A pair of phoenix eyes glinted coldly through his glasses. Zhou Sheng pressed his lips together. "Lin Sitian, you're really pushing your luck."
"I'm way more shameless than you, and you caught me," she retorted, pretending she was the one at a disadvantage.
"Are we doing this tutoring session or not?" Zhou Sheng stopped looking at her, bending his head to pack his things.
Seeing she'd gone too far, Lin Sitian quickly pressed her hand over his. "Alright, alright, I'll stop. Sorry."
He didn't turn his head, only letting his gaze drift towards her. "If you're not sleepy anymore, do the problems."
"But I'm still..." The word "sleepy" died on her lips as Zhou Sheng's warning glare hit her. Lin Sitian swallowed and finished lamely—"...wide awake."
After English came math, Lin Sitian's weakest subject and Zhou Sheng's main focus. An hour and a half passed in a relentless grind. Lin Sitian screamed internally. This was worse than class! At least class had breaks and different subjects.
Seizing a moment while Zhou Sheng graded her test, Lin Sitian shuffled out of the bedroom in her slippers.
Only when her figure disappeared beyond the door did the pen in Zhou Sheng's hand still. The unusually stern expression he'd maintained since earlier instantly dissolved. Raising his left hand, he propped up his wearily drooping head.
This had been the most tumultuous hour of his life. Several times, his own train of thought while explaining solutions had derailed. Just the memory of Lin Sitian's closeness earlier and the subsequent, ambiguous argument made him want to crawl into a hole. Zhou Sheng rarely encountered such situations, devoting most of his time to studying. He often got annoyed at himself for wasting life on pointless things, then quickly adjusted his mindset and dove back into the sea of knowledge. But today... When Lin Sitian leaned against him, when she fake-cried at him... he'd felt inexplicably flustered each time.
Suddenly, a plate of sliced apple appeared on the desk in front of him. Zhou Sheng realized the instigator had returned. It was the apple he'd bought. Lin Sitian had initially planned to just wash it, but worried it might be inconvenient for him, decided to go all out: washed, peeled, sliced, and delivered.
"Zhou Sheng, have some apple."
Zhou Sheng still didn't look up, pretending to be engrossed in grading. "You have some first."
Lin Sitian sat down beside him.
Zhou Sheng tried desperately to refocus on studying. His pen had just marked a tick when something cool touched his lips. Before he could react, the sweet slice of apple was slipped into his mouth.
Zhou Sheng stared at her, stunned. Lin Sitian was still chewing her own piece of apple. She swallowed before saying, "It's pretty sweet."
Zhou Sheng chewed. It was sweet. The variety he bought wasn't cheap.
"I figured it'd be hard to eat while holding a pen, and if you waited, it might turn brown," Lin Sitian explained hastily.
A flicker of something passed through Zhou Sheng's eyes. He pulled himself together and continued grading.
"Want another piece?" Lin Sitian's voice sounded near his ear.
Zhou Sheng's pen paused. "…Okay."
Another piece was offered. This time, Zhou Sheng cooperatively leaned forward, letting the apple slide into his mouth. It really was sweet.
His eyes scanned the paper he'd been pretending to grade. 95? Zhou Sheng stared at the Arabic numerals. He couldn't resist adding up each section's score again, finally confirming his calculation was correct. Surprise washed over him once more—it really was 95.
"I passed!" Lin Sitian grabbed the paper, so excited she nearly danced. One hundred and twenty-seven days had passed since her last math pass. How did she remember so clearly? Because she made it up—it was definitely ages ago. And that last pass? Pure dumb luck—she'd only guessed wrong on a few multiple-choice questions and happened to have done a couple of the long-form problems the night before. This time was different. Every ticked question was solved by her own effort. Well, more accurately, by the knowledge crammed into her by Zhou Sheng. To improve to a passing level in just two weeks, in her hardest subject, math… Lin Sitian felt a momentary illusion that "the world was hers."
"Congratulations." Seeing her so happy infected Zhou Sheng with her joy, and a sense of accomplishment swelled within him.
"Since my grades improved, can I ask for a reward?" Lin Sitian inquired.
He stared at her for a long moment. The hopelessly clueless guy, utterly inexperienced with girls, could only steel himself and ask, "What do you want?" Zhou Sheng, Zhou Sheng, you could have just ignored her.
Lin Sitian ventured cautiously, "A… a kiss?"
Zhou Sheng froze, turning into a block of wood.
"On the forehead! The forehead is okay! I'm compromising!" …Was she the one losing out here? Zhou Sheng frowned, perplexed.
Seeing his hesitation, Lin Sitian pressed her advantage: "Hurry up! Later, a kiss on the forehead won't cut it. I have lots of other compensations I want—"
"Fine." Life wasn't easy. Little Zhou sighed.
That single "Fine" startled Lin Sitian too. Goodness knows she was just teasing him because Zhou Sheng seemed especially adorable today, trying to catch him off guard and verbally claim some advantage. She hadn't actually expected him to agree. Lin Sitian herself froze. What was wrong with her today? Why did she keep provoking Zhou Sheng again and again?
Before she could wrestle with that question, Zhou Sheng's voice came from in front of her: "Now?"
Lin Sitian lifted her face. "Huh?"
"The forehead kiss."
Lin Sitian stared at Zhou Sheng's face. The words "Just kidding!" hovered in her throat for a long moment. Then she said— "Right now's fine." !!! Mouth, what's wrong with you, mouth?! That's not what I was thinking! You betrayed me!
She watched helplessly as Zhou Sheng slowly leaned towards her. She watched the distance between them shrink inch by inch, finally pausing a mere few inches apart, one higher, one lower. Zhou Sheng was steeling himself; so was she. She stared at the boy's beautifully shaped lips—the upper lip slightly thinner, the lower one fuller, the curve like a mountain range, the center soft and defined. A soft breath escaped the slightly parted seam, betraying his nervousness.
He's so handsome.
Thump-thump.
Online, Lin Sitian had seen all kinds of handsome guys—delicate ones, dashing ones, ones with eight-pack abs, smoldering and domineering ones. The world had a thousand faces, each beauty unique. Those who stood out in a crowd were undoubtedly exceptional. Zhou Sheng was good-looking, but this youthful boy couldn't quite compare to those packaged celebrities and influencers. Yet, in this moment, for Lin Sitian, the best-looking person in the world was unquestionably right before her eyes. Every line of his face, down to the corner of his eye and tip of his brow, was perfection.
Thump-thump.
"I'm going to kiss you now," he whispered.
Lin Sitian's fingers fidgeted with the cuff of her knit sweater. "Okay," she mumbled.
Thump-thump.
In that instant, the warm breath escaping Zhou Sheng's lips brushed against her forehead. The mint-colored room, shaded by linen curtains, was filled with the cool tones of late spring, yet held a serene, picturesque charm reminiscent of a Japanese film. His silhouette blurred in the backlight as he drew near. In the next second, his presence would briefly settle on her forehead—
Thump-thump.
Lin Sitian jerked back, flustered, uttering two words: "You sneak."
The next day at school, after class, Yang Xuelin sidled up to Lin Sitian's desk mysteriously. "Tiantian, you and Zhou Sheng… hmm?"
Lin Sitian was working on the problems Zhou Sheng had assigned that day, stuck in a mental dead end. She answered distractedly, "Hmm what? You're overthinking it." It wasn't that kind of relationship… Zhou Sheng's brain simply didn't contain the concept of romance. Lin Sitian didn't dare presume otherwise.
"But you two have been so close lately," Yang Xuelin pressed, puzzled. "So… you don't like Zhou Sheng?"
Lin Sitian's mechanical pencil lead snapped. She kept her head down, clicking for more lead. "…Why are you asking this stuff? Gossiping." She pressed too hard; it snapped again.
Just then, a figure sat down beside her. Zhou Sheng was back. Lin Sitian swallowed nervously, wondering if he'd heard anything.
"Then I'll just drop the bombshell!" Yang Xuelin produced an envelope from somewhere and slapped it down in the center of the desk.
Lin Sitian glanced at it. "What's this?"
"A love letter."
"Oh." Without a second thought, Lin Sitian pushed the letter towards Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng was equally stunned.
Yang Xuelin: "What are you doing?"
Lin Sitian raised an eyebrow: "Isn't it for Zhou Sheng?"
"What are you thinking?! It's for you!"
At these words, the expressions on the faces behind the desk became deeply pensive. Lin Sitian's was shock and fear; Zhou Sheng's emotions were far more complex. His gaze drifted nonchalantly away from the letter, but his eyes darkened. He suddenly pulled his water bottle from his desk drawer and started chugging water in large gulps.
"Xuelin… we're not compatible," Lin Sitian said.
"I don't want to be compatible with you either, thanks!" Since she now knew her friend wasn't dating Zhou Sheng, Yang Xuelin didn't hold back in front of him. She enthusiastically promoted, "This is a love letter from Meng Qiaoyu from Class 8!"
"Who?"
"Meng! Qiao! Yu!" Yang Xuelin enunciated each word as if that conveyed the heavyweight status of the name.
Lin Sitian shook her head. "Never heard of him."
"He's a certified hottie! Where's your taste? He's on the basketball team! Studies really well too. Tons of girls like him…"
"Did he pay you, Yang Xuelin?" Lin Sitian asked, genuinely curious.
"What pay? Maybe just a cup of bubble tea… No, I mean, it's not about money. If Meng Qiaoyu liked me, I must have worked miracles in my past life!" Zhou Sheng took another large gulp of water.
"Oh," Lin Sitian acknowledged, then turned to Zhou Sheng. "Do I need to add an auxiliary line here?"
Zhou Sheng's reaction was sluggish. "Huh? …No. Oh, yes… Wait, no."
"Do I or don't I?" Lin Sitian asked, baffled.
"No," Zhou Sheng said.
Lin Sitian nodded and continued writing.
Yang Xuelin found it bizarre. Her usually carefree bestie seemed infected by Zhou Sheng the nerd. "Hey, Lin Sitian, aren't you going to look at it? He specifically asked that you read it today." Zhou Sheng took yet another large gulp.
"Okay, okay, I'll look after I finish this," Lin Sitian said, wanting to avoid more interruptions. She waved Yang Xuelin away. "Go back to your seat. Next class is Miss Yang soon." Yang Xuelin was reluctantly chased off.
Lin Sitian had been highly motivated lately, and her studies had genuinely improved a lot. The problems Zhou Sheng had assigned just after class? She'd finished them before the next period even started, triumphantly showing him her work on the scratch paper. "How's that? Speedy, right?"
Zhou Sheng frowned at the answers.
His expression scared Lin Sitian. "W-wrong?"
"No," Zhou Sheng set the paper down. "Next problem."
"Huh? Another one? Didn't I finish today's assignment?"
Zhou Sheng looked at Lin Sitian's innocent face and said—
"Learning never ends."