8: Chapter 8 The problem with people is their fondness for teaching.

"Holy crap, is Sect Leader Yue flirting like this?"

"Awesome, he's so fucking brave! Who says Cultural Reference isn't a man?"

"This progress is way too fast, it's ridiculous."

...

Shen Weiyue regretted it as soon as he said it. This bunch of bastards loved to make wild associations and gossip; he was probably in trouble!

Sure enough, Zhao Qingyan had already reacted. She glared at him in embarrassment and anger, and then began writing down names—whoever was making the most noise got written down.

Everyone watched helplessly as she left the classroom expressionlessly, and before long, she brought Old Demon Han back with her.

"Shen Weiyue, take out your lighter. Confiscated!"

The Old Demon directly confiscated Director Shen's lighter, and then began calling people out with precision.

"Ye Lingtao, Zhou Qiang, Guo Liang..."

"Those whose names I called, go stand at the back of the classroom. You guys are on cleaning duty today."

A few of the guys cried out in protest: "That's not fair, Teacher Han! Why doesn't Shen Weiyue have to stand at the back with us?"

"Shen Weiyue will write a two-thousand-word self-reflection and hand it in to the office tomorrow morning." Old Demon Han sneered, "Do you guys want to write one too?"

"No, we don't! Brilliant decision, Teacher, we fully support it!"

The idiots happily accepted their punishment, while Shen Weiyue glanced at Zhao Qingyan gloomily.

The School Beauty proudly lifted her head and even sneered at him.

Damn it, no wonder you don't have any friends.

Tattling at every little thing, who could stand that?

The Old Demon suppressed the troublemakers, scolded Shen the Monkey, and got the situation completely under control before leaving the classroom with his hands behind his back.

Director Shen, without another word, lowered his head and began writing his self-reflection.

"Self-Reflection on My Attempted Pen-Burning Incident: Respected Teacher Han, I have deeply realized my mistake..."

Zhao Qingyan intentionally sat up straight, wanting to catch a glimpse of what he was writing.

Director Shen covered his notebook with his left hand and turned to the right, blocking Nickname's line of sight.

Heh, who cares.

Zhao Qingyan dismissed the thought and began reading her book.

In the end, Shen Weiyue couldn't finish it during morning self-study. He had only written a few hundred words at most when the official classes began.

The first two periods in the morning were Chinese. As soon as the Chinese teacher arrived, they went straight to writing an essay, leaving Director Shen no time for his self-reflection.

After the Chinese class, everyone went to the main playground for morning exercises. Shen Weiyue stood right behind Zhao Qingyan, and during the jumping exercises, he was whipped hard by her ponytail several times.

This School Beauty was definitely using public office to avenge a personal grudge!

Just do the exercises, don't jump so hard! Even your school uniform is flying up, who are you trying to seduce?

Shen Weiyue sneezed twice.

After morning exercises, there were two math classes. Shen Weiyue took all the incorrect questions and difficult points he had accumulated to ask Old Demon Han.

Because time was tight and many people were asking questions, Old Demon Han explained very quickly, constantly throwing in phrases like "you should have understood this by now" and "let's assume X."

Shen Weiyue still hadn't fully grasped one of the major questions; his brain was stuck.

"Alright, I have to rush to the next class. Think about it on your own first. If you still don't get it, come find me during evening self-study."

Shen Weiyue had no choice but to give up for now, returning to his seat to think with a frown.

In stark contrast to the rest of the class's deep contemplation, Zhao Qingyan remained completely calm and unbothered through all the classes. It seemed there wasn't a single question she couldn't solve, and she showed absolutely no sense of urgency for the upcoming College Entrance Exam.

Shen Weiyue was truly impressed by her intelligence.

He finally managed to wait until evening self-study, but it turned out Han Changming had something urgent to attend to, so he had the Chinese teacher supervise the study session instead.

Tortured by that question until his head spun, Shen Weiyue really couldn't figure it out, so he turned around to ask the girl in the row behind him.

She was also the perennial second-place student in the class.

The Study Representative, Ning Xi.

She could be considered quite a little beauty.

"Representative Ning, sorry to bother you, but could you help explain this question to me?"

Ning Xi looked up in confusion. This Cultural Reference had never actively asked classmates for help before. Why was he bypassing the Math Queen to ask her?

"Which question? Let me take a look."

"This one. Let A and B be two points on the ellipse 3x² + y² = λ, and point N(1, 3) is the midpoint of segment AB. The perpendicular bisector of segment AB intersects the ellipse at points C and D. Determine the range of values for λ, and find the equation of line AB..."

"Uh, this question... here's how I understand it..."

Ning Xi didn't refuse either. She took her pen and began calculating on her notebook, then quietly explained it to Shen Weiyue.

Student Nickname initially thought Cultural Reference was just whispering with someone and was about to poke him to write his name down, when she suddenly caught the scent of mathematics.

"Well, well, you Shen the Donkey! I waited for you for so long, and you didn't ask me, yet you went to ask Ning Xi instead!"

Ning Xi's math skills are just average anyway; she's nothing more than a defeated opponent of this class monitor.

Heh, I'd like to hear what kind of wonders she can come up with.

Zhao Qingyan controlled her urge to turn around, pricked up her ears to listen closely, and after a moment, a look of disdain appeared on her face.

Pfft, and here I thought she was so amazing. It's just a conventional method.

It'd be a miracle if this Shen the Donkey could understand it.

Sure enough, after listening to Ning Xi's explanation, Shen Weiyue's brow was still furrowed, and he looked like he only half-understood.

"Ah, Student Shen Weiyue, that's how it goes. Did you get it?"

"I understand a bit of it, but I feel like there's a key point sticking me and I can't wrap my head around it. I think I've hit a bottleneck."

"Well... how about I explain it one more time?"

"Thank you."

So Ning Xi explained it again, but Shen Weiyue was still scratching his head.

Math is so fucking hard!

The perennial second-place and Cultural Reference stared at each other in mutual confusion, which nearly drove the Female Top Student next to them crazy with impatience.

So stupid!

Two idiots.

Hey, this question isn't meant to be understood that way.

Ask me, ask me!

I have a mind-blowing solution, super simple.

...

"Sigh, I'm just too dumb. I still can't understand it. Thanks anyway, I'll go ask the teacher tomorrow."

Shen Weiyue turned back around with a self-deprecating laugh. Ning Xi could only offer an awkward yet polite smile, suggesting, "Why don't you ask the class monitor? Her math is the best."

Here it comes, here it comes.

The Stupid Donkey is going to ask me.

Zhao Qingyan sat up straight, waiting for Shen the Donkey to take the initiative and speak.

To her surprise, Shen Weiyue just smiled, and that was it.

Zhao Qingyan glanced out of the corner of her eye. He was still scribbling aimlessly on his scratch paper, and when he got stuck, he just stared blankly at Ning Xi's steps.

How can a person be so petty? Just because I reported you for burning a pen and got you penalized with a two-thousand-word self-reflection, you won't even ask me for help with math?

Zhao Qingyan held back again and again, but seeing him be so incredibly stupid, she finally couldn't take it anymore.

"This part should be solved like this..."

She snatched Shen Weiyue's notebook, crossed out the third line of his solution, and began writing rapidly.

She wrote very seriously. Looking at her profile, Shen Weiyue felt there was a kind of beauty filled with knowledge.

Her head had probably been kissed by Gauss; her soft air bangs scattered the light, wearing a halo of wisdom.

"What are you looking at me for? Look at the question! Expressed like this, do you get it now?"

"I think I get it."

"What do you mean 'think'? You either get it or you don't. I'll explain it one more time, listen carefully."

Like a rigorous little teacher, Zhao Qingyan pointed at the notebook and explained it once more.

Shen Weiyue listened intently, and a look of sudden realization finally appeared on his face.

At that moment, Zhao Qingyan felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey. A deep sense of accomplishment welled up inside her; so teaching a Stupid Donkey actually felt this satisfying.

She flashed a satisfied smile.

And with that, everything around them lost its color.

Shen Weiyue couldn't help but daze out.

She's so good-looking, why does she have to be a top student?