Chapter 172: An Indescribable Gift
Wang Heng and Ye Xun walked out of the dormitory, heading to the coffee shop outside the school gate.
While walking, Wang Heng suddenly said, “What I said earlier was to my roommate.”
Ye Xun thought back for a moment, covering her mouth and chuckling, “Your roommate wants you to tutor him too?”
“The child’s grades are always poor, mostly because he’s slacking off. As his father, I’m also very melancholy…” Wang Heng complained a bit, then changed the subject, “By the way, did you spend Spring Festival alone this time?”
The young girl silently nodded.
“It’s a pity I was in Rongdu; I could have brought you a gift.”
“Gift?”
Wang Heng suddenly had a sudden inspiration: “Speaking of gifts, it’s not too late to give you one now.”
Hearing this, Ye Xun immediately became expectant.
After walking out of the school gate, Wang Heng spotted a bookstore and stepped inside, asking Ye Xun to wait a moment at the shop doorway.
Naturally, he bought books in the bookstore. This kind of gift was low in price, but Ye Xun, who was used to luxury goods, didn’t care about the price at all. After all, compared to many other gifts, the meaning books could carry was obviously much deeper.
Two minutes later, Wang Heng came out of the bookstore, handed her several《 Five-Year Gaokao Three-Year Simulation》 books, and said solemnly, “This is the gift I’m giving you. I hope it helps you.”
Ye Xun: “…”
It felt… a bit strange?
This didn’t seem romantic at all, just full of practicality.
But thinking about it carefully, weren’t tutoring materials exactly what she needed most? Especially the subjects Wang Heng picked, which were the ones she needed to cram: mathematics and liberal arts comprehensive. If she could master these things in her hands, she probably wouldn’t need to worry about the Gaokao more than a year from now.
The young girl figured it out and smiled sincerely: “Thank you, Senior really cares about me.”
Wang Heng: “?”
He knew this girl was quite romantic, so logically, this unromantic ‘gift’ shouldn’t make her happy, right? But what was the situation now? The joy in her eyes didn’t seem fake?
“Senior, I want to give you a gift too. But I don’t know what you need most, so I went with my own preference. Hope you don’t mind… or even if you do, don’t say it to my face!”
With that, Ye Xun shoved the《 Wu San》 back into his hands and quickly entered the bookstore.
Wang Heng held those tutoring materials, standing there in a daze.
What was this girl up to?
What was she going to pick?
After waiting in confusion for a few minutes, Ye Xun came out, handing over a hardcover book with both hands. On the cover were three artistically styled large characters—【Rubaiyat】.
Since Wang Heng was holding the《 Wu San》 with both hands, the young girl placed the《 Rubaiyat》 on top of the《 Wu San》, then took back the《 Wu San》 and let Wang Heng take the《 Rubaiyat》.
Wang Heng first looked at the obi and the introductory text on the cover.
Clearly, this was a poetry collection.
Ye Xun explained beside him: “The poet is named Omar Khayyam, a Persian poet from nearly a thousand years ago. His life story is very interesting. He was one of the most outstanding mathematicians of his era, yet he lived a simple life. He had two classmates: one became prime minister, the other founded the Assassin sect, which seems to be the ancestor of Western assassins.”
Wang Heng: “Assassin, I know that, and the Templars…”
Ye Xun: “What?”
Wang Heng: “Nothing, go on.”
Ye Xun: “Anyway, in the thick religious atmosphere of his time, he stood out. He didn’t pursue faith but pursued science, and he celebrated wine and worldly pleasures—very interesting.”
The book came with a bookmark. Whether intentionally or not, when Wang Heng opened the poetry collection, the bookmark turned to this poem:
【The consciousness of pursuing happiness tells us,
to grab the current joy and let go of immediate worries;
It says we won’t be like the grass in the pasture,
cut down and still reborn.】
Looking at this poem, Wang Heng felt a mix of emotions but couldn’t utter a word.
Looking at the beautiful young girl with flushed cheeks in front of him, he was silent for a moment, then finally said, “Thank you, I like it very much.”
Ye Xun smiled sweetly: “As long as you like it.”
————
At their usual seats in the coffee shop, Wang Heng gradually realized that Ye Xun’s mathematics foundation was indeed much more solid than before. The contents in the mistake notebook had also progressed from beginner level to intermediate and high difficulty.
After more than an hour of tutoring, Wang Heng couldn’t help asking, “During this Winter Holiday, have you been doing problems nonstop?”
Ye Xun capped her pen and nodded: “Yeah, you told me that to improve math grades, the most important thing is to do problems with your brain. I’ve finished all the math homework assigned by the school and was thinking where to find more problems to do when you gave me Wu San.”
Wang Heng: “…”
Thinking of the diligent young girl and then his own thesis that he gave up on after two bites, he felt a bit ashamed.
After a moment of silence, he said, “Doing problems is good, but you also need to rest—balance work and rest.”
Ye Xun smiled: “During Winter Holiday, I go punch the sandbag every few days. Plus, I’ve been thinking about when you’d be back so we could go to the martial arts hall again and train properly!”
Wang Heng: “…”
This time, his silence lasted a bit longer.
Suddenly, Ye Xun sighed, breaking the silence: “To be honest, doing problems is really tiring, and memorizing liberal arts comprehensive stuff is tiring too. But this matter taught me not to pin my whole life on others, even if that person is my father. Things in the world are hard to predict; we can only do our best at what we should do.”
Wang Heng smiled: “It’s best if you can think that way. Let’s go; it’s getting late. I’ll walk you to the subway station.”
Ye Xun nodded and stood up to pack her things.
After a while, the two walked out of the coffee shop side by side. The subway station was nearby, so soon, it was time to part again.
Ye Xun suddenly stopped and asked with a smile, “When are you free? Let’s go practice combat.”
Wang Heng: “In a couple days.”
“Okay, waiting for your phone call. Bye!”
“Bye.”
After watching the young girl’s figure disappear, Wang Heng stood there and subconsciously opened the poetry collection in his hand again.
This page was another poem:
【Don’t get lost in heavenly or earthly matters,
Let tomorrow’s trouble drift away with the wind;
Instead, run your fingers through her curly hair,
Don’t disappoint that slender girl offering wine.】
Suddenly, Wang Heng heard another familiar voice behind him: “Hey, why are you reading here?”
Closing the poetry collection and turning around, he saw his tall, handsome but picky-taste roommate, Wang Ke. The guy was dragging a suitcase, clearly just back in Rongdu.
Wang Heng: “Right, I have a gift for you.”
Wang Ke: “What gift? A loli cushion?”
“…Okay, absolutely something you need.”
With that, Wang Heng walked back into the bookstore, asking Wang Ke to wait a moment at the doorway.
Less than three minutes later, Wang Heng came out and shoved a book into his roommate’s hands.
Wang Ke: “Criminal law… why are you giving me this?”
Wang Heng: “Article 236, you should memorize it well.”
Hearing this, Wang Ke flipped to that article, glanced at it, and immediately shouted, “I’m a pure good man; you can’t speculate about me so maliciously!”
Wang Heng sneered: “Heh, anyway, just remember this one law, especially the part about fourteen years old—it’s not bad for you.”
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