Qing Ye glanced at Xing Wu, who kept his head down scrolling through his phone. Meng Ruihang looked toward her and handed her the menu, saying, “Come see what you’d like to eat. I’ve ordered a few dishes.”

Qing Ye paused for only two seconds before walking directly over and sitting beside Xing Wu. She bumped his arm with hers, gesturing him to move inside. Xing Wu glanced at her from the corner of his eye and shifted slightly.

Only then did Qing Ye respond to Meng Ruihang: “You order. I’m fine with anything.”

Though it was just a small gesture, the natural casualness between her and Xing Wu surprised Meng Ruihang.

While waiting for their food, Meng Ruihang lifted his teacup and said to Xing Wu, “Thank you and your family for taking care of Qing Ye during this time.”

Xing Wu glanced at the raised teacup, picked up his own with one hand, took a sip, and replied, “It’s what we should do.”

After setting down his cup, Meng Ruihang continued, “She tends to crave cold drinks when under pressure, and with upcoming exams getting more frequent, I hope you can keep an eye on her.”

Qing Ye frowned oddly at this, while Xing Wu, eyes half-lowered, said, “I have a bad temper. I won’t spoil princesses.”

He then poured Qing Ye’s cold tea into his cup and replaced it with hot tea, leaving Meng Ruihang stunned. Even more surprising was Qing Ye’s reaction – she held her cup with a smile.

Meng Ruihang awkwardly shifted his gaze back to Xing Wu’s face: “Qing Ye won’t trouble you for too long.”

Xing Wu leaned back against the sofa, speaking carelessly, “How long is ‘not too long’? A week? Or will you take her away in a month?”

Qing Ye kept her head down, fingers tapping silently on her teacup’s rim.

Just as Meng Ruihang opened his mouth to speak, Xing Wu cut him off: “If you can’t, then you have no say in her matters. She’s living in my home, and I’ll take responsibility for everything, good or bad.”

Meng Ruihang suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure. Although Xing Wu’s posture was casual and his tone indifferent, his dark eyes were sharp and piercing when he looked at people, striking straight to the heart.

Despite being at the most upscale restaurant in the county, neither Qing Ye nor Meng Ruihang had much appetite. Only Xing Wu maintained his composure.

When they were almost finished, Meng Ruihang got up to pay, but the server pointed to Xing Wu, saying, “Your friend already paid.”

Qing Ye turned to look at Xing Wu: “When did you pay?”

Xing Wu picked up his jacket and calmly glanced at the QR code on the table.

As they walked out, Qing Ye pulled at him and asked, “How much was it? I’ll pay you back.”

Xing Wu frowned and stared down at her. Qing Ye fell silent, knowing he’d be displeased if she insisted further.

Qing Ye looked back to find Meng Ruihang walking behind them, lost in thought.

The long-distance bus station was nearby in the county town. Meng Ruihang’s 2 PM bus would get him to the city in time for his evening flight. He remained quiet throughout the walk.

At the station entrance, Meng Ruihang looked up at Qing Ye, seeming to have something to say. Xing Wu tactfully turned away and walked to the side to smoke.

Meng Ruihang glanced at Xing Wu before finally asking, “Qing Ye, who exactly is he to you?”

…

After taking a couple of drags, Xing Wu turned back to look at them. They were talking about something, and after a while, Meng Ruihang finally went inside with his luggage.

Qing Ye turned and walked toward him. Xing Wu extinguished his cigarette, and they started walking back. The atmosphere hadn’t felt awkward before, but now with just the two of them, Qing Ye inexplicably remembered last night’s kiss. Though she wasn’t sure if Xing Wu felt the same way, there was an undeniable strangeness between them.

They stopped at the roadside as Xing Wu looked down at his phone to call a car. While Qing Ye kicked at nearby pebbles, Xing Wu asked while scrolling, “What took so long to talk about?”

Qing Ye, hands in her overall pockets, replied quietly, “He asked if you were my relative.”

Having ordered the car, Xing Wu turned his phone in his palm and glanced at her: “What did you say?”

Qing Ye smiled without answering. As the car stopped in front of them, she finally said lightly, “I told him you’re my man.”

She immediately got into the front passenger seat, leaving Xing Wu staring at her in shock until the driver honked twice, prompting him to get in the back.

Neither spoke during the ride. Xing Wu suddenly lost interest in his phone, instead watching Qing Ye through the rearview mirror while she scrolled through her phone.

The car stopped at Xuan Dao’s entrance. As soon as they entered the store, they saw Li Fanzhang bent over at the refrigerator. Seeing them return, she took out a bag: “Qing Ye, these are snacks your childhood friend brought yesterday. Remember to eat them before they go bad.”

She took the bag, glanced at Xing Wu, then smiled and handed the cake back to Li Fanzhang: “You eat it.”

Li Fanzhang asked in confusion: “Why won’t you eat it?”

“Suddenly don’t like it anymore,” she said before heading upstairs.

Li Fanzhang held the cake bag, puzzled, and asked Xing Wu: “Is Qing Ye feeling unwell?”

Xing Wu’s lips curled into a smile: “You eat it.”

In the evening, Huang Mao and Fatty came to the store again. Li Fanzhang was in good spirits and started making dumplings. Huang Mao helped knead the dough at the table, and Qing Ye came over to watch, giving him a thumbs up: “You’re pretty good at this!”

Huang Mao grinned and said, “I’ve trained these arms, see the muscles?”

He deliberately pulled open his jacket to show off in front of Qing Ye, who tilted her head and laughed at his biceps, which were only the size of steamed buns.

Huang Mao laughed with her. Qing Ye’s bangs had grown longer, and she had tied them in a crooked little ponytail on top of her head while studying earlier, finding them bothersome. When she smiled, she looked pure and adorable.

Huang Mao couldn’t help saying, “Qing Ye, you look like a little girl like this, kind of cute.”

Qing Ye responded proudly, “I am a little girl, how old did you think I was?”

Huang Mao quickly explained, “No, I mean you look even younger like this.”

Qing Ye peeked into the kitchen where Xing Wu and Fatty were busy, then pulled her stool closer to Huang Mao and asked in a low voice, “Do you have someone you like?”

Huang Mao’s heart suddenly jumped, and he stared at Qing Ye with wide eyes: “What… what do you mean?”

Qing Ye waved her hand casually: “Nothing special, just wondering what it feels like when you like someone?”

Huang Mao suddenly found it hard to breathe, his mouth dry and his heart racing as he gazed at Qing Ye: “It’s like… you can’t help but keep looking at her, never getting enough, finding her more and more beautiful the more you look. When you can’t see her, you keep thinking about her. When you see her with other guys, you feel upset and want to get angry, but you’re too embarrassed to tell her.”

Qing Ye rested her chin on her hand, listening quietly with a thoughtful, somewhat worried expression. Huang Mao asked hesitantly, “What about you?”

Qing Ye turned to him with her large eyes: “I think I feel similar to what you described.”

Huang Mao suddenly felt like he might faint. He had planned to wait until after Qing Ye’s college entrance exam to tell her, never expecting happiness to arrive so suddenly.

He nervously scrunched up his face: “So what should we do?”

“I need to think about it carefully.” Then Qing Ye went inside.

Huang Mao immediately started hyperventilating, and after catching his breath, he rushed into the kitchen shouting, “Qing Ye just confessed to me!”

Upon hearing that Qing Ye had confessed to Huang Mao, Fatty’s first reaction was: “Did… did Qing Ye hit her head today?”

Meanwhile, Xing Wu, who was cutting cabbage, turned his head coldly with the knife in hand and frowned: “Confessed?”

Huang Mao ran in with flour-covered hands: “Really! She said she feels the same way I do, thinks I’m getting more handsome, misses me when she can’t see me, and said she needs to think carefully about our relationship. My goodness, should I go home?”

Fatty scratched his head in confusion: “Why… why do you need to go home?”

“To tell my mom! If my mom finds out Qing Ye likes me, she’ll think our Hao family ancestors are blessing us!”

“???” Fatty was completely bewildered.

Xing Wu put down his knife, washed his hands, and said, “Are you sure she was confessing to you?”

Huang Mao replied confidently: “Ah, she must have been too shy to say it directly, so she asked roundabout questions about whether I had someone I liked and what it feels like to like someone. Isn’t that what it means? I’m so smart, I understood right away.”

Xing Wu dried his hands and patted Huang Mao’s shoulder, wiping his hands dry on it: “Brother, I think you’re overthinking this.”

But Huang Mao remained extremely excited all evening. Qing Ye didn’t come downstairs, as she needed to make up for the day’s lost study time, but Huang Mao thought she was avoiding him because she was shy.

The next day at school, the second monthly test results came out. Qing Ye scored 685, with perfect scores in Math and English. Among high scores, gaining even 10 points is usually very difficult, but Qing Ye had improved by thirty points from the previous test. This progress shocked everyone, and the whole An Zhong school was buzzing. The Vice Principal even announced this good news at the morning assembly, using such solemn phrases as “going down in history.”

Qing Ye thought it was a bit exaggerated. She had many issues when school first started, and possibly hadn’t adjusted well, affecting her performance. This monthly test just showed her normal level, but she needed exceptional performance to smooth her future path. She knew she still had a long way to go to reach her goals.

The Vice Principal specially invited Qing Ye to the stage during the assembly to say a few words, either to encourage everyone or to share her study methods.

Since she hadn’t been told beforehand about speaking on stage, she was completely unprepared. Teacher Yang quickly ran over to tell her: “Don’t be nervous, just say whatever comes to mind.”

Teacher Yang knew that with the 685 score, the Vice Principal just wanted Qing Ye to make an appearance to motivate the second and third-year students. What she said wasn’t important; a few perfunctory words would suffice.

However, Qing Ye wasn’t nervous. She had hosted evening events with thousands of people before; how could a few words intimidate her?

So she walked confidently to the podium, took the microphone from the Vice Principal, and moved to the center. The Vice Principal, a woman, smiled and stepped back a few paces to watch her.

Qing Ye scanned the sea of An Zhong students below and suddenly felt pleased to notice many students now sporting trendy permed hair. Her first thought was… should she find time to change her hairstyle again?

Then she raised the microphone and said her first words: “No study method will work for any of you.”

“???” A flock of crows flew across the field. The huge soccer field fell completely silent, not a single sound as everyone stared at the front in confusion, while the Vice Principal behind her, whose smile had gradually frozen on her face.

Only Qing Ye continued calmly: “Anyone willing to study shouldn’t score below 450. The key issue isn’t study methods, it’s whether you’re willing to give it your all. There’s still half a year until the college entrance exam. If you start now, everyone has a chance. Why give this unique life opportunity to someone else? Look at the people around you – who annoys you the most? Use real action to make them realize they can’t measure up to you. If you don’t even have this determination, you have no right to complain when you’re laying bricks in the future.”

Huang Mao had walked from Class 4 to behind Class 2, wiped his face, and said to Xing Wu: “Brother Wu, why do I feel so excited? How can someone who can’t even pass one subject feel this excited?”

Meanwhile, Fatty had become fired up: “I must get into a technical college.” His tone, his gaze, his spirit – as if he were aiming for Peking University.

Qing Ye’s speech was indeed brief, but her inherent charisma seemed to instantly affect everyone. As she turned, Xing Wu felt her glance in his direction. Despite the great distance and many students between them, Xing Wu could still feel her gaze, so intense and bright, like the dazzling sun.

After returning to class from the morning assembly, Shi Min seemed to have something on her mind all morning, unusually quiet and staring at Qing Ye absent-mindedly. At noon, Qing Ye finally couldn’t help asking: “Do you have something to say to me?”

Shi Min adjusted her thick round glasses and said dejectedly: “Qing Ye, you said this morning that anyone willing to study shouldn’t score below 450, but why can’t I reach that even though I’ve always been willing to study?”

“…” Qing Ye wanted to tell her, “You’re a special case, baby!” But she couldn’t bear to hurt her feelings, damage her confidence, or deny her efforts.

So she quickly tore a page from her notebook, filled it with problems from various subjects, and slapped it on Shi Min’s desk: “Finish these by tomorrow.”

As a result, Shi Min spent the whole afternoon seriously working on the problems Qing Ye had assigned.

Xing Wu received a phone call at noon and seemed to have something to attend to, so Qing Ye hadn’t seen him all afternoon. However, when returning home after school, she saw a yellow Porsche sports car parked in front of Xuan Dao.

Honestly, seeing a Porsche in Zha Zha Ting was like seeing the sunrise in the West. Sure enough, all the neighbors around Xuan Dao were gawking from their doorways, windows, or second floors, taking photos of the car.

As Qing Ye got closer, she saw two men standing in front of the car, dressed head to toe in designer brands, clearly not locals. Indeed, Qing Ye glanced at the license plate – it was from Shanghai. Even more strange was that Xing Wu was standing with them, talking.

He stood there with a cigarette in his mouth, his gaze indifferent. Then, seeming to notice Qing Ye in his peripheral vision, he turned to look at her. The two men quickly noticed Qing Ye too and stopped talking. One wearing a CLOT black thorn hoodie suddenly smiled and said, “You have beauties here?”

He raised his chin at Qing Ye, but she ignored him and looked at Xing Wu. Xing Wu directly threw the jacket he was holding to her: “Take this home for me.”