[“We can be together after graduation... For now, we can start as good friends.”]

After saying this, he mockingly tapped his own forehead.

Yan Lin: “………………………………”

He was utterly speechless.

Completely at a loss.

He truly couldn’t understand how a student in their final year of high school could experience such a dramatic rise in grades—it wasn’t just moving up a few or even ten spots; it was jumping from outside the top 200 straight into the first testing room. Even cheating wouldn’t guarantee such results.

Mi Lan…

He had underestimated her. Truly underestimated her.

Yan Lin felt regretful, but Mi Lan, triumphant from breaking into the top 30, didn’t give him much time to dwell on it. That afternoon, she cornered him right at the school gate. Standing less than 160 cm tall, she bounced around with her ponytail bobbing up and down like an energetic jumping candy.

She happily announced to him, “Yan Lin! I made it into the top 30! 29th place! 29th!”

Yan Lin: “… Hmm.”

He acknowledged her, but at the same time, he noticed more and more eyes gathering on them. Only then did he realize that the bustling school gate wasn’t the best place for this conversation.

“Uh, Mi Lan,” he coughed lightly, lowering his voice, “Let’s talk while we walk.”

Mi Lan was no fool and wouldn’t fall for such a trick so easily. She immediately sensed Yan Lin’s attempt to defuse the situation and decided to put an end to it right there. “No way, say what you have to say here, clearly and straightforwardly.”

She had already planned it out: if Yan Lin tried to back out, she would burst into tears on the spot. If necessary, she’d even play the recording of him promising to date her if she made it into the top 30.

Yan Lin knew exactly what kind of person Mi Lan was, and without asking, he could guess what she was thinking. He felt like he had fallen into a trap—and the most frustrating part was that he had dug this pit himself.

He fell silent. Mi Lan glanced at him and continued pushing, “Do you remember what you promised me? If I got into the top 30, you’d agree to be my boyfriend—don’t tell me you’re going back on your word?”

She was wary.

He was bewildered.

If someone were to ask Yan Lin how he truly felt about Mi Lan, he probably wouldn’t be able to explain it clearly.

Did he really dislike her that much? Maybe, but perhaps not entirely. If he truly hated her, why had he only chosen to avoid her instead of outright rejecting her harshly once and for all?

Her relentless barrage of QQ messages sometimes annoyed him to the point of ignoring them, but when he sat in that crumbling, powerless little house, surrounded by his parents’ vulgar calculations, her messages somehow managed to lift his spirits.

He actually found her frequent use of that silly goose emoji rather cute, especially the “Charge!” GIF. Every time he saw it, it reminded him of how she would run toward him without hesitation whenever she saw him.

Did he really like her? Probably not, but he didn’t dislike her either. At least, he didn’t like any other girl more than her. If they were to be together, maybe… it wouldn’t be so bad.

But there was no way he could be with her now.

Dating and studying were fundamentally a choice between two paths. Choosing one meant sacrificing the other—a fact that Hou Zihao and Zhou Leqi had already proven.

Yan Lin always had a clear understanding of his own limitations. He considered himself an ordinary person, certainly not as smart as Hou Zihao, and relied on hard work to achieve his goals. If even Hou Zihao couldn’t balance love and academics, how could he?

He couldn’t allow his studies to fall apart, or his future would become unimaginably bleak, leaving him with no one to help him.

Now, standing at the crowded school gate, he looked down at the girl before him, who gazed up at him expectantly. Rationality and compassion battled fiercely within him, leaving him unable to respond for several minutes.

Finally, he sighed and asked, “… Do you really like me that much?”

The fact that he finally spoke was enough to make Mi Lan happy.

She smiled, her eyes narrowing into pretty crescent moons, nodding enthusiastically without hesitation. “Of course I like you! Like you the most in the whole world!”

Her enthusiasm was somewhat infectious, but it also left him feeling helpless. He slightly averted his gaze, avoiding her overly bright and radiant expression. “But you don’t really know me…”

You don’t know what kind of family I come from.

You don’t know what kind of house I live in.

You don’t know how terrible my personality is—so despicable that I even despise my own parents.

Mi Lan… I don’t deserve you.

“Who says I don’t know you?” Just as he was lost in thought, her voice suddenly interrupted, breaking his train of thought with both boldness and directness. “Do you want to hold a competition, like ‘100 Questions About Yan Lin’? If I don’t get first place, you can beat me, deal?”

She placed her hands on her hips, full of confidence.

“And besides, if there are any gaps in my knowledge, I can work on them,” she chirped cheerfully. “You know how amazing I am by now, right? It’s only been a few months since summer vacation, and I’m already in the first testing room—I mean, seriously, I feel like if I keep chasing you, I might even become the provincial top scorer. Then we can go to Tsinghua or Peking University together in Beijing. The media will definitely interview us! I’ve already thought of the headline: ‘High-Achieving Couple, Studying Together to Enter Elite Universities.’ What do you think?”

Her words were wild exaggerations.

But… they were amusing.

Yan Lin couldn’t help but chuckle, his usually stern face softening slightly. Still, he poured cold water on her excitement. “Not good enough. It doesn’t rhyme or follow parallel structure.”

Mi Lan burst into laughter, her ponytail bouncing up and down.

She gave a playful twist of her waist and pressed him further, “So, are you agreeing or not—are we officially boyfriend and girlfriend now?”

Her eyes sparkled again, like stars shining brightly on an autumn night.

Yan Lin looked at her for a moment and said, “Not yet…”

Before he could finish, Mi Lan’s expression immediately darkened. Her ponytail drooped, and her face puffed up with frustration as she glared at him. “Not yet? Why not? Didn’t we already agree? How can you go back on your word? I…”

“… After graduation,” he added hesitantly.

Though his words were unclear, Mi Lan heard them, and her complaints abruptly stopped.

She stared at him, confused, trying to figure out whether this new development was good news or not. After a long while, still unsure, she asked, “… Can we move it up?”

He: “No.”

She scratched her head, growing agitated. Reluctance brewed in her heart, but an unstoppable joy bubbled up alongside it.

He had still agreed to her… just with a delayed delivery.

Mi Lan wanted to laugh but felt that doing so would be too easy on him, so she held back her smile.

Pretending to be conflicted and reluctant, she continued bargaining, “But this isn’t what we agreed on. You never mentioned waiting until after graduation.”

Of course Yan Lin hadn’t mentioned it before—he hadn’t believed she could break into the top 30.

Sigh.

Now he found her demands difficult to fulfill, yet her arguments made sense, leaving him slightly troubled. After careful consideration, he said, “We can be together after graduation… For now, we can start as good friends.”

“Good friends?” Mi Lan grinned, her eyes twinkling mischievously as she teased, “How good?”

She was flirting with him.

Yan Lin understood the subtle meaning behind her words and felt the atmosphere between them shift slightly—a change unfamiliar and difficult for him to navigate.

Once again, he averted his gaze and tried to appear stern and unapproachable, but the words that came out were, “… Pretty good.”

Mi Lan laughed again, this time genuinely—she couldn’t suppress her smile any longer.

She pursed her lips, adjusted her already neat and pretty ponytail, and then quietly reached out to gently tug on Yan Lin’s sleeve.

He was still the same boy she was familiar with, his expression as stoic as ever, his backpack-carrying stance as handsome as she remembered, and they were still standing at the familiar school gate.

Everything felt familiar, but the emotions enveloping her now were entirely new.

She was overjoyed, happier than winning five million in a lottery, yet more than anything, she felt a flutter in her heart. This flutter made even her, normally loud and boisterous, quiet and gentle.

She… was finally going to be with the person she had liked for so long.

Mi Lan’s ears had turned pink, and her fingers tightened slightly on his sleeve. She looked up at him, her brows and eyes smiling, radiating her happiness.

“All right,” she said, “Pretty good friends.”

How gentle the autumn night was.

Yet, sometimes… it could feel a bit cold.

It was already 8 PM, and Zhou Leqi was still at school, not heading home. She was hiding alone in the basement garage of the teaching building, which was empty, devoid even of cars.

She didn’t want to go home. Really didn’t. At this moment, she no longer had the strength to pretend to be strong or act as if everything was fine. And if Yu Qing asked her how her third mock exam went, she wouldn’t know how to answer.

She knew Yu Qing couldn’t handle any more bad news. She couldn’t bring this burden to her—not now, not at this moment. She needed to fix herself, to make herself appear normal.

But it was so hard.

At 5 PM, after school ended, she had hidden in the restroom, hoping to regain her composure in fifteen minutes. But over an hour later, she was still crying. When the cleaning lady arrived to clear the restroom, she had no choice but to leave and hide in the garage.

She hid in a corner of the garage. During this time, the school security guard came to check twice, but she managed to evade detection. Now, another hour had passed, and she was still crying.

Why?

Why was she so weak?

Why couldn’t she be strong?

Why couldn’t she fix herself?

And why… did she hate herself so much?