An Ling arrived home before the sun had set.
Orange-yellow light slanted in through the window, casting a uniquely warm dusk glow across the living room floor.
She tossed her backpack onto the sofa and collapsed after it, sinking into the soft cushions.
Her tail draped over the edge of the sofa, swaying gently now and then.
Ring ring… ring ring…
An Ling picked up her phone. It was a call from Li Yang.
“Hello… what is it?” An Ling answered the phone and spoke lazily.
“Are you lying on the sofa like a pig right now?” Li Yang accurately reported An Ling’s current state, a smile in his voice.
An Ling bounced up from the sofa at once and said guiltily, “No way. I’m not that lazy. I’m getting ready to make dinner and prepare tomorrow’s ingredients.”
That’s right. Li Yang had finally loosened up and allowed An Ling to cook on her own, so the two of them had stopped by to buy vegetables on the way back this afternoon.
In fact, without Li Yang nearby, An Ling wasn’t all that different from usual.
Li Yang sat in his own room, tapping a pen with his fingers, and said with a smile, “You were definitely lying there being lazy just now. What? Not going to make up the homework anymore?”
“I will.”
An Ling gave up on pretending and lay back on the sofa listlessly.
“But let me lie down for a bit first. Just a bit.”
“Then I’ll finish writing first and drag you out to train afterward.”
An Ling rolled over on the sofa and pulled her tail into her arms.
“Why are you suddenly so motivated?”
“Finish early, rest easy.”
Li Yang said righteously.
“What if I can’t finish today and something unexpected happens tomorrow? Then we’re done for.”
“Besides, I start competing the day after tomorrow. I can’t use the sports meet time to make up homework.”
“Oh, so you also know that finishing early means resting easy.”
An Ling was a little surprised. When had this guy finally figured it out?
“Of course. I’m not an idiot.”
Li Yang flipped open the homework papers, glanced at the last few questions, and fell silent for two seconds.
An ominous premonition welled up in An Ling’s heart.
“So if I want to finish quickly, I also need Lady An Ling’s help.”
“What… what does that have to do with me?”
“Lady An Ling, this little one has a few questions he can’t do.”
***
An Ling took a deep breath and stood up from the sofa.
“You first finish the homework you can do. I’ll cook and take a shower first, prepare tomorrow’s ingredients, and then we’ll do a video call. Just tell me the ones you can’t do directly, and I’ll do those questions first while explaining how to solve them for you.”
“Received! Thank you, Lady An Ling.”
This guy Li Yang really changed faces fast.
Just a moment ago he was still teasing her for being lazy, and now he was already calling her Lady An Ling.
An Ling walked helplessly into the kitchen.
Tonight they would just eat some simple dumplings.
While the dumplings were boiling, she would handle the ingredients for tomorrow morning.
For tomorrow morning she would make a few simple dishes: garlic sprouts stir-fried with meat, asparagus lettuce and wood ear fungus stir-fried with eggs, and cold spinach salad.
Just three simple dishes. The ingredients were easy to prepare as well.
An Ling quickly finished handling the ingredients. The dumplings had been cooked for a while and she had let them cool a little so she could finish eating them quickly.
After eating, showering, and changing into pajamas, An Ling carried her backpack back to her room.
Beep… beep… beep… She dialed a video call to Li Yang.
“Lady An Ling, you’ve finally come to save this little one.”
The video call connected quickly, and Li Yang’s syrupy voice came through.
“Alright, stop talking like that. It’s disgusting.”
An Ling cut him off. Goosebumps had already risen all over her.
Li Yang knew that. He had deliberately used that tone on purpose.
“Which questions are giving you trouble?” An Ling asked.
“Just the third-to-last math question and the very last one, plus the physics paper.”
An Ling was a little surprised by Li Yang’s growth. This test paper was a comprehensive one of previously learned knowledge.
If it had been the Li Yang from a few weeks ago, he probably wouldn’t have been able to do more than half the questions.
She hadn’t expected that this time he only couldn’t do two big questions.
He had only studied seriously for a little over a week and already grown this much.
Li Yang was simply wasting such a good brain.
An Ling took a look. Both questions were comprehensive derivative problems.
The first asked for the monotonic intervals and extreme values of a function.
The second involved discussion with a parameter. They were indeed a bit difficult.
Li Yang had probably not listened when the teacher explained them in class either.
On the phone, Li Yang’s face occupied most of the screen, followed by the room behind him.
“Have you tried doing them yourself?”
An Ling asked.
“I tried. I worked on them several times on scratch paper and still couldn’t solve them.”
As he spoke, Li Yang flipped the camera and showed her his scratch paper.
“Alright then. Listen carefully.”
An Ling also flipped her screen and focused the camera on her own test paper.
“For this question you first need to take the derivative. Look at this function…”
An Ling wrote while explaining, trying to break every step down clearly.
Li Yang listened on the other end of the video, occasionally answering “Mm” to show he was listening, and occasionally picking up his pen to write and draw on his notebook.
“…So the monotonically increasing intervals are from negative infinity to negative one and from four to positive infinity. The monotonically decreasing interval is from negative one to four. The maximum point is at negative one, and the minimum point is at four.”
An Ling finished explaining and paused to drink some water.
“Did you understand?”
The other end of the call was silent for a few seconds.
“I understood a little, but not completely.”
“Then digest it yourself for now. Understand a bit today. Next time I’ll find two simpler questions and teach you again.”
“Received. Thank you, Teacher An Ling.”
While Li Yang was digesting the problem, An Ling did the earlier questions herself.
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