The second class was mathematics, and the math teacher was a man in his twenties named Chen Jie, who was fair-skinned and neatly dressed.
It was his first year teaching, so he was particularly amiable. His voice was always soft during lectures, even a bit humorous, and he seldom lost his temper with the students. Although he liked students who were good at studies, he didn't discriminate against those who were not so good.
Everyone enjoyed his class, and some of the girls, whose thoughts on love had matured early, even had secret crushes on him. Just one extra glance from him would turn their cheeks as red as apples.
There were still a few pages left in the math textbook to cover, and today they were starting a new lesson. After explaining it in detail, he assigned homework and had the class president and group leaders distribute the workbooks.
Shen Mianmian caught a glimpse of Lu Siyuan while picking up the workbook and couldn't help but laugh.
The kid was guarding his workbook like it was made of gold—covering part of it with a book as he wrote, obviously to prevent her from copying.
Little did he know that she understood all these problems the moment the teacher explained them; she didn't need to copy from anyone.
Shen Mianmian saw through his tactics but didn't call him out, covering her own workbook even more carefully than Lu Siyuan did.
Lu Siyuan made a disdainful 'tsk' sound. Worried about someone copying from a poor student like him? That had to be the funniest joke of the term.
If he had his way because of the favor she owed him for helping with the bike, he would have let her copy just this once. But if she was going to be stubborn, then she couldn't blame him.
Shen Mianmian felt as if she had unlocked the governor and conception vessels; the knowledge flowed into her mind like a spring, and she finished the complex math problems quickly.
She confidently stood up, placed her workbook on the corner of group leader Wang Jingjing's desk, thinking it was Lu Siyuan's turn to copy. But when Wang Jingjing saw the name on the workbook, she disdainfully pushed it a little further away.
Just having it near her was annoying enough, let alone copying from it.
If there wasn't just one desk in the last row, she wouldn't want Shen Mianmian turning in homework to this group.
Chen Jie, who was at the podium correcting homework, also noticed Shen Mianmian and raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Shen Mianmian, have you finished the problems?"
Upon hearing this, everyone's gaze shifted to Shen Mianmian, and without exception, they all wore a mocking expression.
The top three in the class hadn't finished yet, so how could Shen Mianmian possibly have done so?
She must have been guessing wildly.
Shen Mianmian returned to her seat and calmly answered, "I have finished."
Chen Jie sighed helplessly and said earnestly, "You are all my students, and I hope you'll ask questions if you don't understand. You shouldn't give up just because you're not good at studying."
Shen Mianmian might be at the bottom of the class, but she always listened attentively during lectures, which comforted Chen Jie. With half a semester left, he still hoped to help this student improve.
Understanding what he meant, Shen Mianmian explained softly, "Teacher, I understood the lesson today, so I finished quickly."
"Ha ha..."
A burst of laughter broke out around her; the idea of Shen Mianmian claiming to have understood the material was just too funny.
Chen Jie looked surprised, "You understood?"
Having taught Shen Mianmian for half a year, he was certain of one thing: Shen Mianmian didn't lie.
But... today's math problems were somewhat challenging. Even as a student, he found this material headache-inducing, and several of the better students in the class were still pondering over it.
"Bring your workbook here, let me see."
Before Shen Mianmian could get up, Wang Jingjing eagerly handed over Shen Mianmian's workbook.
"Teacher, here is Shen Mianmian's workbook."
While everyone else's was almost used up, Shen Mianmian's was only half-filled, never touching the extra homework, as if she expected it to write itself.
Chen Jie nodded and began to carefully check the workbook. When Wang Jingjing returned to her seat, she couldn't help but give Shen Mianmian a mocking glance.
"If I were your sister, I'd find a mouse hole right now to crawl into later."
Zhao Xinlan, Zhou Siyu's deskmate, muttered under her breath.
Zhou Siyu sighed softly, "My sister assured us last night at home that she would get good grades on the final exams. She probably wants to show that she's capable."
"Yeah, right!" scoffed Zhao Xinlan, curling her lip. "If she can improve her grades, I might as well be in the top three. Have you finished? Let me copy..."
"No," Zhou Siyu shook her head, looking at the question and saying irritably, "This problem is kinda tough."
Zhao Xinlan laughed, "Even you think it's tough? Your sister's pretending to understand without picking the right moment."
At those words, Zhou Siyu felt slightly better, resolved to tell her uncle and aunt about this when she got home.
They should see for themselves whether Shen Mianmian was reliable or not.