Lu Xingheng stood still. “I forgot to tell you, there’s a switch at the bottom of the bottle. You don’t need to press too hard.”
Jiang Wan fumbled around. “Got it.”
“Why did you think of buying candy?”
Lu Xingheng replied, “To console someone.”
Wen Qian: “…”
Jiang Wan casually continued, “Then I really am a bit…”
“Consoled by you.”
Whether Lu Xingheng did it on purpose or not, Jiang Wan’s voice became somewhat muffled. Wen Qian didn’t hear it clearly, only catching half of the sentence intermittently.
She perked up her ears, but when she tried to eavesdrop again, all she heard was the dial tone signaling the end of the call.
Lu Xingheng’s ears turned red, and his neck felt warm.
Jiang Wan sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought.
After a while, he carefully counted out the pills one by one. While swallowing them, he gently rubbed his stomach.
Lu Xingheng glanced at the medicine box, and that uncomfortable, tugging feeling surged in his heart again.
“What are you looking at?” Jiang Wan snapped his fingers in front of Lu Xingheng.
Lu Xingheng replied, “Chemistry.”
A chemistry book lay open on the table. Jiang Wan flipped through it casually, and as if remembering something, he shook the book. A stack of loose-leaf papers fluttered out with a rustle.
Jiang Wan’s notes were haphazard; he never bothered to organize them properly. He usually jotted them down in the book, and for important or difficult points, he would mark them on random pieces of paper and tuck them inside the book.
Jiang Wan arranged the papers in order one by one, then grabbed a stapler and stapled them together.
“Here.” Jiang Wan looked up at Lu Xingheng, a smile hidden in his eyes. “A chemistry notebook for Student Lu Xingxing.”
Lu Xingheng’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, and his already flushed ears grew even warmer.
“Thank you.”
Jiang Wan stood on tiptoe and patted Lu Xingheng’s head. “No need to thank me. This is how I console you.”
“Holy shit—” Xu Yichen stumbled back two steps as if startled. “Uh, are you two done with the thanks…? I wanted to say I haven’t finished the chemistry homework Ostrich assigned…”
Jiang Wan remained much calmer. “It’s fine. Jiang Wenyan finished his. I’ll copy his.”
Xu Yichen exclaimed, “Then I want to copy too! Little brother!”
Jiang Wenyan replied coldly, “Do it yourself.”
Xu Yichen retorted, “Damn it, Baidu might not find you, but Sogou definitely will.”
Jiang Wenyan preempted him, “Got it, Xu Ergou.”
“…”
Jiang Wan copied the homework quickly.
Xu Yichen, on the other hand, “ate from a hundred households,” copying a bit from here and a problem from there.
As it turned out, Ostrich didn’t check during class.
“This problem is quite difficult. Jiang Wan, come up to the blackboard and solve it,” Yang Yulin scanned the classroom. “Your deskmate… your deskmate definitely knows how, so Lu Xingheng will do the next problem.”
“This problem isn’t hard, but it has many hidden conditions. It’s easy to make a mistake if you’re not careful.”
Yang Yulin squinted at Lu Xingheng again, and Lu Xingheng felt utterly helpless.
There was something almost mystical about how teachers picked students. As it turned out, Lu Xingheng really didn’t know how to solve it.
During chemistry class, when solving problems on the blackboard, students weren’t allowed to bring any textbooks or notes.
Jiang Wan stood in front of the projector, glanced at the problem, and didn’t understand it at first glance. He stared at the blackboard for a long time.
Yang Yulin continued explaining the problem, speaking fluently and effortlessly.
When Jiang Wan looked up in despair, having no idea how to proceed, he noticed Lu Xingheng was also stuck at the blackboard.
For a moment, the two of them were at a loss for words.
Jiang Wan’s problem was simpler; he figured out the solution at a glance. “Lu Xingxing, start by calculating the approximate concentration as 1%.”
Lu Xingheng quickly grasped the solution. “0.9, and what’s this?”
Jiang Wan leaned closer, and Lu Xingheng caught a faint whiff of medicinal scent, not strong.
“It shouldn’t be, the range is correct,” Jiang Wan stared for a while, perhaps feeling tired from standing, he rested his arm on Lu Xingheng’s shoulder. “Oh, your chemical equation isn’t balanced.”
Jiang Wan directly took the chalk from Lu Xingheng’s hand. “It should be sodium hydroxide here.”
Lu Xingheng lightly rubbed his fingertips.
“Done.” Perhaps afraid of being heard by Yang Yulin, Jiang Wan’s voice was very soft.
Jiang Wan turned around and continued staring at the problem on the projector.
“Why is there a function here…” Jiang Wan muttered to himself.
Lu Xingheng: “There is.”
Jiang Wan: “Hey… you startled me.”
Lu Xingheng: “First prove that only the straight line y=b exists.”
“Makes sense.” Jiang Wan didn’t think too much about it. “The intersection of Ψ(x) and f(x).”
Lu Xingheng reacted quickly. “(2,0).”
That was indeed the case, but something didn’t seem quite right.
Getting a bit carried away with the math problem, neither Jiang Wan nor Lu Xingheng paid attention to the fact that this was a chemistry class.
“Shit.” Jiang Wan cursed softly under his breath.
It was at this moment that Yang Yulin turned around, just in time to face half a blackboard covered in math problems.
Yang Yulin: “Jiang Wan.”
Jiang Wan didn’t know what to say either; he could only remain stuck at the blackboard.
The problem had been “broken apart” in a strange way, and Jiang Wan really wanted to know the final result. Taking advantage of Yang Yulin turning away, he asked Lu Xingheng, “So the range given in the problem isn’t accurate.”
Lu Xingheng nodded. “The problem isn’t very rigorous.”
Thus, when Yang Yulin turned back again, he saw a neat and beautiful line of chalk writing.
“So the range for a is (e-2, 1).”
Yang Yulin couldn’t take it anymore.
“Jiang Wan, Lu Xingheng, both of you go outside and stand!”
“…”
It was quite hot outside. Lu Xingheng started sweating after standing for less than ten minutes.
Jiang Wan noticed something was off. “You finished writing the problem, why aren’t you going back in?”
Lu Xingheng’s voice was faint. “Waiting for you.”
Jiang Wan replied honestly, “I can’t do it. Usually, if I don’t have an idea for a difficult problem within ten minutes, giving me twenty minutes won’t make a difference.”
“There’s only a 1% chance of solving it.”
Lu Xingheng: “Mm.”
The injury on Jiang Wan’s knee hadn’t healed yet. After standing for just a while, he wanted to lean back.
Cold was better than pain.
But when he leaned back, he didn’t touch the cold wall. Instead, his back naturally pressed against a warm surface.
Lu Xingheng reached out to support his back.
It wasn’t too soft or too hard—just comfortable.
Jiang Wan took a step forward and stood straight. “Did I hurt you?”
He hadn’t expected Lu Xingheng to suddenly reach out, nor had he been careful about how much force he used when leaning back.
Lu Xingheng: “No, you’re not heavy.”
Jiang Wan chuckled softly. “How is that possible? How could you even tell if I’m heavy or not?”
Lu Xingheng: “I can.”
Jiang Wan stretched his arm forward and lifted his chin slightly. “Then I want to test yours too.”
Lu Xingheng leaned back gently.
Jiang Wan complained, “Isn’t it tiring to stay stiff like that?”
Lu Xingheng didn’t hold back.
Jiang Wan clearly felt the pressure on his arm.
But it was still very light.
Jiang Wan: “Do you think I… have a weak constitution and don’t want to lean on me?”
Lu Xingheng: “No.”
“Then what is it? Just don’t want to play with me?”
Lu Xingheng denied it: “That’s not it either.”
Jiang Wan: “You answer one question at a time. Have you never been cornered by someone before?”
Lu Xingheng reached out and touched the white tiles on the wall, his voice tinged with compromise. “I just don’t want you touching anything cold.”
Jiang Wan paused for a moment. It seemed like he had heard those words somewhere before.