OHHACOM Chapter 4

“Yes. As soon as you walked past him, he suddenly stood up. Ms. Cai asked him what was wrong, and he directly said, ‘Ms. Cai, your accusation that Jiang Nuan distracted Li Shuyue from her studies is illogical.'”

Jiang Nuan froze in place. She couldn’t imagine Lu Ran standing up to challenge Ms. Cai.

“Ms. Cai asked, ‘What’s illogical about it?’ And Lu Ran responded, ‘Jiang Nuan scored 115 in English this time, while Li Shuyue scored 105—a ten-point difference. How could Jiang Nuan have distracted Li Shuyue during class while significantly improving her own English score at the same time?’

The whole class stared at Ms. Cai, and one or two brainless students even clapped. Ms. Cai was so cornered she couldn’t say anything, so she coldly told you to return to your seat. If you ask me why you chose the science class, I don’t think it’s because of Lu Ran. It’s because Ms. Cai was the homeroom teacher of the humanities class, and you felt she was biased against you. That incident really hurt you, and with how much you care about saving face, there’s no way you would have stayed in the humanities class under her leadership.”

Jiang Nuan tilted her head slightly, a vague memory surfacing—an image of a tall, unwavering figure standing in front of her, questioning and resisting the injustices imposed on her.

“You don’t remember even this?”

“…I kind of recall it. So… I liked him because of that?”

“Who knows. Only you know when you truly started liking him.”

After chatting with Rao Can, Jiang Nuan leaned back against her headboard. She didn’t dare close her eyes, because whenever she did, she would imagine Lu Ran standing up for her, and the image would stubbornly linger in her mind.

But Jiang Nuan was the type of person who moved on quickly. Before long, she pulled the blanket over herself, and all thoughts of Lu Ran, Ms. Cai, and Li Shuyue flew out of her mind.

The next morning, Jiang Nuan was still dozing when her mom opened the door and pulled her out of bed.

“Xiao Nuan, wake up.”

“Mmm… Wake up for what… It’s winter break…” Jiang Nuan wrapped her legs around the blanket, about to go back to sleep, but her blanket was mercilessly yanked away.

“Lu Ran is here. Didn’t your dad say yesterday that Lu Ran would help you review last semester’s materials?”

“What! Lu Ran is here?” Jiang Nuan shot up from bed and glanced at her bedside clock. It was only 8 AM!

So early—are they cramming or reincarnating?

“Yes. Hurry up and brush your teeth, wash your face. I’m making breakfast for you two. After breakfast, study hard! Do you really want to repeat a grade?”

Jiang Nuan turned her head and peeked through the crack in the open door into the living room, where she could see Lu Ran’s side profile. Luckily… he wasn’t wearing that unfinished scarf anymore… otherwise, she would have died of embarrassment.

Jiang Nuan quickly brushed her teeth, washed her face, got dressed, and walked out.

Her mom was just placing bowls of red bean porridge and steaming hot buns on the table.

“Come and eat something.”

Lu Ran stood up, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Thank you, Auntie.”

Jiang Nuan froze for a moment. Lu Ran’s smile was beautiful, but unfortunately, it was only ever directed at the elders he respected.

What a sly boy! Acting all proper and sensible—no wonder all the adults trust him.

In Jiang Nuan’s mind, cool + proper + sensible = boring. Just thinking about the rumors that she had chased this boring guy for an entire semester gave her a headache!

Don’t feel embarrassed, don’t feel awkward—it’s all just external nonsense. If you lose your shame, you’ll achieve enlightenment. No matter how many Lu Rans there are, they’re all just fleeting illusions!

The more embarrassed she acted, the more Lu Ran might use the “rumors” to tease her.

“Hey, Lu Ran, why are you up so early? It’s winter break—don’t you want to sleep in?” Jiang Nuan reached for a bun.

“You’ll burn yourself.”

Lu Ran’s calm voice contrasted sharply with Jiang Nuan’s yelp of pain as she burned her tongue.

Tears welled up in Jiang Nuan’s eyes as she saw long fingers place a glass of water in front of her—it was Lu Ran.

“Zhu Bajie rushed in and burned the roof of his mouth on the hot tofu.”

Jiang Nuan stared hard at Lu Ran. Are you laughing? Are you laughing?

When her mom came out with a plate of side dishes, any hint of a smile on Lu Ran’s lips vanished like a small boat swallowed by the vast ocean, leaving nothing behind.

Jiang Nuan’s tongue still hurt, so she quickly took a large gulp of cold water. Meanwhile, Lu Ran calmly poked a hole in his bun with his chopsticks, letting the steam escape before taking a bite.

Jiang Nuan’s mom started to nag, “Xiao Nuan, you know there are several high school students who train with your dad. They finish their winter homework and still stick to their daily training routine. From 3 to 5 in the afternoon, they even have sparring practice. But with you, your studies aren’t good, and you’re always clamoring to train with your dad in fencing, yet I’ve never seen you actually practice.”

Jiang Nuan nodded along while trying to mentally block out her mom’s words.

Lu Ran finished a bowl of porridge, ate two buns, and remained seated, turning his head to look at Jiang Nuan.

His silence and his gaze made Jiang Nuan uncomfortable, but she continued eating slowly, deliberately dragging out the limited time as long as possible.

After about five minutes, Lu Ran stood up and hooked his finger around the back of Jiang Nuan’s collar.

“Let’s go. Time to study.”

“I haven’t finished eating!”

“Overeating will make your brain lack blood supply.”

Lu Ran’s fingers were warm, and as he lifted her by the collar, his hand brushed against the back of her neck. Jiang Nuan’s shoulders tensed up, which only made his fingers press closer.

“Stop pulling me! My neck’s going to snap!”

Jiang Nuan sat at the table, watching as Lu Ran spread out her sophomore math textbook in front of her. She scratched her head and said, “Hey, you should focus on your own studying and training. Don’t worry about me! Our IQ levels aren’t on the same wavelength. Expecting me to grasp all of sophomore year’s knowledge in just over two weeks is inhuman!”

“Get to work. Start with the propositions.”

“Why don’t you just let me repeat a grade? Worst case, I’ll switch to the humanities class.”

Jiang Nuan leaned back and sighed. After a long moment of silence, she finally turned her head to look at Lu Ran.

His expression was cold and serious. His fingers were gripping a pen so tightly that his knuckles had turned white, but as soon as Jiang Nuan noticed, he loosened his grip.

“…I didn’t mean to make you angry by talking about repeating a grade or switching to the humanities class,” Jiang Nuan quickly straightened her posture, putting on a serious and attentive look.

“I worked hard to get you into the top three exam halls of your grade, and now you’re telling me you want to repeat a grade or switch to the humanities class?” Lu Ran’s voice had a way of waking her up and making her focus. He narrowed his eyes, rested his chin on his hand, and tapped his fingers lightly, as if deep in thought. Jiang Nuan grew nervous.

“What… what are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about whether or not I should take revenge on you.” Lu Ran’s eyes slowly shifted toward her.

“You… you’re not serious, are you?”

“Xiao Nuan, the smallest difference between you and others is IQ. The biggest difference is persistence.”

Jiang Nuan couldn’t help but smile playfully. “Oh please, Lu Ran, don’t give me any motivational speeches. I know very well that the more effort you put in, the more you realize how important IQ is. You’ve never experienced the pain of sitting at a desk all night, staring at an exam paper, and not being able to solve a single problem. That’s the gap between us. But I get it. If tutoring me in math and science were like a game, you’d be restarting your progress, and of course, that would be frustrating. But think about it, if it took you four months to beat a game, there’s no way you could finish it in just two weeks on a replay.”

“Why not? At least this time, I won’t take any detours.”

Lu Ran’s pen tapped lightly on the scratch paper.

Jiang Nuan took a deep breath and leaned in.

She hadn’t planned to listen seriously, but Lu Ran’s clear voice unconsciously captured her thoughts and led her forward. Maybe students who excelled had their own unique ways of remembering and thinking. It was like a river, and Jiang Nuan was carried along with the current. Concepts she thought she’d never understand started to connect in her mind.

In just one morning, Lu Ran had explained conic sections and equations, and they had worked through a lot of problems together.

By the time Jiang Nuan realized it, it was almost lunchtime.

“So, why are you so determined to tutor me? Is it because of my dad?” Jiang Nuan asked curiously.

“There are four possible answers. A: Teaching you is more challenging than the Olympics. B: I don’t want your dad to worry about you. C: We have an agreement. D: I have sinister motives and a hidden agenda.” Lu Ran’s calm voice recited the four options, making Jiang Nuan feel like she was taking an exam.

“It must be B!”

Lu Ran looked at her, his gaze deep and distant. The longer she stared, the more she felt like she was being drawn in by his eyes.

“If you can’t even pick the right answer from four multiple-choice options, I’m worried you might not be able to find the right person among the world’s 6 billion people.”

If it’s not B, could it be A? Or maybe C, and she had just forgotten their agreement?

“Lu Ran, are you staying for lunch?” Jiang Nuan’s mom asked, knocking on the door.

“No need, Auntie. I’ll bring lunch with me and eat with Uncle Jiang.”

Lu Ran’s fencing coach was now Jiang Nuan’s father, Jiang Huai.

“Oh, that’s even better! Thank you so much!”

Before leaving, Lu Ran casually dropped a test paper on Jiang Nuan’s head.

“Finish this test in the afternoon. I’ll come back after training tonight to go over it with you, and I’ll help you with physics.”

Jiang Nuan took the paper off her head and looked at Lu Ran, feeling a deep sense of confusion.

Lu Ran grabbed his thermos and sat down on the chair by the door to tie his shoelaces.

You didn’t tell me what the right answer was! Jiang Nuan wanted to ask but was afraid Lu Ran would snap at her.

“The correct answer is D.”

Lu Ran lifted his head, his eyebrows arching slightly. Despite the air and the distance between them, it felt like his gaze brushed across Jiang Nuan’s heart.

D, sinister motives, hidden agenda.

What could you possibly get from me? Jiang Nuan almost racked her brain trying to figure it out.

This has to be a trap Lu Ran set just to mess with her! If she took it seriously, she’d only end up being laughed at!

Back at the dining table, after spending the whole morning studying, Jiang Nuan was starving. She devoured an entire braised perch and a big bowl of rice.

While her mom was giving her more food, she said, “Seeing Lu Ran tutor you today reminded me of how he used to teach you. He’s become much more patient now.”

“Huh? How did he teach me before?”

“He’d ask if you understood, and when you’d say, ‘How do you get from this step to the next?’ Lu Ran would explain, but even after that, you still didn’t understand. He never lost his temper, but I could tell from the way he crumpled the scratch paper that you were wearing down his patience. You used so many sheets of scratch paper that your wastebasket was full! But today, I didn’t hear you say you didn’t understand anything.”

Jiang Nuan’s chopsticks paused mid-air as she remembered what Lu Ran had said earlier: “At least this time, I won’t take any detours.”

Could it be that she had “tormented” Lu Ran so much before that the “Great Lu Teacher” had now mastered the ultimate skill of tutoring, achieving perfect harmony in his methods of teaching Jiang Nuan?

After focusing all morning, Jiang Nuan was exhausted. After lunch, she took a nap and slept deeply until 3:30.

“Xiao Nuan, Xiao Nuan!”

“Mmm, what is it, Mom…”

“Lu Ran called just now and asked me to remind you not to forget to finish your math test. If you have time, go ahead and preview some physics too.”

Jiang Nuan threw off her blanket and groaned, “It’s winter break, isn’t it? Why can’t I just sleep until the end of the world!”

“Sigh, alright! Alright!” Her mom came over and tugged at her blanket. “We’ll all have our time after a hundred years. After that, you can sleep as long as you want!”

Jiang Nuan grumbled as she got up and sat at her desk, pouting. When she looked up, she saw that the scratch paper on her desk was covered in Lu Ran’s handwriting.

They say handwriting reflects the person, but Lu Ran’s handwriting didn’t seem aloof at all. It was clean and smooth, yet more forceful than she had imagined.

Rao Can had once told her that serious and passionate people always wrote with a heavy hand.

Author’s Note:

I think it’s time to analyze what might be going through Lu Ran’s mind right now.

A: Didn’t we agree to apply to Tsinghua University and Peking University together? (Seems unlikely at this point.)

B: I’m a top student in the science class, and you’re thinking of switching to the humanities? Do you want to get cornered at every desk, chair, and corner?

C: Your neck is cute. I want to touch it again.

D: When will your brain start working properly?

E: Feel free to add your own thoughts, little angels. Hahaha!

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