Sensitive enough, huh (Proud~)

Tang Manman glanced up at the clock on the wall.

7:20.

She did a quick mental calculation.

Her mother usually packed up her stall around 11:30 and would be home by midnight.

There was still time to let Lin Yu rest a bit longer. She could give him his medicine after he woke up.

Lin Yu was sound asleep, while Tang Manman pulled out her notebook and pen, settling at the small desk not far from him to finish her homework.

As she worked, her mind kept wandering. Each time, she would pause and look up at Lin Yu, worrying whether he might do something bad once he regained consciousness.

But then, she’d catch sight of his unusual complexion—mostly dark with patches of pale—and couldn’t help but giggle.

Covering her mouth to stifle her laughter, she shook off her earlier concerns and returned to her assignments.

He probably isn’t that kind of person, right?

Yeah.

Definitely not.

...

Lin Yu stirred awake, his first sensation being pain.

A splitting headache.

The kind that felt like his brain had been scrambled with an eggbeater, leaving him too afraid to move.

He lay still for a long while, waiting for the chaotic throbbing in his skull to ease slightly before finally opening his eyes to take in his surroundings.

The walls were plain white, worn with age.

A cheap pink floral curtain that blocked the view but not the light.

An old yellow wooden wardrobe that looked like it wouldn’t even make it to a secondhand market.

A simple storage rack pieced together from hollow metal rods, cluttered but not messy.

And...

Tang Manman?

Yep.

Tang Manman.

His gaze skimmed over the girl hunched over her desk, absorbed in her work, as if she were just another unremarkable fixture in the room.

Lin Yu’s current state resembled that of a college student who’d pulled an all-nighter at an internet café, only to be dragged out of bed an hour later by his mom for a family visit.

His body was awake, but his soul was still fast asleep.

As for the memories of that "erotic manga world," the warnings to "stay away from the female lead," or the debates about NTR versus pure love—all those thoughts lay like heavy stones buried deep in his mind, unable to stir even the slightest ripple.

Satisfied on a subconscious level that there was no danger around him, Lin Yu relaxed.

He didn’t bother wondering why he was here, where "here" even was, or why Tang Manman was present. He simply closed his eyes again, surrendering to exhaustion.

Just as his eyelids fell shut, a faint, familiar fragrance drifted into his awareness.

The scent was pleasant and oddly nostalgic, though his sluggish brain couldn’t place it.

Right now, his mind was like a 1965 computer processor—utterly incapable of processing the olfactory input into anything coherent.

Only his subconscious offered a vague reaction:

Nice smell.

Love it.

Want more!

While Lin Yu’s brain chugged along at a snail’s pace, trying to recall where he knew that scent from, a soft voice called out to him.

"Lin Yu?"

"Can you take your medicine first?"

The voice was gentle and slightly familiar. Rather than relying on his useless brain to figure things out, Lin Yu opened his eyes and looked at the delicate, youthful girl in front of him. Two simple pieces of information surfaced:

Tang Manman.

No threat.

...

And then...

...

Nothing else.

Lin Yu acted like a hypnotized subject, not even questioning what the medicine was or why he needed to take it.

Once he confirmed Tang Manman wasn’t a threat, he simply nodded and slowly raised his hand to accept the pills, popping them into his mouth.

"Water."

Tang Manman handed him a cup, which he took and drank from on autopilot.

Even after swallowing the medicine, Lin Yu’s brain remained offline, empty and incapable of thought. All he wanted was to go back to sleep.

"Lin Yu... do you know your parents’ phone numbers?"

"Should I call them to come pick you up?"

The soft voice spoke again.

Though pleasant to the ear, Lin Yu, who only wanted to sleep, found it irritating.

His two sets of memories—jumbled from the brick-like blow to his head—were too muddled to distinguish. Too tired to sort through them, he lazily pulled from the easier-to-explain "delinquent" persona and answered flatly:

"Dead."

A heavy silence fell over the room.

Tang Manman sat beside him, her eyes wide with shock before flooding with guilt. She hadn’t expected that answer.

Both parents gone?

How tragic...

Normally, upon accidentally touching a sore subject, most people—especially shy, reserved girls like Tang Manman—would quickly change the topic.

But today was different.

She checked the clock again.

Almost 11.

Her mother would be back by midnight at the latest.

If she didn’t get Lin Yu awake and out of here soon, her mom would walk in on them—and then she’d be in real trouble!

How on earth would she explain this?

Tang Manman rubbed her face anxiously before steeling herself to press on.

Maybe a sensitive topic would jolt him awake, make him realize where he was, and prompt him to leave on his own.

But what topic was sensitive enough?

After a moment’s thought, she landed on the perfect question.

"Lin Yu?"

"Um..."

"What was your rank in the last exam?"

There.

That ought to do it.

Tang Manman felt a little smug about her devious choice.

She knew someone like Lin Yu probably didn’t have great grades.

Bringing this up would surely annoy him enough to snap him out of his daze.

After all, what student didn’t care about their scores?

She remembered how devastated she’d been when she dropped out of the top ten in a mock exam—she couldn’t sleep for days, dreading anyone mentioning it!

Lin Yu’s grades had to be worse.

He’d either get angry or defensive, right?

And that emotional spike would wake him up.

Her bright peach-blossom eyes fixed on Lin Yu, waiting for his reaction.

"Dead last."

His voice was groggy, as if still half-asleep, but his tone was utterly unbothered. Not a trace of shame.

"Uh..."

Tang Manman was slightly thrown.

How could anyone say that so casually?

Did he really not care at all?

Not about his grades, or the way teachers and classmates looked at him?

"Then... have you finished your homework for tonight?"

Tang Manman, unwilling to give up, brought up another topic, hoping to make Lin Yu realize he still had things to do—and thus snap out of his daze quickly.

You have to do your homework, right?

Not doing homework means facing the teacher’s punishment!

Tang Manman hadn’t forgotten Lin Yu’s claim at noon that he didn’t do homework.

But she didn’t believe it.

In her worldview, the idea of a student not doing homework simply didn’t exist!

If you don’t do your homework, aren’t you afraid of the embarrassment of standing empty-handed in front of the class representative when it’s time to hand it in?

If you don’t do your homework, aren’t you afraid of the teacher’s stern face, ordering you to finish it in the hallway as punishment?

And going even further—

Aren’t you afraid of the homeroom teacher’s ultimate weapon: calling your parents?

...Oh.

Lin Yu probably really didn’t have to worry about that last one.

Tang Manman shrank her neck slightly in embarrassment, but she quickly perked up again.

Not fearing the last consequence didn’t mean he wouldn’t fear the first two!

Not fearing his classmates’ scorn.

Not fearing the teacher’s punishment.

Recalling the scenes of students who hadn’t done their homework being called out by the teacher, Tang Manman grew even more confident in her approach.

When they were kicked out of the classroom, they could only walk with their heads down, their faces burning red with shame, as if about to drip blood.

Surely this method would work on Lin Yu too!

The hopeful light returned to Tang Manman’s beautiful peach-blossom eyes as she stared intently at Lin Yu, waiting for his reaction.

"I’m not doing it."

Lin Yu showed no reaction at all, only answering instinctively in a slightly muffled voice.

His tone was even more indifferent than when she’d asked about his grades!

...

Time passed little by little.

Every sensitive topic Tang Manman had racked her brain to come up with was effortlessly shut down by Lin Yu’s replies.

She let out a heavy sigh, feeling that trying to find a topic he cared about was more exhausting than going through a major exam.

But amid her frustration, Tang Manman also noticed something interesting.

At times like this, it seemed like Lin Yu would answer any question she asked—completely unreservedly.

As if he’d been injected with some truth serum straight out of a TV drama.

Finding this amusing, Tang Manman’s questions gradually shifted in tone without her even realizing it.

From topics that might catch Lin Yu’s attention, they turned into things she genuinely wanted to know.

"Why... why did you help me?"

Tang Manman asked in a small voice.