Chapter 24: Illusion

He could approach the class teacher, who had reached out to him last time to ask, and if he asked, he could sit with Qiao Lan immediately.

But Tan Mo doesn't want to do that.

The world and the class have their own rules for Tan Mo, even the smallest things like changing seats have their own rules and methods. Qiao Lan asked him last time why he didn't take the test if he knew how to do it, but he thought that it had nothing to do with whether he could take the test or not, but now Tan Mo has found the connection.

Qiao Lan switched to another position and was also somewhat less than happy.

Chen Yaoyang is again sitting to her left, further away from Tan Mo.

Last week, Qiao Lan felt that Tan Mo's speech had improved because she was sitting close to him, but then a week later she changed seats and could no longer talk to Tan Mo as soon as she turned her head.

She glanced back at the girl sitting in front of Tan Mo, who had pulled her table and stool forward, deliberately leaving a large space between her and Tan Mo.

Qiao Lan stared at the girl for a long time before finally moving his eyes away.

Some of Tan Mo's actions are often difficult for Qiao Lan to understand at the moment, sometimes even incorrectly, but after some time has passed, Qiao Lan can probably figure out what Tan Mo means.

For example, the last time Tan Mo ignored her because of a comment about drinking water, or the time when Tan Mo would talk to her in the Western restaurant but suddenly became mute when she arrived at school.

Tan Mo's mind is different from normal people, so sometimes it's a little difficult to understand him, but one thing that makes it easier is that whatever Tan Mo thinks, he has absolutely no evil thoughts, which means that whatever he does, he does not do her any harm, and he even does it for her benefit.

When he thinks of this, Qiao Lan feels a bit resentful and sad, so people think Tan Mo is scary, but in fact he is simpler and cleaner than anyone else.

Following this line of thought, Qiao Lan finally understood why Tan Mo did not talk to her in class, or why she did not talk to her in front of the other students.

He feared that people here would alienate her or vilify her for being close to him.

Qiao Lan's eyes are a little sore again.

She really wasn't a sentimental person, she could count on two fingers the number of times she had cried in her last life, she had grown like a weed for twenty years and now at the sight of this teenager, the softest spot of her heart was touched again and again.

There is such a person in this world who is so kind that she feels heartbroken.

Pei Ning was talking to her about a question when she suddenly noticed that Qiao Lan had lost her voice.

"What are you thinking about", Pei Ning grabbed Qiao Lan's arm, "I'm not sure about this one either, let me take a look at it..."

Qiao Lan couldn't resist turning her head to look at Tan Mo again, but met his eyes, his beautiful light-coloured eyes staring at her silently for half a day, before lowering his head again.

Qiao Lan thought she was hallucinating in her eyes, and at the moment Tan Mo lowered her head, it was as if she felt the sadness in Tan Mo's eyes, mixed with a coldness of being abandoned by the world.

Qiao Lan's fingers trembled and she suddenly shook off Pei Ning's hand, which was still on her arm.

She didn't know what was wrong.

She just had the illusion that Tan Mo didn't seem to like Pei Ning being so close to her.

"Nothing," Qiao Lan whispered, dropping her eyelashes, "or won't you."

"Qiao Lan, who could not do even Pei Ning, who could compete with Chen Yaoyang in physics and chemistry, could not do the questions, and Qiao Lan herself had no hope.

It was the end of class and none of the students in front of Tan Mo were in their seats. Qiao Lan walked over and sat in the seat in front of Tan Mo, pulling the chair that was far away from Tan Mo to a place close to Tan Mo, not caring about the stares that fell on her in the class.

Tan Mo had already seen Qiao Lan coming this way, and his hand clenched uncontrollably around his pen as he watched Qiao Lan take his seat in front of him again.

Why did she come over, she was not talking to Pei Ning, whose hand was even on her arm.

Tan Mo could not control the inexplicable and unsettling emotions that came up inside him.

He saw Qiao Lan talking to Pei Ning and he felt that he was perhaps no different to Pei Ning than Qiao Lan, no, there was a difference, he was no better than Pei Ning because he was in such pain after leaving Qiao Lan, but Qiao Lan was still talking and smiling to others.

Even though he had already thought about taking Pei Ning's place, every minute and every second of the day was unbearably difficult for him.

It was like the candle that had broken in on the darkness and was moving away from him little by little, and he was not sure that the candle would still be lit for him if he chased after it.

For normal people, there are times when they feel insecure, but for Tan Mo, he doesn't feel secure at all.

But now that Qiao Lan is here again, Tan Mo's irritation and anxiety, which he could hardly suppress, seems to have found an outlet in an instant.

Qiao Lan put the paper on the table and turned it around to face Tan Mo, "I'm looking for you, I can't get this one right.

Tan Mo's icy gaze moved away from Qiao Lan's face and settled on the back of Pei Ning's head, "You can ask him."

Qiao Lan followed Tan Mo's line of sight and turned back, "It's too hard, Pei Ning, he doesn't know how."

So they asked Pei Ning first, and only after Pei Ning didn't know how to ask him did they ask him.

Tan Mo looked down at the overly simple question in front of him and looked back up at the book in front of him, "I don't know either."

He certainly does.

Qiao Lan looked it up, and Tan Mo read a book the other day that even a college student would find very difficult.

He wouldn't.

That cold and sad look in my eyes just now was not really an illusion at all.

"Well, you won't either, so forget it."

Tan Mo's body stiffened again at the words.

That's it...forget it? Leaving again soon.

Qiao Lan took the roll back and didn't go away, flopping back down on the back of her chair, her voice light and quick, "The questions were incidental anyway."

Tan Mo froze, her eyelashes fluttering lightly, incidentally?

Qiao Lan's smiling eyes curved, "I'm mainly looking for you to talk to, you don't actively seek me out, so I have to come to you and ask how to do this question."

The candle flame, which had gradually moved away from the darkness, has returned.

Tan Mo looked at the smile on the girl's face, his fingers trembled gently, and after a long time he spoke, "Give it to me."

"What," Qiao Lan said, not responding for a moment.

"The roll."

Qiao Lan was stunned and then smiled, "Help me out, it's just this one, it's so hard."

Tan Mo picks up the pen and less than ten seconds later, the tip lands on the paper and writes a quick string of words.

It was the first time Qiao Lan had ever seen Tan Mo write, and the way he wrote so quickly, so clearly and beautifully, so confidently without thinking, Qiao Lan suddenly felt that the boy in front of him was glowing.

Qiao Lan looked at the thin, pale hand holding the pen and exclaimed, " Tan Mo, you have beautiful fingers."

Tan Mo's fingers twitched.

What is there to see in white, sickly hands.

The last word is written.

Tan Mo handed the paper back to Qiao Lan, "It's almost time for class."

Qiao Lan laughed softly, "Right away," and stood up with his roll in hand, putting his chair back in its place to resume his seat.

Many of the students in the class who stared at her looked at each other and finally shook their heads.

"You've changed seats and you're still going over there specifically?"

"What the hell are they talking about?"

"Am I reading this right, Tan Mo is writing?"

"Maybe Qiao Lan is teasing him, if he could write, I'd be top of my grade."

Pei Ning, who had been drilling down on her research, did not notice what was happening, except that Qiao Lan left her seat for a while and when she returned, the problem she had not been able to do had actually been solved.

"Made it?"

He did it too, and Pei Ning took a look and realised that his answer was different from Qiao Lan's.

"Do it wrong," says Pei Ning, "I think so."

Qiao Lan refuses to be corrected, "I think I'm right."

Pei Ning was dumbfounded when she looked at her 0 mark and then at Qiao Lan's 12 full marks.

He pulled Qiao Lan's paper and looked at it for a long time before realising something was wrong, "No...this isn't your writing, you've asked someone."

"Yes".

"Ask anyone."

Qiao Lan looked back with a smile, "A genius."

Pei Ning: "......"

Another week passed and by the time she came back to school, Qiao Lan was even further away from Tan Mo.

The class teacher warned the students who were behind in the ranking during the lesson, "As I said, the seating is according to the ranking, not exactly according to the ranking, so the students who are behind in the ranking do not need to be discouraged, as long as you have made progress, as long as you can show the teacher your progress, you can still be at the same table with the students who have better grades. So, the opportunity is for those who are prepared, do you all understand?"

"Heard that..."

At the end of the class, Li Fan and his friends gathered at Chen Yaoyang's desk and joked, "Yaoyang, why don't you go out and do something?"

Chen Yaoyang was working on a question, "I'm not available at the moment."

"Fuck, what's wrong with you", several people were shocked and glanced over at Qiao Lan as if thinking of something, "ready to steal the first place back."

Chen Yaoyang didn't pick up on it.

"You didn't even study much before, history and politics didn't even memorize much, a little bit of memorization before this exam, definitely first again, need to worry so much."

"Just in case."

The crowd of schoolboys was silent, probably not quite understanding the healthy competition between the schoolboys.

Li Fan thought about it and looked back at Qiao Lan, who was sitting behind her, and whispered, "Actually, don't underestimate Qiao Lan, she scored seven points lower than Yaoyang in Physics and Chemistry last time, and she is so hardworking that she almost always reads books after class, except for teasing Tan Mo. "

The three subjects are usually not too far apart, but last time Qiao Lan was almost 30 points higher than Chen Yaoyang and more than 10 points higher than Song Yao, who is very strong in Arts.

Chen Yaoyang has such a strong sense of self-esteem that it is understandable that he does not want to be pressured by Qiao Lan anymore.

A couple of schoolboys sighed, they weren't encouraged at all by the fact that their brother was such a bully.

"Ever since Qiao Lan came first in her last exam, our class has been like a chicken's blood."

Who says otherwise, even Chen Yaoyang is getting real.

"I suddenly felt ashamed of myself, you know what I saw this morning, I saw Tan Mo actually reading a history textbook", Qin Yang said at the top of her voice, although she didn't shout at the top of her lungs, Qiao Lan's seat was already very close to Chen Yaoyang and when she heard Tan Mo's name she stopped writing. Qiao Lan's seat was very close to Chen Yaoyang, and when she heard Tan Mo's name, she stopped writing.

Qin Yang laughed, "Idiots know how to study, really, I really think we should read books too, crap who hit me."

Qiao Lan expressionlessly squeezed past Qin Yang, "Get out of the way, will you?"

Qin Yang: "......"

He was 5'9" and standing in a walkway that was less than a metre wide, he did block the way.

Li Fan tugged Qin Yang back and watched Qiao Lan walk away before whispering, "Why do I think she did it on purpose?"

Qin Yang's eyes lit up, "Hit me on purpose?"

As soon as Li Fan saw Qin Yang's face, he knew he was fucking up again, "You just said Tan Mo, Qiao Lan is not happy, right?"

"I said, Tan Mo, what's she got to do with it?"

"Who knows, Qiao Lan protects Tan Mo like a child", Li Fan shook her head, "Didn't she have a fight with Tang Qin over Tan Mo earlier?"

"Go outside if you talk nonsense and leave me alone with my questions", Chen Yaoyang frowned and told a few people to get lost, dropping his pen when a few of Qin Yang's people had gone clean.

Grass.

Suddenly I don't want to do it.

--

Qiao Lan went through her notes and spent the rest of the day adding anything she could think of that had not been written in the book.

She did hit Qin Yang on purpose, but when she did, her heart beat a little faster.

Qin Yang is a tough guy to talk to, but I don't think he's lying.

He said Tan Mo was reading a history textbook.

Tan Mo had also read history books before, and Qiao Lan once saw clearly that it was a world history handout, very thick and professional, and Tan Mo, who had read such books, would never read a textbook.

The content is so small compared to the books he reads.

But Tan Mo is really looking at it.

People with AS disorder hate change, they like to follow their own plans and repeat their daily life in a static manner, so whenever a little difference appears, it must mean something else.

It was for this reason that Qiao Lan suddenly guessed something that she found unbelievable, but could not help but be happy about.

What if it's true.

What if Tan Mo had really decided to make a change.

Tan Mo hadn't told her or spoken to her about it, so Qiao Lan couldn't ask Tan Mo.

Although you can't ask, you can do something else.

Tan Mo is very clever, so Qiao Lan thinks of the physics problem that Tan Mo solved in a matter of seconds that day, and feels that her worries were completely unnecessary.

But historical politics is not quite the same.

Knowing more and knowing more does not necessarily lead to high marks.

Some of the answers are dead on arrival and are not in the books.

The next day, Tan Mo arrived at school to find two more notebooks in the hole in his desk.

Qiao Lan is written in two large letters on the cover.

Tan Mo's heart fluttered vaguely as he took out his notes and opened them gently.

It is a complete list of knowledge points, and in order to distinguish them clearly, they are marked out with different pens, for fear that he will not be able to read them.

One history, one politics.

In fact, since he had made his plans, he had asked Uncle Chan to make a lot of copies, and Uncle Chan was quick to bring back a more complete and richer set of knowledge, but looking at the book in his hand, Tan Mo still did not want to return it.

After going through them all, he asked Uncle Chan to make a copy and returned it to Qiao Lan the next day.

Qiao Lan looked at the book in his hand, is this the end of it?

Was she wrong and Tan Mo didn't actually want to take the exam at all?

The second monthly exam was ten days away and, as usual, the teachers were about to start preparing the papers, but when class started, the class teacher told everyone the not-so-good news.

"What about this time, we bought the monthly exam papers of XX First High School in S. XX First High School, everyone knows that, right?"

On hearing this, the class had begun to wail.

There isn't a student these days who hasn't heard of XX First School.

A top school in a province with a large number of entrance examinations, XX First High School accounts for half of the students admitted to the north of Tsinghua University in this province each year.

This time, having bought this school's paper, everyone understood one fact at first.

That is, this monthly exam will be very, very hard.

The class began to wail, but there were also students who were in a relatively good mood, such as Pei Ning and Chen Yaoyang.

If the paper is difficult, then the gap will be wider, especially in subjects like Maths Physics and English which are easy to pull marks from and are advantageous for the top students.

The Annexe in particular also has a very sick operation in that each subject is 150 points.

Take someone's 100-point paper and change the score for each question to 150, so that each question is better scored and that the difference in points is then greater.

Qiao Lan is a bit flustered.

Still panicking about physics, of course.

She is not bad at physics and is in the top five in her class, but she is not as talented as Chen Yaoyang and Pei Ning.

Qiao Lan would not want to lose to anyone but Chen Yaoyang.

Over the next ten days or so, Qiao Lan worked harder and harder, and learned to use tricks, such as English lessons, to free up a little time for physics, which was actually possible.

Pei Ning, who is a poor English student and is often behind, cries when she sees Qiao Lan reading physics in English class.

Why is life so unfair that he can't keep up with English even though he is so serious?

Qiao Lan thought about it, "I can't help it, your English is poor."

Pei Ning: ......

Forget about not talking.

Qiao Lan smiled, said nothing more and resumed his reading.

When I returned to the Qiao Family in the evening, Qiao's mother couldn't figure out what Qiao Lan was doing all day, coming home after midnight every night.

"What the hell are you doing all day, if you don't tell me I'll go to school and ask your teacher."

Qiao Lan frowned, "Working part-time."

Working a job?

Qiao's mother froze for a moment, "What's a part-time job for."

Just in case, Qiao Lan said silently, glancing at Qiao's mother with a wry smile, "don't you and your sister want me to go out and meet someone?"

"In that case, go straight to the school, why study?" Qiao's mother said with delight, but stopped short.

Qiao's mother has finally gained some face in front of Qiao's grandmother and Miss Qiao because Qiao Lan has topped her grade last time.

If you don't study, you have nothing to show for it.

When she thought of this, Qiao's mother was a bit angry that her son was the only one who could not do well in school, and how much better it would have been if he had done well.

"No, let's read the book first", anyway, Qiao's second aunt said she would show Qiao Lan a date, but she hadn't seen it yet.

Qiao Lan looked at Qiao's mother with a smirk, "Got it."

With every day packed to the brim, time just seems to fly by, so fast that it doesn't feel like enough.

The second monthly exam was scheduled for Thursday and Friday of this week. After taking the entire test in two days, the teachers worked over the weekend to correct the papers and we would know the results as soon as we came to school on Monday.

It was really intense and exciting.

On Wednesday, each class was given a list of examinations, posted on the door, then the desks were all pulled apart, the exam numbers were put on the corners, and each student was given a very crude "pass."

It's actually a note.

The students huddled together to see if anyone was in the same exam room as anyone else, joking and laughing before they dispersed.

During the examinations, there is no need to study and run morning exercises, the examinations start at 8 o'clock sharp, just be at the examination hall before 8 o'clock.

Although they said they didn't have to run for breakfast, most of the students arrived early, Qiao Lan came a little later and when she entered the classroom at 7.30am, many students in the classroom recognised her and some whispered that it was Qiao Lan.

Qiao Lan put the book on her desk and went out of the classroom and down the stairs.

When a fellow student asked her what she was doing, Qiao Lan said, "I'm waiting for someone."

Waiting for someone?

Waiting for whom?

I was about to ask, but then I saw Qiao Lan suddenly smile and walk down the stairs towards the outside.

The classmate turned around and for a moment thought he might have been hallucinating.

How else would I have seen Tan Mo on exam day?

But looking again, there was no mistaking that the person in the wheelchair was indeed Tan Mo, and Qiao Lan, who had just said she was waiting for someone, was heading that way.

In a soft voice, "Here it comes."