One has to accept aging. In his younger years, he could teach several classes without getting winded, but at his current age, he needed hot water to revive himself after just one class. Old Zheng sighed repeatedly, wondering how those two little rascals were doing.

“Hello, Teacher Zheng!”

“Ah, hello!” Old Zheng responded to the student’s greeting while pushing the door, but it didn’t move.

Looking again, the door was tightly shut without even a crack left open.

Needing to close the door completely just to do homework—how fastidious!

Fortunately, there was still a window.

Old Zheng silently observed through the window for a while. The two were sitting like ordinary deskmates, looking quite serious.

Not bad. Old Zheng knocked on the window, and Sang Ru immediately ran out to open the door for him.

“How’s the work coming along, you two top students?”

Sang Ru followed behind: “It’s going alright.”

Zhou Tingzhao: “Mm.”

“Oh, quite confident! This one’s challenging,” Old Zheng said after getting water. He stood by the desk, looking at their test papers. Both still had three or four major questions on the back left unfinished, which was slower than their usual pace. “Seems it has some difficulty, even you two aren’t as fast as usual.”

Indeed, they weren’t as fast as usual. The two with guilty consciences said nothing—let Old Zheng misunderstand if he wanted.

“Alright, come back to class with me. Next time you forget, it won’t be this simple!”

Sang Ru responded with an “Oh,” secretly glancing at Zhou Tingzhao.

Even she was uncomfortable with her damp underwear; he hadn’t calmed down, and must be feeling even more uncomfortable.

When the three entered through the back door, everyone was taking their break between classes. There wasn’t much noise, so Li Chenfei’s schadenfreude laughter, though lowered, was still quite obvious. Soon, other classmates also joined in the laughter.

Quickly, laughter spread throughout—who doesn’t enjoy a good joke about top students?

It was good-natured “teasing.” Zhou Tingzhao did not react, and Sang Ru wasn’t angry either. She silently glared at the instigator, Li Chenfei, before returning to her seat.

“You all have the nerve to laugh at others? Look at how many questions you got right. Really!” Old Zheng returned to the podium, coming to the defense of the weaker party.

The girl in the seat in front turned around. She was one of the few who hadn’t laughed. In a gentle voice, she asked: “Sang Ru, did you finish the makeup work?”

“Not yet. It’s a bit challenging, so we’re writing slowly,” Sang Ru replied politely, pressing her lips together. She elbowed Zhou Tingzhao, “Right, Zhou Tingzhao?”

Sang Ru’s intention was to tease him, expecting him to likely blush and agree. Unexpectedly, Zhou Tingzhao chuckled lightly and answered: “Mm.”

When the enemy is weak, I am strong; when the enemy is strong, I become weak. Sang Ru somehow felt her face burning a bit.

The girl suddenly exclaimed, “Oh!” and asked, “The strings on your wrists are the same! They’re pretty. Where did you buy them?”

Zhou Tingzhao lowered his gaze to see the red string on his wrist, like a gathering of blood, winding around in circles. Apart from a watch, he never wore any accessories, but this item—he remembered she had personally put it on him, so he was reluctant to remove it.

Zhou Tingzhao: “Someone gave it to me.”

Sang Ru: “Prayed for at a temple.”

They spoke simultaneously, but their answers differed. The girl in front was confused. Sang Ru quickly remedied: “It was from praying at a temple for blessings on the college entrance exam. A master gave them out. We both went and happened to meet there, so we got the same ones.”

Zhou Tingzhao: …

She’d made that up on the spot? Quick thinking.

“Wow, which temple?”

“What what?!” The words “college entrance exam” were too sensitive. The other girl in the front seat, who had seemed to be sleeping, suddenly sat up straight and turned around. With dark circles under her eyes, she excitedly asked, “Is it effective? I want to go pray too!”

Her movement was so large that it swept several books from the top of Zhou Tingzhao’s desk onto the floor.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” She apologized and bent to pick them up.

Sang Ru had just made something up casually, not expecting follow-up questions. She improvised: “It’s alright, sincerity brings blessings.”

“Which temple is it?”

Sang Ru secretly cast a pleading glance at Zhou Tingzhao for help. He seemed to receive it and continued her fabrication: “White Cloud Temple.”

No one noticed that the rustling of the book-picking had disappeared for a moment. The girl in front only stood up after a while, patted the books, and placed them back on Zhou Tingzhao’s desk as they were.

Her face, however, was burning red. Her gaze moved in circles between Zhou Tingzhao and Sang Ru, then looked at their red strings, appearing as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

“Alright, class is about to start.” She turned around, pulling her desk mate to turn back as well.

Sang Ru didn’t notice anything unusual and continued working on the problems.

Zhou Tingzhao, however, seemed to suddenly realize something. He pulled out a book from the stack that had just fallen and quickly flipped through it.

That letter he had folded and tucked into the book was now lying there.

The “love letter” that would later be passed around with exaggerated accounts had now been seen by an outsider—