Chapter 12

Yan Heng's words made Tianxin feel relieved, so she didn't say anything more.

When she returned to the dormitory that night, Tianxin was comforted by her roommates. After confirming that she was fine, they all went to bed because the lights were turned off at 10 pm. They washed their feet and did their homework or read books if they hadn't finished yet.

"Did you bring your math textbook, Tianxin? Let me see," Zhu Yan asked apologetically as she realized she had forgotten her own textbook. Tianxin extended her arm and Zhu Yan took the book, thanking her.

Pan Xiaojiang glanced at Zhu Ting, who was happily playing on her phone, "Have you finished your homework, Zhu Ting? Why are you still playing on your phone?" Their school allowed students to bring phones, but they were not allowed to bring them into the classroom. If a teacher found a student using a phone in class, not only would the phone be confiscated, but the student would also have to write a self-reflection.

"I still have a little bit left. I'll finish it during self-study tomorrow. Right now, I'm checking out my idol. He's so handsome," Zhu Ting said in a fanatical tone. Everyone listened to her and felt that there was no hope for her.

"Who is your favorite celebrity? Zhu Ting likes Li Yifeng, what about the rest of you?" Zhao Xuexi placed her English book on the bedside. It had been more than a week since school started, but they hadn't really talked much before since they weren't familiar with each other.

"I like Zhao Liying. I like her in 'Legend of Lu Zhen.' She's really cute," Zhao Xuexi said as she sat on the bed.

"I've seen that show before. It's alright. Tianxin, do you have a favorite celebrity?" Pan Xiaojiang asked curiously.

Tianxin held her teddy bear and absentmindedly played with its ear, "I've liked Hu Ge since I was little."

"I didn't realize that. That's cool," Zhao Xuexi exclaimed.

Pan Xiaojiang started talking about her own idol, "My idol is a singer, and he's Zhang Jie. I really want to go to his concert. Ahhh!"

"What about you, Zhu Yan and Tan Xiaoyue?" Zhao Xuexi looked at the two of them who were silently studying. Zhu Yan answered while working on her problem set, "My idol is myself. Cool, right? Handsome, right?"

"I don't have anyone in particular that I like," Tan Xiaoyue said.

Zhu Ting took off her earphones and started discussing her own idol with the others. They talked about their idols' works, scandals, and gossips. Suddenly, the lights went off.

"Ah, I haven't finished previewing yet," Zhu Yan shouted. "Let's stop for now. The dormitory supervisor is probably coming up soon."

After just over a week, they had already figured out the situation in their dormitory. If it was too noisy, they would be penalized, and the worst dormitories would be reported to the whole school on Monday. They didn't want to be infamous.

The whole dorm suddenly quieted down. Tianxin lay in bed, holding a teddy bear in her arms, opened WeChat, replied to her dad's nagging, talked about her daily life, and was about to exit when she saw someone added her. The profile picture was all black, and the verification message was a character "严", which was Yan Heng. His nickname was a string of letters, which Tianxin didn't recognize.

Tianxin clicked agree, but before she could say hello, she received a red envelope. Tianxin's phone almost slipped out of her hand. It was a 200 yuan red envelope. "[I'll entrust you with my breakfast in the future. Keep track of the account yourself,]" Yan Heng wrote.

Tianxin, who was responsible for the entire breakfast, was a bit stunned. She had a feeling of "I'll take care of your breakfast in the future." It was so silly. "[It's convenient, don't you think so?]" Tianxin replied. But she didn't know how to continue the conversation, and Yan Heng was the same. After deleting several drafts, he finally sent a good night message. Tianxin replied with a good night message as well, exited the chat page, and opened the browser to search for "how to treat insomnia."

Looking at the messy pages that popped up, Tianxin scrolled down and saw things like exercising, restoring social function, and improving patients' quality of life. The more she looked, the more confused she became. It seemed like none of them could work.

Tianxin searched for the causes of insomnia again and analyzed it. She guessed that Yan Heng's insomnia might be caused by psychological reasons, but she doubted he would tell her what it was. Nevermind, she thought. She had to take it slow and not make it worse.

Tianxin listened to the dorm chat in silence and gradually fell asleep.

She placed the breakfast on Yan Heng's desk, and Zhu Ting was lying on the table feeling listless. "I don't want to do homework at all," Zhu Ting said.

"Hurry up and write. The class monitor will come to collect homework later. If you want to be on the blacklist, you don't have to write," Tianxin opened her English book and began to silently memorize words. Zhu Ting took out her own homework and started writing.

When Yan Heng came in, he saw his little desk mate memorizing words seriously. She was so diligent. When he saw Tianxin, he smiled at her, and Tianxin smiled back. Tianxin didn't know what Yan Heng was thinking, so she resumed memorizing words. After finishing breakfast, Yan Heng took out a calligraphy book from his backpack with the title "Pang Zhonghua Calligraphy," which she should like.

Yan Heng cautiously touched Tianxin's arm. Tianxin looked at him puzzledly, and Yan Heng handed over the calligraphy book. "This is for you. I wanted to choose a different font, but only Pang Zhonghua's was available. You'll practice it well," Yan Heng said to himself, watching Tianxin's surprise on her face every day.

Tianxin had a moment of thinking that she might have read it wrong, but looking at the words on the cover, she felt a sense of shock. Although she felt like closing herself off, she still managed to squeeze out a "Thank you" like squeezing toothpaste, put the calligraphy on the table and felt a shadow in her heart that was so big. The thinking of the experts was always different from ordinary people's. Otherwise, how could he be so outstanding? Yan Heng had sent out the gift and was very happy like an idiot, but he remained calm on the surface. Some classmates were studying under the teaching building, because the classroom was crowded during the morning self-study. Even if everyone read quietly, it was still difficult for students who could only study in a quiet environment. Therefore, some students were reviewing while some were doing exercises. When the first bell rang, the class monitor shouted, "Put your homework together in each group. I'll take them to the teacher after the morning self-study. If you haven't finished writing, hurry up and do it." As soon as the class monitor finished speaking, those who hadn't done their homework immediately started copying from others. The last row copied the homework and passed it up. After Tianxin finished organizing it, she took a glance at Yan Heng. Yan Heng conscientiously gave his workbook to her, and when he saw Tianxin put her workbook and his together, he felt inexplicably happy. "Zhong You, your workbook," Tianxin stood up and bent down to put the workbook on Zhong You's desk. Zhong You then passed it up, and the class monitor counted the homework in each group. If the homework was not submitted before the monitor handed it to the teacher, the student would be put on the blacklist. If it happened frequently, the homeroom teacher would invite the student to the office for a chat. Therefore, whether the homework was written by oneself or copied, it had to be handed in. Yan Heng had been particularly obedient these days. Each subject teacher was pleased with the homework he submitted, and the homeroom teacher felt relieved after receiving the feedback. The homeroom teacher immediately called Yan Heng's parents to report the good news. When Yan Heng got home, he received a call from his mother, who repeatedly urged him to take good care of himself. Yan Heng responded indifferently and hung up the phone when he got bored. With the phone call over, his ears were quieter, and his heart was less clogged. He was the only one in the apartment, and the aunt would come to tidy up his room and cook for him regularly. Yan Heng had just finished his nap when he saw the message from Qi Yue: "Let's do some practice problems together." Qi Yue was in the experimental class, and the competition was always fierce. Previously, every time Yan Heng and Qi Yue competed in problem-solving, the loser would give the winner a set of problems, but now that agreement had been broken.

Yan Heng looked at the message without replying. Qi Yue and he had been in the same class since kindergarten, and they grew up together, always helping and competing with each other in their studies. Both of them were proud and unwilling to lose, and they practiced hard for the sake of being first. But Qi Yue had always remained in second place, and it had been a long time since they worked on a problem together.

Yan Heng had thought they would go to the same university, but now Qi Yue had repeated a year, and he had caught up to Yan Heng's level. Qi Yue had told his family that he was also repeating a year just to wait for Yan Heng, and had even been scolded by his family afterwards. Later, Yan Heng learned from Qi Yue's parents that they subtly blamed him for leading Qi Yue astray.

After so many years, Yan Heng already considered Qi Yue a close brother. With Qi Yue sending one message after another, Yan Heng finally relented and invited him over to his house. Yan Heng searched his own room and found a few sets of problems for Qi Yue to practice.

Meanwhile, Tianxin had been doing her homework for half an hour and was now practicing calligraphy with the copybook that Yan Heng had given her. Zhao Xuexi had gone to her uncle's house, Pan Xiaojiang had gone to find her sister, who was a senior high school student living outside, and as for Tan Xiaoyue, she would be going home on the weekend.

The remaining three were in the dormitory. Zhu Ting played with her phone for a while, then got up to drink water. She saw Tianxin practicing calligraphy stroke by stroke and was surprised. "Tianxin, when did you buy this copybook?" She hadn't touched a copybook for a long time, not since she was in primary school.

Tianxin was a little embarrassed. "Yan Heng gave it to me. I practice when I have nothing to do." Zhu Yan was curious. "Why did Yan Heng give it to you?" Tianxin recounted the incident when she had just mentioned that her handwriting was ugly. Zhu Ting and Zhu Yan burst into laughter, calling Yan Heng a "straight guy". Zhu Yan continued, "Yan Heng is really excellent. I give him full marks for this move. How do you feel, Tianxin?"

"I feel fine," Tianxin replied calmly. Zhu Ting rubbed her chin and pondered, "Do you think Yan Heng has a crush on you?" According to all the romantic dramas she had watched, there must be something more to it.

"Don't talk nonsense. We're just classmates," Tianxin retorted. Zhu Ting continued, "Actually, the chance of high school classmates falling in love is very high." She munched on her potato chips, analyzing with relish. Tianxin, writing as she spoke, suddenly ran out of ink in her pen. Her brother had given her the pen, and she hadn't bought any ink when she came. It looked like she needed to go buy some ink.

"How is that possible? Zhong You is not my type," Zhu Ting said.