The meal was quickly prepared.

Even though the economy wasn’t developed in Nanqiao, there was no shortage of fresh vegetables and fruits.

The rice was also plump and shiny.

When Zhao Ya Yuan was first sent to Nanqiao, he was silent and ate only a little every day.

Later, as he stayed there, he gradually increased to eating two bowls per meal.

At the dining table, as usual, Qiu Lan asked about his situation, and Zhao Ya Yuan answered.

The atmosphere at the table was very relaxed.

After dinner, Qiu Lan seemed a bit tired. After all, she was getting older and her health hadn’t been very good in recent years.

She needed a nap every day, and Qiu Li knew about this habit of hers.

“Grandma, you go rest. We’ll clean up here.”

“Okay, you haven’t seen each other in a long time.” Qiu Lan smiled. “Have a good time together. My health is worse year by year…”

Qiu Li gently stopped her, “Grandma will live a long and healthy life.”

Zhao Ya Yuan didn’t say anything.

After cleaning up the dishes, Qiu Li gently closed the door to Grandma’s bedroom.

Zhao Ya Yuan lay down on the bamboo lounge chair, stretching out his legs casually, with his hands behind his head.

Suddenly, he said, “I came back from Ancheng.”

Qiu Li, who was wiping the table, asked, “Isn’t your family in Haicheng?”

“I’ve told you before, my hometown is also Ancheng,” Zhao Ya Yuan said. “Next year, our whole family will move back there.”

Qiu Li lowered his head to work. “It’s a nice place, but the weather isn’t very comfortable. You have to be careful of heatstroke in the summer.”

“Yeah, when I first transferred there, I felt uncomfortable, but I got used to it later,” Zhao Ya Yuan said.

“And, I saw Lu Nian.” Zhao Ya Yuan turned over, facing him.

“Um,” Qiu Li said.

There didn’t seem to be any special reaction.

“We’ll graduate from high school next year,” Zhao Ya Yuan said. “She promised to come to Nanqiao.”

Finally, Qiu Li reacted.

His bangs fell over his forehead, covering his warm eyes.

His expression was inexplicable as he put the clean dishes away in the cupboard.

“I can be sure that she doesn’t remember anything anymore, and the whole Lu family is hiding it from her,” Zhao Ya Yuan said.

“Moreover,” he said slowly, “do you think amnesia can change a person’s personality drastically? Like, becoming a different person.”

He himself didn’t know what he wanted to express, but he roughly conveyed his vague thoughts.

Qiu Li finally spoke, “Let it be.”

“What do you mean?” Zhao Ya Yuan straightened up.

Qiu Li said gently, “Forget it. If she comes, just treat me as an unrelated friend from your town. There’s no need to say anything else.”

“Don’t you hate her at all?” Zhao Ya Yuan asked.

The young man was silent for a long time. “I have no family now. Grandma and you are my family now.”

“Ya Yuan, don’t worry about that matter anymore,” Qiu Li said. “We were all young at that time, and she must have been very scared. It wasn’t intentional.”

Zhao Ya Yuan sighed.

“You even sigh?” Qiu Li laughed.

Zhao Ya Yuan lazily looked at the ceiling. “I’m thinking about something very troublesome.”

“What is it?”

Zhao Ya Yuan got up from the bamboo chair. “Forget it, I’ll tell you later.”

The second day of tutoring began.

Lu Nian was sleeping soundly at home.

On the first day of intensive tutoring, she was so tired that Qin Si didn’t show any mercy.

Although he didn’t scold her for being slow or not understanding, really, except for rest time, it was an endless process of reviewing and doing exercises.

She remembered the so-called tutoring she had given Zhao Ya Yuan before, and compared to this devilish-style tutoring, it was as easy as playing house for kindergarten kids.

Qin Si also left her with homework.

The difficulty was just at the delicate point of her ability limit, something she could do but required very hard thinking to write out.

Lu Nian spent until two in the morning on the questions.

Looking at the full page of results, Lu Nian heaved a sigh of relief.

She couldn’t let him look down on her.

But the result of trying too hard was that after washing up, she fell asleep as soon as she touched the bed, and slept until the next morning, oversleeping.

The originally agreed time was 8 o’clock in the morning.

When Lu Nian woke up and looked at the time, it was already nine o’clock, and she panicked.

Why didn’t Miao Miao wake her up?

“… It’s been an hour already.”

Damn it, did Qin Si wait outside and get anxious?

She remembered that he was always very punctual, the kind of person who would definitely keep his promises and be on time.

In a hurry, Lu Nian reached for her phone from beside the pillow and immediately called Qin Si.

“Sorry, I overslept.”

The girl had obviously just woken up, her voice soft and gentle.

“Have you been waiting long?”

From the other end came the sound of the girl jumping out of bed, hurriedly walking around the bedroom in cotton slippers.

Because she was in such a hurry, she accidentally tripped over something, let out a low exclamation, and almost fell down.

He was silent for a moment. “I just arrived not long ago, you don’t need to be in such a hurry.”

“Then I’ll be right there.” The voice on the other end audibly relaxed.

Miao Miao was waiting nearby.

Seeing the young man hang up the phone, she said nothing, pursing her lips and smiling.

It had been over an hour since Qin Si arrived, and Miao Miao had originally been prepared to wake Lu Nian up.

“Miss Lu stayed up until two o’clock doing the questions,” Miao Miao said.

Because of Lu Nian’s poor health, even now, her foundation was weaker than that of an average person.

She was very sleepy, and generally, a high school senior at this age could maintain a normal life with six to seven hours of sleep, but she couldn’t.

She usually had to sleep for eight hours.

“No need.” He didn’t let Miao Miao go, “Let her sleep.”

Miao Miao couldn’t help but explain for Lu Nian, “Nian Nian is usually very punctual. She basically never oversleeps. It’s because she stayed up late yesterday.”

The young man looked at Lu Nian’s test paper, his eyelashes drooping, his attention not on her being late. “She’s not feeling well. Don’t let her stay up so late next time.”

He planned to adjust the amount of homework tomorrow.

Miao Miao was somewhat surprised that this cold-looking young man would speak like this.

He had been waiting for over an hour, without any impatience or dissatisfaction.

Until Lu Nian finally appeared in the living room, her hair still disheveled, she was in a hurry, and Miao Miao had already brought breakfast, a simple meal of milk and bread.

She naturally didn’t care about eating anything else too carefully, after all, she had already delayed so long, she almost choked.

“Slow down.” Qin Si, who was reading a book on the side, looked up at her.

Lu Nian blushed, suddenly realizing that as a girl, it wasn’t good to eat so quickly in front of him.

She slowed down and finally finished her dinner properly.

The tutoring finally began, and Lu Nian had just taken out her homework.

But Qin Si said, “Let’s change it to nine o’clock tomorrow.”

“Huh?” Lu Nian was surprised.

The boy’s tone was cold, his gaze on her homework. “There’s been traffic jams these days, and it takes a long time on the road. I have to get up too early at eight o’clock.”

Lu Nian was delighted. “Okay, then you should sleep a little longer at home too.”

So Qin Si also liked to sleep in.

But after she took out her homework, Qin Si didn’t say anything special.

He found her mistakes and continued to explain.

Tch.

She really was a fool to expect him to praise her.

She looked at the boy’s handsome and cold side profile.

Lu Nian thought, with such a good-looking face, wouldn’t it be nice to say something nice? What a waste.

During today’s break, Lu Nian was too lazy to leave and rested in place.

Qin Si was showing her the homework.

Watching him write was actually not boring at all. His handwriting was good, his fingers distinct, his bones long and slim.

His pen moved quickly, as if he didn’t need to think, he could just write.

The girl rested her chin on her hand, blinking her big eyes, staring at him without blinking.

His ears felt hot, his thoughts muddled, he couldn’t write anymore, he could only stop.

Lu Nian was puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

He looked away, “Tired.”

“Then you should rest too,” Lu Nian said cheerfully, “Let’s chat.”

It was said to be chatting, but it was actually more like her talking one-sidedly.

“Dad wants me to get into the top one hundred before my age.” Lu Nian poked her eraser with her finger, “But unfortunately, my math is too poor, and I lost a lot of points.”

The young man listened quietly.

He knew.

When he talked to Lu Zhihong, he mentioned that if Lu Nian couldn’t achieve this score, the Lu family would be prepared to send her abroad.

Lu Nian continued, “But even if I get in, I definitely won’t be able to get into your school.”

They had been in the same school for so long, and they were finally going to become senior-junior siblings in college.

Qin Si didn’t say anything, “Time’s up.”

After a few days, Lu Nian found that she had miraculously adapted to this speed.

Qin Si explained the questions to her, and many times it wasn’t just about the question itself.

His thinking was clear, his logic was strong, and he helped her go through all the knowledge points, plus he classified the typical questions.

Now, when Lu Nian saw a new question, her first reaction was to start thinking about which part of the knowledge to use to solve it, and whether she had encountered a similar type before.

To be precise, his way of thinking about problems was completely different from her mechanical way of doing problems before.

Lu Nian began to gradually try to understand his way of thinking, although she couldn’t catch up due to the difference in IQ, but compared to before, she had really improved in flexibility.

It could also be considered as having picked up a bit of the aura of a study god.

Lu Nian said sincerely, “You should open a tutoring class in the future, you’ll definitely make a fortune.”

She rested her chin on her hand, her long eyelashes softened by the afternoon sun, “Did you often tutor people before?” Otherwise, why do you look so experienced?

Qin Si, “…”

He avoided the topic and continued with the next question.

Although this period of time was hard, it was also very enjoyable.

Every day she could see Qin Si, and it seemed that Lu Zhihong had gone on another business trip and was never at home.

Lu Yang, for some reason, also appeared much less frequently.

Lu Nian felt all over her body relaxed and happy, like a happy little sparrow, living freely.

So it wasn’t until the last day that she looked at the calendar and suddenly realized.

Why did time pass so quickly… today was the last tutoring session.

She was absent-minded for a moment, and the boy noticed, but didn’t say anything.

He silently looked at the calendar hanging beside him, the last red circle on it had reached the end.

The tutoring was over.

Over the past few days, Lu Nian had accumulated a stack of test papers, so she took a folder and put all the papers in it.

A notebook was pushed over.

It looked like a very ordinary notebook, with a pure black cover.

Lu Nian took it and opened it. It was already full of writing.

She asked, “What’s this?”

“My previous notes, but they’re not useful now anyway.”

“Consider it a bonus.”

Sure enough, it was his handwriting, neater than she had seen before, very recognizable.

The content was unexpectedly detailed, especially in her weak areas.

The process and classification of formula derivations, classic example questions, and common mistakes were written in a clear and detailed manner.

Lu Nian even saw several questions she had done wrong before in it.

“You kept your notes very well,” Lu Nian couldn’t help but sigh, “It’s good to remember.”

Looking at the fresh and tidy pages.

She had only seen Qin Si do homework before, not his notes.

When doing homework, because he needed to save time to work part-time, he basically wouldn’t write out the steps, but would get to the result in two or three steps.

Unexpectedly, he took particularly detailed notes.

The boy was silent, watching her soft fingers flip through the notes page by page, looking at them carefully.

His profile was particularly soft and beautiful, white as warm jade.

His ear tips were a little red, indulging himself for a moment, he no longer restrained his gaze.

His eyes moved inch by inch, from top to bottom, as if trying to remember her appearance completely.

“Uh, I’ll give you your wages again…” She flipped to the end, realizing the value of these notes.

This should be additional content, not included in the tutoring fee.

She didn’t want to treat him unfairly.

After all, if he took these notes out to sell, with his top scholar and A university’s reputation, many people would definitely want them.

“Your dad has already paid.” He didn’t let her finish.

The boy’s knuckles tightened slowly.

He looked at her, the warmth on his cheeks instantly fading, his phoenix eyes pitch black, his voice cold, “Don’t worry, it’s enough to buy my time, you don’t need to give me more.”

Lu Nian, “…”

The room fell silent again.

The boy pursed his lips, stood up, “I’m leaving.”

Lu Nian asked, “When are you going to the capital?”

“Three days later.”

There were still some things that Ming Ge needed him to take care of, all squeezed together.

Three days…

So to say.

Her little emotions just now had all disappeared, and she was lost in thought.

After that, would she never see him again? He might not necessarily come back to Ancheng during summer and winter vacations, and even if he did, their lives would have no intersection at all, would she never see him again?

“Are you free the day after tomorrow?” Lu Nian asked.

The boy’s steps stopped.

Lu Nian stammered, “I want to go out and pick some reference books, but… I don’t know how to choose…”

After a long time.

He said, “Hmm.”

What does “hmm” mean?

Lu Nian said softly, “If you’re not free then…”

He pursed his lips tightly, “I’m free.”

“Then I’ll…” Lu Nian’s eyes lit up.

He said coldly, “No need to pay.”

Lu Nian, “…”

She saw Qin Si off, sincerely saying, “Thank you for these days.”

The tutoring had ended, and she felt that she had gained a lot.

Although she was exhausted every day for the past ten days, Qin Si didn’t show any mercy.

However, when she really couldn’t understand, he surprisingly never scolded her or showed impatience.

Summer nights were late, even at five or six in the afternoon, it wasn’t dark yet.

The Lu family’s courtyard appeared even more beautiful, bathed in the quiet sunshine, the branches and leaves were well-trimmed, the plants were lush, the courtyard was verdant, and occasionally there would be the sound of cicadas.

Lu Nian escorted him all the way out.

His gaze lingered in one direction, and she followed his gaze.

It was the little house of the Xu family, the attic where he had lived as a child.

“It’s empty there now,” Lu Nian said.

When he was still a little boy, he had already gotten used to curling up alone in the darkness, licking his wounds.

He would stand far away, unwilling to admit that he was secretly watching her.

How long had it been now?

It seemed to have become a kind of sad habit.

But he was leaving, choosing to leave her.

A long silence.

When they were children, they had left many memories in this courtyard.

But at that time, he often ignored people, hiding in the branches, or in the grass, wherever inexplicable, she called him, he occasionally appeared, but would stay far away and seldom come over to talk to her.

The boy’s back was straight and clear.

Lu Nian stood at the door, watching him gradually go away.

The sky seemed to be slowly sinking in the distance, the red of the setting sun gradually appearing at the horizon where the earth met the sky, inch by inch dyeing the sky red, the dusk enveloped everything, and finally it was dusk.

His shadow was no longer visible.

The bar was lively.

Ming Ge was tidying up, in high spirits, “Tonight, the little bunny is coming, we’re going to have a farewell party for him.”

Huang Mao asked, “Isn’t Qin going to leave in the early hours of the day after tomorrow? Why have the farewell party today?”

Ming Ge said, “How would I know, you ask him yourself, he said he’s busy the day after tomorrow, there’s no room for negotiation, so we had to change it to today.”

Xiao Qu said, “Qin Ge has been very tired these past few days… We have so many things here that need him to handle, and he seems to have other things to do, I don’t know what he’s writing, staying up until two or three every night.”

Huang Mao smirked, “I saw it, it’s something I don’t recognize, probably numbers.”

“It’s all over.” Ming Ge sighed, “Look at you guys, this is the difference between intellectuals and us. University isn’t a place to be decadent. After finishing exams, you still have to study hard.”

He had been in high spirits during this period, ever since Qin Si was admitted to A University, he was even happier than when he was admitted himself.

“I knew that kid would make something of himself in the future.”

Bai Xi, on the side, was drinking a cocktail and said coldly, “After that, when he’s successful, he’ll abandon us commoners, he won’t even bother to acknowledge us, he’ll look down on us.”

Xiao Qu shook his head, “Qin Ge isn’t like that.”

Bai Xi sneered, “Are you sure? Remember that Miss Lu from before, he was so obsessed with her?

This kind of person who only wants to climb higher, when he’s successful in the future, he’ll abandon his old friends like us, it’s normal.”

He was indeed capable, he had captivated the young lady without any effort, that day when she casually told a lie, she looked so unhappy.

But she was experienced, clear in her heart, she could see that nothing had happened between them.

Xiao Qu, who usually kept to himself, blushed now and stood up, “He really likes Nian Nian, he’s not trying to climb any high branches.”

Qin Si cherished her, incredibly so.

Having known him for so long, his secret admiration seemed to have been even longer, perhaps even starting when he was still a child, vague and blurred. He loved her so inwardly and humbly, and even now, he had never shown any affection for her, not even for the things he had done for her.

Xiao Qu never doubted that, for Qin Si, as long as Nian Nian asked, anything, without any reward, he would be willing to do for her.

He felt that saying “trying to climb high branches” was an insult to this feeling.

Ming Ge said, “Stop talking about it.”