Want to Have a Relationship with You | Chapter 11 | Believing in the Light | Novela.app

Wen Yan’s act of removing Su Jingming’s glasses resulted in the latter failing to absorb a single word of the afternoon’s lessons. Back in the dormitory, Su Jingming stared at his empty notebook. *I think I’ve lost my mind.* Wen Yan was busy solving problems and didn’t notice Su Jingming’s daze. He casually tossed a problem he was unsure about toward Su Jingming. "Second place, take a look?" For once, Su Jingming didn’t look at the problem immediately. He closed his eyes. If time could turn back, he really wanted to strangle his past self for signing up for this competition. Opening his eyes again, Su Jingming felt a sudden surge of restless energy. He picked up his pen and gallantly wrote a single word: *Solution.* Then he looked at the problem. *Given the following function...* *Find the N-th derivative?* *Did we cover this type of problem this afternoon? Am I deaf? Or am I blind? Why can’t I understand this? Is the quality of my 'second place' ranking really this inflated?* Su Jingming re-read the problem. Before he could finish, Wen Yan snatched the paper back. "Sorry, wrong one." He stuffed a different problem toward Su Jingming. "That was an extracurricular problem I was looking at. It’s beyond the syllabus, way beyond." "..." This was the person ranked first in the grade. Confident and incredibly annoying. The two of them worked on problems until nearly eleven-thirty. Wen Yan was the first to set down his pen, resting his right hand on his neck to stretch. His gaze naturally fell on Su Jingming, who sat opposite him. Su Jingming’s head was slightly lowered, one hand propping up his chin, his slightly long hair nearly veiling his eyes. A few gel pens lay scattered by his hand. In front of his exercise book sat a Tiga Ultraman figure about the size of a palm, and another Tiga as tall as a water bottle. Those were the Tigas Wen Yan had given to Su Jingming. Although Su Jingming had known from the start that the gift was a Tiga, the moment he unwrapped it, he had been genuinely thrilled. Wen Yan still remembered how Su Jingming had looked—calm on the surface, but his trembling fingers and shimmering eyes couldn't lie. Su Jingming had placed the two Tigas together and said, "As expected, there is light in the world. Light is omnipotent." Wen Yan snapped out of his reverie. Su Jingming was frowning slightly; his pen had been scratching and erasing on the same problem for a long time. "What is it?" Wen Yan asked. "This problem is a bit strange." Su Jingming stood up and walked over to Wen Yan’s side, circling an answer with his pen. "I’ve calculated it three times, and the answer is different every time." It was rare to see a problem that could make Su Jingming get three different results. Wen Yan looked down at the steps. The process was fine; the error lay in the final calculation. He took the pen from Su Jingming’s hand. The lingering warmth on the pen’s barrel gave Wen Yan a slight jolt. He curled his lips helplessly, corrected a spot in Su Jingming’s steps, and calculated the final answer. Su Jingming leaned his left hand on the edge of the desk, not noticing how close he was to Wen Yan. From another angle, it looked as if he were embracing Wen Yan from behind. "So that’s it. I overlooked that point." Su Jingming lowered his head, moving even closer to Wen Yan, his mind entirely focused on the problem. He didn't notice Wen Yan’s hand pause. The handwriting Wen Yan produced was slightly different from before. Su Jingming kept his eyes down, his mind filled with calculation methods and processes. Suddenly, he turned his face. "Wen Yan." "Wh... what?" "You’re so damn good at this. Do you watch a lot of those 'genius' themed anime?" "..." Wen Yan exhaled slowly. "Then since you love Ultraman so much, why haven't I seen you transform to fight monsters?" Su Jingming straightened his back and rubbed his nose. "It’s not like there are monsters in this world." "Well, there’s no 'light' in this world either!" "!!!" Su Jingming took a step back. "Impossible! There is light in the world!" On this single matter, Su Jingming absolutely refused to listen to Wen Yan! Wen Yan had truly poked Su Jingming’s sore spot. You could call him *chunibyo*, but you could not say there was no light in the world. It was as if "Light" was his faith. Wen Yan tilted his head to look at Su Jingming standing under the fluorescent light. He was clearly a teenager on the verge of adulthood, yet he was so earnest about this. Wen Yan smiled; it was like the warm sun amidst the first snow, exceptionally gentle. "Yeah. There is light in the world." *The light that belongs to you.* Su Jingming hadn't expected Wen Yan to be so serious, making him feel like he had overreacted. He scrambled to grab his clothes from the bed and rushed into the bathroom in a flurry. "I'm showering first." Wen Yan remained seated, leaning back in his chair and stretching his body. He heard the sound of running water from the bathroom. The fingers resting on his knees twitched slightly. Su Jingming had been too close just now—so close that even his breathing was clearly audible. Su Jingming had eaten a few grape-flavored candies while doing problems earlier. His breath seemed to carry a faint scent of grapes. He kind of wanted to... Wen Yan was startled by his own thought. Suddenly, he remembered Song Yifei asking him: "What kind of person is Su Jingming, exactly?" Now, Wen Yan had the answer: a *chunibyo* youth who firmly believed in his own faith. He was a very brave person. Brave enough to make Wen Yan’s heart race. When Su Jingming came out of the shower, he saw Wen Yan leaning languidly against the chair, looking as if the rest of the world had nothing to do with him. He had to admit, when someone was handsome, everything they did was pleasing to the eye. Instantly, the scent of body wash filled the air. Wen Yan looked up, his hands resting loosely on the desk in a relaxed posture. He asked, "Su Jingming, want to study together?" Su Jingming froze while drying his hair. What was this sudden invitation? He hesitated for a few seconds. "Aren't we studying right now?" Wen Yan curled his lips. "We are. But I’ve been pressing you down in the rankings for so long; haven't you ever thought about flipping the script?" "???" *Why does that sound so familiar?* "I'll give you a chance," Wen Yan said. "In our studies, try to get on top of me once." It was as if the two had reached some sort of deal; they displayed an unprecedented passion for their studies. Even Old Tu was shocked. *I didn't realize my teaching was so effective at stimulating student morale.* When Su Jingming and Wen Yan solved the extra-curricular problems Old Tu had assigned in front of all the students, everyone became restless. "Brother Ming, just teach me how to study!" This was the fifth time Hu Hai had approached Su Jingming. He didn't go to anyone else, only Su Jingming. Under Hu Hai’s persistent offensive over the past few days, Su Jingming saw a shadow of Ren Wei in him. His heart softened. "I don't really have a method. I just do problems." Hearing this, Hu Hai sensed that Su Jingming was relenting. He struck while the iron was hot. "It’s fine! You could just let me go to your dorm after class to do problems with you." Then he suddenly remembered Wen Yan was also in that dorm. "It’s okay if I don't go to your dorm. Will you come to mine? No, no, those guys are too noisy. How about we just study in the classroom?" Su Jingming instinctively looked at Wen Yan. These past few days, they had been discussing problems in the dorm after class, forming a certain unspoken understanding. "Brother Ming, I won't take up too much of your time. One hour... no! Half an hour, okay?" Hu Hai was hesitant. Having finally seen Su Jingming soften, he didn't want to let the opportunity slip. Initially, Hu Hai had truly disliked people like Su Jingming and Wen Yan. He thought they were just showing off despite their strength. But later, he realized the gap between them truly existed. That long, vast gap was enough to make one jealous, even driven to madness. Su Jingming never believed that being good at studies could help one make friends. He rubbed his earlobe with his fingers, delaying his answer to Hu Hai’s request. Hu Hai’s eyes were full of anticipation, and he even looked like he wanted to rush forward and grab Su Jingming. Wen Yan, who had been silent on the side, spoke up. "Since it's for studying, why not do it together? Can you count me in?" "Really? You’re coming too?!" This was completely unexpected for Hu Hai. Having one top student wasn't enough; getting another was like a 'buy one, get one free' deal. Hu Hai’s joyful expression made Su Jingming feel a bit uneasy. He didn't understand what kind of "studying together" Hu Hai had in mind. It wasn't until after class that evening, when Su Jingming saw several girls accompanying Hu Hai, that he instantly understood why Hu Hai was so happy. Hu Hai asked sheepishly, "My classmates also want to ask you guys for advice. Is that okay?" Su Jingming lowered his eyelids, slouching in his chair. Without his glasses, it was even easier to tell whether he was happy or not. A girl standing next to Hu Hai quietly tugged his sleeve and whispered, "Is this really okay?" Hu Hai quickly said, "It’s fine, it’s fine. Su Jingming and Wen Yan are very patient. They taught me so many problems I didn't know. Teaching one is the same as teaching two; they shouldn't mind." Having said that, he looked at the more approachable Wen Yan. "Right, Wen Yan?" Wen Yan had been observing Su Jingming’s mood and saw that the "Little Hero" was unhappy. The rejection was on the tip of his tongue, but Su Jingming cut him off. "Sure, let’s have a pleasant study session together." Su Jingming slowly looked up, his gaze resting on Hu Hai’s face with a hint of scrutiny. "If you can't keep up, don't get angry." Hu Hai hadn't yet grasped the hidden meaning in Su Jingming’s words, feeling only a sense of flustered excitement about "studying after class." He truly didn't know what those two people's brains were made of. Their speed in solving problems was much faster than average, and their accuracy was nearly one hundred percent. Looking back at his own problems and accuracy, it was a disaster. Hu Hai clenched his fists, forcing a smile. "Top students really are different." Just as he finished speaking, the girl sitting next to him took the exercise book from in front of him and compared it with another. "Hu Hai, what’s wrong with you? How could you even get the positive and negative signs wrong?" Hu Hai’s heart skipped a beat. He laughed in response. "Li Qingyue, how could I possibly get the signs—" Before he could finish, he took back the exercise book Li Qingyue handed him. Just as she said, he had gotten even the simplest signs wrong. Undoubtedly, it was a humiliation. Hu Hai didn't dare look at the expressions of those around him. He picked up his pen and began scribbling over the mistakes. Li Qingyue didn't have time to stop him. "Don't just scribble all over it. Old Tu has to collect it tomorrow to check." Hu Hai looked up, his eyes reddening as he stared at Li Qingyue. "Is... is that so? Then I'll rewrite it." Li Qingyue handed another exercise book to Hu Hai. "There isn't enough time now. Why don't you use this as a reference?" On the cover of the notebook placed in front of Hu Hai, the name "Su Jingming" was written. ***