Chapter 62 Balancing Studies and Love
the next day.
It wasn't even eight o'clock yet, and Jiang Wan was already sitting in the restaurant, eating breakfast while waiting for Zhou Chong to arrive.
Shan Tong and Jiang Ronghai sat at opposite ends of the dining table, silently drinking their porridge without uttering a word.
Jiang Wan's frequent turning of her head towards the door was too obvious, but no one asked her a question. They both knew who she was waiting for.
Just as Jiang Wan turned her gaze away from the doorway once more and casually picked up a boiled egg from the table, she seemed to realize that the silence at the dining table was unusual.
She raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping over her parents' seemingly calm faces, and cleared her throat. "Dad, Mom, don't worry, Zhou Chong and I are just classmates now. There's nothing going on. If we're talking about studying, then we're studying."
“After all, we made a promise to take the Tsinghua University entrance exam together. How can we not study hard?” Jiang Wan paused. “Even if you don’t trust me, you should trust Zhou Chong. He’s a Tsinghua prospect handpicked by Professor Fan.”
Shan Tong: "..."
Jiang Ronghai: "..."
We didn't say anything.
An eerily quiet silence fell over the room. Just as Shan Tong was about to say something to ease the tension, the doorbell rang.
Jiang Wan immediately jumped up from her chair, still holding a freshly peeled hard-boiled egg in her hand, and skipped and hopped to open the door.
As soon as the door opened, Zhou Chong, carrying a schoolbag, was seen.
Jiang Wan smiled and looked at him, her eyes crinkling. "You're here."
"Hmm." Zhou Chong nodded, looking down at the smooth, translucent boiled egg in her hand. "Are you still eating breakfast? Am I too early?"
"No, no, it's late, I just finished eating."
As she spoke, Jiang Wan broke open the boiled egg in her hand, ate half of the egg white, and then habitually held up the other half of the yolk to Zhou Chong.
Zhou Chong hesitated for a second, then glanced past Jiang Wan toward the restaurant.
Because the view is blocked by the corner of the entrance hall, only the profiles of Shan Tong and Jiang Ronghai sitting at the dining table can be seen, and the same should be true if the view is reversed.
Thinking of this, he bent down, lowered his head, and snatched the yolk from Jiang Wan's hand.
After Zhou Chong straightened up, Jiang Wan naturally put the remaining half of the egg white into her mouth, then turned around, opened the shoe cabinet, and helped Zhou Chong get his slippers.
At opposite ends of the table, Shan Tong and Jiang Ronghai silently withdrew their slightly averted gazes, lowered their heads, and took a sip of porridge, feigning composure.
For a moment, Shan Tong didn't know whether she should scold Jiang Wan for not eating the egg yolk properly, or scold Zhou Chong for secretly helping her get rid of the egg yolk.
In short, she didn't say anything and could only pretend she hadn't seen it.
Jiang Wan led Zhou Chong into the house, first to the dining room, where she greeted her parents.
"Dad, Mom, Zhou Chong is here."
Zhou Chong bowed slightly and greeted the two of them, "Good morning, Uncle and Aunt."
Shan Tong smiled kindly. "Zhou Chong, have you had breakfast? Would you like to sit down and have some more?"
"Thank you for your kindness, Auntie, but I've already had breakfast," Zhou Chong said, shaking his head in refusal.
"Mom, I'm done eating. Let's go back to our rooms and study."
After Jiang Wan finished speaking, she was about to take Zhou Chong back to her room when she suddenly remembered something. She turned around and tentatively asked, "Or, shall we sit in the living room and study?"
In front of you.
Jiang Wan didn't say the last sentence aloud, but she knew that her parents understood what she meant.
Shan Tong smiled and glanced at Jiang Ronghai, then waved her hand, "No need, you guys go back to your rooms. It's noisy outside, and we're afraid it will disturb your studies."
Since Jiang Wan is so open and honest, then her parents don't need to be so narrow-minded. They should still give their children the trust they deserve, and they should do so openly and generously.
Otherwise, even if Jiang Wan and Zhou Chong stayed in the living room to study, there was still a possibility that they would put on a show for them, which would affect their learning.
Then everything lost its meaning.
Jiang Wan smiled and led Zhou Chong back to her room.
She knew that her parents weren't unreasonable people.
Last night's candor was not a bad thing.
After entering the room, she closed the door but did not lock it. She turned around and held out her hand to Zhou Chong, saying, "Take off your coat and give it to me. I'll hang it up for you."
Zhou Chong glanced briefly at her room, his gaze lingering on the coat rack against the wall. "Is it hanging there?"
Jiang Wan followed his gaze and said, "Yes."
"I can do it myself." Zhou Chong took off his schoolbag, put it on the desk, then took off his coat and hung it up in front of the coat rack.
Seeing his familiar and natural demeanor, Jiang Wan didn't stand on ceremony with him and sat down at the desk, waiting for Zhou Chong to finish hanging up his clothes and come over.
Anyway, she had already tidied the room last night, so she wasn't afraid of him seeing it. No, she should say she was afraid he wouldn't see it.
Two chairs were placed side by side in front of the desk. Jiang Wan was sitting in the cream-colored upholstered chair that matched the desk, while the other chair, a brown upholstered leather chair, was obviously moved from another room.
That's Zhou Chong's spot.
He walked over and sat down without glancing at Jiang Wan's room.
Even from that brief, cursory glance, he could sense that the room was decorated in a warm and inviting style, with a creamy color scheme, and even the air seemed to be filled with a faint milky fragrance.
Just like the loungewear Jiang Wan is wearing today, the soft and cozy lotus root pink coral fleece makes her face look fair and rosy, with the hood hanging down over her shoulders and two long rabbit ears dangling down.
Compared to a delicate and sweet doll, she is now more like a cute and cuddly little bunny, making people want to hold her in their arms, pat her head, and stroke her fur.
But Zhou Chong managed to hold back. In the room filled with sweet fragrance, reason prevailed, thanks to his self-control at the age of twenty-eight.
If he were truly his eighteen-year-old self now, it's hard to say whether he could control the flutter in his heart.
Zhou Chong looked away from Jiang Wan, opened his schoolbag, and took out a few test papers. "Do your winter break homework this morning, and then we'll review the electromagnetism module together this afternoon, okay?"
"Okay, sure."
Jiang Wan also picked up a few papers from her desk, her eyes darting around before turning to Zhou Chong and saying, "So if we're reviewing electromagnetism today, shouldn't we review thermodynamics tomorrow?"
Zhou Chong thought for a moment, "There are relatively few test points in thermodynamics, so we can review it together with optics. That way, we can organize the chemical reaction formulas the day after tomorrow."
The answer was so natural that she was completely unaware that she had fallen into Jiang Wan's trap.
“Okay.” Jiang Wan narrowed her eyes and smiled like a cunning little fox. “Then let’s study together tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that, all the way until before the Lunar New Year. It’s perfect to take advantage of the winter break so you can help me go through the three subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology properly.”
Zhou Chong was slightly taken aback, but after realizing what he meant, he smiled and said, "Whatever you say goes."
Jiang Wan raised an eyebrow, picked up the alarm clock from the windowsill, set the timer, and said, "Let's do the math test first."
“Okay.” Zhou Chong nodded, picked up his pen, spread out the draft paper, and casually marked the answer to the first multiple-choice question.
Jiang Wan's competitive spirit wouldn't allow her to fall too far behind Zhou Chong in math. Seeing how quickly Zhou Chong solved the problems, she quickly lowered her head and immersed herself in the math test paper in front of her.
For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the ticking of the alarm clock and the scratching of the pen on the paper.
Shan Tong stood at the door, listened for a while, then relaxed, smiled, turned around, and left to prepare fruit and snacks for the two of them in the kitchen.
She turns her passion into motivation, managing to balance both her studies and love life—she's truly a wise mother.
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