Zhang Shu handed over his essay paper, “My essay improved dramatically, shouldn’t I thank Teacher Sheng?”

Sheng Xia glanced at it – 47 points.

This counted as a high score. Previously, his essays had always been below 45 points, so these few points were significant.

However, what did this have to do with her – and “Teacher Sheng”? She hadn’t tutored his essay writing at all.

Sheng Xia remained silent for a long while. Zhang Shu said impatiently, “Wasn’t it Old Wang who said we should share resources? Go tell Old Wang then – I’ve fulfilled my duty as a classmate, but you’re not appreciating it.”

This…

When did Old Wang say that? At least, he hadn’t said it to her.

Hou Junqi turned his head, looking at Zhang Shu with great interest: since when has A-Shu become so obedient? Also, would Old Wang use such formal phrases as “share resources”?

Hearing Zhang Shu’s “explanation,” the surrounding classmates’ gossip interest diminished considerably, and they stopped watching, returning to their own business.

Sheng Xia breathed a sigh of relief and replied, “Tomorrow, okay? My family will worry if I get back late.”

Her reason was sincere and her tone gentle. Zhang Shu suddenly felt like he was being difficult – shouldn’t helping others get a better reception than this?

He waved his hand, “Whatever, it’s your grades, why should I care?”

Sheng Xia felt a “thank you” stuck in her throat. Facing such an impatient expression, she couldn’t get it out. In the end, she just pressed her lips together, nodded, and left the classroom with her backpack.

What kind of coerced expression was that?

Zhang Shu withdrew his gaze and irritably slapped the test papers onto the bookshelf.

“A-Shu?” Hou Junqi leaned in with a mischievous look in his eyes. “What’s going on with you?”

Zhang Shu looked up, giving him a “none of your business” look, then lowered his head to continue working on problems.

Hou Junqi was rebuffed but smiled even more cheerfully, muttering: “Interesting, interesting.” Suddenly, a draft book smacked the back of his head.

…

Late at night, Sheng Xia tossed and turned. She still didn’t know how to report her grades. The school had a parent monitoring system, and she wasn’t sure if Wang Lianhua had seen it yet. Thinking of Wang Lianhua’s expression – frustrated yet holding back criticism – Sheng Xia turned over again, lying with eyes open, finally getting up to play English listening exercises to help her sleep.

But it was futile. English words bombarded her ears but couldn’t enter her mind.

Sheng Xia deeply understood Wang Lianhua’s difficulties. She hoped all three daughters would become talented, independent, and strong, hoping they would have the ability and courage to fight against fate. But so far, none of them had met her expectations.

Sheng Xia’s grades were good but just good, and her personality was soft, without much temper, appearing to lack initiative;

Wu Qiuxuan had a strong personality, but too strong, with terrible grades;

As for Zheng Dongning, nothing needed to be said – being able to grow up healthy and recover social abilities was already a blessing…

Sheng Xia remembered her childhood – after school, if not practicing piano then practicing calligraphy, if not memorizing formulas then reciting ancient poems. Even punishments were study-related. For instance, if piano practice wasn’t good enough, she would be punished by standing, with a posture correction board behind her back, standing in front of the TV, and reciting classical texts on the screen until she could recite them from memory.

Looking back now, this hadn’t been unhelpful for her literary cultivation, but at the time, there was only pain.

After standing for a while, the wooden board behind her would hurt her arms terribly. When she couldn’t help crying, Wang Lianhua would hug her and cry together, saying Mommy didn’t want to be like this either, but Xia Xia must become more excellent, otherwise, she would regret it later like Mommy…

Sheng Xia would only sob, saying, “Mommy, I’m sorry, I’ll work hard, don’t cry.”

Sheng Xia picked up her phone again, opening the chat interface with Sheng Mingfeng. Recently, he had transferred her a thousand yuan, which she hadn’t accepted and had returned.

Sheng Mingfeng left a message saying: Concentrating on studies? Don’t be too tense, relax with classmates on weekends.

Sheng Xia typed a few words, then looked at the time, but gave up, turned off her phone, and sank back into darkness.

…

The entire next day was spent going over test papers, leaving Sheng Xia dizzy and confused.

The Chinese teacher read Sheng Xia’s essay in class, using it as a typical example for analysis. Finally, she said: “Sheng Xia’s essay is very worth referencing. Everyone should read and analyze it more. Zhang Shu, didn’t you learn a lot in previous essay classes? Your essay did well this time. Learning isn’t about copying words and phrases – that can’t be learned in a short time – but the structure, thought process and choice of themes are all very worth learning from. You all…”

Sheng Xia kept her head down, avoiding everyone’s attention, when suddenly a paper ball landed on her desk.

She turned her head to see Zhang Shu propping up his cheek, raising his eyebrows.

She put her hands under the desk to open it.

Zhang Shu laughed seeing her sneaky behavior – that hunched-over posture only drew more attention.

[Amazing, amazing]

Four flamboyantly written characters on the note.

Sheng Xia frowned.

[Boring] she replied.

[Then chat with me?] he threw another note.

Now that they weren’t desk mates, throwing notes across the aisle was much more obvious. Sheng Xia didn’t want to reply, but his long leg reached over, occasionally knocking against her chair’s crossbar.

Sheng Xia turned to look – he was focusing intently on the teacher, appearing to listen carefully…

How could someone be like this?

She sighed softly, having to reply: [Talk after class]

She thought that would be the end of it, but he threw another note over, reading: [Roger that]

He was so bored!

Sheng Xia crumpled that note and threw it into her trash bag.

As soon as the class bell rang, several people gathered around Sheng Xia’s desk, wanting to see her essay. But there was only one test paper, and someone asked, “Sheng Xia, do you have your previous essays?”

Sheng Xia thought for a moment, “They’re all at home.”

“Could you bring them some time for us to look at?”

“Okay.” Sheng Xia agreed, still a bit embarrassed.

Previously at No. 2 High School, her essays were also praised to the skies by teachers, but no classmates had been so studious in asking for guidance. She just knew how to write; if she had to analyze and explain, she wouldn’t know where to begin.

The crowd only dispersed when the class bell was about to ring. Lu Youze from the diagonal back seat patted her shoulder, “Sheng Xia, can I borrow your essay to look at?”

“Sure.”

Sheng Xia picked up the test paper, about to pass it back when a corner of the paper was pinched by someone. She looked up to see an arrogant handsome face.

Zhang Shu looked at her, speaking coolly: “Didn’t you say we’d talk after class?”

Sheng Xia: …

She glanced at Lu Youze. Lu Youze showed an understanding expression, “You explain to him first, I’m not in a hurry.”

“Mm.” Sheng Xia’s eyes showed gratitude, but when she looked at Zhang Shu, her expression returned to normal, “I don’t know how to explain, I just know how to write.”

Zhang Shu frowned – why did she have this coerced expression just with him? Wasn’t she all tender and affectionate just now?

“Didn’t you explain the speech draft very well before?” Zhang Shu sat down, facing her.

Occasionally classmates passed through the aisle, blocking their line of sight. Zhang Shu tilted his head, not missing a single expression of hers.

Sheng Xia said: “You have strong comprehension ability, why don’t you look at it yourself first.”

This was true. Last night she had briefly scanned his essay – it had improved greatly, at least moving beyond templated five-paragraph argumentative methods, and the word choice wasn’t rigid anymore.

She recalled the previous essay class when he had looked at her essay for a long time, presumably analyzing the logic and thought process.

She had to admit, that even in subjects like Chinese that relied more on accumulation, he still had his methods.

He caught on quickly.

This was talent.

“Is that a compliment?” Zhang Shu asked.

Sheng Xia was stunned – wasn’t he focusing on the wrong point? She dubiously nodded, “Mm.”

“Fine,” Zhang Shu took her test paper, suddenly appearing very agreeable, “I’ll look at it some more.”

Sheng Xia sighed imperceptibly.

He looked at it all day, and by evening study session still hadn’t returned it to her. Lu Youze could only wait.

Sheng Xia asked: “Have you finished looking?”

Zhang Shu replied: “Let me analyze it some more.”

Nothing she could do.

After the exam, evening study naturally became Old Wang’s heart-to-heart brother time. Sheng Xia was again the first to be called out. This sparked some whispers in the classroom.

Old Wang seemed to pay special attention to this new classmate.

Sheng Xia was also a bit nervous. She knew what Wang Wei wanted to say, but hadn’t figured out how to respond.

Sure enough, Wang Wei first laid some groundwork, comforting her that it was normal to have some fluctuations in grades when first arriving and not yet adapted, telling her not to be too nervous and to adjust her mindset. Then came the turn – after the “but” came talk about time being tight and having to adapt to the environment and teachers by herself.

Sheng Xia kept nodding slightly, not saying a word.

Wang Wei asked: “What do you think is the most difficult problem in your studies? You can tell the teacher.”

If she said there wasn’t any, it would seem too perfunctory. It was obvious that although Wang Wei always used old clichés without fresh wording, the concern in his eyes was genuine. Sheng Xia thought for a moment and said: “Many problems, they’re variations on a theme, but I still make mistakes, I don’t know what to do…”

“I see,” Wang Wei stroked his chin, thinking for a few seconds before asking, “Do you usually keep a collection of wrong problems?”

“Yes.”

“Show it to me later. There are methods to organizing wrong problems – it’s not just about copying them down,” Wang Wei said, then seeming to recall something, continued, “Why don’t you ask Zhang Shu? His wrong problem collection is very good. He sold his second-year collection to the stationery store at the north gate, where they made copies to sell to junior students. It was quite popular…”

At this point, Wang Wei smiled, “This kid I don’t know how to evaluate him.”

Returning to the topic, he continued, “His wrong problem collection – almost everyone in the second year had a copy. With such good sales, it must be decent.”

Hearing this, Sheng Xia’s face went white.

Wrong problem collection? What he copied was a wrong problem collection!

Not… that other thing?

Seeing her looking quite affected, Wang Wei understood – that Zhang Shu’s kid indeed wasn’t very friendly to girls. Wang Wei said earnestly: “Don’t be afraid. Sometimes help between classmates is more effective than asking teachers. If you have any questions, just ask him. If he doesn’t tell you, you tell me, and I’ll criticize him!”

“Th-thank you, teacher.”

“Mm, you go now, and send Zhang Shu to me.”

Sheng Xia returned to her seat in a daze, calling softly: “Zhang Shu…”

Why did her tone sound so plaintive?

Zhang Shu frowned and looked up.

“Teacher’s calling you.”

“Oh.” Zhang Shu gave her a suspicious look before going out.

Everyone in the classroom was immune to this familiar sequence, but Sheng Xia’s expression was worth pondering, and the gossip couldn’t help speculating.

“I heard before that Zhang Shu was flirting with Sheng Xia, wonder if it’s true?”

“Looking at Wang Wei’s concerned manner, it seems so.”

“A potential valedictorian, how could he not be worried?”

“Then Sheng Xia is quite unfortunate, caught up in this for no reason.”

“Who knows who made the first move? Wasn’t Zhang Shu always pursuing Chen Mengyao?”

“Maybe he got tired of pursuing her? Isn’t the grass by your fence just as fragrant?”

“Complicated.”

“Interesting.”

What he sold was a wrong problem collection.

Could a wrong problem collection be worth several hundred yuan?

This was beyond the understanding of Sheng Xia, a “failing student with lots of stationery.”

If that was the case – she had completely misunderstood him.

Then, what expression would he have when he saw that book of criminal law articles?

Speechless, shocked, angry, or would he toss it aside as a prank?

She couldn’t imagine.

Sheng Xia held her forehead, lost in thought.

“Xia Xia, what’s wrong? What did Wang Wei say?” Xin Xiaohe saw her poor complexion and asked.

Sheng Xia raised her head, coming back to herself, “No-nothing.”

Seeing Xin Xiaohe still looking suspicious, Sheng Xia added: “He told me to ask Zhang Shu more questions.”

“Oh~” Xin Xiaohe understood, “Ah, don’t be afraid. Zhang Shu may be arrogant, but he judges things, not people. He just looks that way, but he’s not scary. When it comes to questions, he’s quite forthcoming.”

Seemingly realizing she was praising Zhang Shu, Xin Xiaohe stuck out her tongue, “It’ll be fine!”

“Mm.” Sheng Xia nodded.

It was her being small-minded, privately attributing such a crime to a classmate.

An unprecedented feeling of guilt spread in Sheng Xia’s heart.

Wang Wei and Zhang Shu talked for a long time until the class bell rang before Zhang Shu returned to the classroom. His demeanor showed no abnormality, still that leisurely manner. Having talked so much left his mouth dry, so the first thing he did upon returning was to drink water in big gulps.

Sheng Xia moved her gaze away from his bobbing Adam’s apple and called out: “Zhang Shu.”

Zhang Shu put down his water cup, swallowing while mumbling: “Mm?”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

Zhang Shu: …?

Surrounding classmates: ??!!!