Kiss before the exam
The December wind lashed the library windows. Li Huaizhou stared at the quadratic function graph Xie Mo had just drawn on the scratch paper, his fingertips unconsciously caressing the pen. The parabola was traced with exceptional clarity in red pen, with the vertex coordinates marked in parentheses with "Required Test, See right for two methods." Even the axis of symmetry formula, x=-b/2a, was deliberately shaded with a light yellow highlighter, like a warm, protective shell wrapped around the knowledge point.
"Revisit the steps for this sequence problem, subtracting the numbers in the wrong place." Xie Mo's voice was lower than usual, his fingertips tapping the "Common Mistakes in Subtracting the Numbers in the Wrong Place" section on his draft paper. It listed three points: "1. Don't omit the sign of the last term. 2. Calculate the number of terms in the geometric sequence correctly after subtraction. 3. Make a mistake in the last approximation." These were all the mistakes Li Huaizhou had made on his last mock exam. When he looked up, his hair brushed against his glasses, and the warm yellow light from the desk lamp fell on his eyelashes, casting a small shadow. "You miscalculated the number of terms last time, mistaking the n-1 term for the n term. If you make the same mistake again this time, I'll make you copy the formula twenty times."
Li Huaizhou quickly straightened his back, picked up his pen, and followed Xie Mo's instructions. The rustling sound of the pen tip across the paper mingled with the soft patter of snow falling outside the window and the distant rustle of the librarian packing up. He paused at the third step and looked up at Xie Mo, finding him staring at his draft paper. His eyes were no longer filled with the usual anxiety, but with an unconcealable smile. "I didn't miss any symbols this time, which is quite an improvement."
Li Huaizhou breathed a sigh of relief, his lips curling upwards. The past two weeks of remedial classes had been like a relentless grind. Every day after school, he'd slog into the library. From English cloze exercises with fixed collocations to physics force analysis diagrams to balancing ionic equations in chemistry, Xie Mo had broken down the key points from the first and second semesters of high school into his head. Initially, he couldn't even remember "Lenz's law" and "the magnetic field of an induced current always opposes the change in magnetic flux that causes the induced current." Now, he could actually independently draw an equivalent circuit for electromagnetic induction. He used to rely on guesswork on the multiple-choice questions in math, but now he could at least answer the first two questions correctly on the big questions and even write out the steps of analytic geometry in a coherent and logical manner.
When I read the passage about "Sex-linked inheritance characteristics: cross-inheritance and skipping generations," the administrator's voice suddenly came from behind me: "Students, it's closing time. It's time to pack up and leave."
They both turned around at the same time, only to find that most of the lights in the library had gone out, leaving only their desk lamp still on, casting a small halo of light in the empty reading room. The administrator stood not far away, holding a folder, with a look of urgency on her face: "Come on, kids, the door is about to be locked."
Xie Mo stood up and pushed his chair under the table. "Auntie, the final exam is tomorrow, and there are still a few key questions to cover." He pointed at the test paper in Li Huaizhou's hand and said, "He has a weak foundation. Every time he practices, he'll feel more relaxed after the exam." The administrator glanced at the neatly stacked wrong answer books beside Li Huaizhou, then at the densely written notebook in Xie Mo's hand, and sighed, "You two kids, you dragged it out until closing time last time, and this time... okay, come out before two o'clock..."
"Thank you, Auntie!" they said in unison. After the administrator's footsteps faded away, Li Huaizhou lowered his voice and asked, "Is this too much trouble? How about we copy the questions back and look at them tomorrow morning?"
"There won't be a next time. The exam is tomorrow." Xie Mo sat back down next to him and moved the desk lamp toward the middle, letting the warm light just cover the paper between them. "I checked your recent mock exams, they're all pretty good." He turned to look at Li Huaizhou, lightly touching the cover of his wrong answer book with his fingertips, a hint of a smile in his eyes. "You used to be at the bottom, but now you can probably make it into the top 300 in the grade, at least an improvement of over 150 places. Isn't that a big improvement?"
Li Huaizhou was stunned. Every time the report cards were handed out, he would stuff the papers into the bottom of his bag and not bother with them. Now, holding the mock test paper, although the red crosses were still there, he could clearly see the improvement in each question. He stared down at the red ticks on the paper, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up even more. "It's all thanks to Teacher Xie's good teaching. If it were someone else, I would have given up long ago."
"You're smart." Xie Mo ruffled his hair, feeling the warmth on his fingertips. "Next, look at the chemistry. Don't make a mistake in the esterification equation. The carboxyl group of acetic acid and the hydroxyl group of ethanol must correspond. Also, don't forget the reaction conditions 'concentrated sulfuric acid and heating'. Last time you forgot to write concentrated sulfuric acid, you didn't get any points for the whole question..."
The light from the desk lamp grew dimmer, perhaps because the battery was running out. The warm yellow glow slowly shrank into a small ball, just enough to cover their folded hands and the open textbook. Li Huaizhou listened to Xie Mo's voice, occasionally looking up at him, and could see his serious profile. When he lowered his head, it cast a thin shadow under his eyes. His nose was very straight, and even the slight arc of his knuckles when he gripped the pen was particularly focused. He suddenly felt that such nights didn't seem so difficult. Now that Xie Mo was by his side, even those complex formulas and theorems became like sugar-coated pills, bitter with a hint of sweetness.
By the time he finished explaining the last physics problem, the "conveyor belt problem," it was already completely dark outside the window. A gust of wind rustled in through the crack in the door, bringing a hint of winter chill. Li Huaizhou glanced at his watch. It was already past one in the morning. The light from the desk lamp flickered, as if it would go out at any moment. Even the air smelled of paper and ink.
"It's time to go." He stood up and took out a lollipop from his pocket. The candy wrapper was light green with a small snow pear pattern printed on it. The candy body was slightly white. He handed it to Li Huaizhou: "Reward for you."
Li Huaizhou took the candy, pinched the familiar candy wrapper with his fingertips, and suddenly felt happy. He couldn't help shaking the candy in his hand, and looked up and teased: "Teacher Xie, why do you always give the same reward? Can't there be something new?" Xie Mo raised his eyebrows, leaned on the edge of the table and looked at him, with traces of ink on his fingertips, and said with a smile: "How new? What kind do you want?" Li Huaizhou's ears turned red quietly, and he pinched the candy wrapper with his fingers and turned it twice. His voice was a little low, with a bit of deliberate temptation: "It's... the reward I would give you as a boyfriend." After he finished speaking, he deliberately raised his eyes to look at Xie Mo, his eyelashes trembling slightly, and there was a bit of sly expectation in his eyes
Xie Mo was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. He reached out and rubbed his ears. His fingertips felt slightly cool, which made the temperature of his ears even higher. "Pervert, it's almost time to leave as you promised your aunt."
Li Huaizhou didn't argue. Instead, he sank back into his chair, leaned back, and breathed a long sigh of relief. After so many days of make-up classes, he felt like his brain was almost dry. His mind was full of quadratic functions, genetic laws, and electromagnetic induction. He even dreamed of solving problems. Talking about this now was at least... a rare relaxation before the exam. He looked up at Xie Mo, his shoulders slumped slightly, and his tone was filled with a hint of coquettishness that he couldn't hide: "Teacher Xie, are you going to refuse a student's little request? Or is Teacher Xie only a teacher, not a boyfriend?"
Xie Mo didn't say anything, just lowered his eyes and looked at him. The light from the desk lamp fell on his face, illuminating his eyes with exceptional clarity—there was no rejection in them, but instead a gentleness that Li Huaizhou couldn't understand, like spring water melting snow, slowly flowing over him. The next second, Xie Mo leaned over, his palm gently resting on the edge of the table beside Li Huaizhou, trapping him in the small space. His fingers first touched his cheek, his fingertips rubbing against his slightly hot skin, before lowering his head and slowly kissing him.
They had kissed before, in deserted alleys and empty classrooms, usually with a light touch of lips, like a feather on skin, a fleeting taste, at most a light sweep of tongue across each other's lips, before pulling apart in nervousness. But this time was different. Xie Mo's kiss was heavier than usual, his lips pressing down with a force that didn't allow for rejection. Without even giving Li Huaizhou time to react, his tongue gently pried open his teeth, and with a hint of the refreshing toothpaste scent, it slowly penetrated.
Li Huaizhou was a little dazed by the kiss, his pupils slightly dilated. He subconsciously wanted to dodge back, but his back hit the cold back of the chair, leaving him with nowhere to retreat. Xie Mo seemed to notice his stiffness, and gently clasped his neck with his left hand, his fingertips gently stroking the ends of his hair, with a hint of comfort. However, the kiss did not stop, but became deeper and deeper, as if he wanted to pass on all the patience he had been holding back for a while through this kiss.
Li Huaizhou's fingers were tightly gripping the armrests of the chair, his knuckles turning white. His breathing became increasingly rapid, his chest rising and falling slightly. Perhaps sensing this discomfort, Xie Mo's hand suddenly slipped through his knees, his fingertips gently hooking around his knees. With a little effort, he lifted him steadily onto the table. The movement was gentle, yet carried undeniable strength. Li Huaizhou subconsciously reached out to grab Xie Mo's shoulders, his fingertips gripping his school uniform jacket, wrinkling the smooth fabric. He rested his back against the cold tabletop, finally regaining some support.
Then he heard a light "click" and Xie Mo turned off the desk lamp behind him.
Darkness instantly enveloped them, with only the faint moonlight from outside the window filtering through the glass, casting a faint silver glow on the ground, just enough to outline Xie Mo's silhouette. His broad shoulders blocked the light from behind him, completely enveloping Li Huaizhou in his embrace. Li Huaizhou's heartbeat was pounding against his chest like a drum, and his breathing became scorching. The kiss was so fierce that he felt like his air was being sucked away, his chest feeling stuffy. The subconscious human desire to survive caused his hands to frantically scratch at Xie Mo's back, his fingertips brushing against his shirt, and he could feel the slightly tense lines on his back.
Xie Mo squeezed between his legs, his knees lightly touching the edge of the table, leaving him no chance to retreat, let alone run. Li Huaizhou could clearly feel Xie Mo's body temperature coming through the two layers of clothes, with a slightly scorching temperature, and his slightly rapid breathing, falling on his neck, with a little itchy, and drilling into his collar along his skin, making him tremble slightly. The kiss lasted for a long time, so long that Li Huaizhou's lips were numb, and suddenly there was a slight stinging pain at the corner of his mouth - it was accidentally hit by Xie Mo's teeth, probably because he was too involved and couldn't even control the strength.
Xie Mo seemed to have noticed it, and paused in the kiss before slowly letting go. Li Huaizhou gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently. He leaned against the table, his eyes a little blank, his lips numb and sore, and even his voice became sticky and hoarse, "Teacher Xie... so fierce?"
Xie Mo didn't say anything, just looked down at him. In the moonlight, he could see that Li Huaizhou's lips were a little red and swollen from the kiss, with a faint red mark at the corner of his mouth. He raised his hand and gently wiped the saliva left at the corner of Li Huaizhou's mouth with his fingertips. The movement was very light, completely different from the aggressive kiss just now. The warmth of his fingertips fell on the red and swollen lips, bringing a slight tingling sensation. After a few seconds, Xie Mo laughed softly, with a little hoarseness in his voice: "Who told you to tease me first?"
Li Huaizhou didn't have the energy to refute, he just reached out and grabbed Xie Mo's wrist, his fingertips still trembling slightly. Xie Mo held his waist, gently lifted him up, helped him down from the table, and said in a low voice: "Let's go, it's too late."
Li Huaizhou nodded. His feet felt a little weak when he first landed on the ground, and his knees felt slightly soft. He subconsciously leaned towards Xie Mo, and his shoulder rubbed against his arm, and he felt a little more stable.
The two walked out of the library side by side. The night sky was dotted with a few sparse stars, casting a faint silver glow, illuminating the path clearly. Li Huaizhou was holding the snow pear-flavored lollipop in his hand. The wrapper had been slightly wrinkled by him. The stinging at the corner of his mouth was still there, but strangely, it was also a little warm. He turned to look at Xie Mo, who was looking at the road ahead. His profile looked particularly soft in the moonlight, and the loose hair on his forehead was gently swaying in the wind.
"Don't be nervous about the exam tomorrow." Xie Mo suddenly spoke, his voice a bit soothing. "Before entering the exam room, look over the key formulas I drew for you again. Even if you don't know how to answer the big questions, just list the formulas. Every point you can get is a point you can get." Li Huaizhou nodded, feeling much more at ease, and even the tension he had just felt was gone.
The two walked side by side in the empty campus. The moonlight stretched their shadows very long and overlapped tightly. Li Huaizhou held the lollipop in his hand, peeled off the candy wrapper and took a bite. The sweet taste of the snow pear spread on the tip of his tongue, mixed with the remaining warmth at the corner of his mouth.
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