Chapter 16: Picking Up Nan Xingwan
“Dear passengers, Zhongxing Road has arrived. Please take your belongings and exit in an orderly fashion……”
After a ride of over ten minutes, Nan Xingwan arrived at the bus stop near Zhang Chen’s location. She quickly got off the bus and saw Zhang Chen, who had said he would pick her up at the station, standing by the roadside.
At this time, Zhang Chen was still carrying his schoolbag, having just arrived at the bus stop from No. 1 High School.
He held a cup of sliced pineapple fruit he had bought from a fruit store on the way. Seeing Nan Xingwan jog over, he smiled and handed it to her.
“Thank you,” Nan Xingwan accepted it gracefully, speared a piece of pineapple with a toothpick, and put it into her mouth.
While eating, she didn’t forget to ask if Zhang Chen had remembered to bring his test papers and homework today.
“Don’t worry, I brought everything,” Zhang Chen confidently raised the schoolbag in his hand.
He was well-prepared today and would definitely not have a situation like yesterday where he knew nothing when asked.
Nan Xingwan nodded, eating the sweet pineapple and narrowing her eyes in enjoyment.
Zhang Chen watched her from the side and couldn’t help but chuckle.
It was just like it said in the books; she would narrow her eyes when she ate something she liked.
Nan Xingwan easily caught the sound, turned her head, and frowned at him: “Hmm? What are you laughing at?”
“No, nothing. I just thought of something happy,” Zhang Chen touched his mouth and said with a serious expression.
Under Nan Xingwan’s suspicious gaze, he quickly changed the subject: “Is it sweet?”
“Didn’t you eat any?” Nan Xingwan asked curiously.
“I tasted a piece when I bought it, but I don’t know if the ones in the box are sweet.”
Upon hearing this, Nan Xingwan generously speared a piece of pineapple with a toothpick and held it out to Zhang Chen: “Here.”
“A reward for you for studying diligently yesterday.”
Zhang Chen chuckled, took the toothpick from her hand, and bit off the pineapple in one go.
Mmm! Sweet, as expected!
“Only one piece? Isn’t that reward a bit too stingy?”
Nan Xingwan took back the toothpick, pouted, and quickly guarded the remaining box of sliced pineapple as if protecting her food:
“One piece is good enough. You can’t be too greedy.”
“But you can’t be too stingy, either, can you? I bought this.”
“No! If you gave it to me, it’s mine!”
“……”
Bantering back and forth with Zhang Chen, Nan Xingwan speared another piece of pineapple to put in her mouth.
She suddenly realized she was sharing a toothpick with Zhang Chen.
Although both of them only ate the pineapple on top and didn’t touch their mouths, there was no so-called indirect contact, but just this made her heart skip a beat.
If it were before junior high, when she and Zhang Chen had a very good relationship, such a habitual action wouldn’t have made her feel anything.
After all, they grew up together, and as children, they even shared an ice pop.
But now, her relationship with Zhang Chen was no longer what it used to be, and her habitual action today didn't provoke any disgust from Zhang Chen.
She tilted her head to look at Zhang Chen, confirming he hadn’t noticed this detail, and then added: “At most, I’ll give you one more piece.”
Zhang Chen was oblivious, completely unaware.
He just looked at Nan Xingwan’s stingy, food-guarding appearance and teased: “……Stingy.”
Then, after Zhang Chen once again accepted the pineapple Nan Xingwan offered him, Nan Xingwan’s steps suddenly became lighter:
“Walk faster! Let’s go home quickly so I can tutor you!”
Seeing her suddenly dart ahead, Zhang Chen was bewildered:
“Why, why are you suddenly in such a hurry?”
Why was she acting like a rabbit, suddenly going crazy?
“Hurry up! It’ll be 10 o’clock soon, and we won’t have much time to study,” Nan Xingwan turned around and urged.
“Alright, alright, alright……” Zhang Chen agreed and quickly followed.
He had clearly mastered all the knowledge points, but at this moment, facing Nan Xingwan’s urging, he seemed genuinely in a hurry……
……
It was still almost 11:30 PM when the one-on-one tutoring ended. Zhang Chen glanced at the time, fearing Nan Xingwan would go home too late, and proactively reminded her:
“It’s almost 11:30 PM.”
“Okay, let me look at two more problems. I’ll leave once I’m done.”
Nan Xingwan lowered her head, diligently writing down her problem-solving process for Zhang Chen.
Today, she had brought almost all of her meticulously compiled notebooks to Zhang Chen. For each subject, she had created knowledge frameworks for the corresponding units and key exam points.
Fearing Zhang Chen wouldn’t understand, she also built the thought process for him one-to-one, helping him establish the same knowledge system.
As a top student himself, Zhang Chen naturally understood Nan Xingwan’s painstaking effort.
The concept of a knowledge system framework is something only fellow top students can deeply appreciate.
Students with average grades, or even slightly better grades, don’t have this concept.
At most, they only know what knowledge point a question tests and what methods the teacher taught in class.
But with a knowledge framework, it’s different.
For top students, a single problem can have multiple approaches, which are actually different paths constructed within the framework.
It’s like navigating a maze in a memory palace.
Even solutions the teacher didn’t teach in class, they can figure out on their own.
This is why, in studies, there are always some ‘freaks’ who seem to be born with it—they know what the teacher taught, and they also know what the teacher didn’t teach!
Therefore, Zhang Chen deeply understood how difficult it was to help a struggling student build a knowledge framework.
The prerequisite for building a knowledge framework is to first have relevant knowledge reserves……
Moreover, if everyone could easily build such an abstract thing as a knowledge framework, then there wouldn’t be so many failing students in schools.
Even Zhang Chen had never thought of doing what Nan Xingwan was doing: hand-holding a struggling student who couldn’t even remember all the knowledge points. It was practically shoving knowledge into that person’s brain!
Zhang Chen understood Nan Xingwan’s good intentions and remained silent.
He quietly continued to listen to Nan Xingwan explain the problems……
The next day.
During class.
The teacher was lecturing on the homework assigned yesterday, and Zhang Chen was dozing off below……
“Chen Ge, did you go to the internet cafe yesterday?” Duan Chenxu, his deskmate, felt a sense of relief seeing Zhang Chen dozing off.
Zhang Chen not dozing off or being distracted yesterday had made him feel quite unfamiliar.
Zhang Chen waved his hand, signaling the fatty to go away and not bother him.
He didn’t know why, but when Nan Xingwan lectured him, he wasn’t sleepy at all, but when the teacher lectured, his eyelids started fighting.
He had gone to bed early after dropping off Nan Xingwan last night, but his habit of getting sleepy during class hadn’t changed at all.
Just as Zhang Chen was dozing, the math teacher, Jia Wei, suddenly called out Zhang Chen’s name from the stage.
“Zhang Chen’s homework yesterday was excellent. All correct, and the thought process was very clear. Let’s give him a round of applause.”
All the classmates’ gazes turned and shot towards Zhang Chen……
Applause erupted enthusiastically……
Duan Chenxu, seeing Zhang Chen still dozing and not reacting, quickly poked him twice:
“Chen Ge! Chen Ge, the teacher is calling you!”
Zhang Chen slowly lifted his head, his eyes barely open, his voice like Patrick Star’s:
“Huh?”
All the classmates burst into laughter at the sight……
……
……