OHHACOM Chapter 17

Jiang Nuan’s seat was just one aisle away from Rao Can’s. Rao Can leaned over to take a look and chuckled, “Wow, not bad! You got 114 in math and 198 in the comprehensive science test. Impressive!”

Jiang Nuan beamed with pride, folding the test papers and tucking them into her backpack. She had to show these to her father later! After all, they had agreed that if she passed the test, he’d sign her application for the Youth Fencing League.

“What’s there to be so proud of? With such basic questions, if you didn’t score 120 in math and 200 in the comprehensive test, you won’t make it into the top three exam rooms.” said Lin Mixa, their class monitor, as she walked past Jiang Nuan’s desk. After the seat adjustment, she was now Lu Ran’s deskmate, sitting right behind Jiang Nuan.

Jiang Nuan didn’t quite understand and glanced at Rao Can. Honestly, how she performed had nothing to do with Lin Mixa, and Jiang Nuan wasn’t threatening her place in the top exam room either.

Rao Can just smiled and said, “Haven’t you heard the old saying—jealousy makes people lose their minds? Don’t pay attention to her.”

Jiang Nuan vaguely understood what Rao Can meant.

Lin Mixa had always had feelings for Lu Ran, but Lu Ran was indifferent toward all the girls in the class. Yet Jiang Nuan, with her persistence and the advantage of living in the same building, along with her father being Lu Ran’s coach, had managed to get Lu Ran to answer all her questions last semester.

Lin Mixa probably thought that when word got around that Jiang Nuan had burnt out her brain, she’d finally stop hanging around Lu Ran. But here Jiang Nuan was, bouncing back to life, even growing a bit taller, moving her seat to right in front of Lu Ran. If Jiang Nuan were in her position, she’d be just as upset as Lin Mixa.

High-achieving, well-favored students often carry a certain level of pride, and Lin Mixa was no exception. She was one of the more attractive girls in their class, and many boys quietly admired her, so her self-esteem was strong.

Rao Can’s comment about jealousy seemed to have hit Lin Mixa’s sore spot. She clenched her jaw, pushed her desk forcefully, and it bumped into the back of Jiang Nuan’s chair.

“Ow!” Jiang Nuan turned to glance at Lin Mixa, who kept her head down, silently reading.

“So, you’re not going to the liberal arts class anymore, right?” Rao Can teased with a smile.

“Sigh, who knows… Maybe my math would be an advantage in the liberal arts class? Ms. Cai is eagerly waiting to welcome me.” Jiang Nuan said, holding up her math test paper and giving it a big kiss.

“Tsk tsk… Look at that little tail of yours wagging!” Rao Can laughed, shaking her head.

Just then, there was a soft *crack* from behind, and Jiang Nuan nearly tore her paper in half from shock. She turned around to see that Lu Ran had snapped his pen in two.

Wow, such strength…

During math class, Jiang Nuan was fully engaged, like a sunflower following the teacher. Even when it was time to solve problems on the board, she didn’t bow her head like the other students.

“This problem is a bit complex. Lu Ran, why don’t you come up and solve it for the class?”

A few seconds passed, and Jiang Nuan didn’t hear Lu Ran get up. She, along with the rest of the class, turned to look at him.

Lin Mixa nudged Lu Ran with her elbow. Only then did he lift his head, get up, and walk to the front of the room.

He quickly scribbled a few lines on the board and then returned to his seat. Jiang Nuan glanced at it and nearly burst out laughing.

He had started with the formula and then skipped straight to the final answer, completely omitting any steps in between.

While that might be how it worked in Lu Ran’s brain, you couldn’t just write it like that on an exam. He’d lose all the points for the steps!

The math teacher cleared his throat, made a few remarks to smooth things over, and then filled in the missing steps on the board.

Even someone as clueless as Jiang Nuan could tell that Lu Ran’s mind wasn’t in the right place today. But so what? The worries of a genius were beyond the understanding of ordinary mortals like her.

When class ended, everyone lined up to head to the field for their morning exercises.

Jiang Nuan was standing right behind Rao Can as they began moving to the music.

In the past, Jiang Nuan wasn’t sure if these morning exercises really did anything for physical fitness, but today she realized that as long as the movements were done properly, they could definitely have an effect.

Especially with the PE teacher in front of them, sternly commanding, “Do the movements properly! Lower those legs!”

As Jiang Nuan stepped forward into a lunge and opened her chest, she suddenly heard a *rip* sound. A cold draft hit her, and she had a sinking feeling.

“Jiang Nuan… Jiang Nuan…”

Rao Can, who was standing behind her, whispered a warning.

Jiang Nuan got the message… Her pants had torn, and not in a good way.

Lin Mixa, standing ahead, turned back to look at her, but Jiang Nuan acted as if nothing had happened and continued with the exercises. If she covered herself and left now, it would only draw more attention.

After the exercises were done, Jiang Nuan took off her jacket and tied it around her waist, covering the tear, and went upstairs with Rao Can.

She had to put her jacket back on for class though—otherwise, it’d be too cold.

During English class, the teacher started going over the mock test. She liked to call on students in order from each group to give their answers and explain their reasoning.

Jiang Nuan was in a bit of a predicament. If she stood up, the students behind her would undoubtedly see her torn pants.

She could only take off her jacket again and tie it around her waist.

She counted the questions until it was her turn. But just as she stood up to answer, Lin Mixa pushed her desk forward, bumping into Jiang Nuan’s chair and making her stumble. As she stood up again, her jacket slipped off, exposing the tear to everyone behind her.

Laughter erupted, and Jiang Nuan quickly pulled the jacket back up to cover herself.

She heard a boy behind her teasing, “Whoa, who knew Jiang Nuan, who usually acts like one of the guys, wears pink thermal pants!”

Others chuckled softly as well.

Though embarrassed, Jiang Nuan didn’t let it get to her. After all, they were just thermal pants, not underwear. No big deal, she thought. Calmly, she answered her question.

“I chose A, ‘otherwise.’”

“Correct. You may sit down.” the teacher said.

When Jiang Nuan sat down, she realized that someone behind her was holding up a book to shield her. She turned around and saw Lu Ran collecting his English test papers, while Lin Mixa’s expression was less than pleasant.

After the teacher moved on, Rao Can turned her head slightly and whispered, “Lin Mixa, did you bump Jiang Nuan’s chair on purpose?”

“Who would do that on purpose?” Lin Mixa replied coolly, keeping her head down and continuing with her English exercises.

Jiang Nuan shook her head at Rao Can. There was no point in making a fuss over this; it wasn’t worth it. After all, it wasn’t a big deal.

Going home after school was a relief for Jiang Nuan. When she got back to their apartment building, she saw Lu Ran locking up his bike.

They waited for the elevator together. Jiang Nuan nudged Lu Ran with her knee and asked, “You were totally distracted in class today, weren’t you? What were you thinking about?”

Lu Ran didn’t answer her. When the elevator doors opened, he took a long stride inside.

Jiang Nuan was used to his cold demeanor, so she didn’t mind. She just stared at the floor numbers.

But just as she was about to step out of the elevator, she was suddenly pulled back.

“Whoa, what the heck!” Her jacket slipped off her waist again, and she glared at Lu Ran, not understanding what he was up to.

Lu Ran bent down, picked up her jacket, and wrapped it around her waist again.

Silently, he held onto the sleeves of her jacket. “Do you really want to go to the liberal arts class?”

Jiang Nuan’s eyes lit up as she started grinning. “Don’t tell me… Your mind’s been wandering all day because I said I might switch to the liberal arts class…”

Lu Ran suddenly tugged the jacket sleeves forward, almost making Jiang Nuan bump into his chin.

“What do you actually want to do?”

His eyes looked at her differently than before. His gaze seemed to gently brush against her nerves, as if trying to hold onto her, yet afraid of squeezing too tightly and breaking her.

“I… I’m… not really that into liberal arts…” Jiang Nuan stammered.

Though she hadn’t made up her mind, under Lu Ran’s gaze, Jiang Nuan couldn’t say anything more.

“If you really like liberal arts, then go. I just don’t want you to be wishy-washy.” Lu Ran said gently, as if trying to reassure her.

“But if I… do switch to the liberal arts class, will you still tutor me in math?”

The elevator had been stopped at Lu Ran’s floor for a while. He pressed the button to open the doors and said, “If that happens, then math will be all I can tutor you in.”

After he left, Jiang Nuan punched herself in the chest, exclaiming, “Oh my god, I thought he was going to bite me!”

When she got home, Jiang Nuan clung to her mom, whining, “Mom—my school pants split open! It was so embarrassing!”

“Oh dear, thank goodness you were wearing thermal pants underneath!”

“Can you get me a couple of new pairs from the tailor?”

“Your school uniform material isn’t something the tailor has! I’ll sew them up for you tonight!”

“But it’ll be noticeable!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll patch it up from the inside. No one will notice!”

“They’re too short now, though!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” Luo Chen said, pushing her daughter into her room. “Oh, by the way, your dad got you a set of liberal arts mock test papers. Go check them out.”

“Huh? But didn’t you both not want me to switch to the liberal arts class?”

“It’s not like that. The other day, your dad was on the phone with Jian Ming, and Jian Ming said that liberal arts has a lot of great majors, like journalism and communications. If you’re interested in sports, you could write sports columns in the future—wouldn’t that be fun? And besides, the college entrance exams are like a battle. You should use your strengths to compete. If you can’t outdo others in science, maybe you can try with liberal arts.”

“Wow, who knew Jian Ming’s words would be so influential!”

“Jian Ming’s in the capital, and he’s a university student now. His perspective and knowledge might be a level above ours. But he also said you shouldn’t switch to the liberal arts class just to avoid competition. There’s plenty of pressure in liberal arts too. A lot of girls go there because they’re better at history, geography, and politics than physics, chemistry, and biology. You need to honestly evaluate yourself—would your liberal arts scores be higher in that class than your science scores here?”

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