The Passive Skill of Long Aotian

The next morning.

Hu Yuying woke up early.

After freshening up, she tied up her long hair and headed into the kitchen.

She poured water into the flour, stirring it until it reached a smooth, slightly thick consistency.

Then, she cracked an egg into the mixture and continued stirring.

She was making egg pancakes. Just having egg soup for breakfast wouldn’t be enough—after spending so much time together, Hu Yuying knew Long Aotian’s appetite well.

It was huge, but that was because Long Aotian was still growing, so he needed to eat a lot.

Humming a tune, she started frying the pancakes.

These things were easy to make, and she finished quickly.

By the time the pancakes were done, the water had come to a boil.

She turned off the heat.

Stepping out of the kitchen, she sat quietly on the steps under the eaves, holding her phone.

She was waiting for Long Aotian, which seemed to have become another routine in her life besides her daily studies.

The process might be a little boring, but for Hu Yuying, it was worth it.

Like now.

When there was a knock on the door, she smiled, a sweet and joyful grin spreading across her face.

She opened the door: “Long Aotian, you’re here.”

“Yeah, sorry to trouble you.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Hu Yuying said, then hurried back into the kitchen.

She turned on the heat and waited for the water to boil.

“Long Aotian, have some pancakes first. They might not look great, but they’ll taste good.”

Some of the pancakes had been accidentally torn by the spatula while flipping, so they didn’t look very neat.

Long Aotian watched quietly, realizing that at Hu Yuying’s place, he didn’t need to do anything. To be more precise, Hu Yuying could take care of everything for him, and he didn’t even need to help!

“Let’s eat together later.”

“Sure.”

Hu Yuying nodded, then, seeing the water boiling, began stirring it with chopsticks until a small whirlpool formed. She then poured the already mixed egg mixture into the swirling water.

As she stirred, a beautiful egg flower formed in the water.

“Not bad, Hu Yuying. That egg flower is really well done,” Long Aotian said, genuinely impressed.

Being praised by Long Aotian again made Hu Yuying incredibly happy.

But she had learned to control her facial expressions.

She pursed her lips, trying to suppress the smile, but her eyes had already curved into little crescents, like a silly little fool.

Seeing the smile on Hu Yuying’s face, Long Aotian felt satisfied. Making this little girl happy had become a passive skill of his.

It seemed to be triggered naturally, all the time, whenever they were together.

After breakfast, Hu Yuying transformed into a strict little teacher, scolding Long Aotian for playing around yesterday and not finishing the homework she had assigned.

“Today, you’ll have to do extra,” she said.

“I wonder who it was yesterday who said she was so happy,” Long Aotian whispered teasingly into Hu Yuying’s ear.

That single sentence made the strict little teacher’s ears turn red.

“Life and studies should be balanced. You’re just too tired and need some proper rest. We’ll make up for what you didn’t finish yesterday today.”

Taking Hu Yuying out yesterday wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Hu Yuying’s lifestyle made Long Aotian, a man with the soul of a 28-year-old just two years shy of middle age, feel exhausted just watching her.

At school, she studied and assigned herself exercises.

At home, she still studied and assigned herself exercises.

Apart from eating and sleeping, it seemed like her life revolved entirely around studying.

Long Aotian didn’t think this was necessarily bad.

He just wanted to add a little spice to her monotonous life, something within his control to help her relax.

Work hard, but also have fun.

After lunch, the rest of the day was spent doing exercises.

Back in the classroom.

A new cycle began.

Long Aotian thought the afternoon would pass uneventfully.

But someone had to throw a curveball at him!

The self-study bell rang.

The homeroom teacher, with a dark expression, called Long Aotian out of the classroom.

Anyone who saw the teacher’s face could tell something was off today!

Hu Yuying was also puzzled. Why did the teacher look so angry when calling out Long Aotian?

Long Aotian’s grades had improved, and his behavior had been exemplary.

Even Long Aotian himself didn’t know why he was being called out. He thought he had been doing well recently.

“Study hard. I’ll be back soon,” Long Aotian reassured Hu Yuying before heading to the classroom door.

Looking at Long Aotian, the teacher couldn’t hide his frustration: “You’ve only been behaving for a few days, and now you’re causing trouble again?”

Since they were right by the classroom door, the teacher’s words inevitably reached the ears of the other students.

Everyone started whispering, wondering what Long Aotian had done this time.

Ever since Hu Yuying transferred to the school, Long Aotian had seemed like a completely different person—no more cursing, no more fighting. (In the eyes of his classmates, he spent every day quietly studying by Hu Yuying’s side.)

Long Aotian frowned slightly: “Don’t get angry yet. What exactly happened?”

“How can I not be angry? You’ve been doing so well recently, and the teachers thought you’d finally turned over a new leaf and started focusing on your studies. But then you go and get into a fight outside of school, and now the other kid’s parents are here complaining.”

“A fight? Is there another Long Aotian at this school?”

“You still have the nerve to joke around?”

The teacher glared at Long Aotian, exasperated: “Just come with me.”

He led Long Aotian away.

As the teacher and Long Aotian left the vicinity of Class 7, the students’ whispers grew louder.

The high school senior year was already stressful and monotonous.

Things like this were like a dash of seasoning in their otherwise bland academic lives.

A few girls, including Li Qian, seeing that Long Aotian had been taken away by the teacher, dared to approach Hu Yuying.

They shared their speculations with her, trying to explain what might have happened.

Hu Yuying listened to their detailed analysis but shook her head in disbelief: “No, there must be some misunderstanding.”

“You don’t know, but Long Aotian used to do this kind of thing all the time. Fighting outside of school was as normal for him as eating or drinking.”

Hu Yuying shook her head again. She didn’t know about the past.

But she knew that this time, at least this time, Long Aotian must have been wrongfully accused.

Because on Saturday, they had been together until 8:30 PM when Long Aotian went home.

And on Sunday, which was today, he had arrived at her place at 7:00 AM. There was no way he could have gone out to fight someone.

Thinking this, Hu Yuying suddenly stood up, startling the girls around her who had been badmouthing Long Aotian.

“Yuying, what are you doing?”

“There must be a misunderstanding. I need to go explain things to the teacher,” Hu Yuying said. She couldn’t let Long Aotian, who had been so good to her, be wrongfully accused.