Seeing that Mother Ye had left, Xia Yingluo shyly snatched the bag back.
"I can pack it myself, I don't need your help."
The bag contained her personal underwear; how could she be embarrassed enough to let Ye Chen pack it?
Ye Chen immediately understood upon seeing Xia Yingluo's reaction.
Wasn't it just a girl's personal clothing?
It's not like I haven't seen it; in fact, I even bought several of those pieces.
However, Ye Chen was still kicked out by Xia Yingluo... Ye Chen had originally been thinking quite beautifully.
Under the same roof, it would be easier to take advantage of Xia Yingluo.
But while the ideal was beautiful, reality was quite skeletal.
Ye Chen found that with Xia Yingluo living in his house, it was even harder to make a move than when she used to come over for tutoring.
After all, back then, tutoring at home took place in his room.
Once the door was closed, it was his world.
Now, Xia Yingluo had her own room.
Plus, with Mother Ye at home, Ye Chen couldn't find an opportunity at all.
This girl was also very crafty, staying hidden in her room and refusing to come out.
Ye Chen knew that Xia Yingluo simply didn't want to give him a chance to take liberties with her.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
Ye Chen stood at Xia Yingluo's door and knocked.
"Yingluo, open the door, I need to talk to you about something."
At this moment, Ye Chen suddenly felt like he was a Big Bad Wolf knocking on a Little White Rabbit's door.
But Xia Yingluo just wouldn't open the door from inside.
Mother Ye couldn't stand it anymore: "Ye Chen, what are you doing? It's past nine o'clock, don't disturb Yingluo's rest."
Ye Chen knew that Xia Yingluo usually studied until eleven; it was only nine, how could she go to bed so early?
He had no choice but to turn around and head toward his own room.
He had only walked halfway when the door behind him clicked open.
Xia Yingluo, wearing a small pink nightgown, smirked at Ye Chen with a look of triumph.
Seeing this girl being so arrogant, Ye Chen deliberately made a face at her.
Xia Yingluo became even more arrogant, even provocatively sticking out her little tongue.
With someone backing her up, she actually dared to provoke him.
Ye Chen got annoyed too and turned around to dash toward Xia Yingluo's room.
Bang!
The door slammed shut again, followed by the sound of it being locked from the inside.
Father Ye and Mother Ye were originally planning to get some exercise that night; they had just set the mood when they heard Ye Chen's noise and exploded.
"Ye Chen, what time do you think it is? Why are you making such a racket? Are you going to sleep or not?"
Ye Chen: "..."
He had no choice but to endure it. Around eleven o'clock, according to Ye Chen's knowledge, Father Ye and Mother Ye should have already fallen asleep.
Ye Chen quietly got up and, like a chicken thief, carefully crept to the front of Xia Yingluo's room.
He gently twisted the doorknob. Click.
The door actually opened.
Ye Chen looked into the room; the desk lamp was still on, and Xia Yingluo was lying under the covers, seemingly asleep.
However, as Ye Chen walked over, there wasn't even the sound of breathing; this girl was actually pretending to sleep.
Ye Chen sat on the edge of the bed and gently placed his hand on Xia Yingluo.
"Alright, stop pretending. Did you leave the door unlocked for me on purpose?"
Xia Yingluo: "I did not."
"Then why didn't you let me in just now?"
"I'm a girl, after all. If I let you into my room whenever you wanted, Auntie would think I'm a bad girl," Xia Yingluo said bashfully.
Ye Chen hadn't expected this girl's thoughts to be so delicate.
"My mom isn't actually that old-fashioned."
As Ye Chen spoke, he couldn't help but pull Xia Yingluo into his arms.
"No, we can't be so casual in front of Auntie. I don't want her to think I'm that kind of girl and stop liking me."
Xia Yingluo said stubbornly.
"Actually, my mom is quite open-minded."
"No, I don't want to take the risk. What if your mom minds these things and stops liking me?"
Ye Chen was speechless; he hadn't realized Xia Yingluo cared so much about Mother Ye's feelings.
"Well, I can't just be barred from entering your room whenever my mom is home," Ye Chen said, feeling a bit aggrieved.
Xia Yingluo said shyly, "Didn't I leave the door unlocked for you?"
In the bedroom, Mother Ye rolled over.
"Sigh, kids these days, really, they're much more open than we were back then..."
Mother Ye complained to Father Ye.
Mother Ye had heard the sound of Ye Chen sneaking out and opening the door long ago.
But she pretended not to hear.
How great is a mother's love!
...The next morning, Ye Chen was woken up early by Mother Ye's calling.
He checked the time; it was only a bit past six.
After washing up and walking out of the bedroom, Xia Yingluo was already sitting at the dining table.
Ye Chen discovered that the treatment when Xia Yingluo was around was indeed different.
The dining table was already covered with breakfast.
It was even steaming hot.
Mother Ye had actually made breakfast herself—delicious soup dumplings and millet porridge.
Compared to waking up every day to cold, store-bought breakfast, this was a treatment Ye Chen had never experienced before.
He picked up a soup dumpling and stuffed it into his mouth: "Mom, you actually cared enough to get up this early to make soup dumplings. I'm truly moved by your great motherly love."
Mother Ye rolled her eyes at Ye Chen and said, "If you want to give thanks, don't thank me. Thank Yingluo; I made this for her."
Ye Chen: "..."
He understood; he was just riding on Yingluo's coattails, at most a free-loader... As the students studied seriously, the National Higher Education Entrance Examination drew closer and closer.
On this day during Physics class, Sun Qiang took a stack of papers and handed them to Ye Chen.
"Ye Chen, Teacher Han hasn't been feeling well these past two days. He asked me to give these papers to you and have you help grade them."
Ye Chen nodded and carried the papers out of the Office.
This Physics class was still for doing papers.
Sun Qiang distributed the papers, and the rustling sound of answering questions filled the Classroom.
Ye Chen looked through the exam paper; to him, these kinds of questions were simply child's play.
Scribble, scribble, scribble—an exam that should have taken an hour was finished by Ye Chen in less than twenty minutes.
Sun Qiang was patrolling the Classroom when Ye Chen raised his hand: "Teacher, can I turn in my paper?"
"Finished?" Sun Qiang was stunned for a moment.
Ye Chen nodded and said, "Yeah, all finished."
If it were anyone else, Sun Qiang would definitely be furious, but with Ye Chen, he was already used to it.
"Fine, turn it in."
Sun Qiang was a very rigorous teacher and was very averse to students turning in papers early.
Even if you finished, you should still check it carefully.
But Ye Chen was different.
When others turned in papers early, they might be a complete mess of mistakes; Ye Chen was different—even when turning them in early, they were always full marks.
For such a student, teachers naturally had a much higher level of tolerance.
After the paper was turned in, Sun Qiang said, "You can do whatever you want to do, as long as you don't affect the other students."
"Teacher, I understand."
Ye Chen glanced at Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo, who were busy working on the exam questions, and the corners of his mouth curled up.
He checked the time; there were still forty minutes until the papers were due. Ye Chen took out the math papers and started grading them.
Ye Chen graded the papers very quickly, but he flipped them very lightly.
He was worried that the sound of flipping papers would disturb Xia Yingluo's and Li Sitong's train of thought.
Ding-ling, the bell for the end of class rang.
By the time the students turned in their papers, the stack of papers in front of Ye Chen had also been graded.
Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo turned in their papers.
But when they returned, a math paper had been placed in front of each of them.
The bright red numbers were both 110 points.
Seeing this score, both Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo looked unhappy.
Did they do that poorly?