“Of course!”
She never procrastinated.
Jiang Baizhou could only go along with Wen Yan’s pace.
“Alright,” he said, drawing out the word.
Soon, Jiang Baizhou witnessed Wen Yan’s incredible efficiency firsthand.
Wen Yan pushed Jiang Baizhou’s arm.
“Turn around.
No peeking at the test questions.”
Jiang Baizhou chuckled helplessly and obediently turned his back.
His tone softened.
“Don’t make it too hard, okay?”
With her back to him, Wen Yan pressed her lips together to hide a smile.
“Okay.
It won’t be hard.”
‘How can a grown man be so good at acting cute!’
Sigh!
‘What else can I do?
I’ll just have to humor him.’
Feeling she had taken the “leading” role in their dynamic, Wen Yan began writing out questions.
She scribbled away, finishing in less than ten minutes.
She poked Jiang Baizhou’s back with her finger.
Jiang Baizhou felt a tingling sensation spread from the spot Wen Yan had poked, but he forced himself to turn around calmly.
“Finished already?
That was fast.”
“Mhm, it’s not much.
Go ahead and get started.”
Jiang Baizhou picked up the pencil and started on the questions.
Before long, a genuine frown creased his brow—this time, he wasn’t acting.
He had never truly been to school.
But since literacy was required for promotion, he had spent a lot of time studying on his own.
But when it came to math, chemistry, and physics, he was completely lost.
Most men would feel embarrassed at a time like this, trying to find excuses to save face or even getting angry to seize the initiative.
But an idea sparked in Jiang Baizhou’s mind.
“Wen Yan…”
Jiang Baizhou’s pitiful call made Wen Yan’s ears feel strangely warm.
“Wen Yan, I can’t do it.
Am I too stupid?”
At some point, Jiang Baizhou had straightened up, moving very close to Wen Yan.
As he spoke, his warm breath ghosted over the edge of her ear, making it flush a faint red.
Jiang Baizhou saw this and went back to playing pitiful.
He tugged on Wen Yan’s sleeve, his voice losing its usual clarity and instead carrying a soft, coaxing hook.
“Please teach me.”
Wen Yan’s heart instantly softened.
She patted the back of Jiang Baizhou’s hand.
The soft, delicate touch seemed to seep through his skin, utterly captivating.
“Okay, okay, it’s not your fault.
I made the questions too hard.
We’ll start from the basics.
It’s okay.”
A Wen Yan willing to “humor” someone was especially gentle.
Sweet nothings poured from her freely, and combined with her soft, fair face, the effect was doubly potent.
Jiang Baizhou really wanted to immerse himself in this treatment for a while longer, but he knew when to stop.
He quickly dropped the cute act and began listening to the lesson seriously.
Sure enough, seeing Jiang Baizhou studying so earnestly, Wen Yan’s smile became a little more genuine.
As she taught, Wen Yan realized that while Jiang Baizhou genuinely didn’t know the material, he wasn’t stupid.
The two of them—one teaching, one learning—spent over an hour hunched over their work.
Wen Yan checked the time and rubbed her lower back.
“Let’s stop here for today.
I need to find a table tomorrow.
This is too exhausting.”
Hearing this, Jiang Baizhou wanted to offer her a back rub, but he felt it was too forward.
It was better to take things one step at a time.
“We definitely need a table.
You go pick one out, and I’ll move it when I get back.”
Wen Yan hummed in agreement.
After tidying up, she went out to the toilet again, with Jiang Baizhou accompanying her.
The Reclamation Team had several latrines, all of them large, public ones.
They had mud-brick walls about 1.7 meters high, topped with thatched roofs.
The words “Men” and “Women” were painted in red on the outside walls.
The waste had to be collected, as it was all fertilizer for the spring planting.
Although using the latrines in winter would freeze your butt off, the upside was that there was hardly any smell.
The two returned shortly after, closed the door, tended to the fire, and got onto the kang.
Wen Yan took off her small, padded jacket, leaving her in just her long johns.
Fortunately, she had changed her underwear while Jiang Baizhou was out and had thoroughly dried it over the stove.
It was finally dry now.
Otherwise, things would have been awkward right now.
Amid a rustle of fabric, Wen Yan slipped into her bedding first.
Jiang Baizhou followed a moment later, lying down on his side.
“What kind of porridge should we make tomorrow morning…”
A soft snore…
a steady breath…
Jiang Baizhou froze.
His expression was a mixture of frustration and curiosity, and he found it incredible.
‘She fell asleep again?’
‘Just what kind of sleeper is she?’
Not giving up, he propped himself up, leaned closer to Wen Yan, and whispered, “Wen Yan?”
The only answer was the sound of her even breathing.
Jiang Baizhou stared at Wen Yan for a long moment before he finally couldn’t resist giving the tip of her small nose a little pinch.
It was light and quick.
“You little heartless thing.
You really don’t have a care in the world, do you?”
Jiang Baizhou smiled and retreated to his own bedding.
He pillowed his head with his hands and slowly closed his eyes to the sound of Wen Yan’s breathing.
「The next morning」
When Wen Yan woke up, the tip of her nose twitched.
It didn’t seem as icy as yesterday.
She was an excellent sleeper, a fact that had always been the envy of her classmates.
But in the morning, her brain took a while to boot up, leaving her a bit groggy.
Jiang Baizhou was heating up breakfast.
He had been keeping an eye on Wen Yan and walked over the moment she opened her eyes.
“You’re awake?”
A gentle, clear voice sounded above her head.
With her vision still blurry and her mind not yet fully online, Wen Yan gave a silly smile.
“Whose handsome man is this!”
Jiang Baizhou froze for a second, but his mind reacted with lightning speed.
He smiled and said, “Yours.
Am I handsome, Wen Yan?”
Wen Yan tried hard to open her eyes, as if to prove her sincerity.
“So handsome!”
Jiang Baizhou held back a laugh.
‘Little liar.
If you think I’m so handsome, why do you fall asleep so fast every night?’
Jiang Baizhou didn’t tease her further, afraid she would feel awkward once she was fully awake.
He just tapped her forehead with a finger.
“Get up.
I’ve heated up the food, so make sure you eat.
It’s time for me to go to assembly.”
Wen Yan mumbled an incoherent “mhm.” Not long after, she heard the door close, and her brain gradually came back online.
‘Oh my god…
Did I just flirt with Jiang Baizhou?’
Wen Yan shot up into a sitting position.
Her expression was conflicted for three seconds before she finally nodded.
‘It’s fine.
We’re family, so it shouldn’t count as…
flirting, right?’
Wen Yan quickly convinced herself.
She got dressed, folded her bedding, and got off the kang.
As she got ready to wash up, she discovered the thermos was full of hot water and the room was warmer than yesterday.
She figured Jiang Baizhou must have woken up early to heat the house.
Wen Yan checked the time, questioning her life choices.
‘I didn’t even wake up that late, did I?’
She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and applied some vanishing cream.
Breakfast consisted of corn cakes and shredded pickled vegetables from the cafeteria, along with half an aluminum mess tin of millet porridge, which was warming on a stone slate over the fire.
He had probably cooked it for her separately this morning.
As Wen Yan ate, she made a decision: she had to be nicer to Jiang Baizhou, too.
After finishing her meal and cleaning up, Wen Yan slung her canvas bag over her shoulder and headed out.
The moment she stepped outside, she saw Bai Shanshan squatting down, doodling in the snow.
Wen Yan greeted her.
Bai Shanshan stood up awkwardly, but then said with a show-offish attitude, “I got that job for you.”
Wen Yan already knew this from yesterday, but she still expressed her admiration.
“You’re amazing.
Was it difficult to apply?”
Bai Shanshan put on a relaxed air.
“What’s so hard about it?
They agreed as soon as I mentioned it.
You should know who you’re dealing with.”
Wen Yan didn’t realize Bai Shanshan was just bragging and showing off.
Her eyes simply lit up, which made Bai Shanshan take a wary step back.
Wen Yan had worn the exact same expression yesterday, and somehow, Bai Shanshan had found herself roped into something.
Bai Shanshan’s voice held an imperceptible tremor.
“What…
what are you planning now?”