Chapter 8: Well Done, Brother Likes That

That classmate immediately looked embarrassed. “Sorry, Ruotang, I shouldn’t have believed that stuff.”

“Why are you apologizing to me? Tell him.” Jiang Ruotang casually pointed behind him.

The classmate, sweating nervously, turned awkwardly. “…Uh, Zhao Changfeng, sorry. I shouldn’t have believed that stuff.”

It was the first time Zhao Changfeng had ever been apologized to. He muttered a quiet “It’s okay,” and then looked up at the back of Jiang Ruotang’s head, eyes landing on the crown of his hair.

Bai Yingchuan, who was sitting beside Lin Lu, propped his chin up and leaned forward slightly. His gaze passed over Lin Lu and landed directly on Jiang Ruotang’s face.

In front of Jiang Ruotang lay an open math textbook. He was studying a piece of scratch paper left behind by Lu Guifan with intense concentration. The morning sunlight filtered through his lashes, casting a faint halo around him.

Lin Lu noticed Bai Yingchuan’s gaze, furrowed his brows slightly, but quickly smoothed them out without showing emotion.

He smiled and turned to Bai Yingchuan. “Yingchuan, this is Jiang Ruotang sitting next to me—the son of Director Jiang.”

Just as he finished speaking, their math teacher, Song Qinghe, walked in. His face didn’t look great, and his presence was rather oppressive.

The first thing he said was that many students hadn’t turned in their summer practice sheets, so he couldn’t evaluate their learning progress or know what they didn’t understand. He demanded everyone submit the sheets after this class.

The classroom atmosphere grew tense, and everyone held their breath until Song Qinghe turned his back—only then did they exhale.

He then began the lesson.

Unfortunately, Bai Yingchuan’s arrival stirred curiosity in many students. His every move drew more attention than Song Qinghe’s lecture.

Whether it was Bai Yingchuan clicking his water pen or brushing aside the hair by his ear, it pulled the eyes of every direction toward him.

Song Qinghe had been lecturing for most of the class when he realized the students weren’t paying much attention. He sighed, looked up—and unexpectedly locked eyes with Jiang Ruotang.

He had heard rumors about Jiang Ruotang idolizing Bai Yingchuan. In the past, Jiang was always zoned out during math class. But today, he’d changed completely—like a sunflower, wherever Song Qinghe moved, Jiang Ruotang’s gaze followed.

Having taught Jiang Ruotang for two years, it was the first time Song Qinghe felt like he was the center of Jiang’s universe. Honestly? He was flattered.

“Jiang Ruotang, come solve this big question on the board. It’s a basic one.”

The question was already written on the blackboard. Song Qinghe didn’t ask him to bring his worksheet. Lin Lu looked worried again.

“Ruotang… If you don’t know how to do it, just tell Mr. Song.”

Heh. You really don’t think I could do it, do you?

Jiang Ruotang ignored Lin Lu, took a deep breath, and walked to the podium. He accepted the chalk from Song Qinghe and slowly wrote the first line.

Song Qinghe was a bit stunned. If it had been last semester, Jiang would’ve thrown down the chalk and said, “I don’t know, just explain it.”

Now here he was, quietly standing on the podium.

Gripping the chalk, Jiang Ruotang mentally recalled the formulas from the scratch paper. He wrote two or three more lines. Though hesitant, Song Qinghe nodded in encouragement. “That’s right, Jiang Ruotang. Those three steps all earn points. No rush—keep going!”

Jiang Ruotang gave a helpless smile. He could imagine that, in Song Qinghe’s eyes, he probably looked like a prodigal son turning over a new leaf, a stone blossoming into a flower.

Click click. Jiang Ruotang kept writing and finally reached the answer.

He looked at Song Qinghe, who adjusted his glasses, paused for three seconds, then actually started clapping. “Jiang Ruotang got it right! This shows he didn’t slack off over the summer and actually worked hard! Everyone, give him a round of applause!”

Jiang Ruotang’s ears turned completely red. This was killing him!

It was just a basic question, Old Song! And I did slack off the whole summer—I only studied seriously for three days!

Calling the class to applaud made him feel like he was some kind of idiot!

Across the aisle, English class rep Jian Sha gave a tiny whistle. Song Qinghe immediately coughed. “We’re in class. No whistling.”

Jiang Ruotang blushed from his neck to his ears. As he stepped down from the podium, he looked up—and saw Lu Guifan sitting in the back row.

Lu was applauding along with everyone else, his lips pressed in a firm line, showing neither a smile nor appreciation.

But Jiang Ruotang felt something special stir inside him. He felt like he had proven something to Lu Guifan—and that hope would become a driving force, propelling him forward until he could stand before Lu Guifan once more, earning his recognition again.

When Jiang Ruotang sat back down, Lin Lu immediately leaned in. “Ruotang, you were amazing! Did you get a tutor over the summer? Or go to cram school?”

“Nope. The class president just taught me the problem earlier.” Jiang replied.

“In less than ten minutes, the class president taught you that?” Lin Lu teased, tilting his head. “Were you secretly studying behind my back?”

“If we’re real friends, there’s no need for secrecy.” Jiang Ruotang smiled.

“Ah… yeah…” Lin Lu paused.

Given Lin Lu’s temperament, he was probably overanalyzing every word for hidden meaning.

But there was nothing to overanalyze—it was exactly what it sounded like.

“So really, it’s just that the class president explains things well—one explanation and I got it.” Jiang Ruotang kept smiling.

Right now, he was quite enjoying watching Lin Lu overthink and speculate.

The first period finally ended. Jiang Ruotang immediately flopped onto his desk. Forty minutes of intense focus had fried his brain cells.

Who even invented class periods this long? No one could stay focused for an entire day—it was inhumane.

On the other side of Lin Lu, a crowd of classmates had gathered around Bai Yingchuan, all eager to admire his movie-star looks up close. Even students from other classes came to get a glimpse.

Lin Lu was getting squashed. A chubby boy nearly sat on him, making him jump.

“Ruotang, look at this… They’re treating Bai Yingchuan like a celebrity doing press for ten minutes straight. Doesn’t he deserve a break? Don’t stars have human rights? We’re all classmates—how can they not respect his private time?”

In the past, Jiang Ruotang would’ve stood up and used some biting sarcasm to drive the crowd away.

But right now, he couldn’t care less. He fell asleep on the desk in seconds.

After rushing to finish three days’ worth of homework and focusing intensely for forty minutes, if he still had the energy to join some “Protect Bai Yingchuan” campaign, it’d be a miracle he hadn’t dropped dead.

Jiang Ruotang fell into a deep, near-unconscious sleep.

Lin Lu shook him again. Jiang muttered, “You go tell them… I believe in you…”

Lin Lu opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

From behind them, Zhao Changfeng said coolly, “Even a machine gun needs to be loaded. Why are you always trying to push Jiang Ruotang out there to fire?”

“You—” Lin Lu turned and looked back at Jiang Ruotang. “Ruotang, I didn’t mean it like that. Zhao Changfeng, he—”

Jiang Ruotang appeared to be sleeping soundly, completely unaware, but inwardly he was grinning.

As expected of Zhao Changfeng—well done, brother likes that!

Although Bai Yingchuan was being swarmed with questions, he handled it with more patience and ease than Lin Lu had expected.

He described little moments on set with vivid humor, making everyone around him laugh.

Yet Bai Yingchuan himself stayed calm and composed the entire time.

When the bell rang for the next class, everyone scrambled back to their seats in a chaotic scene that resembled a wildebeest migration.

Zhao Changfeng returned from the campus store, chewing on a piece of bread. As he walked in, he saw a chubby student from the other class rushing out. He got jostled and lost his balance, his elbow headed straight for Jiang Ruotang’s head.

“Damn—” Zhao Changfeng stretched out his long arm and blocked the elbow with his palm.

“Sorry! Sorry!” the chubby student apologized immediately.

Jiang Ruotang woke up and, seeing what had happened, stood up in a flash.

Zhao Changfeng shook his wrist and frowned at Jiang. “You sleep like the dead. An earthquake wouldn’t wake you, huh?”

“Is your wrist okay?” Jiang had seen the elbow slam into Zhao’s hand, and his heart nearly leapt out of his chest.

Zhao sat down in the back and finished his bread in two bites. “Oh? If my wrist were hurt, would that upset you?”

“You still want to play basketball later, right? An injury to your wrist would be serious.” Jiang turned around and looked at him earnestly.

Zhao pushed his head back toward the front. “None of your business—Mr. Wang’s here.”

Their Chinese teacher, Mr. Wang, was famously old-fashioned, so the students privately called him Confucius Wang.

They had just been punished by him during morning study, so it was best to behave now and avoid stepping on his toes again.

Still, Jiang Ruotang turned back and quietly said “Thank you” to Zhao Changfeng before quickly facing forward again, as if nothing had happened.

Zhao stared at the back of his head, growing more and more convinced that this little rich boy wasn’t quite right in the head.

Did Uncle Jiang know his son might be sick?

Jiang Ruotang had a full day, and soon school was over. They were allowed to go home, but starting tomorrow, there would be evening self-study from 7 to 9. However, students like Jiang Ruotang were exempt—they could go to the studio to practice drawing instead.

Lin Lu slung an arm over Jiang Ruotang’s shoulder. “Ruotang, let’s invite Bai Yingchuan to dinner!”

“Huh?” Jiang Ruotang looked confused. “Why? He probably just wants to go home and rest.”

A flicker of surprise crossed Lin Lu’s eyes. Just a few days ago, Jiang Ruotang was crazy about Bai Yingchuan. He would’ve jumped at the chance to invite him to dinner—he’d have been excited to stick to him like glue.

So just saying over text that he didn’t like Bai Yingchuan was enough to really stop liking him?