Chapter 183: Trusted Aide

Bai Zimu took a half-month leave of absence, and when he returned, it was already late autumn in the north.

With every autumn rain, it grows colder. After two consecutive rainfalls, the temperature dropped significantly, and many people put on sweaters and thick coats.

Bai Zimu was afraid of the cold and dressed a bit thicker than others. After arriving at school, he greeted his classmates in the class, as amiable as before.

The little girls in the class were all happy to see him back. During the recess, Yang Panpan even took the initiative to come over and give him a notebook, asking:

“Zimu, do you want to read it? I organized the notes from this period with my deskmate. This is a photocopied version, you can take it home and read it slowly…”

Bai Zimu shook his head and said: “No need, I already have it.”

Yang Panpan asked curiously: “Who gave it to you?”

Bai Zimu: “My brother.”

…

The same conversation happened several times within a single day.

Bai Zimu left for half a month and received an even more enthusiastic treatment than before. It was just that no matter what things the female classmates in the class gave him, he already had a copy over there, and didn’t keep any.

If it were anyone else, the boys in the class might make a few sour remarks, but towards Bai Zimu, they didn’t dare to say a single word.

As usual, a few boys surrounded Lei Dongchuan. One of them said with considerable envy:

“Zimu’s popularity is truly good. I don’t even know, the girls in our class specially saved a test paper for him.”

Another said: “What’s that? You didn’t see just now, during the long recess last period, people from other classes upstairs even came over to bring him food…”

Hearing this, Lei Dongchuan looked up and asked:

“Who?”

The boy beside him processed for a moment, then understood and immediately said:

“That person from the outside class? It’s a kid from the second year of high school, came over with Yang Panpan’s younger sister. Seems his name is Zhou Yuqi.”

Lei Dongchuan didn’t ask further.

He knew Zhou Yuqi. He was a little buddy Bai Zimu usually played quite well with. When they first started school, the two even attended the preschool class together for a while. Zhou Yuqi was extremely honest and timid, normally unable to even speak smoothly when standing in front of him, not knowing what he was afraid of. Furthermore, he was a boy, so there was nothing… Thinking up to here, Lei Dongchuan suddenly furrowed his brows.

No, he was also male.

Lei Dongchuan stared at the front row of the classroom. After watching for a while, he suddenly felt somewhat unhappy.

After enduring it for a moment, he still couldn’t hold back and got up to go over. He was tall and sturdy. When he stood beside Bai Zimu’s desk, a few girls gathered around were startled. After calling out “Class Monitor”, they honestly sat back in their own seats.

Lei Dongchuan looked down at Bai Zimu’s desk. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] It was quite clean, with only a strawberry-flavored lollipop.

Lei Dongchuan shifted his gaze away from that candy, looked at the test papers on the side, furrowed his brows and said:

“Just do these once at home. I’ve already explained the key points and taken notes well. Also this—”

Bai Zimu picked up that lollipop, and secretly stuffed it into Lei Dongchuan’s hand following his sleeve.

Lei Dongchuan gripped it once, gathering his hand and that candy together in his palm, “What does this mean?”

Bai Zimu blinked, smiled and said:

“Went out to buy it during the long recess. Brother, hardship fee for you.”

“Hardship fee?”

“Wages for tutoring me.”

The fingers in his palm moved a bit, pressing the candy there, and then left.

Lei Dongchuan felt as if his palm had been slightly electrocuted. Remaining calm and collected, he put away that piece of candy, also gathered up those test papers and said vaguely:

“Too many, put them in my schoolbag first, I’ll carry them home for you after school.”

For the next few classes, Lei Dongchuan was half-listening and half-watching.

His ears were listening to the content the teacher was lecturing, but his eyes were watching the person sitting in the front row.

This state of his had some problems. He was called out by the homeroom teacher to answer a question once, and was reminded once, only then reining in his thoughts.

After school.

The homeroom teacher called Lei Dongchuan and a few class committee members to the office to get test papers, preparing to distribute them to everyone to take back and do.

Dongchang High School was also divided into boarding and day-school students. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Boarding students would stay in the classroom for evening self-study, while day-school students could come or study at home; there was no mandatory requirement. Just one point: the distributed test papers must be completed the next day. The entire year of time was soaked in various test papers, sprinting for the final college entrance examination.

Bai Zimu sat in the classroom waiting.

Du Ming hadn’t left either. He dragged a chair over and sat on the side. He was particularly happy seeing Bai Zimu back, and sat there accompanying him in talking for a while.

“…The people in the department treat Old Fang extremely well. Oh right, Old Fang is the deputy manager now. When we went over last time, saw quite a few people calling him ‘Manager Fang’!”

Du Ming looked excited, even prouder than if he had become manager himself. Besides reporting on work, he didn’t forget to gossip, winking and saying:

“Heard there are even people wanting to matchmake for Old Fang, introduced quite a few girls!”

Bai Zimu: “What did Old Fang say?”

Du Ming: “Old Fang said he wasn’t interested. He’s only wholeheartedly thinking about work right now.”

Bai Zimu nodded and said:

“Old Fang is quite ambitious about his career, and his ability is also not bad. It’s fine to talk about these things a few years later.”

The two chatted about the events during this period. Bai Zimu asked Du Ming, and Du Ming answered everything he was asked.

There were many little followers around Lei Dongchuan. If talking about who was the most capable, Fang Qi, Du Ming, and Sun Xiaojiu were not bad among them. But if talking about being observant and perceptive, Du Ming was the standout among them. He was the most obedient to Bai Zimu. From the earliest days of doing the bracelet business, Du Ming knew that in their small team, the person whose words carried the most weight wasn’t actually Boss Lei, but Bai Zimu.

The one speaking up outside was their boss, but the person hiding behind making the decisions was this one.

Bai Zimu asked: “Who has my brother been getting close to recently? Did he encounter anything?”

“Things over at Baichuan have been going quite smoothly, for specifics you still have to ask Old Fang. If talking about school—”

Du Ming paused slightly, leaned closer and whispered:

“Just last week, the boss didn’t do well on the math diagnostic test. Once during evening self-study, he was seen by the teacher using his phone, and wrote a self-criticism letter… The teacher was worried he was in puppy love, but the boss has always sat in the back row by himself, and hasn’t been seen getting close to anyone.”

Even Du Ming was puzzled.

He followed beside the boss all day long, and hadn’t seen a single female.

Bai Zimu thought for a moment. Today his brother did talk to a few female classmates, but they were all class representatives for various subjects, and all they talked about was distributing homework. If talking about interaction, those female classmates spoke to him many more times than they spoke to his brother.

While Bai Zimu was zoning out, he suddenly heard someone call out to him.

Looking up, he saw Lei Dongchuan walking over carrying a stack of test papers with a few people. The others all put the test papers on the podium, but his brother headed straight here, without even putting down the test papers.

Lei Dongchuan walked over, slapped that stack of test papers on Bai Zimu’s desk with a smack, stood on the side faintly enveloping the person in his shadow, stared at Du Ming and asked:

“What are you talking about? Chatting for so long.”

Du Ming felt guilty, smiled and said: “Just chatting casually, haven’t seen Zimu for a long time, missed him.”

Lei Dongchuan’s brows furrowed, feeling a burst of unhappiness in his heart. But before he could act out, he saw Bai Zimu turn around, pat his arm and smile:

“Brother, just now Du Ming was telling me about school matters. So many test papers were distributed last week, did you take good notes on what the teacher lectured?”

Lei Dongchuan said: “I have notes.”

Not his own, but he got several copies, and picked the best notebook.

Bai Zimu said: “Then when we get home tonight, help tutor me. I’ve been away for so long, definitely can’t keep up with everyone.”

Lei Dongchuan: “Okay.”

Du Ming: “…”

Du Ming looked on eagerly as Bai Zimu coaxed the person well just like this, took his homework and led him away.

Du Ming breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like cold sweat broke out on his back after the boss glared at him just now.

Truly quite scary.

Bai Zimu’s “tutoring” was highly effective. In just a short week, it improved Lei Dongchuan’s math by a small margin. For more than a month afterwards, he kept a close eye on the after-school tutoring time every day. Whichever subject Lei Dongchuan was weak in, he “tutored” that subject.

Later on, Lei Dongchuan vaguely perceived something, but the time was too long and he was deeply mired in it, somewhat unable to distinguish true from false. He probed:

“You got this physics resistance problem wrong too?”

Bai Zimu nodded and said: “Right, you taught me. I even thought writing it like this was correct. As soon as the test paper was handed in, the teacher deducted points from me.”

That trace of doubt in Lei Dongchuan’s heart completely dissipated, leaving only guilt. He lowered his head, flipped through the book and said:

“Let me look carefully again. Wait a moment, I’ll explain it to you after I finish reading.”

Bai Zimu rested his cheek on one hand and gave a “hmm”.

Mother Lei cut some fruit and brought it over. Seeing the study room door open, she stood at the door and was just about to come in, when she saw Bai Zimu giving her a secret signal, mouthing for her to wait a short moment.

Mother Lei pursed her lips into a smile, nodded, pointed at the fruit, and then pointed at the living room outside.

Bai Zimu blinked, and also nodded.

—Eat after finishing writing, there’s more in the living room.

—Received.