Chapter 129: No Guesses ①
But Li Kai was frozen in place like a piece of wood, his mind immediately crashing. Li Kai stood there with his mouth agape, staring at Nie Qiu, who was confidently lecturing from the lectern. His face instantly turned bright red, as if struck by lightning. The smile he had just seen from Nie Qiu made Li Kai feel as if he were floating on clouds, so unreal. The way she slightly smiled kept replaying in his mind. He thought to himself, Nie Qiu must be very beautiful when she smiles.
“How was it? How was it, how was it? Did you see? Nie Qiu smiled at me just now! Wasn’t she beautiful? Didn’t it feel amazing?” Zhang Haiyang leaned over slightly and whispered to Li Kai.
Li Kai nodded, but suddenly realized Zhang Haiyang was saying something wrong. “What did you say, Nie Qiu smiled at you?” She was clearly smiling at him!
Nie Qiu stood on the lectern. Excluding the height difference between standing and sitting, the lectern itself had a certain height. Therefore, Nie Qiu always saw the students in the classroom from a distance, with a visual difference of looking up and down. Zhang Haiyang and Li Kai sat at adjacent desks, one behind the other, so both of them naturally assumed Nie Qiu had smiled at them.
Li Kai felt his perception was correct, and Zhang Haiyang also felt his perception was correct. However, in Nie Qiu’s eyes, it looked like Zhang Haiyang and Li Kai were whispering, which made her feel a little uncomfortable. Slacking off during class was indeed one of the fun parts of being a student, but she had originally thought Li Kai could be more serious. Just as he had said, he would surpass her and prove to her that dating at this age truly wouldn’t affect their studies.
As soon as Zhang Haiyang saw Nie Qiu’s expression change, he quickly retracted his leaning body. He picked up his notebook and began copying the problem types Nie Qiu had just explained. He also started to listen attentively to what Nie Qiu was saying.
Seeing Zhang Haiyang’s actions, Li Kai knew Nie Qiu must have reacted. He quickly looked up and saw Nie Qiu’s expression was somber, not as happy as before. He also realized it was probably because Nie Qiu had seen him and Zhang Haiyang talking. He suddenly felt a sense of setback. Clearly… clearly Nie Qiu was starting to have feelings for him.
But he couldn’t blame Zhang Haiyang for such a small matter. Getting jealous over a smile would be laughable if told to others. He composed himself and copied the topics Nie Qiu was explaining into his notebook.
Nie Qiu wrote three problems on the blackboard, which were the three solution methods for the topics she had just explained. She then said to the students in the classroom, “I have explained three solution methods for this type of problem. I believe everyone has understood them well. Is there any student willing to come up and solve these three problems, which have the same problem type but different specific questions?”
As soon as Nie Qiu finished speaking, many students below were eager to try. Someone with a lively personality like Huang Yan had already raised her hand early, looking at Nie Qiu with anticipation.
Nie Qiu looked at Li Kai, then at Zhang Haiyang, and said, “Zhang Haiyang, come and do the first problem. Li Kai, come up and do the second problem. Bai Ya, come up and do the third problem.”
After Nie Qiu called out the names, the others understood what it meant. Usually, Nie Qiu would ask someone to come up and solve a problem if she thought that person had either learned it very well or was doing very poorly! With Bai Ya there, it was impossible that she was doing well! Bai Ya was one of the foremost students at the very bottom of the entire grade. Although everyone had started paying attention in class and no one was whispering to her anymore, Bai Ya still wasn’t very focused during class. Her grades had indeed improved a lot compared to before. With the current learning atmosphere in the class, it wasn’t difficult to make progress. However, compared to those who studied diligently, Bai Ya was naturally considered someone who didn’t study well. Therefore, the only ones who would be called up to solve problems this time were likely those who weren’t studying well.
Although Huang Yan wanted to go up and show off, she secretly smiled when she saw Bai Ya. While smiling, she copied the three problems on the blackboard and then began solving them using different methods.
Li Kai and Zhang Haiyang exchanged a look, stood up from their seats, and walked towards the lectern. They then picked up the chalk placed on the blackboard and began to answer the questions.
Zhang Haiyang was fine. He had been listening attentively before, and the first solution method was the first one explained, so he still remembered it. In less than two minutes, he had solved the problem.
Li Kai glanced at Zhang Haiyang’s problem. It was a different question, but indeed the same problem type. Without a word, he followed suit and solved the problem in two minutes. When he looked at Nie Qiu, he found that she wasn’t smiling. Not only was she not smiling, but her gaze was completely cold, sending a shiver down his spine.
His buddies sitting below watched anxiously, constantly signaling to Li Kai, using their hands to make the gesture for “2,” wanting to tell Li Kai to use the second solution method to solve this problem. Luo Xu’s eyes widened even further. He thought that after Li Kai had said those words, he would definitely study hard and diligently. They had all seen his subsequent efforts, but… he hadn’t expected Li Kai to not have listened attentively!
Yes, Li Kai got the problem right, and the answer was correct. However, Nie Qiu had taught three solution methods and asked Li Kai to use the second method to solve the second problem! Li Kai had completely used the first method to solve this problem. Not only him, but even other students were somewhat surprised.
Li Kai did not receive the signals from his good brothers. Instead, he threw down the chalk in his hand and returned to his seat.
Compared to Li Kai, Bai Ya was much slower. She wrote and erased, wrote and erased, repeating this process several times, and finally managed to solve the problem. Although the final answer was incorrect, the third method Bai Ya used was correct.
Nie Qiu was a little disappointed. She picked up the blackboard eraser and wiped away what Li Kai had written. She then earnestly began to explain the second solution method. She also started explaining the easily mistaken parts from where Bai Ya had been working on her problem. After she finished, time was almost up. Nie Qiu looked at her watch and mentioned a few minor points to pay attention to. With ten minutes left before morning self-study, she walked down from the lectern. She put her schoolbag into her desk and, without looking at Li Kai, who was sitting there with earphones on listening to music, or Huang Yan, who had already walked over, she went to the toilet with Huang Yan.
Li Kai took off his earphones and took a deep breath. He hadn’t been listening to music; he just wanted to see if Nie Qiu would proactively say a word to him. But she didn’t. Nie Qiu didn’t speak to him.
Although he had his earphones on earlier, he hadn’t played any music and had been listening intently to Nie Qiu explain the problem he had just done. He felt wronged. Who was the reason he hadn’t listened attentively? Who made her come into his dreams and cause trouble, making him… making him…
