Chapter 52: It's Not Quite Appropriate This Late at Night

When Lu Yiqi invited Xie Xu in, she kept reminding herself: Who would ever turn their back on learning, right? Xie Xu’s grades were even better than Ziyi’s!

After steeling herself mentally, Lu Yiqi looked up and met Xie Xu’s anxious gaze.

“What’s wrong with you? You look like you’re constipated.”

“???”

Xie Xu snapped instantly into his aloof mode. “Is that how you talk to your teacher?”

???

He was already calling himself ‘teacher’ before the lesson had even started? Lu Yiqi wanted to retort, but when she remembered how feeble her math was, she gave in. She obediently called out, “Teacher Xie.”

That single ‘Teacher Xie’ made Xie Xu’s mood soar. He responded with a smile, “Just for that, Lu, your teacher will teach you well.”

Images of Xie Xu sleeping through class flashed through Lu Yiqi’s mind. She couldn’t help but click her tongue.

Some people can nap through lessons and still ace every exam, while others, no matter how hard they try, simply can’t grasp the material.

How could the difference between people be so vast?

Lu Yiqi led Xie Xu to the study, then thoughtfully poured him a cup of hot water.

“Teacher Xie, drink more hot water.”

“Tsk.” Xie Xu’s attractive eyes flickered with a hint of amusement. “You’re catching on.”

Lu Yiqi forced a smile. “Of course, of course.”

Xie Xu took a few sips, set down the cup, and his deep, pleasant voice sounded: “Bring out your weekend homework.”

Lu Yiqi dug out an exercise book and handed it to him.

Xie Xu lifted his chin, succinctly ordered, “Do it.”

Lu Yiqi wasn’t sure what he was up to, but still obediently answered, “Mm,” then took out a pen, uncapped it, and started working through the problems.

After finishing the first multiple-choice question, Xie Xu said, “If you don’t know how, just ask.”

“Okay.” Lu Yiqi nodded as she glanced at Xie Xu, only to find him sitting right beside her, head down, playing on his phone.

Three question marks popped up in Lu Yiqi’s mind.

He wasn’t teaching her at all—just completely absorbed in his phone. Was her “Teacher Xie” wasted?

Lu Yiqi had doubts, but said nothing and continued working through the problems.

By the second question, Lu Yiqi yawned, then bent her head to tackle the next one.

“For the third question, don’t pick A—pick C.”

“Huh?”

Before Lu Yiqi could react, a warm body leaned close to her, and a long, slender finger appeared in her field of vision, tapping at option A.

“The reason you don’t pick A for this question is…” As Xie Xu explained, Lu Yiqi nodded along, completely unaware of how close they were—closer than ordinary friends.

“The answer to this question is 2. The function y=f(x) is symmetric about the point (1, 0), so its graph is also symmetric about (0, 0)…”

“Pig, you managed to mess up this one too.”

“Let x + x/1 = t, then t…”

The quiet house was occasionally filled with the girl’s questions and the boy’s answers—and, from time to time, his muttered “pig” and “idiot,” blending together in perfect harmony.

Surprisingly, apart from the yawn at the start, Lu Yiqi actually spent the entire afternoon diligently studying math, never yawning again.

As darkness fell, Lu Yiqi stretched her body. “I’m exhausted.”

“Mm, let’s call it a day then.” Xie Xu stood up. “I’m leaving.”

“Wait!” Lu Yiqi suddenly called out.

Xie Xu raised his brow, teasing, “What is it? Did you get dumber from all those problems? Learned to keep me around, have you? Isn’t it a bit inappropriate this late at night?”