After Teng Yi’s silhouette disappeared down the hallway, the sound of the front door closing soon followed. The large house suddenly held only Ruan Yu and Teng Hao.

“What did he promise you?” Ruan Yu asked.

“That’s none of your business. Just focus on tutoring me.”

Teng Hao sat down at his desk and continued with his homework.

Ruan Yu looked around and noticed the chair she had used before had been moved to the wall. She went over and pulled it back to the desk, sitting down beside Teng Hao.

On Teng Hao’s desk was a tear-off calendar for counting down, but the numbers seemed strange.

“What’s this twenty-three for?” Ruan Yu pointed at the number on the calendar.

“We have twenty-three days until the monthly exam.”

Ruan Yu was speechless. Usually, people only counted down to the college entrance exam, but here he was, making such a formal affair of a monthly test.

“Can you help me rank in the top twenty for this monthly exam?” Teng Hao suddenly looked at Ruan Yu, his eyes carrying a hint of expectation.

“In the entire grade?”

“Not that ambitious – just in the class would be fine.”

“What’s your current rank?”

“Thirty-nine.”

“How many students are in your class?”

“Forty-one.”

“You’re something.”

“It’s nothing special, just third from last,” Teng Hao said shamelessly.

Ruan Yu massaged her temples, feeling overwhelmed. With Teng Hao’s poor foundation, helping him improve so much in just twenty-three days seemed like a distant hope.

“What? Not possible? Aren’t you the top scorer in the college entrance exam?” he fired off three questions in succession.

“I am the top scorer, but I’m not the one writing the exam.”

“So you’re saying it’s impossible.”

For a moment, disappointment flashed across his face.

Not wanting to dampen his fighting spirit right at the start, Ruan Yu consoled him: “It’s not completely impossible. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Your improvement depends on yourself. What you get out depends on what you put in. If you work hard, maybe there’ll be a miracle.”

“A miracle?” Teng Hao wasn’t buying her consolation. “Is getting into the top twenty so difficult that you’d call it a ‘miracle’?”

“I’m already being generous by not calling it ‘impossible.'”

Teng Hao fell silent, as if something had struck a nerve, and buried himself in his workbook with his pen.

Ruan Yu didn’t know why he was so eager to reach the top twenty, but she knew that from that day on, Teng Hao suddenly became very studious. That slightly rebellious boy she first met seemed to have completely transformed.

Since he was so determined to improve, she was naturally more than willing to help and threw herself fully into supporting him.

Based on her own learning experience and the new examination syllabus, Ruan Yu customized a study method for Teng Hao. She identified key points, difficult concepts, typical examples, and common mistakes, explaining them to Teng Hao in detail. She also found similar practice questions for him to work on, reinforcing his knowledge and helping him develop a comprehensive understanding to improve his problem-solving abilities.

Gradually, she discovered that Teng Hao’s poor foundation wasn’t because he was dense. On the contrary, he had high intelligence but had previously misapplied his cleverness, not focusing on his studies, which resulted in poor grades. Once he decided to concentrate, along with Ruan Yu’s supervision, his progress became quite evident.