Well, this was getting harder and harder to explain.

Xue Jiao felt somewhat helpless. Just as she was about to speak, Yi Tian Yu had already opened his mouth first—

“I took her out to eat something!”

Yi Da Fa’s eyes were half-narrowed, his face looking serious, but his eyes were full of laughter.

Well, well! They even snuck out for a date!

Li Si Tong frowned: “Jiao Jiao, you tell me.”

“Fine, I was hungry, so my deskmate took me out to eat,” Xue Jiao said helplessly, she could only tell the truth.

Li Si Tong’s thinking was relatively traditional. She was probably the type of parent who firmly believed children shouldn’t date before the college entrance exam, especially…

Especially when the other party wasn’t an obedient and sensible young man!

Xue Jiao used to be a problem child, and by coincidence, she had finally reformed!

Li Si Tong was afraid someone would lead her astray again, so…

Therefore, even if the other party’s family background was much better than the Cheng family, Li Si Tong was still very unwilling!

She couldn’t say anything about Yi Tian Yu, so she could only question Xue Jiao—

“Why did you go out with a boy late at night?!”

Yi Da Fa had originally prepared to be a bystander, after all, Xue Jiao looked so well-behaved, and his son had a record of sneaking out!

But hearing Li Si Tong speak this way, he became a bit displeased: “What’s wrong with her going out with my son? My son might be a troublemaker, but he knows clearly what he should and shouldn’t do. What you just said seems a bit disrespectful to my son and my family’s high-quality education!”

Yi Da Fa glared, his face full of righteous indignation.

Yi’s mother pulled him slightly, wanting to say—our family’s education quality isn’t that high.

They were nouveau riche… without much high-quality education…

Yi Da Fa turned his head and winked at her. Yi’s mother understood immediately.

Sure enough, Li Si Tong’s face turned red, and she quickly said: “No, that’s not what I meant. I just wanted Jiao Jiao to be cautious…”

“Cautious of whom?! My son?” Yi Da Fa continued glaring.

This was still at the annual party, and Yi Da Fa unconditionally protected his son. Plus, their family was indeed much stronger than the Cheng family. Li Si Tong could only mumble, not knowing what to say.

Yi Da Fa suddenly softened his tone—

“Xue Jiao’s mom, let me be honest with you. I admire Xue Jiao. She’s smart, sensible, and well-behaved. My son has been studying with her and made it into the top hundred in their grade, which is unprecedented in our family! So I’ve always told my son to be grateful. When Xue Jiao was hungry, Tian Yu had to take her out for something to eat. After all, for Tian Yu, Xue Jiao isn’t just a deskmate, she’s also—a benefactor!”

After a slap followed by a sweet date, Li Si Tong immediately became compliant.

She couldn’t help but wonder if she had misunderstood. Xue Jiao taught Yi Tian Yu how to study, his grades improved, and he thanked Xue Jiao for taking care of her.

Wasn’t it just Xue Jiao being hungry and going out to eat with her deskmate? Was she making too big a deal out of it?

Right!

What’s certain is that how could children who are dating still study so well?

She immediately felt guilty and thought about what to say. Should she apologize?

Yi Da Fa had trapped Li Si Tong, making her feel she had done something wrong again, wrongly accusing the other’s child and angering the other parent.

Feeling guilty, Li Si Tong would certainly be embarrassed to prevent Xue Jiao from interacting with Yi Tian Yu in the future.

This was Yi Da Fa’s calculation!

But Cheng Shuo held Li Si Tong back.

The usually gentle Cheng Shuo was a bit serious today. He looked at Xue Jiao earnestly.

“Are you and Yi Tian Yu just classmates? He just took you out for some food today?”

Xue Jiao nodded without hesitation, “Yi Tian Yu is my deskmate. We do get along well, but rest assured, I won’t date before graduation, and I don’t want to date.”

A person has so many things to do in life, so why waste all their time on dating?

This was Xue Jiao’s current thinking. When she said graduation now, she meant completing her education, including university or any degrees she might pursue after university.

But clearly, others misunderstood her to mean high school graduation.

It didn’t matter though, as Xue Jiao meant she definitely wouldn’t date before the college entrance exam.

Cheng Shuo nodded and looked at her seriously: “I believe you. You’ve been very sensible lately.”

He paused for a moment, then continued: “If there’s nothing between you and Yi Tian Yu, your mom and I won’t stop you from interacting with your classmates. But Jiao Jiao, isn’t it wrong to run out late at night without telling us anything?”

Cheng Shuo wasn’t being harsh at all; he wasn’t scolding her but speaking reasonably.

Oh no!

Yi Da Fa knew this person wouldn’t be easy to fool, but the man was teaching his daughter, so he couldn’t interrupt and could only watch from the side.

Son! Your dad is worrying himself to death for you!

Cheng Shuo’s words made Xue Jiao lower her head with a guilty face—

“I’m sorry, Uncle Cheng. I definitely won’t do this again! I’ll always let you know where I’m going in the future.”

“I told her not to tell you, afraid that if she did, you wouldn’t let us go out. So I just pulled her out directly. Uncle Cheng, please don’t blame her!” Yi Tian Yu quickly stepped forward to clarify, which was more or less true as he had directly pulled her out.

Cheng Shuo shook his head: “No matter how she went out, with so many people around, if she didn’t want to go, you couldn’t have taken her. If she had told us she was going out to eat with you, would I not have allowed it?”

After he finished, Yi Tian Yu didn’t know what to say. He opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a word.

He wanted to say, you would certainly agree, but your wife, Xue Jiao’s mom, definitely wouldn’t!

But they truly hadn’t thought that much at the time, and saying such things now would be impolite and hurtful, so Yi Tian Yu could only keep quiet.

“Besides, Jiao Jiao, you’re a girl. Girls are easily taken advantage of, and your mom is just concerned about you.”

Xue Jiao nodded. Cheng Shuo was looking out for her; she wasn’t so ungrateful.

Cheng Shuo stepped forward again, looking directly at Xue Jiao—

“Jiao Jiao, helping others is good, but you shouldn’t take others’ gratitude for granted. Do you remember the words on the blackboard in your room? You only have five hundred and six days until the college entrance exam. Your energy should be entirely focused on studying. I know you haven’t been distracted now, and I hope you won’t be distracted in the next year and a half either.”

Cheng Shuo was much better at speaking than Li Si Tong.

He neither lectured her nor doubted her; he just clarified his concerns and her goals.

Xue Jiao was a goal-oriented and hardworking person. She would push herself forward and eliminate all of Li Si Tong’s worries about early dating.

Sure enough, after Cheng Shuo finished, Xue Jiao immediately looked up and said seriously—

“Uncle Cheng, it was my fault this time. I shouldn’t have run off without permission and made you worry. It won’t happen again. I’ll study hard.”

Yi Da Fa had nothing more to say.

Li Si Tong was easy to fool, but Cheng Shuo wasn’t.

Whether his son could continue sitting with Xue Jiao next semester was now a question!

“Yi Tian Yu, don’t feel pressured. There’s nothing wrong with taking Jiao Jiao out to eat. We don’t blame you.” Cheng Shuo smiled at Yi Tian Yu and the others, “We’ll be going now. See you later.”

“See you later!” Yi Tian Yu hurriedly replied.

“You stupid son!” Yi Da Fa gently slapped him, shaking his head.

“What’s wrong?” Yi Tian Yu was confused.

Yi Da Fa shook his head, sighed, and left without saying anything.

Yi’s mother followed, lowering her voice: “Old Yi, what’s going on?”

Yi Da Fa explained quietly: “I originally wanted the two youngsters to spend more time together. After all, this semester, one is still top of the grade, and the other has made significant progress. Even if they were dating, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But this Cheng guy doesn’t want that. He’s noticed that our son might have feelings for Gu Xue Jiao and probably won’t let Gu Xue Jiao interact with our son much in the future. I’m guessing he’ll suggest to the teacher next semester to keep the two kids apart.”

“Ah? Will our son…?”

“It’s fine.” Yi Da Fa grinned. “If he wants to change, I won’t let him change!”

His son had worked so hard to stay in Class 1, wasn’t it just to continue being deskmates with Gu Xue Jiao? If they couldn’t be deskmates anymore, how would that affect his motivation?

But Yi Da Fa added—

“Our son was wrong this time. Taking a young girl out late at night, I feel like beating him myself, let alone Xue Jiao’s parents!”

——

The annual party didn’t have much left after that; it ended shortly after Xue Jiao returned.

Yi Tian Yu wasn’t wrong about that; he was quite experienced.

The group sat in the car.

Cheng Shuo was driving, Li Si Tong sat in the passenger seat, and Xue Jiao and Cheng Ming Ze sat in the back.

“Jiao Jiao, it was wrong of you today. How could you run off by yourself? No matter how close you are with Yi Tian Yu, how could you run out with him late at night?!”

Li Si Tong grew angrier the more she thought about it. Originally, she had been confused by Yi Da Fa, but Cheng Shuo had unconfused her.

Xue Jiao lowered her head and said nothing.

Running off without permission was indeed her fault.

“He’s a boy, and you’re a girl. You can’t…”

“Si Tong!” Cheng Shuo stopped her, saying, “Jiao Jiao already knows she was wrong. Don’t dwell on this issue.”

Li Si Tong opened her mouth but said nothing.

She listened to Cheng Shuo, and since he told her not to bring it up, she stopped.

“Ming Ze, where did you go tonight?” Cheng Shuo suddenly asked Cheng Ming Ze.

After discovering Xue Jiao was missing, they went to look for her, and during that time, they hadn’t seen Cheng Ming Ze at all.

“Gu… A friend got hurt, so I took her to get bandaged,” Cheng Ming Ze said softly.

Xue Jiao paused slightly, not knowing why, but she sensitively felt that Cheng Ming Ze was talking about Gu Shi Yun!

Of course… after all, they were the male and female protagonists, so they would always have various coincidental encounters.

“Ah? How did someone get hurt at the annual party?” Li Si Tong was surprised.

Cheng Ming Ze replied: “Lin Zhi Hua broke a glass earlier, and a shard wasn’t picked up, which injured her.”

Mentioning this, Li Si Tong thought of Lin Zhi Hua again.

“What was wrong with Lin Zhi Hua today? He came in a hurry and left in a hurry. Old Cheng, do you know why he came?”

Cheng Shuo shook his head: “I don’t know, probably something about Lin Corporation’s handover.”

“I don’t understand what these big bosses are thinking, leaving without treating a hand injury.” Li Si Tong shook her head.

“Lin Zhi Hua was injured?!” Xue Jiao’s voice rose slightly.

“Yes, he cut his hand on a broken glass.” Li Si Tong replied, then turned around, “What’s with that reaction?”

“…Surprise.” Xue Jiao paused. “I didn’t expect someone so capable would get hurt.”

Cheng Shuo suddenly laughed and shook his head, driving as he said: “Jiao Jiao, no matter how capable a person is, as long as they’re human, they’ll have emotions.”

Cheng Ming Ze also added: “Lin Zhi Hua seems more like an emotionless machine to me.”

“A work machine,” Li Si Tong added.

After that, they continued chatting occasionally, but Xue Jiao’s mind wandered elsewhere, staring blankly out the window.

——

That night, after washing up.

“Old Cheng, why didn’t you let me teach Jiao Jiao in the car today?” Li Si Tong asked curiously while applying a face mask.

Cheng Shuo put down his book and pulled up the covers.

“Si Tong, in the future, don’t mention anything about dating or early relationships in front of Xue Jiao, and mention that student Yi Tian Yu less.”

“Huh? Why?” Li Si Tong looked puzzled.

Cheng Shuo shook his head and said softly: “That student Yi Tian Yu likes our Jiao Jiao.”

“What?!” Li Si Tong nearly jumped up, completely unable to stay seated.

She moved closer to Cheng Shuo: “What’s going on? I knew there was a reason why this Yi Tian Yu kept appearing around our Jiao Jiao!”

“You, don’t be impulsive.” Cheng Shuo reprimanded her, then continued, “Jiao Jiao is good in many ways, so it’s very normal for young people to like her. Who didn’t have a crush during their youth? This classmate is just a bit more obvious.”

Li Si Tong looked anxious: “Jiao Jiao is still so close to him, this is…”

Cheng Shuo shook his head: “Jiao Jiao is fine. I can tell she hasn’t awakened to these feelings yet, so you shouldn’t keep mentioning not dating early or talking about Yi Tian Yu. Children this age are prone to rebellion; the more you talk about it, the more she’ll do it.”

“Then what should we do?” If she couldn’t talk about it, how could they handle it?

“We don’t handle it; there’s nothing we can do. You can’t stop others from liking Jiao Jiao, can you? Next semester, we can talk to her homeroom teacher about not always having them sit together.”

“Yes, yes, yes, change their seats!” Li Si Tong immediately said firmly, as if she had found a solution.

——

Xue Jiao was also lying in bed, staring blankly.

After a long time, she took out her phone, opened her chat with Lin Zhi Hua, and typed—

You’re the big boss of Lin Corporation!!!

No, no!

This seemed like an accusation.

Xue Jiao deleted this sentence and typed again—

Why did you also go to the annual party today?

No, no!

This wasn’t good either.

She deleted it again and typed—

Are you hurt?

Before Xue Jiao could send it, the other side sent a message—

[Lin Zhi Hua: ?]

Xue Jiao was startled and quickly deleted that sentence, replying—

[What?!]

The other side replied instantly—

[How much longer are you going to edit?]

Xue Jiao: …

[No… I just wanted to ask… how is your hand…]

The other side replied instantly again—

[Lin Zhi Hua: Not good, it hurts a lot.]

Xue Jiao was stunned, not knowing what to say, as she had naturally assumed he would say it was nothing…

After thinking for a moment, Xue Jiao replied—

[Um… remember to bandage it, and if it’s serious, you should go to the hospital.]

On the other end of the phone.

Lin Zhi Hua, wearing the black suit from the annual party, sat quietly in his study.

This was the first time he had sat idle for several hours since taking over Lin Corporation. The last time he had sat idle was when he was deciding whether to return to take over Lin Corporation.

At that time, he was just a bit conflicted, but today… he felt pain.

Having grown a bit older, he thought he would never have another day of sitting idle in his life.

The room was still warm, and the lights were on, but Lin Zhi Hua felt the temperature wasn’t enough.

Outside, snow was falling heavily; inside, it was almost the same.

For the first time, he felt that an injured hand could be so painful.

Yes, this was the first time he realized that pain wasn’t necessarily easy to endure.

Lin Zhi Hua, like an iron man or a machine, couldn’t hold back either.

He sat somewhat stiffly as if his entire body had lost sensation.

Holding his phone, it took him a long time to reply—

[I wanted to say goodbye to you when I left, but where did you go?]

Xue Jiao replied quickly—

[I went to eat with my deskmate. I hadn’t had dinner tonight.]

[Deskmate?] Lin Zhi Hua typed these two characters.

The business world is like a battlefield. Immersed in business, even though he already knew Yi Tian Yu’s ancestral information for eighteen generations, he still calmly sent out the question.

[Yes… don’t mention it. Going out to eat resulted in a lot of trouble, and then my family found out. I’ll never dare to do something like this again!!]

Lin Zhi Hua’s fingers moved slightly.

It seemed the pain was a bit less now.

[You really shouldn’t sneak out, especially since your deskmate seems to be a boy.]

Xue Jiao had already been educated in rounds today. Seeing Lin Zhi Hua’s message, she almost instinctively said—

[Never again!! I won’t ever do it again! I regret it so much!]

Indeed, she had gotten cold outside, and after finally eating something, her stomach started hurting!

After all that trouble returning to the hall, she was caught and lectured by her family…

Lin Zhi Hua’s fingers moved again.

He could confirm that his hand was indeed better.

There was almost no pain anymore.

He moved it around, and the chill throughout the room seemed to be instantly driven away.

The heating began to work, and the temperature rose.

Lin Zhi Hua’s fingers tapped as he continued to reply.