Yan Yuan sat on the sofa, his gaze resting on the few strands of hair falling beside the girl’s face.
Her hair was black and soft, catching a faint chestnut sheen in the afternoon light.
One strand lay across the sofa cushion less than an inch from his fingers.
Yan Yuan reached out and hooked the strand with his fingertip. With a slight tug, he wound it around his finger.
The black strand curled around his finger like some silent, intangible entanglement.
His thoughts churned, but his handsome, refined features remained as composed as ever. Only the faint, almost imperceptible smile in his eyes revealed how good his mood truly was.
Linlin had worked through half the problem when she got stuck on one step.
Yan Yuan noticed. Leaning closer, he glanced at the scrap paper. “Substitute the Gaussian formula and convert the surface integral into a triple integral. Then give it another try.”
Linlin suddenly understood and hurriedly picked up her pen to set up the equation again.
Yan Yuan stared straight at her, his deep, elegant eyes unblinking, filled with enough feeling to make anyone lose themselves in them.
Almost unconsciously, he leaned forward, drawing closer and closer.
His chest was nearly against her back. One arm came around from his side and hovered loosely around her. From behind, it looked as though he had completely gathered the girl into his arms.
“Ah, I solved—”
The last two words never left Linlin’s mouth. She swallowed them with difficulty.
She stared in horror at the handsome face before her, recalling the warmth and sensation of his cheek just moments earlier. She was so startled she nearly jumped to her feet.
Linlin was dumbfounded, mortified beyond words.
She had no idea when Yan Yuan had gotten so close. But when she had just turned her head, her lips had actually brushed across his cheek…
Her little face instantly turned bright red, as though blood might drip from it.
She stammered, “I… I…” She wanted to explain that what had just happened was absolutely not intentional, but the words stuck in her throat.
Yan Yuan’s body had gone rigid for an instant before slowly relaxing.
He felt the side of his face gradually growing warm, savoring the sensation of her lips brushing past it—like an electric current running through him.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. In the end, he pretended nothing had happened and asked Linlin, “Did you solve it?”
“Mm… yes, I solved it.”
Linlin was so embarrassed she had nowhere to hide. She wished she could find a crack in the floor and disappear into it.
At the same time, she felt a little relieved—and grateful—that Yan Yuan had not mentioned the “accident,” sparing them both further awkwardness.
When she finally came back to herself and saw how calm and unruffled Yan Yuan looked, she felt that she had made far too much of the incident.
Brother Xiao Yuan hadn’t done it on purpose. He probably hadn’t even noticed the brief contact. So why was she acting so shy?
Linlin suppressed the blush threatening to spread across her face. For some reason, seeing how calm Yan Yuan was made her feel faintly displeased.
She gave a couple of little huffs. “I’m tired. Let’s stop here for today.”
She stood up, glared at Yan Yuan, and ran back to her room.
Yan Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the girl climb the stairs with her back to him. Then he suddenly raised an eyebrow and smiled.
Whatever the reason for her sudden anger, at least she had dared to show her displeasure in front of him. She had never done that before.
Yan Yuan covered his eyes with one hand, the corners of his lips curving upward.
By evening, Jiang Chengzhou returned from school. His school was some distance from home, and even riding a bicycle took half an hour.
Linlin carried over the pastries she had bought to reward her brother.
Yan Yuan watched as the little girl automatically ignored him, and could only laugh helplessly.
Heaven knew, this time she had been the one to kiss him first.
Linlin had only seen Yan Yuan’s calm, expressionless reaction after she had accidentally kissed him.
She had no idea that Yan Yuan had lain awake all night because of that unexpected kiss.
After that incident, he lost even the privilege of tutoring her.
Linlin began avoiding him again. Sometimes, she would even eat dinner at school before coming home.
If the mountain would not come to her, then she would go to the mountain.
It was already early December. The prime minister of the United Kingdom—“John Bull’s country,” as it was called at the time—was visiting China to finalize the arrangements for Hong Kong’s return. It was the year’s most important and historically significant diplomatic event.
Jiang Chengzhou had been assigned to a fixed security post along the route on Chang’an Avenue and would not be able to return home for the next week.
At first, he had considered asking Shen Man to stay with Linlin for a few days. But Linlin knew that Shen Man had recently been accompanying her supervisor on hospital rounds. She was often working day and night and was exhausted.
Linlin felt she could manage on her own. It was only a week. She would eat in the school cafeteria, and all she had to do at home was sleep. The time would pass quickly.
Jiang Chengzhou still couldn’t bring himself to relax. After thinking it over, he decided they couldn’t trouble the elderly relatives or anyone else who was not familiar with Linlin. The only person with both the time and the convenience was Yan Yuan.
When Yan Yuan heard Jiang Chengzhou entrusting Linlin to him, a shadow flickered through his eyes.
“You’ll just need to come by and check on her when you have time…”
“All right.”
Jiang Chengzhou had not even finished speaking when Yan Yuan agreed.
Jiang Chengzhou cheerfully patted him on the shoulder. “That’s what I call a good brother!”
Yan Yuan lowered his eyes and gave a quiet laugh.
With Jiang Chengzhou away, Yan Yuan had even fewer chances to see Linlin.
He watched the clock carefully, using his break between classes to simmer a pot of Linlin’s favorite pork rib soup with Chinese yam and lily bulbs. In the afternoon, he poured it into a thermos and took it straight to her.
After class, Linlin was lining up in the cafeteria with Dong Xiaomin, each of them holding a tray.
The two girls refused to waste even this little bit of time, quietly discussing a proof from their advanced mathematics class as they waited for their food.
Lu Zeyu spotted the conspicuous figure in the crowd at a glance.
More than half a semester had passed, and Lu Zeyu had made countless attempts to get Linlin’s attention.
He had brought her water, snacks, and movie tickets, constantly coming up with new tricks, yet Linlin had never accepted a single thing.
By now, she had received a thick stack of love letters.
She opened every one of them, read them, and then carefully wrote a reply.
The wording was more or less the same each time, usually expressing something along the lines of, “Thank you for your admiration. I wish you success in your studies.”
She commuted to school from home, and the only person she was close to at school was Dong Xiaomin. She had never acted ambiguously with any boy.
Receiving a rejection from her was hardly surprising.
But Lu Zeyu had always been proud. He knew perfectly well that he received no special treatment from Linlin.
Whenever his friends egged him on to confess his feelings, he merely shook his head with a smile and said they should wait a little longer.
In truth, he was simply afraid of being rejected and losing face.
Now, as he watched Linlin walk toward him with Dong Xiaomin, chatting and laughing, she did not even raise her eyes when she passed by him. She treated him as though he were invisible.
A strange, inexplicable irritation suddenly surged through Lu Zeyu.
He took a step forward with his tray, slightly angling his shoulder as though someone beside him had shoved him.
Then he bumped into Linlin’s arm.
