After saying goodbye to Shen Jiaru, Hua Jie walked out of the studio in a daze.
She was still trying to understand the mentor-disciple relationship she had with Shen Jiaru. Although it wasn’t quite the same as Guo Degang’s teaching relationships, it was probably a relationship that was just below that of a father and son, and perhaps even equal to it, right?
She felt a bit bewildered, thinking she had taken a huge advantage and felt somewhat embarrassed.
And a bit pressured.
What if she couldn’t live up to Teacher Shen’s expectations?
What if one day, Teacher Shen realized she wasn’t as talented as he thought…
At the same time, she was also overjoyed.
It turned out she didn’t just gain a teacher, but also an elder who valued her.
And this elder was more impressive than she could have imagined.
Clutching her fists, she stood at the studio door for a while before suddenly turning and running to where Zhao Xiaolei was watching TV.
“?” Zhao Xiaolei looked at the little girl who came up to him, seeing her eyes sparkling and her cheeks flushed, not understanding what was going on.
“Lei brother, can I ask you a question?” She sat upright on the sofa, nervously turning her head towards him.
“…” Seeing her expression, Zhao Xiaolei unconsciously sat up straight.
“Do the other three disciples that the teacher took in pay tuition?” she asked softly.
“They do.” Zhao Xiaolei responded naturally.
“…” !!!
“They pay quite a lot, more than ten thousand a month, I think.” Zhao Xiaolei raised his eyebrows, “What’s wrong?”
“…No, nothing.” Hua Jie nodded, “Thanks, Lei brother.”
After speaking, she stood up and walked away in a daze.
Did she… just become Shen Jiaru’s inner door disciple, all bewildered?
…
…
It was really too hot in the Shen household, so hot that Hua Jie was sweating.
Outside it was minus twenty degrees, but inside it felt almost like thirty degrees.
Her family heated their home with coal, which her parents burned considering the cost, so the temperature was moderate.
Sometimes they even felt sorry for the coal, burning less of it, which was actually quite nice as it added a bit of cold and made studying more invigorating.
But the Shen family lived in a top-tier residential area in Jinsong City with central heating, which was blazing hot.
When she left the studio, her face was as red as an apple and burning hot to the touch.
With her emotions wildly fluctuating and excitement causing her to break out in sweat.
My goodness, such good fortune feels almost overwhelmingly hot.
Walking on cloud nine, she returned to the small guest room she had chosen, and dashed into the small en-suite bathroom for a quick shower.
Having several independent bathrooms and showers at home felt incredibly luxurious.
In small northern towns of this era, everyone went to the communal bathhouse, and it was rare for people to have their own bathrooms at home.
Probably only people like Teacher Shen, who came from big cities and lived in villas, would have such amenities.
Feeling refreshed and dry, Hua Jie finally cooled down.
In this era without smartphones, and without her textbooks on hand, she found the time especially hard to pass as it was only a little past eight in the evening.
Sitting alone with her thoughts for a while, she finally managed to stabilize her emotions.
No matter what, she must study hard!
She must stand out in the future and not let down her teacher’s high expectations!
Regaining her spirits, she sprung back to life.
Stepping out, she hurried upstairs to Shen Mo’s study, where they had arranged to work on physics problems together.
She knocked on the door but received no response.
Could it be that she had upset him by going to learn paper mounting with Teacher Shen first instead of studying with him, and now he was deliberately ignoring her?
…
…
Shen Mo, despite being face-blind, had an exceptional memory for other logical matters.
He could remember everything he read in a textbook after analyzing it once according to his own methods.
After studying a textbook for a while, he put it aside and started reading “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio,” which he found to be very good lately, better than Ji Xiaolan’s ghost stories. It was less preachy about feudal ethics, and instead, it offered more thought-provoking tales that were endlessly fascinating.
Tired of reading and with no sign of Hua Jie knocking on the door, he frowned and went downstairs to get a drink, his gaze frosty as he looked towards the studio.
Zhao Xiaolei stood up to make two cups of milk for them and handed one to Shen Mo, casually mentioning:
“Hua Jie’s cooking is pretty good; we had a satisfying dinner tonight.”
Zhao Xiaolei had watched Shen Mo grow up; the boy had always been quiet and a bit aloof, not very keen on making friends.
Although he had seen him go to internet cafes or play basketball with others before, it seemed he didn’t have any friends who stuck around for long.
Zhao Xiaolei knew that Shen Mo’s prosopagnosia led to a lack of security, gradually causing him to develop a repulsion towards strangers.
Additionally, Shen Mo had grown up without a mother, and his father, being obsessed with painting, made him endure loneliness from a young age, an age when children are most attached to their parents and center their worlds around them. Over time, he became sensitive and emotionally intense, easily hurt, so he chose to stay away from crowds and stable emotional relationships.
Being a loner wasn’t joyful, but at least it was less painful.
He still remembered the first time he saw Shen Mo, when a group of kids in the neighborhood were playing basketball. During breaks, the other children would gather and chat about what delicious meals their mothers had cooked the day before, what new toys their fathers had bought for them, how their new shoes were specially picked out by their mothers, and how their fathers taught them to play basketball…
Thin and short, not yet having hit his growth spurt, Shen Mo sat alone silently, propping himself up by his knees, just watching the basketball being passed around on the court with clear, focused eyes.
It was as if he was in another world, alone and desolate, yet feigning indifference.
Now, Shen Mo had grown up. He no longer appeared so pitiable, but he had become even more defiant, and the cold aura that kept people at bay had intensified.
However, when he was with Hua Jie, he seemed much more relaxed, and occasionally, he would even show a child-like innocence in his expressions.
Was it because Hua Jie’s warm and cheerful personality diluted Shen Mo’s gloom and indifference?
Or was it… that the boy was entering puberty?
Taking the milk, Shen Mo gulped down a mouthful.
Ever since Zhao Xiaolei had appeared before him, he had taken great care of him, often being more reliable than his own father, like an elder brother.
Thus, in front of Zhao Xiaolei, Shen Mo was quite relaxed and unguarded.
“Hmm, her mom cooks even better than she does,” Shen Mo leaned against the fridge, gulping down two more sips of milk.
“You’ve even had her mom’s cooking?” Zhao Xiaolei raised an eyebrow.
“We were desk mates, and I happened to visit her home once.”
“Now she’s also a student of your dad, it’s quite a connection.”
“As long as she doesn’t end up taught by him to ‘no longer care about worldly affairs,’” Shen Mo smirked.
“You seem to get along pretty well with Hua Jie,” Zhao Xiaolei sipped his milk, leaning lazily as usual, but his gaze on Shen Mo was meaningful.
“…Yeah, she’s not bad,” Shen Mo recalled how attentive she had been since they became desk mates—brewing milk tea for him, bringing him snacks, and couldn’t help feeling a bit proud:
“She’s quite nice, lively, good-tempered, caring, smart, speaks well, has her own thoughts, more mature than her peers, talented in painting, her laugh is earth-shattering, and her cheerfulness is almost too much…”
As he spoke, Shen Mo suddenly found himself unable to continue.
How come he felt that Little Potato was so good?
Was he really unable to stop praising her?
So, he hastily tried to save his dignity:
“Well, she’s okay, just a bit better than others.”
“…” Zhao Xiaolei couldn’t help but smile.
Shen Mo probably didn’t realize that when he talked about Hua Jie, his facial features softened, his eyes moistened, and his lips unconsciously curled up.
Still pretending to be aloof?
He’s really just a kid.
Zhao Xiaolei believed he had figured out Shen Mo’s heart but didn’t make a big deal about it.
The affections of youth are fierce in their arrival and swift in their departure, merely a fleeting moment of adolescence.
Patting Shen Mo’s arm, he grabbed his milk cup and sauntered back to the sofa.
A snowy night was perfect for lying on the sofa with milk, watching the least nutritious TV shows, feeling no regrets in life.
Shen Mo gulped down his milk, put down the cup, and also went upstairs.
Just reaching the third floor, he saw the young girl holding his door handle, quietly pulling open a crack in the door, sneakily peeking inside.
He silently approached her and suddenly tapped her shoulder.
Startled, Hua Jie shuddered and reflexively slammed the door shut, then turned around to look.
She saw a pair of long eyes gazing down at her, smiling yet not smiling.
…
…
Sitting at Shen Mo’s desk, she found that the young man had a lazy demeanor, starkly different from when he was at school, and even a bit cute.
Probably it was the warm yellow light in the study that created this effect.
Of course, it might also be due to the fuzzy fine mustache just beginning to sprout on his upper lip, with milk sticking to it.
Shen Mo casually placed a new notebook in front of her, then opened his book with a serious and stern expression, looking every bit the uncompromising teacher facing his student.
He first tested her on a few physics formulas, then randomly set a few problems, asking her to select the appropriate formulas to solve them.
After confirming that she had a good grasp of the basic knowledge, he then presented her with more challenging problems to solve, to see how far she could go.
Hua Jie buried herself in solving the problems, initially answering them correctly, but as Shen Mo’s questions grew increasingly complex, her solving speed also began to slow down.
By the last question, she couldn’t help but look up, puzzled:
“Is this really part of what we’ve learned so far? Isn’t this beyond our syllabus?”
“Look into it more carefully before you ask that kind of question!” Shen Mo said bluntly.
“…” Hua Jie pursed her lips, feeling annoyed.
Every time she studied with him, she felt disheartened; his brain didn’t seem like a normal brain, but more like a computer.
She lowered her head and gritted her teeth, continuing to analyze.
After writing physics problems all night, her brain buzzed, and her eyes felt sore. She rubbed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to concentrate, stubbornly staring at the problem, rereading it, and began filtering through the problems she had done before and the formulas she had memorized, in order to find the right approach to the solution.