The moment the fruit candy entered Xiao Chen's mouth, Yu Na's heart skipped a beat.
"You--"
"The candy is delicious." Xiao Chen looked very smug, seeing her at a loss for words. His sense of achievement reached its peak.
He pretended to quote Yu Na's earlier narcissistic words, "Because I bought it for you."
"You..." Yu Na couldn't get a word out.
"What, are you angry?" Xiao Chen looked very annoying. "Should I give it back to you?"
Yu Na thumped his chest. "You're so annoying!"
That's what she said, but she snuggled even closer to him, as if wanting to stay glued to him forever.
Leaning against his chest, Yu Na played with his Adam's apple. "Xiao Chen."
"Yeah?"
"I like you so much," Yu Na buried her head in his neck. "I like you so, so much. I want to be with you like this forever."
"Tsk, are you schizophrenic or something?" Xiao Chen was allergic to romance. "You just said you hated me to death a moment ago."
"I--"
"Alright, kidding," Xiao Chen ruffled her hair. "I like you a lot too."
"But at the graduation ceremony, you said we were not from the same world and that we could never be together," Yu Na frowned. "I remember it all."
Xiao Chen cursed himself without reservation. "I was still evolving from an assh**e to a human being back then, so take what I said back then as an assh**e's words!"
Yu Na laughed at his teasing. She pressed him under her and pinched his face. "You're not an assh**e."
Her hands wandered down from his face.
Xiao Chen let her hands roam freely before eventually grabbing her frisky hand.
Yu Na secretly whispered in his ear, "You're my darling."
Xiao Chen didn't know if it was because of her restless hands on him or her overly straightforward confession, but his ears turned a little red.
He took the initiative from being passive.
He flipped her over, pinning her down, and responded to her confession with the most intimate gesture.
...
The next morning, Yu Na woke Xiao Chen up.
"Let's go make another wish?"
Dazed with sleepiness, Xiao Chen mumbled yes.
Yu Na urged, "Then get up quickly!"
Too exhausted to get up, Xiao Chen's arm got pulled up by Yu Na, "Later. Sleepy."
"No, today's Saturday. There'll definitely be lots of people. It'll be too late to get a wishing plaque if we go late."
"That's an exaggeration."
Yu Na paid him no mind and forcibly got Xiao Chen out of bed.
After washing up, he saw Yu Na in high spirits, tidying up her clothes in front of the full-length mirror.
Xiao Chen said with amusement, "Do you really think it's that lucky there to make wishes?"
"Yes, my last one came true. As for the other one, it's only a matter of time."
"That's because I saw your wishing plaque!" Xiao Chen brought the little minx into his arms. "Understand? Hmm?"
"...We've come all this way already, so..." Yu Na was lost for words.
There were indeed many people at the scenic area on Saturday, but luckily they arrived early.
Xiao Chen didn't make a wish last time. Yu Na made him take a wishing plaque this time.
After some thought, Yu Na finally wrote: 【I hope he and I will get better and better】
Once done wishing, Yu Na turned around and saw Xiao Chen holding a pen without writing anything.
"Aren't you gonna write?"
Xiao Chen: "Turn around."
Yu Na: ?
Puzzled, she obediently turned her back. Without any hesitation, Xiao Chen put the wishing plaque against her back and wrote down his own wish.
"What did you write?" Yu Na couldn't help but turn her head back.
Whoosh— Xiao Chen put away the plaque. "Not letting you see."
"...Humph!"
After writing, they hung their plaques on the wishing tree.
Still not letting her see like a child, Xiao Chen insisted on waiting until Yu Na hung her plaque before he went to hang his.
Yu Na could only indulge him. After hanging her plaque, she consciously walked some distance away without peeking.
Xiao Chen also hung his plaque on the tree. Before leaving, he took one last look at what he just wrote—
【Marry her】
...
The weekend ended and Yu Na threw herself back into work.
Currently, tutoring Jiang Yucheng took up most of her free time.
She thought she had Jiang Yucheng all sorted out last week, but who knew he went back to being annoying and disrespectful.
She asked Jiang Yucheng to continue learning at her office after school.
But unlike last week, Jiang Yucheng was not obedient this time.
He opposed her at every turn.
Before the night prep, he said, "You should stop tutoring me."
Yu Na: "Why?"
Jiang Yucheng: "I really can't comprehend what you teach."
Yu Na sneered. "Do I have to spell it out? Am I teaching you middle school knowledge?"
"..."
Unhurriedly provoking him, Yu Na said, "What's more, you haven't even grasped middle school knowledge properly, still making mistakes everywhere. What exactly can't you comprehend? Expecting to succeed overnight?"
"Anyone who wants success must go through a very difficult path. That goes for everyone." She snatched the ballpoint pen he kept clicking. "In this world, the only one who can help you is yourself. Who do you expect to rely on? And who can you really rely on?"
Her words seemed to have very targeted accusations.
Has she noticed something?
"You... You..."
Yu Na ignored him and went on, "You'd better be clear. I'm just your teacher. I can only help you to a certain extent. If you don't work hard yourself and expect to rely entirely on me to take shortcuts, sorry, you'll never succeed. At best, you'll just be stuck at the original place."
"You're still a student. You have teachers who can help you like this. But later on? Are you still going to rely on others for success? Don't be so childish."
Every word from her was barbed. Jiang Yucheng clenched his fists tighter and tighter.
"If you really have an opinion on my teaching methods, either switch classes to stay away from me, or work harder until you surpass me. If you don't want either, then you'll just have to endure me. Don't like it? Suck it up."
Yu Na checked the time. "You and I are not on the same level. If you want to defeat me, to stand on the same level as me, then keep coming here to do test papers."
The night prep bell rang. Yu Na didn't return to the classroom.
She sat alone in the office, crumpling sheets of paper.
Finally, a familiar figure appeared outside.
Yu Na breathed a sigh of relief.
Head lowered sullenly, Jiang Yucheng sat down without a word to Yu Na.
Filled with remorse, Yu Na wondered if her earlier words were too harsh. After all, he was just a rebellious child.
She softened her tone, took out the test paper, "The questions I gave you last week are all basic. You've made some progress, so the difficulty should increase moderately. Don't worry. We'll take it one step at a time."
"Okay."
"Whenever you come across an unfamiliar word, note it down. Vocabulary takes repetition to sink in."
"Okay."
After Yu Na finished assigning Jiang Yucheng's tasks, she returned to the classroom.
During night prep, Teacher Su from the physics department came to Class Three's door. "Teacher Yu."
