Wei Lingyi is already a senior in high school.
After twelve years of hard study, she had finally reached this most crucial year. While most of her classmates were full of energy, she felt incredibly lost and even burdened with worries.
She is the second child in her family.
Like most second-born children, she lacked the boldness and courage of her eldest sister, and the cleverness and charm of her third sister. Being in the middle, she seemed destined to be quiet, sensible, and impartial.
But she was the most diligent in her studies and had the best grades among the three sisters.
However, she has a serious imbalance in her academic performance, and her math grades are... truly terrible. Judging from her placement test results at the beginning of the semester, she may really have no choice but to follow her father's arrangements and attend a teachers' college.
Mr. Wei is a teacher at a teachers' college.
Her father has already planned out her future.
Her family's situation wasn't unusual for that era. Mr. Wei's family background wasn't good, so he married Mrs. Wei, who came from a rural background. This marriage was clearly not based on love; it was just a way for them to make do.
Mr. Wei was taciturn and rarely spoke to them, while Mrs. Wei was strong-willed and stubborn, working tirelessly to take care of the entire family.
But in this seemingly harmonious family, once the father spoke, neither the three sisters nor their mother dared to disobey in the slightest.
That's why Wei Lingyi didn't dare to speak her true feelings.
Of all the professions she wanted, the one she least wanted was to be a teacher.
It's not that the profession is bad, it's just that she feels it's not suitable for her...
But she has no right to be picky.
As she has always done, as a middle-aged woman should, she should just accept it sensibly.
It was obvious that once she embarked on a path she didn't want to take, it was as if all her strength had been drained away.
She felt no joy or motivation to embrace a future she did not want.
But she didn't know who to talk to.
The eldest sister is having a cold war with her parents because of her relationship; the younger sister is clever, but she can't keep a secret, and the whole family might find out tonight.
As for the classmates... well, that's even more hard to say.
Her family is already considered well-off; to say it out loud would sound like she's showing off, making her seem ungrateful.
And so, Wei Lingyi spent September in a daze amidst constant internal strife.
When I received the test paper from the monthly exam, I didn't even want to look closely at the glaring red crosses and question marks. I hurriedly stuffed the paper into the drawer.
But the once noisy classroom suddenly fell silent.
The homeroom teacher, with a serious expression, walked in and told all the students to return to their seats.
He adjusted his thick glasses, so thick you could see the ripples around them, and suddenly burst into laughter. "We have two new students transferring to our class, brothers named Issa and Iyun. Let's give them a round of applause!"
After he finished speaking, the classroom was silent for a moment before a sparse round of applause broke out.
In their time, transfer students were not common, let alone in the most stressful senior year of high school.
Before the students could even whisper among themselves, two figures appeared at the doorway—indeed, identical twin brothers. Their faces were fair, and their features were undeniably delicate.
The boy near the door politely knocked before walking up to the podium, beaming with a bright smile. "Hello everyone, I'm Issa."
Another boy followed closely behind, saying only, "I am Yi Yun."
Teacher He clapped his hands and answered the students' questions, "The two brothers' parents are returned overseas Chinese. They are temporarily placed in our class. Please learn from them and ask them for advice."
"Let me check the seating chart. There's an empty seat at the back. Go over there. Hey, you're in the first year of high school. We rotate seats every Monday..."
Despite the seemingly harmonious classroom environment, Wei Lingyi keenly sensed a subtle hostility.
Before she could even express her feelings, the empty seat next to her across the aisle had already been pulled out.
One of the transfer students had already been arranged by the homeroom teacher to sit next to her.
The other person seemed to notice her gaze, and the eyes hidden behind bulky black-rimmed glasses smiled like crescent moons. "Hello, classmate, my name is Yi Yun. By the way, could I borrow your pencil sharpener?"
Wei Lingyi glanced at the stationery in the other person's hand. The painted pencil was brand new, a sharp hexagon.
She pursed her lips and hesitated before saying, "I only have a small knife."
Yi Yun paused for a moment, then nodded with delight, "Okay, okay, thank you!"
...
Everyone in the grade said that the two brothers who transferred here looked almost identical and were indistinguishable.
Wei Lingyi thought to herself, "How are they the same? They're completely different."
The older brother, Issa, was good at sports and was quickly elected to the class committee, rapidly becoming one of the classmates. It took him less than a week to go from a "transfer student" to "Brother Issa".
Her younger brother, Yi Yun, was her deskmate, but he was completely different in his quiet demeanor. If he could legitimately stay in his seat, he would never move an inch.
Although she always smiled as cheerfully as her brother, Wei Lingyi felt that he was just like her.
They were all wearing masks.
However, it must be acknowledged that the other person's math skills were top-notch. Even their scratch paper resembled neat notes, clearly organized and logically structured.
Moreover, Yi Yun is particularly helpful. No matter who asks him a question, he will patiently explain it clearly, and will also break down the steps and problem-solving ideas, listing more than one method.
Wei Lingyi was convinced that it was with the help of her eccentric deskmate that the math scores of their entire liberal arts class were improving at an unbelievable pace.
She herself had the advantage of being in a good position.
When she saw those sequences, hyperbolas, and trigonometric functions again, she finally stopped panicking and could start solving them step by step.
This day was no exception.
It was already Friday after school, but Yi Yun handed over the workbook. "Here you go. I've written the steps next to each problem. The monthly exam is next Monday, so I hope this helps you."
Wei Lingyi looked at the neat pages of the book so close to her, feeling a little embarrassed. "Thank you. But, don't you need it this weekend?"
Yi Yun laughed again.
Wei Lingyi then realized that her question was somewhat foolish.
But her deskmate started talking to herself: "I can use Issa's. Besides, your history notes have helped me a lot. After all, we weren't in the country before, so our history is indeed a bit bad."
It's as if they've given up and are completely indifferent.
Just then, Issa returned to the classroom after taking out the trash.
The other person walked over quickly and asked directly, "What do you want to eat tonight? We'll have to go to the market to buy it later."
Wei Lingyi couldn't help but glance at Yi Yun, but then heard her deskmate explain, "Well, my parents were transferred to another city for work, so usually... my brother takes care of me."
Wei Lingyi nodded, "You two brothers have such a good relationship."
But what she really thought was that appearances can be deceiving, and she always believed that Yi Yun was the one who was better at taking care of people.
Just then, Yi Yun gave his brother a whack, and the two of them got up playfully. "Anyway, you can take the notes and look at them. We're leaving now!"
Wei Lingyi sighed only after the two of them had walked away.
She said, "How could I not tell the difference?"
These are two completely different people, apart from their appearance.
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