Chapter 81: Something That Was Said Long Ago

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Something That Was Said Long Ago

The summer break passed quickly. Although Lin Zhengran also helped Jiang Xueli with her singing practice, he spent most of his time at Han Wenwen’s apartment.

After all, high school wasn’t part of the compulsory education system, so there were more expenses involved.

Thankfully, it was a public high school, so the expenses weren’t too outrageous.

Lin Zhengran lay on Han Wenwen’s bed reading a book. Beside him, the Little Fox, dressed in denim shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, was packing for high school, stuffing clothes, skirts, and all sorts of other things into a suitcase.

"Zhengran, do you think we’ll still be in the same class in high school?"

"Probably not."

"Huh? Why not?" Wenwen asked, curious.

Lin Zhengran turned a page. "Because high schools have placement exams. You’re not naturally gifted when it comes to academics, and you don’t apply yourself fully anyway. So, it’s perfectly normal that you wouldn’t be in the same class as me."

Hearing this, Wenwen got up and sat down beside Lin Zhengran.

"High school has placement exams?"

"Mhm."

"You really do know everything, Zhengran."

Wenwen snuggled up against Lin Zhengran, their bodies practically pressed together. "Do you think you’ll end up in the same class as that fiancée of yours?"

Lin Zhengran turned another page. "It’s been a month. Why are you still on about this? Besides, how would I know? I have no idea what her grades are like."

After he spoke, Lin Zhengran shot her an exasperated look. The Little Fox’s mischievous finger was tracing patterns back and forth across his stomach.

"Han Wenwen, you have three seconds to get your hand off me. Three... two!"

Wenwen didn’t stop until he got to "one." She pulled her hand back, biting her lip and whining playfully, "So mean... But wow, Zhengran, you actually have abs. I’ve never even seen you exercise."

"There’s plenty you haven’t seen. Speaking of which, are you done packing? Why are you just lying around?"

Wenwen closed her eyes and rested her forehead on Lin Zhengran’s shoulder. "What’s the rush? We still have a few days before school starts. Once it does, I won’t be able to lie in bed with Zhengran anymore. I have to make the most of it now, don’t I?"

Lin Zhengran said, "In that case, could you maybe lie a little farther away? Isn’t there plenty of room on the other side of the bed? Do you really have to be draped all over me?"

The Little Fox opened her eyes and peered at him. "What are you so afraid of, Zhengran? No matter how close I get, you never get flustered anyway."

She deliberately blew a puff of air into his ear. "Right?"

Lin Zhengran reached out and flicked her on the forehead. Wenwen yelped in pain, clutching her head. "Ow~"

Lin Zhengran asked a serious question. "The money you have on hand should be enough to get you through your freshman year, right? Are you tight on cash?"

Wenwen answered with a pout:

"Even though I’ve bought a lot of stuff recently, I still have ten thousand yuan left. Public high school isn’t that expensive, so it’s more than enough. By the way, do you need some spending money, Zhengran? I could give you a few thousand. It’s not like I’ll need that much in high school anyway."

Lin Zhengran looked at her. In just over a year, Wenwen’s gaming skill had leaped from Emerald on a minor server all the way to Master Level.

Her subscriber count had reached around five hundred thousand, which was quite impressive for a faceless video creator who relied solely on her gaming skills and her voice.

And over that time, she had earned tens of thousands of yuan.

And because of the ’system’, Lin Zhengran had, as a matter of course, received double whatever income Wenwen earned.

His bank account now held just under a hundred thousand yuan. Lin Zhengran had once been curious how the system transferred the money to him, but in the end, he could only conclude that a system is a system; it had a million plausible reasons for wiring him cash.

"Just keep your money for yourself. When I started teaching you, didn’t I say I didn’t need your money?"

Wenwen jumped in. "’You don’t want the money, you just want the person.’ I still remember you saying that." She let out a sudden, long sigh. "But it doesn’t seem like you’ve wanted the ’person’ either, Zhengran."

Lin Zhengran returned to his book. ’I’ve basically had her since I signed the contracts with them,’ he thought. ’After all, as long as those three girls keep improving, I reap plenty of benefits.’

"What’s all this ’wanting’ or ’not wanting’ nonsense? Aren’t you already mine? You were always going to be with me for life. Since you’re already mine, why are we even questioning it?"

Wenwen let out her customary sigh.

The room fell quiet. A full minute passed in utter silence.

Suddenly, Wenwen’s eyes flew open, her face flushing red. "Huh? What did you just say, Zhengran?"

Lin Zhengran added, "Speaking of which, are you going to finish packing or not?"

The Little Fox bolted upright, blushing as she stared shyly at Lin Zhengran. "Wait, packing isn’t important right now! I’m asking what you just said! Did I mishear you?"

Lin Zhengran glanced at her, then went back to his book as if nothing had happened. ’What is this girl thinking now?’

"What did I say? It’s the same thing I said all those years ago. The entire premise of me helping you was that you would be mine. What’s so strange about that? Why else would I have helped you for so long? I even said I’d look after you for the rest of your life."

Wenwen’s heart had never pounded this fast. She slowly brought both hands to her mouth.

Her eyes, tinged red with shyness, were fixed on Lin Zhengran as he turned a page.

’So Qingqing didn’t misunderstand back then... Zhengran really did confess, a long, long time ago...’

’And I already agreed back then.’

The Little Fox’s nonexistent tail seemed to wag shyly as she asked in a tiny voice:

"So... in your eyes, Zhengran, was everything we did in middle school just... extra? Was it all meaningless?"

’Even the gift I gave you in eighth grade... it wouldn’t have mattered if I gave it to you or not, because I was already your woman!’

Lin Zhengran turned another page. He really didn’t want to spend all day talking about pointless things with these girls.

"How would I know what you guys were thinking about all day? Your three years of middle school were supposed to be a time for building up your skills, but you spent two of them doing things I couldn’t comprehend."

"All I wanted was for you all to mature a bit, so you could do whatever you wanted when you grew up. But what you were all up to those two years was on a completely different page from me."

Wenwen was confused. "But... if that’s the case, why are you always so against me getting close to you, Zhengran? Logically, since I’m already yours, something like this should be..."

Lin Zhengran sat up. He’d lost count of how many times he’d said it. "Because you, you darn fox, are interrupting my reading! Is that so hard to understand?"

Wenwen shyly clutched the blanket and shrank into a corner, her foxy eyes peeking at him secretly.

"I’m realizing for the first time just how scary you are, Zhengran. Why didn’t you make something so important clear sooner?"

Lin Zhengran looked at her with disdain and repeated, enunciating every word, "Those five words, ’stay with me for life.’ Anyone who isn’t a complete idiot would know what that means, right?"

Then it hit her. "Wait a second. So you actually said that to three different girls!"

"So what if I did? Besides, you already knew I was helping the other two, didn’t you? It’s not like I hid it from you. Didn’t He Qing tell you ages ago?"

Wenwen’s cheeks puffed out. She suddenly turned her head away with a jealous huff, hugging the blanket tighter. "How can you be so brazen about it?" she muttered under her breath. "I knew my gut feeling back then was right... Zhengran really is a player."

She squeezed the blanket, fuming with jealousy. ’And not just any ordinary player, either.’

「A few days later.」

Lin Zhengran, Jiang Xueli, and Han Wenwen set off with their luggage for the high school in the city.

However, after that day’s conversation, Wenwen’s plans for high school had changed.

’New goal: I absolutely cannot let Zhengran say those words to any other girls. If I do, what’s going to happen after we graduate? It’ll be a disaster!’