“Morning.” Qin Zhaoyi greeted her as she faced the morning sun.

Luo Yue was taken aback. She hadn’t expected Qin Zhaoyi to appear in front of her as if nothing had happened. She had been prepared to keep her distance for a while.

But then she smiled, “Morning.”

Qin Zhaoyi was momentarily dazzled by her smile, cursing herself for being so weak. But then she heard Luo Yue ask, “Have you had breakfast?”

“No.” Qin Zhaoyi replied as she walked towards her. “Do you know where there’s a library on this island? I want to read.”

Qin Zhaoyi pretended, and Luo Yue followed suit.

“There isn’t one.” Luo Yue said. “The only library on the island is at the school.”

Qin Zhaoyi glanced at her. “Can I go there?”

“The library only has children’s books.” Luo Yue said. “Except for some that haven’t been sorted out yet, which are from the last donation.”

Qin Zhaoyi volunteered, “I can help with sorting.”

Luo Yue asked, “Are you going now?”

Qin Zhaoyi nodded. “Just bored.”

Luo Yue said, “Then I’ll take you to the library, feel free.”

Qin Zhaoyi asked again, “How many classes do you have today?”

“Four.” Luo Yue said. “And an activity class.”

Qin Zhaoyi responded with an “Oh,” running out of things to say.

Not knowing what topic to continue to open Luo Yue’s chatterbox, Qin Zhaoyi also didn’t try to strike up a conversation.

Calm brewing a storm.

The two walked all the way to the school, encountering many children on their way to school. After seeing Luo Yue, they all politely greeted her and sweetly called Qin Zhaoyi “beautiful jiejie.”

No one dislikes compliments.

Qin Zhaoyi’s lips were slightly upturned all the way.

After arriving at the school, Luo Yue took her straight to the library, gave her a lunch box, and reminded her, “Don’t eat while reading, be careful not to get food on the books.”

Then she handed her the keys. “If any students come for reading class, let their class teacher take the books. Lock the door when you leave and send me a message.”

Qin Zhaoyi took the keys. “You trust me so much?”

Luo Yue hesitated for a moment, then said, “Why wouldn’t I?”

This rhetorical question lifted Qin Zhaoyi’s mood.

Luo Yue’s unconditional trust made her feel at ease again, and when she looked at Luo Yue, there was a hint of tenderness.

But Luo Yue lowered her head. “This is a school.”

Qin Zhaoyi shrugged. “What did I do?”

Luo Yue glanced out the window, seeing no one, then suddenly leaned closer to Qin Zhaoyi and whispered, “Control your gaze.”

Qin Zhaoyi: “…”

Luo Yue’s threat wasn’t intimidating, but rather ignited Qin Zhaoyi’s competitive spirit.

She reached out and hugged Luo Yue’s waist. “What if I don’t?”

Luo Yue stepped back, putting some distance between them, and coughed softly to conceal her embarrassment. “I’ll go to class first.”

It was almost like fleeing in panic.

Qin Zhaoyi found it hard to see Luo Yue like this. Luo Yue had always been adept at navigating this relationship, keeping Qin Zhaoyi neither here nor there. But when Qin Zhaoyi behaved recklessly at her workplace, Luo Yue panicked out of fear of being discovered.

The bolder Qin Zhaoyi became, the more cautious Luo Yue grew.

Especially after being seen by Cheng Shiyu that day, Luo Yue became even more vigilant.

After Luo Yue left, Qin Zhaoyi scanned the “library” area.

Although it was called a library, it was just a single-story building with ten rows of bookshelves.

The classification and organization seemed to be Luo Yue’s work. Each row of bookshelves was labeled with categories and reading recommendations, neatly written.

The books were all quite old.

Some were heavily damaged, with pages missing.

Qin Zhaoyi had always enjoyed reading since she was young, naturally loving books. Seeing beloved things in such a state made her feel indescribably distressed.

Half of the books donated by Zhou Xi last time had been sorted out, but due to lack of manpower, the other half remained untouched in the corner.

Qin Zhaoyi had indeed come here to read.

The sound of the waves at Yan Ci’s café always disturbed her thoughts. So she wanted to find a quieter place.

There was nowhere better than the school for reading.

She knew early on that the only library on the island was in the school.

Purely to have a few more conversations with Luo Yue.

After scanning around, Qin Zhaoyi picked out a few books to read, mostly children’s books. Even if there were classics, Qin Zhaoyi had already read them.

It was quite difficult to find something suitable for her to read from these books. But fortunately, she was versatile in her reading, spanning economics, culture, and history. She wasn’t picky.

Once done with this, Qin Zhaoyi started unpacking the books.

There were at least tens of thousands of books piled up in the corner. Qin Zhaoyi found a utility knife from a drawer near the door and carefully took out the books, then sorted them by type, waiting until there were enough to fit into their respective categories before placing them on the shelves.

The existing bookshelves were not enough to hold all these books, and a few days ago, Qin Zhaoyi had been recommended a shopping app by Zhong Ling. So she immediately ordered a few large bookshelves on her phone.

For Qin Zhaoyi, organizing books was like second nature. Even for books she hadn’t read, just flipping through the summaries gave her an idea of their content, making classification very easy.

And this meaningless repetitive labor of unpacking and categorizing made her feel happy, completely unaware of the passing of time.

Qin Zhaoyi occupied the whole room by herself, with no one coming to disturb her. The morning quietly slipped away.

She was so focused on organizing that she didn’t even notice Luo Yue entering the room.

At noon, Luo Yue came in and stared at her for a while, but Qin Zhaoyi didn’t even turn her head.

Only then did Luo Yue speak up: “Qin Zhaoyi.”

Qin Zhaoyi shivered, startled, then slowly turned around. “What’s up?”

Luo Yue: “…”

Luo Yue seemed to catch a glimpse of her usual diligent work state and didn’t hesitate to pull her up, “Aren’t you hungry? Let’s eat.”

Her actions were affectionate, without any reservation, “You didn’t even touch the meal I left for you this morning. Are you planning to cultivate immortality?”

Once outside, under the scorching afternoon sun, Qin Zhaoyi felt her thoughts gathering.

She was surprised, “Is it already noon?”

Luo Yue nodded, “The students have already gone for their lunch break.”

Qin Zhaoyi: “…”

Glancing at her phone, Qin Zhaoyi found that Luo Yue had called her via WeChat, she asked what she needed.

Luo Yue, arms crossed, said helplessly, “Of course, to have lunch with you.”

Walking through the school grounds, under the sunlight, the previous conflicts seemed to dissipate, completely forgotten.

There weren’t many people left in the cafeteria, only two plates of food left on the table.

Luo Yue sat on one side, and Qin Zhaoyi sat opposite her.

One of the cafeteria staff who hadn’t left yet noticed them and smiled, “Yue Liang, is this the new teacher at our school?”

Qin Zhaoyi was about to deny it, but then heard Luo Yue say, “Yes.”

“What subject are you teaching?” the cafeteria staff asked. “English? That would make your job much easier.”

“No,” Luo Yue replied expressionlessly. “Managing the library.”

Qin Zhaoyi: “?”

After finishing their meal, Luo Yue asked if she needed a nap. Qin Zhaoyi shook her head, still thinking about the unfinished books.

Luo Yue saw through her thoughts and accompanied her to the library.

Working together, they made much quicker progress.

Qin Zhaoyi picked up a book titled “Princeton Calculus Primer,” flipped through a couple of pages, then furrowed her brows. “Can anyone understand these kinds of books?”

Luo Yue casually replied, “It’s not bad, it’s an introductory book.”

Qin Zhaoyi: “?”

“You understand it?” Qin Zhaoyi handed her the book.

Luo Yue said, “I finished reading it in college.”

Qin Zhaoyi hesitated. “What did you major in?”

Luo Yue paused for a moment. “Mathematics.”

Qin Zhaoyi: “…”

Qin Zhaoyi’s expression stiffened, and Luo Yue asked, “What’s wrong?”

Gripping the corner of another book titled “Introduction to Probability,” Qin Zhaoyi almost gritted her teeth. “The thing I hate the most in my life is mathematics and physics.”

But compared to mathematics, physics wasn’t as detestable because she could opt out of studying it in high school.

But mathematics had tormented her for over a decade, to the point where the mere thought of it made her grit her teeth in hatred.

Luo Yue paused in her movements, neatly putting away both books. “That’s a pity.”

Qin Zhaoyi was puzzled. “Pity for what?”

“Pity that I couldn’t make you like it,” Luo Yue said. “It’s my fault.”

Qin Zhaoyi immediately responded, “I just don’t like math, it has nothing to do with not liking you.”

Luo Yue chuckled softly, but their conversation was interrupted by a cough from the doorway.

Both of them turned slightly pale and glanced at the door.

Wearing a police uniform, Cheng Shiyu held a watermelon in her hand and coughed awkwardly. “Um… Did I disturb you guys?”

Qin Zhaoyi & Luo Yue: “…”

Cheng Shiyu closed the door again, muttering to himself, “You guys continue.”

He stood firmly at the door. “I’ll give you some air.”

Author’s Note:

Reminder: It’s a sweet story.

So there won’t be any overly angsty plotlines, basically just a little bit of conflict and then reconciliation.

Luo Jie doesn’t dare to be too obvious, that’s okay, the little puppy will comfort himself.

TN:

Accidentally cut off the chapter and just realized while planning to work on the next chap. Sorry *kowtow*