Lu Jingcheng’s mood had lifted, and he finally remembered that they hadn’t finished their meal earlier.
“Are you hungry?” he asked Ye Qingyang. “You didn’t eat much before, right?”
Ye Qingyang snorted. “I’d like to eat more, but someone wouldn’t let me.”
Lu Jingcheng frowned. “I didn’t stop you. You saw me not eating, so you didn’t eat either.”
“That’s still because of you,” Ye Qingyang countered.
Lu Jingcheng pinched his cheek. “You’re just talking nonsense.”
“I’m not,” Ye Qingyang said. “It’s true—I’d marry you instead of your sister. Marrying you makes sense.”
“It’s me marrying you!” Lu Jingcheng emphasized. “You can only be married to me.”
“It’s the same thing,” Ye Qingyang replied. “We’re both boys, so we’re both marrying.”
Lu Jingcheng grudgingly nodded. “Fine. Let’s go downstairs and eat.”
Ye Qingyang hurried to agree—he hadn’t been full before, and now he could finally finish his meal.
The housemaid, thinking they were done, had been about to clear the dishes. Seeing them back in the dining room, she put the food down again and asked, “Do you want it reheated?”
Lu Jingcheng nodded, and after reheating, she served it to them.
They quickly finished their meal. Ye Qingyang was about to leave, since it was already dark, when Lu Jingcheng’s mother and younger sister returned.
“There are guests at home,” Lu Jingxi said softly.
Ye Qingyang smiled. “Hello, I’m your brother’s classmate.”
He looked up at Lu Jingcheng’s mother. “Hello, ma’am. Lu Jingcheng hasn’t been at school these days because he was sick, so I came to check on him.”
Her mother nodded. “Hello, thank you for caring about Jingcheng.”
“Of course,” he replied.
Lu Jingxi raised the hands behind her back. “Here, for you.”
She turned to Lu Jingcheng. “I specially bought baked sweet potatoes and candied hawthorn for you. Am I not thoughtful?”
Lu Jingcheng: …
“You obviously bought it for yourself.”
Lu Jingxi pouted at him. “I already ate mine. This is for you because you were sick. If you don’t want it, fine.”
She approached Ye Qingyang and handed him the paper bag with her phone inside. “Brother, you eat.”
Ye Qingyang looked at her chubby little face, still soft with baby fat, and couldn’t help but find her adorable.
He took it gently, bending slightly. “Thank you, little sister. You’re really cute. I’ll make sure to give this to your brother later.”
Lu Jingxi huffed proudly. “I won’t give it to him—you eat it.”
Ye Qingyang laughed and ruffled her hair, thinking that Lu Jingcheng’s sister was indeed quite like him.
Seeing Ye Qingyang interact happily with his sister, Lu Jingcheng tugged him aside, displeased. “Weren’t you here to see me? Why are you playing with this little girl? Come on, upstairs.”
Ye Qingyang chuckled, waved goodbye to Lu Jingxi and her mother, and went upstairs.
He handed the sweet potatoes and candied hawthorn to Lu Jingcheng. “Eat. Your sister bought this for you—she’s quite cute, isn’t she?”
“I’ll eat it. I’m not too hungry.”
Ye Qingyang didn’t insist. He peeled the outer paper off the candied hawthorn and started eating.
Taking a bite, he found it good and offered some to Lu Jingcheng.
Lu Jingcheng bit it when it reached his mouth—the sweet-and-sour taste was exactly to his liking.
“It’s pretty good,” he said, nodding.
Ye Qingyang split the rest with him, one piece at a time.
After finishing the candied hawthorn, Ye Qingyang grew serious. “Lu, I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
He cleared his throat. “When I saw your family just now, I realized… the gap between us is actually quite big. Your family is wealthy, and as for me… you know, I’m an orphan.”
Lu Jingcheng: !!!
“Ye Qingyang, I’m warning you! Don’t say I’m not good enough for you now—you’re trying to anger me!”
Ye Qingyang smiled. “Where are you going with this?”
Of course, he wouldn’t say anything like that—he wasn’t Yu Wan.
Lu Jingcheng came from a well-off family, and Ye Qingyang had no family fortune. But so what? There were plenty of self-made people everywhere, in every era. He could work hard in college, start from scratch, and become a wealthy generation himself. That alone would level the field.
“So what I’m saying,” Ye Qingyang continued, “is that from your parents’ perspective, my background isn’t as good as yours. So I have to show them that I’m a capable, excellent person in other ways. Only then will we have a chance to avoid their opposition in the future, right?”
Lu Jingcheng frowned. He sensed there was more in Ye Qingyang’s words. “So?”
“So, the simplest thing is that from this semester on, you have to improve your grades,” Ye Qingyang said earnestly. “Of course, I’ll improve too. Before the college entrance exam, our scores must be solid in the higher tier. Only then will your parents see me in a good light, and when the time comes to reveal our relationship, they won’t completely reject me.”
Lu Jingcheng: …
Ye Qingyang noticed Lu Jingcheng holding his pajamas, thinking that he was surprisingly quick.
He took them and said, “I’m going to take a shower.”
Lu Jingcheng nodded and gathered some disposable toothbrushes, towels, and other things. “Go ahead.”
Ye Qingyang carried the bundle into the bathroom. Lu Jingcheng went out and told his mother, “My classmate will stay here tonight, in my room, so you don’t have to prepare the guest room.”
“Is that okay?” his mother asked. “Aren’t you still sick? Won’t you pass your cold to him?”
Lu Jingcheng realized that, and said, “Better to let him stay in the guest room.”
He didn’t want to recover from his cold only for Ye Qingyang to catch it.
“Okay, I’ll tidy up the guest room,” his mother said.
“Mm.”
After Ye Qingyang finished showering, Lu Jingcheng said, “You should stay in the guest room, so I don’t pass my cold to you.”
“It’s fine,” Ye Qingyang said casually.
Lu Jingcheng, however, insisted, gently pushing him toward the guest room. “Rest well. I’ll wake you up in the morning.”
“Okay,” Ye Qingyang replied.
Lu Jingcheng stared at him for a long moment. Ye Qingyang, puzzled, was about to ask what was wrong, when Lu Jingcheng suddenly leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
It was fleeting, and his expression lit up with mischief.
“I’m going to sleep now,” Lu Jingcheng said quickly, smiling, and left, closing the door behind him.
Ye Qingyang touched the spot where Lu Jingcheng had kissed him and couldn’t help but smile.
Author’s note: Lu: Study, study, study—work hard and keep improving.
Yangyang: You can do it~