Chapter 394 - 203: A Surprise Inspection?
Chapter 394: Chapter 203: A Surprise Inspection?
With the tap-tap-tap of her finger against the paper, Shen Yuan’s furrowed brow deepened in confusion.
Looking at his expression, Li Zhi felt the urge to curse.
"Do you know why Farady was born before you?"
"Why?" Shen Yuan asked instinctively.
"The sight of you would make him die of anger."
Shen Yuan gave a sheepish smile, but before he could speak, Li Zhi jabbed the test paper sharply with her pen.
"Look here! Why are you looking at me? We’re talking about electric fields, and trust me, there’s no electricity between us right now."
"Oh."
Shen Yuan meekly ducked his head and focused his attention on Li Zhi’s pen.
As Li Zhi explained, one moment Shen Yuan’s brow would be tightly furrowed, and the next he’d be sucking in a sharp breath.
As for Li Zhi, all she was left with was stress.
"The furrows on your brow are more accurate than the electron trajectories you’re drawing."
"Are you sucking in all that cold air? Trying to freeze your brain?"
Shen Yuan shrank back and listened obediently.
A moment later, Shen Yuan took a sharp breath. His eyes flew wide open, his pupils lighting up with dawning realization.
"OH—!!!"
Shen Yuan smacked his forehead, letting out a short, low cry that was a mixture of frustration and joy.
"I get it! I get it!"
With that, Shen Yuan quickly ducked his head, grabbed his pen, and started scribbling away on the scratch paper, his movements noticeably lighter.
Seeing Shen Yuan’s rather exaggerated "eureka" moment, the corner of Li Zhi’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
She rolled her eyes out of habit, the disdain in her gaze appearing like a conditioned reflex.
Li Zhi rapped the tip of her pen on the scratch paper Shen Yuan was furiously scribbling on. "Go on, get back," she said, her tone cool. "Don’t get in my way."
"Right! Right!"
Shen Yuan grabbed his test and scratch paper and hurried back to the sofa.
As soon as Shen Yuan left, Li Zhi pulled her math test back in front of her. Recomposing herself, her pen once again began to glide smoothly across the paper.
Shen Yuan also quickly buried his head in his work, continuing to solve the problem he had finally seen the light on.
The room returned to a peaceful state of Concentration, filled with the rustling of pens on paper and the soft hum of the air conditioner.
Only this time, the lamp in the corner seemed a little warmer and brighter.
Time passed silently amidst their Concentration. Outside the window, the night over West Lake had grown even deeper.
Beside Shen Yuan and Li Zhi lay a physics test and a math test, respectively, both covered in writing.
Li Zhi was already more than halfway through a physics test, while Shen Yuan was only about a quarter of the way through his math test.
The difference in their speeds was obvious at a glance.
Li Zhi stole a glance at Shen Yuan. Seeing his progress was clearly several beats slower than hers, a familiar, mocking smile crept onto her lips.
"Shen Yuan, are you taking your sweet time?"
Shen Yuan didn’t look up, only grunting in response. "I’m being thorough, ensuring accuracy!"
"So can I."
Stung by her retort, Shen Yuan shot her an irritated look.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
There was a note of resignation in Shen Yuan’s voice, but the atmosphere in the room grew even more peaceful in the darkness, as if the day’s fatigue and the earlier awkwardness had all been dispelled by their shared Concentration.
Just as Li Zhi was smugly tilting her chin up, a crisp ringtone suddenly shattered the silence.
Li Zhi’s phone screen lit up, displaying a familiar profile picture.
It was a video call from Xu Chan!
Li Zhi’s heart instantly felt as if it had been seized by an icy hand. All the Concentration and smugness from her work vanished, replaced by a wave of intense panic.
She snapped her head up, her panicked gaze simultaneously darting toward Shen Yuan on the sofa.
Her eyes screamed a panicked, pleading message: ’I’m so dead! She’s going to find out! What do I do?’
Shen Yuan, sitting on the sofa, reacted almost in perfect sync with her.
The moment the familiar ringtone sounded, he glanced over and saw Li Zhi’s face drain of color as she threw a terrified look his way.
He knew that look all too well. It was a signal flare for major trouble.
"My mom!"
Li Zhi pointed frantically at her phone.
"Shit!"
Shen Yuan swore under his breath in a conditioned reflex. The color drained from his face, all his previous ease and resignation vanishing, leaving only flustered panic.
’A surprise inspection?!’
Shen Yuan’s body went ramrod straight. He instinctively started to jump up from the sofa, only to freeze in place as if bound by invisible ropes.
The pen he had just been using for his calculations slipped from his rigid hand and fell onto the carpet.
Things were even more chaotic on Li Zhi’s end.
To her, the ringtone now sounded like a death knell, each chime making her heart tremble.
She could feel her blood run cold, her breath catching in her throat.
"What do I do? What do I do?!"
Li Zhi’s voice was distorted and breathy, verging on tears. She instinctively wanted to shove the phone into her pocket or throw it away, as if it were a hot potato.
She looked frantically at Shen Yuan, her eyes sending a desperate, helpless plea for help.
’I can’t just not answer it. If I don’t pick up, things will be even worse.’
’But if I do answer, what am I supposed to do?’
’The promise I made before leaving the house seems completely worthless now!’
’Even though we really are just doing homework, would Mom actually believe I’m doing homework with Shen Yuan?’
At that moment, Shen Yuan clearly realized the same thing.