Chen Ye kicked the bedroom door shut, effectively blocking his meddling parents and younger sister outside.
What a fuss over some studying! Why were they so curious?
Luo Hongli covered her mouth, her eyes red as she looked at him.
"Why did you open the door so hard?!"
"Big sis, I didn't know you were standing right behind the door. Did you hit your face?"
Luo Hongli lowered her hands. Chen Ye took one look and thought, *Good grief, how did she manage to hit both her nose and her mouth?*
Was she pressing her face right against the door?
He put down the things in his hands and motioned with a wave, "Come over and sit down. Let me take a look."
Luo Hongli felt like crying. It hurt so much.
She sat in the chair at Chen Ye's study desk, while Chen Ye sat on the edge of the bed.
Illuminated by the dim desk lamp, their shadows stretched across the floor, looking remarkably like they were kissing.
Chen Ye extended his thumb and gently touched her lips.
The sudden pain made Luo Hongli recoil, her head snapping back. "It hurts, Chen Ye. Why am I so unlucky? Sob, sob, sob..."
Without a second thought, Chen Ye immediately clamped a hand over her mouth.
This was definitely not the time to cry out loud.
His parents and his gossip-loving sister were right outside!
If Luo Hongli walked out of his bedroom just after arriving with red eyes and swollen lips, he'd be completely finished.
"Do you want to get me killed? Why are you crying, big sis, elder sister, my dear sister! Shh! Let me blow on it, okay? Just don't make a sound!"
Luo Hongli blinked, sniffling.
Only then did he let go of her.
"Ch-Chen Ye, why does all of this have to happen to me? My mom is sick, and you're so heartless... yet your mom, dad, and sister are all so nice. Who knows, one day I might not even have a mom anymore."
"Sob... I don't want to cry either, but I can't stop. Chen Ye, r-right, I'm sorry. Stop looking at me like that, I-I'm just a little envious of you."
"Sob... your mom's cooking is so good. I want to eat my mom's cooking too, sob..."
Chen Ye looked at the young girl before him with a pang of heartache.
Just how long had she been bottling all this up?
Perhaps it was the bump from the door, or perhaps the warmth of the Chen family atmosphere had torn open a hole in her defenses.
Or maybe she just wanted a chance to vent her emotions.
None of that mattered anymore.
The fact that she was laying her heart bare in front of him already spoke volumes.
Hearing her muffled sobs and seeing how she didn't dare cry out loud, Chen Ye wanted to reach out and pull her into a hug, but then pulled his hands back.
Instead, he took out his phone, opened a music player, and put on "Darkness" by Stefanie Sun.
He turned the volume all the way up.
Cautiously leaning closer to the girl, he stared into her eyes. "I can lend you my shoulder. You can cry as loudly as you want."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Luo Hongli buried her face straight into his chest.
Against the backdrop of the music and her sobbing, the song took on a completely different feeling.
In the living room, the family of three simultaneously turned to look at Chen Ye's bedroom.
Chen Yue said, puzzled, "With music that loud, won't it actually affect his studying?"
Chen Jianguo frowned. "Perhaps this is the secret of the top student in the class?"
Ye Shuangrong nodded. "I really like this girl; it must be it. She's sharing her exclusive study secrets with Xiao Ye. It's just such a pity, though. Old Chen, should we help fund her mom's treatment again? What if that illness is curable after all?"
Chen Jianguo shook his head. "It's incurable. I asked their head teacher this morning—it really is uremia. At most, it can buy her a little more time. It's a bottomless pit."
"Then why didn't you think to ask whether the patient is a man or a woman?"
"I was practically ready to start a brawl with that woman; do you think I was in the mood to ask about that? If you'd gone with me today, would I have suffered such a huge loss? Look at this scratch on my hand."
"Serves you right."
"How does it serve me right? Isn't that your son's— I swear..."
Bang!
Watching her parents' conversation evolve into a full-blown argument before storming off into their own room, Chen Yue let out a light sigh and shook her head. "It's truly a miracle I've managed to survive this long..."
Inside Chen Ye's bedroom.
After finishing her cry, Luo Hongli felt immensely relieved.
Yet, she also felt horribly embarrassed.
Not only had she eaten a huge meal at Chen Ye's house, but she had also hugged him and cried for so long—and worse, she had gotten a lot of snot on him!
"S-Sorry, I-I really couldn't hold it back just now..."
Chen Ye calmly shook his head, resting a hand on her leg to pat it gently. "It's fine. Everything's going to be okay."
Luo Hongli lowered her head, then snapped it back up. "YOUR HAND?!"
Chen Ye gave an awkward laugh. "Ahem, it just slid down out of habit. Who knew your leg happened to be right there? Look at this mess, haha. Can we finally get down to some happy studying now?"
Luo Hongli pressed her lips together and pulled out her notes. "I can be very strict, you know! If you mess around, hmph! Your mom already said that if you don't study hard, she'll let me tell on you!"
If nothing else could keep him in line, studying certainly would!
Chen Ye suddenly regretted bringing her home.
Looking at her neat and orderly notebooks, he was dumbfounded—she actually had a separate notebook for every single subject.
"Which subject do you want to review first?"
"Math?"
"Oh, then memorize the formulas on the first two pages first. I'm going to the restroom."
As Luo Hongli stepped out of the bedroom, she noticed Chen Yue was still watching TV, while the uncle and aunt were nowhere to be seen.
Chen Yue turned her head and thought, *Oh, wow!*
*Did my brother actually kiss his future wife until she cried?*
*Turns out what they show on TV isn't fake after all—kissing really can swell someone's mouth up!*
"S-Sister-in-law, why is your mouth so swollen?"
Luo Hongli's face instantly flushed crimson. "Y-Y-You, what did you just call me?!"
Chen Yue replied matter-of-factly, "Sister-in-law, of course. My mom already approves of you, so your status in this family has risen to number two."
"I-I'm not... I-I'm not dating Chen Ye..."
"Sister-in-law, don't explain, I understand everything. Don't let my age fool you; we aren't that far apart. May I ask what it feels like?"
Luo Hongli was met with a head full of question marks. *What does crying feel like?*
*Does Chen Yue live such a sheltered life that she's never cried?*
Pondering for a moment, she explained, "It's... well, it's very sad. What else could it feel like?"
Chen Yue wore a look of utter shock. *Kissing makes you sad?*
Then why were all her classmates engaging in puppy love and sneaking off to empty places just to kiss?
*The sadder it is, the more you want to kiss?*
She couldn't understand it and was thoroughly shocked.
"Sister-in-law, you are so pretty."
"Chen Yue, p-please stop calling me sister-in-law. I'm really not, I don't have anything with—"
"Sister-in-law, seriously, if anyone in this family has a sharp eye, it's me! I can tell at a glance. Besides, my brother once said that the very first girl he brought home would be his future wife."
Luo Hongli felt rather helpless. "Sigh, you... look, I'm going to the restroom first."
At that moment, Chen Yue became even more certain.
The two of them hadn't been studying in the bedroom at all!
They'd gone off to kiss!
Why was she so convinced?
She had examples right in her own class; she had asked those two classmates who had been caught, and one of them had used the exact same excuse: needing to use the restroom!
Having instantly cracked the truth, she figured if she told her mom that her brother had found a top student to be his future daughter-in-law, she could probably squeeze out a decent amount of allowance money.
She walked down the hallway toward the far end. As she neared her parents' bedroom, *hiss*, why could she hear music coming from inside there too?
Though this music was a bit strange—what kind of garbage music was this, with random groans thrown in from time to time?
Since when did Mom and Dad like listening to music?
Whatever, she'd ask for the money tomorrow morning.
When Luo Hongli returned to the room, she found that Chen Ye was actually memorizing formulas in earnest.
She was somewhat surprised. Did he really want to study hard now?
With the college entrance exams only half a year away, she hoped it wasn't too late.
Chen Ye felt a stray lock of hair brush against his neck, tickling him.
Turning his head to take a look, his lips happened to brush against the arm she had draped over the back of the chair.