Pandora’s Box

Not long after meeting Shu Nian, Lee boldly announced that he planned to move to S City to develop his relationship with his younger brother.

This news was unexpected, but also reasonable.

Although we were a little reluctant to part with him, the best destination for him was where his relatives were. So, I sincerely blessed him a successful new start in S City and romantic encounter.

As for him and Ke Luo, since they were separated and would no longer engage in fights as if they were enemies, then life would naturally settle back down, similar to ripples settling on the surface of water.

It was not as if I didn’t want to follow up on these two, but I really did not have the time to continue with their story.

After all, I was studying at T University. Needless to say, with the intensity of these courses, even if you were smarter than the average person, you would fall behind at any moment if you only relied on your intelligence to be carefree and lax. From time to time, there were news of top college students failing their exams and dropping out of school because they failed too many subjects or their grades were too low.

It was impossible to pass by casually studying.

Since the end of last year, there were many occurrences that interrupted daily peace. I was either busy or anxious most of the time. I couldn’t use my brain effectively to study, causing my grades to naturally slip out of the safety baseline. During the test, I discovered that I couldn’t complete more than half of the papers. Thus, I knew my situation was going to be bad.

Seeing that the end of the term was approaching and with exams just around the corner, I realized that I could not control other’s emotional life and only wanted to live peacefully, smooth sailing as a flowing river.

Yuan Keke hated me for clinging onto Buddha’s feet at the last minute. She selflessly shared her large compilation of important notes, and helped to copy down homework for me.

However, the divine power of nectar still had to be digested by oneself. Thus, in order to absorb the divine powers, I already requested for a hiatus from the live broadcasting platform and did not dare to play games at all. Aside from eating and attending classes everyday, I simply memorized and quizzed myself, not sleeping more than a few hours.

Today, my mind was distracted as I was doing a problem until I suddenly heard someone knocking on my door.

I responded with a dying whisper, “Come in.”

The door opened and someone came in, asking, “My dad said you haven’t eaten dinner yet?”

I was pleasantly surprised. It was Zhuo Wenyang!

I immediately put down my pen and turned to him, staring at him eagerly, “You’re here? You haven’t come to eat at home for a while.”

I knew he was busy. Even a carefree person like me was always busy, let alone someone like him who had to shoulder heavy responsibilities in a humbled manner.

Yet, I hadn’t seen him in real life for a couple of days. I felt internally empty and that studying was extremely hard.

“You should go and eat your meal first so you will have the strength to study after nourishing.”

I said with a sad face, “I want to solve this problem before I eat or I may lose my train of thought.”

Zhuo Wenyang gently pulled out a chair and sat down beside me, “Then I will accompany you for a while.”

If Yuan Kekes’ notes were a few drops of nectar, then Zhuo Wenyang was the spirit fairy himself.

Being able to stay with him and take a couple of deep breathes made me feel a lot better.

Regarding the problem, I was always in a state in which I was close to solving it but couldn’t quite do so. My pain was similar to constipation and my complexion gradually became grim.

Zhuo Wenyang said, “If you can’t think of it, I can explain it to you.”

“Really?” I could not help but be a little suspicious, as this was not a general education course. We were of different majors. Although Zhuo Wenyang was good at studying, could he know everything?

When Zhuo Wenyang wrote out his ideas of solutions, I could only admit that he really did know everything.

Was this the world of immortal geniuses?

After finishing the problems, I could finally go to the living room for dinner.

Cheng Yichen and the others already ate first, but the food they saved for me was neatly stored in a large, insulated lunch box. It still looked delicious and appetizing.

I asked, “Where is Uncle Chen and the others?”

Zhuo Wenyang replied, “After I came, they went out for a walk. They were scared of affecting your study if they watched TV at home.”

I was both moved and embarrassed.

I was uselessly spoiled and had the whole family revolved around me.

I ate with a sigh of relief. I studied so intensely that I couldn’t even enjoy eating at one point, but as soon as Zhuo Wenyang came, my appetite immediately returned and I felt like I could swallow an entire cow.

While I was shoveling food into my mouth, Zhuo Wenyang sat beside me and quietly flipped through my review materials.

“Wait a minute, let me see your reviews and how much time you have left before exams.”

I swallowed the char siu pork in my mouth and depressingly said, “I don’t think I have enough time.” Sure enough, after honestly explaining my progress to Zhuo Wenyang, he said thoughtfully, “It seems a bit reaching.”

“Really?” If he said that, then I was basically done for.

I asked, “Is there only one chance to retake the make-up test for T University? And if you you fail the retake, you won’t get both diplomas?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m done,” I was shocked, “Can I still find a job if I don’t have both diplomas?”

Look at how this life completely transformed me, and my thinking capabilities became primitive.

“Then…,” Zhuo Wenyang raised his eyebrows, “will you give up?”

“Then what?” I immediately questioned seriously, “I still have to try out my luck! What if I pass everything in the end?”

“Aren’t you ready to restart?”

“That is to say, you must have a dream to have a miracle. I am very lucky in this regard,” I confidently stated, “I have been in high school for two years and still managed to be admitted to T University!”

Zhuo Wenyang raised his eyebrows and said, “I thought you would feel that it’s too late anyways, that you’d think to relax and go out to watch a movie together.”

“…..”

Ah, really?

The temptation of watching a movie with Zhuo Wenyang was too great. It was also worth failing a course for!

But no, what if he was testing me?

I pressed my left chest with one hand and solemnly declared, “I only care about studying now.”

Zhuo Wenyang smiled.

After a moment, he said, “You are more determined that I expected. You can really work hard once you put your mind to it.”

I scratched my head, “I’m flattered.”

Fortunately, I survived his seduction test. Otherwise, I would have let him down!

“You have a good mentality, which is very valuable,” he said, “In our college, I have seen too many people’s priorities out of balance. If their mental state collapses, then there’s nothing left.”

I knew this. Not to mention, Zhuo Wenyang’s department belonged to the famous “lunatic asylum.” My major was relatively old schooled, but some students who already entered the dual training program couldn’t stand the pressure and chose to drop out.

There were so many unimaginable geniuses in this school. Ordinary people studying here may find that the gap between them and their upper-class seniors was bigger than the gap between dogs and people. Therefore, they would doubt whether they were mentally inept.

Even these so-called “ordinary people,” whose talents didn’t meet the average baseline of T University, were mostly still the best within a crowd of high schoolers (except for lucky idiots like me). However, in here, they would suffer tons of mental damage because their scores may only hover around sixty or seventy points even if they worked hard.

A considerable number of people would give up on themselves after their self-confidence was destroyed. T University was very harsh for ordinary people who weren’t so talented.

I was one of those ordinary people who wasn’t very gifted, but the difference was that I already went through a phase of self-doubt. Knowing that I was a moron, my expectations were very low and I had no feelings of frustration.

Wasn’t it natural to behave like a mentally inept person in front of studying gods?

Acting like an idiot, wasn’t that an obvious course of action?

Exactly like how I was in front of Zhuo Wenyang.

Zhuo Wenyang offered, “If I have time, I will come and review with you.”

I was overjoyed. “Really?”

He smiled and said, “I also hope to make a miracle happen.”

Thus, Zhuo Wenyang, with the power of one person, was able to turn around my studying period of darkness before the exams from hell to heaven.

Because they knew that my studies were on the verge of failing, Cheng Yichen and others tried their best not to disturb me, leaving space for Zhuo Wenyang and me to be alone.

Additionally, I also wanted to try my best to better behave when Zhuo Wenyang took the time to come help. I worked extra hard to complete the materials he assigned me in order not to disappoint him and waste his time. This was the pinnacle of productivity in my life.

When Zhuo Wenyang came to check my homework that night, he was slightly surprised, “You mastered it well. I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to digest these type of questions yesterday, but it turns out that you can understand it a bit.”

“Ah really?”

He looked at me and said in relief, “You are actually very smart, Xiao Jing.”

It was fine. The real reason was that love could transform a pig into a human.

I sat beside him and read a book. In his faint but pleasant smell, it felt like everything was drenched in an intoxicating aura and was beautiful.

I finally put down my pen and before I realized it, it was already two o’clock in the morning.

It was quiet outside. The office workers in the community had already fallen asleep and it was pitch black. It seemed like Zhuo Wenyang and I were the only two people awake in this city.

Was there anything better than this?

In the past, staying up late was a bitter experience, but I enjoyed it now and was very content.

Then, I heard my stomach roar like thunder.

“…..”

Although I was relatively and mentally full, I was still physically hungry.

Zhuo Wenyang gave a small smile, “Are you hungry? I’ll cook some noodles for you.”

I worked up my courage and suggested, “Zhuo Wenyang, why don’t we go out for a midnight snack? I want to eat skewers and crayfish.”

It was obviously extremely unhealthy to eat and drink so much at such a late hour, with foods full of oil and salt. I suspected that with his life philosophy of extreme self-discipline, he would directly reject it.

However, Zhuo Wenyang looked at me, nodded and agreed, “Okay.”

Then, we quietly packed up and got ready to go out. We both were simultaneously light on our hands and feet in fear of waking up the rest of the family who were soundly asleep.

When passing the living room, I accidentally kicked a chair.

The loud noise cut through the silence and we all stopped immediately, holding our breath. After waiting for dozens of seconds, we didn’t hear any movement in Cheng Yichen’s room. We both glanced at each other and escaped out the door.

As soon as I went out, I couldn’t resist from laughing.