Chapter 91: Reviewing the Old to Know the New
To be honest, for regulars like Chen Mo and Huang Mao, pizza was nothing special.
It was the kind of thing that only tasted good the first few times.
Once you got used to it, it was just so-so.
But for someone who had never tried it, the sight of the gooey, stringy cheese pull was incredibly appetizing.
Even though Huang Mao mentioned a discount, it wasn't as if Zhao Yuanyuan didn't know how sales worked.
Even at 25% off, it wasn't exactly cheap.
Still, trying it just once wouldn't hurt.
Every year on her birthday, her grandparents would give her a hundred-yuan bill as a gift.
One hundred yuan was enough to buy one or two pizzas for a taste.
But that would use up all her money at once.
She also wanted to save some money to buy a birthday cake to share with her grandparents and little sister at home.
So her budget was pretty tight.
Zhao Yuanyuan knew that among her friends, Chen Mo and Huang Mao were both well-off.
But she was still self-conscious about spending other people's money, especially for her own birthday.
She saw Chen Mo as a big brother, so she didn't mind running errands for him and grabbing a few bites on his dime now and then.
But spending a lot of his money in one go would still make her feel guilty.
It was just like that time Chen Mo had tried to give her fifty yuan.
She didn't even dare to take it.
Seeing Zhao Yuanyuan hesitate, Chen Mo smiled and ruffled her hair. "It's your birthday. All you have to do is wait for your presents. Don't worry about the rest. This is your last birthday during our high school years, so just leave it to me. Huang Mao, Yuqing, and I will plan everything for you."
Hearing this, Zhao Yuanyuan glanced at the three of them. When she saw them all looking at her with such fond, indulgent smiles, her eyes began to sting, and a warm feeling spread through her chest.
But Zhao Yuanyuan rarely cried in front of others, so she forced back the tears of gratitude.
Tonight's evening study hall was personally supervised by their homeroom teacher, He Xiaoyun.
The moment she walked in, she shot Chen Mo a satisfied smile.
Both the math teacher and the PE teacher had already spoken to her about how outstanding Chen Mo was.
She hadn't expected Chen Mo to suddenly jump from scoring around 120 to getting a perfect score in math.
Even a top student couldn't guarantee a perfect score every time they wanted one.
It's hard to avoid making mistakes.
Mistakes can slip through even after checking two or three times.
However, Chen Mo had a level of focus that ordinary people didn't have.
When he tapped into that focus, it was nearly impossible for him to make a careless error.
Now that the math teacher had confirmed Chen Mo's score, He Xiaoyun was starting to think the bet he'd made with her hadn't been just a bluff.
She found herself actually looking forward to Chen Mo's midterm exam results.
What homeroom teacher wouldn't want a super-genius in their class?
After all, the honor of nurturing a top scorer in the college entrance exams was immense.
It was an honor that would bring glory to one's family for generations.
Of course, it was too early to be thinking about him becoming the top student in the school, but the more top-ten students a teacher had in their grade, the greater their own prestige.
It meant you could hold your head a little higher among the other teachers.
She naturally hoped that Chen Mo would win their bet.
But even if Chen Mo's grades were just average, it didn't really matter anymore.
The PE teacher, Tian Jing, had told her about Chen Mo's athletic potential.
With such extraordinary potential, if he went to an athletic university, aimed for the Olympics, and actually made it big one day, then as a teacher from his alma mater and as his homeroom teacher, she would still share in his glory.
So now, in He Xiaoyun's eyes, Chen Mo was an incredibly precious, promising talent.
Naturally, she found him much more pleasing to the eye.
Since their homeroom teacher was supervising tonight, the usual game-filled study hall suddenly became a picture of good behavior.
Even the troublemakers would at least prop up a book to hide behind while they secretly played on their phones.
You had to at least show some superficial respect.
Meanwhile, in Chen Mo's group of four, Su Yuqing and Zhao Yuanyuan had both turned their chairs around as he'd instructed earlier, forming a small study circle.
Seeing that they were actually studying, He Xiaoyun didn't say anything about their arrangement.
In a low voice, Chen Mo was guiding them through the mistakes they'd made on that day's math problems.
The math teacher had already gone over most of the frequently missed problems in class.
But he hadn't touched on the less common ones.
And these scattered mistakes tended to be different for each student.
Take Su Yuqing, Zhao Yuanyuan, and Huang Mao, for example.
They each had their own unique way of getting things wrong.
Zhao Yuanyuan was the most prone to careless calculation errors.
Huang Mao, on the other hand, struggled to apply the formulas smoothly.
Su Yuqing was the best of the three; she only really struggled with the more difficult problems.
After Chen Mo explained things using simple, easy-to-understand methods, their perspectives broadened considerably.
The reason Chen Mo could explain everything so methodically was that in his previous timeline, on top of his regular schooling, he had constantly supplemented his studies at home with online courses and various tutoring classes.
He had one teacher in particular who was an expert lecturer, always able to break down difficult problems in a way that was simple and easy to grasp.
Through constant exposure, he had memorized these vivid and intuitive examples.
Rote memorization doesn't leave a lasting impression; this teaching method, on the other hand, was far more memorable.
After a full evening of Chen Mo's tutoring, while you couldn't say their math skills had improved by leaps and bounds, they had definitely seen a small boost.
But Chen Mo wasn't just giving without getting anything in return.
As he explained the concepts to them, he was also reinforcing his own understanding of the material.
He reviewed all the various formulas and calculation methods, gaining new insights in the process.
Time really flew by when studying.
Su Yuqing, Zhao Yuanyuan, and Huang Mao felt like no time had passed at all before study hall was over.
They had been completely engrossed in the lesson.
At one point, He Xiaoyun quietly passed by their group and overheard Chen Mo's practiced, confident way of teaching. She couldn't help but feel even more surprised by him.
She felt as if, after just one weekend, her student had transformed into a completely different person.
The current Chen Mo looked the same as before, but she had a nagging feeling that he possessed a maturity far beyond his years.
He Xiaoyun was surprised at herself for having such a bizarre thought.
Study hall ended, and school was let out for the day. Chen Mo once again took Su Yuqing out to eat.
His goal was to kill some more time.
The later they stayed out, the less time there would be to deal with the door.
What Chen Mo didn't realize was that he didn't need to resort to all these tricks. He could have achieved his goal just by insisting that Su Yuqing sleep in the same room as him.
After enjoying their late-night snack, the two returned home. Chen Mo glanced over at Wang Lulu's aunt's apartment and, sure enough, saw her peeking out the window again. He was left speechless. He couldn't help but suspect she'd been waiting there for ages just to get some gossip. 'That woman must be incredibly bored,' he thought.