On a Stormy Night, the Campus Belle Knocked on My Door Seeking Shelter
Chapter 22: I’m an Academic Ace

Chapter 22: Chapter 22: I’m an Academic Ace

Hearing Chen Mo say that, Su Yuqing’s face instantly flushed.

Actually, Zhou Yi didn’t have anything about matching Eight Characters; she had learned how to do it from other books.

Her face was flushing because she had already secretly matched their Eight Characters long ago.

She had slowly collected Chen Mo’s personal information, bit by bit, from the fragments she’d heard about him in her daily life.

To her surprise, their Eight Characters were an incredibly good match.

But she was too embarrassed to say so, merely giving a soft hum of agreement.

Just then, as if suddenly remembering something, Chen Mo asked curiously, "What are you thinking for your college applications?"

"Why the sudden question?" Su Yuqing asked, taken aback.

"We’re seniors now, shouldn’t we be planning ahead?" Chen Mo said with a smile.

"I have some ideas, but I haven’t decided for sure. What about you?"

"That’s simple," Chen Mo replied with a grin. "Whatever you apply for, I’ll apply for the same. You’re going to owe me a huge debt after graduation, you know. If I’m not right there with you, you might just run off, and my whole investment will be a total loss."

Su Yuqing stirred her spoon in slow circles against the inside of her glass. The ripples in the milk reflected the warm light from the ceiling. As she looked into Chen Mo’s smiling eyes, a bittersweet feeling suddenly welled up in her throat.

’He’s saying he wants to go to the same university as me.’

"I was thinking..." Her fingertips unconsciously traced the sunflower embroidery on the tablecloth. "Of applying to the psychology program at Kyoto University or Kyoto Medical University."

"Wow, those two are tough schools. You’re aiming high," Chen Mo said, a little surprised. "But why psychology?"

A memory suddenly flashed through his mind: Su Yuqing’s mother having a mental breakdown.

’Did she go mad just from the shock of Yuqing’s death? Or did she already have some kind of psychological or mental illness to begin with?’

Su Yuqing opened her mouth to speak, but ultimately decided against explaining why.

Seeing her hesitation, Chen Mo just smiled and said, "That’s a good major. The job seems pretty comfortable, too. A clean office, chatting over tea, and the money just rolls in. You’d need to be pretty mentally tough for it, though."

"That’s part of the reason, yes. It would also be a good way to build up my own mental fortitude," Su Yuqing said with a calm smile.

"That’s great. But to get into a university like that, you’re going to have to study like your life depends on it."

"I will," Su Yuqing said, her expression firm.

"Then I’ll tutor you," Chen Mo said with a wide grin.

"You’ll tutor me?" Su Yuqing gave Chen Mo a surprised look.

It wasn’t that she looked down on him, but his grades were only about average for their class, while hers were near the top.

’An average student tutoring a top student? Unheard of. Is he trying to drag my grades down with him?’

"What, you don’t think I can do it?" Seeing her surprised expression, Chen Mo felt his masculine pride had been challenged. The corners of his mouth lifted into a mischievous grin as he looked at her.

"N-no," Su Yuqing said after a slight pause, averting her eyes.

"You’re lying! I know you are. When you lie, you can’t look people in the eye and you hesitate."

The words tumbled out of Chen Mo’s mouth subconsciously.

But to Su Yuqing, those words were the sweetest music.

The words themselves were simple, but their implication was profound.

’Doesn’t that mean he’s been secretly paying attention to me? He’s even memorized my tells for when I’m lying!’

At that thought, the sweetness blooming in her heart surpassed that of the milk in her glass.

She immediately turned back to Chen Mo and gave him an apologetic smile.

"See? I knew it! All right, then. It looks like I’ll have to show you what I can do, or you’ll never know that I am the Wenqu Star descended to earth."

Chen Mo immediately grabbed a copy of *Five-Year Gaokao, Three-Year Simulation: High School Math*.

SCRIBBLE, SCRIBBLE, SCRIBBLE. He blazed through a ton of problems.

He knocked out several pages in an instant. Su Yuqing shot him a surprised glance. He was writing with incredible speed and accuracy. Even if he had just memorized the answers, being able to write it all down so quickly was remarkable.

"If you’re this good, how come you usually..." Su Yuqing trailed off, but her meaning was obvious.

"I usually hold back because I don’t want to steal the other students’ thunder and discourage them. You shouldn’t underestimate your creditor, you know," Chen Mo said with a laugh, lightly tapping her head with the end of his pen. "So, can I teach you now?"

Of course, the Chen Mo of the past couldn’t possibly have been this skilled.

Chen Mo’s drive to excel had only begun after Su Yuqing’s "accident."

To become an outstanding criminal detective, he’d set his sights on the People’s Public Security University. He studied like a man possessed to get into that school.

As the saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Becoming a detective and uncovering the truth behind Su Yuqing’s case became the sole obsession of the rest of his life. That obsession transformed into limitless mental energy.

It allowed him to rocket from being an average student in his class to one of the top students in the entire grade.

Of course, it also helped that he was naturally smart to begin with.

Chen Mo’s parents were both highly accomplished professionals.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

He was only a slacker by choice; it was never a case of him trying his hardest and still being unable to learn.

Although it had been a long time since he’d taken the Gaokao, the memories of those days when he’d studied like a man possessed were still vivid. Every single one of those problems was seared into his very soul.

So now, solving them felt effortless, as if by divine assistance.

Seeing that Chen Mo actually possessed this level of skill, Su Yuqing was once again amazed by this unknown side of him. She immediately looked at him with a gaze full of admiration.

Before, her gazes had mostly been filled with affection, but this was the first time she’d ever looked at him with pure admiration.

’I never would have guessed he was a top student hiding his skills so deeply.’

"Just so you know, I’m not just reciting the answers from memory," Chen Mo added, afraid she still didn’t believe him.

However, what he said was both true and untrue.

In the previous timeline, his memories of arduously grinding through problems included memorizing all sorts of formulas, problem types, and even the answers themselves. So, did that count as memorization or not?

It was hard to say for sure.

Regardless, he had now internalized that knowledge as his own ability, so whether he had "memorized" it or not was irrelevant.

As long as he had the ability to solve the problems, that was all that mattered.

Su Yuqing looked at Chen Mo and said with a smile, "Does this mean I’m going to owe you for tutoring fees now, too?"

"Of course," Chen Mo said with a mischievous grin. "But hey, you’re already so deep in debt, what’s a little more? Don’t worry, I have plenty of ways to make you pay me back in the future."

"In this day and age, sometimes the debtor is the one who holds all the power, you know," Su Yuqing said with a playful smile.

"Then you’d better sign this indenture contract first." Chen Mo pulled out a pen and paper and set it in front of her. He was only joking, but to his surprise, Su Yuqing actually took them and began to write.