It's Only Right That I Treat Ding Yebai Well

Jinghuai No. 1 High School

In the Class 1, Grade 12 classroom

After the assembly had just ended, the students returned to class for evening self-study.

Teacher Zhang Wei was preparing to go over the test papers.

It was the familiar round-robin method of going over the questions.

Zhang Wei said, "Starting with the class monitor. Each person explains one question, going down the line."

The class monitor, who sat in the first row and was always serious and diligent, sprang to his feet when he heard his name, pushed up his glasses, took out his paper, and began explaining the first multiple-choice question in the first reading passage.

Ding Yebai sat in the second-to-last row, with his good buddy Lu Shuai sitting in front of him.

The two of them were counting heads and figuring out exactly which question would be theirs.

"Hey, Ye Bai, yours is the second multiple-choice question in the classical Chinese passage, and mine is the first. What did you choose for your first one?" Lu Shuai turned around and whispered.

Ding Yebai said, "B."

Since they had chosen the same answer, Lu Shuai smiled happily. "Right, I chose B too."

Before answering a question, asking what the other students had chosen could boost your confidence if your answers matched. If they didn't, you could quickly check where you had gone wrong.

It was an old routine...

The worst thing about counting people this way was that if a student up front couldn't answer and the teacher told the next person to take over, all the order they had calculated beforehand would become meaningless.

Or the teacher might suddenly get carried away and explain that question, or even several questions in a row, before randomly asking someone to explain one.

Therefore, Ding Yebai included the next several questions in his calculations and checked them carefully.

He only did this for Chinese and English. If it were math or the science comprehensive section, he would have a hundred percent accuracy even if he solved the questions on the spot.

After figuring out which question would be his, he obediently listened to the other students explain theirs.

As he listened to the lesson, he spun his pen, wearing the same icy expression as before. There was a distant coldness about him that seemed to repel people a thousand miles away.

When he happened to hear a student translate the word "childish," he immediately perked up.

He blinked, staring blankly at the boy's back, and muttered, "Childish... childish... Yang Zhi?"

"Ding Yebai?" his female deskmate called out.

Ding Yebai came back to himself and straightened up. "What's wrong?"

His female deskmate asked, "Did you just think of something happy?"

Ding Yebai was puzzled.

"No."

"But..." His deskmate shot him a sideways glance before lowering her head to look at the questions again. In a small voice, she said, "You looked pretty happy smiling like that."

"..."

Ding Yebai suddenly pinched his own face. Even without looking in a mirror, he could feel how tense his muscles were.

This was bad. His smile had been way too exaggerated.

What was I even smiling about?

Come to think of it, why did it feel so strange that he didn't have to attend Yang Zhi's lesson when he went home today?

Meanwhile

At Yang Zhi's home

Yang Zhi had switched on a small light and was organizing the practice papers in the bedroom.

Sister Lin sat beside her, propping up her chin and watching her languidly.

After a long while

She asked, "Hey, Yang Zhi, you're tutoring him for free, right?"

Yang Zhi continued organizing the practice papers with her head lowered. "Mm."

Sister Lin frowned in puzzlement, straightened up, and continued, "Since you're tutoring him for free, why put in so much effort? You even went through the papers he had already done to find his mistakes, analyzed the reasons behind them, and then found similar questions online and printed them out for him?"

She paused, and the puzzlement in her eyes turned more into pity. "There's no need for that, right? It's a free job... Are you really working this hard for something so thankless?"

Click.

Hearing that, Yang Zhi capped her pen and set it aside. Then she turned around and looked directly at Sister Lin. "Sister Lin, you've got it wrong."

Sister Lin said, "Huh?"

Yang Zhi smiled faintly, lowered her eyes, and said gently, "Back then, Ding Yebai's older sister was willing to take care of Grandma wholeheartedly for a month. And afterward, she simply said, 'We're good friends. Of course I have to help with something like this.'"

Every time Yang Zhi recalled what had happened then, she was deeply moved.

Even if they were good friends, she shouldn't take it for granted.

"So I have to do everything I can to help Sister Yue Rong too. I'll start with this small matter of helping Ding Yebai improve his English. I'll definitely help him get a good score."

"I know this favor won't be easy to repay. If I asked her for money afterward, I'd have no conscience. As long as there's anything I can help her with in the future, I'm willing to do it."

She sounded so determined that she left Sister Lin completely dumbfounded.

"Oh, so that's how it is."

"As for Ding Yebai... He's my good friend's younger brother, after all. It's only normal to look after him a little." Yang Zhi turned back around and added the same casual remark.

"So how are Ding Yebai's grades now?"

"He's improved a lot. His English should be good enough to score over a hundred now. He has a lot of potential and can still improve further."

"..."

It's a wonder that kid can still settle down and study seriously when he sees a face like yours.

Sister Lin raised her eyebrows, opened the drink on the table, and took a big gulp. Then she lazily leaned against the back of her chair. "Come to think of it, today is Qixi Festival. You're really just staying home obediently?"

Yang Zhi chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Where else could I go?"

Sister Lin said, "Ah... true. You don't have a boyfriend. It's fine, I don't have one either. But Grandma used to keep telling me that I should believe there would definitely be someone who would step forward for me. I'm not so sure about myself, but you, Yang Zhi, probably have a good chance. After all, you're as beautiful as a flower and as gentle as flowing water."

The corners of Yang Zhi's lips lifted into a lovely curve as she smiled faintly. "Sister Lin is beautiful too. You should have more confidence."

"Hey, don't tease me... Forget it, just focus on making questions for that high school student. I'm going to get a good night's sleep. I'm leaving again tomorrow." Sister Lin set the drink on the table, lifted the covers, and lay down.

Yang Zhi looked at her somewhat reluctantly, her eyes and brows filled with tenderness. "Have a safe journey. I'll take good care of Qiqi for you."

Sister Lin blinked at her and raised a thumb. "Great! I trust you, Yang Zhi. With Qiqi in your care, I'll be completely at ease."

Yang Zhi's eyes curved into an innocent smile.