After class, Ding Yebai stood in the corridor, gazing indifferently at the gloomy sky.
Li Pingqiu walked over and handed him a piece of candy.
"Hmm? Want one?"
"Thanks."
Ding Yebai took it and popped it straight into his mouth.
Seeing him like that, Li Pingqiu really couldn't hold back his laughter.
"You're way too cool."
Ding Yebai raised his right eyebrow and suppressed the smile at the corner of his mouth. Turning his head to look at him, he asked, "What?"
Li Pingqiu said, "I said you're handsome."
Ding Yebai: "..."
Good taste!
Li Pingqiu gave two awkward laughs. "Haha..."
Ding Yebai shot him a sidelong glance, straightened up, and asked, "By the way, since you already got into college, why did you choose to do it all over again?"
Li Pingqiu narrowed his eyes and smiled. "..."
Ding Yebai looked into the distance, his tone calm. "I definitely don't want to experience senior year of high school again. Maybe I'll look back on it someday, but I absolutely won't go through it again."
Li Pingqiu said, "For me, it was because I didn't like my major. So I chose to repeat my final year."
Ding Yebai asked, "Just for that reason?"
Li Pingqiu said, "Yeah. Studying that major made me unhappy, so I decided to start over. I'm confident I can get into college again."
"I see." Ding Yebai said no more and savored the candy carefully.
"Yang Zhi... Is she famous at Jinghuai University?" He paused, then asked out of nowhere.
Li Pingqiu pushed up his glasses and looked at him with a gossipy expression. "Haha, I'd say she is. After all, she's widely recognized as a beauty."
Ding Yebai: "...I see."
Li Pingqiu asked, "How do you know her?"
Ding Yebai said, "She's my sister's junior and is currently tutoring me in English."
"..."
Li Pingqiu went through a long, long, long period of thought, and then...
Everything became clear.
"That's normal, that's normal." He smiled with an expression that seemed to see through everything. "You're eighteen, after all. I understand, I understand!"
"...Don't get the wrong idea. We're completely innocent."
"But with the look in your eyes right now, there's no way I'd call it innocent."
"Nonsense. My eyes are perfectly clear, black and white, and completely innocent!"
Ding Yebai rarely acted this childish. Then he deliberately changed the subject. "Oh, right. I heard you're especially good at physics."
What a painfully abrupt change of subject.
Li Pingqiu didn't continue dwelling on the matter and answered modestly, "I'm average."
Ding Yebai said, "There's a problem I couldn't figure out. Want to discuss it together?"
"Sure." Li Pingqiu readily agreed.
After school that evening
Ding Yebai continued listening to class, doing problems, and studying with great seriousness.
He got a perfect score on today's dictation again, and he had written it very quickly.
For some reason, all he wanted to do now was study desperately—to get good results as soon as possible and become a top student who was well-rounded, without a single weak subject!!!
Later, during the five-minute break.
Yang Zhi took out a sheet of paper from her bag and looked at it.
Ding Yebai saw it and asked, "What's that?"
Yang Zhi said, "Lyrics."
Ding Yebai asked, "Lyrics?"
"Yeah. The school is holding a singing competition. I printed out the lyrics for my roommate."
Ding Yebai asked, "Can I take a look?"
"Mm." Yang Zhi handed him the paper.
Ding Yebai happened to see two lines and naturally read them aloud.
"Morning after morning, evening after evening, we ultimately part in sorrow; with one glance of devotion, love grows deep."
After saying that, he raised his eyes, looking somewhat confused.
Seeing his vacant expression, Yang Zhi smiled slightly and said, "It means that every morning and evening is spent enduring the sorrow of parting, while feelings are stirred without anyone realizing it and grow deeper and deeper."
Thump—
Those words pierced straight into Ding Yebai's heart.
Like a needle, they stabbed in quickly, then vanished without a trace.
His pupils widened, as if he had understood something. He turned around to face forward and twirled his pen between his fingers.
Yang Zhi asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." As he spoke, Ding Yebai handed the paper back to her.
Yang Zhi: "..."
She said nothing more, folding the paper neatly and putting it into her bag.
"Your accuracy has been steadily improving lately."
"Hmm?"
Ding Yebai turned his head to look at her.
As always, Yang Zhi wore a warm smile. "Keep it up, and you'll get good results."
Ding Yebai stared blankly and straight at that smile—at that smile, at that smile...
Time passed second by second. Between each passing second, it seemed as though eternity stretched on.
After a while
His pupils suddenly contracted, his brows furrowing into a small hill, and his face unconsciously flushed!
Damn it!!!
He had known that Yang Zhi's smile was beautiful, but how had he only just realized that it was this incredibly beautiful?! Before, all he'd noticed was how much he disliked the way she smiled so often...
Now, he felt that every time she smiled, even the snow on Mount Tianheng would melt!!!
"I understand." Ding Yebai said the four words in an extremely indifferent tone, then opened his test paper and silently began working on the problems.
He looked cold and indifferent, but inside, his heart was pounding like a drum, almost leaping out of his chest.
As far as Yang Zhi was concerned, however, it was nothing more than an utterly ordinary, perfectly normal smile.
Her brows and eyes curved with utmost gentleness. As she looked at Ding Yebai's profile, she couldn't help adding, "Actually, as long as it's something you want to do, I believe you can accomplish it."
Ding Yebai abruptly raised his head. His arm stiffened, his pen stopped moving, and he simply stared blankly at Yang Zhi.
Yang Zhi asked, "Hmm?" She looked at him in confusion.
Ding Yebai's mouth hung half open. He had just been about to say something when Yang Zhi spoke first. "Could it be that my lipstick got on my teeth again..."
"Ah, no. No, no." Ding Yebai hurriedly explained. Then he looked away and casually asked, "You really believe that?"
Yang Zhi said, "You're smart, hardworking, and persistent. With those two qualities, success is only a matter of time. And during this period..." She paused and patted Ding Yebai's test paper with her palm. "You have me helping you, too."
Ding Yebai looked at the fair, slender hand resting on his test paper, then at her exquisite face.
After a moment, he quietly said, "Thanks."
"You're welcome, you're welcome. I'm only telling the truth." As she spoke, Yang Zhi flipped through the test papers he had completed. "All right, back to the problems."
Ding Yebai: "Mm."
Thanks to Gaomu for the 1,500 Origin Point Coins, Nianhua Qing Shi for the 100 Origin Point Coins, and Bu Hui Fei De Ya Zi for the 1,500 Origin Point Coins in rewards.
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