And so, after all that back and forth, Tan Yin finally ended up sitting in the library listening to Chu Hang go over structural mechanics. With no more mosquitoes to contend with, she was now genuinely sitting still and paying attention.
Chu Hang, despite his cold and distant exterior, was remarkably conscientious and thorough when it came to actually explaining things.
And perhaps because all that earlier back-and-forth had actually put her more at ease, dissolving her resistance, Tan Yin’s focus this time was genuinely much better. She gradually began following Chu Hang’s train of thought, and for some problems, all it took was a slight hint from him for her to work out the rest herself!
This hour seemed to fly by, especially in the second half. By the time Chu Hang was packing up his books, Tan Yin actually felt a bit reluctant to stop. “Should we do one more problem?”
Chu Hang glanced at her. “I’ve already spent an entire hour alone with you tonight.” He rubbed his temples. “Tan Yin, know when enough is enough. You might be able to hold me back once with the excuse of ‘one more problem,’ but you can’t hold me back all night.”
“…”
Buddy, I really was genuinely trying to study hard…
Unfortunately, Chu Hang clearly didn’t see it that way. He shot her one more warning look and turned to leave — but before he did, he turned back —
“Structural mechanics isn’t actually that hard. Don’t go around threatening to end it all every time you can’t solve a problem.”
Tan Yin was stunned for a moment before belatedly realizing that Chu Hang must have taken Jiang Yilu’s story seriously. Before she could get a chance to clear up the misunderstanding, Chu Hang continued —
“One moment you’re threatening suicide over bad grades, the next you’re jumping off buildings because you can’t win me over. Tan Yin, you won’t always be lucky enough to just break a leg every time you jump.”
“…”
“You don’t need to worry about your grades. Going forward, with regular study sessions and me teaching you, plus you studying in the dorm until one or two in the morning every night like you do, your grades won’t stay bad. There’s no need to keep torturing yourself over feeling like your self-esteem’s been wounded, and no need to go wandering out to vent your feelings during a thunderstorm like that.” Chu Hang glanced at her, his tone cold. “Going out in weather like that — did you actually want to get struck by lightning?”
Tan Yin thought despairingly, buddy, you have no idea — I’ve already been struck by lightning and enlightened by it before…
“And of course — as for making me like you, that’s simply not going to happen. No matter how hard you try, the outcome won’t change. You’re an adult now too, you should keep your expectations realistic.”
“…”
Chu Hang finished speaking, looked away, and finally turned and walked off completely.
Tan Yin stood there dumbfounded until his figure had completely disappeared from view, before she finally thought to call out loudly —
“Wait! Chu Hang! I really didn’t jump off a building because of you!! Come back! Let me explain!!!!”
“Huge news! Tan Yin, do you know — Chu Hang and that girl finished dinner, and then he just vanished! The whole night, nobody in the shopping district outside our school saw a trace of Chu Hang, until just now when he finally got back to the dorm — and apparently he looked totally worn out, went straight to shower and sleep the moment he got back, like he’d been thoroughly wrung out! We’re pretty sure Chu Hang couldn’t hold back and went to a hotel with that girl!”
Tan Yin, having studied herself to exhaustion, had finally managed to say goodbye to Chu Hang and get back to her dorm, only to be dragged aside by Jiang Yilu, who bombarded her with the latest Chu Hang gossip.
Except…
“Chu Hang, at a hotel?” Tan Yin almost instinctively denied it. “No way, he…”
Jiang Yilu cut her off, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. “Then how do you explain Chu Hang disappearing all night and coming back looking so exhausted and done with life? You know Chu Hang’s stamina is legendary — he played two back-to-back basketball games against another school before without even coming off the court to rest once. What could possibly leave him looking like that? Think about it — that kind of activity is famous for draining a ton of energy, right?! Wild, intense effort!”
Tan Yin choked, feeling the need to clear Chu Hang’s name. “Actually, tonight he was just tutoring me on schoolwork…”
Although, in a way, it really was intense effort — just that what Chu Hang had been intensely putting out tonight was knowledge…
“Hahahahahaha.” Jiang Yilu burst out laughing without even thinking, cutting Tan Yin off. “I’m asking, who exactly was he tutoring? Who has that much talent, to make someone like Chu Hang end up looking this physically and mentally drained from tutoring? Was it a pig? How dumb do you have to be?”
“…”
Tan Yin hinted awkwardly, “Jiang Yilu, according to the department’s arrangement, the one assigned to help pull me out of academic poverty is Chu Hang…”
“Then aren’t you off easy? Chu Hang definitely won’t actually want to teach you — you’ll get to enjoy the free ride.”
“Why wouldn’t Chu Hang want to teach me?!”
Jiang Yilu pursed her lips. “Put yourself in his shoes — you drew that whole comic about him, and you think he’s just going to return good for evil and help you improve, carry you along? Even if he really does end up in your study group, it’s definitely to get back at you! He’s probably dug you a huge pit and is just waiting to bury you in it!”
“…”
“Oh right, where’d you go tonight?”
“Studying!”
“Tan Yin, that joke isn’t funny at all!”
“…”
As it turned out, though Jiang Yilu didn’t believe for a second that Chu Hang would really tutor Tan Yin, this reigning campus king actually did, without fail, keep tutoring this academic underdog.
Though Chu Hang’s attitude remained cold every single time, sticking strictly to the material with barely a wasted word to Tan Yin, once she got used to his rhythm, she genuinely started finding her footing in structural mechanics, and before long, her enthusiasm for studying had shot up.
What Tan Yin didn’t realize, though, was that her clear-conscience studying looked like something else entirely to everyone else.
That day, having just gotten her food at the cafeteria, she’d finally found a seat and sat down, when someone came looking for her.
The person approached aggressively, plopping herself down across from Tan Yin with such force it made Tan Yin jolt, and she had to carefully readjust her seating to keep her precarious balance.
The chair she happened to be sitting in — able to stay empty even in a cafeteria this packed — wasn’t reserved out of some special courtesy for her; it was simply that the bolts meant to anchor it to the floor had long since come loose, and the design of these chairs connected one side to the seat across from it, so if force was applied unevenly on one end, it could easily send the person on the other end sprawling.
“Are you Tan Yin?”
Matching the aggressiveness of her movements, the woman’s voice was equally domineering.
Tan Yin swallowed the meatball in her mouth and looked up, immediately recognizing the newcomer — long wavy hair, an oval face, fair, rosy skin, dressed impeccably, with a prominent brand logo visible at a glance. Quite pretty, and though her round eyes were full of hostility, there was still, on closer look, a touch of coquettish charm to her.
Wasn’t this the leading lady from Chu Hang’s scorching date night that evening?!
Before Tan Yin could react, the woman continued, giving a contemptuous little scoff. “Judging by your reaction, you must be Tan Yin, alright.”
“And you are?”
“Who I am isn’t important. What matters is that I hope you’ll wake up and recognize your place, and stop pretending you can cling to Chu Hang oppa just because of this study group nonsense. He’s only tutoring you because it’s a department assignment, plus he’s kind-hearted — but that doesn’t mean you get to scheme your way into seducing him…”
Tan Yin didn’t give her the chance to keep ranting, cutting her off righteously. “You’re really slandering me here — who’s scheming to seduce anyone? I’m currently obsessed with studying, I have no room in my heart for romance. What I love is studying — studying makes me happy! Keep spreading rumors and I’ll slap my top-20 score on this structural mechanics pop quiz right in your face!”
The woman hadn’t expected Tan Yin to be this feisty, and was momentarily stunned, before her expression darkened again. “I’ve heard about you. You chased after Chu Hang oppa relentlessly before, even jumped off a building for him — clearly the clingy, obsessive type. I don’t believe you’ll give up that easily, but let me tell you something out of the goodness of my heart — I’ve seen plenty of people like you, and you’re simply not from the same world as Chu Hang oppa. You don’t deserve him.”
Hearing this, Tan Yin was thoroughly displeased, every fighting instinct in her body switching on. “How exactly am I not good enough for your Chu Hang oppa?”
“Chu Hang oppa comes from noble bloodline—”
“You’re not breeding cats, why are you talking about bloodlines? And how is his bloodline so noble anyway? Just because his ancestors happened to have some French blood? Does that make it noble? All I know is the French go bald the fastest out of anyone in the world. Sure, Chu Hang’s hair looks thick right now, but who knows — by the time he’s thirty, his precious French bloodline might just doom him to male pattern baldness.”
“You!”
Tan Yin rolled her eyes. “What ‘you’? Do you even know what the principle of virtual work is? Do you know what the polar moment of inertia is? Do you understand the pattern of internal force diagrams for beams?”
“…”
“See, you don’t know anything, and you still have the nerve to tell me we’re not from the same world? We’ve got plenty in common to talk about!”
“…”
“Besides, if you actually knew how these things worked, shouldn’t you at least be handing over a check while you’re at it? No check, then at least an Alipay transfer? Or if nothing else, a stack of cash would do.”
The woman looked utterly stunned. “How can you be so shameless?!”
“I already jumped off a building for Chu Hang, what do I have left to lose?!”
“You are simply beyond shameless!”
Tan Yin set down her chopsticks. “You’re a freshman this year, aren’t you?”
The woman across from her grew wary. “So what if I’m a freshman? Are you going to lecture me about seniority now? Ha, Chu Hang oppa and I grew up together — back then, who knows what corner you were still rotting away in!”
“Respecting your elders is a traditional Chinese virtue. As a freshman, you should really speak more politely and courteously to me, your senior, you know?”
“As if I care who you are?!”
Tan Yin calmly wiped her mouth. “I’m warning you, keep this up and I’m leaving.”
“Then get lost already! Do you think I want to look at you?! Truly shameless to the—”
Before the woman could finish her sentence, Tan Yin abruptly stood up. Almost at the same instant, the woman across from her — who had just been so arrogant and aggressive — lost her balance as the chair’s counterweight shifted, and before she could react at all, went crashing to the ground with a loud bang, landing flat on her back. The commotion was so loud, and the pose so undignified, that it drew the attention of the entire bustling cafeteria.
Tan Yin looked at the woman sprawled unceremoniously on the floor and shook her head. “Typical freshman, had no idea about this chair’s little secret. And still wouldn’t respect her elders — well, that’s life teaching you a lesson today.”
Tan Yin finished speaking, smiled, and, ignoring the woman’s expression that looked ready to lunge at her and strangle her, turned to make her exit with an air of quiet triumph — only to spot Chu Hang standing not far away, his expression complicated, with no telling how long he’d already been standing there.
He pressed his lips together and walked over, glanced at Tan Yin, then quickly looked away, before stepping past her and reaching out a hand to help the girl up off the floor.
“Chu Hang oppa!” Seeing him, the woman immediately turned on the full display of pouting and crying, pointing at Tan Yin. “She tripped me on purpose.”
Chu Hang helped her up, then let go of her hand. He frowned and scolded her quietly, “Feifei, stop causing trouble.”
He finished, then turned to look at Tan Yin. Chu Hang only glanced at her briefly before lowering his eyes, his voice low. “It’s not worth jumping off a building for me.”
Tan Yin: ???
“As for whether I’ll go bald at thirty, you don’t need to trouble yourself over that either.”
“…”
“Your grades have already improved quite a bit — there’s no need to keep the study group meeting as frequently as before. Let’s just try to communicate by email going forward.”
Tan Yin’s face fell miserably. “So now it’s turning into remote learning? Straight from in-person college to correspondence course? That doesn’t seem right…”
Chu Hang shot her a cool glance. “Tutoring you also drains a lot of my energy — wasn’t that your own concerned reminder? I do carry that noble French balding bloodline, after all. I’m worried if I keep this up, I’ll go bald before I even graduate.”
“…”
“Alright, move, you’re blocking my path.”
“…”
Tan Yin quickly stepped aside, then watched Chu Hang’s straight, retreating figure walk calmly away. The back of his head, at that moment, was still thick with dark hair — yet Tan Yin found herself, quite inappropriately, growing curious about exactly what kind of bald Chu Hang would end up with in the future. Receding hairline? Or the full horseshoe?