But she inexplicably felt a warm sensation on her back, as if something was staring at her and burning her.
It can't be... the protagonist's gaze, can it?
"..." She suddenly turned her head silently and saw the girl sitting on the edge of the bed rubbing the Rena bear in her arms, looking down at her review materials. She looked incredibly well-behaved.
Time continued to pass, and Wen Yun couldn't see anything at a glance, so she didn't think about it anymore and continued to focus on her homework.
After an hour had finally passed, she took the initiative to hand the test paper and red pen to the protagonist.
Ruan Yu graded the papers very quickly, finishing in less than five minutes. After writing down the score, she got up and walked to her desk.
“Your foundation… is very weak,” she said softly. “It’s like you’ve never been good at math, and you haven’t touched it in a long time.”
After being exposed by her words, Wen Yun was speechless for a long time before asking, "How many points do you think you can raise in a month?"
"I don't know your current learning progress, so I can only guarantee you a passing grade, which is around 90 points," Ruan Yu said bluntly. "And that's on the premise of practicing every day."
Wen Yun instantly felt as if she had stepped into hell.
If she had known her math skills were this bad, she should have sought tutoring from Ruan Yu long ago; all her self-study over the past few days had been a complete waste of time!
She wanted to ask Ruan Yu for another set of questions while there was still time, but Ruan Yu handed her a piece of draft paper instead: "Please write down the solution to each question, as detailed as possible."
Wen Yun: "..."
Finally, she left Ruan Yu's room in a daze at 10:30.
The Wen family elders had business to discuss the next day, so they went to bed early. Only the housekeeper reminded her to take care of her health and not to stay up late, and then went to prepare bath water for her.
Back in the original owner's room, Wen Yun felt like her brain was about to shut down. This was a thousand times harder than finding an opportunity to subtly persuade her!
She even wished she could gossip and chat with people at school tomorrow, collecting a bunch of "tea flavor points" to draw mysterious items.
"Host, calm down!" Even the system couldn't stand it anymore. "Didn't you say before that spending money on card draws without enough time to survive is just being a spendthrift?"
"I'm just thinking about it," Wen Yun said quietly. "I won't actually do it."
However, perhaps because the "bulingbuling" prop had a strong aftereffect, Ruan Yu's school life was peaceful for three days in a row, and Wen Yun had no chance to help her out with teasing words.
Wen Yun was initially worried that someone would speak sarcastically to Ruan Yu, but now, apart from Lin Qiqi, Su Manying, and He Sheng, who was unaffected by the charm because he arrived late, the other students seemed to keep their distance from Ruan Yu.
Chemistry, piano, and painting tutors arrived at the Wen family home the following evening. Now, Ruan Yu's evenings are fully scheduled, with chemistry lessons every night and piano and painting practice on weekends.
But Ruan Yu still required herself to practice the piano for an hour every day—and that was while Wen Yun was doing math problems on a timer.
Although the music room was well soundproofed, because it was close to Wen Yun's room, the sound of the piano could still occasionally drift into Wen Yun's ears.
Wen Yun recently took some time to learn about piano techniques and exams, and even dug out the original owner's memories to study them.
The pieces played on the Ruan language are generally of a lower grade according to examination standards, and the chords and melodies are very simple.
However, Ruan Yu enjoys listening to every piece she plays during her self-practice sessions, perhaps because the melodies are soothing and the piano sounds are clean and smooth, which can soothe her anxiety when doing problems.
As September arrived, the first and second year high school students started school, and the cafeteria was packed every lunchtime.
Wen Yun is used to bringing some snacks to school and eating them during breaks. This way, she doesn't have to rush to the cafeteria after class and queue up with the younger students for food, and she has almost twenty extra minutes to do her homework.
She even wanted to take the opportunity to ask Ruan Yu, who also hadn't gone to the cafeteria, a question. It turned out that her deskmate He Sheng had the same idea. As soon as the teacher left after the last class in the morning, He Sheng took out his test paper and started doing practice questions.
Wen Yun had no choice but to switch to another subject to review. Once the class started to fill up, she closed her notebook, got up, and prepared to invite Ruan Yu to have dinner together.
Because of the plot points described in the original text, she was still worried about Ruan Yu walking alone on campus.
He Sheng lazily offered her his seat. As Wen Yun passed by, she suddenly heard her say in a low voice, "You're not Yunyun, are you?"
Wen Yun was startled and subconsciously glanced at her. Only when she saw He Sheng sit back down as if nothing had happened did she dare to look away, her heart pounding.
If we're talking about who in this world is most likely to uncover her true identity, it's probably He Sheng, her clingy, veteran anime-loving deskmate. Not only does she have a high tolerance for bizarre events, but she also has a wild imagination and dares to think of anything. To put it bluntly, she's a "chuunibyou" (a person with delusions of grandeur).
Moreover, He Sheng's choice of deskmates depends entirely on whether their personalities align, and he must be quite sensitive to changes in so-called "personalities."
However, judging from He Sheng's current reaction, it seems that he does not intend to investigate her situation in depth. It is unclear whether it is because their auras are in sync or simply out of interest in such a supernatural event as "replacing people".
With a feeling of unease, Wen Yun walked to Ruan Yu's table.
The temperature was still quite high in early September. The school's air conditioning would automatically turn on once it detected that the indoor temperature exceeded 30 degrees Celsius.
Ruan Yu's seat was very close to the air conditioner, and as soon as she stood up, a wisp of cool air blew against the back of her head.
When Wen Yun first discovered this situation, she specifically asked her if she wanted to change seats. After being refused, she didn't ask again. Now that she sees her, she just helps her tidy up her wind-blown hair.
Stepping out of the classroom and into a secluded spot, Wen Yun couldn't help but say, "The last two big math problems we discussed in class today..."
“I’ll lend you my notes in a bit,” Ruan Yuxin said, understanding the implication. “If you still don’t understand the process, I’ll explain it to you in detail when we get back.”
"You've really helped me a lot!" Wen Yun said gratefully, then muttered to herself, "How did you guys manage to understand math problems so thoroughly? I always feel like I'm completely clueless in this area, and I have absolutely no clue where to start!"
"Practice more and summarize more," Ruan Yu said. "My previous school advocated the 'sea of questions' approach, which is also a method. Once you've seen the familiar routines many times, you'll know what to expect when you write."
She paused for a moment, then said, "However, if the direction of your thinking is wrong from the beginning, no matter how much effort you put in, it will be in vain. If you lack such judgment, I still suggest you consult others, especially your teachers."
Wen Yun seemed to understand: "I get it. It's basically about finding someone with a higher level of skill who has already overcome this hurdle to be my guide and pull me out of this mental dead end?"
Ruan Yu paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded: "You can understand it that way. After all, when you're in the thick of it, you're indeed more likely to be subject to many restrictions without even realizing it."
A note from the author:
There are 18 red envelopes in this chapter, please let me give them all away!!
Chapter 19
As she always kept her word, Ruan Yu returned to the classroom after lunch and handed the notebook to Wen Yun.
Wen Yun was taken aback by the densely packed analysis.
This is incredibly detailed! It's clearly not a shorthand summary from class, but something I specially compiled for her after class!
Wen Yun felt embarrassed and thanked Ruan Yu repeatedly. Then, she picked up the draft paper, calmed down, and pondered the problem. She felt that if she couldn't figure it out, she would be letting Ruan Yu down.
...As it turns out, she really just couldn't understand mathematics.
Even if Ruan Yu practically broke down the process and fed it to her, she could understand the thought process, but once the correct steps were covered up, she still couldn't write it out herself.
So after dinner, Wen Yun, carrying her test papers, notebooks, and draft paper, shamelessly knocked on the door of the guest room.
Ruan Yu was very patient with this "slow learner". Seeing that Wen Yun had difficulty applying the same type of questions to other problems, she found a large number of similar examples to help her strengthen her skills in this area.
"Actually, the big questions are easier to score. The first two questions test basic knowledge, and it's only later that the difference between average and excellent scores starts to emerge."
"Try to figure out the question-setting logic first, and then grasp the basic points. That way, the total score won't be too bad."
Faced with Ruan Yu's reminders, Wen Yun said with a bitter face, "I understand the principles, but I don't know how to do them!"
"That means you haven't done enough. Take your time, don't be impatient." Ruan Yu's voice was polite, but her hand turned over a new test paper to her without any politeness.
Wen Yun has recently become increasingly convinced that the protagonist she met for the first time was pretending to be innocent.
She's like a little wolf in sheep's clothing, always hiding her other side tightly; her seemingly innocent face is just a facade.
Anyway, she really learned a lot through the tutoring during this period.
However, Wen Yun actually thought this was a good thing. She had always worried that the protagonist would still be as cowardly and weak as described in the early part of the original text, not even daring to fight for what he wanted.
The protagonist needs to be able to disguise himself and have a little bit of cunning to survive relatively peacefully in a wealthy family.
-
Time flew by and it was mid-September. After morning reading that day, it was time for math class.
Wen Yun insisted on getting tutoring from Ruan Yu in math every night. After half a month, she was finally able to keep up with the teacher's train of thought, instead of spending most of the class in a daze or just mechanically copying the process written on the blackboard.
After most of the class had passed, the math teacher suddenly said, "Students who still have questions about the points we just covered can raise their hands."
Wen Yun subconsciously glanced at her test paper and draft paper, and only after confirming that there were no questions did she confidently raise her head.
The teacher waited a few more seconds, and seeing that no one asked any questions, wrote two example problems on the whiteboard, looked around the classroom, and said calmly, "Since everyone has no questions, let's ask two students to come up and do the problems."
After speaking, he walked straight down from the podium, his gaze intentionally or unintentionally drifting towards Wen Yun.
Noticing his scrutinizing gaze, Wen Yun felt her heart immediately leap into her throat. She had never been this nervous, not even when facing her boss's scolding in her previous life.
The next second, she saw the teacher stop in front of a girl who was still slumped over in the first two rows, and gently tap her desk with her fingertip, "Please come up and do the first question, Luo Qin."
Luo Qin was instantly jolted awake. She stared blankly at the marker in the teacher's hand and had no choice but to take it and walk up to the podium.
The teacher walked past her, his gaze seemingly still scanning the classroom, but he continued walking towards the back.
There was still one "spot" left to answer the question. Wen Yun's tense nerves did not relax. She raced against time to read the question and sort out her thoughts. Her pen did not stop, and a string of slightly trembling numbers fell on the draft paper. But in fact, her mind was completely in chaos at this moment.
My thoughts were in disarray, and the problem on the blackboard became incomprehensible again...
She was worried about what to do when the teacher called on her when a familiar voice came from behind her: "Teacher, I want to do the second question."
"Oh? Someone actually volunteered." The math teacher couldn't help but tease, taking a step forward and walking unhesitatingly to the back of the classroom. "Then the second question will be given to Ruan Yu."
Only then did Wen Yun dare to turn around, only to see Ruan Yu calmly put down her pen and stand up, her dark eyes suddenly lowering to meet Wen Yun's gaze.
Their eyes met, and Wen Yun felt a sudden warmth in her heart.
...What's going on? Why does she have the illusion that the main character is helping her out of a predicament?
She stared blankly as Ruan Yu walked up to the podium, watching the girl pick up another marker and neatly write the character "解" (jie, meaning "to explain") first, then smoothly write line after line, the marker making a "tap tap" sound on the whiteboard without any hesitation.
Three minutes later, with a soft "click," Ruan Yu put down her pen, turned around, smiled at the teacher, and calmly returned to her seat.
Wen Yun habitually glanced through the process and found that the conditions and formulas were used comprehensively, but the steps were very concise, which she considered a perfect solution.
In contrast, Luo Qin had been on the podium for almost four minutes and hadn't written anything except for "解" (jie, meaning "to solve") and a colon. Her hand holding the chalk trembled slightly, whether from embarrassment or shame, it was hard to tell.
Luo Qin, who slept through most of the class, didn't write anything. After being criticized by the teacher in front of everyone, she walked off the podium dejectedly.
But that wasn't all. The teacher began to correct Ruan Yu's blackboard writing with a red marker, generously putting a checkmark after each step.
As he graded the papers, he commented, "Ruan Yu's thinking is very clear, and she cleverly used formulas that were outside the scope of the exam. People who get good grades also do extracurricular activities, unlike some people who catch up on sleep in class and who knows what they did last night."
Upon hearing these words of praise and criticism, Wen Yun's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately became nervous again.
As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison. Especially in schools, sometimes teachers' "motivational" words, spoken out of professional habit, can hurt students and sow the seeds of resentment.
The math class wasn't over yet, so she forced herself to calm down and continue to follow the teacher's train of thought to analyze the example problems.
She finally made it to the end of get out of class, and as soon as the teacher left, she proactively opened the "Tea Talk" template, perked up her gossipy ears, and was ready to help Ruan Yu roast people at any moment.
"Seriously, what's with this country bumpkin being so arrogant!"