After the kids finished making their promises, they finally quieted down and buried themselves in their test papers, scribbling away.
The room was utterly silent.
Li Yingqiao stared at her math paper, but her pen unconsciously traced circles on her scratch paper as her thoughts drifted far away—thirty years old, huh.
Her distant thirty years old—by then, she should be a wealthy lady with a fortune, right?
Heh heh.
Li Yingqiao looked more foolish the more she thought about it, her lips couldn’t help but curl up.
Yu Jinyang looked up from his test paper, and with one glance, he could tell what she was laughing about.
Mercilessly, he yanked her thoughts back to the harsh reality, looking at her math paper, which was in the middle of a weight-loss plateau, her progress slow, and said, “Let’s focus on getting into Pan Middle School first. Last year’s cutoff score for Pan Middle School—you’re still at least sixty or seventy points short.”
“Eighty points, more like,” she mimicked Gao Dian’s usual catchphrase.
Gao Dian immediately straightened up and puffed out his chest, proudly declaring, “That’s right, our Xiao Fang has no problem at all!”
Xiao Fang was the heroic alias used in the news report back when she caught the human trafficker.
Li Yingqiao had almost forgotten about that, but now the memory rushed back, along with the B-side limerick. Annoyed, she threw a book at Gao Dian.
Really knows how to bring up the sore spots.
Zheng Miaojia suddenly got busy again, but bluntly asked, “Qiaoqiao, where do you live now? Why didn’t you tell us after you moved? If it weren’t for Liang Mei Laoshi, were you planning to never contact us again?”
“No,” Li Yingqiao immediately wilted, sighing, “My mom won’t let me say.”
“Still won’t let you say now?”
Miaojia asked curiously.
Li Yingqiao nodded helplessly.
“I’ll ask my mom again after the exams.”
Zheng Miaojia quickly said, “It’s okay, Auntie must just be worried about your safety. You are our Little Art Town’s hero, after all. Heroes always need a bit of mystery.”
The three of them sighed together, each lost in their own thoughts.
Only Yu Jinyang remained silent, his pen scratching nonstop on the paper.
With a “thud,” Li Yingqiao gave him another “love tap” on the back of his head.
“Why don’t you sigh along with us?”
This time, it really wasn’t hard—compared to before, she didn’t even use a fifth of her usual strength.
But Yu Jinyang was clearly acting aloof now.
With Liang Mei’s hundred-yuan pledge as backup, now even if Li Yingqiao so much as touched him, he would mercilessly deduct a hundred yuan from her, determined to make her break this habit.
Li Yingqiao was still keeping score on their tacit understanding.
“Sigh already.”
Yu Jinyang twirled his pen, shot her a cold glance, and said, “Nine hundred and ninety.”
Li Yingqiao glanced around, then chuckled slyly, “Liang Laoshi isn’t here. She just went downstairs.”
Yu Jinyang turned to look at the other two witnesses.
Sensing the young master’s sharp gaze—today, he was dead set on exposing the evil forces and asking if they’d be willing to testify—both of them instantly lowered their heads, not wanting to get involved.
Gao Dian: “Uh…”
Zheng Miaojia: “….BIB.”
Gao Dian waved a hand in front of her face.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually stuck on this fill-in-the-blank!”
Li Yingqiao burst out laughing, flopping back against her chair like her bones had been pulled out.
Only then did she turn to look at the fuming Yu Jinyang beside her, raising three fingers and swearing, “Alright, alright, don’t be mad. I promise, I’ll never touch the back of your head again. From now on, I’ll cherish you, really. Before I start my test papers, I’ll even burn three sticks of incense to your back—how about that?”
She acted like a seasoned pro at coaxing people, saying whatever it took to get forgiveness, and would forget it all in a flash—a true repeat offender who never learned her lesson.
If Li Yingqiao really kept all the oaths she made, Jay Chou would never have been able to write “Nocturne.”
Yu Jinyang turned away expressionlessly, not wanting to say another word to her.
“Let’s break up, Li Yingqiao.”
Li Yingqiao had always been the type to respond to softness, not force.
Now that she’d coaxed him so much and Yu Jinyang was still playing hard to get, she snatched up her test paper, slid it two arm’s lengths away, and said in a serious tone, “Yu Jinyang, you said it yourself, okay.”
Liang Mei was downstairs buying them dinner.
Just as she got off the stairs, she suddenly stopped—there were two men in black suits and sunglasses standing at the building entrance, like two door gods, even their stances were identical.
Not far away was a luxury car, glinting coldly in the dark night.
She thought it was that rich second-generation boyfriend of the girl upstairs again, but on closer look, she realized the car looked familiar—it was the same Maybach she’d seen parked outside the state-owned hotel.
“Liang Laoshi, Mr. Yu would like to speak with you,” one of the door gods said.
Liang Mei felt that Yu Renjie was a peculiar person.
As long as he wasn’t appearing alone, especially when he was with his wife and child, he seemed silly and clumsy, like a giant Husky who’d gained sentience—nothing like a billionaire boss.
But every time he showed up alone, that air of a seasoned elite who’d spent years in the world of fame and fortune would return.
Xiao Fang in Little Art Town had felt this deeply, and as his business empire expanded, that aura only grew stronger.
Whether in a suit or patched-up clothes, Liang Mei always maintained a businesslike attitude towards students’ parents.
“Yu Baba, what is it?”
Yu Renjie stepped out of the car, stood before Liang Mei, and got straight to the point, neither warm nor distant.
“Sorry to disturb you, Liang Laoshi. I’m here to pick up Jinyang. Starting today, he won’t be coming here for tutoring for the time being.”
Liang Mei had been teaching for several years and had seen all kinds of parents.
There weren’t many like Yu Renjie.
As a wealthy boss, he didn’t have that off-putting sense of superiority or arrogance; as a parent, he also wasn’t overly ingratiating to teachers.
Liang Mei couldn’t think of any reason to try and persuade him otherwise.
Yu Renjie had given her enough respect, calling his son’s visits here “tutoring,” when in reality, he and his wife probably knew that most of the time, Yu Jinyang was helping to tutor the other kids.
And from his tone, “for the time being” was just a polite excuse—most likely, they didn’t want Yu Jinyang wasting time here.
Liang Mei understood completely.
She admitted to herself that she was being selfish in this matter.
She’d overlooked Yu Jinyang’s efforts and the cost of his time.
With that time, he’d probably be more efficient studying alone at home.
“Alright.”
Liang Mei’s expression softened slightly.
For the first time, she nodded a little awkwardly.
“If you want, you can come up with me now—they’re probably still working on their test papers.”
“Liang Laoshi,” Yu Renjie finally explained, “You might have misunderstood. Neither Tang Xiang nor I have any issues with you. We were actually very happy that Jinyang could attend your tutoring sessions. You may not know, but in the past two years, he hasn’t had many friends. Jinyang has always been mild-tempered, and even when he’s bullied at school, he never tells us. No matter how successful my business is, I can’t reach into the school. You know how it is, in Fengtang, all the money in the world can’t compare to having the right stamp in hand. Besides, Jinyang really minds it when I, as his father, meddle in his school affairs. So, thanks to your tutoring group, he’s been able to reconnect with his friends from Little Art Town. Tang Xiang and I are truly grateful for that.”
Liang Mei was taken aback and asked, “Then why…?”
Yu Renjie glanced up, his gaze lingering on Liang Mei’s window upstairs, glowing with warm yellow light, inexplicably comforting, like caramel in a cold night—a glass jar that belonged only to his son and his friends.
He said solemnly, “Jinyang has rarely given us any trouble since he was little, so I let him make most of his own decisions. But this time, he didn’t handle things well. In order to keep coming to your tutoring, he recently received two threatening letters at school related to my business, but he didn’t tell me or Tang Xiang. We only just found out—his mother was so scared today she nearly ended up in the hospital. Since he disregards our feelings so much, we can’t keep indulging him.”
Yu Jinyang left with his father so decisively and efficiently that even Liang Mei sensed something was off, until she caught sight of Gao Dian and Zheng Miaojia winking and making faces.
Liang Mei instantly understood—the little ones had gotten into a fight.
She asked Li Yingqiao, “Do you want to go after him and say a few more words?”
Li Yingqiao didn’t even lift her head, just stared at her test paper in silence, shaking her head firmly.
Liang Mei didn’t bother persuading her.
At this age, even the smallest issues were treated like durian—no matter how you handled it, it was always spiky and dramatic.
She plopped down in her seat, preparing to supervise the remaining three as they worked on their papers, but she still felt a bit rattled, her hand pressed tightly to the top of her head as if afraid her soul might fly out.
Come to think of it, Yu Jinyang really was quite bold.
If something happened, how would she explain to his parents?
He always seemed the most mature, but somehow, the things he did were always the most unexpected.
But sure enough, after he left, in less than five minutes, it was like the backbone of the group had been pulled out.
Except for the one still sulking, blatantly going to the balcony to play with the wasp they’d caught two days ago, the other two slumped weakly, their test papers neglected, one gnawing on the end of a pen, the other picking at their nails.
Liang Mei slapped the table, sending the mantis flying and then crashing back down, and barked sternly, “What are you doing? None of you want to study anymore?”
Three heads shot up in unison, then all shrugged at the same time, “….We don’t know how.”
Liang Mei snatched up Gao Dian’s test paper.
“Which question?”
Gao Dian pointed at the test paper with his pen.
Liang Mei glanced at the dense formulas on the paper, then poked his temple.
“So confident for someone who doesn’t know! Look it up in the book yourself!”
Gao Dian silently pulled his math paper back, “….Laoshi, you don’t know either.”
Liang Mei: “I teach Chinese. Want to see my teaching certificate?”
Gao Dian buried his head in his paper and muttered, “Even our PE teacher knows Chinese.”
Liang Mei cracked her knuckles with a “kaka” sound and narrowed her eyes, “….I happen to know a bit of kung fu, too.”
“Ah, I’ve got it now!”
Gao Dian immediately bowed his head and started scribbling furiously.
Liang Mei turned to the next one.
Zheng Miaojia was still biting her nails with intense focus.
“Zheng Miaojia, are you done with your manicure? Have you finished analyzing the key points of ‘How the Steel Was Tempered’? Come on, no peeking at the book. Tell me the author’s full name right now.”
Zheng Miaojia blurted out, “Didn’t you say just remembering ‘Ostrovsky’ was enough?”
“Yes, but now I’m nitpicking! I want the full name!”
Liang Mei was in a foul mood.
Turning to the one playing with the mantis, she said, “Is the mantis fun? Do you know the full name? Tell me!”
“Chinese Broadsword Mantis!”
Li Yingqiao answered, quick and proud.
Liang Mei rolled up the test paper into a tube, ready to give her a whack.
“Who asked you for the mantis’s full name!”
Li Yingqiao shrank her neck and quickly said, “Nikolai Alexeyevich Ostrovsky.”
The next second, the other two kids immediately started clapping like seals.
Liang Mei was a bit surprised—such rapid improvement!
But she sneered, “Very good, but that’s not the key point. Don’t bother writing the full name. If you do, no extra points, and if you get it wrong, I’ll deduct points.”
“Got it,” Li Yingqiao lounged back in her chair, lazily replying, “You’ve said that two hundred times already.”
Liang Mei: “A hundred and fifty times were from Yu Jinyang, don’t count those as mine.”
Zheng Miaojia put down her pen and looked at Liang Mei, asking, “Will Yu Jinyang still come in the future? If he doesn’t, who’s going to explain our math papers?”
“That one who came back from Shen Gui,” Liang Mei threw a look at Gao Dian.
“Come on, take a stand.”
“I definitely can’t do it,” Gao Dian clutched his head anxiously.
“There are some problems I know how to solve but not how to explain.”
Zheng Miaojia quickly said, “I can vouch for that. Every time he explains a problem to me, I’m not the one who gets frustrated—he is! He even punches himself, it’s so weird. I don’t even dare to ask him anymore.”
Yu Jinyang never got frustrated and knew how to teach according to each person’s needs.
Li Yingqiao was interested in geometry, so he’d turn lots of problems into geometric formulas or theorems for her to understand.
For the same problem, once he’d broken it down, Li Yingqiao would grasp it quickly and never get it wrong a second time.
Zheng Miaojia and Gao Dian were no exceptions.
The problems that had them scratching their heads became crystal clear after his explanations.
Yu Jinyang even compiled a collection of each person’s mistakes, tailored to their strengths and weaknesses, and found a bunch of mock and real math exam questions for them to practice.
He’d printed out three thick workbooks for them.
It was clear that Yu Jinyang really wanted them to get into Tong Middle School with him.
As for why, Liang Mei couldn’t help but recall what Yu Renjie had just said—Jinyang hadn’t had many friends in the past two years.
Liang Mei propped her chin and asked Gao Dian, “Is there anyone in your class better at math than Yu Jinyang? Maybe I can invite them over.”
Gao Dian thought for a moment and answered honestly, “Actually, there’s another math genius in our class. When it comes to math, it’s just him and Yu Jinyang. But he can’t explain or teach at all—even his solution steps are all skipped. We copy his answers and still don’t get it. Yu Jinyang might not be the best at math, but he’s definitely the best at teaching it. He knows how to explain things so we understand, where to draw auxiliary lines to make things clear, and even the trickiest problems, he can break down into the simplest formulas. Smart and patient study gods like Yu Jinyang, Liang Laoshi, are hard to find without childhood bonds.”
Liang Mei sighed, “Say no more, you guys are about to drill a hole and crawl right in after him.”
Li Yingqiao, who had just caught the runaway mantis, didn’t know whether to stand up straight or bend over.