Inside the convenience store.

Qiu Mengze sat across from Lin Ruoxi. He figured Xue Rui was probably in for a serious scolding before he’d be allowed back.

"Lin Ruoxi, did Xue Rui hug you that day?" Qiu Mengze asked.

Lin Ruoxi thought for a moment before correcting him. "I hugged Xue Rui."

A pang of jealousy struck Qiu Mengze. ’I hope Aunt Ren lays into him a little harder,’ he thought. ’This is making me so damn jealous.’

Even now, through the glass window, he could feel the envious gazes of outsiders.

Qiu Mengze knew they were jealous that he got to sit face-to-face with Lin Ruoxi.

’Too bad Lin Ruoxi is my buddy’s girlfriend...’

Then his thoughts turned to Qin Tong. ’Qin Tong isn’t so bad, either,’ he mused.

The female clerk at the convenience store brought Qiu Mengze his drink. Smiling at Lin Ruoxi, she asked, "Was that guy just now your boyfriend?"

"Mm, I haven’t managed to win him over yet," Lin Ruoxi explained, putting down her phone.

The young clerk glanced over and saw the wallpaper on Lin Ruoxi’s phone—it was a photo of Lin Ruoxi and Xue Rui together.

The clerk looked shocked. ’It really is that boy!’

The clerk was about the same age as Lin Ruoxi. The store wasn’t busy, so she sat down next to her, took out her own phone, and showed off a collection of photos of various popular, handsome young male celebrities.

"Look, aren’t these celebrities handsome?" the girl asked, smiling and nudging Lin Ruoxi’s shoulder.

Lin Ruoxi took a sip of her coffee and slowly shook her head. "They look like girls."

"PFFT—" Qiu Mengze almost spat out his drink. He quickly turned his head away. He never expected Lin Ruoxi to make a complaint like that.

The girl shot Qiu Mengze a glare. ’So this beauty prefers more masculine types?’ she wondered. ’That guy from before did have a very manly vibe...’

She switched to a few photos of more rugged-looking men. "What about these? Which one do you think is the best-looking?"

In reality, girls their age often got together to discuss which male celebrities were the most handsome.

But when had Lin Ruoxi ever had an experience like this?

She frowned, staring at the pictures for a long time. She felt like they all looked more or less the same—pale-skinned and a bit unreal.

’I don’t like looking at any of them. I like looking at Xue Rui.’

Lin Ruoxi mumbled softly, "I think Xue Rui is the best-looking."

As she spoke, she opened her phone again to look at her wallpaper. She recalled how Xue Rui had taken her to set off fireworks on New Year’s Eve, and the corners of her eyes crinkled into another smile.

The convenience store girl might not have been well-read, but at that moment, a certain saying came to mind—beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Qiu Mengze was chewing his straw so hard he nearly bit through it. ’If a girl said something like that about me, I wouldn’t care if she wasn’t even that pretty. I’d accept her in a heartbeat!’

But Lin Ruoxi was actually saying she was chasing Xue Rui and hadn’t even won him over yet?

’How damn infuriating! What the hell is that guy playing at?’

Just as he was thinking this, Ren Qunfang and Xue Rui returned.

"Hello, Auntie," Qiu Mengze greeted her naturally.

He had seen Ren Qunfang often back in the village. While their families hadn’t interacted much, the kids were familiar with each other.

"Mengze, you and Xue Rui have fun. I’m going to take Xixi to get some paperwork done," Ren Qunfang said with a smile, having also bought a pile of drinks and snacks for Qiu Mengze.

"Auntie, you don’t have to," Qiu Mengze repeatedly declined.

"Take them, take them. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. Come by the restaurant for a meal when you have time, okay?" Ren Qunfang said, stuffing the plastic bag into Qiu Mengze’s hands.

Qiu Mengze looked awkward. He always got nervous around Xue Rui’s family because the economic gap between their two families was so large, and Xue Rui’s parents were overly enthusiastic.

Just then, Lin Ruoxi started circling Xue Rui, as if inspecting him for something.

A moment later, she lifted the back of Xue Rui’s T-shirt to take a look.

When Xue Rui had walked out earlier, she had faintly heard a sharp SMACK and was worried he’d been hit again.

Sure enough, she saw several red handprints on his back.

A flicker of pain showed in the girl’s eyes. She reached out and gently stroked Xue Rui’s back. "Does it hurt?"

Ren Qunfang swallowed hard. ’What’s going on?’ she wondered.

’Why would Lin Ruoxi lift Xue Rui’s shirt to look?’

She suddenly remembered what she had just promised Lin Ruoxi—that she wouldn’t hit Xue Rui...

But she never imagined Lin Ruoxi would actually check!

"Auntie, didn’t you say you wouldn’t hit Xue Rui?" Lin Ruoxi asked in a small voice.

The girl’s eyes were pitiful, filled with heartache for him.

"Er..." Ren Qunfang laughed awkwardly. This girl was way too earnest.

When it came to anything involving Xue Rui, she was completely single-minded.

She suddenly felt a wave of pressure. ’As his mother, can’t I even smack him a couple of times?’

’She’s already this protective, and they aren’t even married. What will she be like once they are?’

Facing Xue Rui’s beaming smile, she suddenly recalled something he’d said earlier—"Hit me again and you’ll regret it."

’So this is what he meant?’

She ground her teeth. ’Why didn’t you say so sooner?’

’If I’d known Lin Ruoxi was like this, I never would have hit Xue Rui just now.’

And now, she had no idea how to explain herself to Lin Ruoxi.

Xue Rui turned to Lin Ruoxi and explained, "There was a mosquito on my back just now. My mom was helping me swat it."

Understanding dawned on Lin Ruoxi’s face. She nodded and murmured, accepting Xue Rui’s explanation.

Qiu Mengze’s eye twitched. ’Who swats a mosquito and leaves a perfect five-fingered handprint?’

"Xixi, let’s go," Ren Qunfang said, then turned to Qiu Mengze. "Mengze, you and Xiaorui have fun, and don’t go anywhere dangerous."

Lin Ruoxi glanced at Xue Rui, seemingly waiting for his response.

Xue Rui nodded. "Go on."

’Neither I nor Lin Ruoxi really need this, but since Mom wants to do it, I’ll just let her...’

He knew this was just one of the ways his mom showed her love for him.

"Okay," Lin Ruoxi nodded and followed Ren Qunfang to the car to go get the paperwork done.

"Auntie, next time you swat a mosquito, can you be a little gentler?" Lin Ruoxi said meekly.

"Of course, of course," Ren Qunfang couldn’t help but laugh.

...

Xue Rui and Qiu Mengze wandered boredly down the street, Qiu Mengze carrying a big bag full of snacks.

"I feel like your mom always treats me like a kid, stuffing me with snacks every time she sees me," Qiu Mengze said.

Xue Rui laughed. "In her eyes, anyone my age is a kid."

Qiu Mengze thought for a moment. "I think my mom’s like that too..."

You got two chances to pass the written test. As long as you passed once, you were good. Seeing Qiu Mengze in such a good mood, Xue Rui figured he must have passed on his second try. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have that smug look on his face.

The DMV was an interesting place. Unlike at a school, you could tell right away if someone had passed or failed their test just by looking at their expression.

It wasn’t just about how quickly the results came out. Most students wouldn’t get too upset about failing a single exam. Even flunking the college entrance exams might not produce such looks of utter dejection.

But that’s how it was at the DMV. Some girls even burst into tears...

Indeed, failing the exact same test once, twice, or even three times was enough to make anyone break down...

"What did you score?" Xue Rui asked.

Qiu Mengze puffed out his chest. "A 90!"

Xue Rui’s eye twitched. "Then what are you so proud of?"

"I only studied the questions for a few days, so I can’t believe I actually passed! Not a single point to spare. How could I not be happy?" Qiu Mengze’s grin was so wide he could barely contain it.

"Holy shit! School hasn’t even started and you’ve already grasped the essence of college exams," Xue Rui said in surprise.

"What essence?" Qiu Mengze asked.

"Any point more than passing is a waste," Xue Rui said with a laugh.

Qiu Mengze’s exam scores this time were also pretty good. Although they weren’t high enough for a Tier 1 university, he could basically take his pick of the Tier 2 schools.

Besides, the guy was determined to go to Chang’an to attend university with Qin Tong.

"Don’t you dare follow her to a Tier 3 school," Xue Rui chided with a laugh.

He wasn’t sure how things were progressing between Qiu Mengze and Qin Tong, but it looked like Qiu Mengze was actually making some headway with the girl. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be this determined.

"I actually wanted to, but I’m afraid my dad would break my legs," Qiu Mengze sighed.

He wanted to go to the same school as Qin Tong, but the tuition was too high, and he didn’t want to place too much of a burden on his family.

More importantly, he had scored well enough. To drop down so far to a Tier 3 school? Even he felt it would be a bit of a waste.

’Anyway, as long as we’re in the same city, it’ll be fine.’

"By the way, can you give the driving school money to Lin Ruoxi for me? My dad only gave me 1,500. I’ll pay back the rest slowly later," Qiu Mengze said, pulling out a wad of cash.

Xue Rui took the money and stuffed it directly into his pocket without bothering to count it. His childhood friend wouldn’t cheat him.

He asked with a curious look, "Only 1,500?"

Meeting Xue Rui’s gaze, Qiu Mengze suddenly got nervous. "Alright, fine. It was actually 2,000. I skimmed 500 to get a membership at the internet cafe."

Xue Rui laughed. That was just like his childhood friend.

Still, in this day and age, getting back borrowed money at all already put him ahead of most people, let alone after only a few days.

To him, it didn’t really matter whether Qiu Mengze paid him back or not. In his past life, Qiu Mengze had lost a lot of money on a business venture and had borrowed several hundred thousand from him.

He had told him not to worry about paying it back, but Qiu Mengze would still transfer a sum of money to him every New Year’s, his hair already turning white at a young age.

Qiu Mengze hesitated for a long time before asking, "Where did Lin Ruoxi get that kind of money?"

Lin Ruoxi used to be the textbook definition of a poor student, the one who received the poverty subsidy every year in class. How could she just pull out ten thousand yuan without even blinking?

"She earned it herself," Xue Rui said.

To be precise, everything Lin Ruoxi had now was because of him. But she was exceptionally talented to begin with; he had merely provided a platform that infinitely amplified her value.

"She earned it?" Qiu Mengze muttered to himself. ’That girl is amazing. No wonder I always used to see her busy with something on the computer in the school office.’

He thought about how Lin Ruoxi had said she wanted to be Xue Rui’s sugar mama...

’Does that mean Xue Rui always has money on him? From Lin Ruoxi?’

He suddenly remembered how someone had given him a cash gift of one thousand yuan...

"Xue Rui, that one-thousand-yuan cash gift during New Year’s, was that from you?" Qiu Mengze demanded.

"What do you think?" Xue Rui said with a grin.

Seeing Xue Rui’s shit-eating grin, Qiu Mengze understood instantly. It had to be this guy!

"What the—you bastard, you nearly killed me! I didn’t sleep a wink all night, I was just trying to balance the accounts!" Qiu Mengze swung the bag of snacks at him.

After chasing him for a few steps, Qiu Mengze said, out of breath, "Stop running! I’ll treat you to some time at the internet cafe..."

He’d get Xue Rui back for the cash gift eventually. Besides, Xue Rui’s mom had bought him so many snacks today; he had to do something in return.

"Let’s play for a bit, then head to the driving school this afternoon. We still have the practical and road tests," Xue Rui said.