He had no idea what Teacher Zhang had gone off to do with Chen Shi'an's test paper.
All he knew was that when the paper came back to him, there were several new dents and creases in it, as though someone had jabbed at it with a finger during an argument...
"Uh... Shi'an, well, if you can't keep up in math class from now on, that's all right. Just study your books on your own for now. Write down any questions you have and ask me later."
"Okay. Thank you, Teacher Zhang."
Teacher Zhang looked as wilted as an eggplant hit by frost. Gazing at the quiet, refined young man before him, he let out a heavy sigh.
He should have been such a promising student... How could he have never even gone to school... Fate really does play tricks on people!
The bell rang.
Teacher Zhang returned to the podium and continued explaining the last two major questions on the test.
Chen Shi'an glanced at his paper again. He still had no clue how to solve the problems on it, so he stuffed it back into his desk and returned to his seventh-grade math.
Lin Meng Qiu glanced at him.
He was in that same state again...
In psychology, there was a specific term and explanation for this state: flow.
It referred to the state of complete concentration and immersion people experienced while doing certain things, losing themselves in the task. In this state, their thinking and reaction speeds reached their peak, and they might even lose all sense of time. After completing the task, they would feel energized and deeply satisfied.
Having spent years concentrating on her studies, Lin Meng Qiu had naturally experienced this state herself.
When she entered it, she didn't actually feel anything special. She simply felt very calm and exceptionally resistant to distractions. Whether she was reading, writing, or solving problems, everything went unusually smoothly and efficiently. Only after leaving that state would she realize how ridiculously good she'd just been.
Of course everyone wanted to enter a flow state, but even for Lin Meng Qiu, it was something that happened by chance, not on demand. She had only experienced that wondrous sensation a handful of times. Usually, when she didn't respond to people calling her, she wasn't in a flow state-she simply didn't feel like acknowledging them.
Yet Chen Shi'an could apparently enter that state whenever he pleased!
Could anyone really adjust their mental state so quickly and exercise such extraordinary control over it?
Remembering that Chen Shi'an was a Taoist, Lin Meng Qiu found it easier to accept. Perhaps only somewhere tucked away in the mountains, far from all the noise, could produce someone like him. For people in modern society, steeped in short videos and all kinds of chaotic information every day, maintaining their concentration for twenty minutes was already impressive...
Time ticked away.
After two periods of independent study, Chen Shi'an had finished "Chapter 1: Rational Numbers" and "Chapter 2: Addition and Subtraction of Algebraic Expressions." He had read more than seventy pages, nearly half of Seventh-Grade Mathematics, Volume One.
To someone who had already learned it, the contents of those two chapters were naturally basic and simple. But this was Chen Shi'an's first exposure to them, and he was learning on his own. In just two class periods, he had taught himself what seventh graders spent half a semester learning. His pace was certainly fast.
Just as he put down his pen, the bell rang for the end of class.
The classroom filled with chatter. Feeling a little tired, Chen Shi'an interlaced his fingers and stretched his hands outward, relaxing a little.
When he turned his head, he noticed Lin Meng Qiu looking at the math textbook still lying open on his desk.
As though sensing his gaze, the girl shifted her eyes slightly and met his.
"How's it going?"
For once, she took the initiative to start a conversation.
Her tone, however, held curiosity rather than concern.
"Pretty well. I just finished addition and subtraction of algebraic expressions. The next chapter should be linear equations in one variable."
"Anything you don't understand?"
She asked again. There still wasn't much concern in her voice, but there was a faint hint of eagerness.
"Nothing so far."
"..."
The girl lost interest in the conversation and picked up her cup to drink.
"The exercises in the textbook are too basic. They don't feel very useful. Class monitor, could you give me a couple of problems to try?"
"..."
Lin Meng Qiu said nothing, but she transferred the cup from her right hand to her left, picked up the pen on her desk with her right hand, and began writing briskly on her scratch paper.
Before Chen Shi'an could lean over to look, she slid the notebook with the finished problems into the space between their desks.
Since Lin Meng Qiu had come up with the problems offhand, they weren't particularly difficult, and were much like the ones in the textbook.
Chen Shi'an took them and wrote down his answers in a few quick strokes, without even using scratch paper.
"These answers are right, aren't they?"
"Yes."
Lin Meng Qiu nodded, then added, "But you'd lose points."
"Why?"
"Points are awarded for the steps in your solution. You skipped several steps. Even if your answer is right, you won't get full marks."
"I see..."
Chen Shi'an humbly accepted the lesson. Although he didn't particularly care about those supposedly skipped steps, if the exams required them, he ought to follow the rules.
"Thank you, class monitor. None of that is in the book. I wouldn't have known if you hadn't told me."
"~~~"
"Could you give me a harder problem?"
"You can find relevant practice problems yourself."
"Where would I find them?"
"Buy workbooks at a bookstore."
"Okay. About how much does one cost?"
"A few dozen yuan, I suppose."
After saying that, Lin Meng Qiu noticed that Chen Shi'an seemed troubled again.
One workbook alone cost a few dozen yuan, and he didn't even know how much material it covered. Even if each workbook corresponded to one math textbook, he had missed so many years of schooling, and there were so many subjects. How much would all that add up to?
Upholding a fine tradition passed down through his lineage, Chen Shi'an asked earnestly:
"Class monitor, do you still have your middle-school workbooks? Could you lend them to me?"
"...Why not buy new ones?"
"I don't have the money."
"..."
The boys who appeared around her had always liked to flaunt their wealth, show off their looks, or demonstrate how many books they'd read and what impressive skills they'd learned. Chen Shi'an alone had candidly told her that he'd never gone to school and had no money... And now he was even asking to borrow things from her!
Lin Meng Qiu stared blankly for a while before saying, resigned, "They're all at home. I'm not sure whether they're still there, and I've already done the problems, so that might affect your practice. If you really want them
"then I'll bring them over for you another day."
"I'd be most grateful."
"..."
Having decided that the Taoist before her probably wasn't the sort to take a workbook she'd used and inhale its scent deep into his lungs, Lin Meng Qiu reluctantly agreed.
She had never borrowed anything from anyone, and people looking to borrow things never approached someone like her, who looked difficult to talk to at first glance.
Honestly, letting someone else use something she'd used was rather embarrassing...
Especially something like a workbook, which recorded the course of her studies: whether her handwriting had been nice back then, whether she'd gotten lots of seemingly easy problems wrong, or whether she'd foolishly written anything strange in it.
Of course, voicing those private thoughts would only make her a laughingstock, and it wasn't her style anyway.
But she was a living person, not a block of wood. Naturally, she had thoughts and feelings of her own. She simply kept them in her heart rather than on her lips.
Whatever the case, just lending him workbooks was much easier for her to accept than putting their heads together to teach him math...
Lin Meng Qiu kept her cup tilted for quite a while before realizing it was empty.
Holding the cup, she drew her long legs out from beneath the desk and turned to face Chen Shi'an.
That was the downside of having a desk mate: getting in and out was inconvenient.
Noticing her movement, Chen Shi'an turned to look at her.
Just as Lin Meng Qiu was about to speak, Chen Shi'an stood. He stepped sideways into the aisle and pushed his chair under the desk as well.
Chen Shi'an's thoughtfulness and quick reaction surprised Lin Meng Qiu a little. Since he had already made room, she stood with her cup and walked straight out.
Only then did Chen Shi'an notice that when Lin Meng Qiu stood, the top of her head came just about level with his mouth.
As the girl passed him, the ends of her hair swept across his vision before the rest of her did. The gentle breeze carried her scent toward him, like lilies of the valley touched with morning dew-so faint it was almost impossible to catch, yet it blossomed with each breath, lingering strand by strand in his heart.
As their shoulders passed, before that delicate scent had faded, a softly breathed "Thank you" drifted over, warm and gentle.
Chen Shi'an looked back. She had already walked past him.
With light, unhurried steps, she made her way to the front of the classroom, stepped onto the platform, crossed it, and bent down to fill her cup at the water dispenser beside it.
Gurgle, gurgle-
Bubbles rose in the water dispenser's blue jug.
Coming back to his senses, Chen Shi'an finally realized that he had been watching her for quite a while without noticing...
Before you continue