Chapter 7 – Crazy Hints

Although it was a bit cliché, after brief contact, Lin Chuge thought of a small animal when she observed Pei Zhou’s behavior.

A little creature called a hedgehog—raising all its quills only to protect that soft, vulnerable part.

She remembered Song Bonian’s reminder to her.

In fact, the one who really needed that reminder should have been Pei Zhou…

That careless, indifferent air about Pei Zhou—truthfully, Lin Chuge didn’t like it.

As always, she had kept her distance from him out of instinctive caution.

But now things were different.

She had to think of a way to pull this person up!

The image of Pei Zhou sitting in front of the sofa, head bent over his workbook, flashed across Lin Chuge’s mind.

Facts proved that when Pei Zhou took things seriously, he wasn’t necessarily worse than anyone else—at least not in academics.

A thought flickered through Lin Chuge’s heart.

At first, she had wanted to message Xu Luoluo, but then she thought again: since Song Bonian and Pei Zhou were both boys, he’d probably understand another boy’s thoughts better. So she sent the message to Song Bonian instead:
“If the person you like asked you for help with studying, but you happened to not know the answer either, what would you do?”

The reply came quickly.

【Song Bonian: “?”】
【Song Bonian: “In most cases, a boy wouldn’t want to show weakness in front of the person he likes.”】
【Song Bonian: “So even if he doesn’t know, he has to act like he knows.”】

As she read these replies, Lin Chuge nodded in agreement.

Wasn’t this exactly what Pei Zhou was doing, scribbling furiously in front of her?

【Lin Chuge: “Got it.”】
【Lin Chuge: “Thank you, classmate Song Bonian, for solving my doubts!”】

At the end, she even sent over a sticker of a bowing figure in gratitude. Feeling cheerful, she put away her phone.

As long as Pei Zhou fell for this trick, everything else would be easier.

But until the four old folks finished their square-dancing and came back, Pei Zhou, who had gone off somewhere, still hadn’t returned. Lin Chuge had no choice but to tell Grandpa and Grandma Li that Pei Zhou seemed to have something to do. If they were worried, they could call him.

The square was still filled with people dancing, the loud music blasting through the speakers.

It was too noisy. Grandpa Li waved his hand to show it was fine, and the group slowly strolled back home.

When Pei Zhou was around earlier, Lin Chuge hadn’t managed to ask for his contact information. She had thought about asking Grandpa and Grandma Li, but remembering Pei Zhou’s words before he left—“Staying away from me is better for you”—she chose to give up for now.

If she added him as a friend now, he definitely wouldn’t accept, would he?

Lin Chuge rubbed her nose in frustration. She should have asked earlier, while he was in a better mood.

They walked back to the neighborhood, Grandpa and Grandma Li returned home.

Lin Chuge also went back with her own grandparents. Knowing they went to bed early, she didn’t stay long.

On her way home by car, Lin Chuge received another message from Song Bonian.

It was a shared link.

【Song Bonian: “This article—Chu Chu, read it when you have time.”】
【Lin Chuge: “Oh…”】

The article title was—
“On Adolescent Love: The Little Thing Called First Love.”

Lin Chuge jolted all over.

She felt she had just received Song Bonian’s crazy hint!

So it turned out, Song Bonian had fallen in love with Shen Xueyao at first sight.

He had seen her at noon, been moved immediately, and now… was the torch already lit?

She skimmed through the article and eagerly replied to Song Bonian.

【Lin Chuge: “I understand now.”】
【Song Bonian: “That fast?”】
【Lin Chuge: “It wasn’t that long. As long as I understood it, that’s enough.”】
【Song Bonian: “Mm.”】
【Lin Chuge: “I’ll keep it a secret.”】
【Song Bonian: “Ok.”】

After the short exchange, Lin Chuge sighed emotionally.

She hadn’t expected Song Bonian to trust her so much, to confide in her so quickly.

She shouldn’t let down this trust either.

—On the other side—

Song Bonian also thought he had received Lin Chuge’s hint.

Keep a secret?

Of course—since it was something personal to her, and she didn’t want others to know, it was necessary to keep it secret.

That was a very ordinary request.

Even if she hadn’t asked, in truth, he still wouldn’t tell anyone else.

But what mattered most was that she had finished reading the article—and she said she understood it.

That alone gave Song Bonian more reassurance.

He had seen that article long ago and thought it was pretty good. For their age, awakening to feelings was normal, but still needed the right guidance… As long as Chu Chu didn’t do anything foolish, didn’t hurt herself, it didn’t matter whether the person she liked was Pei Zhou or not.

After this exchange, he put down his phone.

Song Bonian continued to organize his study materials from his first year of high school, planning to find time to give them to Lin Chuge.

---

Lin Yuqing and Chi Haiyin, after talking with Song Bonian, knew their daughter wasn’t being bullied or troubled at school, nor had she encountered anything bad, so they were completely reassured. Naturally, Lin Chuge’s request for a tutor was granted.

The previous night, they had confirmed the tutor would come on Saturday, so this habitual weekend late-sleeper miraculously got up early.

After washing up, Lin Chuge put away her phone and computer, focusing on memorizing English words and Chinese texts.

Around eight o’clock.

Chi Haiyin came upstairs to call her daughter down for breakfast.

The room was well soundproofed, and the door was shut tight, so she couldn’t hear what was happening inside.

But after lightly knocking, the door quickly opened, and she saw her daughter fully dressed.

“Mom, what is it?”

The English words she had been reciting were cut off as Lin Chuge looked at her mother.

Chi Haiyin was curious: “Chu Chu, why are you up so early today?”

“Mm.” Lin Chuge smiled sweetly. “Isn’t the tutor coming today? So I got up earlier.”

“I also memorized some English words and texts.”

She puffed out her chest proudly, asking: “Isn’t your daughter diligent?”

In that moment, Chi Haiyin felt deeply that her daughter was growing more sensible. Smiling, she nodded. “Our Chu Chu is the best!” Then added, “Auntie has already made breakfast—there are your favorite mackerel wontons. Go eat first, don’t go hungry.”

“Okay!”

Lin Chuge happily answered, looping her arm through her mother’s as they went downstairs.

Around nine o’clock.

The tutor arranged by the agency arrived, and Lin Chuge underwent a two-day placement test.

Saturday and Sunday, covering Chinese, math, English, physics, chemistry, biology, politics, history, geography—not a single subject left out. Each one was tested under normal exam conditions arranged by the tutor. Because of this, she had almost no free time over the weekend, even having to decline Xu Luoluo’s invitation to go out.

The long-term laziness she had shown toward studying made this weekend unusually exhausting.

Though she was determined to study hard, the initial stage was inevitably tough.

The tutoring agency would set up a plan based on her results, so she didn’t need to worry about that.

By Monday, she went to school as usual.

Her own study plan was already underway, and she was also trying to act on her thoughts regarding Pei Zhou. However, during lunch break, when she carried her math workbook to class six, hoping to find Pei Zhou, she came up empty-handed.

Her attempt stretched into after school.

Once again, she had no luck.

But Pei Zhou’s classmates said he had just left not long ago.

Standing in the corridor, Lin Chuge looked toward the school gate and saw him walking that way. She quickly rushed after him.

But no matter how hard she ran, she was still a step late.

Even after chasing all the way outside the school, she didn’t catch up and eventually lost him altogether.

With no sign of Pei Zhou anywhere, she sighed softly, slung her backpack higher, and turned back toward the school. She had only walked a few steps when a group of boys carrying sticks, their hair dyed in garish colors, came straight toward her. Passing by, she caught words like “Pei Zhou” and “beat him to death” from their mouths.

This group was clearly on their way to fight.

And judging by what they said, the one they were after was Pei Zhou?

Lin Chuge froze.

She kept catching snippets of their curses, confirming more and more that they were looking for Pei Zhou.

Would something happen?

Could Pei Zhou handle it?

Looking at the “weapons” in their hands, Lin Chuge’s palms grew sweaty.

Gang fights were something distant and unfamiliar to her.

Even if she followed, she wouldn’t be able to help Pei Zhou.

But she couldn’t set her mind at ease.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Lin Chuge pulled out her phone. While hurrying in the same direction as the group, she called Uncle Wu, the driver. Hanging up, she walked further and arrived at the mouth of an alley.

The alley looked familiar.

She vaguely remembered—wasn’t this where she had given Pei Zhou that little pig band-aid?

From inside came the sounds of fighting.

Summoning her courage, Lin Chuge peeked inside, and sure enough, she saw Pei Zhou in the middle of the crowd, fists swinging.

His expression was ruthless, and his blows even more so.

Even just watching quietly, Lin Chuge’s heart trembled, her hand pressing against her chest.

Though he wasn’t alone, his side clearly had fewer people.

Yet he wasn’t at a disadvantage. The sticks swung at him were dodged with nimble movements.

Even so, Lin Chuge couldn’t help but worry.

After all… those who got hit looked like they were really hurting.

But the other side had the numbers, and they weren’t unarmed. To save face, they didn’t care about being despicable. One of them grabbed an iron bar from his buddy and, while Pei Zhou was busy fending off others, prepared to strike him from behind.

Lin Chuge saw this scene clearly.

As the boy raised the iron bar, she cried out: “Pei Zhou, watch out!”

Hearing the warning, Pei Zhou instinctively turned to dodge, but someone leapt in front of him. Before he could see the face clearly, the bar had already landed on that person’s back. Without thinking, he reached out to catch her and pulled her aside.

And then he realized—the person in his arms was Lin Chuge.

Her little face was deathly pale, lips pressed tight, eyes brimming with tears. The next second, tears rolled down in big drops.

Out of nowhere a girl had appeared, and everyone was stunned.

Only Pei Zhou, blood boiling, cursed furiously: “Are you fucking stupid?!”

The blow of that iron bar left Lin Chuge speechless in pain, her tears flowing harder.

Pei Zhou scooped her up and carried her out of the alley.

Just then, Uncle Wu arrived with the police.

Seeing Lin Chuge’s condition, Uncle Wu quickly asked: “Where is she hurt?”

Pausing a moment, he added to Pei Zhou: “I’m the Lin family’s driver. You stay here and explain to the police. I’ll drive Chu Chu to the hospital.”

Pei Zhou’s face was grim as he nodded. Following Uncle Wu, he placed Lin Chuge into the car.

Just before leaving, he held onto the car door. “I’ll come to the hospital later to see you.”