Chapter 312 The librarian
In the morning, Ren Xiaosu was doing some reading in the library. Meanwhile, An Yuqian was snoring loudly as he slept in his chair at the entrance.
When the sun shone onto An Yuqian’s face from the outside, he would even cover his face with a book to shield himself from the light.
Every morning, when Ren Xiaosu arrived, he would automatically give ten yuan to An Yuqian. Moreover, there was no need for Ren Xiaosu to keep calling An Yuqian anymore as he would be waiting at the door every day at 8.30 AM sharp while yawning.
Gradually, An Yuqian found it extremely uncomfortable that he had to always sleep like that. He used to always play mahjong throughout the night before heading home to sleep well during the morning. But since Ren Xiaosu started coming to the library, he could only sleep while sitting in his chair at the library.
How could sleeping in a chair be more comfortable than sleeping in a bed?
As no one else was using the library, An Yuqian purposely observed what Ren Xiaosu was reading. However, he died laughing when he saw that Ren Xiaosu was actually reading the tenth grade textbooks for math, physics, and chemistry!
Ren Xiaosu’s persistence in coming to the library for so many days finally made An Yuqian change his opinion of him. He had thought that for once, a studious kid had finally come to the library. But to his surprise, this studious kid could only read tenth grade textbooks.
Judging by Ren Xiaosu’s age, shouldn’t he be in 12th grade at the least? So it turned out he was just a weak student who was starting to study from scratch?
An Yuqian counted on his fingers and realized the college entrance exams were only three months away. How could he make it in time if he was still only studying the tenth grade curriculum?
Even though An Yuqian was pacing around him, Ren Xiaosu did not bother looking at him.
An Yuqian could not help saying, “Isn’t it a little too late to study now? The college entrance exams are only three months away!”
Ren Xiaosu looked up at him. “I’m not sitting for the entrance exams.”
“You’re not sitting for the entrance exams? Then why are you studying tenth grade math, physics, and chemistry?” An Yuqian asked in surprise. “Shouldn’t you start working at a factory after you graduate from high school? What’s the point of learning all this stuff?”
“Knowledge will always be useful, and whatever I learn belongs to me,” Ren Xiaosu said calmly.
An Yuqian shrugged and turned around. “Just don’t forget to pay for my breakfast every morning. If not for you, I wouldn’t need to eat breakfast. This expenditure is incurred only because of you.”
“OK,” Ren Xiaosu said.
However, An Yuqian suddenly realized that other than Ren Xiaosu, there was another group of students who came to study in the afternoon. There were over 20 male and female students, and they had been sitting in the library all afternoon for several days in a row.
Even though there were also others who came to study in the afternoon, it would not be so frequent and scheduled. Furthermore, their numbers were always the same. This group of students... actually sat next to Ren Xiaosu in an organized and disciplined manner.
After waking up in the afternoon, An Yuqian got closer to have a look and realized Wang Yuchi and the others were reading books related to mechanical engineering. This topic exceeded the syllabus of high school.
When the library was about to close, Wang Yuchi suddenly said to Ren Xiaosu, “Monitor, should we go home now since it’s closing time?”
An Yuqian was stunned. The young man who paid for his breakfast every day was actually the class monitor of this group of students? These normal students were learning knowledge beyond their years while the monitor was still studying tenth grade textbooks? What sort of nonsensical crap was this.
Ren Xiaosu took a look at the sky and said, “Y’all can head back first. I wanna read a little while longer.”
“Hey!” An Yuqian could not sit still anymore. “Dontcha know it’s time for me to leave too?!”
“I’ll give you 50 yuan,” Ren Xiaosu said without even raising his head.
An Yuqian said unhappily, “That won’t do. I have to leave now to play mahjong. Who knows if I’ll recover my losses tonight!”
Ren Xiaosu quietly put the book back onto the bookshelf before turning to leave.
The first thing Ren Xiaosu said when he saw An Yuqian the next morning was, “So did you recover your losses?”
“Kid, why are you so annoying?” An Yuqian was upset. “Should you even be asking something like that?”
“Then you must have lost.” Ren Xiaosu slapped a ten-yuan bill into An Yuqian’s hand. “Go on, get your breakfast.”
As An Yuqian held the ten-yuan bill, he felt insulted.
In the afternoon, when Wang Yuchi and the others came to the library again, An Yuqian suddenly sat down across from Ren Xiaosu. Ren Xiaosu looked up at him in surprise. “What’s up?”
An Yuqian said, “You guys must be trying to learn more about mechanical engineering, right? However, you’re all reading the wrong books!”
Ren Xiaosu frowned. He glanced at the books Wang Yuchi and the other students were holding. “Then what books should they be reading?”
Without a teacher’s guidance, they had to learn everything by themselves. It was like crossing a river while holding a stone in their arms. Their progress was extremely slow.
Although Jiang Wu was a teacher, she was only a language teacher.
An Yuqian replied, “For 500 yuan, I’ll tell you all what books you should read!”
In response, Ren Xiaosu threw 500 yuan over. Wang Yuchi whispered from beside him, “Monitor, why do I get the feeling that he’s a scammer?”
Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “A scammer can’t possibly not even have any money for breakfast.”
An Yuqian wanted to curse out loud. Ren Xiaosu was insinuating that he was not even qualified to be a scammer!
An Yuqian said with a sneer, “If you want to properly study mechanical engineering, don’t try to run before you learn how to walk. You have to first learn math and physics!”
Ren Xiaosu leaned back in his chair and listened quietly. Meanwhile, Wang Yuchi and the others opened their notebooks and were preparing to take notes.
“I suggest you all first read Chen Jixiu’s Mathematical Analysis as an introduction, then learn linear algebra. You won’t have learned enough about this topic in high school.”
“There’s no need to read General Physics.” An Yuqian threw a book onto the table. “Just read The Feynman Lectures on Physics.”
“True Analysis... Forget it, you don’t have to read that yet.”
“As for the Methods of Mathematical Physics, you can have a look at Wang Dexin’s books. All the books cover real functions, special functions, equations, and so on. There isn’t much of a difference between them.
“You should also read up on thermodynamics.”
An Yuqian kept talking for half an hour. Ren Xiaosu started to get the feeling that it would take several years to learn everything. But at this moment, An Yuqian smacked his lips and said, “And that’s just the beginning. If you really want to gain a deeper understanding of mechanical engineering, you’re all seriously lacking!”
Ren Xiaosu finally understood. So this guy was just rambling and trying to let off some steam. However, Ren Xiaosu also realized that An Yuqian was not an ordinary person. Even a scammer would probably not recite all that just to earn 500 yuan. Most importantly, no one could possibly teach him how to say what he just said.
Ren Xiaosu looked at An Yuqian and said, “If you teach them, I’ll pay you 500 yuan for each lesson.”
An Yuqian’s eyes lit up, but he immediately held himself back. “But my time is very precious.”
“400.”
“Hey, why is the offer getting lower?!”
“300.”
“Alright, I’ll teach! 500 yuan! And not a cent less!”
Only then did Ren Xiaosu smile. “If you don’t teach them well, I won’t pay you.”
“How can I not teach them well?” An Yuqian’s eyes widened. “I... Forget it, you wouldn’t understand even if I told you!”
But An Yuqian suddenly felt there was much more about this young man before him than he had thought. Would a normal student pay 500 yuan just to attend a lesson?