White Horse Manor.
The morning sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, spreading a layer of shattered gold across the dining room floor.
Chu Yanyan came trudging downstairs in low spirits, holding up her phone with a worried frown.
She had tried the password several more times last night—all wrong.
Now only one last attempt remained on the screen.
One more mistake, and the phone would be completely locked, turning into an expensive brick.
She sat down at the dining table, set her phone on it, and let out a long, drawn-out sigh.
Bai Zhiyuan was already sitting there.
A cup of black coffee sat in front of him, steam curling upward.
The sunlight happened to fall on the tips of his hair, coating them in a pale golden halo that made his face look all the more handsome.
Hearing her sigh, he glanced up at her, then looked away and took a sip of his coffee.
“What, didn’t sleep well?”
Chu Yanyan shook her head, resting her chin on the edge of the table as she said listlessly, “I don’t know my phone’s password. I’ve tried several times and none of them worked. One more wrong try and it’ll be locked for good.”
He set down his coffee cup, his slender fingers lingering on the rim for a moment.
“Try your birthday.”
Chu Yanyan’s eyes lit up, then dimmed again. She slumped back against the chair, spreading her hands.
“But I don’t even know when my birthday is.”
She had amnesia—she wasn’t even sure how old she was, let alone the exact date.
He was silent for two seconds, then his thin lips parted and he recited six digits.
“060615.”
Chu Yanyan froze for a moment, then immediately looked down and typed it in.
The screen lit up.
The phone was unlocked.
A flood of WeChat messages poured out, all from Ren Xiaohang, one after another, densely filling the entire screen.
“Yanyan, are you okay?”
“Yanyan, reply to me!”
“Did you lose your phone?”
“Yanyan, don’t scare me like this!”
“If you don’t reply soon I’m calling the police, ahhhhhh!”
“CHU YANYAN!!”
…
Reading those messages, Chu Yanyan felt a warmth in her heart. She looked up at Bai Zhiyuan.
“It really is my birthday.”
She blinked, a hint of probing in her tone. “You remember it that clearly?”
Bai Zhiyuan’s hand holding the coffee cup paused.
He didn’t answer the question. He didn’t even look at her.
He stood up and straightened his cuffs. “I’ll wait for you in the car.”
With that, he picked up the car keys and walked out of the dining room.
Chu Yanyan watched his figure disappear down the hallway, then looked down at the date on her phone, then back up in the direction he’d gone.
She pressed her lips together and tucked the phone into her pocket.
She picked up her glass of milk and gulped it down, grabbed a slice of toast and stuffed it into her mouth, took a big bite of fried egg, and chewed with puffed-up cheeks, calling out indistinctly, “Coming!”
In the car.
It was quiet, with only the low hum of the air conditioning.
Bai Zhiyuan sat in the back seat, a laptop on his knees, fingers tapping away at the keyboard, his gaze focused and calm.
Chu Yanyan sat beside him, sneaking glance after glance at him.
He seemed completely absorbed in his work, not even sparing her a sideways glance.
It was too quiet.
Quiet to the point of being awkward.
Chu Yanyan’s fingers started fidgeting against the seat.
First she touched the seatbelt buckle, then rubbed the car window glass, then tugged at the hem of her own skirt.
She really couldn’t hold it in any longer. Clearing her throat, she put on an air of expertise and reached out to pat the leather interior of the car door.
“This car… seems a bit different from the other cars on the road, huh?”
Bai Zhiyuan didn’t look up, his fingers continuing to tap away at the keyboard.
Undeterred, she touched the armrest box, glanced left and right, lifted her chin slightly, and put on an expression that said I have excellent taste.
“It must be pretty expensive, right?”
She mentally estimated the largest number within her range of comprehension, then spoke with full confidence.
“It’s got to be at least… a hundred-something thousand.”
Bai Zhiyuan’s fingers paused.
He finally looked up and glanced at her. “Ten million.”
Chu Yanyan’s hand froze in midair.
She opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Better to keep her dead mouth shut.
The more she said, the more she looked like an idiot.
She now seriously suspected that in Bai Zhiyuan’s mind, her IQ was on par with an adult border collie.
At least a border collie could do math—she couldn’t even estimate the price of a car.
Bai Zhiyuan withdrew his gaze and returned to his computer. The corner of his mouth seemed to twitch slightly—or maybe it didn’t.
Chu Yanyan shrank into her seat, quiet as a mouse, and didn’t say another word the entire ride.
The car stopped at the school gate.
Chu Yanyan picked up her backpack, rested her hand on the door handle, and was about to get out.
“Pay attention in class.”
The low voice came from behind her.
She turned around. Bai Zhiyuan was looking at her, his gaze calm.
But her heart still rippled with little circles of feeling.
“Got it.”
She pushed open the car door and dashed through the school gate.
In the classroom.
The moment Chu Yanyan walked in, Ren Xiaohang charged over like a cannonball, threw an arm around her, her eyes frighteningly bright.
Her expression instantly switched to gossip mode. “Spill it, spill it—how far along are you?”
The corners of Chu Yanyan’s mouth slowly curled up into a mischievous smile.
Instead of answering directly, she leisurely took her seat and put her backpack away.
Then she extended her hand and, slowly and deliberately, made a gesture of touching it to her lips.
Ren Xiaohang’s eyes went wide as saucers. “You put it straight in your mouth?!”
What “put it in your mouth” meant—those who knew, knew.
Chu Yanyan shook her head, leaned in close to her ear, and told her, in full detail, about kissing his finger at dinner the night before.
When Ren Xiaohang finished listening, she slapped the desk, her face full of my girl is making moves excitement.
“Chu Yanyan! Not bad at all!”
She clapped Chu Yanyan firmly on the shoulder, her voice brimming with enthusiasm. “Keep it up! Aim to nail him by next month!”
The slap knocked Chu Yanyan sideways. Her face flushed bright red, and she reached out to cover Ren Xiaohang’s mouth.
“Keep your voice down!”
The two of them dissolved into laughter. A few classmates in the front row turned to glance at them, then turned back around.
Chu Yanyan sat down, still red-faced, her heart still beating a little fast, but the corners of her mouth wouldn’t stop curling upward.
Nail him!
She secretly imagined that scene for a moment, and the tips of her ears turned a few shades redder.
Oh well. Better to start with holding hands and kissing fingers.
One step at a time.