Let's Do Some Questions - Chapter 43

The curtains in Song Man’s room were drawn, making it feel like a confined world.

She focused intently on the theoretical knowledge and example problems in her hand, absorbing the information like a sponge soaking up water. Her mind was empty of everything else, filled only with xyz, theorems, moving points, mass points, coordinate function variables. Song Man’s fingers wrote down her thought process on scratch paper, surrounded by discarded wads of waste paper.

Only by entering these logical worlds could she experience the beauty of discoverable patterns, allowing herself to roam freely in that domain. The spiritual pleasure and satisfaction surpassed the physical, as if she had arrived in another dimension.

That feeling of uncontrollable, relentless effort driven by passion, where thought ceased, always made Song Man’s heart pound.

It was like a “Symphony of Destiny” playing in her mind, the heavy beats echoing, vast and intense, striking her soul.

The clock’s hands kept moving. After an unknown amount of time, Song Man finally lifted her head from that world.

“So that’s how it is,” Song Man raised an eyebrow in understanding, a confident smile on her face. She wrote down the derivation process on the paper, then wrote the reverse process.

When the last letter was written, Song Man stopped.

She flexed her fingers, which were stiff from gripping the pen tightly, and looked up, rubbing her neck.

She had been looking down for too long, even her eyes felt sore.

When Song Man looked up, she checked the time. It was already six in the afternoon.

She stood up from her chair, stuffed the discarded paper wads into the trash can, exited the app, closed her tablet, and pulled back the room curtains.

Outside the window, the light was fading. The twilight carried a hint of gray, casting long shadows from the trees.

When Song Man opened the door and went downstairs, she smelled a delicious aroma. Small steaming baskets were on the dining table, making Song Man’s eyes light up.

“You’re awake? I was just about to call you. Dinner’s ready.”

Chu Fengqiu stood downstairs, looking up at Song Man.

“I’m coming! I’m coming!”

Song Man didn’t explain that she hadn’t been sleeping. She clattered down the stairs in her slippers, rushing towards the bottom.

“Slow down, don’t fall.”

As Song Man reached the last step, Chu Fengqiu steadied her. Song Man nearly stumbled into her arms but managed to regain her balance, only staggering slightly.

“Chu Fengqiu, you’re too good! I’m going to wash my hands.”

Song Man quickly hugged Chu Fengqiu, then happily ran to the kitchen to wash her hands.

Chu Fengqiu felt like a gust of wind had rushed into her embrace and then hurried away, but the lingering sensation of that brief touch was so vivid. Chu Fengqiu’s hand paused, and she smiled helplessly.

“Housekeeper Liu, where are my parents? Aren’t they eating dinner tonight?”

Only two place settings were on the table, prompting Song Man’s question.

“Yes, Madam called back and said she has a business gathering tonight. Miss Qinglan went with her, so they’ll be back very late tonight.”

“Okay.”

Song Man indicated she understood. She had attended such gatherings before because her family hosted them, but they weren’t interesting. Anyway, Song Man didn’t like those occasions. She picked up a fish ball with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. The sweet and fresh taste burst between her lips and teeth. Song Man’s eyes narrowed in pleasure, like a happy cat being fed.

Actually, that dish wasn’t particularly difficult in terms of technique, but it required a lot of effort and was very picky about ingredients. In Sulan Town, the ingredients were readily available; the raw material was a common small fish there, boneless, and the water quality made the fish meat sweeter and fresher. But this kind of small fish was rare in the city.

Chu Fengqiu had visited several supermarkets and wet markets before she finally bought that kind of fish. The sweet yellow pumpkin was available at home. She didn’t ask Housekeeper Liu or the other maids for help, mashing it herself, which took one or two hours in total.

After eating her fill, Song Man let out a satisfied sigh.

“Chu Fengqiu, want to go for a walk together?”

Song Man felt a bit too full. To avoid getting sleepy later while sitting, because after eating, bl00d gathers in the stomach to aid digestion, leading to insufficient bl00d supply to the brain and causing drowsiness, she decided to go for a walk.

“Okay.”

Chu Fengqiu readily agreed. They went out through the balcony door and onto the path.

Song Man’s house was in a villa area, with long distances between villas and private gardens, making it quite suitable for a walk at night.

There were streetlights in the garden, so it wasn’t dark.

In the summer night, the trees were lush and green, and various flowers were planted in orderly rows along the paths. The fountain spouted water. Song Man leaned over and washed her hands.

Water droplets fell from her hands. Song Man’s eyes darted around, and while Chu Fengqiu wasn’t paying attention, she flicked her hands towards her.

Water droplets splashed onto Chu Fengqiu’s face, a sudden coolness. Chu Fengqiu turned her head and saw the triumphant smile on Song Man’s face.

Perhaps when you like someone, they look good whether they are sitting, standing, walking, or running. And the person you like, under the moonlit night surrounded by flowers, looks even better.

Chu Fengqiu also reached out and touched the fountain water. Song Man saw this and, thinking Chu Fengqiu was about to splash her back, quickly ran forward with a laugh.

As long as she ran fast enough, the water droplets wouldn’t catch her!

The two chased each other in the garden. Song Man was quite mischievous; she was good at Sanda and had good stamina. She would run for a while, then stop, deliberately continuing to run just as Chu Fengqiu was about to catch her, leaving behind a trail of laughter.

Chu Fengqiu was originally just playing along with the chase, but seeing Song Man deliberately teasing her like this, she got more into it. However, when it came to running, her speed couldn’t match Song Man’s.

Song Man ran while looking back, seeing Chu Fengqiu had stopped and was panting in place.

“Can’t run anymore, huh? With your small build, how could you possibly catch me?”

Song Man approached, wanting to raise her hand to help Chu Fengqiu catch her breath, but was instantly grabbed by the hand by Chu Fengqiu.

“Didn’t I just catch you?”

Chu Fengqiu raised an eyebrow, no longer pretending to be out of breath.

“Wow, you cheated.”

“All’s fair in war.”

Chu Fengqiu held Song Man’s wrist, her words carrying an undertone that Song Man didn’t understand.

Is love something supreme and wonderful? Yes, at least it seems so. But not all beginnings are the same mutual affection; more often, they are the result of extremely gentle offensives.

Gender is an obstacle, but Chu Fengqiu felt that as long as there was hope, it wasn’t.

“Next time, I definitely won’t fall for it.”

Song Man let Chu Fengqiu hold her hand. Chu Fengqiu’s hand was quite cool anyway, so it could serve as a way to cool down.

“We’ll see about next time.”

Taking advantage of Song Man’s inattention, Chu Fengqiu reached for her neck, placing both hands on either side of Song Man’s neck.

“So cool,” Song Man rubbed her neck against Chu Fengqiu’s hands. “Let’s go back quickly. I’ll take a shower and do my homework.”

Because she had been running for a while, she was sweaty on her body and face. Song Man wanted to go back quickly, wash up, get her homework done, and then have a good night’s sleep.

“Okay.”

They returned along the path. Song Man went straight to her room, took a refreshing shower and washed her hair. Just as she was about to blow-dry her hair, Chu Fengqiu knocked on the door.

Song Man opened the door and told Chu Fengqiu to make herself comfortable.

Song Man blew her hair dry, watching Chu Fengqiu organize her test papers.

The trash can was by Chu Fengqiu’s feet. She lowered her head and seemed to see something, looking into the trash can.

Song Man’s heart tightened. She almost forgot that those paper wads were still in the trash can. Chu Fengqiu would definitely find it strange if she saw them, and Song Man didn’t even remember if she had wadded up all the papers. If something was seen, wouldn’t she be exposed?

“Hey, Chu Fengqiu, um, could you help me get a drink from the fridge? Pick whatever you want.”

Song Man turned off the hairdryer to make sure her voice wasn’t drowned out.

“Okay.”

Chu Fengqiu glanced at the trash can again, stood up, and walked towards the small fridge in the room.

Actually, she hadn’t seen anything, she was just a little curious why there were so many paper wads in Song Man’s trash can and wondered what was inside.

Song Man had short hair, so it didn’t take long to blow-dry it. Because she was hiding something, she put the hairdryer aside as soon as Chu Fengqiu placed the drinks on the desk.

“Aren’t you going to blow-dry it completely?”

Chu Fengqiu looked at Song Man’s half-dry hair, which was still a bit damp. The water marks on her neck trailed down and disappeared into her collar, making her skin look even fairer and more hydrated. The moisture on her face highlighted Song Man’s dark eyes and rosy lips. When Song Man looked up at her, Chu Fengqiu hid the darkness in her eyes, maintaining her usual calm expression.

“It’s not good to blow-dry it too much. This is fine, it’ll dry on its own anyway. Oh, do you want some snacks?”

Song Man sat down in her chair, extended her leg, hooked the trash can towards her, and took out a sealed package of braised snacks from the drawer.

The trash can was originally near Chu Fengqiu. It was hot in the summer, and Song Man liked to stay cool, so her pajamas were naturally short. As she hooked the trash can over, her calf brushed past Chu Fengqiu’s leg. It was just a fleeting moment, but it unsettled Chu Fengqiu.

Chu Fengqiu showed no outward reaction and shook her head at Song Man.

“Okay, I’ll eat by myself then. I’ll look at the problems first and ask you if I don’t understand. You can do your own thing for now.”

Song Man opened the braised snacks. It was a box of braised dried tofu. A layer of chili oil was drizzled over the tender, smooth dried tofu. The portion wasn’t large, but it looked mouth-watering. Song Man put on gloves and picked up a strip of dried tofu, eating it bite by bite.

After quickly finishing it, Song Man threw the plastic gloves into the trash can, then threw the box in as well, deliberately aiming downwards so that the layer of chili oil in the box completely coated the paper wads. The oil spread, and even if something could have been seen before, it was now obscured.

Song Man picked up her pen and started writing, feeling quite pleased.

She noticed Chu Fengqiu watching her out of the corner of her eye and turned to meet her gaze.

“You don’t have to keep watching me. I’ll definitely do my homework properly and won’t slack off.”

Chu Fengqiu’s gaze fell on Song Man’s lips, which were red from the spice. She softly acknowledged her and shifted her attention back to the book in front of her.

Currently, they were on the second unit of math. She had already mastered the knowledge points of the entire book, though some still needed improvement. Now she was doing physics problems.

Seeing Chu Fengqiu start working on problems, Song Man also sped up. She wasn’t completely writing nonsense; she did the simple problems that couldn’t be any simpler first, wrote a random answer for the slightly more complex ones, and then left a few problems blank to pretend she didn’t know how to do them and ask Chu Fengqiu later. As for the big problems at the end of the test paper, Song Man didn’t even look at them, leaving them completely blank.

At this dragging pace, it took Song Man three hours to finish a stack of test papers and a problem book. She stretched lazily, feeling a bit tired.

“I brought the medicine. Do you still need to apply it?”

Chu Fengqiu didn’t leave immediately after tidying up her things. Instead, she took out the medicine she had brought from her grandmother’s house from her pocket.

It was fine until Chu Fengqiu mentioned it, but then Song Man felt the bites on her body start to itch.

“Come here.”

Song Man lay down on the bed, gesturing for Chu Fengqiu to come over.