Ding Xian didn't know if it was her imagination, but she felt that Zhou Siyue had deliberately slowed down his pace when explaining the problems.

'It's still the deskmate treatment, after all,' she thought, and then she smiled.

Someone flicked her forehead with a pen. "What are you smiling at? Hurry up and write it down."

"Oh." Ding Xian reined in her smile and honestly picked up her pen to write. Having not heard anything, she didn't know what to note down. Her pen tip hovered in mid-air as she secretly glanced at the person beside her. Zhou Siyue immediately gave her a rap on the head. "So you weren't listening just now, were you?"

The force was a little strong. She rubbed her head and nodded again, "I was listening, I was listening."

Young Master Zhou sneered, "Oh, then what did I say?"

Ding Xian racked her brains and could only recall the last sentence: "You said... this quadrilateral ABCD is an intuitive diagram, so we can solve it directly..."

Zhou Siyue scoffed, his expression becoming mean again. "You really are a salted fish, with a three-second memory." As he spoke, he leaned back in his chair, put his hands in his pockets, and chuckled mockingly, "How did you even get in here?"

Accustomed to his harsh demeanor, she didn't find it unbearable; Ding Xian was quite used to it now. She even started talking volubly about her history of getting into Yansan High School. "Do you know Xu Ke?"

Xu Ke?

Zhou Siyue shook his head.

When Ding Xian spoke of Xu Ke, her face was full of pride, her cheeks flushed, and her dark eyes bright. "It's because of him that I decided to test into Yansan High School. Actually, my grades weren't good in elementary school, just like I told you, my memory was especially bad. Other kids could recite the twenty-six letters early on, but it took me a month. My mom always compared me to Xu Ke, and the more she compared, the bigger the gap in my heart became. I really disliked myself, wondering why others could learn things that I couldn't. Later, I met Xu Ke, and he told me that there's nothing in the world that others can do but you can't. If you can't do it, it just means you haven't worked hard enough."

Zhou Siyue crossed his arms and let out an extremely disdainful snort from his nose.

Ding Xian knew that he always kept his distance from such 'life wisdom' platitudes. "Don't disbelieve it, Xu Ke actually made a lot of sense. Because of his words, I decided that the slow bird should start flying early. If others spent an hour, I would spend two hours."

Ding Xian was indeed full of tenacity. Once she decided to do something, she wouldn't turn back even if she hit a wall.

But then Zhou Siyue suddenly splashed a basin of cold water on her. "So you studied until two in the morning? And your math score is only that much?"

His blunt tone made her want to dig a hole and crawl into it. She said softly, "It's not two every night. Sometimes if I'm sleepy, I go to bed earlier, and when I'm energetic, I stay up later."

Seeing his slight smirk, Ding Xian mumbled as an afterthought, "Do you think everyone is like you? Learning things in one go?"

Zhou Siyue looked at Ding Xian with amusement, his hands still in his pockets. "Do you have some misunderstanding about human intelligence? Or do you think my intelligence has broken through the limits of humanity? Except for a few geniuses whose IQs are higher than the human average, most people's IQs are on the same level, with little difference. If you don't learn well, it just means you haven't found the right method."

Look at this, how hypocritical and humble this genius sounded.

After speaking, he leaned forward to pick up the notebook packed full on her desk, then threw it back onto the table. His hands went back into his pockets. "I told you long ago, when taking notes, you need to pick out the key points. With your way of taking notes, it would be strange if you scored well."

Ding Xian stared at him for a long time, seemingly savoring his words.

Zhou Siyue felt a shiver run down his spine from her direct gaze. "What's wrong?"

Ding Xian thought for a moment, pursed her lips, and made a decision. She cupped her hands and bowed to him, "Please guide me more in the future."

Zhou Siyue returned an extremely perfunctory smile and couldn't help but mock her. "However, your IQ is indeed below the human average. Heaven is quite harsh on you; it closed one door and didn't even leave you a window."

Ding Xian stared at him darkly. "What do you mean?"

Zhou Siyue raised an eyebrow, turned back to write the problem, and left the back of his head for her, implying 'figure it out yourself'.

The sun set in the west, and the autumn wind rustled.

His fluffy, soft black hair shimmered with golden light under the reflection of the warm setting sun. The boy's profile was refined and elegant.

At that moment, Ding Xian didn't know where she got the courage, but she reached out and pushed his head, gritting her teeth, "You're the ugly and stupid one!"

She simply wanted to touch his hair.

As expected, it felt very nice.

Young Master Zhou bristled. "Are you rebelling?"

Ding Xian shrank her neck and hid in the corner, holding a book to cover her face, quickly caving in: "I wouldn't dare."

But a little person in her heart was triumphantly waving a flag and shouting: 'Rebel, rebel!'

The emotions at that time were truly pure. The joys and sorrows of life were genuine; aloofness or inferiority, all truly existed.

Time moves forward, and we cannot turn back; years say, you are the future gods.

At that time, Ding Xian recognized Zhou Siyue as a god.

Things like study methods didn't exist for a god. Under the god's guidance, Ding Xian suddenly felt that mathematics wasn't so difficult anymore. At least, she could understand the problems he explained.

Zhou Siyue explained problems without any superfluous words, getting straight to the point concisely, and then highlighting the key points for her when he finished.

But Young Master Zhou had little patience. Some problems, when thoroughly examined, were of the same type. When Ding Xian brought another set of papers to ask him, his face darkened immediately. "How many times have I explained this?"

Ding Xian was still confused, thinking, 'I just did this problem.'

But when he analyzed it to the end, she realized it was yet another application problem of the same type, which made her collapse.

However, she was exceptionally good at geometry problems, all sorts of solid geometry. In Zhou Siyue's words, her spatial imagination was excellent.

When faced with some high-difficulty solid geometry, even Zhou Siyue would have to think for a few seconds, but she could immediately come up with the answer.

Young Master Zhou rarely looked at her with an approving gaze. 'Not bad.'

Ding Xian finally regained her confidence after being completely overwhelmed in all aspects.

The boy winked at her. "See? It's not that hard, is it?"

'Yeah, it's not that hard. With you here, nothing is hard,' Ding Xian replied in her heart.

Before she knew it, only one week remained until the placement test.

After the exam, Liu Jiang would rearrange the seats. At the beginning of the semester, Liu Jiang had said that seating would be based on grades. Would it be strictly by grade order, or would it be a mix of good and bad students?

No matter what arrangement, Ding Xian knew that the possibility of her being deskmates with Zhou Siyue again was very small.

For several days, Ding Xian's mood was not very high; she slumped listlessly on her desk.

Kong Shadi suffered from the same 'illness.' The two girls both understood clearly, exchanging a bitter smile. Kong Shadi leaned over to her desk, glancing sideways. "Where is he?"

Ding Xian sighed deeply. "What else could he be doing? Playing basketball."

During lunchtime, the classroom was sparsely populated. Most of the boys were outside, taking advantage of the time to admire the beauties from other classes.

Kong Shadi leaned her face against the desk, also sighing. "Song Ziqi too. Yesterday I talked to him about changing seats, and he just said, 'Change if you want to change. Aren't you always telling me to switch with Ding Xian?' But that's not the same! He's deskmates with Zhou Siyue, and I'm sitting in front of him. Don't you think he's stupid?"

Ding Xian also changed her position, her face against the desk, listening to the buzzing roar coming from within the desk, and nodded slightly. "Maybe."

'There's an even stupider one right here.'

"I hope Liu Jiang forgets about changing seats quickly."

Kong Shadi clasped her hands together and closed her eyes in prayer.

Ding Xian sighed again. "It's no use. Yesterday, Liu Jiang talked to the class monitor, and he brought it up."

Kong Shadi wailed and slumped back onto the desk.

"What are you doing?!"

Ding Xian suddenly felt a tap on her head. She sprang up from her desk to see Zhou Siyue entering with a basketball, followed by Song Ziqi.

Zhou Siyue had just finished playing, covered in sweat. He wore a blue sleeveless jersey and basketball shorts that reached his knees, revealing a section of well-defined calf muscles. A pair of basketball shoes showed the white edges of his socks, giving him an air of youthful vigor.

His forehead was drenched in sweat, his fluffy hair wet and clinging to his forehead, still dripping water. He came over, ball in hand, ruffled her head haphazardly, and pulled up a chair to sit down.

At that moment, only five words popped into Ding Xian's mind—

'A youth like the wind.'

But she quickly regained her senses, dodged to the side, and complained, "So dirty!"

The young man's mischievous spirit grew.

Zhou Siyue wore a wicked smile, leaned forward, and maliciously grazed her face with his hand. "Isn't this quite clean?"

His damp hand carried residual warmth, brushing across her cheek like a warm breeze, his scent enveloping her.

It was more intense than the fragrance of osmanthus outside the window, and harder to escape.

Instantly, it poured into her heart.