The midterm exam lasted a total of two days, the time compressed very tightly, but Yan Luqing did quite smoothly in her exams.

It was not because she could answer every question, but because the positioning during study was too accurate. After all, Gu Ci had never asked her to tackle overly profound problems; the goal was simply to secure those portions of marks that were easy and simple to grasp—anyway, once the exam was over, she had absolute confidence that in every subject she could pass the halfway mark.

In the middle of the exams, Yan Luqing also got to know quite a few classmates of the same year. She, being a silly and straightforward person who was quick to warm up to others and also looked good, managed to mix around energetically in just those two days of the exam hall. She even added herself into several class groups and faculty groups.

On the second day, after finishing the two hardest subjects, Yan Luqing returned to the villa, unable to hide the excitement on her face.

In the past half a month, everyone in the villa knew that Miss Yan was studying with blazing enthusiasm. After the first day’s exam, fearing it might affect her mood, no one dared to bring up related words. Aunt Disney secretly sighed to Little Black, “My nephew’s college entrance exam was just like this.”

So, when everyone saw her so happy, they all gathered around to ask how it went. Yan Luqing thought for a moment, then smiled and said: “It feels like a second success at the college entrance exam.”

After bragging with them, Yan Luqing immediately ran over and sat down by the sofa. Gu Ci had originally been watching television absent-mindedly, but when he felt the seat beside him sink, he turned his face slightly to glance at her.

Speaking of which, it was strange—why would someone with Gu Ci’s kind of personality like watching television? Yan Luqing had always found it puzzling.

She herself liked watching television very much. But her love for television had reasons.

One was because television had been something she could neither have nor see during her childhood. Two was because she felt that turning on the television made the place lively, creating an illusion as if the house was not empty at all, as if there was noisy liveliness around her.

Then what about Gu Ci?

How could he like watching television so much? To the extent that he was so very similar to her, as if it were a habit?

Yan Luqing originally liked to let the television play without pause; in such a big villa, it was even more necessary to leave it on. But many times, it was not she who turned on the television, but Gu Ci. She instead saved the trouble.

And strangely enough, she always felt that the television suited the temperament of a salted-fish homebody like herself. Unexpectedly, whenever Gu Ci sat in the sofa, wearing those extremely beautiful glasses while watching television, the scene actually had a kind of contrast cuteness unique to a great figure.

What she had originally wanted to say was temporarily set aside. Yan Luqing curiously poked the pillow behind him: “Gu Ci, why are you watching television every day?”

Gu Ci wore glasses, which faintly reflected the image on the screen. Then he answered very calmly and objectively: “Because I’m bored.”

After speaking, he reached for the remote control beside him and changed the channel.

Yan Luqing still found it strange: “If you’re bored, can’t you do other things? Why must it be watching television?”

Gu Ci’s hand paused slightly. He turned his head and looked directly into her eyes, speaking word by word: “Other things are even more boring.”

“……”

Although he answered every question, in fact the answers were the same as not answering.

This was the sign of Gu Ci not wanting to answer.

Since he was clearly not interested in this topic, Yan Luqing switched to another. She began to talk on and on, recounting to Gu Ci the questions she had taken yesterday and today. And Gu Ci finally seemed to be willing to listen, shifting the attention he had on the television onto her.

“….. In short, more or less like this. What you taught, I basically wrote all of it down.”

After chattering on and finishing, she opened her eyes wide, face full of expectation, waiting for Gu Ci’s response.

Expecting, expecting—and then Yan Luqing once again realized that something was not quite right—

After the last time of giving the wrong flower wreath gift, looking very much like a family head and a wife of great righteousness, this scene once again began to be bewildering. Now it was as if a head of the household, in order to coax his wife into happiness, had gone to take the college entrance exam a second time, and after finishing, came back seeking all sorts of praise.

Just as Yan Luqing was struck by her own wild imagination, a clear and cool voice came to her ear.

“So, you can pass half, right.” Gu Ci looked at her, seeming to ask very casually.

Yan Luqing felt certain she could, but she did not say it.

Because she was curious…

“What if I really don’t pass half?”

“It’s nothing,” Gu Ci smiled at her, his expression gentle, his tone also very gentle: “Then it would just be misfortune of the family gate.”

“……”

Yan Luqing was shocked for a little while: “No, even if misfortune, at least it ought to be ‘misfortune of the sect gate,’ right…”

“Almost the same.” Gu Ci leaned back leisurely, explaining his previous sentence, “One day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father.”

“………”

Yan Luqing: Grass¹ The grass here is a Chinese internet slang. “草” (cǎo, grass) is used as a censored stand-in for the curse word “操” (cào, fuck). (a kind of plant).

So, since she was the dignified head of the family, what kind of hammer praise was she begging for!!

This was not a wife of great righteousness, this was a cobra wife with poison smeared on her mouth.

……

It was said that the midterm grades here could be released in a few days, and while waiting for the grades, Yan Luqing curled up in the villa, indulging herself to play games for two days.

During these two days she always called Gu Ci to queue together in duo.

Before calling she was actually somewhat hesitant—after all, playing games relied on hand-feel, and if she played badly, what if Gu Ci implied her again like that day when he implied that noob.

But in the end, he did not.

Yan Luqing’s account, back when she played with the twin sisters, had just reached King tier. Gu Ci was twenty stars higher than her. In duo queue it still counted as a low-star match. They won very smoothly, their coordination quite tacit. The few matches they lost were either when encountering an AFK player, or when meeting teammates so noob they were practically inhuman.

She and Gu Ci most often played as the double carries and the jungler, but in one particular match, Gu Ci was in the fifth pick, with only the support position left. Before he locked in a hero, Yan Luqing jokingly said: “You take Yao and ride on my head then.”

And then Gu Ci really picked Yao—an adorable support hero whose ultimate skill was to attach onto another hero’s head and generate a shield, whose base form was a little deer, often mockingly called “Princess Yao-Yao” by players.

Yan Luqing laughed out loud on the spot.

Her head was full of the words “Princess Ci playing Princess Yao-Yao.” From time to time she glanced at Gu Ci, sitting not far beside her, looking at his somewhat indifferent side profile, and then thought of how what he was operating in his hands was that little deer hanging on her head. The more she thought, the funnier it became, until at last she simply could not stop laughing. It messed up her thinking as the jungler and also her performance.

In the end, that match was won only because the marksman developed too well, becoming the big daddy, carrying the other four. Yan Luqing’s record was so mixed it could not be looked at, and Gu Ci’s record, supporting her, was also utterly poor.

In the second match, she again egged Gu Ci on: “Play another round of Yao-Yao, ride on my head again.”

“And then what, ride on your head and watch how noob you are?” Gu Ci smiled and declined, “Better forget it.”

Perhaps he had heard a trace of mischief from her unstoppable laughter. In the duo queues afterward, he never picked Yao again.

The reason why it was two days of gaming was because Yan Luqing belonged to a special case—her scores came out earlier than those of other students. The school also told Master Yan in advance.

【Eldest of the Yan family】: You passed.

【Eldest of the Yan family】: [picture]

When Yan Luqing received this WeChat message, she had just taken an intermission with Gu Ci. Her mind did not even turn around; it took her more than ten seconds to react—this was talking about her midterm exam.

Clicking open the picture, it was her handwritten grades for each subject. Yan Luqing swept her eyes over them roughly. Aside from the two hardest ones, barely just over sixty, the rest were generally in the seventies, Ideological and Moral Cultivation was eighty, and the highest, English, was over ninety.

This was way too awesome! She praised herself inwardly.

Yan Luqing was waiting for the third message from the eldest of the Yan family to come, to praise her. However, she stared at the screen for dozens of seconds, waited a full minute, and the other side still had no intention of sending any further messages.

“……Speechless.” Yan Luqing viciously complained at the screen, “Such a big matter, just four characters sent to me.”

How was she supposed to brag like this?

Normally, wouldn’t it be sent like this—“You passed, granddaughter, Grandpa did not misjudge you, your grades are very good, you are truly excellent.”

Then she would reply—“Thank you Grandpa, as long as I have hands it’s fine.”

What kind of thing was this?

Yan Luqing, while complaining, could only sullenly reply with three words: “Thank you Grandpa.”

Turning around, she told the people in the villa. Their reaction was completely opposite to the eldest of the Yan family’s—not only did they get excited and praise her properly, but even the cooking aunt decided to make a few more dishes in the evening to celebrate.

That was more like it!

Yan Luqing sat on the sofa, and then looked over to Gu Ci on the other side of the sofa. He was far more calm than the others, as if he did not feel that this result was anything unexpected, and even took the chance, when no one else was beside them, to ask her: “Do they know that you can pass with fifty points?”

“……” Yan Luqing glared at him, “What about fifty points! Fifty points are also what I myself tested out!”

“Besides, I didn’t actually test fifty points.” She took out the grade sheet, raised it and almost poked it at his face, “Look for yourself! Not a single subject is fifty!”

After Gu Ci finished looking, he smiled at her: “Mm, quite impressive.”

Before Yan Luqing could speak, he then opened his mouth again: “That day when you just came back, you said you had the feeling of a second success at the college entrance exam,” pausing for a moment, Gu Ci suddenly asked, “Do you feel your first college entrance exam was very successful?”

Yan Luqing was full of pride: “Of course.”

She had stepped right on the line—that meant, the next year her score was the admission cutoff line for that major in her province and city. That was going to be printed in the admissions reference book. How much face that carried!

Gu Ci’s voice once again interjected at just the right moment: “What department did you test into?”

His tone was too natural when asking, and most of the time Yan Luqing had no guard against him, so whatever first came into her head she said directly: “Chi……”

She had just said one character when she instantly realized it was wrong, hurriedly braked, and swallowed down the following two characters “Chinese Literature.”

Gu Ci’s expression did not change in the least, still looking at her like that, as if not surprised at all.

“I mean,” Yan Luqing’s brain spun quickly, reporting the name of a school, “the Computer Department of China H University.”

Just as she was about to clap for her own wit and let out a sigh of relief, Gu Ci, who had originally had no expression, actually chuckled a few times because of her words.

“You were still afraid I would think it was a foreign school?” He curved his eyes, praising, “Miss Yan, you are truly too considerate.”

“…………”

That strange, bizarre feeling as if he knew everything came over her once again.

What was Gu Ci saying all day long anyway?

What on earth was he thinking???

The thing that interrupted the great undertaking of hypnosis before was the academic goal that had to be completed. If it was not completed, she would be struck off by the eldest of the Yan family, so she had to devote herself with all her attention.

Yan Luqing thought to herself in secret that from now on she would never again waste time playing games. She had to quickly pick up the bitter practice of hypnosis and take him down as soon as possible.

During dinner in the evening, Yan Luqing received a WeChat from Mother Yan, saying that she should come home tomorrow, to celebrate her passing the exam.

At the same time, unlike the eldest of the Yan family, who had extremely few inner activities, above Mother Yan’s head there were constantly all sorts of bubbles rising.

Pink yearning: Must properly encourage her, then in the future she will want to study more, right.

Blue melancholy: But resuming school is, after all, not a glorious matter, so we still cannot hold a banquet, ah…

Yellow happiness: No matter what, the fact that she has a school to attend is truly too good.

Yan Luqing: “…………” Actually I truly am a top student.

She did not want to go anywhere apart from the villa, but this kind of family invitation truly gave her no reason to refuse. So Yan Luqing asked about the time, and Mother Yan answered noon tomorrow.

Just as she was at the dining table, she lightly tapped the edge of her cup, drawing the gaze of Gu Ci from opposite her.

“I’m going back to the Yan family tomorrow at noon, hey. They said they want to celebrate me.” Yan Luqing asked, “Do you want to go together?”

As soon as the words landed, the dining room fell into silence.

She saw that Gu Ci’s expression stagnated for a moment, then he narrowed his eyes, making the ends of his eyes appear especially long and beautiful.

“In what identity?” he asked.

Yan Luqing was suddenly taken aback.

Yes—suddenly bringing a boy home, with all the family members there, in what… identity?

Fortunately, her reaction was quick. In just a few seconds she quickly answered: “Of course as a tutor!” Yan Luqing smiled cheerfully to cover her embarrassment, “After all, I was able to pass the exam, you are the number one meritorious contributor.”

Gu Ci looked at her, and as usual smiled gently, saying: “Thank you, Student Yan, but I won’t go.”

Yes, if he went, that would truly be awkward. Yan Luqing also agreed with his answer. This time she did not even ask why, just said “Got it” and lowered her head to continue eating.

Perhaps it did not show on the outside, but at this moment Yan Luqing’s heart was beating extremely fast—because when she had just asked that question, it seemed she had not been thinking like that.

It was not because of some tutor.

She had not thought of anything else, she had simply wanted to ask if he wanted to go—seeming that whenever she was going out, apart from having to avoid him, she wanted to be with him.

As if… there was some kind of dependence.

The next morning, Yan Luqing went to the Yan family for the second time.

Footnotes

• 1
  The grass here is a Chinese internet slang. “草” (cǎo, grass) is used as a censored stand-in for the curse word “操” (cào, fuck).