Peach Little Peach

The military training period had come to an end.

Ye Shuang had to leave early due to personal matters, so he asked Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke to head to the Light Music Club first.

Recently, there had been a surge of new applicants for the club. So much so that some members even considered going later, but from what Zhixia had mentioned, it seemed they hadn’t managed to recruit any particularly outstanding newcomers. Most of them were just drawn to the club because of its reputation as a "club full of beautiful girls" or because of Bai Yuyou herself.

In the end, Zhixia even considered outright rejecting all the male applicants—only to realize that some of the girls were also joining because of Bai Yuyou.

Zhixia was at her wit's end.

……

"My shoulders are sore… I was already exhausted to begin with," Tang Keke muttered as she stretched her arms in the hallway. She was the type who got tired easily just from walking, always wishing for a desk to lean on at all times. The earlier plank exercise had nearly been the death of her.

When she turned around, she noticed Bai Yuyou had stopped walking beside her, seemingly deep in thought.

"Keke, our water bottles," Bai Yuyou suddenly said. After all, both of them had brought their bottles to drink from during training.

Tang Keke’s was a completely transparent water bottle, while Bai Yuyou’s was also a clear glass one—except hers had a sticker of a photo booth picture featuring Ye Shuang, herself, and Tang Keke.

The girl didn’t mind displaying the bottle at all, and the affectionate gesture had already made their classmates speculate about the nature of Ye Shuang and Bai Yuyou’s relationship.

However, since none of the students dared to approach Bai Yuyou directly, she never had the chance to blurt out the truth—

That they were married.

"Oh, we forgot them. Let’s go back," Tang Keke suddenly realized they had left their bottles behind on the training grounds.

But when the two returned to the spot where they had been training, they saw a girl crouching down, unscrewing the caps of several abandoned water bottles one by one. She poured out the remaining water, crushed the empty bottles in her hands, and stuffed them into a plastic bag she was carrying.

Her movements were practiced, smooth, and efficient.

For the stiffer plastic bottles, she stepped on them to flatten them before packing them away.

Meanwhile, items like insulated thermoses were left untouched on the ground.

Hearing footsteps behind her, the girl turned around—only to lock eyes with Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke.

"……"

"?!" The girl stumbled back two steps, her foot catching on a step, and she fell backward with a startled yelp. "Wah?!"

The plastic bag slipped from her grip, the bottles inside clattering noisily.

By the time the girl regained her bearings, Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke were already standing in front of her. The long-haired girl even extended a hand and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I’m fine!!"

The words practically burst from the girl’s throat as she scrambled to her feet and bolted away, as if she had just encountered something terrifying.

Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke exchanged glances, puzzled by the girl’s reaction.

"That girl… I think her name is Tao Xiaotao, right? Why was she so scared of us?" Tang Keke tilted her head in confusion. Weren’t they all classmates?

Bai Yuyou didn’t understand either. She bent down and picked up the bag full of crushed bottles. It was quite heavy—apparently, she had collected more than just the ones from their class.

"Oh, she was trying to do a good deed! Should we help her throw these away?" Tang Keke smiled as she figured it out.

"Mm."

Meanwhile, Tao Xiaotao finally slowed to a stop, glancing back repeatedly to make sure no one was following her before letting out a sigh of relief.

"Those two…" she mumbled under her breath—then suddenly realized her hands were empty.

The bag.

The bag…

The bag!

"My bottles…" Tao Xiaotao’s face paled in dismay. "Today’s rate is 1.5 yuan per jin for plastic, 0.6 for mixed materials… Those bottles could’ve at least bought me a meal. What do I do now?"

It looked like she had no choice but to go back…

She spun around—only to crash headfirst into a pillar in her haste, producing a loud metallic clang.

"Oww?!"

As she staggered backward, a pair of hands steadied her from behind.

A familiar voice followed.

"Are you alright, student?"

Once Tao Xiaotao steadied herself, she turned to see a familiar man standing behind her. He was dressed in a white lab coat, his eyes filled with concern.

He was handsome, exuding an air of maturity—especially when he smiled slightly, looking every bit like the dashing male lead from a TV drama.

Tao Xiaotao snapped out of her daze, stammering, "Instructor?!"

"Training’s over. You can just call me Dr. Ye," Ye Shuang said, only now recognizing her as one of the students from the military training session.

Her petite frame, noticeably shorter than the others, had left a strong impression.

Ye Shuang had simply been passing by when he noticed the girl shaking her head in frustration—only to then watch her turn around and smack straight into a pillar.

Quite the clumsy one.

"Sorry!" Tao Xiaotao sidestepped Ye Shuang and sprinted off again.

Ye Shuang watched her go, slightly bemused, but didn’t dwell on it before continuing on his way.

A while later, when Tao Xiaotao returned to the training grounds, Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke were nowhere to be seen—and neither was her bag of bottles.

She searched high and low but eventually stood there, dejected. "They’re gone…"

The scene seemed to zoom out, the girl crouching alone on the empty training field, looking utterly helpless.

……

Ye Shuang had returned to the school infirmary by now. He still had some medical reports to sort through—a rare bit of actual work for him.

He wasn’t sure if it was the same for the other school doctors or if it was because of An Shiyu’s influence, but his workload mostly consisted of tending to students who came in for minor ailments. Paperwork like this was practically nonexistent for him.

After school hours, hardly any students dropped by. Ye Shuang finished filling out the forms in about ten minutes.

His usual routine afterward was to either check in on the club or head home early to buy groceries and cook.

Simple, but fulfilling.

Watching Bai Yuyou grow happier day by day, seeing her and Tang Keke enjoying themselves together, observing how Yiwan—wait, no, Yiwan really needed to go on a diet.

All in all, this job suited him just fine.

But today felt a little different…

Why?

"I wonder… if she’ll even come back tomorrow," Ye Shuang murmured, his gaze drifting to the empty spot on the sofa beside him.

The game controller sat untouched on its stand. The high-end gaming PC’s cooling fans were silent, its power supply inactive—like a heart that had stopped beating, leaving all other components dormant.

Rustle.

The only sound in the infirmary was the turning of paper.

"With her gone… it’s almost too quiet."

A soft sigh escaped him.