#61

It was only two minutes later that Le Ya realized she had been tricked.

Because at that moment, Xie Qingyu and Liang Qian strolled in through the main gate, leaving her as the only one who had climbed over the wall.

Xie Qingyu even waved at her before running back inside.

Standing in front of Chen Yang, Le Ya felt a bit at a loss.

Seeing her lower her head, Chen Yang sighed, reached out to gently stroke her hair, and softly said: “Let’s go.”

The crowd gathered under the teaching building was completely stunned.

There had been a post on the school’s online forum a while ago claiming that this guy might be in a relationship. Some people even went looking for clues, but nothing special was found. In fact, he had been alone all semester.

So everyone assumed the post was fake.

Just last night, someone had bumped the thread, mocking the original poster for having the guts to spread rumors about the big shot.

Who would have thought there’d be such a twist tonight?

It was right after the college entrance exam—a time when emotions were running high. One boy couldn’t help but put his fingers to his mouth and whistle loudly.

Le Ya looked up at the sound and quickly hid behind Chen Yang.

Chen Yang pulled her out and, without hesitation, led her into the teaching building by the hand. The crowd automatically parted to make way for them.

Le Ya’s hand was tightly held in his grip.

The girls around them stared wide-eyed, some secretly snapping photos with their phones, their faces flushed with excitement, whispering and exclaiming in hushed tones.

Le Ya’s heart felt like it was about to explode.

She couldn’t help but complain to Chen Yang: “You don’t have to be so conspicuous!”

“And what if I am?” Chen Yang turned his head to look at her, casually replying: “They’re all classmates. It’s not like they’re bad people.”

Le Ya: “….”

She couldn’t argue with that.

After the two disappeared into the stairwell, the crowd in the hall erupted into exclamations of “Holy crap!” and “What just happened?!”

Immediately afterward, the forums and group chats blew up.

“Holy cow! Chen Yang just walked past me holding hands with a girl! So openly too!”

“You didn’t see it? That’s what you get for not coming down! The big shot just publicly revealed his relationship in front of us—HAHAHAHAHA!”

“Oh my god, oh my god, I can’t even speak right now!”

“So exciting! I never expected to see something this thrilling when I came to school today—thank god I did!”

“…”

The school had large groups for all senior three students, smaller class-specific groups, and even dormitory groups. At this moment, they were all flooded with messages.

Countless posts popped up on the forums.

[Shocking! Senior Three Big Shot Walks Past Everyone Holding Hands with His Girlfriend!]

[Was that Chen Yang hugging a girl near the senior three wall just now? OMG OMG OMG!]

[Senior three friends, raise your hands! Am I the only one who saw that?!]

Today was the end of the college entrance exam, so there were already many celebratory posts on the forums. The moderator couldn’t keep up with deleting them, and now there was an influx of new ones. Eventually, they gave up trying to manage it altogether.

Gossip always spreads the fastest.

In just a few minutes, almost the entire school knew about it—even the teachers still in the teaching building were fully aware.

Zhou Mingchun, the homeroom teacher of Class 17, had been reviewing the estimated scores of a few top students when he noticed something unusual about the students’ excitement.

He assumed they were just overly thrilled and didn’t think much of it.

It wasn’t until he returned to the office that the Chinese teacher, holding a cup of water, approached him with a smile: “I never would’ve guessed Chen Yang was capable of this.”

Zhou Mingchun was utterly confused.

The Chinese teacher continued: “Which class is that girl from? I heard she’s very pretty.”

Zhou Mingchun froze: “What’s going on?”

The Chinese teacher was momentarily stunned by his question, then realized: “Old Zhou, you really don’t know yet?”

Zhou Mingchun asked: “What am I supposed to know?”

“It’s all over the school!” The Chinese teacher, unable to contain her curiosity, quickly explained: “Just now, Chen Yang brought a girl back to school, and the students saw it. That’s how it got out.”

Zhou Mingchun nearly popped his eyes out of his head.

He knew that quite a few girls often lingered outside the classroom or sent gifts, but he also knew that Chen Yang never reacted to any of it.

After all, he had his own little informants in the class.

How could he have missed this?

The Chinese teacher sympathetically patted his shoulder: “Old Zhou, check the group chat. There should be pictures by now.”

Zhou Mingchun nervously opened his phone.

Of course, he was part of the school and class group chats. By now, the messages were endless ellipses. He hurriedly tapped in.

“Congrats 99!”

“Blessings!”

“Share the sweets! Share the sweets!”

Zhou Mingchun only managed to see a flurry of 99s scroll past, followed by fireworks and cake emojis filling the screen. If he didn’t know better, he’d think someone was celebrating a birthday.

These kids were absolutely wild.

But since the college entrance exam was over, there was nothing left to say. Zhou Mingchun returned to his seat and sighed deeply.

Ah, youth was truly wonderful.

People came and went along the corridors of the teaching building.

Le Ya and Chen Yang walked upstairs together and stopped at the back door of Class One. Le Ya cautiously said: “My dad will find out.”

He had been so conspicuous just now.

She was still worried that Le Yijian wouldn’t approve, especially since funding Chen Yang initially had personal reasons behind it.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yang turned around and stared directly at her, saying: “Your dad will find out someday.”

Le Ya didn’t respond.

“Don’t worry,” Chen Yang furrowed his brows and suddenly smiled. “I’ll make sure he knows.”

Le Ya asked: “Know what?”

Chen Yang didn’t answer, instead lightly flicking her nose.

It had been a long time since they’d seen each other. His little girl had grown a bit taller and seemed to have gained a little weight, making her even more beautiful and adorable than before.

Le Ya swatted his hand away.

Her nose tingled slightly from the touch—it made her feel a bit uneasy.

Taking advantage of the dim lighting where the motion-sensor lights hadn’t turned on yet, Le Ya mumbled something and suddenly remembered the gift she had received on her birthday.

Curious, she asked: “Did you make that game?”

She had wanted to ask for a long time. Over the past few months, she had gone into the game every day. Even though she already knew the entire process from the first time, she still kept returning to it.

Every time she saw those things, she felt happy.

Chen Yang softly hummed in affirmation.

“Really?” Le Ya was surprised. “You never mentioned it before. Doesn’t making a game take a lot of time?”

Chen Yang replied succinctly: “Not really.”

He had started working on that game early on—not long after he began learning. At first, he lacked the technical skills, but the gaming forum had plenty of professionals, and he also bought some tutorials to practice step by step at home.

Originally, Chen Yang had planned something much more complex, but upon hearing it was her birthday that night, he hastily simplified it to just that point. It was essentially a half-finished game.

He couldn’t wait to give it to her.

Le Ya knew he was downplaying it, but deep down, she understood it must have taken a lot of time. With the tight schedule of senior year, spending effort on this was no small feat.

Softly, she said: “You don’t need to do something like this next time.”

Even a small gift made her happy, and simply saying “Happy Birthday” would have been enough.

Chen Yang smirked. “It’s nothing.”

An eighteenth birthday gift had to be special—it was her coming-of-age celebration. He still felt it was too rushed. Those gifts that appeared in the game would eventually become reality, one by one.

Le Ya suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right. I remember that game didn’t seem to have a name. Haven’t you named it yet?”

Chen Yang said: “No. Do you have any ideas?”

Le Ya frowned, hesitating: “Let me think.”

She wasn’t being coy by letting Chen Yang come up with a name herself. After all, in the end, it would probably still fall to her to decide.

After a while, Chen Yang asked: “What do you want to name it?”

Le Ya wasn’t particularly good at naming things either. After thinking for a long time, she came up with something rather ordinary: “How about ‘Eighteen’?”

Chen Yang chuckled softly: “Sure.”

Whatever the name, it was her game anyway.

Le Ya smiled faintly, her lips pressed together. Softly, she said: “I need to go back to the classroom to estimate my scores. You should go back too.”

Chen Yang nodded.

Le Ya left first. When she reached the classroom door, she turned around and immediately spotted a group of classmates craning their necks from the stairwell below.

As soon as they realized she had seen them, the students quickly ducked their heads away.

Le Ya: “….”

Why were these people so nosy?

Many students in Class One were scrolling through their phones.

When Le Ya entered the classroom and took just a few steps, someone suddenly called out: “Le Ya’s back!” The entire class turned their heads in unison to look at her.

It was like déjà vu of the scene at the stairwell.

Le Ya was a bit confused. “Why are all of you looking at me?”

The students held up their phones, double-checking. The adorable little protagonist of the story was indeed their classmate, Le Ya.

A legendary tough guy had been won over by an adorable, soft-hearted girl.

Was the world really this fantastical now?

But despite their disbelief, they were all excitedly replying in various posts that the amazing little cutie was from their class.

For some reason, they felt a sense of pride.

Xie Qingyu and Su Hui quickly pulled Le Ya back to her seat. “Stop staring! It’s not like we haven’t seen her in half a year or something.”

Even after Le Ya sat down, some students still couldn’t help but glance over.

Only Zhou Xiaoqing looked displeased, her face pale. Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought she had bombed her college entrance exam—despite having previously boasted about performing exceptionally well.

At this moment, the screen of her phone displayed the forum.

Xie Qingyu rested her chin on her hand: “Our homeroom teacher just left. The English answers haven’t arrived yet, but we’ve already checked ours. You should take a look too.”

She handed over the test paper.

Le Ya had brought her own copy. She began checking her answers while simultaneously calculating her score. There were some discrepancies, but overall, her estimates seemed decent.

The English teacher arrived half an hour later.

The English test was the easiest to check since most of it consisted of multiple-choice questions—it was either right or wrong.

Le Ya added up the estimated scores from all her test papers.

Overall, even her lowest estimate didn’t fall below her mental baseline. It hovered around 700 points, assuming her essay scores weren’t drastically different.

Su Hui turned around and saw her score, letting out an exclamation: “Le Ya, your performance is way too stable!”

She had never seen Le Ya underperform.

Le Ya smiled at her and then secretly sent a message to Chen Yang: “How much did you score?”

As soon as she sent the message, she grew nervous.

Chen Yang’s grades had always been excellent. If he outscored her by a large margin, they might not end up in the same school.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated.

Le Ya could barely breathe.

Why did it feel like she was checking her exam results again? She hadn’t been this anxious when calculating her own score.

Carefully, she opened the message and saw that the answer was precise down to the number—he had scored nearly thirty points higher than her.

A sudden wave of pride washed over her: “My boyfriend is so amazing.”

Le Ya sighed, pinching her cheeks. She realized her skin was thickening—how could she even think such thoughts?

She replied with her own score.

As expected, they could attend the same school, though likely different majors since their interests were bound to differ.

With that realization, Le Ya no longer worried.

Teacher Jiang appeared in the classroom at just the right moment, inquiring about several students’ scores. Upon hearing their answers, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She had feared that many students would underperform.

Previously, one student had fainted during the exam but luckily regained consciousness before it started; otherwise, that subject’s score would have been void.

The math representative had carelessly made a mistake on one question, losing quite a few points. She had been crying, head buried on her desk.

The other students in the classroom were comforting her.

Le Ya didn’t know what to say.

After the score estimation ended, everyone went home.

Le Ya returned home in her family car since Le Yijian happened to be at home. On the way, she cautiously probed his mood.

The driver said: “Sir returned an hour ago.”

Le Ya nodded. “I see.”

She was still a bit uneasy.

However, things turned out unexpectedly. Le Yijian seemed completely unaware, showing no change in behavior. He ate and drank as usual, then focused on discussing her treatment plan.

Two days later, Le Ya had to leave the country again.

The third treatment plan had been approved quickly, and preparations were swiftly underway. Everything was ready, pending only the necessary indicators for surgery.

During this period, Le Ya stayed in the hospital.

The hospital environment was pleasant, with recreational areas available.

Le Yijian arranged for a painting teacher for her. Every day, she followed him to learn painting while waiting for her surgery.

The teacher was an elderly man with a free-spirited style.

The first thing Le Ya painted was incomprehensible even to herself, but the teacher praised her warmly, saying she had great talent.

She felt a bit embarrassed.

A week into her lessons, she learned that this teacher was a professor at a prestigious local university. Some internationally renowned painters were among his students. Learning from him truly felt like a stroke of luck.

Le Ya became even more dedicated, her painting skills improving rapidly.

The surgery went smoothly, but she needed a recovery period. During this time, she couldn’t even use her phone to make calls.

It wasn’t until a few days after the surgery that Le Ya noticed something amiss.

In her private ward, there were now numerous magazines introducing universities—all prestigious institutions, some even from other countries.

Le Ya’s heart raced. She reached for her phone to make a call but suddenly remembered her ear condition and touched the gauze covering her ear.

She turned to WeChat instead, sending a message to Liang Nuan: “Did you buy the books and magazines in my ward?”

Liang Nuan replied: “Mr. Le asked me to place them there.”

Le Ya instinctively held her breath. “Did my dad mention anything about schools to you?”

“Yes.”

Liang Nuan attended a prestigious university herself and worked part-time to support her studies.

She quickly typed out a lengthy response: “A few months ago, before your birthday, Mr. Le asked me about my school and then contacted a study abroad agency. It seems he’s preparing your overseas study arrangements.”

The words “study abroad arrangements” stood out clearly.

Liang Nuan continued typing furiously: “Didn’t Mr. Le mention this to you?”

This was when Le Ya recalled that what her father had said during the New Year wasn’t just offhand—it was genuinely his plan.