[...She clearly still liked him.]

The day after the exam, Zhou Leqi slept from morning till night.

This couldn’t be blamed on her being lazy; it was simply that the long senior year of high school had left her severely sleep-deprived. After the exam, her whole being relaxed completely, making her even more prone to drowsiness. She went home on the 8th, had dinner, and went to sleep, not waking up until noon on the 9th. After eating something, she soon went back to bed. Later, Yu Qing finally managed to wake her up, saying that Xiao Hou had been trying to call her phone but couldn’t get through, and now he was calling the house, urging her to answer quickly.

Zhou Leqi then lazily got up, but she wasn’t fully awake yet.

“Hello?”

Her voice was still a bit hoarse when she answered the phone, the unique tone of someone who had just woken up, which sounded particularly cute and charming in her boyfriend’s ears.

The person on the other end of the phone couldn’t help but laugh and asked, “Sleeping until now?”

Zhou Leqi curled up on the sofa and let out a small yawn, responding softly. Her whole body seemed boneless as she leaned against the armrest of the sofa, twirling the phone cord around her finger. “Aren’t you asleep?”

Her soft voice tugged at his heartstrings, and he didn’t know how to reply. Only one thought kept circling in his mind: the national college entrance examination was over, and their promise could be fulfilled.

He thought for a moment and said, “Can’t sleep.”

“Why?” She rubbed her eyes to wake herself up, a little worried. “Is it... are you worried about the results?”

She was afraid he hadn’t performed well.

“Of course not,” he denied, prompting her further, “I’m wondering when you’re going to take me to meet your aunt.”

Yu Qing happened to be passing through the living room as he said this. Although she looked straight ahead, her eyes kept glancing towards Zhou Leqi, clearly curious about what she was saying to Hou Zihai.

Zhou Leqi’s face quietly flushed. She slightly turned her body to face away from Yu Qing, even though she knew perfectly well that Yu Qing couldn’t hear the person on the other end of the phone.

She was silent. He naturally urged her from the other end, making her face even redder. She whispered, “But we still have to wait for the results to be released...”

He immediately became dissatisfied upon hearing this and retorted, “Really? Are you saying if I only get into a second-tier university, you’ll just dump me?”

Dump... dump me?

What kind of weird phrase was that?

Zhou Leqi pursed her lips, not wanting to argue with him anymore. Anyway, she could never win against him in a debate. She could only change the subject and ask, “Do you have anything else? If not, I’m going back to sleep.”

His sigh came through the receiver, sounding very helpless. After a while, he still compromised and said, “Don’t sleep, don’t sleep, there’s something.”

He was talking about the graduation trip.

After the national college entrance examination ended, the class group chat became lively. After all, everyone felt a bit reluctant about the upcoming separation, and the freedom after liberation made them want to do something exciting. So, they proposed organizing a collective graduation trip.

Yuan Jiahui took the lead in this matter. As the class monitor, organizing collective activities could be considered within her responsibilities. Moreover, she had applied to universities abroad and had already received an offer from a university in the UK a while ago. With her future settled, she was naturally in a lighter mood, making her perfectly suited for organizational work.

Since Zhou Leqi had always resisted using social media again, she naturally missed the graduation trip discussions initiated in the class group. Now, they had all decided where to go, saying they would go to Hainan to play, and had already started collecting money.

Zhou Leqi hadn’t thought about participating in any graduation trip. After all, she had never really integrated into the Class One group and always worried that participating in collective activities would make her feel out of place. But then she thought again, since Hou Zihai would be there, she wouldn’t be lonely no matter what, so she felt a slight stirring of excitement about the suggestion.

Travel.

Traveling with him.

This... seemed like a really good idea.

She really wanted to agree, but she held back and told him she needed to ask her mother’s opinion first.

“Yes, you must talk to Auntie properly, don’t let her think I’m scheming,” he chuckled softly, “Be sure to emphasize that it’s a collective activity.”

He kept giving her instructions endlessly.

She hung up the phone, feeling both amused and helpless, and then ran to Yu Qing’s room to ask if she could go on the graduation trip. The first question Yu Qing asked after hearing about it was: “Is Xiao Hou going?”

Zhou Leqi’s face inexplicably heated up, but she tried to remain calm and nodded. Yu Qing then showed a relieved expression, but immediately after, she seemed worried again, looking at Zhou Leqi hesitantly and saying, “Okay, go ahead... be, be careful.”

...The meaning was rich.

Zhou Leqi’s ears turned completely red.

The students in Class One were usually very efficient when it came to studying. Unexpectedly, they were even more efficient when it came to having fun. The graduation trip was organized and finalized in less than a week from the initial proposal. Old Pan even mocked them in the group chat, saying that if everyone had this kind of energy during exam preparation, they would have all gotten into Tsinghua and Peking Universities.

Everyone didn’t care about Old Pan’s teasing. When they were in school, he was their teacher, but now that the national college entrance examination was over, he was more like their friend. They coaxed Old Pan and several other teachers to come on the trip. Teacher Li was the most enthusiastic and even took the lead in helping everyone buy insurance.

And since the teachers were all there, Zhou Leqi naturally didn’t dare to be overly affectionate with Hou Zihai, fearing that Old Pan might catch them at the last moment. Therefore, she didn’t even sit with Hou Zihai on the plane, which greatly displeased him. Later, he angrily pulled her to a deserted corner at the back of the cabin and asked with a cold face, without even smiling, “Are you planning to pretend you don’t know me the whole way? We’ve already graduated, what’s there to hide? Is dating illegal?”

The cabin was narrow, and the two of them stood very close, almost touching. Zhou Leqi knew he was really a bit unhappy, so she quickly explained that it was better to keep a low profile before the results came out, to avoid not being able to explain themselves to the teachers if their scores weren’t good in the end.

He didn’t buy it at all and was still full of complaints. She looked around and, seeing no one nearby, boldly reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her head on his shoulder and swaying gently. She whispered, “Don’t be angry... the results will be out in less than half a month anyway.”

The little tone at the end of the sentence was particularly soft and sweet, a genuine act of coquetry. He couldn’t resist it at all. Besides, the moment she got close to him, he wanted to surrender. For a moment, he couldn’t be angry anymore. His mind was instantly captured by desire, and he couldn’t help but press her against the wall of the cabin and kiss her fiercely, his hands uncontrollably caressing her soft, slender waist as he kissed. The summer dress was so thin that she quickly felt the warmth of his palm lingering on her skin, full of passionate and desirous implications.

...This was really killing her.

She couldn’t help but lose herself too, not always able to maintain rationality, easily drawn into his seductive sweet trap. If a flight attendant hadn’t happened to pass by and interrupted them at that moment, she really wasn’t sure if she could have stopped herself...

She was mortified and pulled him away to escape, but there was nowhere to hide, and she certainly didn’t dare to pull him into the restroom, that would have been even more problematic. So, the two of them had to wait until the flight attendant left and then returned to their original spot. He still kept kissing her incessantly, as if he was extremely infatuated with her scent.

She both accommodated and resisted, her own stance wavering greatly. Later, she barely regained some sanity because she thought they might be seen by Old Pan, and she tried hard to push him away. By then, both of their breaths were unsteady.

The way he looked at her was particularly aggressive, his eyes nakedly filled with desire for her. She could even feel the muscles in his body were tense, as if he was about to lose control in the next moment.

She didn’t dare to look at him, turning her gaze away while trying hard to find a topic to distract him. Unfortunately, after thinking for a long time, she couldn’t find a natural opening and could only ask very stiffly, “Did... did you see Yan Lin? Why does it seem like he didn’t come?”

An epic failure of a diversion.

He was speechless and mocked her, “So natural, I didn’t even realize it was a diversion.”

Zhou Leqi: “...”

She heard him sigh and then kiss her hard on the neck again before finally letting go of her, looking like he had made a great sacrifice. Then he took two steps away from her and said, “Yan Lin didn’t come. His family... has some issues recently.”

Yan Lin really couldn’t come. His father’s condition was too serious, and his mother couldn’t take care of him alone, so Yan Lin had only been to school twice before the national college entrance examination, practically living in the hospital.

In that situation, how could he be in the mood to participate in any graduation trip?

Hou Zihai had also visited him in the hospital before the national college entrance examination. He had lost weight and looked very unwell, extremely tired. But when he saw Hou Zihai, there was still a faint light in his eyes, probably because he was grateful for all the help his father, Hou Feng, had provided.

Hou Zihai tentatively asked Yan Lin how his father had gotten injured, but Yan Lin didn’t want to say too much because he didn’t want Hou Zihai to know about his extremely poor family background. His pride wouldn’t allow it. So, he didn’t directly answer the question at the time, only saying that there had been an accident. He also told Hou Zihai not to worry and that everyone could go to Beijing together when university started.

Hou Zihai could tell that Yan Lin didn’t want to talk much about his family, so he didn’t press further, only nodding silently in agreement and promising him that he wouldn’t mention his family’s situation to their classmates.

“Rest well, don’t be too hard on yourself,” Hou Zihai said to Yan Lin when leaving the hospital. “Let me know if there’s anything, we’re friends, don’t be so polite.”

Yan Lin didn’t speak, but his expression was deeply moved. Even in such a difficult situation, he still gave Hou Zihai a smile and replied, “I know, I won’t be polite with you.”

Hou Zihai wasn’t sure whether he should tell Zhou Leqi about these things. Fortunately, Zhou Leqi hadn’t intended to press for details anyway, just using the question as a diversion. So, Hou Zihai brushed it off with a few simple words.

The two of them huddled in the small corner at the back of the cabin and said a few more words. At this moment, Yuan Jiahui walked over again, seemingly intending to get some water. When she saw the two of them together, her expression was a bit evasive and awkward. She glanced at Hou Zihai and then immediately looked away, hurriedly saying “Sorry to interrupt” before turning around and leaving.

Hou Zihai didn’t pay much attention, but Zhou Leqi was more observant and immediately noticed the carefully concealed disappointment and sadness in Yuan Jiahui’s eyes when she looked at Hou Zihai.

...She clearly still liked him.

This realization affected Zhou Leqi’s mood a bit. Although she knew Hou Zihai didn’t have any special feelings for Yuan Jiahui, a strange, awkward little emotion grew in her heart, and it didn’t subside even after the plane landed.