Peppermints and Physics Notes (Revised Edition)
On Monday morning, Su An rushed into the classroom as the morning reading bell rang, his forehead beaded with sweat. His parents had come home for two days over the weekend, and the lively and warm atmosphere at home had almost caused him to oversleep on Monday morning.
"Hey, our scouting king is here!" Jiang Zhao joked, his words muffled as he ate a steamed bun.
Su An rolled his eyes at him, sat down panting, and started taking books out of his bag. His fingers touched a hard, cool little cube. He took it out with a puzzled look; it was a dark blue, unlabeled tin box with a very nice feel.
"What's this?" Su An looked through the box.
Jiang Zhao leaned closer: "Hey? This box is pretty cool, did you buy it?"
"No, I found them in the side pocket of my backpack." Su An opened the box, revealing a dozen or so individually wrapped white cubes inside, emitting a faint minty scent. "Mint candies?"
He thought back carefully; aside from shopping with Jiang Zhao and the others over the weekend, he hadn't touched his schoolbag. Could it be...? Jiang Qi's expressionless face flashed through his mind. Could it be him? But why? When did he put it in?
"Peppermints are great! They're refreshing!" Jiang Zhao reached out to grab one, but Su An instinctively closed the cap to stop him.
"Wait..." Su An clutched the candy box, her mind racing. If this was Jiang Qi, this behavior was just too...strange. They weren't exactly close enough to exchange candy, were they? And in such a quiet, unnoticed way.
The morning reading session began, and the classroom echoed with the sound of students reciting their lessons. Su An, however, was somewhat absent-minded, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the cool candy box. He stole a glance towards the next classroom, though he couldn't see anything.
The first class was physics. This was Su An's weak point, so he listened extra attentively. However, when the teacher got to circuit analysis, the complex symbols and logical relationships started to fight in his head again. He frowned, trying hard to keep up with the teacher's pace, his pen scribbling on the scratch paper, but he still couldn't grasp the key points.
During the break, Su An was staring blankly at his physics textbook when a familiar, tall figure appeared at the back door of Class 5.
"Su An".
A cool voice rang out. Su An looked up and saw Jiang Qi standing in the doorway, holding a black notebook. Many students in the classroom noticed this "celebrity" from the science class and cast curious glances over.
Su An's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively gripped the candy box in his pocket. He stood up and walked over somewhat awkwardly: "Jiang Qi? Is something the matter?"
Jiang Qi's gaze lingered on his face for a moment before quickly shifting away, and she handed him the notebook: "Jiang Zhao's physics notes. He asked me to give them to you. He said he borrowed them last time but forgot to return them."
"Huh?" Su An was even more puzzled. Jiang Zhao, whose physics grades were even worse than his, would borrow physics notes? And understand them? He just couldn't believe it.
But he still took it: "Oh... thank you."
"You're welcome." Jiang Qi said, but didn't leave immediately. Her gaze fell on the draft paper Su An had just spread out, covered with messy circuit diagrams. "Is there a problem with the circuit?"
Su An's cheeks flushed, feeling the embarrassment of a mediocre student being caught red-handed by a top student: "Um... I didn't quite understand."
Jiang Qi paused for a moment, seemingly considering his options. Then, he pointed to the black notebook in Su An's hand, his voice still calm: "In this notebook, Chapter Three contains similar example solutions. Perhaps... you can refer to them."
Su An looked down at the notebook in her hand that belonged to "Jiang Zhao". The cover was pure black, without any labels, and it looked brand new and meticulous, completely unlike Jiang Zhao's style of drawing little figures fighting in his textbooks.
"Okay... okay, thank you." Su An was filled with doubts.
Jiang Qi nodded, said nothing more, and turned to leave.
Su An returned to her seat with her laptop, and Jiang Zhao immediately came over: "What does my brother want with you? Hey? Whose laptop is this? It's so cool!"
Su An placed the notebook in front of him and stared at him: "Your physics notes. Your brother said you could borrow them and forget to return them."
Jiang Zhao's expression froze instantly, his eyes widening as he pointed at himself: "Me? Borrow my physics notes? Am I crazy? Why would I look at that stuff? Am I just humiliating myself?" He suddenly realized what he'd said and lowered his voice, "Wait! My brother gave them to me? He..."
Seeing Jiang Zhao's obvious ignorance, Su An understood most of the situation. He opened the notebook. The handwriting was strong and vigorous, the organization clear, the key points highlighted, and the charts meticulously drawn. This was clearly Jiang Qi's own notebook!
He turned to Chapter 3 and, sure enough, found a detailed explanation of the type of circuit problem that had given him a headache in class. The steps were clear, and there were annotations next to them, pointing out the places where mistakes were easy to make and the different ways to solve the problem.
A warm feeling welled up inside me silently. So, he was the one who put the candy there, and he brought the notes under the pretense of giving them to me. This seemingly cold person, is he actually... so thoughtful?
"Hey, hey, hey!" Jiang Zhao waved his hand in front of Su An's eyes with an ambiguous smile. "Snap out of it! Well done, Su An'an. Even my brother, who's as cold as an iron tree, has started playing the 'borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha'... no, I mean 'borrowing notes to curry favor' game?"
Su An blushed, closed her notebook, and playfully pushed him away: "What nonsense are you talking about! He... he probably just helped out."
"Just casually?" Jiang Zhao raised an eyebrow dramatically. "I've known him for over ten years, how come he's never been so 'casual' with me? Even Lin Jun has to be in a good mood to borrow his notes!"
Su An fell silent, only looking down at the black notebook and the box of mints beside her, her heart pounding erratically.
...
Over the next few days, Su An began to "refer" to that physics notebook. It must be said that Jiang Qi's notes were extremely well done, simplifying complex concepts and getting straight to the point. Many things that he hadn't understood in class suddenly became clear after reading his notes.
He would occasionally encounter problems that he couldn't fully understand even by looking at his notes, and he would hesitate about whether to ask Jiang Qi, but felt that it would be too abrupt.
That afternoon during self-study, Su An got stuck on a complex problem again. He spent a long time working through his notes and scratch paper, but still couldn't solve it. Frustrated, he slumped onto his desk.
"What's wrong? Are you physically 'sealed' again?" Jiang Zhao leaned closer.
"Hmm..." Su An responded weakly.
Jiang Zhao's eyes lit up, and he took out his phone: "What's so hard about this! Ask my brother! He'll definitely understand in a second!" Before Su An could stop him, he quickly sent a voice message to Jiang Qi: "Brother! Help! Su An can't solve a physics problem, can you give him a remote tutorial?"
Su An tried to grab the phone, but it was too late. Her ears turned red with embarrassment: "Jiang Zhao! What are you doing!"
Almost the instant Jiang Zhao sent the message, Su An's phone screen lit up. It was a new WeChat message notification.
From Jiang Qi.
Su An's heart suddenly raced. He opened WeChat, and Jiang Qi's profile picture showed a red "1".
He took a deep breath and opened the chat window.
Jiang Qi: "Which question?"
The words were concise and to the point, leaving Su An at a loss for words.
He hurriedly took a picture of the question and sent it over.
Almost the instant the image was successfully sent, the message "The other party is typing..." appeared above the chat window. A few seconds later, an image was sent.
These were Jiang Qi's clear solution steps written on the draft paper, step by step, with clear logic, and simple text explanations next to the key steps. His handwriting was just as beautiful as in his notebook.
Su An looked at the picture and suddenly realized what was going on.
He quickly replied, "I understand! Thank you!"
Jiang Qi: "Mm."
The conversation seemed to be coming to an end. Su An looked at the cold "hmm" and felt a little disappointed.
However, a few seconds later, the phone vibrated again.
Jiang Qi: "If you don't understand something in the future, you can ask me directly."
Su An froze, staring at the line of text. His heart felt a slight, ticklish flutter, as if a feather had gently brushed against it. His fingertip hovered over the screen for a moment before he carefully typed, "Wouldn't that be too much trouble for you?"
Jiang Qi: "No."
After a pause, another message popped up.
Jiang Qi: "Are the notes enough?"
As Su An looked at the message, he could almost see through the screen the subtle concern on that person's face. Holding his phone, he couldn't help but smile.
"The notes were very helpful! Thank you for the notes... and the candy." He mustered his courage and added the last three words. After sending it, he immediately placed his phone screen face down on the table, feeling his cheeks burning.
There was a moment of silence on the other end. So long that Su An wondered if she had said something wrong and began to regret it.
Finally, the phone vibrated again.
Jiang Qi: "Hmm. Low blood sugar, keep it on hand."
It really was him! Looking at those five short words, Su An's vague suspicion was confirmed, and an indescribable, slightly sweet feeling slowly spread through him. He didn't reply, but simply took the dark blue candy box out of his pocket, opened it, took out a white mint, and put it in his mouth.
The cool sweetness melts instantly on the tongue, carrying a faint minty aroma that spreads all the way to the heart.
It turns out that beneath the iceberg lies a warm current.
...
In the back row of Class 6, Science major, Jiang Qi put down his phone, unable to concentrate on the competition problem set spread out in front of him. His ears were flushed a suspicious red, and Su An's last message kept replaying in his mind—"Thank you for the notes...and the candy."
He found out.
Moreover, he didn't feel any aversion.
Jiang Qi picked up the water glass beside him and took a big gulp of cold water, trying to suppress the restless heat in his heart. He tapped on Su An's WeChat profile picture, looked at the adorable cat, and gently stroked the screen with his fingertips.
It seems... we've gotten a little closer.
"Brother Qi, what are you grinning about?" Lin Jun's voice suddenly rang in my ears.
Jiang Qi instantly composed herself, regaining her composure, and closed the exercise book: "It's nothing."
Lin Jun leaned closer, looking at his slightly reddened ears and eyes that were noticeably brighter than usual, and smiled like a fox: "Oh—nothing? Well, I heard that someone has started working as a 'remote tutor' and 'candy supplier'? That's quite an achievement, Teacher Jiang?"
Jiang Qi picked up a thick book on "University Physics" with a blank expression, as if to throw it at someone.
Lin Jun nimbly jumped away, laughing loudly: "Out of embarrassment and anger! Absolutely out of embarrassment and anger!"
Su An, on the other side of the classroom, had no idea what kind of "ripples" his message had caused. With the cool mint in his mouth, he picked up his pen again and carefully recalculated the solution steps Jiang Qi had sent him.
The sunlight outside the window was just right, falling on the open notebook, making the vigorous handwriting seem to carry warmth.
Physics, it seems... not so bad after all.
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