Bai Xu walked into the classroom, his gaze instinctively sweeping toward the back row.
Chu Yanyan was sitting with Ren Xiaohang, their heads together, whispering about something.
She was smiling with her eyes curved into crescents, her mouth wide open showing two rows of little white teeth.
She looked very happy today, with no trace of discomfort on her face.
He stood there watching for two seconds, then looked away and went to sit in the front row.
In his hand was a small box, square and neat, still carrying a bit of warmth.
That morning, the housekeeper had made Chu Yanyan’s favorite brown sugar cake as usual.
The housekeeper hadn’t gotten used to her leaving either.
He had packed the cake into the box right away.
If she hadn’t lost her memory, being suddenly sent to live at his eldest brother’s place like this, she would definitely have come running at him in tears.
Clutching his sleeve and refusing to let go, crying and asking, “Big brother, are you getting rid of me?”
Her eyes red from crying, the tip of her nose red too, her whole little face scrunched up, pitiful beyond words.
His fingers tightened slightly. He stood up, took the little box, and walked to the back row.
He handed the box over, his tone casual. “Brown sugar cake. You can have it.”
Ren Xiaohang’s gaze immediately swept over like a searchlight, a watch-the-show expression hanging on his lips.
His eyes darted back and forth between the two of them.
Chu Yanyan looked up, glanced at him, then at the box.
Her expression was calm, without the careful, eager delight it once would have held.
“Brother Xu, I already ate a big breakfast this morning.”
She smiled, her tone polite yet distant. “You have it.”
Bai Xu’s hand paused.
He lowered his eyes, his voice much quieter. “I see.”
He turned around and walked back to the front row with the box.
The box was still in his hand, the cake no longer hot, just lukewarm.
Big brother would surely take care of her breakfast.
He really worried too much.
Ren Xiaohang poked her shoulder mischievously. “Not bad, you’re pretty good at acting—marketing that little bird appetite of yours.”
Don’t men just love girls who eat little?
She was puzzled—she really had eaten her fill this morning.
“I’m no little bird appetite, I’m a Ryoko-style bottomless pit.”
“Hahahahaha.”
The two of them doubled over laughing.
Morning classes came one after another, as boring as a lullaby on repeat.
The professor’s voice on the podium was flat and monotonous, the PPT slides turned page after page, and the sunlight through the window made everyone’s eyelids heavy.
Chu Yanyan propped her head up and soldiered on, but her eyelids still stubbornly drooped, her head nodding bit by bit like a chick pecking at rice.
When the final bell finally rang, she was drenched as if fished out of water, slumping over her desk with a long sigh.
Ren Xiaohang packed up his bag and asked casually, “It’s the weekend tomorrow. Where are you planning to go?”
Chu Yanyan rested her chin on her hand, thinking, and a classic scene immediately popped into her head.
A Ferris wheel rising to its highest point, two people sitting face to face, the sunset spilling gold through the window, and then—a kiss.
Her eyes lit up. “Let’s go to the amusement park and ride the Ferris wheel.”
Ren Xiaohang stopped packing, the corners of his mouth slowly curling up.
“The Ferris wheel?”
She drew out her words, her tone carrying the worldliness of someone experienced. “That’s so slow.”
Chu Yanyan blinked. “Then where should we go?”
Ren Xiaohang leaned in, lowering his voice with a mysterious expression.
“The haunted house.”
“The haunted house?” Chu Yanyan was taken aback.
“Think about it—the haunted house is pitch dark. You pretend to be scared, shrink into his arms, and there’s no way he’d push you away.”
“Guys all fall for that. The moment you get scared, his protective instincts kick in. Forget holding hands—he might even carry you through.”
Chu Yanyan’s eyes lit up little by little, until by the end they were practically glowing.
“Ren Xiaohang, you’re a genius!”
Ren Xiaohang flicked her hair smugly. “Remember, once you’re inside, you have to be scared just the right amount. Got it?”
“Got it, got it, got it!” Chu Yanyan nodded eagerly, already rehearsing tomorrow’s performance in her head.
After school that afternoon.
The black sedan was parked outside the school gate as usual, waiting quietly.
Chu Yanyan opened the door and climbed in, set her backpack aside, and sat up straight with a smile on her face.
She was planning to tell Bai Zhiyuan all about tomorrow’s amusement park trip.
“Let me tell you about tomorrow—”
“You dozed off twelve times in class today.”
Bai Zhiyuan didn’t look at her. His gaze stayed on the documents in his lap, his voice calm.
Chu Yanyan’s smile froze on her face.
Her mouth hung open, and she held that stiff pose for two seconds before slowly closing it.
Quiet as a mouse.
She shrank into her seat, wishing she could fold herself up and stuff herself into the gap between the cushions.
Twelve times.
He even knew the exact number.
Was there a surveillance camera on her or something?
Bai Zhiyuan turned to look at her, brow slightly furrowed, his expression as stern as a teacher exasperated by a hopeless student.
“Didn’t I tell you to pay attention in class?”
Chu Yanyan hung her head dejectedly, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s whine. “I know. I won’t do it again.”
(She absolutely would.)
Bai Zhiyuan looked at her for two seconds, then looked away and turned a page of his documents.
“As long as you know.”
Back at the manor, after dinner.
Bai Zhiyuan tutored her in the study as usual.
The desk lamp cast a small circle of light, throwing their shadows onto the wall.
Textbooks and notebooks lay open on the desk, the pens in the holder arranged neatly in a row—everything in perfect order.
Except for Chu Yanyan.
She had a pen stuck in her mouth, teeth clamped on the plastic cap.
Chewing, chewing, then switching to sucking—her lips wrapped around the pen, making little slurping sounds.
Her eyes stared blankly at the formulas in the textbook, which might as well have been written in an alien language, her soul already drifting off into the clouds.
Her head was full of nothing but tomorrow’s haunted house.
Her shrinking into his arms, him holding her, him keeping her hand in his the whole time because he was afraid she’d get scared…
She could even take the chance to cop a feel of his abs ()
Bai Zhiyuan finished explaining a problem and turned to look at her.
She had a pen in her mouth, her cheeks slightly hollowed, and something black smeared on her lips, spreading from the corner of her mouth all the way down to her chin.
And she was still sucking on it.
Sucking away, completely absorbed, entirely unaware.
Bai Zhiyuan frowned and reached out to flick her on the forehead.
“How much of this is actually getting through to you?”
Chu Yanyan snapped back to reality and looked up at him, utterly bewildered.
“Huh?”
The moment her mouth opened, it was pitch black inside.
Black teeth, black tongue, black lips.
Bai Zhiyuan stared at that face, stunned for a moment.
He couldn’t hold it in.
On that usually cold, restrained face, unmistakable amusement rippled outward like waves on water.
His brows relaxed, the corners of his mouth lifted, and warmth crept into his eyes.
“What, done being a human? Decided to become an octopus?”