That's It 02

"apply."

"shen qing."

"challenge."

"tiao zhan."

"develop."

"fa zhan."

"impor..."

"..."

Gu Yue stared with dark circles under her eyes.

Her energy drained, she lifelessly counted on her fingers, reciting the vocabulary list she needed to memorize for the day.

When she reached the fourth word, Gu Yue paused.

She rolled her eyes.

After a brief effort to think, she gave up.

Turning her head, she looked at Lin Yu beside her and asked in a numb tone:

"Long Ge?"

"How do you spell 'important' again?"

Looking at Gu Yue’s exhausted expression, as if something had sucked the life out of her,

Lin Yu twitched the corner of his mouth, unsure whether to remind her that it wasn’t just "important."

She had also misspelled "challenge" and "develop."

This girl.

She had only managed to memorize four words.

Forget about forgetting one,

she had misspelled two of them...

...

Watching Gu Yue’s face, ravaged by the torment of knowledge,

Lin Yu sighed.

In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to correct her mistakes.

Forget it.

Let it be.

She had tried her best these days.

No need to make things harder for her.

He raised his hand and gently patted Gu Yue’s head, speaking softly with a hint of resignation:

"Alright."

"None of this matters anymore."

"Come on."

"I’ll take you to the snack street for some good food."

"Then you go home and get a good night’s sleep."

"Don’t stay up late like this again."

"Okay?"

Hearing Lin Yu’s gentle words,

Gu Yue tilted her head slightly and let out a soft hum.

A faint, fleeting light of confusion flickered in her empty, dazed eyes like a shooting star.

The next moment.

It was as if something suddenly clicked. Her eyes widened.

Then, in a burst of movement, she stepped forward, hugged Lin Yu’s arm, buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, and sobbed whiningly:

"Wu~"

"Long Ge."

"I know I’m a little dumb."

"But don’t give up on me, okay~"

"I’ll work hard..."

Gu Yue sniffled and whined as she acted spoiled.

Maybe because she was hugging him too tightly,

despite her rather unremarkable figure, Lin Yu’s arm still felt the warm softness unique to a girl.

Mid-March.

The harsh winter had passed.

Spring was on its way.

The two rows of willow trees standing by the road outside No.3 High School had finally survived the bitter cold and welcomed spring.

Nourished by the spring rain from a few days earlier,

they stretched out their branches.

Countless slender twigs bore delicate green buds, a pleasing sight to the eye.

Lin Yu stood under a willow tree where the buds grew especially vividly green, looked down at Gu Yue clinging to him, and explained with some helplessness:

"It’s not about giving up on you."

After saying this, Lin Yu paused the words he had planned to continue.

He changed his mind, deciding to hold back for now, and instead asked Gu Yue:

"Is your birthday in about two months?"

"Roughly half a month before the college entrance exam?"

"Yeah."

Gu Yue lifted her face from where it was buried in Lin Yu’s shoulder, her eyes red as she replied.

Oh?

Crying for real this time?

Lin Yu was a bit surprised to see Gu Yue’s reddened eyes.

He had thought she was just pretending again, all thunder and no rain, trying to gain sympathy like before.

"Alright."

"I’ll give you a surprise then."

"You don't have to study so hard these days."

"Just try your best."

"If you really can't learn it, don't force yourself."

Lin Yu patted Gu Yue on the shoulder to comfort her.

Gu Yue was clinging to Lin Yu's arm, as if she hadn't reacted yet or had simply forgotten to let go. She hung onto his arm like a sloth hugging a tree trunk. Tilting her little face up to look at Lin Yu for a moment, her expression suddenly turned sheepish as she said worriedly:

"Brother Long, don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"You can't steal the college entrance exam questions."

"Scram, scram, scram, scram, scram, scram, scram!"

Lin Yu yanked his arm irritably, shaking Gu Yue off.

"Am I really someone who can't do anything serious in your eyes?"

Lin Yu glared at Gu Yue and asked in annoyance.

"Ugh..."

Gu Yue scratched her head. Feeling it wasn't fair to think that way about Lin Yu, she went straight to her usual tactic.

She lifted her face and gave a silly smile.

A cute smile that teetered between being simple-minded and begging forgiveness.

Even so, on her haggard face, even the smile lacked energy.

Seeing Gu Yue like this, Lin Yu actually felt a pang of pity.

He didn't bother arguing with her about it.

Instead, Lin Yu reached out, took the heavy schoolbag from her back, and slung it over his shoulder. "Alright."

"Let's go."

"I'll take you to get some food."

"My treat tonight."

"Okay, okay."

Gu Yue mumbled twice and nodded.

She really looked exhausted.

Even such a good thing as being treated to dinner couldn't spark much interest in her.

If it had been last year, before she got so obsessed with studying,

she would have been as overjoyed and silly as the Bear Two meme she always liked to send.

Gu Yue was very sleepy.

But Lin Yu didn't let her go home to sleep just yet.

Let's get some food first.

Once there's something in the stomach,

she could sleep better.

Otherwise, she'd wake up hungry in the middle of the night and feel miserable.

Taking Gu Yue to a rice bowl restaurant near the school,

Lin Yu ordered two servings of apple pork cutlet rice, plus a fried platter with fries, chicken nuggets, fried chicken wings, and fried shrimp.

He got a sweet drink for himself and added a bottle of juice for Gu Yue.

After ordering and paying,

Lin Yu turned around and froze in surprise.

He found that Gu Yue had already fallen asleep at the table.

To avoid disturbing her,

Lin Yu instinctively slowed his steps and sat down in the chair across from her.

Gu Yue's sleeping posture involved her arms resting on the table, her face turned sideways toward the counter.

Because one cheek's soft flesh was pressed against her arm,

her sleeping face looked a bit undignified.

Her pink, moist lips were squeezed slightly open by the soft flesh of her cheek.

The two tender, rosy lips were pursed just a little.

She looked both goofy and adorable.

Lin Yu watched her,

and the corners of his mouth involuntarily lifted.

A moment later, Lin Yu looked away.

Seizing the free time, he pulled out his phone

and started preparing Gu Yue's birthday gift—still two months away...

...