Suddenly, Xie Dingyuan shouted, “Run!”
Just as Jiang Fuyue was still dazed, her hand was grabbed by a large palm. The man pulled her straight out of the circle of onlookers.
In a flash, they disappeared.
“Tch…”
“What the heck…”
“So boring…”
“Did they kiss? Did they kiss? I didn’t see clearly just now…”
“They didn’t kiss, just a tiny bit off! Just a teeny tiny bit!” Someone gestured with the tip of their pinky.
“Huh? I thought I saw them kiss—mouth to mouth…”
“I saw them kiss too!”
“No… so did they kiss or not?”
When Uncle had held Sister’s face with both hands, Little Douding had sensibly covered his eyes.
When he peeked again—
“Eh? Where’d they go? Gone!”
…
Xie Dingyuan dragged Jiang Fuyue, running madly until the street stalls behind them were out of sight. Only then did they stop.
Both of them panted where they stood, their breaths blending with the wind.
Then suddenly, they burst into laughter—
“Haha, Xie Dingyuan, your hair’s a mess. You don’t look like a national treasure at all!”
“And you’re laughing? Who do you think made me like this? Wouldn’t it have been easier if you just took the learning machine? You had to go and kiss the kid—don’t you feel ashamed?”
This was the longest sarcastic rant he had ever made.
Jiang Fuyue looked at him with new eyes. “I thought you only knew how to be snarky and passive-aggressive. Didn’t expect you to be so direct.”
Xie Dingyuan straightened up and gave her a sharp look. “Who doesn’t have a temper?”
“When you told me to cooperate earlier, I thought you were really going to kiss me…”
“What if I had kissed you?”
Jiang Fuyue tilted her head, the night breeze lifting the strands of hair around her ear, giving her a dash of bold, gallant flair. “If you did, you did. What’s there to be afraid of?”
Xie Dingyuan was slightly stunned.
“But…” she suddenly changed tone, “you probably wouldn’t have had the chance.”
“Why not?”
“If you hadn’t pulled me to run, I would’ve pulled you. So, no kiss.”
The man chuckled.
A bit relieved, but also vaguely disappointed.
In short, it was complicated.
“You looked dazed just now. What if you didn’t react in time?” he murmured hypothetically.
Wouldn’t that have let him kiss her?
But Jiang Fuyue asked back, “Would you have?”
Xie Dingyuan opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the girl answered for him—
“You definitely wouldn’t.”
He looked baffled. “Why do you think that?”
“Because a 24k titanium-alloy straight guy wouldn’t kiss a girl. They’d just question why kissing even exists, say saliva exchange is unhygienic, that it spreads germs—don’t those people get it?”
Xie Dingyuan: “……” Yep, definitely something he would’ve said before.
“So,” Jiang Fuyue spread her hands, “what’s there to be afraid of?”
So smug!
“Don’t think straight guys stay straight forever. They can change too!”
Jiang Fuyue: “Change into what? Bent?”
Xie Dingyuan choked. “Don’t talk nonsense… I meant they can become romantic.”
“Like how? Give an example.”
“Like just now, with the amicable numbers—that’s the romance of mathematicians. Pythagoras said: A friend is the mirror of your soul, like 220 and 284—intimately connected.”
Jiang Fuyue had to admit, “That’s pretty romantic.”
Then her eyes gleamed. “Do you know what the second pair of amicable numbers is?”
Xie Dingyuan replied instantly, “17,296 and 18,416.”
Jiang Fuyue gave a thumbs-up. “Third pair?”
He laughed. “Are you testing me?”
“You could say that.”
“But aren’t we talking about romance?”
Jiang Fuyue: “We’re diving deep into a mathematician’s romance. Third pair?”
Xie Dingyuan: “9,437,056 and 9,363,584.”
“Who discovered it?”
“The father of analytical geometry, Descartes.”
“Descartes’ birth and death years.”
The man smiled helplessly, but still answered with ease: “March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650.”
Jiang Fuyue: “Is there anything you don’t know?”
Xie Dingyuan: “Plenty. Is there any question you can’t ask?”
Jiang Fuyue: “Even more.”
Their eyes met—besides experiencing the romance of mathematicians, they also felt a soul-deep resonance as fellow seekers of knowledge.
“Xie Dingyuan, you’re pretty amazing.”
He smiled. “Right back at you.”
It was getting late. The two walked back.
Passing by the quiz stall, the crowd had dispersed.
The middle-aged man and Little Douding were packing up.
Only now did Jiang Fuyue notice the man was in a wheelchair, with limited mobility.
Little Douding was helping him sort books into a box. When he stood up, he even pulled the blanket back over the man’s legs.
Running around, busy like a little chubby puppy.
“Sister?” Upon seeing Jiang Fuyue, his eyes lit up with joy.
He spoke to the man, then ran toward her.
“This is for you.” It was the learning machine. Afraid she’d use the excuse of having no use for it again, he added, “You can keep it for your future baby! The lessons in this machine were written by my dad! Lots of kids got smarter after using it. Hmm… and older brothers and sisters got good grades too!”
Jiang Fuyue raised her brow, glanced at the device in her hand, and didn’t refuse again.
“Alright, then I won’t be polite.”
Little Douding glanced at her belly, eyes full of curiosity. “But Sister, when will you and Uncle have a baby?”
Jiang Fuyue: “……” Uh.
Little chubster, I really can’t answer that.
Meanwhile, Xie Dingyuan, who stood quietly beside her, had already turned red in the ears.
Little Douding didn’t need an answer to keep going: “It doesn’t matter when you have one. Whether it’s a little brother or sister, they can’t be too dumb! But it’s okay if they are, the learning machine will help!”
“Xiao Liang—” the man called out.
“Got it, Dad!” the boy replied, then waved at Jiang Fuyue, “Sister, come here! I’ve got something else for you.”
She bent down, and suddenly, a soft, milky kiss landed on her cheek.
“Sister, you’re so pretty and smell so nice—I really like you! So this kiss is your prize!”
Then he looked at Xie Dingyuan: “Uncle, you won’t get mad, right? I kissed your girlfriend.”
“Uh…”
Xie Dingyuan wanted to get mad, but… he didn’t really have the right yet.
Little Douding stuck out his tongue at him. “Doesn’t matter if you’re mad, Sister let me kiss her!”
Then he waddled back to help pack up.
Xie Dingyuan and Jiang Fuyue returned to their parked car.
The man started the engine. They left Chunfeng Street and headed toward Yutianhua Residence.
On the way, Jiang Fuyue grew curious and turned on the learning machine.
She’d thought Little Chubster was exaggerating, but to her surprise, there really was a full curriculum inside.
Not only elementary and middle school, but also university-level courses like calculus and linear algebra.
And there was only one instructor—the boy’s father. The man who, amidst the noise, sat quietly behind the stall, beside a copy of Prime Stack Theory, calm and reserved.
Jiang Fuyue randomly clicked on a calculus lesson. The more she listened, the more astonished she looked.
This level…
He was more than qualified to teach at Q University. Why was he making a living from a street stall?
She took out her phone and messaged Liu Jinzhong.
He replied, “Got it.”
After a moment’s thought, she contacted Niu Rui.
[Help me look into someone.]
He replied quickly—
[Who?]
She sent him the address—Chunfeng Street Plaza.
After some description, Niu Rui replied: [Understood. Wait for my update.]
Jiang Fuyue put down her phone and exited the learning machine course, casually checking out other functions.
It was just a regular learning machine, nothing special.
What made it valuable was the video content inside.
When they reached Qin Yang Road, traffic was heavy.
Jiang Fuyue gazed out the half-open window at the bustling traffic and vibrant lights. The cool night breeze brushed her face. She yawned contentedly—
And soon started to doze off.
She didn’t know when they arrived, but when she opened her eyes again, she saw Xie Dingyuan’s face hovering above.
He had a very beautiful pair of eyes—not the shape, but the depth. In the darkness of his pupils was a kind of light, like a black hole lost in the vast universe, radiating a tempting mystery.
Before going in, you’d never know whether it held endless darkness—or brilliance more dazzling than the stars.
But in that moment, as their eyes met, Jiang Fuyue saw her own reflection in his eyes, lit with starlight—radiant like the moon and stars.
