Chapter 188: It’s You With Me

Eagerly anticipating the next day, Su Yuqing ended up going to bed rather late.

But the next day was Saturday, after all. Since they had promised his grandparents they would join them for lunch, there was no need to wake up too early.

When Chen Mo got up and finished making breakfast, he saw that Su Yuqing wasn’t up yet, so he didn’t wake her.

She’d had a tiring week, after all. He figured he’d let her sleep in.

Chen Mo placed the finished breakfast into a food warmer to keep it warm.

Then, he started his morning workout.

He had a strong physique back in high school, purely because he had the good habit of exercising every day.

He used to work out in the mornings and evenings, but after the academic pressure of his senior year ramped up, his exercise time had been severely compressed.

Now that it was the weekend, he naturally wouldn’t pass up the chance to exercise.

By the time Su Yuqing finally emerged from her bedroom, Chen Mo was already drenched in sweat from his workout. It was already 9:00 AM.

The moment she stepped out, Su Yuqing saw Chen Mo exercising in the spacious study across from her room.

Chen Mo was shirtless, his lean, wiry frame on full display.

He didn’t have a brawny, bear-like build, yet one glance was enough to make you feel a sense of security.

That kind of brawny, bear-like physique was better suited for generals of ancient times.

In modern combat sports, a lean build like this was generally considered better.

It was just like Bruce Lee. His build didn’t look particularly muscular—you could even describe it as thin—but in reality, his muscle density was extremely high, and his fighting prowess was extraordinary.

Plus, a leaner frame took his agility to the next level.

Someone with both power and speed like that would have top-tier combat ability in modern society.

Even if you couldn’t win a fight, almost no one could catch you if you ran.

You could advance to attack or retreat to escape, putting you in an unbeatable position.

Su Yuqing actually wasn’t a fan of overly brawny men. She found them intimidating and didn’t dare get too close. Take someone like Zhou Hao, for example; he was so tall and built that she would instinctively keep her distance.

Chen Mo’s build, on the other hand, felt much more approachable to her.

Seemingly hearing the noise behind him, Chen Mo stopped his workout, grabbed a nearby towel to wipe off his sweat, and turned around.

"Breakfast is ready. It’s in the food warmer. I didn’t make too much since we’re going to my grandparents’ place soon, so you’ll still have an appetite for lunch. Go ahead and eat.

I’m going to take a shower. We’ll head out after you’re done eating,"

Chen Mo said with a smile.

Su Yuqing nodded. After taking another long, lingering look at Chen Mo’s beautifully defined physique, she finally headed to the kitchen.

They say boys are lecherous, but girls are just more reserved about it.

Under the influence of teenage hormones, both boys and girls will have some thoughts, to a greater or lesser extent, about the opposite sex they’re attracted to.

Even Su Yuqing couldn’t help but sneak a few extra glances at the perfect body of the boy she liked.

Chen Mo took a hot shower, rinsing off all the sweat, and came out wearing a simple set of casual clothes.

By this time, Su Yuqing had already finished her breakfast and was in the living room, flipping through a practice exam booklet.

With the college entrance exams approaching, she was also feeling the pressure and would use any spare moment to do more practice problems.

"Let’s go," Chen Mo said with a smile as he came out of his bedroom and looked at Su Yuqing.

...

On the bus, after they found seats, Su Yuqing looked at Chen Mo and asked curiously, "I don’t think I’ve seen you doing any practice exams or memorizing anything from your books recently. How did your grades improve so much?"

"Because I’m a genius," Chen Mo said with a laugh.

"Oh, stop it. I’m being serious," Su Yuqing said, genuinely concerned about him. "Your grades are so good, you have a real shot at getting into a top university. You can’t let them drop because you’re slacking off."

She was happy for Chen Mo that his grades were good, but precisely because they were so good, she was even more worried they would slip.

She was especially afraid that her presence was disrupting his normal study routine.

After all, Chen Mo was always so attentive to her feelings; she rarely saw him do things he wanted to do for himself.

It was always, "What do you want to eat?", "Where do you want to go?", "What do you want to do?", "What do you want to learn?".

He took her out for good food, took her out to have fun, took her to do things she wanted to do, and taught her things she wanted to learn.

It was as if his entire world revolved around her.

Although Su Yuqing was delighted by Chen Mo’s attentiveness, the more he did, the more apprehensive she became, afraid that she was interfering with his life.

’If I weren’t living at his place, he would probably be more focused on his own things.’

Suddenly, an earbud was placed in her ear.

"Just once is enough, I’ll take you to see the ends of the earth, to laugh our hearts out on a sun-drenched day..."

As the melodious song filled her ear, a handsome, smiling face appeared before her.

"What are you thinking about?" Chen Mo asked, looking at Su Yuqing with a gentle smile.

"I was just thinking that you spend every day with me, and I was worried it might be getting in the way of your studies." Now that she had spent more time with Chen Mo, Su Yuqing had grown comfortable enough to say what was on her mind.

"Silly girl, you’ve got it backward. It’s you who’s accompanying me," Chen Mo said with a smile, gently tapping her forehead. "Visiting my grandparents is my responsibility. Since you’re coming with me, aren’t you the one keeping me company?"

Hearing this, Su Yuqing thought about it for a moment and realized he had a point.

With that one sentence, he had completely dispelled her worries. Chen Mo smiled and said no more.

Gazing at the scenery outside the window and listening to the music from the earbud, the surrounding din of traffic and wind paradoxically brought a sense of inner peace.

「A short while later.」

The two got off the bus in the old district.

He glanced at the time—it was only 10:30. Chen Mo immediately turned to Su Yuqing with a smile and said, "We still have some time. Let’s take a stroll through the park. We’re stuck at school from morning till night every day, so we should take the chance to relax a bit on the weekend. In another month, we’ll probably have classes on Saturdays, too."

Although there were rules against holding extra classes on weekends, many schools added them anyway to boost their students’ overall scores.

And the parents, who were happy to reduce the hassle of looking after their kids and didn’t have to pay extra for the classes, were practically all for it. So naturally, almost no one ever reported it.

Even if a few bolder students did try to report it, their words carried little weight and had no effect.

In the end, if they were found out, they would be publicly reprimanded, and even their own parents wouldn’t stand by them. So, very few people ever tried.

You could only say that this kind of thing had its pros and cons.

Extra classes could indeed help students learn more, but if the teaching wasn’t balanced, it could sometimes be counterproductive.

Chen Mo, for his part, wasn’t too bothered by it.

He would just go along with whatever the school arranged.

They entered the park. Since it was the weekend, there were quite a few people inside.

However, young people of Chen Mo and Su Yuqing’s age were a rare sight in the old district.