Chapter 6 Reunited with Bai Yingchuan

Chapter 6 Reunion with Bai Yingchuan

"Oh no, oh no... Four-Eyes is here... I haven't finished copying yet!"

"This guy doesn’t even need to copy the answers—would coming ten minutes later really hurt his top student status?"

"One man's glory means a thousand men's doom!"

Hearing this, Jiang Ruotang turned around in confusion. He had almost forgotten that during senior year, Zhao Zhangfeng sat right behind him!

This guy was never cut out for studying. The summer homework he got was still brand new. Instead of copying them last night, he was now writing frantically. Even if you gave him an extra ten minutes—no, an extra day—it wouldn’t be enough to save him.

"Why 'one man's glory means a thousand men's doom'?" Jiang Ruotang suspected Zhao Zhangfeng was misusing idioms again.

"Lu Guifan is the general trying to curry favor with the teachers, and we’re the bones he tramples underfoot!" Zhao Zhangfeng was so engrossed in his assembly-line work that he didn’t even realize he was talking to Jiang Ruotang. Normally, the two of them would clash like oil and water, trading insults until the bell rang.

In Zhao Zhangfeng’s mind, his mother Zhao Yunshu was the White Snake, Jiang Huaiyuan was the kind but useless Xu Xian, and Jiang Ruotang was the troublemaking Monk Fahai—always suspecting Zhao Yunshu of plotting against their family. What nonsense!

At that moment, Lu Guifan dropped his bag and actually started collecting the summer homework from the back of the classroom.

"Summer homework."

"...Just a sec, collect from others first!"

"Homework."

"Almost done, I swear I’ll hand it in soon!"

"Homework."

"Come on, cut me some slack, Class Rep! Come back for mine later!"

...

Lu Guifan moved up from the back rows, managing to collect only a few assignments. Even those who had finished theirs had their papers snatched away as answers to copy.

When he reached Zhao Zhangfeng’s desk, Zhao Zhangfeng immediately snapped, "Not done yet! The more you rush me, the slower I get!"

Lu Guifan rested one hand on the corner of Zhao Zhangfeng’s desk and said quietly, "You copied the wrong problem."

His voice was cool and detached, completely different from the gentle, patient tone Jiang Ruotang remembered from ten years later.

"What—" Zhao Zhangfeng, the idiot, had copied a problem from page two onto page three. Even copying was beyond him—what a talent.

As Zhao Zhangfeng tugged at his hair in frustration, Jiang Ruotang tilted his head up. From this angle, he could just see Lu Guifan’s eyes behind his glasses.

Deep-set eyes, delicate outer corners, and lashes so long they seemed to brush against the lenses.

A beauty no one else had noticed—one only Jiang Ruotang knew.

Lu Guifan took another step forward. Without looking at Jiang Ruotang, he asked Lin Lu, "What about you? Handing it in?"

"Later. Mine’s being used as reference by others," Lin Lu replied with a smile.

"Mm." Lu Guifan moved on.

For some reason, Jiang Ruotang didn’t want to see his back. Maybe because he was too thin, or maybe because every time Jiang Ruotang had watched Lu Guifan’s retreating figure in the hospital room, he’d start missing him, waiting for the next visit.

"Class Rep, I don’t know how to do these problems. Teach me?" Jiang Ruotang spoke up.

His voice was clear and bright. Lu Guifan stopped and glanced back at him.

Lu Guifan’s glasses were thick and old, making it impossible for Jiang Ruotang to read his expression.

Under the desk, Lin Lu pulled at Jiang Ruotang several times, warning him not to provoke Lu Guifan.

But Jiang Ruotang didn’t look away.

In his past life, when Jiang Ruotang had reminisced with Lu Guifan about their school days in the hospital, he’d teased him for being stingy—never letting anyone copy his homework, earning him the nickname "Four-Eyed Miser."

Lu Guifan had smiled faintly and said it was because, back then, he’d had an overly rigid sense of right and wrong. He believed lending homework for copying only gave others shortcuts without real understanding, ultimately harming them. But if someone asked him for help with a problem, he’d never refuse.

So, Lu Guifan, I’m asking you.

Will you come back to me?

At that moment, the classroom fell silent. Even Zhao Zhangfeng, who’d been writing frantically, looked up in shock at Jiang Ruotang, thinking: Is this young master losing it already? If you’re serious about studying, I’ll eat my hat!

Lu Guifan walked back, each step syncing with Jiang Ruotang’s heartbeat.

He picked up Jiang Ruotang’s homework sheet and skimmed it.

Some math multiple-choice answers were correct, some wrong. Formulas were jotted down, some with textbook page references. Most of the calculation problems were incomplete, and the few attempts were off-track—some barely hitting key points, others completely unrelated to the questions.

Lu Guifan exhaled softly. This homework embodied the saying, "The sea of learning has no shore, turn back before it’s too late."

But he was surprised—these "answers" were genuine.

Lu Guifan lowered his gaze, while Jiang Ruotang looked up at him. Those light amber eyes, usually so willful, now held a sincere desire for proof.

"There’s too much you don’t know. At best, I can teach you one basic problem in this time," Lu Guifan said.

"Sure! Rome wasn’t built in a day!"

Jiang Ruotang almost went to fetch Lu Guifan’s chair, but the latter simply stood beside him, bending down to take a scrap of paper. He picked up a pen and began writing, the sound of the tip scratching against the paper crisp in the quiet.

As his shadow fell over Jiang Ruotang, the world seemed split in two by his presence. In that small space, Jiang Ruotang could smell Lu Guifan’s clean, refreshing scent—just like that snowy night when he’d been carried on his back, breathing it in.

Lu Guifan seemed to know exactly where Jiang Ruotang was stuck. The scrap paper filled up quickly as Jiang Ruotang struggled to follow his reasoning, barely keeping up until he arrived at the answer.

When Lu Guifan finished, he moved to take the paper back, but Jiang Ruotang held onto it.

"I know you’re afraid I’ll copy, but there are formulas here. I want to keep it for reference," Jiang Ruotang said earnestly.

Lu Guifan paused for two seconds. "Do it yourself. If you solve it, you can keep it."

"Okay."

Jiang Ruotang lowered his head, writing laboriously until the morning bell rang, finally coming up with an answer.

He exhaled deeply and looked up at Lu Guifan beside him, smiling.

Lu Guifan, I’m serious.

But Lu Guifan showed no reaction. He simply let go of the paper and returned to his seat.

Across the aisle sat English Class Representative Jian Sha, her chin propped on her left hand, a pen tapping lightly in her right as she studied Jiang Ruotang’s profile thoughtfully.

A classmate in front turned around and whispered, "Jiang Ruotang, you’re everyone’s savior!"

"Yeah, yeah, thank you for buying us time! Never thought you'd play the hero one day!"

"Thanks to you, I just finished copying the math problems!"

Jiang Ruotang: Uh...

This unintended consequence was completely beyond Jiang Ruotang's expectations.

Grateful gazes came from all directions—his classmates all thought Jiang Ruotang had used himself as bait to stall the class monitor, buying them precious time.

A true hero, a real bro!

Lin Lu tilted his head, watching Jiang Ruotang in confusion.

Especially that draft paper left by Lu Guifan, which Jiang Ruotang had carefully smoothed out and tucked into his textbook like some priceless treasure.

As Teacher Wang, the head teacher, entered the classroom, all the students fell silent.

Lin Lu tugged at Lu Guifan's sleeve under the desk and whispered, "They're here! The one you like is here!"

"Huh? Who?" Jiang Ruotang looked up and saw a boy in the same *Guangyao High School* uniform following Teacher Wang.

The boy stood at an angle, making it hard to see his face clearly.

The navy blazer accentuated his tall, slender frame. His nose was prominent, and Jiang Ruotang, with his years in the entertainment industry, could instantly tell this guy was genetically blessed.

A girl in the front row squealed quietly, "It's Bai Yingchuan! Am I dreaming? Bai Yingchuan is at our school?"

"Is he here to film something?"

"He's so handsome!"

Lin Lu grinned and nudged Jiang Ruotang with his elbow. "See? Told ya. Aren’t you excited seeing him in person?"

At that moment, while most eyes were fixed on Bai Yingchuan, quite a few were also watching Jiang Ruotang's reaction like an audience at a play.

Would Jiang Ruotang ignore Teacher Wang's authority and be the first to applaud in welcome?

Or would he stand up and introduce himself as Director Jiang's son to earn Bai Yingchuan's special attention?

Or maybe he'd organize some crazy campus fan event for Bai Yingchuan?

Even Teacher Wang shot Jiang Ruotang a sharp warning glance.

Jiang Ruotang stared at Bai Yingchuan—not out of lingering infatuation, but because he was subconsciously analyzing whether his decade-long obsession with this person had simply been a case of "the grass is always greener on the other side."

"Quiet." Teacher Wang's gaze swept across the classroom, stern and commanding.

Jiang Ruotang's calm reaction disappointed those waiting for the "fan freakout."

The only one truly frustrated was Teacher Wang. The class's exam rankings and college acceptance rates were what mattered most.

At this crucial stage in their senior year, suddenly having an idol star—and such a good-looking one—transfer in would distract both boys and girls. Fangirling, early romance—all of it would affect their focus. To Teacher Wang, Bai Yingchuan was nothing but trouble.

The murmurs died instantly, and the classroom went so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Teacher Wang cleared his throat pointedly and announced, "This is Bai Yingchuan, a new transfer this year."

Bai Yingchuan slowly walked to the front of the classroom and turned around.

Jiang Ruotang paused slightly. Compared to the alluring "male enchantress" of ten years later, the current Bai Yingchuan exuded a clean, elegant distance—the perfect unattainable crush in the hearts of young boys and girls.

"What? Transferring here?"

"We're actually going to be classmates with Bai Yingchuan?"

"OMG, if I tell anyone else, they’ll never believe me!"

A buzzing excitement, like bunnies hopping through a forest, spread through the classroom.

At eighteen, hormones were raging, craving pure love—especially under the mountain of endless textbooks and exams. Their restless hearts yearned to burn.

Someone like Bai Yingchuan was enough to become everyone's addictive fantasy.

Jiang Ruotang, however, just gave a small smile.