June. Three weeks before the final exams.

During the evening self-study session in Science Class 1, some students in the back row were whispering about Physics problems. It wasn't the kind of sneaking discussion—it was the kind where they truly didn't understand and were so anxious they were sweating.

Niannian finished the Competition problems she was working on and looked up.

It was two boys in the sixth row, one named Lin Xiaobei and the other Liu Zhengyang. Both of their Physics grades had been hovering near the passing line for a long time, and the electromagnetism section was their biggest disaster area.

Lin Xiaobei's draft paper was covered in a bunch of crooked circuit diagrams; the direction of the Ampere force was marked incorrectly, and the direction of the current was also wrong.

Niannian withdrew her gaze.

The next day at noon, she went to find Teacher Zhao.

"Teacher Zhao, I want to organize a peer study group in the class."

Teacher Zhao was grading papers and almost dropped her chopsticks upon hearing this. "You?"

"Yes."

"Shouldn't you be spending your time on the Competition?"

"Competition training takes up Wednesdays and Fridays. The rest of the time, my review progress for the College Entrance Examination is ahead of schedule." Niannian placed her study schedule in front of Teacher Zhao. "Every Tuesday and Thursday at noon, from 12:30 to 1:30, one hour. I'll be in charge of Mathematics and Physics, and I'll find two classmates to be in charge of Chemistry and English."

Teacher Zhao looked at the schedule.

The time was precise down to fifteen minutes. Each column was marked with a different colored pen. Competition was blue, the College Entrance Examination was black, and rest was red—there were fewer red boxes than blue or black ones, but they did exist.

"Have you decided who to find?"

"For Chemistry, I'll find Han Zimo. His Chemistry is in the top three of the entire grade, and his logic when explaining problems is clear. For English—" Niannian paused, "Shen Mingxuan."

Teacher Zhao raised an eyebrow.

Shen Mingxuan's English was indeed good. He was consistently in the top five of the grade. But that wasn't why Teacher Zhao raised her eyebrow.

"Fine." Teacher Zhao returned the schedule to her. "Go talk to them yourself. If it doesn't work out, don't blame me for not warning you—this kind of thing is thankless work, and students with poor grades might not necessarily appreciate it."

"I don't need them to appreciate it." Niannian folded the schedule. "In my previous life—"

She stopped.

"What?"

"I never had the chance to teach others before. Now I do."

Teacher Zhao glanced at her but didn't press further.

Niannian went to find Han Zimo first.

Han Zimo was sitting in his seat reading an English mathematics journal—she didn't know where he got it, but the cover was full of words that Niannian only recognized half of.

"Han Zimo."

"Hmm."

"A peer study group, every Tuesday at noon, you'll come to teach Chemistry."

Han Zimo's hand, which was turning a page, stopped. He looked up at her, the gaze behind his silver-rimmed glasses as calm as a lake.

"Why?"

"There are over a dozen people in the class failing Chemistry."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"It has nothing to do with you. It has to do with whether you agree or not."

Han Zimo looked at her for three seconds.

"Tuesday at noon. How long?"

"One hour."

"Fine."

He turned the page. He continued reading the journal.

She then went to find Shen Mingxuan.

Shen Mingxuan was napping on his desk, his face buried in his arms. His gold-rimmed glasses were taken off and placed on his textbook, a fingerprint smudge on the lens.

Niannian knocked on his desk.

Shen Mingxuan looked up, a strand of his hair messy. Seeing it was Niannian, his eyes instantly became clear.

"Gu Niannian? What's the matter?" He subconsciously reached for his glasses.

"English peer tutoring, every Thursday at noon, you'll come to teach. One hour."

Shen Mingxuan's hand stopped on his glasses.

"You're asking me for help?"

"Yes."

"...Okay."

He answered too quickly. So quickly that he was stunned for a moment himself.

He put on his glasses, pushed up the frame, and the redness at the base of his ears spread at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Um, do I need to prepare lessons or anything?"

"No need for lesson planning. Just collect the wrong questions from recent exams and categorize them into three sections: grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Just explain them directly when the time comes."

After saying this, she turned and left. Shen Mingxuan watched her back, tapping his fingers on the desk twice.

He wrote a line of text in the margin of his textbook: She asked me for help. Then he crossed it out. He wrote another line: Thursday at noon. He didn't cross it out.

The first activity of the peer study group was on Tuesday at noon.

The location was the classroom. Not many people participated—eight.

Lin Xiaobei and Liu Zhengyang came. There were also a few students with below-average grades; some wanted to come themselves, and others were dragged in by their deskmates.

Niannian stood on the podium.

This was a position she had never stood in during her previous life. In her previous life, she couldn't even enter the classroom.

She picked up a piece of chalk and drew a circuit diagram on the blackboard.

"Determining the direction of the Ampere force. The left-hand rule. Four key points—current points to the fingertips, the magnetic field pierces through the palm, and the direction of the thumb is the direction of the force."

She drew very quickly. The lines were clean, and the labels were clear.

"Remember this mnemonic: Current to fingers, field through palm, force is the thumb."

Lin Xiaobei's eyes lit up.

"It's that simple?"

"It's that simple. Physics isn't complicated. What's complicated is that you yourselves made it complicated."

She then drew three example problems. The steps to solve each one did not exceed five.

"Master these three at a minimum. You can get at least half the points on the electromagnetism long-answer questions in the final exam."

One hour. Niannian taught for forty minutes and left twenty minutes for them to do the problems.

She graded them on the spot after they finished.

Lin Xiaobei got all three correct. He stared at his draft paper, his expression as if he had seen a ghost.

"How did I suddenly understand?"

"You didn't suddenly understand." Niannian put the chalk back into the chalk box. "It's just that before, no one explained it in a way you could understand."

The classroom was silent for a second.

Liu Zhengyang raised his hand: "Gu Niannian, can we add one more session each week later? Once isn't enough."

"No adding. Once a week, you go back and digest it yourselves. Cramming-style tutoring is useless."

Liu Zhengyang's hand slowly lowered.

Thursday at noon was Shen Mingxuan's English session.

He prepared very seriously—not only did he collect the wrong questions, he also categorized them into the three sections Niannian mentioned and marked the key points with colored pens.

When he stood on the podium, his gold-rimmed glasses reflected the fluorescent lights, and the cuffs of his white shirt were rolled up to the middle of his forearms. When he talked about grammar, he was clear and organized; his voice wasn't loud, but every word could be heard.

Niannian sat in the third row, flipping through her Elementary Number Theory. Occasionally, she looked up to listen to a few sentences.

When Shen Mingxuan was talking about relative clauses, he casually gave an example.

"The girl who sits in the third row is the smartest person I know."

Someone in the classroom laughed.

Niannian looked up at him.

Shen Mingxuan's face was very tense. It was as if he didn't know what he had said. Or perhaps as if he did.

The peer study group persisted for a semester.

From the initial eight people to the later twenty-plus people.

In the final exam, the average score of Science Class 1 rose by eleven points compared to the last semester. The average score for the Physics subject alone rose by eight points.

When Teacher Zhao was looking at the report card in the teachers' office, she couldn't hide the curve of her lips.

She found Niannian: "This group of yours, keep doing it next semester."

"I was planning to continue anyway."

"Students from other classes are asking if they can join."

Niannian thought for a moment. "They can. But the limit is thirty people. Any more than that, and I won't be able to manage."

Later, this peer study group really became a tradition at Provincial No. 1 High School.

It was passed down from generation to generation.

The students in charge each year were different, but the name didn't change—it was called the "Class 1 Peer Study Group."

Ten years later at the Provincial No. 1 High School anniversary, there was a paragraph written on the school history wall: "Class 1 Peer Study Group, founded in 1986, founder Gu Niannian."

But that is a story for later.

The Niannian of now just put away the chalk, patted the chalk dust off her hands, and walked back to her seat to continue reading Elementary Number Theory.

Continued Fractions. Chapter 6, Section 3.

She turned two pages and suddenly stopped.

There was a letter in her schoolbag. She had picked it up from the reception room this morning.

She recognized the handwriting on the envelope—Gu Yandong.

She opened it and read one line. Her fingers tightened.

"Your grandma's health isn't very good. Your dad should find some time to come back."