Chapter 43

Chapter 43

When Yi Jiahe went to You Nan’s seat to collect homework, he noticed a familiar notebook on the desk.

He picked it up and glanced at it. The three bold characters "Jiang Songen" on the cover struck a chord with him.

Yi Jiahe flipped through it. The handwriting inside was neat, with sharp strokes, recording crucial core concepts, along with typical examples noted beside them. Even those with weaker foundations could easily understand it.

Jiang Songen usually didn’t lend his notebooks to others. He wasn’t the class monitor or an academic committee member, so he had no obligation to tutor classmates.

Only Li Qiutian had borrowed from him before; others didn’t interact much with him.

Jiang Songen’s temperament was as vibrant and lively as his appearance, yet he maintained clear boundaries with others.

He had a captivating face but valued personal limits more than anyone.

You Nan was only the second person Jiang Songen had ever given something to.

"Class Monitor, what are you looking at?" You Nan’s deskmate behind him, noticing he had been standing there for a while, couldn’t resist leaning in to see.

Yi Jiahe closed the notebook, covering the name "Jiang Songen" with his finger. "Nothing. Where did You Nan go?"

The deskmate wasn’t concerned about You Nan. "Probably went to the restroom. Why, did he do something wrong?"

Yi Jiahe didn’t respond. The deskmate, hearing no reply, rubbed his nose.

He felt a bit intimidated by Yi Jiahe.

Yi Jiahe was good-looking but rarely smiled, carrying an aura of "stay five meters away from me." He seemed hard to approach.

The deskmate couldn’t help but wonder why the class monitor was looking for You Nan.

When You Nan returned from outside, he found someone else at his seat. Yi Jiahe was sitting in his chair, looking through his unfinished homework.

You Nan was embarrassed. His homework was practically unreadable—flip back a page or two, and you’d see lots of red zeros.

"Class Monitor, were you waiting for me?" You Nan hurried over, naturally closing his notebook in front of Yi Jiahe, preventing any further look.

Yi Jiahe blinked and looked up at You Nan.

You Nan had skipped his nap again at noon, instead burying himself in Jiang Songen’s notebook. When the afternoon prep bell rang, he finally felt drowsy and got up to splash his face with water in the restroom.

He hadn't even dried the water droplets on his face, running back like that to wake himself up.

The weather was particularly nice today. The white curtains fluttered in the wind, casting dappled shadows on people’s faces. You Nan’s face alternated between light and shadow, water droplets dotting his skin like highlights. In the shifting light, his appealing face gained a touch of charm.

Yi Jiahe responded, "You’ve been reviewing freshman-year notes lately. Why didn’t you ask me for mine?"

You Nan was unsure of his meaning and chose to be honest. "A friend lent them to me."

Yi Jiahe asked again, "Can I take a look at his notebook?"

With a calm expression, Yi Jiahe casually continued, "Everyone’s understanding is different. Just because your friend gets good grades doesn’t mean you’ll absorb the knowledge as easily by reading his notes."

He added, "If you want to review first or second-year class notes, you can ask me for them."

The eavesdropping deskmate widened his eyes.

What?! Wait?!

What was their class monitor saying to You Nan?

Maybe he hadn’t slept well at noon and his ears were playing tricks on him! There was no way their class monitor was this nice!

You Nan was pleasantly surprised.

He hadn’t spoken much with Yi Jiahe before.

In their class, Yi Jiahe was the monitor and ranked first. He often competed with Jiang Songen for the top spots in the grade—they were always first or second, steadily leading the rankings.

When You Nan thought about asking someone for help with questions he couldn’t solve, he had considered Yi Jiahe. But after observing him for a short while, he noticed Yi Jiahe was equally distant to everyone. You Nan didn’t want to impose where he wasn’t welcome, so he dropped the idea.

He thought it was already impressive enough that Yi Jiahe would proactively offer his notebook.

You Nan quickly adjusted his attitude. Maybe Yi Jiahe sought him out today because of a task assigned by the teacher!

His test scores had improved significantly compared to last time, and the teacher had encouraged him to keep it up. Perhaps Yi Jiahe had been persuaded by the teacher to help him out.

You Nan also wanted Yi Jiahe’s class notes—more good resources were always welcome. But he didn’t hand over the notebook Jiang Songen had given him.

He responded to the first part of Yi Jiahe’s offer: "This belongs to my friend. I’d have to ask him first. If he’s willing, I’ll let you take a look."

The deskmate snorted disdainfully upon hearing this.

Such nerve!

Did You Nan know who he was talking to? This was Yi Jiahe, who consistently ranked first or second in the grade!

How dare he speak to Yi Jiahe like that!

You Nan hadn’t made many new friends at school. Who could possibly beat Yi Jiahe’s grades!

The deskmate glanced up, sneakily taking his sleeping neighbor’s glasses and placing them in front of himself. Then he saw the name on the class notebook.

Jiang Songen?!

The deskmate’s hand trembled, and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly returned the glasses he had taken.

Well, he really was intruding.

In their grade, only Jiang Songen could go toe-to-toe with Yi Jiahe. The two of them left the third-ranked student far behind.

If You Nan’s friend was Jiang Songen, then he really had the grounds to speak to Yi Jiahe like that.

Yi Jiahe wasn’t the least bit angry at You Nan’s words. The boy nodded slightly, growing a bit more fond of You Nan.

After all, Jiang Songen’s things were his own. Even if he lent them to someone else, that person shouldn’t freely share them.

You Nan’s approach was quite good.

At this moment, Yi Jiahe had already forgotten his earlier desire to take Jiang Songen’s notebook, snapped back to reality by You Nan’s words.

"Alright, I understand." The bell for class rang, and Yi Jiahe stood up. "If there’s anything you don’t understand in the future, you can come to me."

You Nan was delighted. He thought Yi Jiahe was a very good person.

"Okay!"

You Nan gave Yi Jiahe a smile.

His eyes curved into crescents, his skin was fair, and his eyes were clear and bright—he looked handsome when he smiled.

There was none of the schoolboy crush in the boy's gaze that Yi Jiahe disliked; it was as clean and bright as the reflection of the window in his eyes.

Yi Jiahe looked away and returned to his seat.

You Nan quickly sat down just as the teacher walked in.

You Nan looked up at the blackboard, but after a while, he couldn't resist fidgeting in his seat. The still-warm seat felt weird.

It felt awkward.

.

Since Yi Jiahe had offered to help with tough problems, You Nan knew he couldn’t bother him with every little question.

As the old saying goes, "Save the big guns for big battles"—you shouldn't use a cannon to kill a mosquito. Otherwise, they might feel underestimated.

You Nan solved what he could on his own. Only those he truly couldn’t solve or understand were compiled into his newly bought, already a third full error log to bring to Yi Jiahe.

There were five questions in total.

You Nan thought to himself, if he could master these, he’d save himself fifty bucks on finding a tutor in the online marketplace.

You Nan went to find Yi Jiahe the next day after lunch.

He had observed earlier that Yi Jiahe always got back to class early after lunch, usually the first one back.

You Nan seized the chance while the room was empty and brought over his notebook to ask Yi Jiahe for help.

He even brought his own chair and sat beside the boy’s desk.

Yi Jiahe noticed a faint smell of laundry detergent from You Nan—a gardenia scent, cheap, synthetic.

The boy frowned slightly but didn't tell You Nan to back off.

He glanced at the questions in You Nan’s notebook. Some were pretty hard, and he was a bit more impressed with You Nan—at least these questions weren’t just made up to waste his time.

Suppressing his discomfort with the scent, Yi Jiahe took a scrap paper and began explaining the problems to You Nan.

His handwriting was clean and sharp, with a strong, distinct style. He wrote out every step of the solution holding nothing back.

Whenever You Nan didn’t understand something, he asked honestly.

"What’s the purpose of this?"

Yi Jiahe circled the formula. "Look here."

"How did you figure out this condition?"

Yi Jiahe closed his eyes, then opened them. "Reread the problem a few times. Quickly."

Feeling unsure, You Nan read them twice.

Then Yi Jiahe asked, "Do you get it now?"

You Nan blinked, not quite getting it. "I... I don’t think so."

His voice trailed off, clearly afraid that Yi Jiahe would get angry and think he was a lost cause.

But contrary to his expectations, Yi Jiahe was very patient—he didn’t even sigh.

The boy patiently explained the most basic formulas again and walked him through the problem step by step, speaking slowly to match You Nan’s pace.

You Nan suddenly understood. "Oh! So that’s how it works!"

He looked up at Yi Jiahe, his eyes shining, a smile spreading across his face.

His laughter was refreshing, uplifting and joyful. "Thank you!"

Used to speaking this way after marrying Yao Xianqing in his past life, You Nan unintentionally slipped into the same tone with Yi Jiahe: "I don’t know what I’d do without you."

His voice was soft and earnest, as if in You Nan’s eyes, Yi Jiahe was the most amazing person.

"You could always ask me if he wasn't around!"

A sudden voice from outside the window made You Nan jump. He turned quickly and saw Jiang Songen, who'd been watching for who knows how long, listening.

Jiang Songen walked in, keeping some distance from Yi Jiahe. With a sharp glance, he took in all the "difficult" problems in You Nan’s notebook—these were simple, in his eyes.

"If there’s anything you don’t understand, I'll teach you."

As Jiang Songen spoke, both Yi Jiahe and You Nan looked up at him.

Yi Jiahe noticed Jiang Songen’s gaze fixed on him, and his hand trembled slightly, creasing the page of You Nan’s notebook.

Jiang Songen, ever observant, noticed immediately. His tone turned serious. "You Nan, look at him."

He snitched on the spot. "You asked Yi Jiahe to explain the problems, and he crumpled your notebook."

"If it were me, I would never do that."

Jiang Songen was boosting himself by knocking Yi Jiahe down.

You Nan: "..."

Yi Jiahe felt flustered. Being criticized by the person he secretly liked made him uncomfortable and a little panicked.

"I didn’t mean to," Yi Jiahe said, smoothing out the paper in You Nan’s notebook. "I just slipped for a moment."

His voice trembled slightly, lacking its usual calmness, though neither of the other two noticed.

Jiang Songen grabbed the notebook from him. "Give it here."

Then he gently took You Nan’s wrist. "Come on, I’ll teach you."

You Nan glanced between him and Yi Jiahe, who was trying hard to appear composed. Seeing that Yi Jiahe didn’t object, he stood up and followed Jiang Songen. "Alright."

Yi Jiahe lowered his gaze, staring at the desk, his fingers trembling uncontrollably.

Jiang Songen’s attentiveness toward You Nan took him by surprise. Even Li Qiutian, who always followed Jiang Songen around, had never received this kind of treatment.

Yi Jiahe’s eyelid twitched—a sign of his tension.

He pressed a hand against it.

As he thought, he saw two paths ahead of him: one was to keep You Nan close, using him as bait for Jiang Songen.

The other was to push You Nan away, keeping him far from Jiang Songen.

Yi Jiahe closed his eyes.

He didn’t want to take the second path. His impression of You Nan was decent, and besides, You Nan had been personally invited and arranged by Cheng Mi’s uncle. He couldn’t disregard his friend’s reputation.

That left only the first path.