Open Mouth

The bathroom door was half open.

Li Zhiyi stood sideways, leaning closely against the doorframe.

The tips of her hair were still wet, the water on her face hadn't been wiped completely dry, and her eyes were a little red.

With her head bowed and her fingers gripping the edge of the door tightly, she looked like a student being punished to stand.

Chen Zhi leaned against the back of the sofa, shifted into a more comfortable position, and didn't move.

"Come here."

Li Zhiyi's feet seemed nailed to the floor. Her voice was muffled, "Don't... don't ask me to come over..."

"What are you dawdling for? Come here."

Only then did she slowly shuffle over.

She sat down at the other end of the sofa, deliberately keeping a safe distance of one person away from Chen Zhi.

The fingers of her two hands were twisted together.

Staring at her knees, she held it in for a long time before squeezing out a sentence, "Um... are you... still uncomfortable now?"

Chen Zhi fell silent for a second.

"I'm all better."

"Oh."

Another long silence ensued.

"You... you scoundrel." She held it in for a long time before finally uttering this curse, her voice as quiet as a mosquito's hum.

Chen Zhi leaned over shamelessly. "Great Lawyer Li, that's not being reasonable. You were the one who volunteered to help just now, I couldn't even stop you."

"I thought it was with my..." Li Zhiyi stamped her feet anxiously.

She really didn't have the face to say the rest.

He was simply bullying her!

"Alright." Too lazy to talk nonsense, Chen Zhi reached out, scooped her up, and pulled her right into his arms.

His large hand pressed against the back of her head, making her lean on his shoulder.

"Why think so much? You'll get used to it with more practice in the future."

"You're still talking!" Li Zhiyi opened her mouth and bit his shoulder.

She couldn't bear to bite hard, not even leaving a tooth mark.

Li Zhiyi didn't resist anymore and obediently shrank into his embrace.

The two didn't speak for a good while.

The sky outside the window gradually darkened.

Occasionally, one or two car horns penetrated through the floor-to-ceiling windows, quickly fading into the clouds.

"Chen Zhi."

"Yeah."

"Do you like me?"

Chen Zhi didn't answer immediately.

Li Zhiyi waited for a few seconds, feeling a little panicked inside.

She turned her face and looked up at him.

"Don't you like me?"

"I do."

There wasn't much emotional fluctuation in his tone. It wasn't like a deeply affectionate confession, but rather like answering the simplest of questions.

Li Zhiyi's eyes lit up.

She buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"That's enough."

For her, those words were enough to offset all her grievances and insecurities.

The two leaned against each other affectionately for a while longer.

Chen Zhi looked down at the watch on his wrist; it was almost six o'clock.

"Have you eaten?"

"No."

"Let room service bring something, you choose." He casually tossed the gold-stamped menu from the coffee table over to her.

Li Zhiyi opened the menu, and with just one glance, her eyes widened.

"This... a portion of Yangzhou fried rice costs two hundred and eighty?"

Her hand trembled as she turned the page, looking hesitantly at Chen Zhi. "Isn't it too expensive..."

Chen Zhi was amused by her unworldly appearance.

"You just did that kind of thing, and you're still bringing up money with me?"

Li Zhiyi clutched the menu, her face so red it looked like it could drip blood.

She directly slapped the menu onto his face.

"Shut up!"

Chen Zhi smilingly took the menu down and conveniently grabbed her flailing wrist.

"Order, my treat."

Li Zhiyi stubbornly refused to order, feeling that the hotel was just robbing people.

Chen Zhi had to take the menu back himself and read a string of dish names over the room service phone.

Boston lobster, premium Wagyu beef, black truffle soup...

Half an hour later.

The dining cart was wheeled in, and the table was fully set.

Li Zhiyi sat at the dining table holding a knife and fork, eating cautiously.

Chen Zhi cut a piece of Wagyu and offered it to her lips.

"Open your mouth."

Li Zhiyi obediently opened her mouth and bit it.

After chewing twice, she suddenly frowned and reached up to rub both sides of her cheeks.

"What's wrong? Is it not good?" Chen Zhi asked.

"No..." Li Zhiyi blushed, her voice as faint as a gossamer thread, "They're a bit sore... I can't chew."

Chen Zhi froze for a moment, then realized.

It really was quite taxing on the cheeks just now.

Suppressing a smile, he took the steak away and pushed a bowl of soft scallop and seafood congee in front of her.

"Alright, let's eat something soft today. Thanks for your hard work, Great Lawyer Li."

Li Zhiyi buried her head in the bowl, wishing she could submerge her whole face in the congee.

She ate the meal with her heart pounding, terrified that Chen Zhi would spout more scandalous remarks.

Approaching eight o'clock.

Chen Zhi settled the bill and escorted Li Zhiyi back to Renmin University.

Arriving at the East Gate of the university.

Li Zhiyi pushed the car door open, got out, and stood by the road tying her scarf.

She glanced back at Chen Zhi in the car, suddenly ran back, and leaned against the window.

Standing on her tiptoes, she quickly brushed a kiss against the corner of his mouth.

It was light and airy, carrying a faint sweetness of strawberry candy.

"See you tomorrow."

Then she turned and ran.

Pushing through the school's revolving doors, she walked a few steps and didn't forget to look back and wave at him.

Watching that slender figure disappear into the night, Chen Zhi touched the spot she had kissed, in a great mood.

After nine in the evening.

Whistling, Chen Zhi pushed open the door to dorm 404.

As soon as he entered, he heard a perfectly articulated broadcasting voice.

"New ideas, striving to be the new youth, welcome to this episode of Youth University Studies."

Zhang Tianyang was wearing headphones, staring at his computer screen, holding a small notebook to take notes, with his phone placed aside playing Youth University Studies.

Seeing Chen Zhi return, Zhang Tianyang looked up and greeted him, "Brother Zhi, you're back."

Chen Zhi nodded, took off his jacket, and hung it on his bedpost.

Hearing this, Li Zicong swiveled his chair around.

Seeing Chen Zhi looking radiant, Li Zicong leaned over curiously.

"Brother Zhi, did something good happen to you today? Why are you so happy?"

"Kids shouldn't meddle in adults' business."

Chen Zhi kicked off his shoes and changed into slippers.

He turned his head and scanned the room, only then realizing that the atmosphere in the dorm was a bit off today.

Usually at this time, they would either be playing games or watching movies and scrolling through videos.

But now, they were all sitting upright at their desks, with thick textbooks spread open in front of them.

Chen Zhi couldn't help but feel a little curious.

"What's the occasion today? Did the sun rise in the west? You're all studying?"

Guo Yang looked at Chen Zhi with a bit of schadenfreude.

"Finals are coming up right away, Brother Zhi, we're cramming overnight. How's your advanced math going?"

Holy shit?

The smile on Chen Zhi's face instantly froze.

"Final exams?"

He pulled out his phone and glanced at the calendar.

Late December.

These past few months, he had been busy with the financing for Deep Space Tech, and also frantically trying to balance things among three women: Lin Wanwan, Pei Ningxue, and Li Zhiyi.

He had almost forgotten which class he was even in!

"When is the exam?"

"Next Monday." Li Zicong opened his advanced math textbook. "The first subject is Advanced Mathematics A. Brother Zhi, don't tell me you don't even know the exam schedule?"

Chen Zhi fell silent.

He walked over to his desk and pulled open a drawer.

From the very bottom, he dug out a brand new copy of Advanced Mathematics.

Opening it up, it was cleaner than his face.

Let alone notes, there wasn't even a crease.

Guo Yang leaned over to take a look, clicking his tongue and shaking his head.

"Brother Zhi, you've protected this book really well. After the exams, you could sell it secondhand as mint condition."

Li Zicong also chimed in to rub salt in the wound: "Brother Zhi, our Yuanpei college definitely keeps records of failed classes. If you fail, next year's scholarship will go up in smoke."

Chen Zhi took a deep breath and slapped the advanced mathematics book onto the desk.

He was the dignified founder of Deep Space Technology.

The behind-the-scenes boss of a unicorn enterprise valued at hundreds of billions.

Even the director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had to show him some respect.

And now he was actually facing the crisis of failing a class?

If word of this got out, how could Boss Chen ever show his face again?

"It is just advanced math," Chen Zhi forced himself to act calm, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "Could mere calculus really stump a top science scholar like me?"

He opened to the first chapter and glanced at the limit formulas on the page.

Two minutes later.

Chen Zhi silently closed the book.

He could not understand it.

He could not understand it at all.

He recognized all those symbols individually, but put together, they read like absolute gibberish.

Although he had been a master test-taker in his previous life, so many years had passed that he had long since returned all that knowledge to his teachers.

Chen Zhi turned his head, a flattering smile spreading across his face. "The teacher must have highlighted the key points these past few days, right? Mind lending me your review materials so I can copy them?"

Guo Yang warily covered his notebook.

"Brother Zhi, this is the pure essence I spent three days and three nights organizing. Are you trying to freeload?"

"A meal at Beihua Hotpot!" Chen Zhi immediately made an offer.

"Deal!" Guo Yang pushed the notebook over without hesitation.

Chen Zhi opened Guo Yang's notes, but after reading just two lines, his brow furrowed again.

"What on earth did you write here? This handwriting looks like chicken scratch."

"Read it or leave it." Guo Yang rolled his eyes. "This is called wild cursive, got it?"

Chen Zhi sighed.

It seemed that relying on his roommates was a dead end.