Chapter 21

"Very handsome," Tianxin put down her phone. Yan Heng must be hiding something from her, and she probably wouldn't tell her even if she asked. Also, she hadn't finished her homework yet.

Zhuting didn't seem to want to let Tianxin off the hook. "Is that it? We need to be sincere."

"I'm a little done for now. I have to go do my homework. You guys can look at it yourselves," Tianxin said and quickly left the dorm. She couldn't resist any further questioning.

Zhuting and Zhuyan smiled at each other and went their separate ways.

As soon as Tianxin turned the corner of the hallway, she was stopped by a girl she didn't recognize. She looked a bit puzzled. She didn't remember knowing her, or even seeing her before. She was probably in the second year of high school. "Do you need something?"

The girl seemed a bit shy and took out a love letter from behind. Tianxin could tell at a glance what it was. She had received a lot of them on behalf of her brother before. Since he had told her off, she hadn't received any more love letters on his behalf.

The pink envelope had a symbol resembling a heart drawn on it, which reminded Tianxin of the red heart Yan Heng had drawn on her tissue.

"Can you give this to your desk mate?" The girl asked Tianxin with hopeful eyes. "If you like Yan Heng, just tell him yourself."

The girl didn't expect to be refused. "Jiang, are you refusing to help because you like Yan Heng?"

Her face changed instantly from a soft and weak appearance to hostility.

Tianxin felt that a certain animal was particularly suitable for her - a chameleon. "If you don't even have the courage to send a love letter, I advise you not to like him. It's hopeless."

"Don't think you're so great just because you're Yan Heng's desk mate. I learned from you, but Yan Heng will never like someone like you," the girl's hand holding the love letter trembled slightly as she looked at Tianxin with disdain.

Tianxin didn't want to bother with her and started climbing the stairs. She heard the person behind her cursing and angrily leaving. As soon as Tianxin entered the classroom, she saw Yan Heng sitting in his seat flipping through a thick Oxford dictionary. To be honest, she wasn't sure about Yan Heng's English level.

Yan Heng looked up when his desk mate arrived. "Didn't the English teacher say we needed a dictionary? I happen to have one. We can share it. You don't have to buy one."

Yan Heng almost forgot to mention Tianxin, "Hmm, yes," Tianxin hesitated a bit, whether to tell Yan Heng about what happened at the staircase earlier, but decided against it.

Physics was the subject that Tianxin found the most difficult. At first, she was able to keep up, but recently it had become increasingly challenging, and there were still some concepts that she hadn't quite grasped yet. She stopped at the last physics problem in her homework.

Tianxin went to the class leader's seat with her homework book, "Class leader, can you explain this problem to me?" The class leader, who had just rubbed his eyes with ointment, was momentarily surprised.

He felt a bit excited as he had been resting next to her during military training, and had never had close contact with such a quiet and gentle girl before. "Sure, which question don't you understand?" The class leader was very enthusiastic and asked her to sit down, but Tianxin shook her head, "No, it's okay, I'll stand. Thank you for your help, class leader."

Yan Heng watched the two of them standing so close together, and wondered why Tianxin was making things difficult for herself. Was it necessary to seek help from the class leader, who might not be able to explain it clearly? He suddenly remembered that he had been portraying himself as a poor student, feeling frustrated that his true abilities were being underestimated. He thought to himself, "Wait until the mid-term exam, and you'll see my real level."

When Tianxin returned, she was not quite sure she had fully understood, but she didn't want to keep asking. She decided to try to figure it out on her own. Yan Heng cleared his throat, "If you have any questions next time, you can ask me. The class leader is very busy with class matters and his own studies, so it's not good to disturb him unnecessarily." It was best to take preventative measures, lest tutoring lead to deeper feelings.

Tianxin was a bit skeptical, "Can you really explain it to me?" This sounded reasonable, as the class leader was indeed very busy, and the study committee member was rumored to not help anyone with homework. Many students who had asked him for help had hit a wall, and she didn't want to make things awkward for herself.

Yan Heng replied confidently, "Of course, I have been studying very hard recently. Don't worry, I can explain it to you." Tianxin handed him the book and pointed to a problem, "Then, can you explain this problem to me?"

Afraid that his verbal explanation might not be clear enough, Yan Heng took a piece of paper and wrote down the solution for her. Tianxin was impressed by how clearly he explained the steps and the logic behind them, and suddenly felt enlightened. "Thank you so much, Yan Heng. You're so amazing," she exclaimed. Hearing Tianxin's praise, Yan Heng felt a sense of satisfaction.

Being a top student seemed to be quite advantageous, he thought. "If you don't understand something, just ask me. I'm different from others, I'm an insider, they are outsiders."

"What do you mean by '内人'?" Tianxin laughed, "Do you need a Chinese language tutor? I can teach you," Tianxin said playfully.

"I misspoke. What I meant was that we are desk mates, and we should help each other," Yan Heng returned the book to Tianxin.

Tianxin finished the last physics problem and started working on the math problems. She remembered that she had a set of problems that she hadn't given to Yan Heng. "Oh, by the way, you can work on this set of problems. I have an extra set, and I won't be able to finish all of them," she said.

Yan Heng thought to himself, "MMP" (not sure what this means), but on his face, he looked as if he had received a precious gift. "Thank you, desk mate. I just love doing problems," he said.

Tianxin didn't say anything. Her expression was just like when she received a copybook. Yan Heng looked through the test paper and predicted that he would be able to finish it in half a day.

The classroom started to fill up, and Zhu Ting and Zhong You came in. Zhu Ting had a black face, while Zhong You was following behind, coaxing her.

Tianxin looked at these two desk mates. They were like little enemies. Usually, Zhong You liked to bully her verbally, but Zhu Ting was not one to be trifled with. If she wasn't fighting back with words, she was using her hands. However, she looked happy when she saw Zhong You get beaten up.

"What did you do to them this time?"

Zhong You was a little embarrassed to say, and Zhu Ting glared at him. Zhong You obediently shut up, "Don't be angry. Can I treat you to ice cream tomorrow?"

Zhu Ting snorted, "If you treat them too, then I won't hold it against you. You're the one who's spending money, and you're a stinky hooligan for bullying me."

Zhong You nodded, "No problem, I'll treat everyone. I didn't mean to touch you there."

Zhu Ting got excited and kicked the stool under Zhong You's feet. With a loud bang, Zhong You fell to the ground, drawing laughter from the others.

Zhong You and Zhu Ting both looked embarrassed. "Are you okay?" Zhu Ting didn't know how she kicked the stool and Zhong You down.

Tianxin widened her eyes. Where did Zhong You touch Zhu Ting? She was so angry.

Zhong You knew he was in the wrong and could only lose face. "I'm fine. Next time, just pinch me instead of kicking me," he said.

"You're still thinking about next time? If there's a next time, I'll just blow your head off," Zhu Ting said angrily. What was this guy thinking?

Zhongyou breathed a sigh of relief as he watched everyone calm down. Thank goodness, everything was fine now.