Shen You’an returned from the ancestral grave in complete silence.
"An’an, do you think my husband is handso?"
Zhang Xiaoyu squatted beside Shen You’an, clutching a pile of cards and stickers featuring the sa teenage boy.
Various bizarre, cringe-worthy outfits—there was hardly any trace of handsoness, more of a resemblance to frightful characters.
Kids these days sure have peculiar tastes.
"Isn’t he handso? Let tell you, he’s incredible at dancing and singing. He’s only sixteen this year but already the lead singer of the national boy band V-Team. Ah, my darling husband."
Zhang Xiaoyu kissed the photo of the boy with an infatuated expression.
The scene was simply unbearable to watch.
"Oh, by the way, a new talent show premieres on Fruit TV tonight! My husband will be there as a guest ntor. I’m so thrilled—I get to see him tonight..."
Aunt Guihua ca out of the kitchen and couldn’t help but scold when she heard Zhang Xiaoyu’s words: "A young girl like you, constantly shouting about husbands—aren’t you ashad? Huh? You even spent all your pocket money on these useless things! Let warn you, if you fail your next exam, not only will there be no pocket money, I’ll burn all these things in one go. You’re driving crazy!"
Aunt Guihua got more and more heated as she ranted, grabbing a broom leaning against the wall to hit Zhang Xiaoyu.
"An’an, save your little aunt!" Zhang Xiaoyu hid behind Shen You’an, poking her head out cautiously.
Not wanting to hit Shen You’an, Aunt Guihua tossed the broom aside.
Pointing at Zhang Xiaoyu, she said, "Since An’an is here, I won’t hit you now. But once she heads back to the city, just watch how I deal with you."
After speaking, her expression changed into a pleasant smile when facing Shen You’an—her transformation was utterly astonishing.
"An’an, about the thing you promised last night—does that still stand?"
Shen You’an nodded. "Don’t worry, Aunt Guihua."
"Good, good. I’ll go cook now; you kids have fun."
When Aunt Guihua left, Zhang Xiaoyu gazed at Shen You’an with suspicion.
"What did you promise my mom?"
"To tutor you in your studies."
Dragging a long face, Zhang Xiaoyu complained, "Why are you so annoying?"
Without a word, Shen You’an grabbed her braids. "Let’s go—you won’t get another chance like this."
Moving reluctantly, Zhang Xiaoyu pulled out her school bag. Shen You’an snatched it away and started pulling out books one at a ti.
He soon started laughing.
Novels, art books, lyric books...
Her textbooks were pristine, her notes nonexistent, but there were plenty of doodles, including one where she added a motorcycle to a famous ancient poet.
Shen You’an couldn’t help but laugh. "Turns out, you have talent for drawing."
Zhang Xiaoyu raised her eyebrows proudly. "Of course! Don’t you know who I am?"
At the very bottom of the bag, Shen You’an unearthed a test paper. Zhang Xiaoyu’s expression shifted, and she tried to snatch it back—too late.
A vibrant score stood out on the math test: 22.
"Twenty-two points, Zhang Xiaoyu, were you rolling dice to answer these questions?"
Her eyes lit up. "How did you know?"
Shen You’an stared at her innocent, pure eyes and suddenly found himself speechless.
"Getting so of the answers right by sheer guessing—you do have a bit of luck on your side."
Zhang Xiaoyu beca even more smug.
Shen You’an grabbed a pen, wrote a question in a blank notebook, and slid it in front of her.
"Solve this."
Zhang Xiaoyu bit her pen, deep in thought.
"How do you solve it again?"
Shen You’an rubbed his forehead in dismay.
How could a middle schooler not know how to solve a quadratic equation?
Her foundation was so weak—it needed rebuilding entirely.
"Xiao Yu..." A timid voice sounded from the door.
Both Shen You’an and Zhang Xiaoyu looked up.
A girl dressed in a white dress stood hesitantly at the doorway, her hair styled into braids. Her face sprinkled with freckles, her big dark eyes resembled those of a shy and clueless fawn.
Hugging so books to her chest, the girl lingered nervously at the entrance.
"Feifei? What are you doing here?" Zhang Xiaoyu stood up.
The girl’s gaze landed on Shen You’an, her eyes widening, and she froze completely.
Zhang Xiaoyu walked over, draped her arm over the girl’s shoulder, and waved her hand in front of her. "Snap out of it! I knew it would be like this—when I ran into her this morning, I also froze."
The girl blushed and lowered her head. "My mom heard that Sister An’an had co back and told to seek her help with studying."
"Sister An’an." Gathering courage, the girl stepped up to Shen You’an.
"My na is Zhang Feifei. I’m in the sa class as Xiao Yu. I hope I’m not bothering you. If you’re busy, I can leave."
"No need. Sit down."
Zhang Feifei sighed in relief and carefully took a seat.
"What would you like to ask ?"
Staring down timidly, Zhang Feifei whispered, "My math foundation is really poor, so I hope Sister An’an can help improve."
"Alright. Do you have any recent test papers? Let take a look."
Nodding vigorously, Zhang Feifei pulled a neatly folded test paper from her textbook and handed it to Shen You’an.
Shen You’an took the paper and slid the notebook toward Zhang Feifei.
"Solve this question."
Gripping her pen, Zhang Feifei began diligently tackling the problem.
Shen You’an glanced at her and then focused on the test paper, annotating it with his pen.
Seconds ticked by. Zhang Feifei finally put down her pen, "Sister An’an, I’m done."
Shen You’an replied with a brief "Hmm," glanced at her work, and spoke.
"You expanded each term and used the standard equation form, but the process is too cumberso. Exam graders prefer concise and straightforward steps for awarding points."
Feeling a bit defeated, Zhang Feifei lowered her head. "Sister An’an, am I really dumb?"
"You’re not dumb—your thods just need refinent. Slow and steady thods do have their rits, though; they speak to reliability and diligence. That’s the hallmark of good learning habits."
Embarrassed but relieved, Zhang Feifei looked back up. "Really?"
Shen You’an smiled. "Your foundation isn’t bad; your techniques need sharpening."
"Let’s revisit this question. Look at the equation structure—let x1 be m and (2‐x) be n. The left-hand side transforms neatly into a perfect square. Now, using the factoring thod, you can solve this equation..."
Guided by Shen You’an’s instructions, Zhang Feifei had an epiphany.
"I get it now! Sister An’an, you’re amazing—better than our teachers!"
Close to her, the girl’s porcelain-like face appeared luminous, her features flawless and delicate. Especially her eyes—no words could aptly describe their unparalleled beauty.
She sat there quietly, emanating grace, warmth, and a regal presence.
Seeing her not only stunned Zhang Feifei about her looks earlier, this ti completely won her over due to her intellect and elegance.
"Here’s your test paper. I noticed you’ve lost points on so straightforward questions, such as..."
One taught while the other learned attentively.
anwhile, Zhang Xiaoyu, left out, couldn’t hold it in any longer. An’an was ant to teach her, but Feifei had swooped in halfway, leaving Xiaoyu sidelined.
This won’t do.
No matter how much noise Zhang Xiaoyu made, neither gave her a glance.
"I don’t care! An’an, you have to teach !"
Shen You’an handed her a notebook. "Solve the questions I’ve written on it. If you can finish them all, we’ll talk."
He then ignored her entirely, focusing on Zhang Feifei’s lesson.
Zhang Xiaoyu frowned at the math problems in the notebook; they made her headache instantly.
Tempted to give up, she glanced at Shen You’an and Zhang Feifei. Gritting her teeth, she decided not to back down so easily.
Grabbing a pen, she racked her brain and tried her best.
Wasn’t this problem covered in class?
Slapping her forehead, she felt like her thoughts were a tangled ss.
She flipped through her textbook, searching page by page.
Luo Wan and Aunt Guihua stood outside the window, watching the scene, exchanging knowing smiles.
"An’an truly has her ways," said Aunt Guihua.
~
After studying for a while, Shen You’an brought out a Sudoku ga for the two girls to relax.
The afternoon flew by.
The group sat in the courtyard during dinner, bathed in the soft glow of the sunset.
Zhang Xiaoyu leaned toward Shen You’an, whispering, "Feifei confided in ; she wants to get into Qingzhou High School. I laughed at her—dream on."
Shen You’an raised his brows. "Why not? Feifei is bright. I think she has a real chance."
Surprised, Zhang Xiaoyu frowned. "Are you serious?"
"Of course."
She rolled her eyes. "She can’t even make it into the top ten at our class, and our middle school is the worst in town. Are you kidding ?"
"Here’s my advice: Everything is possible."
She scrunched her brows. "What?"
You know my English is terrible! Oh, can’t you just speak properly?
After dinner, Shen You’an strolled along the riverbank, lined with towering poplar trees. The autumn breeze scattered leaves as the sunset illuminated the rippling water.
Earbuds tucked in, the blinking light indicated an ongoing call.
"Boss, are you vacationing? Why don’t you co help ? I’m swamped and you’re playing hooky—what kind of leader are you?"
"Hmm, shall I find soone to replace you instead?"
"Forget it. Baotan’s filming wrapped up, Actress Ru is heading northwest to shoot another scene—it’ll take a month. Baotan left the crew yesterday for the company and even asked when you’d co to Chunzhou. I didn’t dare tell her. Thankfully, her school break’s ending soon. No more headaches for ."
"And Jiang Han’s new album is scheduled for release mid-November. He’s new, no background whatsoever, so I thought about getting him on a variety show for promotion. Even good wine needs so marketing."
"No need. He doesn’t like those shows—just stick to regular promotions. Trust him; he won’t let you down."
Zhao Heng sensed sothing unusual.
The boss was clearly partial to Jiang Han.
As the light dimd, the last glimr of dusk vanished, the world descending into night.
"Boss, and that Rong—"
"An’an, there you are! I found you—co on!"
Zhang Xiaoyu dashed over, tugging Shen You’an as she exclaid, "The show’s starting. I can finally see my husband..."
Shen You’an sighed. "Let’s pick up later then."
Zhao Heng was left speechless as the call ended.
The chatterbox in the background—who was she? How could she yell at the boss like that?
He originally wanted to ntion Rong Xianning; it seed Shen You’an paid particular attention to that guy.
Guess it’ll have to wait for another opportunity.
User Comments
0 comments from readers