"Huh?"
On the other end of the phone, Su Yue paused for a moment, then rolled her eyes at Ye Ge.
She had called simply because Ye Ge mentioned earlier that he did well on his exams, just to check in on his scores. When he sighed a moment ago, Su Yue genuinely thought something had gone wrong.
To think he was just messing with her!
Making her worry for nothing!
"Hmph, so you scored three points higher than my sister, big deal." Over the line, Su Yue adopted a haughty tone, which quickly softened. "Senior, my sister said she wants to bring some things over to visit your parents and express her gratitude. Is that convenient for you, Senior?"
"Convenient, why wouldn't it be? But let me tell you, if you guys buy anything to bring over, I won't even open the door for you. I'm serious!"
"But who visits empty-handed?" Su Yue pouted her little lips.
"You're still a high school student, and our family is just ordinary folk—we don't care about those formalities. Bringing gifts just makes things feel more distant."
"But—"
"Alright, enough buts. That's settled, dinner is at six."
Without waiting for Su Yue to keep nagging, Ye Ge hung up directly.
The moment the call ended, Chen Ji called right back.
"Son, what's up?" Ye Ge said with a smile.
Chen Ji was a loyal and honest guy, but he was far too easily taken advantage of. In his first life, Ye Ge died young, basically living in vain, and many things never happened. In his second life—his previous life—Chen Ji offended a manager and was shipped straight off to the African continent to keep company with lions and tigers.
By the time Chen Ji returned three years later, his son was already two years old...
Though the kid didn't look much like Chen Ji, with skin rather dark—probably because the mother ate too much dark soy sauce during pregnancy.
Yan Cici was admittedly a bit like a green tea bish with some princess syndrome, but she was the high-end kind; ordinary guys couldn't even get close to her. But Chen Ji's wife in the past life was simply...
In short, there was no way he was going to let that honest guy Chen Ji get ruined by that woman again!
No matter what, he was going to break them up!
"Yezi, I beat the Tier 1 cutoff by 45 points! 545 points! Hahaha~"
Chen Ji's hearty voice rang out over the phone. For Chen Ji, this really was an exceptional performance.
"Oh, oh, oh. Not bad, only 100 points lower than me."
Chen Ji: "..."
"Yezi, which university are you planning to apply to?" Chen Ji asked, brushing off Ye Ge's flexing.
"Yuhang University, I suppose," Ye Ge said.
"Great, I'll go check if there are any schools near Yuhang University in Hangzhou. Gotta hang up."
"Go ahead, son."
"Hanging up."
Chen Ji hung up and genuinely went off to look for schools. Unsurprisingly, he would likely end up at Yuhang University of Finance and Economics.
"Beep, beep, beep..."
Just as Ye Ge hung up, his QQ chimed.
Wang Jie: "O great academic overlord, which university has the honor of containing your lofty presence?"
"Yuhang University, just barely," he replied.
Wang Jie sent a white cat rolling its eyes sticker, followed by a long block of text:
"I asked Cici. She wants to apply to Yuhang University too, and her score ranking should easily be enough. Tell me the truth, kid, you haven't given up on Cici yet, have you? You already knew she was applying to Yuhang University, didn't you? Have you been giving her the cold shoulder all this time to play hard-to-get? I never took you for a schemer, pulling out the art of war."
Ye Ge's eyelids twitched as he typed back: "Sister Hui, it's a real waste that you aren't writing web novels. Why don't you write some to make a bit of pocket money? I promise I won't read pirated copies!"
"Get lost!" Wang Jie sent a spinning turtle sticker. "Ye Ge, let me tell you, Cici is pretty pissed off right now. If she gets angry enough and actually accepts Wang Jie's confession, don't come crying to me."
"Wang Jie is my buddy, I can only bless my buddy~"
"Bah! I'm logging off, I'm done with you." Wang Jie sent a child rolling their eyes sticker and went offline.
Ye Ge shook his head, having no idea how Sister Hui's brain worked...
Well, Sister Hui could think whatever she wanted. In his first life, he really had applied to Yuhang University because of Yan Cici. But whether in his second life or this one, Ye Ge simply wanted the path of least resistance. He was familiar with Yuhang University, and he already knew what would be on the final exams—how great was that?
It's just that...
Ye Ge frowned, unable to help thinking of the young woman from his second life who had left him with a lifelong psychological shadow.
She was wonderful to him; her whole body and soul belonged to him. But her love was far too heavy, heavy enough to suffocate him. Yet in this lifetime, if he didn't save her, her life would end during her sophomore year. Not to mention that they had been husband and wife in his past life.
"Sigh..."
Ye Ge sighed.
"I have to figure something out. I need to save her, but I can't get involved with her in any way—at least, I can't let her latch onto me again."
Ye Ge rubbed his temples and walked out of the room.
In the living room, Her Majesty the Empress was still broadcasting the news to the world...
"Mom, hold on before you flex... before you go reporting the good news to relatives. Some friends are coming over for dinner tonight," Ye Ge interrupted his mother.
"I'll call you back later, be sure to come to the celebration banquet."
Ms. Song hung up the phone, her face beaming.
"What did you just say, son?"
"I said some friends are coming over for dinner tonight."
"Which classmate? Is it Chen Ji?" Ms. Song had a very good impression of that honest young man.
"No, it's the girl I rescued last time. She and her younger sister are coming over to express their gratitude," Ye Ge explained. "Oh, by the way, their parents passed away when they were young, and they only have each other. Mom, don't bring up their parents."
"How pitiful..."
Previously, Ms. Song hadn't asked much about the girl Ye Ge had saved. Now that Ye Ge brought it up on his own, she felt a sudden surge of sympathy and affection in her eyes.
"I understand, don't worry, son."
Ms. Song had already decided to cook a few extra dishes.
"Then I'm going back to my room." Having lost his sleepiness, Ye Ge planned to write—or rather, plagiarize—another ten thousand words of *Daoist Priest*.
"Hold on, we're doing a deep clean this afternoon. Come help your old mom," Ms. Song called out, stopping him.
"It's fine, the house isn't that messy, and they won't mind." Ye Ge detested deep cleaning the most.
"It's not just because of the girl you saved coming over."
Ms. Song shot Ye Ge a look.
"I just called and asked Auntie Yan and Cici to come over for dinner too, so we can discuss university applications. Hurry up and help me clean, and then go tidy up your dog kennel of a room."
Ye Ge: "???"