Lin Shilan was not someone who made empty boasts.

A few days later, Su Ge and Tan Jin’s group presentation, as she said, took first place in the class.

The teacher praised their presentation effusively: the content was meticulous, comprehensive in coverage, their understanding and application of key concepts was perfect—the two of them must have expended tremendous energy over the week to produce it.

The two who were heavily praised showed “undeserved” expressions on the podium. Actually, they had done nothing this week. Lin Shilan had completed all the work in half an afternoon, which resulted in them sitting in the classroom every day staring blankly together, so idle they were nearly growing mold.

When Su Ge’s presentation portion ended, no one in the class clapped. Tan Jin watched as she bit her lower lip with insecurity, so embarrassed she didn’t know where to put her hands and feet. In the complete silence, he still chose to take the lead and clapped for her.

The teacher rewarded first place with two boxes of chocolate. Tan Jin kept his own and didn’t give any to Su Ge.

—At least there had to be something different from before!

After class, it was the weekend again. Tan Jin had arranged with Lin Shilan to go to the pet hospital to pick up Jing Jing.

She was waiting at the school gate when he emerged from a pitch-black corner, as if followed by a shadow.

Seeing Tan Jin’s worried expression, Lin Shilan naturally asked: “Did something go wrong with the group presentation?”

“No.” He rummaged through his backpack and gave her the prize chocolate.

Lin Shilan didn’t stand on ceremony with him. She opened the packaging box on the spot and took out two chocolates—holding one in her palm and immediately eating the other.

She seemed to no longer care about him and didn’t ask any further questions.

Tan Jin was full of grievances, practically wanting to pull out a handkerchief to wring in his hands.

He took the initiative to continue: “This week when I spent time alone with Su Ge, because it was so boring, she actually initiated conversation with me. After school, she followed me and said thank you with a red face…”

Lin Shilan ate the chocolate in small bites.

After one bite, she savored it; when the chocolate melted, she took another bite.

Tan Jin seriously suspected she wasn’t listening.

Someone else was about to like him, and it went in one ear and out the other—she didn’t care at all.

He was extremely unhappy and said with a choked voice: “Lin Shilan, you didn’t come find me for an entire week.”

She finally listened to this sentence, and her continuous chocolate-eating motion paused for a moment: “I have to study. If my second practice exam scores don’t meet my mom’s requirements, she won’t let me keep Jing Jing.”

“What about your partner then? What about our agreement to swap positions?” He clung to her unreasonably: “Shouldn’t we help each other?”

Lin Shilan’s thinking was simple, and her actions were simple: “Yes, mutual help. I helped you complete the assignment. This way she won’t develop feelings for you because of doing homework together.”

She had heard what he just said: “I didn’t expect that having nothing to do while alone together could also produce feelings. This is indeed very difficult.”

Tan Jin was thrown into disarray in the rain.

“Alright, you have no ideas, so I’ll give one.”

“You and Su Ge become friends. From a friendship perspective, give her care and concern.”

She scratched her neck and smiled somewhat naively: “I don’t have friends. I don’t know how to be friends with people.”

For a moment, Tan Jin felt that Lin Shilan just wanted to watch him suffer and then watch the drama unfold.

“The chocolate is very good.” Reluctantly, she finished one piece.

The other piece still held in her hand—after thinking about it, she shared it with the person beside her: “You eat it.”

From the original look of things, she was going to eat that chocolate herself, yet she gave it to him? Tan Jin imagined a hint of Lin Shilan wanting to apologize.

The sullen mood dissipated just like that, and he disappointedly accepted what she gave him.

Tan Jin said while eating: “I don’t like chocolate.”

Jinjin and Jing Jing were both fine now.

The little stray dog had recovered quite well and could already stand up and walk two steps with a limp. His mental state was also good. As soon as Lin Shilan saw him, he stuck out his tongue and wagged his tail at her.

Not wanting the dog to use his injured leg much, Lin Shilan held him continuously from the moment she picked him up.

Her posture of holding the dog was like holding a small baby.

She called “Jing Jing” over and over, her tone extremely careful and gentle.

The little stray dog grinned, his drooping triangular ears moving about, as if responding.

Tan Jin also went shopping amid the repeated calls of “Jing Jing.”

Dog bed, dog food, chew toys, dog toys, dog clothes, leash… He was unambiguous, buying and packing everything one by one.

When Lin Shilan wanted to pay, he stopped her.

When Lin Shilan wanted to pay him back, he wouldn’t accept it.

As if he were still that good-for-nothing loafer from before, he tilted his chin up slightly and waved his hand indifferently: “I have plenty of pocket money, no need to worry. Usually when I play games, I spend much more than this.”

Lin Shilan held the dog and the umbrella.

Tan Jin carried all the shopping spoils.

The rainy small town had fresh air, abundant vegetation, rows of low wooden buildings. Different from the city where she later lived, which was full of human voices and honking sounds; neon lights that never rested through the night, elevated bridges with endless streams of traffic.

Two people and one dog, walking through Yan County’s evening, the wind blowing on their faces carried the scent of mountains.

It was a moist and distant smell, mixed with soil, trees, muddy roads, unknown summer flowers, plus a little bit of the fragrance of freshly steamed rice.

This was their hometown.

Lin Shilan suddenly remembered Tan Jin asking her at the hospital: After the flood, did you ever return to Yan County?

For the first time, she suddenly had the thought of returning to Yan County to visit in the future.

The purchases weighed Tan Jin down so much he grimaced.

Lin Shilan turned to look at him.

He quickly propped up his arms, looked straight ahead, and resumed a leisurely posture.

She tucked the puppy under her arm, freed one hand, and snatched a plastic bag from him.

They really had bought a lot, it was a bit heavy.

Because of this, she didn’t tell him her thoughts for the time being.

Even though she had agreed with Lu Xiaorong that she could keep a dog.

After her mom came home and saw the dog, Lin Shilan was still scolded to pieces by her.

“Have you finished your homework, and you’re here playing with the dog? Look how happy you are playing with the dog, you’ve forgotten all about the exam, haven’t you? The practice exam is just a few days away, and there’s no other idle person like you in senior year. What extravagance and waste! Look at all this dog stuff you bought, how much of my money did you spend? Such a spendthrift!”

This time was different from last time—Lin Shilan hadn’t thought about how to talk back.

The little stray dog Jing Jing was frightened by Lu Xiaorong’s yelling voice, restlessly shrinking into the corner of the dog bed, his uninjured little paw trembling.

She used both hands to cover the dog’s ears.

Lin Shilan was used to her mom scolding her. There had been even harsher scoldings, so this didn’t have much destructive power. Since she was being scolded, she was instead in the mood to comfort the dog.

“It’s okay, Jing Jing, don’t be afraid, she’s not scolding you.”

Lin Shilan being so unmoved, in Lu Xiaorong’s eyes, meant her daughter had lost her ambition to playthings.

“Well then, Lin Shilan, you don’t want to study anymore, is that it? You won’t take the college entrance exam seriously, is that it? Looking at you like this, you won’t have any prospects in the future…”

She was scolding energetically when suddenly there came a loud bang bang bang of someone pounding on the door.

Tan Jin, holding a game console with headphones hanging around his neck, appeared at their doorstep.

As soon as Lu Xiaorong opened the door, he got straight to the point: “Auntie, could you please stop scolding her?”

She recognized Tan Jin, but had no good impression of him, so her words were equally merciless.

“Not scold? Why not? What’s your relationship with her? I’m scolding my own child, what business is it of yours?”

Tan Jin was also quite practiced in the art of arguing.

Besides Lin Shilan, he had never suffered losses from anyone else.

“Auntie,” he first drew out the address, the title polite but the content impolite: “Please, just a little bit, consider others, can you?”

“Your voice scolding your child is too loud, it’s disrupting my studying and affecting my mood. I’m a senior year student, I really need quiet. If you delay my college entrance exam, aren’t you delaying my future, and even my entire life? This is a special period, I’m begging you to understand, Auntie. Thank you.”

Lu Xiaorong stared wide-eyed, choked by him and unable to speak.

Tan Jin had truly grasped the essence of swapping battle positions.

It could be said that he fully demonstrated to the alliance’s useless member Lin Shilan the qualities an ally should have… or rather, the qualities an ally “should not have.”