Does this person even know how to talk?
Hua Yan immediately wanted to block him, but she decided to tolerate it for now. After all… Hua Yan scrolled up the chat history, looking at the screen full of handwritten answers, and thought coldly, “He actually seems quite useful.”
She thought for a moment and then edited a long message, explaining that she wasn’t incapable but just wanted to see how he solved it. She ended the message with a friendly smiley face and hit send. Hua Yan then rolled onto her big bed, but Lu Chengsha’s reply came extremely quickly.
——Lu Chengsha: Really?
Why is this person so serious?!
She could only send back a “Yes,” and moments later, she received a picture from Lu Chengsha, a physics problem.
Hua Yan stared at the problem for a long time, thinking, “What does he mean by this?”
Is he expecting her to solve it now?!
She had already changed into her pajamas and was ready for bed!
As she stared at it, another line of text popped up at the bottom of the chat box.
——Lu Chengsha: It’s not difficult.
Those three words seemed to carry a sense of eager anticipation, as if proving she couldn’t do it would mean she really couldn’t.
Hua Yan lay on her bed for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and went to her messy study to find a pen.
***
Early the next morning.
“Hua Hua, what’s wrong? You look exhausted.”
Rubbing her eyes and feeling groggy, she couldn’t possibly say she had stayed up almost until dawn solving a problem.
Lu Chengsha is really something.
Although the problem was just a basic competition question and indeed not too difficult, the concepts involved were beyond the high school sophomore level. In the middle of the night, she had to flip through supplementary textbooks to self-study junior and senior year physics courses while restraining herself from looking up answers online—feeling it would be too spineless otherwise. She was so tired she had to drink a cup of coffee to stay awake and finally managed to get a bit of an idea on how to solve it. After finishing it and sending it over, Hua Yan practically collapsed into sleep.
She almost arrived late to class—it was fortunate she now lived nearby.
Groggily, she took out her phone and discovered that Lu Chengsha had actually replied to her at seven in the morning.
He had corrected a typo in the physics unit for her.
Suddenly, she felt that the previous comments about him being a problem-solving machine weren’t entirely unjustified!
But Hua Yan was still a bit miffed. She had worked so hard on it, yet he didn’t even praise her a bit. That didn’t seem right!
As she was thinking this, she heard someone nearby say, “This time the questions were too hard, right? I feel like the college entrance exam questions weren’t this tough. Is it necessary to make it so difficult for high school students? Around us, four or five out of fifty barely passed.”
“The last few big questions in math and physics were just insane. Did anyone solve them? Let me see!”
“The teacher didn’t even explain them; I bet no one solved them.”
Hua Yan immediately perked up. She gracefully and elegantly pulled out her test paper from her bag, trying to show it off to everyone.
Luckily, her deskmate, with whom she had great rapport, glanced at it and cooperated by exclaiming, “Hua Hua, you actually solved them all—no wonder you were so tired this morning. Let me see!”
“Really? That’s amazing… Let me see too!”
“I want to see too!”
Ah, those were copied from Lu Chengsha. She did work hard last night, but…
Oh well!
At that moment, Hua Yan didn’t have the slightest bit of suspicion. It wasn’t until the evening, after she returned from evening study, that she noticed another math problem quietly lying in her chat with Lu Chengsha that she realized something was off.
She quickly sent a message: “I still have to do the homework assigned by the teacher, qaq.”
Lu Chengsha replied, “Just one problem.”
Implying it wouldn’t take long.
Are you a tutor or something? How can someone have this kind of hobby!
Hua Yan was furious, but she continued to ask in a soft, cute tone, “Can I send problems for you to solve =w=”
Lu Chengsha replied, “Sure.”
Great.
Hua Yan recalled what she had heard in class earlier and immediately opened her computer to search for “the most bizarre essay prompts in recent years,” then copied and pasted one directly to Lu Chengsha, sneakily changing the 800-word requirement to 1000 words.
Sure enough, the other side went quiet.
Hua Yan then pulled out the unfinished test papers and continued working on them. She was extremely biased in her subjects; she found Chinese and English easy and could score well without much studying. She even wrote brilliant essays that were often used as examples because of her love for reading. However, her math, physics, and chemistry were not as strong—not that she couldn’t do them, but they required a lot of time.
Back when she confidently chose the science track, she didn’t foresee herself now struggling through the tears to solve problems.
After arduously finishing two test papers, she had almost completely forgotten about Lu Chengsha when she suddenly received another message from him.
It was very long.
It was divided into several parts.
It was a formal 1000-word Chinese essay.
Hua Yan was stunned.
…He actually wrote it! Doesn’t Tingjian Manor have any homework or assignments?
Doesn’t he find it a huge waste of time to write a 1000-word essay in the middle of the night? Precious night time should be reserved for math, physics, and chemistry!
With these inexplicable feelings, Hua Yan roughly scanned Lu Chengsha’s essay…
Uh… huh?
Is he writing in the old formal essay style?
Previously, when people said that Lu Chengsha’s essays were terrible, especially his lyrical essays, Hua Yan didn’t have a concrete idea. After all, as long as an essay wasn’t off-topic, how bad could it be? Now Hua Yan realized she had been too naive.
There really is someone who can write a lyrical essay as if it were a technical manual—completely devoid of emotion and stiff as a board.
After struggling to finish reading Lu Chengsha’s masterpiece, Hua Yan sent a difficult message, “Do you never read leisure books at all =口=”.
Lu Chengsha replied with an implicit ellipsis.
She could only tactfully explain that an essay couldn’t be written like that, at least not a lyrical essay. She suggested he read some books or memorize some good phrases and sentences.
When Hua Yan looked closer, she realized that Lu Chengsha’s essay didn’t even have a single rhetorical device!
Lu Chengsha replied, “Essays prohibit plagiarism.”
…Alright.
“Reading for reference is fine. If you don’t have any, I can lend you some books!”
Hua Yan was just casually helping out and didn’t think much about it. This time, Lu Chengsha seemed to hesitate for a while before solemnly replying with two words, “Thank you.”
Eh, he actually accepted!
Hua Yan suddenly felt more energized and prepared to pick a few of her favorite lyrical essay collections from her little bookshelf for him. But before she could go, her phone rang again.
——Lu Chengsha: Have you done the problem?
Hua Yan: “…”
A 1000-word essay wasn’t enough to distract you! Why are you still fixated on that stupid problem!
***
The two arranged to meet during lunch break to hand over the books.
Hua Yan felt very sleepy when she arranged the meeting, and early in the morning, she felt dazed and unreal. Her phone, which now seemed like a problem-solving app, made her feel even more surreal. They had met in person before exchanging phone numbers, but now it felt oddly like an offline meeting from the start.
They arranged to meet at 1:30 PM. After finishing her meal, Hua Yan dawdled in the cafeteria for a while, waiting until most people had left. Then she slowly carried a stack of books to the meeting spot.
From a distance, she could already see the boy in the black school uniform standing under the shade of the trees between the two school buildings. He stood there, tall and indifferent, with his head almost reaching the tree branches. The large patches of sunlight wavered and scattered like gold flakes on him, coating his eyebrows and eyes with a layer of pale gold.
Occasionally, a breeze would rustle the branches, causing a leaf or two to fall on Lu Chengsha’s shoulders, but he remained oblivious.
Tingjian Manor’s uniform was a black stand-collar outfit, and Lu Chengsha’s buttons were fastened all the way to the top. A hint of a white shirt was visible at his neck. Although Hua Yan had seen many students in the Tingjian uniform over the past few days, she still felt that no one else wore this plain uniform as well as he did, making it look so upright and imposing.
At this time, most students were in their classrooms taking a nap. Hua Yan lowered her head, shielding her eyes from the harsh sunlight with the back of her hand, and quickly ran over.
Just then, Lu Chengsha turned his gaze towards her.
She handed over the books she was carrying. “Here are these. If you need more, you can ask to borrow them. I have a lot…”
His long fingers reached out and took the books from the bottom.
“Thank you,” he said.
Unlike his texts, his voice was somewhat low, making it seem even more unreal.
Hua Yan suddenly felt a bit shy and didn’t dare to look up at him, feeling a strange sense of intimacy in this exchange.
As she was thinking this, she felt an added weight in her palm.
Looking up, she saw that Lu Chengsha had taken a thin booklet from his backpack and placed it in her hand.
Hua Yan was stunned. “What’s this?”
Lu Chengsha slightly averted his gaze and said, “A thank-you gift.” As if worried she wouldn’t understand his gesture, he added, “This one is very typical.”
Indeed, it was a very typical collection of problems.
How touching, Hua Yan thought with mixed feelings.
***
After that, the two continued to chat on and off. When Hua Yan encountered problems she couldn’t solve, she would send them to him, continuing to use him as a problem-solving app. Lu Chengsha also regularly reported his reading progress to her, but when Hua Yan saw his emotionless updates like “p125, 2/8,” she felt that he had a long way to go before he could truly understand essay writing.
In addition, Lu Chengsha insisted on sending her a problem every day.
Fortunately, Lu Chengsha didn’t force her to do them. Hua Yan would tackle them when she felt like it and ignore them when she didn’t.
However, one time when Hua Yan was taking a picture of a problem, she accidentally captured the score of a nearby physics test paper.
Lu Chengsha sent over a message: “85?”
This score was actually not bad. On a 100-point test, she ranked about 10th out of 50 students, which was decent considering she hadn’t studied very hard.
She didn’t think it was a big deal and casually replied, “What’s up, ovo?”
But Lu Chengsha seemed to have a different opinion.
After a long pause, he replied, “Where did you go wrong?”
Hua Yan hesitated for a moment but still took a picture of the wrong questions and sent them over. Then, there was no response from Lu Chengsha. She continued working on her problems until she heard her phone ring. Thinking it was a message from Lu Chengsha, she turned her head to see—
Lu Chengsha was calling.
—Slide to answer.
Startled, Hua Yan nearly dropped her phone.
Why is he calling?!
In her flustered state, she instinctively swiped to answer, and the call connected instantly. The surroundings fell silent as she pressed the receiver to her ear, hearing only his faint breathing.
“Hello—”
She couldn’t help but wonder if Lu Chengsha had called by mistake.
“…Did you dial by accident?”
This time, Lu Chengsha finally spoke: “…No.” His voice, already low and cool, sounded subtly different through the phone, with an electric tinge that made her ears heat up.
Just hearing him speak seemed to make it easier for him to continue. Lu Chengsha added, “You made quite a few mistakes.”
“Huh?”
“The first question had a formula error. It’s a conceptual issue. You should have…”
“……”
He was actually giving her a proper explanation of the problems!
When it came to explaining problems, it was as if he transformed into a different person. Though initially hesitant, he became more fluent as he went on, seemingly unable to stop. Even after finishing the last question, he seemed unsatisfied.
Hua Yan’s phone began to heat up, her ears filled with Lu Chengsha’s voice.
He asked in his low voice, “Did you understand?”
He explained it quite clearly, but Hua Yan found herself blushing for no reason as she listened. She had never talked to a boy on the phone for so long before and had spaced out twice. Embarrassed to ask for clarification, she mumbled that she understood.
After they were done, they were supposed to hang up the phone.
But Hua Yan didn’t, and it seemed Lu Chengsha had forgotten too.
In the receiver, only the quiet sounds of their breathing remained.
After what seemed like a long hesitation, Lu Chengsha finally said, “Do you… not study much usually?”
Hua Yan: “…I do!”
But not as intensely. She studied sporadically, taking breaks to play on her phone, read novels during class, and avoided overthinking difficult problems. After all, her parents didn’t have high academic expectations for her—just passing was enough.
Lu Chengsha’s voice still sounded skeptical. He carefully said, “I think… you’re not dumb.”
“I’m not dumb!”
He paused for a moment.
“Why, do you think I’m dumb?”
After a brief silence, Lu Chengsha changed the topic. “The next monthly exam is together.”
Hua Yan had already heard.
Since the two schools were next to each other, they had become more competitive. The teachers decided to hold the next monthly exam together and even combine the rankings. Although the students complained, the school leaders quickly approved the plan.
“What do you plan to score?”
Hua Yan thought about it. Her school had about 500 students per grade, and Tingjian Manor had over 700. Combined, there would be about 1200 students.
So she said, “…Top two or three hundred?”
Given the impressive university admission rates of both schools, this ranking was already quite good.
However, Lu Chengsha seemed dissatisfied. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Top fifty.”
Hua Yan: “…???”
“It’s not difficult,” he encouraged. “Try it.”
No, it’s very difficult!
Do you know what kind of schools the top fifty students can get into?
Hua Yan was stunned and instinctively tried to negotiate. “How about… top one hundred?”
Lu Chengsha seemed to struggle with this, then reluctantly said, “…Alright.”
Finally, they hung up the phone in mutual silence.
It wasn’t until Hua Yan came to her senses that she realized she had unwittingly fallen into Lu Chengsha’s trap.
Why did she agree to that?!
Even her parents didn’t force her to study!
Unable to hold back, Hua Yan edited a message and sent it, sounding particularly aggrieved: “But there’s no benefit for me even if I get in.”
Lu Chengsha replied with a question mark, seemingly unable to comprehend why there needed to be a benefit.
Hua Yan quickly decided and then abandoned her decision, sending a message: “How about we forget it?”
However, she never expected Lu Chengsha’s reply to be:
——Lu Chengsha: If you make it, I’ll treat you to a meal.
Is this really him?
Hua Yan stared at the message for a long while, feeling an urge to call him to confirm its authenticity.