1
I stuffed my advanced calculus workbook into my bag, but advanced calculus kicked me right into a pit.
Even after drinking myself silly, I still had to sit in a bar and do my homework. I honestly wanted to tear my hair out.
While I was stewing in frustration, I happened to spot a handsome guy with glasses sitting across from me. His name tag clearly said he was a Ph.D. student at University A.
A top student! Just what I need!
My courage rising, I staggered over to him.
Ignoring his somewhat wary look, I pointed to the pile of math problems on the sofa behind him and bluntly asked, “Do you know how to do these?”
As soon as I finished speaking, the air fell silent.
He froze for a moment, then seemed to chuckle softly. Sitting up straight, he tilted his head and looked at me.
His friends crowded around him, teasing, “Look at you, making progress! You actually dared to hit on Professor Quý.”
My head was buzzing. I was in such a hurry, afraid he’d turn me down, that I blurted, “I can pay you.”
Another teasing remark rang out.
He frowned and shot his friend a warning look. “She’s drunk. Cut it out.”
I’m not joking!
Seeing that he didn’t believe me, I quickly pulled my advanced calculus workbook out and slapped it onto the table. “Will you do them?”
The music stopped at just that moment, and the silence became deafening.
Everyone looked as if they’d seen a ghost.
Professor Quý raised an eyebrow and glanced at the textbook on the table, seeming to think it over. “A student at University A?”
I nodded.
Seeing that he seemed a little unsure, I pleaded:
“I really only know how to do the problems in the solutions section.”
“Our new TA is a total psycho. If I don’t turn this in today, I’m done for.”
At that, he raised his eyebrow even higher, seemingly startled by some coincidence. “A psycho?” he repeated.
Then, smiling, he asked me, “What’s your name?”
Of course I couldn’t let him find out my real name, so I choked out, “My name is Từ Tuấn Đại!”
……
2
Some of his friends were barely holding back laughter, while others were rolling around on the sofa.
They kept teasing him. “This girl just called you a psycho!”
The music was kind of loud, so I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
But after I kept begging him, Professor Quý finally picked up a pen and got to work.
I was so moved I nearly dropped to my knees and thanked him.
The flickering lights fell across his profile. I swallowed, thinking the math problems were beautiful, but he was impossibly hard to figure out.
When he was nearly done, I fumbled around for my bag so I could pay him.
But my bag seemed strange today. The pockets were nothing like I remembered, and no matter how long I searched, I couldn’t find my money.
“There’s money in the pocket next to it.” His familiar, languid voice sounded by my ear again.
Oh, so it was in the next pocket.
I quickly searched and, sure enough, found a wad of cash. I shoved all of it at him and asked:
“How did you know my money was in there?”
Maybe because we were so close, I could see the lights reflected in his eyes in beautiful circles. He seemed to glow all over.
Ph.D.s really are so smart!
Not only could he do the homework, he also knew where I kept my money.
He looked at the wad of cash I’d crumpled into a ball and curled his lips into a smile. “Because this is my bag.”
Once again, laughter erupted.
Everyone teased him. “Using your own money to do the homework you assigned—Professor Quý, you’ll be telling this story for the rest of your life, haha.”
Annoyed, I frowned and protested, “I’ll pay you back.”
Professor Quý pressed a hand to his forehead and led me outside, playing along as he said, “Sure, you can owe me for now. You’ll have plenty of chances to pay me back later.”
3
I don’t remember anything after that. When I woke up, I was already back in my dorm.
I stared blankly for two seconds, then hurriedly opened my phone and discovered that yesterday’s homework had been photographed and uploaded.
I breathed a sigh of relief and silently praised the top student for being so good.
I was just trying to remember the details of my conversation with the top student when my roommate suddenly asked, looking intensely curious, “What’s going on between you and the TA?”
What does the TA have to do with anything?
I was utterly confused. My roommate said in surprise, “The TA took you home last night.”
She paused, then added with an eager, gossipy look, “You even grabbed his shirt and wouldn’t let him leave, telling him to keep doing your homework.”
Crack! I could practically hear my brain seize up.
Ignoring her suggestive tone, I asked, trembling, “Is our TA’s last name Quý?”
She replied in surprise, “Who else but Quý Thần Dần? How could you not know your TA’s name? He’s such a handsome top student.”
Aaaaaah!
I was doomed. I’d thought he was just a Ph.D. student, never realizing he really was our TA.
I’d even called him a psycho…
While my roommate was still peppering me with questions, a message from the TA lit up my screen: [Student Từ Tuấn Đại.]
…
After a brief pause, a second message appeared.
[Come to the office, Room 303]
……
Hahaha, I’m finished. This world really has gone crazy at last, sob sob sob.
4
I nervously walked into the office. At a glance, I saw a kind-looking professor smiling as he discussed something with a handsome young man.
The young man looked familiar, and I started trembling.
That’s right. It was Quý Thần Dần.
Unlike his languid look under the dim bar lights last night, he seemed a little aloof now. Sunlight streamed through the blinds and fell across him, giving him a strangely distant air.
When I walked in, they both looked up at the same time. The professor immediately sobered and asked, “Tống Nghi Thanh, when did you change your name?”
Then he pointed to the grading page on his computer screen and said, “Your new name is pretty unusual.”
Aaaaaah!
I’d died yesterday, but they were only burying me today.
I stared at the enormous name “Từ Tuấn Đại” on my assignment and wanted to bash my head in and die.
The professor patted Quý Thần Dần on the shoulder, both exasperated and amused. “Is this the student you told me hired you to do her homework at the bar yesterday?”
Quý Thần Dần twirled the pen in his hand and said nothing.
The professor gave me a serious lecture, speaking with heartfelt conviction. The more I listened, the more ashamed I felt. I apologized sincerely, regretting it so much I felt sick.
Quý Thần Dần remained perfectly calm, though his gaze was somewhat stern. “I’d like you to redo this assignment on your own. You can use the work I wrote for you as a reference, but you must make sure you understand it yourself.”
Only when he said that did I realize the assignment he’d done for me wasn’t just the answers—it included every step of the solutions and the reasoning behind them.
I felt even more embarrassed.
I must have clung to him all night yesterday, forcing him to write it out in front of everyone like that.
But he hadn’t given me a hard time at all. He’d simply written out his approach so I could learn from it.
He was really… I wanted to cry my eyes out.
I’d been such a nuisance, and he still hadn’t forgotten to help me study.
As I lowered my head awkwardly, about to thank him, I suddenly noticed that his lower leg didn’t look like ours. I froze.
If I wasn’t mistaken, what showed beneath his rolled-up pant leg was a prosthetic leg.
My mind went blank for a moment. I immediately looked up, afraid he’d notice my strange stare—but at that exact moment, I met his searching gaze.
Oh my God, had he caught me?
For a moment, all sorts of feelings tangled together in my head, and I didn’t know what to say.
Quý Thần Dần remained composed, joking as if nothing had happened. “What, are you that afraid of me?”
I hurriedly shook my head and answered earnestly, “No! You’re a really nice TA.”
I meant it. Before, I’d only thought he was strict, but after this, he’d shot way up in my estimation.
A faint smile touched Quý Thần Dần’s eyes as he asked, “Really?”
Just as I was about to nod, he gave me a knowing smile. “But I heard I’m a pervert?”
Me: …
Why bring up the past now…?
I hurriedly said goodbye to the professor and slipped out of his office.
Thanks to his joke, the awkwardness from just moments ago vanished completely.
5
This reprimand ended with me having to redo the assignment.
On my way back to the dorm, I kept thinking about the faint sadness that had flickered in his eyes when ours met.
As soon as I walked in, my roommate cried, “Oh my God! The only thing keeping me going in this class is about to be gone. Our handsome TA is leaving!”
I stared at her. “Leaving… Quý Thần Dần is going?”
She sighed, disappointed, as she checked the group chat on her phone. “Ugh, he was only brought in temporarily to help. Doctoral research is so demanding, so it’s only natural he’d leave.”
I asked curiously, “Is he really a graduate student in our department?”
She looked at me in disbelief. “Oh my God, the cow we keep at home runs faster than your internet.”
“Quý Thần Dần! The legendary genius of the Computer Science Department. He went straight from undergrad to a master’s and then a doctorate, and just got back from studying abroad last year.”
…
After my roommate told me all about his impressive background, I was genuinely stunned.
Talented people really are good at everything. He could write code and solve math problems, and most enviably of all, he still had a full head of hair.
Unlike me—I was not only losing my hair, but my brain wasn’t developing, either.
As my roommate showed me an article about his accomplishments, she complained, “Huh, why would anyone spread rumors that he’s in poor health?”
My heart sank. Thinking of that cold prosthetic leg, I wondered if it really was just a rumor.
After scrolling through all the posts, my roommate concluded, “He’s famous, but there isn’t a single rumor about him.”
She paused, then gave me a meaningful look. “You’re the first.”
Me: …
That day really was just an accident.
Under my roommates’ curious stares, I had no choice but to tell them everything that had happened the day before. The whole room burst out laughing, then they asked in alarm, “You dared to go to a bar alone? You’ve got guts! Did you think you owned the place?”
I blinked and nodded. “Uh… my older sister owns it.”
The whole room froze for a moment, then let out a piercing shriek:
“That bar has locations everywhere! So there’s a rich girl sitting right next to us!”
That night, the whole dorm went to my family’s bar to spend money—and, of course, they charged it to my account.
From then on, I had a new nickname: Chị.
The girls said I was their one and only big boss, and they often imitated the things “Từ Tuấn Đại” had said in the dorm.
Great. From now on, I’d never be able to hold my head up around my roommates again.