hooklinebooks Chapter 37 Tutoring, Program Broadcast
Chapter 37 Tutoring, Program Broadcast
Tuesday, May 14th.
The school issued a notice that after the graduation performance, professional courses for graduating students will basically stop, but academic tutoring will begin next week on a voluntary basis, mainly for students preparing for the college entrance examination.
Li Si'an glanced at the notification slip and casually tossed it onto the counter. Tang Yun picked it up and looked at it, her brows furrowing slightly.
Are you going or not?
"I'm not going." Li Si'an leaned back in her chair. "I'd just sleep anyway."
"So what are you going to do about studying?"
"What am I supposed to study? I'm not planning on taking the college entrance exam." He glanced at Tang Yun. "Are you planning to?"
Tang Yun hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "My academic grades aren't very good."
"I think you might as well not go."
"How can we study if we don't go?"
"I'll teach you."
Tang Yun glanced at him, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Li Si'an didn't argue with her. He pulled out a math test paper from under the counter, took a pen, and started writing furiously.
I finished the multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, and essay questions in less than twenty minutes.
He pushed the test paper in front of Tang Yun: "Check your answers."
Tang Yun picked up the test paper with some skepticism and looked at it one by one. She could answer the first few multiple-choice questions, and after checking with a calculator, she found they were all correct.
She looked up at him.
"How is it?" Li Si'an asked.
"You copied it, didn't you?"
"Find me an answer in this shop."
Tang Yun was speechless.
From that day on, Li Si'an tutored Tang Yun at the shop. She tutored her for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.
His approach to explaining problems differs from that of school teachers; he doesn't follow formulas but rather explains the underlying principles.
Why do you do this problem this way? Where does that knowledge point come from? Tang Yun listened to it several times and found that she understood it much better than when she was in school.
"How come you explain things more clearly than our teacher?" she asked one day.
Li Si'an thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it's because I'm handsome."
Tang Yun poked him with her pen.
May 17th, Friday.
Zhang Ziyi is here.
When she entered, Li Si'an was explaining a geometry problem to Tang Yun. Two auxiliary lines were drawn, but Tang Yun still didn't quite understand, so Li Si'an explained it again in a different way.
Zhang Ziyi stood to the side and listened for a bit, then spoke up after he finished: "You can talk about math too?"
"What can't I do?"
Zhang Ziyi didn't argue with him. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to Tang Yun: "Then you can explain it to me too. I'm not good at math either."
Li Si'an glanced at her, pulled a test paper from the drawer, and pushed it over: "Do this first, we'll talk after you're done."
Zhang Ziyi picked up the test paper, flipped to the first page, and frowned as she looked at the densely packed questions: "So many? When will I ever finish?"
"Who told you to do all of them?" Li Si'an flipped the test paper back and pointed to the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions at the front.
"Just do these. For the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, choose the ones you know how to do. For the essay questions, only look at the first part and see if you know it; you don't need to look at the rest."
Zhang Ziyi was taken aback for a moment: "Why?"
"Because you're an art student," Li Si'an said, looking at Zhang Ziyi with the eyes of someone looking at a fool.
"The minimum score for the academic subjects at the Central Academy of Drama is only around 200 to 300. Just get the basic points; the later, more difficult questions are for those aiming for 500 or higher. Why would you do those?"
Zhang Ziyi blinked, as if processing the information.
"Think about it," Li Si'an continued, "five subjects out of 300 points. Wouldn't it be enough if you could get 60 points in each subject? The multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions on the college entrance exam usually account for 85 to 90 points."
"If you get all the basic multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions right, and then just guess a little on the rest, that should be enough points, right?"
Zhang Ziyi thought about it and felt it made sense, so she nodded.
"But I don't know which questions are basic."
"The questions you can understand are the basic ones," Li Si'an joked, then drew a few circles on the test paper with his pen.
"These, these, and these. If you understand these, getting a 70 or 80 in math won't be a problem."
Zhang Ziyi picked up her pen with some skepticism and started working on the questions. She got stuck on the third multiple-choice question, biting her pen cap and staring at the question for a long time.
"How do I solve this problem?"
Li Si'an leaned over to take a look, drew a couple of lines on the draft paper, and said three sentences. Zhang Ziyi's eyes lit up after hearing this: "Oh—so that's how it is."
"Got it?"
"Understood."
"Next one."
Zhang Ziyi lowered her head and continued working, this time much faster. Tang Yun watched from the side without saying a word; Li Si'an had taught her the same way before.
After Zhang Ziyi finished the basic questions on the test paper, she checked the answers and found that she had gotten three questions wrong. Li Si'an explained them to her, and she nodded after listening and copied the wrong questions into her notebook.
"Your explanation skills are much better than our tutors'." Zhang Ziyi closed her notebook.
"Of course."
"You get all worked up over a single compliment."
Li Si'an laughed but didn't reply.
May 18th, Saturday.
At 8:30 p.m., Li Si'an turned on the small TV on the counter and tuned it to Beijing Cable TV.
Tang Yun sat next to him, holding a handful of sunflower seeds, but not cracking them open. Chen Dong came from the backyard, moved a chair, and sat by the door, holding a cup of tea.
The opening theme song started playing, the host came out and gave an opening speech, and then the first program began.
Finally, the host called out their names.
"Next, please enjoy the dance 'Puppet Show,' performed by Tang Yun and Zhang Ziyi."
The scene shifts to the studio. Tang Yun, wearing that red dress, is crouching in the center of the stage, her skirt spread out. Zhang Ziyi walks out from the side, wearing a black modified long dress, her hair tied up.
The sound of a pipa begins.
For a full four minutes, the camera followed them from the first note to the last frame. Close-ups, medium shots, and wide shots were switched cleanly and efficiently.
Tang Yun looked at herself on TV, her face slightly flushed. She reached for a handful of sunflower seeds, grabbed one, then put it down. Chen Dong held his teacup, staring at the screen, saying nothing.
The program ended. Tang Yun waited a while, and the next program started playing on the screen. She turned to look at Li Si'an: "Wasn't our interview supposed to be on? Why can't I see it?"
"It wasn't broadcast."
"Didn't we already record it?"
"Recording doesn't mean it will air." Li Si'an leaned back in her chair, speaking casually. "An episode is only so long. The dance is the main part, and the interviews are just backups. We'll cut them if we can."
Tang Yun frowned: "Then you're really missing out. You finally get to be on TV once in a while."
"What do I lose? You guys were the ones dancing, I didn't." Li Si'an laughed. "Besides, whether I'm on TV or not doesn't matter to me."
"You really don't mind?"
"What's there to mind?" Li Si'an reached out and ruffled her hair. "I don't make a living from this."
Chen Dong walked in from the doorway, carrying a teacup. He peeked at the TV, then looked at Li Si'an and asked, "Anzi, didn't you say you'd be here? Where are you?"
Li Si'an turned her head and glanced at him: "Get lost, don't bring up things you don't want to talk about."
Chen Dong chuckled and carried his teacup back to the backyard.
Tang Yun was about to say something when the phone rang.
Li Si'an answered the phone, and Zhang Ziyi's voice came from the other end, her loud voice deafening even through the microphone: "Did you see that! Did you see that!"
"I saw it."
"I saw it so beautifully on TV!" Zhang Ziyi's voice was almost trembling with excitement.
"Didn't I tell you last time? You have a movie face; you just look good in photos taken under the camera."
"Really? If I act in movies, will I be this good-looking?"
"You should get into the Central Academy of Drama first."
"I passed the exam! I passed the art exam!"
"The academic subjects haven't been taught yet."
Zhang Ziyi was momentarily speechless, but her excitement didn't diminish at all: "My mom was crying just now. She said her daughter was on TV, and for four whole minutes!"
Li Si'an chuckled: "Your mom recognized you this time, right?"
"I recognized her! Four minutes! If you didn't recognize her, you must be blind!"
Tang Yun leaned closer, and Li Si'an handed her the phone. Tang Yun took the phone and said with a smile, "I saw you, you danced really well."
"Tang Yun, you're the one who dances better! Your robotic dance didn't even look like you!"
After chatting for a few minutes, Zhang Ziyi suddenly asked, "By the way, what about Li Si'an's interview? Why wasn't it broadcast?"
Tang Yun glanced at Li Si'an and lowered her voice: "It was cut."
"Oh? He's not angry, is he?"
Tang Yun glanced at Li Si'an again. He was leaning back in his chair, eating sunflower seeds, his face expressionless.
"It seems... he's not angry."
"That's good. Please tell him for me that there will definitely be another opportunity next time!"
"it is good."
She hung up the phone. Tang Yun put the receiver back and turned to look at Li Si'an.
Zhang Ziyi told you not to be angry, there will definitely be another chance next time.
Li Si'an laughed: "Why would I be angry? It's not like I'm the one dancing."
Tang Yun glanced at him but didn't say anything more. However, the corners of her mouth were upturned, and it was unclear whether she was laughing at his stubbornness or something else entirely.
Chen Dong poked his head out from the backyard again and called out, "Anzi, someone at the video arcade is asking you what movie you're showing tonight."
"Didn't I tell you to play 'True Lies'?"
"Oh, then I'll let it go."
"Let it go."
Chen Dong shrank back.
The shop quieted down. The light from the streetlights outside shone through the window, casting a long, bright line on the ground. Tang Yun leaned on Li Si'an's shoulder, holding half a sunflower seed in her hand.
"Li Si'an".
"Um?"
"You really don't mind at all?"
"What do you mind?"
"The interview was cut."
Li Si'an thought for a moment: "To be honest, there is a little bit. But only a tiny bit."
"Then why didn't you say so?"
"What's the point of saying anything? It's not like I can broadcast it back." He threw the sunflower seed shells into the trash can. "Alright, stop thinking about it. Zhang Ziyi is coming tomorrow, and you still have to do your homework."
Tang Yun smiled and didn't say anything more.