"Alright, everyone settle down." Ye Shuang walked to the podium and adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose—perhaps because of his familiar face, the students below immediately began whispering among themselves.
"Isn't that the school doctor from the third infirmary? What’s going on? Why is he teaching math in Class A?"
"I think he’s also Bai Yuyou’s guardian."
"No idea, but I heard the math teacher’s sister is giving birth, so he had to go take care of her… though I don’t get why."
"Wow, don’t you think this school doctor is so handsome? He’s like a carbon copy of Takeshi Kaneshiro. No wonder girls have been talking about the hot uncle at the third infirmary for ages."
Ye Shuang tapped the edge of the blackboard with a chalkboard eraser, and the sharp sound instantly silenced the class.
"Your math teacher had an emergency, so I’m filling in for today… Take out your test papers. We’ll continue going over them."
Having worked as a teacher during his university social practice, Ye Shuang handled the class with ease, every bit the seasoned educator.
"Let’s look at question 12. Given the function y=f(X) is an increasing function defined on R, the function y=f(X-1)…" After explaining the problem, Ye Shuang’s gaze landed on a certain girl. "Tang Keke, what’s the range of values?"
Tang Keke, sporting a bump on her head, stood up and stammered out an answer.
Ye Shuang simply gave her a look before continuing, "Come up to the board and write out the steps to solve it."
Tang Keke: "…"
This was revenge!
Absolutely revenge!
Big Bro is making things hard for me!
Tang Keke’s face twisted in misery. Not only had Ye Shuang given her a bump earlier, but now he was putting her on the spot in class.
"Big Bro has no teacher’s ethics," Tang Keke muttered to Bai Yuyou beside her.
Bai Yuyou thought for a moment. "Ye Shuang… isn’t actually a teacher, though."
Tang Keke: "…"
Seeing Tang Keke’s expression, Ye Shuang couldn’t help but feel amused. The corner of his lips curled slightly—this girl was always teaching Bai Yuyou nonsense. Still, he didn’t actually intend to make things difficult for her. After all, he’d tutored her before and knew her level well.
With that, he turned and wrote the solution on the board before continuing the lesson.
Considering both Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke’s shaky foundations, Ye Shuang explained everything in meticulous detail, ensuring no one would fall behind just from bending down to pick up a pencil.
Some students who usually struggled found themselves actually understanding the material for once, and they began paying closer attention.
Maybe being a teacher wouldn’t be so bad?
As Ye Shuang wrote problems on the board, the thought crossed his mind. But teaching these days was exhausting, and he quickly dismissed the idea.
If he really wanted to build a career, he could always accept Chen’s Father’s offer and start at the top of a company. But Ye Shuang preferred the slower pace of his current life—watching over that girl’s growth was enough for him.
True freedom was rare. People often shackled themselves, unwittingly becoming slaves to emotions or servants of ambition.
Having realized that, Ye Shuang no longer dwelled on it.
Class ended before anyone noticed. Many students seemed reluctant to leave, their initial skepticism about a school doctor teaching math completely overturned. In just one lesson, Ye Shuang had won over the entire class—and some even found it strange that he knew every student’s name.
"Alright, discuss among yourselves if you’re interested. Class dismissed." With that, Ye Shuang grabbed his lesson plan and test papers and left.
The moment he was gone, Tang Keke flopped onto the desk with a dramatic stretch. "Finally over. I felt like Big Bro was gonna call on me any second."
Bai Yuyou tilted her head. "Why?"
"No reason… I’m gonna nap for a bit." Tang Keke suddenly added, "Yuyou, let me use your lap as a pillow. The desk’s too hard."
"Okay…"
"Hey, don’t grab my backpack?!"
——
Back in the infirmary, Ye Shuang removed his glasses and rubbed his temples before setting the test papers aside.
"Hm?" It was only then that he noticed a new item on his desk—a laptop. He frowned slightly. The infirmary door had been locked. Who could’ve come in?
As far as he knew, the only people with keys to the third infirmary were himself and An Shiyu.
"Is this yours, An Shiyu?"
"Yep."
A voice came from behind. Ye Shuang turned to see An Shiyu sitting on one of the beds, gaming with headphones on. The curtain had blocked his view earlier, so he hadn’t noticed her when he entered.
"Why’d you put a laptop on my desk?" Ye Shuang asked as he sat down.
"Bought it for you," An Shiyu said.
"?" Ye Shuang blinked, confused.
Still focused on her game, the screen’s glow illuminating her face, An Shiyu replied in her usual offhand tone, "An infirmary should have a computer, right? Makes your job easier."
"Don’t thank me too much."
Ye Shuang remained expressionless. "The truth, please."
"Bought too many games recently. Need something to play them on."
"…"
Ye Shuang had a feeling the infirmary was slowly becoming An Shiyu’s personal lounge. Case in point: the Pikachu plush now occupying the last bed—clearly her doing. Who even turns an infirmary into their private space?!
But he didn’t bother arguing. After all, An Shiyu’s goal from the start had been finding a place to skip class and laze around.
Just then, An Shiyu hopped off the bed and sauntered over with her signature swagger before plopping down beside him.
"Play with me."
"No."
"Tch. No gamer spirit."
"Don’t need your approval." Ye Shuang glanced at her leg. "How’s the injury?"
An Shiyu kept her eyes on the screen. "What injury?"
"Where I applied the medicine."
"Oh. Fine." She stretched her leg and went back to her laptop.
Ye Shuang paused, then pointed at her other leg. "I treated that one."
"Fast recovery is a ninja’s specialty." An Shiyu retracted her leg, still sounding bored. "But if you wanna touch my legs again, be my guest."
Ye Shuang: "…"