Gu Qing, who had still been cradling her face and acting lovestruck just moments ago, was no longer lovestruck. She hurriedly lowered her head.
The best way to lose one’s infatuation with someone was to hear him tell you to go up to the platform and solve a problem!
No…
Even after Professor Lin had fallen down, he still hadn’t forgotten to make her go up and solve the problem?
Did he really have to see her humiliate herself?? Fine, she was wrong, all right…!!!
Everyone in the class remembered this problem. During the previous class, Gu Qing had fallen asleep, so Professor Lin had punished her by making her solve this problem in the current class.
And she was not allowed to use the method shown in the answer. She had to come up with her own solution steps.
That was precisely why Gu Qing was stumped.
The answers she found online were almost exactly the same as the one in the textbook. Where was she supposed to find a second way to solve it?
Because Professor Lin had called on Gu Qing by name during the previous class, everyone in the classroom was now looking toward Gu Qing, ready to watch the show.
Gu Qing’s head was practically about to burrow into the desk.
Tan Qingze, standing at the front of the classroom, also noticed that nearly everyone’s eyes were directed toward the same place.
He cleared his throat. “I can see that everyone’s looking at someone.”
Gu Qing:!!!!
“All right, then. Jiang Lezhi, please come up and solve this problem.”
Jiang Lezhi, who had just been feeling sorry for Gu Qing: ???
Gu Qing: Eek~!
Jiang Lezhi widened her eyes and stared at Tan Qingze. No… was there something wrong with his eyesight?
Hadn’t the other students just been looking at Gu Qing, who was sitting beside her?
Tan Qingze tapped the lectern twice. “I see that everyone’s looking at you. Jiang Lezhi, you should be able to solve it, right?”
As she sensed the gazes coming from all directions, a flush gradually spread across Jiang Lezhi’s face. Resigned to her fate, she stood up.
Tan Qingze showed not the slightest extra expression throughout. Only when Jiang Lezhi took the chalk from his hand did she hear a soft, neither-light-nor-heavy snort.
Jiang Lezhi understood…
How could his eyesight be bad? His eyesight was practically perfect!
He was blatantly taking revenge on her!
Once the two of them stood together, the people below gradually realized that something was off.
How should they put it? The atmosphere was a little strange—strangely enough, it made people feel like they were watching a wonderfully matched couple!
Gu Qing, who had just “escaped death,” pulled out her phone and began taking pictures of the two onstage in a frenzy.
“Hey, do you think the thing between Tan Qingze and Jiang Lezhi is real?”
“I didn’t believe it before. Lezhi doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would force-kiss someone, and that photo was taken from so far away and was so blurry. But now I’m starting to believe it!”
“Me too, me too! It’s really hard not to suspect that Tan Qingze did this on purpose!”
“Oh my god! What do you think Tan Qingze means by this? Why do I feel like this is so sweet to watch?”
The voices from below the platform grew louder and more numerous. Tan Qingze glanced back, and the classroom instantly returned to the silence it had held at the beginning.
He turned his gaze to Jiang Lezhi, who was holding the chalk and struggling with what to do.
The flush on her face had not yet faded. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and from Tan Qingze’s angle, he could just make out her long, curled eyelashes.
After struggling for a while, Jiang Lezhi decided to follow the solution method in the answer after all.
Although it was not a new method, it was still better than handing in a blank sheet.
Once she had accepted that, Jiang Lezhi began rapidly writing the answer on the blackboard.
She wrote for nearly five minutes and used half the blackboard. At last, she completely solved the problem.
Tan Qingze gave a soft hum and drew several emphatic marks over the answer Jiang Lezhi had written. “This part can be done using a more convenient method…”
He wrote with considerably more force than Jiang Lezhi had. The two lines he had just drawn underneath were especially conspicuous.
Jiang Lezhi listened carefully as he explained an approach she had never thought of before, and suddenly everything became clear.
Using his method really was much more concise. A whole series of steps afterward could simply be omitted.
Just then, the bell signaling the end of class rang.
Tan Qingze tapped the chalk against the blackboard twice. “Anyone who needs it can take a picture of these solution steps. There will be many opportunities to use them later. Class dismissed!”
That was simply how university classes worked. The moment someone said class was over, no matter who was standing at the front, the students below could pack up and rush out of the classroom as quickly as possible.
Jiang Lezhi brushed the chalk dust from her fingertips. Before she had even made it back to the seat where she had been sitting, she heard Tan Qingze’s voice from behind her.
“Jiang Lezhi, wait a moment. The rest of you can leave!”
As he said this, Tan Qingze glanced at Jiang Jiaojiao and Gu Qing. The two of them smiled obediently.
“Okay!”
Then they picked up their books and left without the slightest hesitation.
In no more than three minutes, only Tan Qingze and Jiang Lezhi remained in the classroom.
Since class had ended right at mealtime, the corridors outside were packed with people. Tan Qingze casually closed the classroom door.
Jiang Lezhi’s heart sank…
Tan Qingze wouldn’t hit her, would he…
She remembered that all those posts on the forums said Tan Qingze had a terrible temper and was unbearably arrogant!
If he really hit her, would she be able to dodge?
Jiang Lezhi was terribly flustered. Especially when she watched Tan Qingze walk toward her step by step, the distance between them growing shorter and shorter, she became even more frantic.
She hugged her books in front of her, and her palms faintly began to sweat.
There was not much expression on Tan Qingze’s face. Jiang Lezhi could not tell whether he was in a good mood or a bad one, but she guessed it probably was not very good.
After all, he looked exactly like he had come to settle accounts with her!
Would it still be in time if she admitted she was wrong now—but also admitted that she might do it again in the future?
Jiang Lezhi could not help swallowing. She was practically about to collapse onto the chair, her expression as tense as it could possibly be. The flush that had just colored her face gradually began to fade into pallor.
Tan Qingze gave a soft scoff. “I thought you were very brave. I haven’t even done anything yet, and you’re already this scared?”
Jiang Lezhi dropped heavily onto the chair.
Wasn’t there a saying that went, “You don’t hit someone who’s smiling”?
So, the very next moment, Jiang Lezhi gave Tan Qingze a sycophantic smile.
Who would have thought that Tan Qingze’s expression would become even more unpleasant? The sarcasm in his voice deepened as well. “What’s wrong? Can’t speak now?”
Jiang Lezhi instinctively opened her mouth wide, forming the shape of an “ah.”
That wasn’t right…
She remembered that she had never spoken in front of Tan Qingze before. So how could he say something like that?
Just as she was feeling puzzled, Tan Qingze suddenly leaned closer. He stopped when he was less than two centimeters away from her. His voice was low and deep, and it was impossible to make out any emotion in it.
“Is it because you didn’t kiss me today, so you can’t speak again?”
As soon as he said this, Jiang Lezhi’s eyes widened. She stared at Tan Qingze in disbelief.