Code

Day by day, Lin Yu's injuries were healing at an extremely optimistic rate.

After just a few days back at school, Lin Yu stopped taking painkillers.

More than half a month later, apart from some faint purple bruises left by the heavier whip marks on his body, the rest of Lin Yu's injuries had almost completely recovered.

He could walk and jump.

During a water conservation class, Lin Yu and his two buddies sat together in the back row, huddled over playing the currently popular mobile auto-battler game.

TFT! (Teamfight Tactics)

Buried in his game, Lin Yu's expression was somewhat gloomy.

He glanced at Lv Pengju's phone screen beside him and immediately felt a surge of anger.

That bastard!

Hoarding eight of my five-cost cards, what a piece of work!

Lv Pengju had no room for error left in his health pool. He was practically mashing the reroll button hard enough to create sparks, but he still couldn't find that last Jinx.

Just as he was getting frustrated, he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye and saw that one Jinx on Lin Yu's bench. He almost yelled out right there in class.

"Sell it!"

Lin Yu gave him a sidelong glance and said nothing.

A furious vein throbbed on Lv Pengju's forehead. He took two deep breaths, glaring viciously at Lin Yu.

Suddenly, his expression turned ingratiating, his face breaking into a wrinkled smile as he said pleadingly,

"Dad, sell the Jinx, please."

"Good son, I'll sell it for you right away."

Lin Yu beamed with a bright smile, swiped his finger, and sold the Jinx.

Lv Pengju went back to frantically rerolling, muttering about how once he finally found his Jinx, he'd teach these three unfilial sons a lesson and other such treasonous talk.

Lin Yu also started rerolling, wanting to find another Jinx before Lv Pengju did.

This time, he wouldn't buy it; he'd just let it sit in the shop, making Lv Pengju think until the very end that it was just his own bad luck!

After a few rerolls, a message notification suddenly popped up at the top of his phone screen.

Lin Yu glanced at it, his eyebrows raising in surprise.

Sugar Cube?

Hadn't he set her messages to mute?

Why was her message still popping up?

Looking closer, Lin Yu understood why.

Because it wasn't a message; it was a transfer record.

The amount transferred was a full fifty thousand.

After a moment's thought, Lin Yu lightly tapped the notification on his screen, and Sugar Cube's chat interface quickly popped up.

Looking at that fifty-thousand-yuan transfer record, Lin Yu knew this was Tang Manman trying to repay him for the surgery and hospitalization fees he had advanced for her sister.

Lin Yu felt conflicted, unsure whether he should accept the money.

If he didn't accept it, letting it drag on wasn't good either. But if he did accept it...

...

Would she think he was really eager for her to repay this money?

Would that put too much pressure on her?

He heard from Gu Yue that she often tutors high school girls to save money. Wouldn't that be too hard on her?

Back in high school, because of her family situation, she had always lived very plainly, never spending money on herself.

Now in university, she should learn to use money to treat herself well.

How many years of youth does a person really have?

After wrestling with it for a little while, Lin Yu sent back a question mark, wanting to first see what Tang Manman was thinking before deciding whether to accept the money.

Dragon Proud Sky: ?

Sugar Cube: This is the money I've saved up over this period, thinking of repaying you some first.

Sugar Cube: I originally wanted to ask you out in H City and give you this money in person.

Sugar Cube: But you never responded to me, so I could only transfer the money to you like this.

Lin Yu bit his upper lip, his brow furrowing tightly.

Sure enough, this money was earned and saved by Tang Manman bit by bit.

To have saved up this much money in just half a year, even with her prestigious university background allowing her to charge higher rates for tutoring high school students, being able to scrape together such a large sum must mean she's been incredibly strict with herself, right?

After thinking for a moment, Lin Yu lightly tapped the keyboard, typing out a line and sending it.

Dragon Proud Sky: I'm not in a hurry.

Dragon Proud Sky: You keep the money for now. You can repay me later, after you graduate and start working, when you can earn good money.

Dragon Proud Sky: ...

His message sent up to this point, Lin Yu's fingers hovered over the on-screen keyboard. He pursed his lips, conflicted.

After a brief pause, the light in his eyes dimmed, as if he had made some kind of decision, and he continued tapping lightly on the screen.

Dragon Proud Sky: Be good to yourself usually.

Dragon Proud Sky: If you make close friends, you can go out and have fun with them.

Dragon Proud Sky: You're in university now. Don't neglect your studies, but you should have some fun too.

Sugar Cube: Mhm, mhm.

Sugar Cube: I understand.

Sugar Cube: (smiling emoji)

Sugar Cube: When did your school start the semester?

Sugar Cube: Where did you go during the New Year holiday?

Sugar Cube: Do you have a lot of classes?

Sugar Cube: You...

Sugar Cube: ...

Tang Manman's messages came one after another. At this point, Lin Yu couldn't pretend to be invisible and offline anymore.

Besides, Lin Yu also wanted to know a bit about Tang Manman's daily life, to see if this natural-born bullying magnet had been bullied over the past six months...

...

...

Dragon Proud Sky: Alright, I have to get back to class.

Dragon Proud Sky: Let's chat another time when we're free.

Tang Manman: (sad emoji)

Tang Manman gently pressed her phone against her chest, her eyes sparkling with excitement and happiness.

Sure enough, using this as a reason, Lin Yu would pay attention to her...

...

But soon, before her happiness could last long, the joy on Tang Manman's face began to crumble rapidly.

She pursed her lips, blinking hard a couple of times. The happiness and excitement in her eyes flickered and quickly turned into bitterness and grievance.

She tightened the corners of her mouth, trying hard not to cry, but hot tears still spilled uncontrollably from her reddening eyes, tracing wet lines down her cold cheeks.

Lin Yu really could see her messages after all.

He... he just didn't want to talk to her, didn't he...

...

Tang Manman sniffled. She raised her hand to wipe the tears from her face, not wanting anyone to see them.

In a corner of the cafeteria, a few handsome young men were eating together, chatting and laughing.

One of them, with a gentle and handsome appearance, wasn't focused on his friends or the conversation at the table.

He was looking at the table a couple over, watching that pure and beautiful young girl lower her head and cry, his brows furrowing with concern.

A friend beside him noticed his distraction, looked at him, then followed his gaze to the girl in the distance who was wiping her tears.

He immediately understood what was going on and nudged him with an elbow, teasing with a smile,

"Hey!"

"Your eyes are about to fall out!"

The nudged man started slightly. He turned back and shot his friend a slightly annoyed look as a warning, then turned his gaze back to the girl.

Seeing this, his friend rolled his eyes and remarked,

"What good does looking do?"

"They say she already has a boyfriend. She doesn't pay attention to anyone."

Shaking his head, his friend added with a tone mixed with envy and jealousy,

"Who knows what kind of insane luck that guy must have had in his past lives to find such a loyal and beautiful girlfriend!"

The man furrowed his brow. Ignoring his friend's teasing, he stood up and walked toward the girl.