Li Fugui was naturally woken up by the rich, savory aroma. Without even opening his eyes, he muttered, "What do you think she’s cooking so early in the morning?"
Teacher Lin was also woken by the scent. She turned over. "I don’t know. That girl is always busy making food, yet her grades haven’t suffered at all."
Li Fugui sniffed the air and found he couldn’t stay in bed any longer. "Forget it, I’m getting up. I’ll go out and buy some steamed buns and savory pockets in a bit."
Li Fugui would never demand his wife do the same just because Tan You was busy making delicious food. He and Teacher Lin were both teachers with their own classes to prepare for. Where would they find the time for something like this?
You could say that Li Fugui never asked his wife to do things he couldn’t do himself. He truly never imposed his expectations on her.
The two eggplants ended up making a whole basket of fried eggplant pockets. After draining the oil, Tan You filled two large lunch boxes, leaving only a few pieces for herself. By then, lunch was also ready: a simple stir-fried pork, steamed eggs, and a seaweed soup.
After putting the prepared lunch in the refrigerator, Tan You left with the two lunch boxes. As luck would have it, she ran into Li Fugui, who was heading out to get breakfast, right as she walked out the door. Tan You casually handed him the smaller of the two boxes. "For Guoguo’s breakfast. I just made them this morning."
The moment Li Fugui heard it was for his son, he immediately took it. "Great! I’ll thank you on his behalf. You’ve been bustling about since dawn; the smell woke me right up."
"Saves me a trip to buy breakfast."
Tan You waved at Li Fugui. "I’m heading to the classroom. Goodbye, Teacher."
Li Fugui returned to his apartment with the lunch box. His neighbor, Huang Ruixiang, pushed his door open. "Teacher Li, you’ve gotta share the wealth! It’s not good to keep all the good stuff for yourself."
Li Fugui looked at the lunch box, then back at Huang Ruixiang. "You’d steal food from a child? Forget it. Just come over for breakfast in a bit."
Of course, Tan You had no idea what was happening back with Li Fugui. She was now near Yin Xiu’s dorm. When she got there, Yin Xiu and the others were just leaving. Yin Xiu, Gu Qiuxia, and Cao Haiyan were renting rooms in the same house, so the three of them were always inseparable.
Seeing the fried eggplant pockets Tan You brought, Gu Qiuxia was so moved she was on the verge of tears. "Tan You, you’re too good to me! Even my own mom has never fried eggplant pockets for me in the morning. But you, you’re feeding me every other day."
"When I call home, my mom even says I’m so lucky to have met you!"
Tan You ruffled her hair with a helpless sigh. "Eat slowly. I don’t make this stuff every day. It’s just that my mom got me all these ingredients, so I figured I might as well make them."
Yin Xiu was the model of a good student; she dedicated nearly all her free time to studying. After eating a couple of eggplant pockets outside the classroom, she pulled Tan You inside, mainly to discuss their studies.
As for Gu Qiuxia and Cao Haiyan, they were like two happy little mice, gleefully munching away bite after bite outside. A few students who arrived early also got to join in on the delicious share-out.
When Li Fugui came to the classroom to supervise the morning reading session, Tan You was still staring intently at a math competition problem. Her Intelligence Value had suddenly increased by 9 points, and Tan You felt like her brain had never been this sharp.
She could basically solve these introductory-level math competition problems after looking at them for just a few minutes. And mind you, this was from her figuring them out on her own, not with a teacher’s guidance.
Li Fugui stood beside her for a long time. Seeing that Tan You hadn’t noticed him, he slowly walked away. Of course, only he knew what he was planning.
As it happened, Li Fugui was supervising the math evening self-study session that night. After entering the classroom, the first thing Li Fugui did was look at Tan You. Tan You paused for a second, then met his gaze without a shred of guilt.
Li Fugui said with a broad smile, "Originally, I was going to go over the major problems from the placement test with you all today. How about this? Let’s have Tan You say a few words first? Why don’t you start by explaining the last problem?"
Tan You knew exactly what he was up to. ’She wasn’t flustered. If he wants me to explain, then I’ll explain. It’s not like I’ve never been a math teacher before.’
So, Tan You took her test paper and went up to the teacher’s podium. Meanwhile, Li Fugui unceremoniously sat down in Tan You’s seat. Spotting the math competition problem book on her desk, he started flipping through it as if it were his own.
’I remember she was on page 21 this morning, but now she’s already on page 31? And the answers are all correct... But the crucial part is, she only wrote down the final answers, with no detailed steps for solving them.’
’Could this all be her work from just today? Has she had another breakthrough in math?’ Li Fugui flipped through a couple more pages, gradually falling into deep thought.
On the podium, Tan You’s poise was incredible. Even the most disruptive students in the class were now sitting quietly, and it seemed like they were actually taking in everything she was saying.
She lectured like this for the entire class period. When the bell rang, Tan You gathered her papers. "We’ll continue next class. Take a ten-minute break."
Cao Haiyan glanced at Li Fugui, who was sitting diagonally across from her, then back at Tan You. ’Tan You really seems more like a teacher than Teacher Li does,’ she thought. ’I can’t help but get distracted during Teacher Li’s classes, but with Tan You at the podium, I’ve been completely focused for this entire period.’
Cao Haiyan wasn’t the only one who thought this. As soon as the break started, the students began talking amongst themselves. The consensus was clear: Tan You’s explanation was excellent; at the very least, everyone had understood it.
Li Fugui stood up and tapped the podium, gesturing for Tan You to follow him out. Puzzled, Tan You followed Li Fugui to his small office.
Li Fugui cleared his throat. "Are you sure you don’t want to pursue math competitions? Our school may not have a math competition team, but other schools do."
Tan You wasn’t so bold as to think an Intelligence Value of 70 was enough to conquer the world. She immediately shook her head. "I’m just interested in it. Math is a game for smart people. Teacher, if you really want to help me, could you help me gather some specialized books on math competitions?"
"I looked for them at the bookstore before, but I only found a few."
At this thought, Tan You slapped her forehead, feeling like she was making things unnecessarily difficult for herself. ’Isn’t Editor Chen from Hai City? I should have asked him! He can definitely find more books on math competitions than I can.’
Li Fugui pondered for a moment. "Alright. I have a former classmate who teaches at Hai City No. 2 High School. Their competition teams are quite famous. I’ll ask him for you later."
Tan You smiled. "Then I’ll have to trouble you, Teacher. I’m just looking for a bit of fun. Otherwise, studying all the time is so boring, isn’t it?"
Li Fugui chuckled and chided her playfully, "If other people heard you say that, can you imagine how envious they’d be? That’s some serious showing off."
Tan You pouted. "Well, I can’t just sit in the classroom and space out, can I? I have to find something to do."
’Comparatively speaking, studying math competition problems in class is a much better and more acceptable use of my time than writing a novel, right?’ Speaking of novels, Tan You felt it was about time she started thinking about making money.