Xue Jiao forced a smile: “Zhi Hua…”

Her voice carried nervousness and guilt.

When she first met Lin Zhi Hua, she was already quite thin. Those eight pounds had been the result of his careful nurturing over their two years at university.

But… they disappeared in just half a month…

Lin Zhi Hua looked at her with a penetrating gaze, his voice feathery: “I spent a year and a half building you up… and in just half a month without my supervision, it’s all gone?”

Xue Jiao: “…”

Lin Zhi Hua stared at her with a stern face while Xue Jiao shrank her neck guiltily.

After a moment, she stepped forward and gently tugged at the corner of Lin Zhi Hua’s clothes.

When he looked at her, Xue Jiao showed her teeth in a smile, her eyes narrowing into slits: “Zhi Hua… I’m hungry…”

See, who could stay angry at her like this?

This girl had her finger firmly on his pulse.

Lin Zhi Hua sighed helplessly and reached out to gently smooth her somewhat disheveled hair: “You’re officially on winter break now. I can stop being angry, but we must establish three rules.”

Xue Jiao opened her eyes wide, and blinked them repeatedly, with an innocent expression.

Lin Zhi Hua’s brow relaxed as he took her hand and kissed it: “First, you must eat three meals daily on time. Do you agree?”

“Yes!” Feeling guilty, Xue Jiao nodded obediently.

Lin Zhi Hua continued: “Second, you’ll have lunch with me at Wu Liu Lane.”

With the New Year approaching, he wouldn’t have time to come home and cook for Xue Jiao every day, so he could only make arrangements at Wu Liu Lane.

“What else?” Xue Jiao blinked.

“Third, you are not allowed to go back to school to work on projects during this break!” Lin Zhi Hua’s voice turned stern.

Xue Jiao looked at him and nodded.

She needed to write her thesis this break anyway, so there was no need to go to school for projects.

Seeing that Xue Jiao had agreed to everything, Lin Zhi Hua finally smiled, and then the longing he had been suppressing began to spread.

He exercised restraint as he reached out and held her lightly, then quickly let go: “My darling, I missed you.”

His voice was full of restraint and control as if momentarily returning to the suffocating longing of the past half month, his chest burning with discomfort.

Xue Jiao hugged him back briefly before letting go: “I love you too.”

The gloom in Lin Zhi Hua’s eyes instantly disappeared. Possessing such a treasure, he should be willing to endure a little hardship.

Xue Jiao also felt guilty toward Lin Zhi Hua. That day, she had lunch with him at Wu Liu Lane, but because she wanted to go home to shower and rest, she didn’t accompany him in the afternoon.

When she arrived home, Li Sitong and Cheng Ming Ze were both there, their eyes showing the same concern as Lin Zhi Hua’s.

“Jiaojiao?! How did you lose so much weight?!” Li Sitong’s voice was shocked.

She was already thin to begin with, without much mass to lose, so dropping eight pounds made her look much thinner.

Xue Jiao smiled: “Isn’t it good to be thinner? My weight and height are in better proportion now. If I got any fatter, I wouldn’t look good.”

“Nonsense, you were already thin, and now you’re even thinner!” Li Sitong said sternly.

Xue Jiao shook her head, her voice resigned: “Fine, fine, fine. I’ll gain it back soon. I won’t be working on projects this break, just focusing on regaining weight.”

Only then was Li Sitong satisfied, and she continued somewhat reproachfully: “That’s more like it. You were too intense before. You’re only an undergraduate; you don’t need to work so hard. Wait until you’re in graduate school when you’ll have projects to do. Now you should take the opportunity to rest.”

Cheng Ming Ze closed his laptop and smiled: “It’s not right for Jiaojiao to push herself too hard, but this age is indeed when one should strive hardest. How can we say we’ll work hard later and not do so now? Jiaojiao is already ahead of her peers, and in the future, she’ll achieve success more easily compared to them. But going against the current, not advancing means retreating.”

Li Sitong looked helpless and waved her hand: “Forget it, I can’t argue with you. All three of you are so hardworking.”

Xue Jiao smiled, exchanging a glance with Cheng Ming Ze.

The next day, Xue Jiao went to school once more to pick up Mai Jia Jia and send her off from Beijing.

She didn’t have many friends. Jia Xue was too far away, so they could only occasionally contact by phone and send each other things.

Ding Qi was going abroad next semester, leaving only Mai Jia Jia by her side.

After seeing off Mai Jia Jia, the rest of her winter break wasn’t as busy as before, but she wasn’t idle either.

Zhang Han had already gone abroad, and Chu Sheng had also gone home. They could only discuss their thesis in the group chat, each writing their main sections, and then combining and editing them later.

When writing her thesis, Xue Jiao was mostly in Lin Zhi Hua’s office. He would take her along in the morning when he went to work and bring her to Wu Liu Lane for lunch.

Then he would leave work on time in the afternoon, take Xue Jiao home to cook dinner, and occasionally they would go to the Cheng family for meals.

Though it was the New Year period, the entire Lin Corporation had less overtime, as the boss wasn’t working extra hours, so the employees weren’t held to such strict standards.

However, relatively speaking, daytime was busier, requiring higher efficiency from everyone.

With the “boss’s lady” in the company, the boss’s temper had indeed improved.

But it was as if they had a buff, with efficiency becoming frightfully high.

——

On this day, Xue Jiao sat by the pink desk, her eyes fixed on the screen, motionless.

Many people seeing this might think Xue Jiao was daydreaming, but Lin Zhi Hua, looking up at her, shook his head with a smile. He knew this was Xue Jiao being focused.

As noon approached, Xue Jiao’s gaze shifted to the window, unmoving, but Lin Zhi Hua knew she was now daydreaming.

This was rare.

“Jiaojiao?” Lin Zhi Hua asked curiously.

Xue Jiao suddenly snapped back, startled: “Hmm?”

Lin Zhi Hua stood up, walked over with large strides, and gently stroked her head: “What’s wrong? You’re daydreaming.”

“I’m worried about my final exam results.”

“Hmm?” Lin Zhi Hua was surprised. Xue Jiao was worried about exam results.

With concern on her face, Xue Jiao explained what had happened before, then sighed: “I think my paper should be fine, but I’m afraid the teacher…”

University exams were different from high school. Sometimes a teacher’s preferences had a significant impact, unlike high school where there were no regular assessments, and a point earned was a point earned.

Lin Zhi Hua smiled and lightly tapped her forehead: “Silly.”

Xue Jiao’s eyes widened, looking at him in confusion.

Lin Zhi Hua explained: “If your teacher cares so much about whether you attend class properly, he must be someone who values grades and attitude. Your previous hard work would have left an impression on him. As long as your exam paper is good and your total score passes, he won’t deliberately make things difficult for you. Your school has higher hopes for you than you think, which is why your absence from class made him so angry.”

Xue Jiao blinked: “Really?”

“Really.”

Meanwhile, in Tsinghua University in this city, Teacher Zhen paced back and forth in his office with his hands behind his back, looking troubled.

How could he not be troubled?

He was most angry at Gu Xue Jiao, and in his anger, he had given her a participation score of zero. Yet her exam paper was perfect.

Perfect!!

The last big question was very difficult. Only three people scored full marks, but none of them had an answer as perfect as Xue Jiao’s for the final question.

Such a perfect answer!

How many points should he give her?

Teacher Zhen walked back and forth, occasionally touching his already balding head.

After a moment, he picked up the paper and looked at it again.

Before the finals this semester, this student had been very diligent, almost always sitting in the middle front rows, and she was very attentive.

Like every teacher in the Mathematics Department, Teacher Zhen knew Gu Xue Jiao.

He didn’t have the stature of Professor Tan, so he never had the desire to compete with Professor Tan for students, but he did admire this student.

However, this student’s behavior of skipping class to work on projects made him very angry. No matter how important the project was, couldn’t she spare even one class period?!

Yet in the end… this student… scored perfect marks!

Teacher Zhen paced back and forth, finally making up his mind. He stepped forward quickly and recorded a number next to Gu Xue Jiao’s name.

——

This was the fourth New Year Xue Jiao had spent in this world. Winter had come early this year, so the winter break was relatively late. After about ten days of vacation, New Year’s Eve arrived amid heavy snowfall.

This was the Cheng family’s second New Year in Beijing, and the whole family was still not used to such a cold winter, especially with the heating indoors and the icy world outside. This extreme contrast made them reluctant to go out.

But New Year goods still needed to be purchased. On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Cheng family of four went out together, planning to buy New Year goods in the city center.

Just as the family was leaving, Cheng Shuo stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Li Sitong looked over curiously.

Cheng Shuo thought for a moment and turned to Xue Jiao: “Did Lin Corporation officially close for the holidays yesterday?”

“Yes.” Xue Jiao nodded. Lin Zhi Hua had been too busy lately, so she hadn’t gone to his company.

But she knew about their company’s annual party last night. Lin Zhi Hua had invited her, but Xue Jiao felt a bit shy and didn’t go.

“Then he should be buying New Year goods too…” Cheng Shuo’s gaze was a bit uncomfortable as he awkwardly said, “Although he can come to our home for New Year’s Eve tonight, we can’t let his house remain cold and empty. Go call him, and let’s go together.”

Cheng Shuo’s gaze was unnatural as he awkwardly put his hands behind his back and quickly walked toward the door.

Xue Jiao: “…”

Not just Xue Jiao, but even Li Sitong and Cheng Ming Ze were extremely surprised.

It was well known that Cheng Shuo disliked Lin Zhi Hua being around Xue Jiao, yet this time he had actively invited him…

Xue Jiao broke into a grin, her mood brightening considerably: “Wait for me!”

She turned and ran straight toward Lin Zhi Hua’s house.

Cheng Ming Ze and Li Sitong caught up with Cheng Shuo, and Cheng Ming Ze couldn’t help but frown in confusion: “Dad, what are you…?”

Cheng Shuo looked at the icy, snowy scene before him and said softly: “They will eventually marry, and after all this time, I must admit that Lin Zhi Hua is most suitable for Jiaojiao. He can endure loneliness and is willing to wait for Jiaojiao. When Jiaojiao finished her project, she had dark circles under her eyes and was nothing but skin and bones. After just ten days with Lin Zhi Hua, her complexion is rosy again. Lin Zhi Hua… takes very good care of her.”

As a father, no matter how reluctant to part with his daughter, when meeting a man truly suitable for her, he couldn’t keep pushing him away.

Cheng Ming Ze nodded in understanding and said no more.

He decided to be nicer to Lin Zhi Hua later.

——

At Lin Zhi Hua’s home.

“Son, your father and I truly know we were wrong. We can’t have our family spending the New Year apart, can we?” Lin Zhi Hua listened to his mother’s voice on the phone, expressionless.

Lin’s mother continued rambling: “You’ve found these bodyguards who won’t let us go here, won’t let us go there. I know you want them to watch over your father and me, but isn’t this too much? They’re taking advantage of you for not managing us, bullying us behind your back!”

Lin Zhi Hua’s eyes turned cold, his voice flat: “They’re stopping you because you want to come find me, or find Jiaojiao, or even find Grandfather. I’ve said it before, places you shouldn’t go, you absolutely cannot go!”

“Lin Zhi Hua! Is this how you treat your parents during the New Year?!”

“I’ll come back for lunch with you tomorrow, and tomorrow night I’ll take you to the old house. You can meet with Grandfather as you wish tomorrow night.”

“You won’t be home tomorrow night for the New Year countdown?! I heard you moved to Gu Xue Jiao’s neighborhood. Lin Zhi Hua, your surname is Lin, you’re not marrying into her family! Her Cheng family…”

Lin Zhi Hua coldly interrupted: “If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

Just as he hung up, Lin Zhi Hua heard his mother angrily shouting at him from the other end of the phone—

“You won’t even come home for the New Year, do you think it’s good to be alone?! Lin Zhi Hua, you…”

The call had already disconnected.

Lin Zhi Hua stared blankly at a spot, lost in thought. The New Year… alone?

The room was somewhat empty, making it seem cold and lonely.

A lively New Year was for other families. For him, this day was no different from any other day. It was enough if he could wish Jiaojiao a happy New Year.

It was just that before meeting Jiaojiao, he had never realized… how lonely it was to be alone.

As he was lost in thought, the doorbell rang.