047

When Jiang Huali woke up, the alarm clock beside her was still beeping.

She shuddered and turned to shake the sleeping system awake, "...Get up."

The system crawled out of its nest, completely bewildered: [What's wrong?]

Has the management center responded to the feedback we submitted previously?

The system checked and found: [Not yet.]

[What's wrong, host?]

Jiang Huali thought about it again and again, but still found it unbelievable.

Was it just a dream she had, or did it actually happen?

Perhaps the dream she experienced in the dungeon in the previous mission world left a deep impression on her, and her memory has been malfunctioning recently, so having this dream is understandable.

But... is that really the case?

The bedside lamp was lit quietly, and she sat with her back to the light, her expression hidden in the shadows.

-

The math competition that the math teacher mentioned earlier is coming soon, and Jiang Huali and He Yuqing are the only two students in the class who have been selected to participate.

During evening study sessions, the math teacher would call them into a small classroom for individual tutoring.

They weren't the only ones from the grade to participate in this math competition; the school chartered a minibus to transport the participating students to the examination venue.

Students from all three grades participated in the competition, and by the time Jiang Huali boarded the bus, almost everyone had arrived.

A girl from the next class was also going to participate in the competition. Jiang Huali greeted her when she got on the bus, and when she looked up, she saw He Yuqing sitting quietly in the other seat watching her.

There was an empty seat next to him, and Jiang Huali went over and sat down.

When He Yuqing saw her walking over, he said, "Good morning."

Jiang Huali replied, "Good morning."

After some time, the management center still hadn't given a response, and Jiang Huali finally stopped worrying about her memories.

We should live in the present and treat the past as just a dream.

In fact, people inevitably feel panicked when they lose their memory or don't know where they came from, just like duckweed.

Before entering the Time and Space Bureau, Jiang Huali, though she had memories, lived in extreme emptiness and detachment. Now that she knows she has memory problems, she is not as panicked as she imagined.

After everyone was on the bus, it headed towards its destination.

Suddenly, an earphone was handed to me from the side.

"Want to listen to some music?"

He Yuqing held a white earphone in his hand and smiled at Jiang Huali with his eyes curved.

He was wearing his school uniform, and his hair seemed a little long, partially obscuring his eyebrows and eyes. The minibus swayed along, and the morning sunlight shone through the windows, not too bright, but clearly illuminating the fine downy hairs on his face.

Jiang Huali subconsciously reached out and took the small earphone.

I put on my headphones, and the music playing inside was soothing.

Jiang Huali adjusted her posture and relaxed her body. Amidst the noise from the moving bus and the music in her headphones, she gradually became sleepy.

Her eyelids slowly drooped, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Suddenly feeling a weight on his shoulder, He Yuqing turned his head and saw Jiang Huali leaning on his shoulder, already asleep.

Thick, long eyelashes trembled slightly in her dream, like butterflies about to take flight.

He Yuqing was momentarily lost in thought when his finger accidentally tapped the music app on his phone, switching the gentle music to poetry recitation.

He doesn't usually listen to music, so the songs playing now are from his recommended playlist. The fact that he specifically brought his headphones and shared them with those around him is a testament to his dedication.

It's hard to say what his true intentions were.

He looked out the car window and saw a few white clouds floating in the azure sky. He could hear his own heart pounding loudly in his chest.

He reached out and pulled the curtain of the car window shut, blocking the sunlight from falling on Jiang Huali's face.

A recitation came through the headphones:

"Life is but a fleeting dream, worldly affairs are like the wind in the wind." [1]

...

Jiang Huali didn't wake up until a minute before she got off the bus.

She's been having a lot of dreams lately and her sleep quality is poor. When she's in a car, the swaying and drowsiness makes her fall asleep.

When she woke up, she found herself leaning on He Yuqing's shoulder, and she quickly sat up straight.

She glanced at He Yuqing.

"Sorry, I accidentally fell asleep."

Why didn't you wake me up?

He Yuqing: "You're sleeping soundly, there's no need to wake you up."

"Have I been pressing down on your shoulders the whole time?" Jiang Huali asked.

"...No, you just came close to me."

Jiang Huali scratched her head: "Really?"

"Um."

She remembered that she was still wearing the earphone He Yuqing had given her before she fell asleep. She touched her left ear with her fingers, thinking of taking the earphone off and returning it to He Yuqing.

Unexpectedly, I found nothing.

"I took off my headphones while you were sleeping, because it's not good for your ears."

He Yuqing noticed her movements and reminded her.

Jiang Huali raised her eyebrows, not particularly surprised by his thoughtful gesture.

He Yuqing stopped looking at her, feeling a burning sensation in his ears.

There were two seats on each side of the bus. He sat on the inside, and Jiang Huali sat on his right.

She was asleep with the earphone on her left side.

When he took off her headphones, he gently supported her face with his left hand.

As their skin touched, he asked himself: What are you doing?

Jiang Huali was clearly not interested in He Yuqing's inner thoughts. After the car stopped, she yawned slightly, picked up her schoolbag, stood up, and said to He Yuqing, who had been keeping his head down since the beginning:

"Let's go."

He Yuqing looked up at her, then replied, "Mm."

-

School has been in session for a while now, and after a monthly exam, the homeroom teacher rearranged the seating in the class.

Jiang Huali was moved to the middle seat, sitting in the second row, with Wen Ruolin still at the same table.

Lu Zhou sat behind her as always, but—

He Yuqing became his deskmate.

Lu Zhou was tidying up the papers and books that he had messed up when he moved seats. He was about to ask He Yuqing what he wanted for lunch when He Yuqing spoke up first: "Let's switch seats."

Lu Zhou didn't react for a moment: "Huh?"

He asked uncertainly, "Brother He, what did you say?"

“I’ll switch places with you,” He Yuqing repeated.

The seating arrangement isn't completely finalized yet, and it's allowed for classmates to switch seats, but Lu Zhou was a little confused: "Why?"

He Yuqing said calmly, "I'm by the window, it's a bit sunny here."

ha?

Lu Zhou looked around in confusion, his tone hesitant: "But...we're sitting right in the middle."

The distance from the window is the same on both sides.

"...Should we change it or not?"

"Okay." Lu Zhou put down the crumpled test paper in his hand. "Change it, change it."

He didn't care where he sat; the two had grown up together since childhood, so since Brother He wanted to switch, he certainly had no objections.

They stood up and switched places. Lu Zhou moved his things over and sat on the stool to continue tidying up.

He glanced at He Yuqing and casually said, "Brother He, you're already so fair-skinned, why are you afraid of getting a tan?"

He Yuqing has fair skin and never gets tanned no matter how much sun he gets, while Lu Zhou's skin is much darker in comparison.

Lu Zhou didn't want to be so pale, looking like a pretty boy... but his brother He was definitely not a pretty boy.

He Yuqing ignored him, put the things away, and then looked at the person in front of her.

...Unfortunately, we can only see the back of his head.

As we all know, if the person behind you isn't deliberately keeping their voice down, the person in front can easily hear them.

Wen Ruolin was drinking water when he heard the phrase "it's a bit sunny," and he almost choked.

She looked at Jiang Huali with a somewhat complicated expression.

Jiang Huali's eyes met Wen Ruolin's. She calmly picked up the milk on the table, took a sip, and gestured to him with her eyes, "What's wrong?"

Wen Ruolin glanced at the bottle of milk in Jiang Huali's hand, chuckled twice, and then turned back to continue doing her homework.

It's currently the long break between classes. In two weeks, the school will hold a sports meet, and the sports committee is busy recruiting people to participate in the events.

Lin Shu was somewhat worried. The grade had requirements on the number of students and events each class could participate in at the sports meet. Some of the easier sports events still had people signing up, but no one signed up for events like long-distance running.

We can't raise enough money.

He wandered around the classroom, trying to get a few more people to sign up for the project.

When he arrived at Jiang Huali's place, he spread out the registration form for Jiang Huali and Wen Ruolin to see.

"So, is there any sport that interests you?"

Wen Ruolin: "..."

She lowered her head silently: "No, thank you."

Lin Shu turned his gaze to Jiang Huali, the meaning in his eyes was very clear—

"Please, please."

Jiang Huali considered herself to be in good physical condition. After thinking for a moment, she pointed to the 800-meter event section: "Then... shall I sign up for this one?"

Lin Shu was overjoyed and immediately grabbed a pen to write Jiang Huali's name on it. "No problem, no problem! Do you want to sign up for others? Should we bring a few more?"

Jiang Huali pushed the registration form over and smiled, "No, thank you."

Undeterred, Lin Shu took the registration form and went to the next table.

He gained a lot from this table—both He Yuqing and Lu Zhou signed up for the project.

Lin Shu walked away happily, clutching the registration form.

After watching Lin Shu walk away, Wen Ruolin said, "By the way, it seems the grade also issued a notice that we will start daily morning exercises tomorrow afternoon."

Jiang Huali: "Afternoon?"

“Yes,” Wen Ruolin nodded. “I heard it from the class next door. They said that the last period of each afternoon is freed up so we can go for morning exercises.”

"Heavens above! This happens every day! Who knows what the school is thinking!"

Wen Ruolin collapsed onto the table in despair.

Sure enough, the homeroom teacher announced the news in the afternoon, and the class was immediately filled with groans of despair.

Wang Jing tapped the podium: "Alright, we'll start morning exercises tomorrow afternoon. Remember to wear loose-fitting clothes and suitable shoes when you run, and be careful while running, understand?"

Although the classes were divided, Jiang Huali's homeroom teacher in her second year of high school was still Wang Jing.

Wang Jing is a senior teacher who has been teaching top-performing classes for many years. She is also a good person, and many students like her.

"Okay," the students replied listlessly.

When Jiang Huali returned home in the evening, Xiao Hei excitedly rushed up to her as soon as she opened the door. As usual, she petted the dog and then went to wash up.

When I came out of the bathroom after taking a bath, Xiao Hei was playing with its toy—the little white bear—in its den.

Upon seeing Jiang Huali appear, Xiao Hei released the teddy bear from its mouth and looked at Jiang Huali with its big black eyes.

Jiang Huali smiled at it and went back to her room to get a hairdryer to dry her hair.

The room door was not closed. After Jiang Huali finished drying her hair, she turned around to put the hairdryer away, only to see Xiao Hei standing by the door, looking up at her intently.

As soon as it came into Jiang Huali's sight, its tail wagged like a propeller.

Feeling good after petting the dog, Jiang Huali lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

late at night.

Xiao Hei was sleeping in the living room when he heard a noise coming from the next room.

It ran out of its nest and followed the sound.

Jiang Huali's room door was not closed, and a warm yellow light could be faintly seen coming from it.

Xiao Hei ran inside, looked at the scene before him, and tilted his head in confusion.

Jiang Huali was sitting at her desk, the desk lamp casting a warm yellow light. She held a pen in her hand and was writing something on a postcard.

Xiao Hei barked softly, and seeing that Jiang Huali didn't react, it ran over and started biting Jiang Huali's trouser leg.

The system was awakened by the noise. It floated out of its den and saw the scene of the man and the dog in a stalemate.

Jiang Huali was writing something on the paper, while Xiao Hei was frantically biting her trouser leg on the ground.

The system was completely confused and flew over to see what had happened.

This sight startled the system.

Jiang Huali's eyes were vacant, her movements were mechanical, and she did not respond to any calls from the system.

system:【……】

It looked closely and was startled again.

Jiang Huali was writing a love letter with great effort.

The system's gaze fell on the beginning of the love letter.

...To Lu Zhou?

【？？？】

【！！！】

The system immediately reviewed the storyline of this mission world. In the original storyline, it was indeed written that the original owner had a crush on Lu Zhou and sent him love letters.

Whether this actually happened or not is another matter, but at least the rules of this world want this storyline to happen.

Therefore, Jiang Huali is now likely under the control of the rules.

The system waited in place for a while until Jiang Huali finished writing her love letter and went back to bed.

Its chubby hands grabbed the envelope containing the love letter, its eyes darted around, and it held the envelope in front of Little Black, who was lying on the ground.

Xiao Hei looked at the glowing sphere, then opened its mouth and bit the envelope that appeared to be floating in the air to onlookers.

Then I tore it up.

The system floated in the air, looking at the corpses of love letters scattered on the ground, and nodded in satisfaction.

It picked up the scraps and threw them into the trash can, then went back to its nest to sleep, completely satisfied.

The room became dark again. Little Black went to the corner of the bed, curled up, and fell asleep, making soft snoring sounds.

In the darkness, the faint sound of a zipper being pulled open could be heard.

But no one noticed.