tutor
Unfortunately, things didn't return to normal after I woke up.
When Lu Er woke up, she was startled again by the big golden retriever. The golden retriever was jumping around, making Lu Er, who was standing motionless at the foot of the bed, look like a fool.
The golden retriever was two meters away from her. Seeing that it didn't seem to want to get any closer, Lu Er hesitated and took a step toward the edge of the bed.
The golden retriever wagged its tail and took a step forward, causing Lu Er to immediately pull his feet back.
"Don't, don't come near me." Lu Er blocked the way with her right hand, not caring whether the other person could understand or not. She quickly jumped to the head of the bed, grabbed the phone firmly, and then ran back to her original position.
Unsure if Ruan Xiyan was awake, Lu Er made a WeChat call: "Are you awake?"
Ruan Xiyan was indeed still asleep. He answered the phone after it rang for ten seconds, yawning repeatedly: "...What is it?"
"Where's your dog food?" Lu Er glanced back at the golden retriever, which was standing still. Noticing its owner's gaze, the dog immediately wagged its tail happily. "Your dog looks hungry."
"..." Ruan Xiyan's brain was blank for a moment, then she remembered this, "Ah, you mean Mao Mao? It eats by itself in the morning."
No sooner said than done. Just as Ruan Xiyan was answering, the golden retriever suddenly pounced on Lu Er. Lu Er, like a cicada shedding its shell, darted away from under the air conditioner blanket. She reacted instantly, leaping out of the room and closing the door behind her.
Lu Erping calmed his inner turmoil and said, "It just circled around me a few times."
The golden retriever scratched at the crack in the door with its paw, realizing that Lu Er had locked it inside, and barked twice. Another commotion arose, and Lu Er added, trying to contain herself, "It's barking inside now."
Ruan Xiyan was mostly awake: "It probably wants to go for a walk. There's a leash by the TV cabinet downstairs. You can take it for a couple of laps."
Lu Er remained expressionless: "I'm afraid of dogs, so I locked you in your room."
Ruan Xiyan: "..."
He was now fully awake. After a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, he said, "Tell Ruan Tang to come and walk him."
"Okay, thank you. Sorry to bother you."
Lu Er squatted in front of his room, searching for Ruan Tang's WeChat to send her a message. A little while later, Ruan Tang came up with a dog leash. Before leaving, her strange gaze lingered on Lu Er for a long time.
Lu Er remained calm and composed. As long as she didn't say anything, no one would know she wasn't Ruan Xiyan.
—
The phone call dispelled Ruan Xiyan's drowsiness. Holding the phone in his hand, he stared blankly at the ceiling for a while before finally getting out of bed.
What happened yesterday after he woke up was so terrifying that he had no time to observe his surroundings.
Now, Ruan Xiyan glanced around. The room wasn't large; bookshelves, clothes racks, old quilts, and other odds and ends seemed to compress the already cramped space. Small, but well-organized.
Opposite the bed was a brown wooden table, the kind used in schools at first glance. Books took up most of the space on the table—textbooks, test papers, exercise books, and notebooks—all neatly categorized and stored. The owner seemed to have obsessive-compulsive tendencies; the subjects and types of papers were meticulously separated.
Even the Chinese language mock exam review book lying open in front of the chair still had the owner's ballpoint pen from the previous night tucked into the page with the most recent handwriting.
This is somewhat different from the girl's room that Ruan Xiyan had imagined.
He couldn't explain exactly what was different.
However, her room was quite different from his own. To put it bluntly, there wasn't much to do there.
Leaving aside the top student's room, even his phone, which Ruan Xiyan had checked yesterday, showed no trace of games. Vocabulary apps and Onion Math, however, were prominently displayed on the screen.
Ruan Xiyan gave up fiddling with his phone and went out of his room to wash up, inevitably taking a look at himself in the mirror.
Lu Er was actually quite pretty. She had a small face and delicate, willow-leaf-shaped eyebrows. But her eyes were too cold, like fresh snow that never melted.
Ruan Xiyan unconsciously curved the corners of his mouth upwards slightly, revealing a tiny dimple on his fair right cheek. He widened his smile further, now confirming that Lu Er had a dimple on his right cheek.
Because the owner rarely smiles, the dimples are difficult to see.
Ruan Xiyan gently scratched there with her finger.
He also has a dimple on his left side.
It's perfectly symmetrical to her.
—
When Lu Er received Ruan Xiyan's call, he was using Ruan's computer to search for relevant information.
After searching for several search terms such as "What to do if you accidentally swap bodies with someone else" and "Is soul swapping a real thing?", Lu Er finally typed "Why does soul swapping happen?"
The screen was flooded with posts asking for novel and comic book recommendations, or various divination and witchcraft mini-games. The AI assistant at the top even politely added, "Hey, if you want to play a soul-swapping game, just tell me 'Let's play role-playing!'"
After wasting half a day, Lu Er gave up.
A cheerful ringtone came from a nearby phone. Lu Er glanced at the caller before answering.
As soon as Ruan Xiyan opened her mouth, she cried for help: "No way? An aunt just called and asked me to come to her house. She said today is my tutoring day."
"We're only in our second year of high school, not even in our third year yet. How did you end up tutoring?"
"It can earn me some living expenses." Lu Er paused for a moment. "I teach fifth-grade math, it's not difficult."
Fifth-grade math? Ruan Xiyan pondered, while Lu Er directed from the other side: "Aunt Jiang's house, check WeChat, there's an address. Take the supplementary textbooks I left by the bed and the lesson plans on the table, and go there now."
"I'm sorry, this was my oversight." With this bizarre turn of events, she'd completely forgotten about tutoring Jiang Yanyan the day after tomorrow afternoon.
Ruan Xiyan followed her instructions until she put away the math textbook and looked down at the cover.
Ruan Xiyan's face cracked.
"You didn't tell me that the elementary school math you teach is Olympiad math??"
On a sweltering day, the air seemed to be filled with the smell of burning. The neighborhood was deserted, with only the blazing sunlight and two shadowy figures in the distance.
Lu Er still came with Ruan Xiyan.
Ruan Xiyan shielded her eyes from the light with her hand: "Is this the place?"
Lu Er nodded: "Yes. Go in."
The two entered the building, and as the elevator ascended, Ruan Xiyan wiped the sweat from her brow: "Speaking of which..."
Lu Er turned around.
"Isn't it strange that the two of us are tutoring together?"
Lu Er remained silent.
After a moment, she said, "Aunt Jiang is a very kind person. She said her friend is more experienced than me and can explain things to the child better. She shouldn't mind." Actually, it was the same person explaining things, but as long as the truth isn't revealed, it's fine.
Upon reaching the floor, Lu Er, who was ahead, politely knocked twice on the door. After a short while, the door opened, and a boy of about ten years old peeked out, only half of his head showing, looking at the person in front of him with a puzzled expression.
Lu Er glanced back at Ruan Xiyan.
Ruan Xiyan quickly stepped forward, instinctively putting on a bright smile: "Hello." She was subtly nudged by Lu Er's elbow before she realized what was happening, "Ah, we're here to tutor."
Lu Er almost lost her composure. Fortunately, Jiang Yanyan didn't seem to mind and stepped aside: "Sister Lu, is this brother your friend?"
“Hmm. He’s my sister’s friend, here to…” Ruan Xiyan hesitated for a moment, “to see how my sister does tutoring. Is he welcome?”
Jiang Yanyan pressed her head down hard: "Of course you're welcome. So, what should I call you, brother?"
The older brother, who had been keeping a cold face, finally spoke up: "Just call me Brother Xiyan."
Jiang Yanyan felt that Sister Lu was acting strangely today. Then he quickly realized that she wasn't the only one acting strangely.
—
Aunt Jiang was out taking care of her hospitalized grandmother and wasn't home, so Ruan Xiyan breathed a sigh of relief. He was really worried that if he chatted with Aunt Jiang for even a few words, she would see through him.
The tutoring area was in the center of the living room. The three of them sat around the coffee table. Ruan Xiyan secretly caught Lu Er's eye, but the latter calmly told him to continue.
Ruan Xiyan had no choice but to open the math olympiad book. Before that, Ruan Xiyan still held onto a sliver of hope. Although math olympiads were difficult, she thought, "It's only for fifth graders, it shouldn't be too hard..."
It won't be simple.
The first question is a calculation problem. What is 0.999 x 0.999 + 0.001999 + 2020?
Ruan Xiyan: "..."
Why treat someone like him, who can't even recite the multiplication tables correctly as 7 x 8 = 65, like this?
Ruan Xiyan didn't know how, and still had to follow the script Lu Er had given him: "Hmm, do you remember the innovative thinking calculation method I taught you last time? Now, how do you solve this?"
Can a fifth-grader do this problem?
Probably not.
In fact, little Jiang Yanyan answered "I know" in a very serious manner. Then, he took a pencil and wrote down the calculation process on the paper.
= 0.999 × (1 - 0.001) + 0.001999 + 2020
=0.999 - 0.000999 + 0.001999 + 2020
= 0.999 - (0.000999 - 0.001999) + 2020
=0.999 + 0.001 + 2020
=2021
He finished it in one go. Ruan Xiyan peeked over and fell silent.
So this is the innovative algorithm? That doesn't count. He'll definitely get it right for the next question.
Question 2. Two water pipes, A and B, can fill a pool in 20 hours and 16 hours respectively, if opened individually. Water pipe C can drain the pool in 10 hours if opened alone. If the pool is empty, and both pipes A and B are opened simultaneously, and then pipe C is opened after 5 hours, how many more hours will it take to fill the pool?
Ruan Xiyan: "..."
So this is some kind of riddle game?
Ruan Xiyan lowered her head and gestured to Jiang Yanyan with her eyes. Jiang Yanyan opened her eyes innocently, indicating that she didn't know the answer to the question.
The two were exchanging glances. Lu Er couldn't stand it anymore and stepped in, saying, "I'll do it."
“Yes, yes, let Brother Xiyan do it.” Ruan Xiyan was overjoyed, and her grandmother didn’t even feel guilty about praising her. “Your Brother Xiyan is very capable. He can solve this kind of problem better than your sister.”
Ruan Xiyan retreated to the back, but couldn't completely extricate himself. He had to participate in the process, even though his actual usefulness was negligible.
While Lu Er was explaining the problem to Jiang Yanyan, he stood by, holding a glass of water and fanning her.
Halfway through the story, it was time for a break. Lu Er went to the restroom, and Jiang Yanyan, staring at Ruan Xiyan who was engrossed in Lu Er's phone, leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Sister Lu, is that Brother Xiyan your boyfriend?"
Ruan Xiyan looked up, bewildered, and asked, "Why do you say that?"
Jiang Yanyan replied sincerely, "I guessed."
"..." Ruan Xiyan glanced cautiously in the direction of the restroom; Lu Er hadn't come out yet. He cautioned, "We're just friends. You can't say things like that to Brother Xiyan."
Jiang Yanyan made a zipper-like gesture near her mouth, silently speculating about the relationship between the two.
This strange tutoring session lasted for two and a half hours before it ended. Jiang Yanyan saw them to the door and said, "Sister Lu, Brother Xiyan, see you next time."
After finally getting it done, Ruan Xiyan couldn't help but flash a bright smile like a sunflower: "See you next time."
Lu Er nodded slightly: "Okay, see you next time."
After seeing Lu Er and Ruan Xiyan off, Jiang Yanyan still secretly agreed with her guess. These two must be a couple, right?
He had never seen Sister Lu smile so happily before.
Jiang Yanyan is ten years old this year and knows nothing about love, but that doesn't stop him from having fantasies about love.
The TV said that the power of love is great and can change a person. So, Lu Er's sister must have been influenced by love to become so cheerful.
Jiang Yanyan wholeheartedly agreed.
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