Eraser shavings lay scattered across the desk.
Lin Meng Qiu gave it a light sweep with her small hand, and the little bunny's eraser crumbs were gone...
When she looked back again, the "clueless" stinky Taoist had finally become "clued in," no longer pressing her with questions, and went back to honestly working on his problems.
To be honest, if Chen Shi'an hadn't brought it over to show her, even Lin Meng Qiu herself would have forgotten when she'd drawn that cute little bunny pencil sketch in her workbook-and a "crying" one at that...
How many years had it been? Even she couldn't clearly remember whether she'd drawn that "crying little bunny" because she couldn't solve a problem, or because she missed her mom.
Maybe both-it just so happened that when she couldn't solve a problem, she sadly thought of her mom.
When people mature and look back on the road they've traveled, they always find their past selves childish, and feel ashamed to bring it up.
Sappy words, blunt emotional expression... all of it was at odds with what she now understood as "maturity."
She didn't actually feel ashamed of not being able to solve problems, nor of missing her mom. What she felt ashamed of was that her past self had expressed such vulnerability, and seeing it again after so many years gave her a sense of a rift between "the me of the past" and "the me of now."
At seventeen this year, she still had problems she couldn't solve, still had times she missed her mom-but she would never draw a "crying little bunny" again.
This way of surviving by burying her inner feelings deep down had, at some unknown point, become an instinct.
Lin Meng Qiu thought this was just fine. It probably counted as what her mom called "growing up."-Never having moments of vulnerability, never needing anyone to worry about her.
Without realizing it, she'd zoned out.
She stared blankly at the empty space in her draft notebook, her pen tip wandering, and a "little bunny" cartoon doodle drawn with a gel pen leaped onto the paper.
Muscle memory from years ago made her instinctively about to draw a few "teardrops" on the "little bunny's" face-
But when the pen touched down, the tip suddenly froze.
Then came a flurry of scribbled lines, completely blacking out and covering up that cute cartoon bunny doodle.
Chen Shi'an heard the heavy sound of the pen tip scraping across the paper and glanced over from the corner of his eye.
He didn't know what she'd just been writing or drawing, but by now she'd already torn that page out of the draft paper, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into the trash bag hanging beside the desk.
Looking at the girl's face again, it seemed a few degrees colder than usual.
Lin Meng Qiu seemed to sense something and looked over at him.
Chen Shi'an reacted faster than she did; almost the moment she began to turn her neck, he'd already withdrawn his gaze.
Master, oh Master! Women are way harder to understand than problems! Your disciple treads on thin ice!
The little Taoist clicked his tongue inwardly. He could sense Lin Meng Qiu was in a bad mood, but he didn't know what this sudden emotional fluctuation was about. He was smart enough, though, to know the best move right now was to pretend he hadn't noticed. If he went over to show concern, he'd surely mean well but do harm!
Chen Shi'an quietly channeled a wisp of clarity over to her.
It worked very well.
That inexplicable irritation in Lin Meng Qiu faded away just as inexplicably, and she picked up her pen and continued working on her problems in silence.
Only then did Chen Shi'an breathe a sigh of relief. Though he couldn't figure out what had suddenly gotten into Lin Meng Qiu, this matter had arisen because of him, so he ought to take responsibility and soothe her-especially since what he was using now was the workbook she'd specially carried over to lend him.
After working through three rounds of problems and flipping a few pages, Chen Shi'an's gaze slightly focused-
Beside a certain difficult problem, he discovered another pencil-drawn "crying little bunny."
But this time he'd learned his lesson. He didn't ask her about it, and even hid it carefully, not daring to let her notice...
It was really cute, wasn't it? Erasing it would be such a shame...
Chen Shi'an also picked up a pencil and drew another little bunny beside the "crying little bunny" doodle-[little bunny pats your head, don't cry, don't cry]
Heh heh.
You don't draw as well as this poor Taoist.
The last chemistry class ended, and the dismissal bell rang.
The classroom buzzed with noise, and Chen Shi'an pulled his attention back from his problems, closing the workbook in his hands.
A quick summary of today's study results: for Chinese, he'd roughly understood the scoring rules for modern high school exam answers; for English, he'd memorized three hundred and forty-six vocabulary words; for math, he'd self-studied the three major chapters of Seventh-Grade Mathematics, Volume One, and this last class had been spent doing workbook problems to consolidate-he'd gotten through less than a third of the three major chapters.
The entire Seventh-Grade Mathematics, Volume One contained six major chapters in total, from rational numbers, algebra, integral expressions, linear equations in one variable, all the way to introductory geometry. The difficulty climbed gradually.
Chen Shi'an was very clear that learning fast now didn't mean he could keep learning this fast later.
The key was that after learning, he still had to consolidate-that is, constantly do problems-to cultivate that kind of mathematical sensitivity and thinking that lets you draw inferences from one instance and see the big picture from small details.
As for how long he'd need to spend on math specifically to catch up with the current classroom pace, even he didn't have a definite number in mind. But there was plenty of time before the college entrance exam, so Chen Shi'an wasn't anxious. Solidifying the foundations first was what really mattered.
As for physics, chemistry, and biology, he'd just let them sit for now. Biting off more than you can chew is bad; one subject at a time.
There was still evening self-study tonight. It was now five-ten, and there was one hour and twenty minutes of free time before evening self-study at six-thirty.
But in reality, there wasn't that much "freedom." For boarding students, eating took fifteen or twenty minutes, right? Showering and washing clothes took fifteen or twenty minutes, right? Subtract those, and only forty or fifty minutes remained.
Chen Shi'an didn't yet know how to arrange it, so he planned to go grab a meal first.
He got up from his seat, walked out of the classroom, and went downstairs.
He had a meal buddy. At noon he'd agreed with Wen Zhixia that if they needed to eat together, he'd wait for her in the first-floor hallway. If she hadn't shown up after ten minutes, he could go ahead; or if he had something come up, he could leave directly-she'd know when she saw he wasn't there.
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Chen Shi'an liked this kind of arrangement-clear, nostalgic, free. On the premise of being companions, it still gave each other plenty of personal space.
Compared to the noon dismissal, the stairwell wasn't as crowded at the afternoon dismissal.
Chen Shi'an came to the first-floor hallway to wait. He hadn't seen Wen Zhixia yet, but instead saw Xu Zihan charging downstairs hugging a basketball.
"Daoist Master! Come play basketball! Dog-Zhe's already claimed a court!"
"I don't know how."
"Ha, what's the big deal! Except for me they're all noobs. Play a few rounds and you'll get it! Let's go, go, go-we're short on people anyway!"
Chen Shi'an thought about it, then followed Xu Zihan over to the Basketball Court to see what was going on, treating it as experiencing high school life.
The Basketball Court wasn't far-just cut through the Track and Field and you're there.
Liu Zhuoran, Zou Xiaokun, Wang Yuze, Li Kai, and a few others who'd claimed the court first were already there. Their backpacks were casually tossed beside the basketball hoop; they'd claimed half a court to play on.
As students in the top class, their athletic level wasn't anything to write home about. Aside from Xu Zihan, the sports committee member, whose ball skills were passable, the others' levels varied-yet each of them thought the others were worse than himself.
"Daoist Master!"
"Daoist Master's playing too?"
"Six people, perfect-let's split into two teams and play half-court!"
"Does the Daoist Master know Daoist-magic basketball?!"
"Daoist Master! Show us a thing or two!"
Boys' friendships mostly form through playing games together, playing ball together, or crowding onto the balcony during breaks to check out girls. Seeing Chen Shi'an come over to play ball, they all seemed very welcoming and curious, urging Chen Shi'an to show off first.
"Daoist Master, catch!"
Without warning, one of them tossed the basketball at him.
Chen Shi'an reached out and caught it steadily.
Any basketball player, upon catching the ball, would first dribble it a bit to get a feel for it. But Chen Shi'an didn't. After catching it, he just held it like that, cradled the ball and took a few steps, set his backpack aside, and only then said with a slightly embarrassed smile: "I really don't know how to play basketball. How do you play this? Is it throwing the ball into that hoop?"
Xu Zihan and the others were stunned. That jarring posture after the Daoist Master caught the ball-wasn't that exactly how someone who'd never touched a basketball would behave? Had the Daoist Master gone through drug rehab? He didn't even bounce the ball once after it landed in his hands?!
"Daoist Master, you really don't know how?"
"I really don't. When I was in the Mountains, our Taoist temple didn't have a basketball either. This is pretty much my first time touching one."
"Holy crap! Ninety-nine percent! A rare specimen!"
The guys immediately made a fuss. Sure, plenty of boys in the class didn't play basketball, but surely none were like the Daoist Master-reaching this age and touching a basketball for the first time!
"Then does the Daoist Master know the rules?"
"Throwing the ball into the hoop counts as scoring, right?"
"(⊙o⊙)... Uh, basically, but the rules are a bit more complicated. For example, where the Daoist Master is standing now is outside the three-point line. Throwing it in from there gets you three points. Or... holy crap!!"
Before Xu Zihan could even finish, he saw Chen Shi'an give a light push with both hands, sending the ball in his hands outward from chest level like a fired cannon shell. The basketball traced a perfect parabolic arc through the air and-swish-went in clean!
A swish! A shot that touched nothing but the net-no contact with the rim, backboard, or anything else! And he'd done it with that completely unorthodox "newbie shooting" form, releasing from a spot even two meters beyond the three-point line!
A basketball has some weight to it. Most people, when shooting from beyond the three-point line, would jump a little for power-let alone a newbie. But Chen Shi'an didn't move an inch. It felt like he'd just gently sent the ball out with both hands, and then it flew half the court's distance...
What just happened? I didn't see clearly! Was it a fluke?
"The Daoist Master's got skills!"
"Daoist Master, shoot again!"
"Did that just count as a score?"
"It counts, it counts! Come on, Daoist Master, try another one!"
Zou Xiaokun ran over to pick up the ball, then tossed it back toward Chen Shi'an.
The pass was a bit off. Chen Shi'an gave a light jump, reached out one hand, and steadily controlled the ball in flight.
"Holy crap!! Daoist Master, you're playing the pig to eat the tiger, huh? You can even one-hand grab the ball?! And that jumping ability??"
As Chen Shi'an sent the ball out with his newbie shooting form, the flying basketball went in clean again!
If the first was luck, the second made things very clear.
"My Dao is not alone!"
Xu Zihan shouted, patted Chen Shi'an on the shoulder, and said eagerly: "Who'd have thought our class had another expert besides me! In all of Yunqi No. 1 High School, only the Daoist Master and I stand out with our brilliance!"
"Cut the crap, Zihan! I've never seen you make a three-pointer. How can you compare to the Daoist Master?"
"Daoist Master, can you dunk? Dunk one to give us brothers an eyeful!"
The guys no longer believed Chen Shi'an when he said he couldn't play basketball, and they all urged him to show his strength.
This actually made Chen Shi'an a bit awkward: "I really don't know how..."
"The Daoist Master's just messing with us! Who'd believe you don't know how! I'll go first!"
Xu Zihan took the basketball, dribbled while charging forward at full speed, then leaped mightily!
...a flying dunk, and with a bang-
...the hoop wobbled as he hung there...
Xu Zihan's hand slammed hard against the rim, the pain making him grimace, yet he didn't make a sound.
"Daoist Master, you go! We're about the same height. I just saw your jumping and hang time-you can definitely dunk!"
"Dunk one, dunk one!"
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"...Just dunk it in, right?"
"Right! Dunk with all your strength!"
Seeing everyone egging him on, Chen Shi'an had no choice but to take the basketball, walk under the hoop, and leap up-
A standing vertical dunk?!
Xu Zihan and the others were already frozen. The scene before them seemed to slow down. The Daoist Master shot up from the ground, his whole body seeming to hang in the air. His outstretched right hand gripped the basketball and slammed it down toward the hoop before him...
Bang-!
After a huge noise, the transparent glass backboard, centered on the rim's position, instantly spread countless cracks, shattering the glass from transparent to a crystalline white!
Then came a [crash], and the shattered glass, the basketball, and Chen Shi'an in midair all came falling down...
The basketball bounced on the ground with a da-da-da rhythm. The empty backboard was gone; only the rim still wobbled unsteadily...
Xu Zihan and the other five were dumbstruck, feeling like they were dreaming and hadn't come back to their senses.
A strange silence fell over the air.
Only after quite a while did the monkeys let out heart-rending cries-
"Holy crap!!!"
"The Daoist Master dunked the hoop to pieces!!!"
"Damn, it really exploded!!!"
"Daoist-magic basketball!! This is Daoist-magic basketball!!"
"Badass!!!"
"A school-wide announcement!! There has to be a school-wide announcement!!!"
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