Chapter 1: The Distant Train 3

Starting from the third day of transferring to another school, Qing Nuan's daily life began to change.

There will still be people who laugh at Qing Nuan for being rustic, but there is now a young man who will stand in front of her to protect her.

Cheng Ge always followed Qing Nuan with a smile on his face. Whenever someone made sarcastic remarks to Qing Nuan, Cheng Ge would be the first to rush forward and fight back without hesitation.

Cheng Ge is a popular boy in the class. Although Qing Nuan failed to integrate into the class quickly, under Cheng Ge's protection, the number of people who make things difficult for her gradually decreased.

Cheng Ge is a man of justice. He repays Qing Nuan's "rescue" on the train with an attitude of "repaying a drop of water with a spring of water". He is responsible for picking up and dropping off Qing Nuan after school in the morning and evening, and makes lunch for Qing Nuan every day at noon. He really spoils her.

Two months passed by unknowingly.

In the third year of junior high school, all the students were preparing for the high school entrance examination, and Qingnuan was no exception.

She got up very early every day, ate breakfast in a hurry, and went out with her schoolbag, because Cheng Ge was always waiting for her outside the door.

Facing the morning glow in the east, Cheng Ge rode his bicycle and waited at the door of Qing Nuan's house. When Qing Nuan went out, Cheng Ge was sitting on the bicycle, with headphones in his ears and flipping through chemistry homework in his hands.

"Brother Ge!"

Qing Nuan smiled widely and trotted to the bicycle.

Cheng Ge is one year older than Qing Nuan. He was proud of this and asked Qing Nuan to call him brother, so Qing Nuan simply gave him this nickname: Brother Ge.

When Cheng Ge heard Qing Nuan's voice, he habitually took off his headphones, stuffed his chemistry homework into his schoolbag, and said, "The mock exam is next week. How are you reviewing?"

When Qing Nuan heard this topic, she said with a bitter face: "My math is terrible, I think my score will be lowered a lot. Every time the math teacher teaches, I feel like I am listening to a foreign language."

Qing Nuan said this and sighed deeply.

Cheng Ge burst out laughing and gently scratched her nose with his finger: "Don't look so bitter and resentful. Take a mock test first to get a feel for it. Then you can see where you are lagging behind. I'll help you with math."

Qing Nuan became excited when she heard this. Cheng Ge was a science genius, ranking among the top three in math, physics and chemistry in the whole grade. Qing Nuan had been jealous of his achievements for a long time.

"Really?"

"It has to be real, real money." Cheng Ge winked, looking like "once a word is spoken, it cannot be taken back."

Qing Nuan narrowed her eyes, smiled sweetly, and jumped onto the back seat of Cheng Ge's bicycle.

Cheng Ge's bicycle faced the rising sun, and like a warm breeze, it carried the girl forward.

In J City, in my memory of my third year of junior high school, it is no longer just endless simulation exercises.

And the picturesque scenery she saw from the comfortable back seat of the bicycle.

And the feel of her fingers accidentally touching his waist, soft and shy.

There was also a young man whom she called "Brother Ge", whose mouth corners inadvertently curled up slightly, secretly revealing a satisfied and comfortable smile.

Compared with these, in Qingnuan's heart, the disappointment in the mock exam and the dark circles under the eyes from staying up late to review became insignificant.

The results of the mock exam came out. Qing Nuan's performance in other subjects was okay, but in mathematics, she didn't even get a passing score. The total score of all subjects was still a long way from the admission score of the key high school she aspired to.

Cheng Ge kept his word and went to Qing Nuan's house on time every day after school to serve as a free math tutor.

Qing Nuan was overwhelmed by the large number of mathematical formulas and theorems that Cheng Ge listed for her. Cheng Ge, who had always been gentle and caring to her, was completely ruthless when he scolded her.

"Have you memorized the formula for the sum of interior angles for this question? How can you get it wrong if you have memorized it? Please remember the formula for the sum of interior angles, okay!"

"And this question! Have you forgotten the properties of a circle? In the same circle or equal circles, equal circular angles correspond to equal arcs! How did you get the answer? I really want to knock your head open to see how you think!"

"There are also the chord-tangent-angle theorem and the secant theorem! They are all very basic. Turn to page 78 and look at the examples..."

Under Cheng Ge's strict "teaching", Qing Nuan wanted to memorize all the formulas and theorems in the entire math book overnight.

Fortunately, although Cheng Ge is strict, he does his job conscientiously.

He would draw back and forth on the paper, and explain even more carefully than the teacher, starting from each theorem to make inferences, and even around one knowledge point, he would come up with several pages full of exercises to help Qing Nuan consolidate her review.

Every day, math tutoring doesn’t end until around 11pm.

Qing Nuan always asked worriedly: "Won't your family find it strange that you come home so late?"

Cheng Ge didn't care at all: "I'm not a girl. Do you think my family will be so strict that I have to go home before dark? Haha! I'm just left alone. I'm a real man. My family doesn't care about me! Besides, my grandma is old and can't care so much. At most, she'll nag me a few times, and I'll be fine if I behave myself."

Qing Nuan felt relieved when she heard him say that and didn't take it seriously.

Cheng Ge tutored Qing Nuan in mathematics for a month.

More than a month later, Qingnuan's math grades had improved significantly, thanks of course to Cheng Ge.

When the results of the second mock exam came out, Qing Nuan happily showed the transcript to her father.

When Qing's father received the report card, he was sincerely happy for his daughter. He cooked a delicious meal that night.

The father and daughter ate and drank, and although it was inevitably quiet, the atmosphere was still warm.

"Cheng Ge is a good kid." Dad drank his wine and praised Cheng Ge. "He came to tutor you every day a few days ago. Why won't he come tonight?"

Qing Nuan was very happy to hear her father praising Cheng Ge, and nodded with a smile: "Well, I have almost finished the tutoring, and my test scores are not bad. He said that he has taught me everything he knows, and if he continues to tutor me, he will starve to death, so he won't come, haha."

"This kid is quite good at talking."

Qing's father cursed with a smile, then turned and went to the kitchen.

When he came out of the kitchen again, Qing's father was holding a big bag full of things.

"Dad, what is this?"

"We still have quite a bit of homemade pork knuckles and some fruit wine your mother brewed when she was alive. I'll pour out two bottles. Let's go and send some to Cheng Ge's house while it's still light." Qing's father said it casually, but Qing Nuan could see that he sincerely wanted to thank Cheng Ge.

Qing Nuan was also very grateful to Cheng Ge, and naturally agreed: "Well, let's go after dinner."

Qing's father nodded and said, "You have to pay a lot of money for a month of study in a cram school outside. Cheng Ge can't even eat a few bites of dinner every day, and he prepares exercises for you. You should thank him."

When Qing Nuan heard what her father said, she felt a little sweet in her heart.

However, things were a little different from what she expected.

That night, Qing Nuan and her father followed the street lights to find the neighborhood where Cheng Ge lived. When they found his house number, before they knocked on the door, they heard a burst of cursing coming from the house.

Qing Nuan and her father looked at each other for a few seconds, and then tacitly agreed not to knock on the door, but to listen at the door for a while.

From inside the door came Cheng Ge's grandmother's scolding: "You little bastard, how dare you lie to me? You said you had extra classes after school and that you wouldn't be back until after 10pm. I called your class teacher today and he said there were no extra classes! Why don't you study hard? Did you go to the game hall with others to play games again? Tell me!"

Then came Cheng Ge's flattering voice: "Oh, grandma, don't be angry, I really didn't go to play games. I said I was taking extra classes at school, wasn't I afraid you would think too much? In fact, it wasn't extra classes at school, it was a classmate of mine whose grades were a little bit low, so I went to help him with his tutoring. I really didn't do anything bad!"

"Don't I know you? All you do is play games with others and go to places like Internet cafes! How can a fool like you help others with their studies? Who would believe you if I told you that? Tell me, do you think I'm old and dare to lie to me? I will beat you until you tell the truth today-"

Then, a crackling sound was heard in the house.

It was obvious that Cheng Ge was being chased and taught a lesson by his grandmother.

Qing Nuan and Qing's father didn't dare to hesitate any longer and quickly rang the doorbell.

About half a minute later, an old lady with silver hair slowly opened the door. She looked at Qing Nuan and Qing's father in confusion and asked, "Who are you?"

Qing Nuan took a deep breath. Although the old woman looked old, she was very decisive when she taught someone a lesson just now.

Hearing the old lady speak, Qing's father quickly said, "Hello, this is our Qing Nuan. She is Cheng Ge's classmate. Cheng Ge has been tutoring her in math for some time. The results of the second mock exam just came out, and our Nuan Nuan's math score has improved a lot. We came here specially to thank her..."

The old woman stood at the door for a long time before she murmured, "Did that boy really go to give someone extra lessons?"

Qing Nuan nodded immediately, like a chick pecking at rice, to prove Cheng Ge's innocence: "Mother-in-law, yes, Cheng Ge really helped me with my lessons, and didn't go play games."

The old woman finally reacted and immediately smiled: "Come on, good boy, come in and talk."

As she spoke, she invited Qing Nuan and Qing's father in.

After entering Cheng Ge's grandmother's house, Qing's father started to greet Cheng Ge's grandmother.

Cheng Ge dragged Qing Nuan into his small study and asked in confusion, "Hey, why are you and Uncle Qing here?"

Qing Nuan looked at Cheng Ge. Cheng Ge had just been beaten twice by his grandmother, and his originally handsome face was now a little red and swollen.

Qing Nuan looked at him, feeling both angry and amused: "You're asking me why I'm here? If my dad and I hadn't come to your rescue, would you have gone to class tomorrow with panda eyes?"

Cheng Ge rubbed his face, laughed, and said: "Don't look at my grandma's bad temper, in fact, she is very good to me. Every time after she scolds me, she will feel very distressed and make a lot of delicious food for me. It's no big deal."

"Didn't you tell me before that you were free-range and it was okay to come home late? Turns out you were lying to me." Qing Nuan snorted softly.

Cheng Ge immediately softened his voice to coax Qing Nuan: "How can it be called a lie? I'm just afraid that you'll worry."

Cheng Ge said this very gently. Qing Nuan heard it and felt warm in her heart. Her heart couldn't help but beat fast.

Qing Nuan's face turned slightly red, and she rolled her eyes and asked nonchalantly, "Why don't you just tell your grandma that you're going to tutor me? And you even said something about tutoring at school. What a lame excuse."

Cheng Ge spread his hands and expressed his helplessness: "My grandmother has to believe me when I say I'm tutoring someone... In her eyes, I'm just a naughty boy who jumps around and plays games all day. If I say I'm tutoring someone, she will definitely ask, 'Who are you tutoring? Where is your home? What class are you tutoring? What time are you coming back every day' and so on. In short, it's too troublesome. So I just said that the school is providing tutoring, and she wouldn't ask any more questions. But I didn't expect that she would call the head teacher, which exposed me..."

After saying that, Cheng Ge rubbed his face subconsciously again.

At that moment, Qing Nuan stared motionlessly at Cheng Ge's slightly swollen face for a long time.

An inexplicable impulse was brewing in Qing Nuan's heart .

Finally, she put her little hand on it and said two words softly: "Does it hurt?"

At that moment, the picture seemed to be still.

Cheng Ge stared at the girl in front of him. For the first time in his young age, he felt an inexplicable sense of nervousness.

Cheng Ge thought that maybe it was because Qing Nuan's hands were too warm that they ironed his cheek.

The two men looked up, and without warning, their eyes met.

Qing Nuan suddenly realized something and quickly pulled her hand back, as if she had been electrocuted.

The two of them smiled silently to resolve the awkwardness.

"It doesn't hurt."

Cheng Ge smiled and answered with two words.