The heavy rain started to fall on Thursday morning, but it didn’t let up until Friday morning, when it finally turned into a light drizzle.
Shen Yuan watched the drizzling rain outside his window, figuring he probably wouldn’t be able to get a ride to school from Old Li today.
That’s right. For the past two days of heavy rain, Shen Yuan had been getting a ride to school from Old Li.
And for the past two days, he’d been eating the loving breakfasts Old Li made for his daughter.
Wednesday was sandwiches, and Thursday was breakfast burritos.
And you know, you really couldn’t deny it—they were actually pretty good.
"Ah, I won’t get to eat Uncle Li’s breakfast today. This is torture," Shen Yuan sighed with a look of regret as the elevator descended.
Li Zhi, standing beside him, saw his crestfallen expression and quickly comforted him. "Don’t be sad. You may not get to eat Old Li’s breakfast, but you can have mine."
Shen Yuan’s eyes lit up at her words, but then, as if rembering sothing, he grew wary and eyed her suspiciously.
"You can cook?"
Seeing this, Li Zhi’s lips curved upward into a confident smile. She nodded and said, "Hey! Don’t you underestimate ! My culinary skills were personally passed down from Old Li! They’re pretty amazing, you know!"
Hearing this, Shen Yuan’s curiosity was piqued. He pressed, "Oh? For real? So what delicious thing did you make today?"
The smile on Li Zhi’s face grew even brighter. She grinned at Shen Yuan, playing coy. "Do you really want to eat it?"
Shen Yuan nodded without hesitation. "Of course!"
Seeing this, Li Zhi was secretly pleased and continued to press, "Then say it."
"I want to eat," Shen Yuan said firmly.
"What do you want to eat?"
"I want to eat the breakfast Li Zhi made!" Shen Yuan declared loudly.
The mont the words left his mouth, a sharp SMACK echoed with startling clarity in the small elevator.
Shen Yuan stared at his own arm in shock. A fiery sting spread through it, and only then did he realize he’d just been slapped.
"How do you like my five-finger special?" the beautiful girl asked with a grin.
But Shen Yuan was not happy. The look of anticipation on his face vanished instantly.
The boy’s expectant heart seed to have been shattered by the prank.
Seeing his expression, Li Zhi asked tentatively, "Are you mad?"
Shen Yuan shook his head, but his expression didn’t change at all.
The smile on Li Zhi’s face faded.
Just as she was about to say sothing, the elevator doors opened.
Without a mont’s hesitation, Shen Yuan strode out.
"Hey!"
Watching Shen Yuan walk away without a backward glance, Li Zhi imdiately chased after him.
The rain had lessened, but you still needed an umbrella to go outside.
A silken drizzle enveloped the streets, as if veiling the entire world in a thin gauze.
Shen Yuan held his umbrella, head bowed, walking slowly over the wet pavent. His steps seed to drag, his mood apparently heavy.
The red mark on his arm from Li Zhi’s slap was especially conspicuous, a stark contrast to the surrounding skin.
However, Shen Yuan paid the mark no mind, his attention completely focused on the road beneath his feet.
A small pebble appeared in his path. He instinctively kicked it with the tip of his shoe. The pebble went flying, splashing water onto his pant leg, but he seed not to notice, still lost in his own thoughts.
"Hey!" Li Zhi jogged to catch up to Shen Yuan, walking beside him and subtly tilting her umbrella toward the boy.
In the light rain, Li Zhi reached out a finger, gently poking the spot she had hit. She then asked cautiously, "Shen Yuan, does it still hurt?"
Her voice was laced with a hint of guilt and concern.
Shen Yuan shook his head, his expression unchanging, still the sa as before.
However, when he happened to glimpse Li Zhi’s reflection in a shop window, biting her lower lip, his fingers, hidden in his pocket, secretly pinched his thigh to keep himself from laughing out loud.
"Let buy you breakfast."
Shen Yuan turned to look at Li Zhi, a hint of sorrow seemingly hidden in the depths of his eyes.
"But I want to eat sothing you made yourself."
Li Zhi’s heart skipped a beat.
’Oh no, this is the kind of guilt that’ll make want to slap myself when I think about it tonight.’
"But I can’t make anything right now."
"Then I’m not eating."
Shen Yuan turned and started walking again.
But before he could take a single step, Li Zhi grabbed his sleeve.
Before Shen Yuan could turn his head, the beautiful girl’s voice sounded by his ear.
"I’m sorry. You... if you’re upset, just tell what you want to do. I... as long as it’s not too much, I’ll agree to anything."
"Really?"
Shen Yuan looked at Li Zhi.
The beautiful girl nodded imdiately.
Faced with such a tempting offer, Shen Yuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed silently.
Under Li Zhi’s watchful gaze, Shen Yuan spoke.
"Um, I brought that light."
Shen Yuan mid the action of putting on a headband.
Li Zhi: ?
Right now, Li Zhi really wanted to crack open Shen Yuan’s head and see what the hell was inside.
’Why is this fucking dumbass acting like a retard when he should be making a move?’
’You’ll be single for the rest of your life!’
’Even if I’m still unmarried at 35, I wouldn’t go for a retard like you!’
"Fine! I didn’t bring it today, but I’ll wear it with you after school tomorrow!" Li Zhi said through gritted teeth.
Hearing this, Shen Yuan’s gloomy deanor imdiately vanished, his eyes sparkling.
He also secretly rubbed his thigh.
’It’s probably going to be swollen from all my pinching.’
Li Zhi noticed these small movents and frowned slightly.
She felt that Shen Yuan was acting a little strange, as if he were hiding sothing from her.
Shen Yuan sensed Li Zhi’s scrutinizing gaze and his heart tightened.
He imdiately realized he might have given himself away. Flustered, Shen Yuan tried to cover his tracks.
"Let’s go, let’s go, ti for breakfast," Shen Yuan said, preparing to make a run for it.
But Shen Yuan’s plan didn’t succeed.
Li Zhi was quick, grabbing his arm in one swift motion.
"You fucking dumbass, Shen Yuan! You were faking it the whole ti, weren’t you!"
"You want breakfast, do you!"
"Co on! Today I’m going to teach you what they an when they say a mother’s love makes you strong! And what the Gucci of motherly love tastes like!"
Li Zhi raised her hand and slapped Shen Yuan squarely on the back.
A crisp THWACK rang out. You could tell it was a good, solid back.
"OW!"
Shen Yuan contorted on the spot.
In front of the stead bun shop, the owner perked up the mont he saw Shen Yuan arrive.
But soon, the owner noticed that Shen Yuan didn’t look too good. You could even describe him as looking "cowed."
One look at the red mark on Shen Yuan’s arm and Li Zhi standing to the side, shaking her hand in disgust, and the owner knew exactly what was going on.
’What else could it be? A little lovers’ quarrel.’
"Oi!"
The owner jutted out his chin. "It’s early in the morning! Pull yourself together! How about a bun?"
Shen Yuan’s gaze focused, and a serious look returned to his eyes as he t the owner’s.
Seeing Shen Yuan’s gaze, the owner imdiately responded in kind.
He lifted his chin slightly, one hand on the handle of the stear and the other holding a plastic bag.
Li Zhi watched the two males, wondering why they had suddenly gotten so serious.
The next second, Shen Yuan called out, "Boss! One vermicelli, one pickled vegetable, one at, one preserved vegetable, one greens, and a savory tofu pudding!"
"15!"
Shen Yuan looked at the bag in front of him and knew he had lost again.
Taking the buns, Shen Yuan silently scanned the QR code and paid.
’A true man, even in defeat, must accept it with grace!’
Li Zhi bought two buns and a savory soy milk.
In terms of taste, Li Zhi and Shen Yuan were actually quite similar; they both preferred savory breakfasts.
As Shen Yuan put it, eating sothing sweet in the morning would make him feel awful all day.
On the way to school, the customary bun-splitting scene unfolded.
"Here."
Shen Yuan handed half of a pickled vegetable bun to Li Zhi.
Li Zhi looked at the bun, then back at Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan noticed that Young Master Li’s gaze was gentle when looking at the bun, but when she looked at him, it was like she wanted to eat him alive.
’Huh? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?’
Li Zhi looked at Shen Yuan, harrumphed, and then took the half-bun from his hand.
Seeing this, Shen Yuan let out a long sigh of relief.
’Looks like Young Master Li is in a better mood now.’
Back in the classroom, Shen Yuan didn’t work on math, but switched to physics instead.
Li Zhi had seen the physics materials Tong Churou had given him. For a student like Shen Yuan, whose fundantals were decent but whose high-level understanding was still lacking, they could indeed be helpful.
The reason the master teacher’s materials were only "helpful" was that they were originally intended for Guo Weifeng.
It couldn’t be a coincidence that Shen Yuan’s weaknesses in physics were exactly the sa as Guo Weifeng’s, could it?
Although they weren’t perfectly comprehensive for him, they were still good enough.
After all, problem sets like this were actually quite hard to co by.
Just as Tong Churou had said, not all problems are created equal.
So problems are just for repeatedly practicing a single problem-solving thod, helping students build muscle mory for the solution.
But other problems could actually help a student improve.
"Woohoo! Lao Yuan! Your dearest deskmate has arrived for school!"
The mont Ah Jie walked in, Shen Yuan’s fists clenched.
"Co on, let see. Did you finish the English vocabulary copying howork I assigned you last night?!"
The smile on Ah Jie’s face instantly froze.
Seeing this, Shen Yuan pointed at him with a Great Wilderness Heaven-Imprisoning Finger. "You didn’t finish it, did you?! What kind of attitude is that? Is this how you plan on improving yourself? Is your so-called ’improvent’ just empty talk?"
"Ah Jie, it’s Friday. The weekly quiz is about to start. Think long and hard about whether your English has improved at all. Do you really think you can score better on your English quiz than you did on the monthly exam?"
"You think that 70 on the monthly exam was your true ability? No! That was just you getting lucky!"
"What’s even more pathetic is that even when you get lucky, you can only manage a 70!"
Under Shen Yuan’s barrage of soul-crushing remarks, Ah Jie’s face turned pale.
"Yuan?"
Shen Yuan looked at Ah Jie and coldly made way for him to get to his seat.
"Go copy your vocabulary. It’s 6:10 now. In 20 minutes, I want to see that you’ve morized at least 10... scratch that, 7 words."
Ah Jie numbly shuffled to his seat, then slumped over his desk and began to weep silently.
"Crying? The clock is still ticking, you know. If you can’t recite them, you’ll have to call Daddy today."
Hearing this, Ah Jie shot straight up.
"And what if I can recite them?"
Shen Yuan chuckled. "Then I get to be your daddy."
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