The two of them submitted their essays right after the morning reading class the next day. During the long break in the afternoon, just as they were preparing to go out for exercises, they were both hauled to the office to hear feedback on their essays.

The Chinese teacher had been discussing something with another teacher in the front seat. Seeing them arrive, she said: “You’ve come at a good time. Several teachers and I from other classes have looked at your essays. Among those submitted so far, they’re quite good, but there are still a few issues to pay attention to. Let me explain them to you.”

The rhythmic music for outdoor exercises kept pounding in from outside. Teacher Wang really couldn’t stand it, so she went to close the door before coming back to continue.

“Let’s talk about you first, Sang Ru.”

Sang Ru put on an obedient listening expression as she heard the teacher holding both of their essay papers, analyzing while looking at them: “This topic is indeed very suitable for narrative writing. The story you wrote has good writing skills and doesn’t go off-topic, but there’s one issue…”

Sang Ru blinked: “Please tell me.”

“It’s about this story. Let me summarize it for you and see if I’m right—the protagonist is an old craftsman, without wife or children, who makes a living alone by carving jade. The jade items he creates are so lifelike that many people come to buy them. But despite the crowds at his door, he still feels all alone. Then,” the teacher looked up at Sang Ru and continued, “then he had a dream. He dreamed of his apprentice days, of a female classmate who learned jade carving with him, right?”

Sang Ru nodded: “Yes, yes.”

“So he dreamed about some events with this female classmate. The idea is that he achieved success in his craft but missed out on a good match. Then he woke up from the dream, and the story abruptly ended. That’s your story.”

“Yep.” Sang Ru responded.

“This ending is actually very good, and overall I quite like it,” probably thinking of what she was about to say next, the teacher herself couldn’t help but smile, “it’s just that the story, with love as its main theme—it’s not that you can’t write that, but after all, this isn’t a New Concept Writing Competition. For a district-wide high school essay competition, they do care about what themes the essays cover. If you write this kind of story, the judges might suspect you…”

Sang Ru also smiled: “Suspect me of what?”

“Suspect you of being in puppy love, of course. I don’t think that way, but you should be careful. In the formal competition, if you can write about other emotions, try to write about others. The theme of love, well, it’s hard to say.”

“Alright, I understand. Thank you, teacher.”

Sang Ru said this out loud, but in her heart, she thought, “But I am trying to have puppy love…”

She secretly glanced at the person beside her. She hadn’t felt anything earlier, but now she felt somewhat embarrassed about having her love story discussed in public, because even though she could see Zhou Tingzhao was trying to hold it in, the upward curve of his lips betrayed him.

Is it that funny?

Teacher Wang opened her thermos and took a few sips of water before continuing: “Now let’s look at Zhou Tingzhao’s.”

The opportunity for revenge had arrived. Sang Ru perked up her ears.

“Zhou Tingzhao’s essay is still the argumentative type that he usually writes, which is good, but your style—has it changed?”

Confused by this question, Zhou Tingzhao responded with slight bewilderment: “Huh?”

“The main argument, sub-arguments, supporting evidence, and conclusion are all fine, but,” the teacher looked at him with quite a helpless expression, “why is your style so business-like? Although data is important, you included so many venture capital market figures in your examples that someone might think you were writing a business report.”

Sang Ru rather unkindly burst out with a “pfft” of laughter, hearing Zhou Tingzhao thoughtfully make an “Oh” sound.

“There’s nothing else. It’s evident that you’ve accumulated quite a lot of material in this area, but for the formal competition, even though it’s an argumentative essay, don’t write long examples with too much data. Be concise—just include a few important ones.”

“Yes, teacher.” An extremely docile response.

“Sang Ru, don’t just laugh. You should also pay attention to your love story.”

Sang Ru held back her laughter and immediately answered: “Yes, teacher!”

“Alright, you two can go back now. Prepare well. It’s this Sunday at our school—the home venue—so don’t be nervous.”

Only after walking five meters away from the office was Sang Ru finally unable to hold back her laughter again.

Zhou Tingzhao pulled her away from the entrance of the corridor and said helplessly: “Watch where you’re going.”

After a while, Sang Ru contained her amusement and asked him: “Do you want to go into venture capital in the future?”

Zhou Tingzhao’s heart tightened, but he answered calmly: “It’s alright, I’m just interested in it.”

“It’s good to have career plans,” Sang Ru stopped, and Zhou Tingzhao stopped with her. She rose slightly on her toes and patted his head, saying seriously, “You’ll become an outstanding venture capitalist in the future.”

She had already withdrawn her hand and stood properly, but the sensation of those two pats lingered. Zhou Tingzhao paused and said, “Really?”

“Yes, little Mr. Zhou.” Sang Ru was half serious, half teasing.

For a moment, Zhou Tingzhao overlapped the scene before him with one from the future.

It seemed that since coming here, she had thought about him too, hadn’t she?

Zhou Tingzhao’s expression took on a hint of amusement as he said: “Thanks for the good wishes, romance novelist.”

While Sang Ru was stunned by this title, he had already strode forward. Sang Ru finally came to her senses and caught up, giving him a light jab.

“It’s all thanks to you.”