Chapter 5 “Improve the Next Generation’s Genes and Let Your Child Win at the Starting Line.”

Ye Xiaoyang watched Ji Changming leave, then casually closed the office door with a “bang.” He moved a chair from the neighboring desk and sat down beside her.

“Stop zoning out,” he reminded her.

Only then did Luo Yi come back to her senses from her daze.

So Ji Changming wanted Ye Xiaoyang to tutor her in physics… was that what it meant?

This one-on-one treatment was of a pretty high standard.

However, she looked at her own paper and felt embarrassed inside.

Would Ye Xiaoyang laugh at her? She cared a little about that.

Luo Yi wanted to cover the paper, but Ye Xiaoyang had already pulled it out.

She felt uneasy. The fingertips gripping the pen turned white from the pressure. She was even more nervous than when Ji Changming had called her out earlier.

Ye Xiaoyang furrowed his brows as he looked at her test paper.

The lines of his side profile were almost perfect. His brow bone was high and prominent. There was a slight crease on his eyelid, which could somewhat soften his sharp gaze.

His thin lips were pressed tightly together. He flipped the paper to the back. It was completely blank. He only glanced at it once before flipping it back to the front.

Luo Yi hung her head, at a complete loss like a child who had done something wrong.

The fluorescent light in the office cast a faint halo on the crown of her head. Her small ears were hidden in her black short hair. A small section of creamy white neck was exposed at the collar.

This weak, pitiful, and helpless appearance would make anyone unable to say a single harsh word.

Ye Xiaoyang pressed the paper flat on the desk and asked, “Have you studied the content of electromagnetism before?”

Luo Yi shook her head.

As expected…

Ye Xiaoyang pulled the chair a little closer and took the pen from her hand.

He took several sheets of lesson plan paper and said with a calm expression, “I’ll teach you.”

At this moment, there was practically an angelic halo above his head.

Ye Xiaoyang had long been thoroughly familiar with the knowledge of high school electromagnetism. He did not need textbooks. He could quickly sort out the framework structure of electromagnetism knowledge in his mind.

“You’ve studied universal gravitation, so you should know that the magnitude of gravitational force is proportional to the product of the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance.” Ye Xiaoyang’s pen tip quickly wrote down a line of formula. “The force between electrons is the same.”

“Think of two electrons as two celestial bodies. Understanding it this way will make it a bit easier.” Ye Xiaoyang very cleverly combined the knowledge she had not learned with the knowledge she had already studied. Luo Yi instantly felt that this formula looked familiar.

She lacked scientific thinking and found it hard to draw inferences from one instance. But Ye Xiaoyang could thoroughly integrate this knowledge and understand it quite accurately.

Ye Xiaoyang started from the beginning and sorted through the knowledge points for Luo Yi.

“The direction of magnetic field lines is determined by the right-hand screw rule.” He held the pen horizontally in the palm of his right hand and raised his thumb. “Assume this pen is a straight current-carrying wire. The direction my thumb points is the direction of the current. Then the direction the remaining four fingers point is the circling direction of the magnetic field lines.”

Seeing the confusion in Luo Yi’s eyes, he asked, “Do you understand?”

Luo Yi nodded slightly, then shook her head heavily.

“Didn’t follow the train of thought?” he asked.

“Speak a little slower,” she said softly.

Ye Xiaoyang explained the right-hand screw rule again, but unfortunately Luo Yi still did not quite understand.

“Understand it by combining it with the questions.” Ye Xiaoyang’s pen tip pointed to a multiple-choice question on the weekly practice. “Try this one.”

Luo Yi scanned the question stem. Fortunately, she could at least read the question now.

But that was all.

She extended her right hand and tried to judge using the method he had just taught.

He watched the movements of her right hand, the corners of his eyes slightly narrowed.

“Is it B?” she asked hesitantly, testing the waters.

“B?” he repeated, the ending tone rising high.

Luo Yi immediately backed down and quickly said, “Then C.”

“C?” His tone was even higher than just now, and the doubt was more obvious.

“Then D it is…” Luo Yi shrank her neck, her voice as thin and weak as a mosquito’s buzz.

Ye Xiaoyang gave a light scoff, the meaning unclear.

“Why choose D?” he asked.

Luo Yi thought to herself that she had originally chosen A, which had been marked with a cross. Now that two more options had been eliminated, wasn’t only D left? She couldn’t choose E, after all. There was no option E on the paper.

Luo Yi lowered her eyes and kept changing the direction of her right hand, thinking about how exactly she could produce the answer D.

Suddenly, a palm reached over and grasped her slender white wrist.

Luo Yi’s temple twitched. She turned her head to look at him.

His black eyes were like an ancient well without ripples, concealing all emotions. His eyelashes cast a shallow layer of shadow. His slightly prominent Adam’s apple was very sexy.

Sensing her gaze, Ye Xiaoyang said expressionlessly, “Are there words on my face?”

Luo Yi quickly lowered her lashes. A flush of red climbed up the roots of her ears.

“Look at the hand.” Ye Xiaoyang turned her palm upward, thumb pointing to the right.

His hand was warm and dry. His fingers were long and slender, the joints clear. The cuff button at his wrist was neat, the cuff spotless.

This action brought them even closer. Luo Yi clearly felt his even breathing brushing against the top of her head.

He adjusted her hand into the proper position, then his palm wrapped around her fingers and gave a light squeeze. Her entire small hand was loosely enclosed by his.

“Like this.” He released her hand. The vibration in his voice as he spoke made Luo Yi’s ear feel a little itchy.

She stared blankly at her own hand.

Luo Yi had a constitution that rarely sweated. Yet after this encounter, her face was red, her heart was racing, her palms were sweating, her breathing had quickened, and it felt as if a little deer was crashing around in her chest.

“Now look again. Which one do you choose?” Ye Xiaoyang asked.

Luo Yi pulled her drifting thoughts back and said quietly, “Choose C.”

Sigh. As expected, in front of an academic god you could not pretend to understand when you did not.

After Ye Xiaoyang finished explaining the knowledge points, he took out the weekly practice questions to go over. When he reached the reverse side, the dismissal bell rang.

It turned out it was already nine o’clock without them realizing it.

“Aren’t you going home?” Luo Yi asked.

Ye Xiaoyang was a day student and left on time at nine. She was clear about this point.

He glanced at the wall clock and said, “Finish this question first.”

“Oh.” After learning so many new things in one evening, her brain was already overloaded.

After Ye Xiaoyang finished this question, he prepared to leave.

He said, “The next few questions are a bit difficult. The teacher should go over them in class, so I won’t explain them.”

“Got it.” Luo Yi folded the paper and the lesson plan sheets.

Seeing that he was about to leave, Luo Yi suddenly called out to him, “Wait a moment.”

Ye Xiaoyang’s footsteps stopped. He turned sideways to look at her.

The girl’s pure black pupils refracted light like stars. She tucked a strand of black hair that had fallen by her face behind her ear, then gave him a slight smile.

When she smiled, her eyes and brows curved. There were two shallow dimples below the corners of her mouth. Her entire person became lively and vivid.

“Thank you,” she said.

Ye Xiaoyang vaguely felt as if something had scratched at his heart, a soft, itchy sensation.

“No need to thank me.” His tone was calm, as if wanting to drive away this unfamiliar and strange feeling. “It was Old Ji who told me to teach you.”

She nodded. “But I still have to thank you for your time.”

Ye Xiaoyang turned back around, raised a hand in a small wave, and said, “I’m leaving.”

Luo Yi watched his departing back and thought, he really is pretty stuck-up, isn’t he?

She leaned against the doorframe, looking toward the pitch-black night sky, lost in thought.

On the weekend, Luo Yi’s aunt Luo Xueqing came to pick her up to go home for lunch, considering it a welcoming meal for her.

Her aunt’s home was in the municipal party committee compound. Although it was an old residential area, it had a school district and was close to the city center, so housing prices had always remained high.

Luo Xueqing worked at a bank. Her husband worked at Sinopec. The couple were both within the system. They were not extremely wealthy, but at least they had no worries about food and clothing and lived a stable life.

Luo Xueqing’s daughter, Luo Yi’s cousin You Nianyao, was also there. Ordinarily the two sisters only met during New Year and holidays and were not particularly close.

You Nianyao was currently in the third year of junior high. In another two months she would take the high school entrance exam.

“It would be great if my Yao Yao could get into No.1 High,” Luo Xueqing sighed at the dining table.

“Mom, you just know I can’t get in!” Adolescent children were always rebellious. You Nianyao was no exception and especially loved to sing the opposite tune to her parents.

“You, when can you learn a little from your older sister?” Luo Xueqing stretched out a finger and poked her forehead. “Your older sister is quiet and gentle, and now she’s studying at No.1 High. Her future is boundless.”

“Isn’t it just because Uncle is capable…” You Nianyao muttered unhappily.

The implication was that her own parents were not capable enough to let her coast into No.1 High the way Luo Yi had.

Children spoke without restraint. One sentence could offend everyone at the table. She was also a master of conversational technique.

Luo Xueqing glared at You Nianyao, meaning she would deal with her later.

“Eat, eat.” The uncle came out to smooth things over and picked up a meatball for Luo Yi.

Luo Yi used her chopsticks to split the meatball into two halves and put it into her mouth.

“Have you gotten used to it here?” Luo Xueqing asked.

“Mm, I’m used to it.”

“Can you keep up with the courses at No.1 High?”

“It’s okay.” Luo Yi did not say much, but she answered every question.

“Speaking of which, the child of our bank president is also at No.1 High. I heard his grades are especially good. He always ranks first or second at No.1 High.”

“Which bank president?” the uncle asked.

“President Ye, of course. What other bank president could there be?”

Luo Yi’s hand that was picking up food paused.

The surname Ye?

“Ah, I know.” After being glared at, You Nianyao had been well-behaved for a few minutes and finally found a new topic. She could not wait to join in. “It’s Senior Ye Xiaoyang. He used to be at Xiuwen Middle School too, the same school as me.”

You Nianyao loudly announced his great achievements: “He ranked first in the entire city on the high school entrance exam. The full score is 750. He scored 740. Except for the composition, everything was full marks. Our math teacher praises him every day and says he’s a genius.”

So he was that famous. It felt like the whole world knew him.

You Nianyao counted on her fingers one by one: “Good grades, good family background, good looks. How can there be such a perfect person?”

“If you could have one-tenth of what he has, I wouldn’t have to worry so much,” Luo Xueqing said.

“In this lifetime I’ll never catch up to him. But if I could find a boyfriend like him, that would also be pretty good.” You Nianyao bit her chopsticks and showed an expression of wild fantasy. “Improve the next generation’s genes and let the child win at the starting line.”

“What is that little brain of yours thinking about every day? Would someone like him even look at you?” Luo Xueqing shattered her beautiful dream. “Only by studying well can you make outstanding boys look at you more highly.”

Three sentences without leaving the topic of studying. Any subject could be steered back to this. You Nianyao felt she should not have said these things.

“I’m finished eating.” Luo Yi quietly set down her chopsticks.

“You’re full already?” Luo Xueqing asked.

“Mm.” Luo Yi raised her head and said, “I need to go back and study.”

The coursework at No.1 High was intense, and the gap between her and her classmates was large. Luo Yi had no extra time to discuss family gossip with relatives.

She needed to go back to school and read. She still needed to look over the notes Ye Xiaoyang had written for her a couple more times before she could understand and digest them.

Luo Xueqing took her to a nearby large supermarket to buy some daily necessities, fruit, and snacks, then sent her back to No.1 High.