Please, I'm Trying to Study, Your Highness! - chapter 43

The next day.

Afternoon, in the dedicated classroom for the math competition group.

I was buried in a complex combinatorics problem.

Just as I was about to finish constructing the logical model for the solution, Xu Hao, who had chosen to sit next to me today, gently nudged me with his elbow.

“Hey, Xiao Huihui, did you hear?”

He lowered his voice, “Teacher Zhang from our math group isn’t going to teach us anymore.”

My hand paused mid-solution, leaving an awkward ink blot on the white scratch paper.

“What happened?”

“Apparently, the Education Bureau urgently transferred him to a remote mountainous area in the northwest to support education there.”

Xu Hao clicked his tongue, his tone full of regret.

“There wasn’t a hint of this. He was still assigning us coursework yesterday, and today he’s just gone.”

Teacher Zhang… went to teach in a support program?

The news was so sudden that my mind couldn’t immediately process the change.

A seasoned competition teacher at a key city high school, suddenly transferred to a remote area?

It didn’t make sense.

After all, I’d just benefited from his help yesterday and hadn’t had the chance to properly thank him…

“That’s impossible,” I said, puzzled.

“Teacher Zhang’s teaching level is among the best in the whole grade. Why would the school…”

I picked up the thread, intending to ask for more details and analyze the deeper reasons.

Xu Hao shook his head, just about to say something more.

“Xu Hao.”

A gentle voice came from the front row.

“Please don’t chat during self-study time. You’ll disturb others.”

It was Shen Ruanruan.

She didn’t turn around, just sat upright in her seat, flipping through a thick original edition book.

But her soft words landed on Xu Hao like an invisible command.

His expressive face went blank; he mouthed a helpless apology to me, then sat up straight, resigned.

I had no choice but to suppress my questions and refocus on the problem in front of me.

The unconventional event of “Teacher Zhang being transferred” became an unknown variable X, lurking in the corner of my mind’s background.

…

The sand in the hourglass trickled down as formulas were derived and problems solved.

The dismissal bell rang right on time.

Other members of the competition group packed up one after another.

I closed my workbook, gathered my study materials into my backpack, slung it over my shoulder, and had barely taken a few steps.

“Lin Classmate, please wait a moment.”

Shen Ruanruan walked over gracefully.

“Here’s the thing.”

“For today’s set of competition problems, a few of your solutions… The new Teacher Li looked them over and found some issues.”

She held the problem set I’d worked on that afternoon, her manner official. “Teacher Li just messaged me, specifically asking me as group leader to help explain and correct them for you, so you don’t go down the wrong path.”

The new Teacher Li? That’s fast.

My brow furrowed instinctively.

If the teacher found problems, why didn’t he come to explain them himself?

Shen Ruanruan’s keen observation clearly picked up on my doubt.

She added gently, “Teacher Li had a family emergency and left right after assigning tasks on his phone.”

“He said your fundamentals are solid, just that you need to pay attention to some details. He asked me to pass on the explanations, and the effect will be the same.”

The explanation was reasonable.

It accounted for the teacher’s absence and, based on “the teacher’s request” and “the group leader’s duty,” put me under a kind of pressure that was hard to refuse.

I glanced at the sky outside, already growing dark, then at the paper in her hand, which indeed had several red marks.

After some thought, I put my backpack down again.

“Then… sorry to trouble you, Shen Classmate.”

“It’s no trouble. We’re group members, after all. Helping each other is what we should do.” She smiled, pulled over a chair, and sat across from me.

I took out my pen and scratch paper, ready to listen.

But this time, I was twelve times more cautious.

“Look, for this ellipse tangent equation, the final competition problem…”
Her explanations were, as always, thorough and well-organized.

With a red neutral pen, she circled the problematic parts and, starting from basic axioms, explained other rigorous derivation methods.

Being tutored one-on-one by the top student in the grade-there’s no need to elaborate on how good the learning experience feels.

But I had learned from my previous mistakes and didn’t let myself relax because of it.

Only about a third of my attention was on her explanations.

The other two-thirds were devoted to closely monitoring the distance between us.

“Lin Classmate, although using the point difference method is quick, if you don’t write out the full derivation during a competition or exam, it’s very easy to lose marks for missing steps…”

Whenever Shen Ruanruan got too absorbed in explaining the problem and looked like she was about to lean closer, I would immediately speak up and remind her.

“Shen Classmate, you’re repeating your old habit again.”

“Ah… sorry.”

She would pull back, embarrassed, and then continue the discussion as if nothing had happened.

And this scene repeated several times throughout the rest of the explanation.

A problem that should have taken just over ten minutes to finish ended up being dragged out for nearly half an hour.

Once I was sure that I had thoroughly understood the final point of confusion, I stood up without a second thought and packed my bag as quickly as possible.

“Thank you, Shen Classmate. I’ll get going now.”

I was almost desperate to leave this uncomfortable space for two.

“Lin Classmate.”

Shen Ruanruan called out to me again, her gentle tone carrying a hint of urgency.

I turned back, feeling a bit impatient, silently asking with my eyes what else she wanted.

She stood where she was, the intense focus she’d had while explaining now faded from her beautiful face, leaving only gentleness.

“About what happened yesterday… really, I want to thank you so much.”

She clutched the test paper in both hands, hanging in front of her. “If it weren’t for you, I truly wouldn’t have known what to do.”

“…To express my gratitude, may I treat you… to dinner?”

“No need.” I immediately declined politely. “The biggest credit should go to Teacher Zhang; I didn’t really help much.”

“That’s not okay.”

Shen Ruanruan stared straight at me without blinking, her eyes filled with an almost stubborn sincerity.

“When I was trapped in that dark and terrifying place, it was you who stayed with me, comforted me, and protected me.

“If I can’t even properly express my thanks with a meal, I’ll feel guilty for the rest of my life.”

“Uh, Shen Classmate, really, there’s no need…”

“Lin Classmate.”

Shen Ruanruan’s voice gradually lowered.

“Does… having a meal with me make you uncomfortable?”

A strong sense of disappointment radiated from her, visibly thick in the air.

“Or… do you dislike me so much that you won’t even give me a chance to say thank you?”

This fragile, gentle question was almost impossible to refuse.

It sounded like a request, but in reality, it was a form of irresistible moral coercion.

I was caught in a dilemma.

If I refused, it would mean admitting that I ‘dislike’ her.

But outwardly, I played the role of the ‘ordinary Goblin’ who remained basically friendly to everyone.

I absolutely could not do anything to break this fundamental persona.

If I agreed, it would mean stepping into a one-on-one social setting unrelated to studying-

As an energy-saving minimalist who just wanted to study in peace, this would be a pointless drain on my energy.

Just as I was rapidly weighing the pros and cons, thinking about how to escape this predicament without tearing down my persona or turning things ugly-

“Oh my, seems like I’ve come at the wrong time.”

A sweet, honeyed voice drifted in from the open door of the study room.

Shen Ruanruan and I turned at the same time.

We saw Xia Shiyu leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, her signature sweet smile on her face.

“Xiao Huihui, school’s over, and you’re still discussing homework with Ruanruan?”

The blue-and-white school jacket was draped casually over her shoulders, giving her a lively, graceful air.

Her peach blossom eyes darted between Shen Ruanruan and me, her tone lilting at the end.

“So hardworking, really… you’re making us ordinary students feel a lot of pressure.”