but stayed in the dormitory.

When Zhou Ying came back to the dormitory at noon, she was startled. “You came back on Saturday?”

Song Cheng explained, “I came to study.”

Zhou Ying clicked her tongue. “You’re so diligent now; I didn’t expect that.”

Song Cheng agreed, “Life is full of surprises.”

Just like how she had solemnly said “See you Monday” the day before, only to unexpectedly meet Wen Xiangyi again at the convenience store and even stay at her house for the night.

Compared to the chaos at home, the campus was simple and peaceful.

In Class 5, there were about ten students left for self-study. Each was focused on their own work. Song Cheng adapted well to this environment, not only completing her homework but also making a well-organized study plan for herself.

In response to the weak areas revealed in the exam, aside from the classroom progress, she drew up a private tutoring schedule and corresponding review plan. She also took out a blank sheet of paper to list the knowledge points for each subject in order of mastery from low to high, to tackle them one by one.

During the Sunday evening self-study session, all the students had returned to school, and the classroom was once again packed.

Before the self-study session started, Song Cheng humbly asked her new deskmate for help. “Can you help me review my study plan?”

Duan Jia, who had excellent grades and was in the top ten of the class for the mid-term exam, readily agreed.

“Sure.”

Song Cheng handed over a piece of paper. Duan Jia looked down at it, and Song Cheng added, “These are the knowledge points I haven’t understood.”

As she spoke, she handed over two A4 sheets.

Duan Jia: “…Wow.”

There were even more words than the text. She was about to be overwhelmed.

A “wow” came from the front seat as well. Song Cheng looked up, and Qin Li, sitting in front of Duan Jia, craned her neck to look over.

She had a bad premonition but hadn’t figured it out yet when Qin Li grabbed Wen Xiangyi’s arm and shook it, calling out in a voice like a singing frog, “Wen Wen, come see Song Cheng’s study plan.”

Song Cheng: “…”

Wen Xiangyi turned around, and Duan Jia immediately handed over Song Cheng’s papers. Qin Li helped to arrange them, and the three worked together, making Song Cheng feel like an outsider.

Wen Xiangyi looked at the papers for a while and rubbed her tired eyes. “It’s very detailed. Did you just put this together?”

No.

The meticulous detail was my pride.

Song Cheng responded serenely, “Yes.”

Wen Xiangyi flipped through the pages and said, “It’s very thorough, but I think…”

Song Cheng’s ears perked up, ready to hear the top student’s evaluation and advice. The class bell suddenly rang, and the geography teacher walked in, cutting off Wen Xiangyi’s comment and leaving her alone to worry.

What did Wen Xiangyi really want to say? Did she think it was good or bad?

Song Cheng hadn’t planned to show Wen Xiangyi her work; her pride was quite strong. But now that Wen Xiangyi had seen it, something needed to be said, or she would feel like she had lost out.

The geography teacher, unusually not occupying the evening self-study period, wrote something on the podium. The classroom was quiet, with only the sound of pages turning and occasional coughs.

He Nianyao returned the borrowed homework from the adjacent group, passing by Duan Jia, who was about to pass it forward when Song Cheng stopped her.

Song Cheng tore off a piece of draft paper, quickly wrote a few words, and gently tapped Wen Xiangyi on the back.

The gray-blue cashmere sweater felt soft, but it did not completely hide the slight shiver from being touched. Almost simultaneously, Wen Xiangyi turned her head, and the light on her eyelashes almost fell off, her eyes showing a hint of annoyance.

Song Cheng spoke in a hushed tone, “What were you going to say?”

Wen Xiangyi took the note and saw that in addition to her own homework, there was an extra piece of paper.

Song Cheng’s handwriting was not very standardized but boldly expressive, scrawled across the white paper.

[What was it you didn’t finish saying?]

Wen Xiangyi didn’t respond right away. After a while, another note was quietly passed to her from behind, peeking from the side.

She picked it up and laid it out on the test paper before her.

[In return for the sandwich I made you on Saturday morning.]

Wen Xiangyi remembered the sandwich from Saturday morning.

The night before, Wen Xiangyi had received a call from Luo Yan. The conversation wasn’t very pleasant, and she ended up going to bed late. The next morning, she slept very deeply and found that Song Cheng had already left when she woke up.

She tidied everything up, and aside from the farewell note and the sandwich in the kitchen, it was as if no one had stayed over at the house. She was a considerate guest.

The sandwich, when reheated, emitted a pleasant aroma and was spread with peanut butter, making it deliciously sweet. Was Song Cheng’s talent in the kitchen? Wen Xiangyi wondered idly as she moved her pen.

Song Cheng finally received a “reply.”

[You know that I hosted you for the night.]

Just reading this sentence, Song Cheng could imagine Wen Xiangyi’s tone and expression, calm and unhurried.

Alright, alright.

[Thank you, Wen Xiangyi, for your kindness and beauty. Without you, I would have frozen to death at the convenience store.]

Looking at the excessively flattering sentences, Song Cheng scorned her own soul and gave Wen Xiangyi’s sweater a slight tug.

Wen Xiangyi leaned back in her chair, and Song Cheng reached out to place the note on the desk, pressing it too hard and touching Wen Xiangyi’s hand in the process.

The human body’s temperature seemed constant. Even though this was her first contact with the current Wen Xiangyi, the surprisingly familiar faint warmth caused a momentary daze, and she couldn’t snap back to reality until Wen Xiangyi withdrew her hand.

There was a slight tugging on the note, and Song Cheng realized she had forgotten to let go.

This small corner of awkwardness was clearly noticed by the geography teacher, who said from the podium:

“Song Cheng? Focus on your self-study.”

She had been called out!

Song Cheng quickly withdrew her hand, leaving the note with Wen Xiangyi.

She lowered her head to calm her feelings. It was alright, only her name had been called—

No, wait, why was it just her?

Song Cheng realized in disbelief that the teacher was indeed biased! Could the top student do whatever they wanted?

Song Cheng felt deeply hurt.

With an indescribable sense of sorrow, the rest of her time was quiet. During the break, she continued to write diligently. When Wen Xiangyi turned around and there was some movement from the front seat, Song Cheng snorted in her mind.

At least Wen Xiangyi was considerate.

Wen Xiangyi called out, “Song Cheng.”

Song Cheng looked up, composed. “Yes?”

Wen Xiangyi said, “I glanced at your plan. Creating a plan yourself is good; it’s suited to you. I just want to give you a few reminders to see if they might help.”

Song Cheng straightened her attitude a bit. “I’m listening. Go ahead.”

Wen Xiangyi continued, “Your study plan includes a review plan, which is great, but it’s missing the summary and reflection part.”

Song Cheng was enlightened and quickly wrote down “summary and reflection” on her notepad.

Wen Xiangyi looked at her writing and said, “Also, the knowledge points you listed are very detailed, but they don’t significantly guide your learning because they’re not useful for small questions and are integrated into big questions. In practice, your knowledge points are more for filling gaps.”

Wen Xiangyi thought for a moment and added, “It can also increase your anxiety and stress.”

Anyone seeing so many knowledge points and still not being sure if they’ve mastered them might feel overwhelmed.

Song Cheng: “…”

She couldn’t refute this and asked humbly, “What should I do?”

Wen Xiangyi put down the paper. “Do problems. Extract knowledge points from questions, make a mistake notebook, summarize similar question types, and review your common mistakes. Then go back and test yourself with more problems.”

Song Cheng murmured, “This method sounds dumb.”

Wen Xiangyi glanced at her and smiled slightly. “It suits you very well.”

Song Cheng: “?”

Was Wen Xiangyi implying she was dumb??

Duan Jia, who was listening, clapped her hands and said, “It really suits you, Song Cheng! Since you’ve just returned to studying, you’re lacking practice with problems. Doing more problems and seeing various question types is better than anything else.”

She looked at Song Cheng. “Wen Xiangyi’s advice is great and fits your situation perfectly. Don’t you think so, Song Cheng?”

Song Cheng hesitated. “I think so too?”

She still felt like Wen Xiangyi might have called her dumb earlier.

But even Duan Jia said so.

It couldn’t be true, could it?!