Carved onto the tree was a row of tiny words.
Tang Wu vs Si Yanli.
It was his name!
Not some other boy's!
Si Yanli abruptly turned around to look at the woman behind him. Under the dim light, a faint blush appeared on her bright and beautiful little face.
Seeing Si Yanli's gaze, Tang Wu shyly covered her face.
For some reason, having her secret discovered by him made her instantly blush to the roots of her ears.
She turned her head, wanting to avoid the man's gaze, but in the next second, her wrist was grabbed by him. With a pull, he pinned her against the large tree.
His tall and slender body leaned toward her, trapping her between the tree trunk and his chest.
His handsome, refined face drew close, and his warm breath cascaded down like the brush of a soft feather, sending a tingling numbness through her.
The tip of his tall nose gently touched hers.
Their breaths intertwined.
"Wuwu, the person you have a crush on is me?" he asked in a low, hoarse voice.
The blush on Tang Wu's face still hadn't faded; instead, it seemed to deepen.
Her long, butterfly-like eyelashes trembled violently. After taking a deep breath, she looked up at him. "Yes, the person I've been secretly in love with has always been you, and I've had a crush on you for eight years!"
Hearing her words, Si Yanli's heart rate seemed to spiral out of control for a moment.
He had never imagined that she would have a crush on him.
And for eight long years, at that.
Then, after they got their marriage license, he had gone abroad on the second day of their marriage and stayed away for two whole years. How disappointed and tormented she must have felt inside!
Si Yanli clenched his large hand into a fist and punched the tree hard. "I'm sorry, I was the one who hurt you."
Tang Wu shook her head.
She had never blamed him, and besides, he hadn't done anything wrong.
Unrequited love was inherently a one-man show, a solitary fantasy filled with bitterness.
"It's all in the past now."
Si Yanli stretched out his long arms and pulled her tightly into his embrace.
Resting his jaw on her shoulder, he asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "Why did you have a crush on me?"
Of course, given his excellence during his student days, it wasn't surprising for girls to have a crush on him.
But pining for eight long years was a bit too heartbreaking.
Tang Wu rested her small face against the man's handsome chest and said in a soft, gentle voice, "One year, I was bullied by a few hooligans. You showed up just in time and beat them away. To comfort me, you even gave me a lollipop."
Perhaps he had long forgotten about that incident, but she had firmly etched it in her heart.
Later, to prevent herself from being bullied again, she went to learn karate. To make herself more outstanding, she studied hard to achieve even better grades.
He was the object of her secret affection and the driving force behind her progress.
Si Yanli tried hard to recall what Tang Wu had mentioned, but he really couldn't remember.
He stroked her head. "From now on, everything that happens between you and me, I will firmly keep in my heart."
A smile curved on Tang Wu's lips. "Okay."
Looking at her unparalleled, radiant smile, Si Yanli's Adam's apple bobbed. He lowered his head, wanting to kiss her red lips, but before he could touch her, a voice came from not far away, "Who's over there?"
Tang Wu was startled. "It's the Devil Director!"
Without waiting for Si Yanli to say anything, Tang Wu grabbed his hand and ran to the wall.
"Let's escape from here. If we get caught, it would be so embarrassing."
Si Yanli originally wanted to say that it didn't matter, so what if they were caught? They had already entered society, and the director had no authority over them anymore.
But Tang Wu didn't think the same way as Si Yanli. She lowered her voice and said to him, "You are a role model for the junior students and an outstanding representative in the teachers' hearts. I can't tarnish your image."
Tang Wu had learned karate, so climbing over the wall was very easy for her.
She quickly jumped onto the wall and reached her hand out to Si Yanli. "Hurry up!"
Si Yanli shook his head helplessly.
He had always been a good student in the past, and to be honest, this was his first time scaling a wall.
However, seeing the woman's sparkling eyes, he cooperatively jumped up.
Just as the two jumped down from the wall, the director arrived. "You brats, you're getting bolder and bolder!"
Hearing the director cursing from the other side of the wall, Tang Wu pressed her forehead into the man's chest, her lips uncontrollably turning upward.
Si Yanli hugged Tang Wu's slender, soft waist. "Don't climb walls anymore in the future, what if you sprain your ankle?"
Tang Wu nodded.
As the two were preparing to go back, Tang Wu received a call from Zhou Liying.
Zhou Liying had also returned to Yecheng. She was currently at the villa and called Tang Wu to tell her to come home.
"Mom knows what you want to do by suddenly returning to the country, but you need to have some backbone. Even if you want to reconcile, you have to be a little reserved. Don't just eagerly agree the moment he coaxes you."
If it weren't for her mother's reminder, Tang Wu really wouldn't have been able to control herself, and perhaps she would have gone home with the man tonight.
"I know, Mom."
After Tang Wu finished the call, Si Yanli asked, "Your mom is back too?"
Tang Wu nodded.
Si Yanli's handsome contours tensed slightly. "How about I go visit your mother tonight?"
"Let's wait a while, I haven't agreed to get back together with you yet!"
Si Yanli, "..."
Tang Wu had Si Yanli take her to the entrance of the villa. Only after urging him to leave did she enter the villa.
Zhou Liying looked at Tang Wu's glowing face and shook her head helplessly. "Does it have to be him?"
Tang Wu nodded with a blushing face. "He is the boy I have liked since I was a child."
Zhou Liying poked Tang Wu's forehead. "You, no matter how much you like him, don't just immediately make up with him."
"I know, Mom."
Zhou Liying pulled Tang Wu into her arms. "Your status is different now than before. You are my, Zhou Liying's, daughter, with a net worth of tens of billions. Don't wrong yourself; you are now more than worthy of someone from the Si family."
Tang Wu's eyes grew moist. "It feels so good to have Mom backing me up."
...
After taking a shower, Tang Wu lay on her bed.
Gu Lingwei sent her a message:
"Sister Wuwu, I heard you returned to the country. Tomorrow is my birthday, let's go to the hot spring resort to soak in the hot springs tomorrow night. We can invite Sister Zhiwan to come along."
After Tang Wu and Gu Lingwei met, she introduced Gu Lingwei to Xia Zhiwan, and the three of them became best friends.
Tang Wu replied with a smiley face: "Okay."
Gu Lingwei: "Our workplace variety show has had good ratings since it aired. The director said we need to go to the Translation Institute tomorrow morning to shoot a short pick-up scene. Sister Wuwu, you'll be going too, right?"
Tang Wu had received a call from the director that morning; she indeed would be going to the Translation Institute tomorrow.
"I will."
After replying to the message, Tang Wu picked out a swimsuit from her closet.
Bikinis definitely had to be passed on. Showing cleavage, back, and waist might not have mattered before, but now, given Si Yanli's possessiveness, he would definitely be angry if he found out.
Tang Wu smiled helplessly and picked a relatively conservative swimsuit from the closet.
It had a bandeau design with two straps tied behind the neck, connected to a small skirt at the bottom.
She put it on and looked in the mirror; it was quite conservative.
Just as she was about to take it off, the sound of a WeChat video call rang out.
It was from Si Yanli.
Tang Wu slipped on a bathrobe before answering.
Si Yanli had clearly just stepped out of the shower. He was wearing a navy blue robe, and droplets of water were still falling from his short, dark hair.
"What were you just doing?" he asked.
"I'm going to the hot springs with Lingwei and Zhiwan tomorrow night, so I was trying on swimsuits."
The belt of her bathrobe was tied loosely, allowing him to catch a faint glimpse of a black garment underneath. "You have it on underneath?"
Tang Wu gave a soft hum of agreement.
"Let me see?"
At his suggestion, Tang Wu's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
