Chapter 31

Bi Chun rarely went to Qin Xiaoxiao’s seat to ask questions, but Yan Yangcan often came over.

During the break after the second class that morning, Yan Yangcan came to Qin Xiaoxiao again for help.

“Do you have a moment? I want to ask you about a problem.”

Qin Xiaoxiao wasn’t busy and was reading a novel in the Chinese textbook. “Mm.”

“This question—” Yan Yangcan placed the test paper in front of Qin Xiaoxiao with a gentle smile. “Question 23.”

Qin Xiaoxiao silently read through the question. “Which part don’t you understand?”

In the original novel and according to the rumors spread by Yang Min, Yan Yangcan was clearly a good science student with decent grades. How could he have so many questions to ask her, someone whose academic performance wasn’t particularly outstanding?

This question wasn’t even that difficult.

“I don’t understand why D isn’t the correct choice. Why isn’t the charge 5C?”

“You’ve calculated the acceleration of the metal rod’s movement, right?”

“Mm, the value is 1.”

Leaning slightly forward, Yan Yangcan subtly moved a bit closer to Qin Xiaoxiao.

Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t notice the shortened distance, only finding it slightly strange that Yan Yangcan, having already calculated the hardest part of the problem—the acceleration—still hadn’t worked out the less challenging values.

“First calculate the displacement of the metal rod within 5 seconds, then the charge. Do you know which formula to use for this step?”

“Yes, the L in the formula is…”

A slightly grating sound of wood scraping harshly against the tiled floor.

Qin Xiaoxiao instinctively turned to look to her side.

Ji Wenchen had woken up at some point. He was leaning his upper body against the back of his chair, tilting it backward so that only two legs of the chair were touching the ground.

It was obvious that the abrupt scraping sound just now was caused by her unruly deskmate.

“Should the value of L in the formula be substituted with 0.3?” Yan Yangcan’s warm voice asked.

Qin Xiaoxiao shifted her gaze back. “No.”

“Why…”

“So noisy.”

The two discussing the problem turned to look to their left again.

The boy’s impatience and irritation were almost spilling over from his handsome face.

Yan Yangcan was momentarily stunned, then quickly smiled politely at Qin Xiaoxiao. “How about we continue the discussion at my seat?”

Qin Xiaoxiao shook her head. “We’re almost done.” There wasn’t much left to discuss.

“Mm… then I’ll leave now.”

Qin Xiaoxiao lowered her gaze and turned back to the unfinished page in her Chinese textbook. After reading half a page, she asked, “Why are you staring at me?”

The presence of the gaze beside her was so intense it felt almost tangible, making Qin Xiaoxiao a bit uncomfortable.

“Don’t talk to him too much.”

“??” Qin Xiaoxiao blinked her lashes. “We’re discussing academic problems.”

“How could there be so many problems to discuss?” Ji Wenchen tugged at the corner of his lips, looking slightly displeased.

“Mm, there are plenty. The sea of knowledge is boundless; there’s no end to discussing problems.”

“…Discuss with me.” After Ji Wenchen finished speaking, he seemed to realize how foolish his words sounded. He leaned forward, and the two legs of his chair that had been suspended in the air hit the ground with a “bang.” “What I mean is, I have questions to ask you too.”

Qin Xiaoxiao looked at him with mild curiosity, barely stopping herself from saying, “What kind of questions could you possibly have?”

Ji Wenchen’s expression turned cold, and upon closer inspection, there was a hint of awkwardness. “It’s the last semester and a half. I want to improve my grades. Is that not allowed?”

Of course, it’s allowed.

Thinking of the homeroom teacher’s instructions, Qin Xiaoxiao felt this was a good opportunity and said accordingly, “Then from today on, try to pay attention in class and complete your homework on time.”

“…Mm.”

After a moment of discomfort, Ji Wenchen thought about it and decided that this wasn’t a bad idea.

In the “Eighteen Techniques for Pursuing Girls” taught by Jiang Zhousi, there was one principle: cater to her interests to bridge the gap.

Although he wasn’t sure if that guy’s methods were effective, with no one else to guide him and no other options, he might as well give it a reluctant try.

Qin Xiaoxiao liked studying, so he would study.

Ji Wenchen’s textbooks and materials were mostly at home, so the first step was to bring them to school.

The next day, the students of Class 8 were shocked to see the school bully arriving early in the morning, carrying a stack of textbooks tied together with a rope into the classroom…

What followed was a series of events that left them utterly dumbfounded.

The school bully opened a textbook!

The school bully paid attention in class!

The school bully picked up a pen and started writing in a workbook!

…

Then, caught by the school bully’s sharp glare, they didn’t dare to sneak another look.

In any case, the school bully had truly changed a lot!

Could it be that upon entering the final year, the school bully realized the importance of studying and had finally decided to focus on academics?

How inspiring!

Ji Wenchen’s transformation inspired a wave of classmates to study hard for quite some time.

Ji Wenchen, however, was completely unaware of this.

In class, he forced himself to stay awake and pay attention; after class, he busied himself asking his deskmate for help.

“Explain this section to me.”

For the thirteenth time in two days, Qin Xiaoxiao, who was being asked for help, pressed her Jingming acupoint. “The entire section on geometric sequences?”

“Mm.” He answered confidently.

“Wasn’t your math pretty good?” Qin Xiaoxiao recalled that in the monthly exams last semester, his math scores were decent.

Hearing this, a trace of amusement flashed in Ji Wenchen’s eyes. “You’ve been paying attention to me?”

Qin Xiaoxiao: “…In the March, April, and June monthly exams, your math scores were ranked near mine.” She definitely hadn’t paid special attention to him.

“I repeated a year. I’ve already studied second-year math, so…” Ji Wenchen’s tone rose slightly at the end, carrying a hint of lazy nonchalance.

“Then this section…”

“I didn’t listen to this section; I was sleeping.”

“Oh.”

Ji Wenchen pushed the open textbook toward the middle. “You’re so outstanding in your studies, so please help tutor your underperforming deskmate.”

A bit surprised that he would say something like that, Qin Xiaoxiao glanced at him. This guy was talking more and more, and it seemed his shamelessness was also growing.

“It’s two class sessions’ worth of material. How could I possibly explain it all to you? Just read the book your—”

“Explain a bit during each break. There are still eight breaks today, eighty minutes in total. That’s enough to finish it.”

“…”

Fine, might as well explain. Qin Xiaoxiao thought to herself—she could use this as an opportunity to reinforce her understanding of this section.

After the second class in the afternoon, Yan Yangcan came over with his workbook to ask Qin Xiaoxiao about a problem.

As he approached, he noticed her talking with the famously notorious Ji Wenchen, and the smile on Yan Yangcan’s face slightly faded.

He continued walking toward them.

“Xiaoxiao, are you free? I have—”

“Not free.” Ji Wenchen’s expression carried a faint sharpness. Xiaoxiao? Who gave him permission to call her that?

Yan Yangcan acted as though he hadn’t heard Ji Wenchen’s firm reply. His warm eyes, hidden behind thin-framed glasses, looked at Qin Xiaoxiao. “Xiaoxiao, are you free?”

Qin Xiaoxiao smiled apologetically. “I’m not free right now.” She had promised to explain something to Ji Wenchen, and she wouldn’t go back on her word. There was an order to everything.

“Alright…” Yan Yangcan lowered his gaze briefly, then quickly smiled politely again. “I’ll come back after the next class.”

“Sorry, I won’t be free at all today.”

“Mm… It’s fine.”

Before leaving, Yan Yangcan glanced at Ji Wenchen.

The latter was sitting casually, leaning against the back of his chair, half-turned, with one hand arrogantly draped over the back of Qin Xiaoxiao’s chair.

Noticing his gaze, Ji Wenchen tugged at the corner of his lips, as if with a hint of provocation.

The smile on Yan Yangcan’s face vanished completely.

In mid-October, under the crisp autumn skies, the Second High School held its sports meet.

Final-year students weren’t required to participate, and most chose to stay in the classroom for self-study.

The lively Yang Min tried to drag Qin Xiaoxiao along to watch the games, but Qin Xiaoxiao declined.

She chose to use the two class-free days to work on practice problems.

However, after just one day, her deskmate showed up in the classroom on the second day.

“I don’t understand this section on definite integrals.”

“Oh.”

“Explain it to me.”

“…You should just go and ask the math teacher for tutoring.”

“The math teacher isn’t available. He said your grades are good and I can ask you.”

“…Is that so?”

Not entirely believing his excuse, Qin Xiaoxiao glanced at the textbook but still began explaining to him. She treated it as both review and doing a good deed for the day.

Feng Maoxing, who had come to find his cousin to watch the games after preparing for his event, saw this scene in the classroom and nearly bared his tiger teeth in frustration.

What are they doing?! Sitting so close!

Is Ji Wenchen trying to fool his cousin again?

“Xiaoxiao!” Feng Maoxing couldn’t be bothered to ask the senior near the door to pass on the message.

With that shout, more than half of the people in the classroom turned to look.

This included Qin Xiaoxiao and Ji Wenchen, who were sitting together at the same desk.

Half a minute later, Qin Xiaoxiao stepped out into the hallway outside the classroom.

Feng Maoxing started right away, “You’re actually talking to him!”

Qin Xiaoxiao frowned slightly. “What did you need to see me for?”

Feng Maoxing, solely focused on worrying about his kind and gentle cousin, blurted out, “What could you possibly have to talk about with Ji Wenchen?”

“Talking about math.”

“Math? He can study?” Ji Wenchen, who had a history of deceiving his cousin’s feelings, was nothing but trash in Feng Maoxing’s eyes. He assumed anything Ji Wenchen did involving his cousin had ulterior motives. “Don’t tell me he’s trying to—”

“Feng Maoxing, what did you come to see me about?” Qin Xiaoxiao noticed Ji Wenchen getting up and heading toward the back door of the classroom, and she instinctively changed the subject.

For some reason, she didn’t want Ji Wenchen to hear what her cousin was saying.

Feng Maoxing, interrupted, was a bit annoyed. “I’m competing in the long jump later. Do you want to come watch?”

Qin Xiaoxiao thought for a moment. Watching a long jump event wouldn’t take much time. “Alright.”

Just then, Ji Wenchen reached the back door.

Qin Xiaoxiao felt that he probably heard them, so she simply followed Feng Maoxing and left.

Watching her figure disappear down the stairs, Ji Wenchen pressed his tongue against his back teeth, his phoenix eyes narrowing slightly.

Leaving and interrupting the explanation without even saying a word to him.

Heh.

…

This week, there was a half-month break.

Feng Maoxing and Yang Min had taken advantage of the school sports meet to sneak home early. Obeying the rules, Qin Xiaoxiao waited until the official holiday time before leaving the school gates alone.

The bus stop was a short distance away from the school entrance.

A loud roar passed by in a rush, but shortly after, it turned around and stopped nearby.

Qin Xiaoxiao stepped around the silver-black heavy motorcycle blocking her path.

“Qin Xiaoxiao?” The boy on the motorcycle whistled at her and swung the bike sideways in front of her. “Not bad-looking at all.”

Qin Xiaoxiao calmly raised her eyes. “Please move aside.”

The boy had short hair streaked with silver-gray, puffy eyes, a face full of acne, and a slightly chubby build.

He tossed his hair dramatically in the wind. “Do you know who I am? Ever heard of Hu Guangyu from First High?”

“No,” Qin Xiaoxiao replied honestly.

“…Ignorant.”

Hu Guangyu sized up the girl in front of him. Fair-skinned, beautiful, and well-proportioned—she was even more attractive than Wu Lin.

For the sake of her good looks, he decided to forgive her ignorance.

“Listen up,” Hu Guangyu said condescendingly, “I’ll give you a chance to be my woman.”

Everyone at school knew he was pursuing Wu Lin, but Wu Lin had her eyes set on that damned Ji from Second High. Hu Guangyu had disliked Ji Wenchen for a long time. A girl with the surname Wang had told him that Ji Wenchen was chasing someone named Qin Xiaoxiao. He wanted to see what Qin Xiaoxiao looked like and, if possible, win her over to humiliate Ji Wenchen.

Now that he saw her, Wu Lin suddenly seemed dull in his eyes.

If he could get this Qin Xiaoxiao…