Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 12 Did you do this on purpose?

To be honest, Han Zhou felt very uneasy when he stepped into Mo Yixia's house.

He was afraid that as soon as he entered the house, several burly men would jump out and kick him in the leg, forcing him to his knees. Struggling to look up, he saw Jiang Baiqian with her arms crossed, holding an iron rod as thick as a bowl in her hand, her voice as cold as ice.

What did you take my daughter to do yesterday?

Fortunately, his worries were unnecessary. Jiang Baiqian remained very enthusiastic, not only asking about his well-being but also apologizing for the power outage yesterday, which forced him to go outside in the rain and delayed his normal time to leave work.

Han Zhou felt a little guilty and repeatedly said it was okay.

As if she had just thought of something, Jiang Baiqian suddenly handed him a key card and said with a smile, "This is the key card for the community. I didn't think it through before, which has made it inconvenient for you to come and go now. You have to ask Xiaxia to pick you up."

It's really inconvenient.

Han Zhou wholeheartedly agreed with this, and suddenly recalled the embarrassment he felt yesterday afternoon when he left the community alone without a access card. The security guard looked at him like he was a suspicious person and was unwilling to open the door for him.

He put the access card away: "Thank you, I really need this."

After exchanging a few more polite words, Jiang Baiqian, seeing that the time was about right, couldn't wait to get to the point: "Classes start today, where does Teacher Han plan to begin?"

"I saw your daughter's test paper yesterday. Judging from her answers, she still has a lot of room for improvement in math. Her problems are mainly concentrated in solid geometry and..."

"I didn't expect Teacher Han to be so well prepared."

Jiang Baiqian listened very attentively. Seeing that the other party had pointed out so many problems in one go, she seemed a little surprised and asked, "What about physics? Xiaxia's physics grades are not very good either."

I did the physics problem, how would I know where her problem lay...?

Han Zhou looked serious and changed the subject: "I plan to leave physics for the afternoon. In the morning, we'll mainly talk about math. Actually, there are quite a few related knowledge points between math and physics."

Jiang Baiqian nodded, then smiled somewhat shyly: "To be honest, I don't really understand these things, and I haven't been able to help Xiaxia with her studies much, so I'll have to trouble you to pay more attention."

Her expression was very sincere, which touched Han Zhou. At least she was still a mother who wholeheartedly cared for her daughter, though she was going a little too far. He wondered if she knew about Mo Yixia's suicidal thoughts...

Han Zhou did not intend to interfere excessively in other people's family affairs, but promised, "Don't worry, I will do my best to raise your daughter well."

"Then please."

When Han Zhou entered the study, Mo Yixia was already sitting at the desk waiting. She was still dressed the same way, covering her face with a hat and mask.

As he approached, Mo Yixia reached out and handed him a mask, asking casually, "Did my mom give you the key?"

Han Zhou's face darkened: "It's an access control system, not a key."

"Oh, so you're saying you really intend to teach me properly?"

"Otherwise, as I said yesterday, I won't go easy on you when it comes to teaching you."

Han Zhou took the mask and put it on, lowering his voice as well, "But is it okay? Your mom should know why you're wearing a mask, right?"

Mo Yixia glanced at him: "It's not 'I,' it's 'we.' We're accomplices now—it's okay, she's results-oriented, but the process can't be too sloppy either."

After a brief exchange, the two officially began their first day of lessons.

Jiang Baiqian stayed at home in the morning, and the door to her study was never closed. However, she didn't seem to intend to disturb her. Even so, Han Zhou didn't dare to be careless in the slightest and felt rather uneasy.

This is outrageous! Compared to yesterday, there's another camera installed in the study. I don't know if it's to prevent Mo Yixia from being lazy or to guard against him having any bad thoughts about his beautiful daughter.

Could it be that the joke I made at dinner yesterday was read by lip readers?

Mo Yixia didn't seem to have much resistance to learning; she listened attentively and even asked questions when she didn't understand something. However, while she studied diligently, her practical application was less than ideal. Even after a very similar example had just been explained, she couldn't get the correct answer when she tried to solve it again. "That's strange..."

Han Zhou was a little puzzled. Mo Yixia's grades in all subjects except physics and mathematics were quite good, which meant that she had the ability and that she had mastered the basic knowledge of physics and mathematics. Logically speaking, she shouldn't be doing so poorly.

The questions are clearly almost unchanged, yet he can't even apply what he's just learned. Could this guy be doing this on purpose?
Han Zhou tried explaining from several different angles. He himself was someone who had been tempered by exam-oriented education for two lifetimes, and in this life he had mastered the skill of "efficient learning". He had a deep understanding of answering techniques and could find many ways to solve problems.

Sometimes, a moment of confusion doesn't necessarily mean someone is stupid; it might just mean they've misjudged the direction of their thinking.

However, after trying all morning, Mo Yixia still made no progress, sitting there like a decoration. The only consolation was that she finally got the correct answer when doing the last simple question, although the process was not quite right...

Just then, Jiang Baiqian suddenly knocked on the study door and looked at the two people inside, saying, "Teacher Han, I'm sorry to bother you. I'm about to leave. Lunch is in the refrigerator. Xiaxia will heat it up for lunch."

"Oh, good."

After a moment's hesitation, she asked, "Um... how is Xiaxia doing with her studies? Has she made any progress?"

Before Han Zhou could speak, Mo Yixia spoke first, saying calmly, "There has been progress."

He glanced at the other person.

"Really? That's good to see improvement." Jiang Baiqian smiled broadly and encouraged her, "Keep up the good work this afternoon!"

She knew her daughter wouldn't respond, so she turned and left after saying that.

Hearing the door close, Han Zhou unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. Although he knew he was still under Jiang Baiqian's surveillance, at least she couldn't hear him anymore.

He observed Mo Yixia for a long time, then suddenly asked, "Did you do this on purpose?"

"what?"

At this moment, Mo Yixia was doing calculations on a draft paper. Her fair fingers had a red mark from holding the pen for too long, and she looked quite engrossed.

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment, then said, "You were probably pretending that you couldn't learn math, right?"

Mo Yixia suddenly stopped writing and turned to look at him, but seemingly considering the camera, she turned her head back and spoke calmly.

"Do you think I'm too idle to pretend I can't learn it, or is it that my talent for math is so bad that it seems like I'm deliberately faking it?"

"I didn't mean that, I'm sorry." Han Zhou suddenly realized he had said something stupid and quickly apologized, "It's my fault."

Mo Yixia remained silent, seemingly angry.

Han Zhou knew he was in the wrong and apologized several times. After all, his conclusion was not only baseless, but also questioned whether the other party was doing it on purpose when the other party had just shown that he was difficult to teach. This undoubtedly made him seem like he was shirking responsibility.

"I've taught you this much and you still can't learn it, so it must be your problem"—he couldn't bring himself to say something so absurd.

Han Zhou shook his head inwardly. Even if Mo Yixia really did it on purpose, what was her goal?

In the end, he and Mo Yixia had only known each other for two days at most, and she even disliked him. Asking such a brainless question in such a relationship was really too presumptuous. If it were Guzheng, there would definitely be no problem; at most, he would just get punched.

Mo Yixia had something she wanted to ask, but after thinking about it, she decided against it. She glanced at the alarm clock on the corner of the table, got up, and said, "It's almost noon, I'll go heat up the food."

"I'll help," Han Zhou said quickly.

"no need."

Mo Yixia walked into the kitchen alone without turning her head.

(End of this chapter)