Chapter 12: Dragon Brother, Can You Not Sock Me?
Glancing back at Hu Yu Ying, Long Ao Tian couldn’t help but feel a strange urge to laugh. Having her trailing behind him like a tiny tail made him feel like he was a proud cat walking a little puppy. Or maybe the other way around—who knew?
Back in the classroom.
Hu Yu Ying immediately dug through her backpack with a determined look. Soon, she pulled out several battered notebooks, their covers worn from countless flip-throughs.
These notebooks held every vital point the teacher had ever mentioned, painstakingly recorded one tiny note at a time.
Hu Yu Ying’s ace grades? Half due to her brainpower, and half thanks to her trusty notebooks.
Now, she carefully placed all of them on Long Ao Tian’s desk.
“This is the knowledge points from the first year of high school, and this one’s from the second…” Hu Yu Ying sorted them neatly to make it easy for him to browse.
Long Ao Tian looked at the notebooks, sweat starting to bead on his forehead: “Is this a little overkill?”
“Not at all! These are all key points,” Hu Yu Ying replied confidently. “If I wasn’t constantly bullied, I could’ve written even more.”
“Alright, I’ll take a look first,” Long Ao Tian said, scratching his head. Although he dropped out of high school years ago, after slogging through society and relying on his smartphone for everything, he hadn’t touched a pen for writing in ages.
Seeing those tidy handwriting, he couldn’t help but pick up a pen as well—drawing, scribbling, just to experience a little nostalgia.
From his notes, Hu Yu Ying could roughly gauge his learning situation.
“Dragon Brother, how about I tutor you?”
That was the only skill she could truly call her own right now: helping Long Ao Tian. It was the only thing she could do to feel useful.
Having her warm protection, then helping her learn, at least proved she wasn’t totally useless.
“Won’t that interfere with your studies?” Long Ao Tian asked softly, coughing.
He knew better than anyone how shaky his foundation was.
In the original story, the villainous male antagonist, Long Ao Tian, was a pretty poor student—his dad had spent a fortune bribing some third-class vocational college to admit him. Because the plot needed him to be so, the college just happened to be across from Hu Yu Ying’s university.
And funnily enough, the novel never mentioned Hu Yu Ying ever tutoring him.
Senior year was already stressful enough. Would helping him jeopardize her own performance? Would she mess up, miss her dream university? If she missed out, could she still become a rising business star? That was the real question!
Hu Yu Ying looked at Long Ao Tian, her eyes starting to water subtly.
“Why are you crying?” Long Ao Tian immediately became uncomfortable at the sight of her red eyes.
“Nothing,” Hu Yu Ying mumbled softly.
But inside, she felt a wave of emotion—the kind of gratitude that swells when someone unasked for shows you a tiny flicker of kindness. It lingered for a long time.
No one had ever worried about whether helping her might ruin her future.
They just used her for their own ends…
But this big brother she just met today—not only helped her out, he also took her as a sidekick, treated her to lunch, and now even cared if her tutoring might get in the way of her studies.
This stranger’s kindness could really break down defenses.
“Why are you crying? Don’t tell me I moved you to tears?” Long Ao Tian teased with a grin.
“Are you crying because you’re touched too?” Hu Yu Ying whispered, eyes shimmering.
Seeing her wide, water-filled gaze, Long Ao Tian felt awkward and turned his head, voice lowered: “Don’t think just because I’m touched, I won’t sock you.”
If an ordinary person heard this, they’d probably get petty.
But Hu Yu Ying was different. She was genuinely afraid of being bullied, so she secretly peeked at Long Ao Tian and whispered with little confidence: “Brother Long, please don’t hit me?”
Seeing her timid look, Long Ao Tian couldn’t help but chuckle: “A hopeless case. From now on, don’t call yourself my sidekick outside, alright?”
High school seniors didn’t have many lessons.
Afternoon was mostly about endless practice questions.
Hu Yu Ying examined Long Ao Tian’s test paper, her eyes widening in disbelief. She couldn’t understand how he managed to dodge the correct answers with such precision every time.
“How’s it?” Long Ao Tian asked, frowning. He’d worked on this paper with care, and it was the first time he picked up a pen in many years. Part of him still held out hope.
“Score? 90…?”
“Whaat?! Over ninety?! Holy cr*p, am I a genius or what?” Long Ao Tian exclaimed.
His heart fluttered with excitement—he wouldn’t admit he was thrilled. If he’d known he was a genius, he’d have crammed harder back in high school, held onto his pants, and finished it all.
Graduating high school and entering college might’ve changed his entire life!
Hu Yu Ying watched him get all fired up, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Brother Long, it’s not ninety—It’s nine points.”
“What?! No way! Look closely. With so many fill-in-the-blank questions, I could step on the paper and guess at least twenty points. How could I only get nine?” Long Ao Tian now refused to believe Hu Yu Ying’s judgment, unwilling to accept that his carefully done test was only worth nine points.
“I’ve checked it carefully,” Hu Yu Ying insisted softly. “You really only scored nine. And two of those points are for how tidy your paper is—extra credit.”
“So… I only got 7 points?” Long Ao Tian struggled to accept it.
That was bad enough, but what hurt most was knowing he’d poured effort into every answer, only to get such a low score!
Hu Yu Ying looked at him, lost in self-doubt, and quietly suggested, “Brother Long, maybe this problem should be solved like this…”
She started working through it on scrap paper, swiftly calculating a complete formula.
Every step was explained clearly and logically.
Long Ao Tian only glanced at her: not that he understood it, but that he suddenly got it.
“And what about this problem? I spent a lot of effort on this one,” he said.
“You made a mistake,” Hu Yu Ying said calmly. “You’re supposed to find this, but you solved for that. Please review the question carefully again, Brother Long.”
She was focused on her and her confident tone, glowing with a quiet wisdom that made her seem a whole different person.
Long Ao Tian couldn’t help but look at her a second time.
While she was explaining the problem, she didn’t notice his gaze.
He lifted his eyes to meet hers, then subconsciously touched his face: “Did I get something on my face?”
“No, it’s just that your smile is really nice,” she replied softly.
“You should smile more often.”
Hu Yu Ying bit her lip, the tips of her ears flushing pink in record time.
“It’s… it’s okay,” she murmured, nervous. She shifted slightly, fiddling with her fingers, as if only by doing tiny, continuous gestures could she hide her fluttering heart and bashful feelings…
