CH 18.2

Chapter 18.2 – Studies

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Li Chuan pulled out the classical Chinese text from the books she brought over and threw it to her, asking her to first revise [Tang Ju’s Mission] and he would spot-check later.

As she was memorizing, Li Chuan took the Yunyang High School’s text to write out the math and physics questions on the draft paper.

Two pieces of A4 draft papers were quickly filled on both sides.

Li Chuan asked her, “Are you done revising?”

“Almost done.”

Li Chuan handed her the draft papers. Pinching the corner with his long slender fingers, he emphasized seriously, “Do these questions. I want to know your current level.”

The girl nodded obediently, “Okay, Teacher Li.”

The clear and concise ‘Teacher Li’ appellation caused Su Qin to almost consider herself truly a little girl.

Li Chuan’s writing is neat and the font spacing is dense yet not messy. Su Qin was still quite confident with Li Chuan’s questions. After all, she has been revising the junior high and the year one senior high’s questions for the past months, and deemed that his questions would not be too difficult.

However, after answering a few questions, Su Qin got a slap in the face and felt her face was swollen red, as if she suddenly heard the sound of ‘pa pa’ face-slapping in the air.

With one hand holding the pen and another supporting her forehead, she was trying to use her arm to shield her embarrassment and wished she could bore into a hole. Without looking back, Su Qin could feel Teacher Li’s gaze that she had a sense of nervousness of being stared at by the class teacher during the exam.

Heaven … it’s so humiliating.

Why couldn’t she answer this math problem?

Su Qin tried not to think about the man sitting next to her and continued to solve the question. She finally figured out the answer after spending 20 minutes.

She continued to answer, and found the following questions to be relatively simple, but she was stumped again by the questions behind.

Su Qin used three hours to complete an A4-sized ‘test paper’. The pride of being first place in Chengnan Middle School was all gone, and she finally experienced the taste of being a scum to a top scholar.

Letting out a breath, she turned to look at Teacher Li who was sitting beside her and spoke timidly, “Li … Teacher Li. I’m done.”

Li Chuan raised his wrist to look at his watch and nodded at her with a decent smile, “En, better than I expected. Took 3 hours.”

Su Qin, “ …… “

__ Okay, okay, I admit I am an underachiever. Requesting the top-scholar teacher to please strike lightly.

Li Chuan took out another piece of A4 draft paper and said, “Write out the [Tang Ju’s Mission] at once.”

Su Qin, “! ! ! !”

Her brain had been running at high speed for 3 hours and hadn’t had time to rest yet. This perverse Teacher Li, actually asked her to write out [Tang Ju’s Mission] by memory, definitely not joking?

Li Chuan added, “I want to know what your error rate is writing out what you just revised after your brain ran at high speed.”

Su Qin voiced out a ‘Oh’, changed her pen and started to write out [Tang Ju’s Mission].

As she was writing, she peeked at the ‘test paper’ that Teacher Li was correcting but found a huge bright red cross on her first question.

She had solved the problem for half a day, but it was unexpectedly wrong.

[The Strategies of Warring States] from the [Tang Ju’s Mission] was not very long and Su Qin quickly completed it. She corrected it against the textbook herself and found 8 mistakes.

In her previous life, apart from signing her name, Su Qin hadn’t written earnestly with a pen for many years and this was also the first time she was writing since her rebirth. She found that the literary text she could memorize backwards was actually full of wrongly written characters.

Many characters were either wrongly written, half-written or forgot how to write that she wished she could take out the cellphone’s pinyin’s keyboard.

When she wrote the word ’寡 (Guǎ)’, she simply couldn’t remember how many strokes there were in it.

She handed the written [Tang Ju’s Mission] with shame and took the ‘test paper’ from Teacher Li. There were a lot of red crosses but she actually felt relieved seeing 60 points.

At least … she passed.

As she heaved a sigh of relief inwardly, Li Chuan’s serious voice transmitted into her ears, “There are 8 mistakes in the verse of [Tang Ju’s Mission] and a test paper with a full score of 80, but you only got 60. Su Qin, your situation is worse than I thought.”

Su Qin was really ashamed and felt that she had done all the questions foolishly for the past months. Except for recalling the junior high school’s knowledge, those questions didn’t improve her level at all.

Realizing this problem, Su Qin felt even more ashamed.

Seeing her hanging her head dispiritedly, Li Chuan half coaxed and half sterned, “It’s normal. After all, you’ve been away from junior high school for so long and now you even have to go to work, so it’s normal for your concentration to be distracted and to fall behind in your studies. As long as you have the desire to learn, I’ll help you make it up. It’s 4pm now, come, let’s go through one problem at a time, and I’ll tell you all the solution theory, so you listen carefully, okay?”

Listening to him consoling herself, Su Qin nodded and said, “Okay.”

In total, there were 16 wrong answers and Li Chuan analyzed them one by one to her, and even looked through her scratch papers to tell her where she had made mistakes. In order to help the girl expand her mind, he would let the girl try to solve it in another way after he explained one problem-solving method.

The process was very long, and it was equivalent to Su Qin doing it over again with Li Chuan in tow.

At 7.30pm, the library became less crowded and Su Qin was still using another method to solve the last question. The moment she got the answer, Su Qin seemed to have unlocked her breakthrough meridians that her whole body felt relaxed and the sense of achievement in solving the problems was beyond words.

Seeing the girl stretching, Li Chuan praised her, “Not bad, your analytical skills are quick, smart and understanding without much explaining. When you practice, try different problem-solving methods, which is conducive to divergent thinking.”

Pursing her lips, Su Qin nodded and got up to pack her books, “Got it, Teacher Li and I’ve troubled you. En … I’m really sorry to take up your whole afternoon. I can’t afford to pay you financially now, when I earn money later … “

Li Chuan interrupted her next words, “Su Qin, I tutor and you study. It was just a humble contribution. As for me, it’s an act of public service. If you really want to repay me, please study hard to attend either Nanjing University or Tsinghua National University.”

Su Qin looked at him with gratitude.

Although she and Li Chuan were husband and wife in their previous life, the two of them had no connection with each other after she was reborn. Li Chuan’s willingness to help her like this was definitely worth remembering for the rest of her life.

She will never forget everyone who has helped her.

Feifei, Yun Qi, Li Chuan, Zhang Cheng and also Captain Lu.

There is black and white, and also gray areas in this world, but there are also heroes like them.

There are people like Li Chuan who lend a helping hand to the less fortunate. There are also those like Captain Lu, who deal with the shady and fight bravely in danger.

The world needs heroes. The so-called tranquil years are all simply because someone is shouldering the burden forward.

Li Chuan brought Su Qin to the roadside stall for dinner. Because Su Qin insisted on paying, he only ordered two dishes and a soup.

This year, with 8 yuan, you could buy a plate of sautéed julienned potatoes, a plate of fried gourd and a bowl of pickled vegetable vermicelli soup.

Although it is cheap, Su Qin’s salary has to be saved up for tuition fees, so she can’t spend extravagantly. She knew that Li Chuan was taking care of her pocket, so he deliberately ordered cheap dishes. She thought after making lots of money in the future, she will treat him to a big meal every week.

Since the rice was free, Su Qin finished off four bowls of rice with the pickled vegetable vermicelli soup.

The boss was shocked by her appetite, and when he served her the fourth bowl of rice, he teased, “Little Brother, your little sister eats a lot, ah? Don’t you usually feed her well ah?”

After the boss turned to leave, Li Chuan coughed lightly and said, “Su Qin, you don’t have to invite me to dinner in the future. If you really want to repay me, then just … “

“Just study hard?” Su Qin picked a chopstick of fried gourd into his bowl and said, “Teacher Li, I can’t give you any other payment, but I can still afford dinner. Teacher Li, I’ll treat you to a big meal every week after I graduate and make money, you believe me, my word is my bond.”

The girl’s eyes shone brightly and filled with a vision for the future.

Looking at her for a moment, he smiled and said, “I believe you.”

After dinner, Su Qin wanted to take the bus home but Li Chuan stopped her.

“There is no direct bus to your neighborhood from NJU and your area is a part of the old city district which is not very safe. I will send you back.”

“Ah? This … isn’t it too troublesome?”

After experiencing the abduction, Su Qin always carries some homemade peppery water which is more lethal than the kind sold on Taobao.

Li Chuan insisted, “I don’t want my first student to have any accident. Okay, listen to me, I’ll send you home.”

“O … okay, thank you, Teacher Li.”

She thought Li Chuan would drive a small car to take her home, but she didn’t expect Li Chuan to ride an old bicycle from the campus and arrive in front of her.

The man rang the small bell then placed his long leg on the ground and stopped in front of her effortlessly.

Standing in place with the school bag on her back, Su Qin looked at him, pondered for a moment and said, “Teacher Li, if you send me home like this, I will be under psychological pressure and I may not even dare to eat the next time I come to see you.”

“Get on.” Li Chuan appeared stern and had no intention to joke with her.

“Wow.”

Su Qin jumped on the back of the bicycle and tugged bashfully at the man’s clothes, “Teacher Li, I’m ready.”

“Hold on tight.”

Su Qin gripped rather tightly.

Stepping on the pedals, the bicycle sped off. Since it just started moving, Li Chuan deliberately let the bicycle do a zigzag sprint.

The girl behind felt her heart constricted as her head slammed into the man’s back and both her hands hugged the man’s waist.

At this time, there were gradually fewer pedestrians on the street and no one saw it. The man revealed … a kind of an old mother’s amiable smile.