Ever since Ansheng brought the injured Miaomiao home that day—after which Miaomiao insisted on repaying him by tutoring him for an entire semester—life had changed drastically.
"Class Monitor—can we please cut down the workload a bit?"
Ansheng slumped dejectedly across his desk, surrounded by a mountain of textbooks and reference materials. Sitting opposite him, Miaomiao was practically fully recovered from her foot injury.
"Denied."
Hearing Miaomiao's unhesitating reply, Ansheng could only let out a long sigh. While he knew this was doing wonders for his grades, the process was absolute torture.
Especially since he was a liberal arts student. The amount of memorization, ranging from textbook material to extracurricular knowledge, was staggering. Whenever he asked for the key points, whole pages of dense, cramped notes would stare back at him...
By now, Ansheng actually found mathematics to be much gentler by comparison.
"Stop slumping. Get up and memorize your texts. We're not touching math until you finish this section."
Seeming to read his mind, Miaomiao let out a huff and spoke up.
"This really isn't a life fit for a human..." Ansheng sighed deeply, remaining motionless against the desk. "I'm gonna catnap for a sec."
Miaomiao frowned. "I didn't see you in the classroom during the lunch break. Did you sneak up to the rooftop again?"
"Yes—"
"Reading manga?"
"Yes—"
"Students aren't even allowed on the roof. How did you sneak up there?" Miaomiao asked, bewildered. Wasn't that place locked up?
"I'm Spider-Man—"
Miaomiao's mouth twitched. "Do you want me to beat you into a Dead-Man?"
"...Violent study monster," Ansheng muttered under his breath.
Miaomiao caught the murmur anyway and instantly flared up, raising a hand to punish the flippant Ansheng.
Rring-ling-ling—
A phone suddenly rang, temporarily saving Ansheng's life.
Ansheng pulled out his phone, glanced at the startled Miaomiao, and gestured for her to keep it down.
Miaomiao curled her lip, still giving her little fist a disgruntled shake in the air, but she sat back down quietly.
Ansheng looked at the screen and saw it was a call from his mom. He answered it right away.
"Hello, Mom, what is it..."
Before he could even finish asking, his mother's booming voice blasted straight out of the phone, startling even Miaomiao and causing her to slip and ruin a character she was writing.
"Ansheng, my boy! How have things been lately?!"
Miaomiao paused. Ansheng? Was that Ansheng's childhood nickname?
Frowning, Ansheng turned down the phone's volume and said helplessly, "Pretty good. How are you, Dad, and little sister?"
"Oh, we miss you *so* much~ We've completely lost our appetite for food and tea!"
"Cut it out. I boarded at school all through middle school, too."
"Ah! Our son is all grown up. Has his rebellious phase finally arrived..."
Ansheng fell silent, his mouth twitching. His mom was as scatterbrained as ever. "Get to the point. Why are you calling?"
"Oh, well, it's nothing major really... Just that your dad and I are planning to come visit you!""What?! You're coming over?!" Ansheng sprang to his feet, slamming against the desk and knocking it crooked.
Miaomiao shot him an annoyed glare—she had just ruined another character she was writing.
"We're already downstairs at the apartment building, coming up right now!"
"Downstairs?!?!"
Startled, Ansheng carefully cracked his bedroom door open. Through the narrow gap, he spotted his parents just turning the corner into the hallway.
He shut the door and looked over at Miaomiao, who was still hard at work on her homework, his face draining of color.
Crisp footsteps echoed down the hallway. It was already too late to send Miaomiao home!
Noticing Ansheng's gaze, Miaomiao looked up. Seeing him wear a panicked expression for the very first time, she couldn't help feeling curious.
"What's wrong with you..."
Before she could finish, Ansheng grabbed her hand, frantically scanned the room, and finally locked his eyes on the elevated bed draped with a curtain.
"Get up there!" Ansheng urged with desperate anxiety, pushing Miaomiao toward the ladder.
"Hey... wait, why on earth do I need to go to your bed?!"
Miaomiao's face flushed a deep red. Could this possibly mean...?!
"No time to argue! My parents are right outside, you need to hide!" Ansheng looked frantic as he heard the brisk footsteps approaching the corridor.
Shocked into realizing the gravity of the situation, Miaomiao stopped resisting and let Ansheng shove her right onto his bed.
Ansheng pressed a finger to his lips to signal silence, then pulled the curtains completely shut.
Miaomiao's heart began to race. First, Ansheng's parents were about to arrive at his place, and second...
This was her first time lying on a guy's bed, seriously!
She had heard that guys' beds were usually messy, casual, and had a strange odor.
Miaomiao glanced around, finding the space shockingly minimalist with its grey mattress and white quilt.
Involuntarily, she took a gentle sniff... An unexpected, faint, clean fragrance?
Just as Miaomiao's mind was wandering, the bedroom door creaked open.
"Asheng—"
A rather petite woman, wearing a light red knitted sweater and a brown hip-skimming skirt, burst into the room first.
She rushed straight over and hugged Ansheng, who had just managed to gather up Miaomiao's homework and shove it into a black handbag.
Following right behind her was a man about Ansheng's height but somewhat sturdier, dressed in a sharp black casual suit. He gently closed the door behind him.
Peeking through a gap in the curtain, Miaomiao took a glance. "Are these Ansheng's parents?"
"D-Dad... Mom," Ansheng greeted them awkwardly.An Wenwen's mother, Pang Ling, said with a trace of mock reproach, "Why did Ansheng put his dear old mom at the back? Are you getting tired of your mother?"
Ansheng gave a helpless shrug, while his father, An Wenwen, walked up with a smile and patted Ansheng on the shoulder. "Your mom's always like this. Pay no attention to her. How have you been lately?"
"What do you mean by that, Wenwen!? Look at him, Ansheng!"
Father and son tacitly ignored Pang Ling's indignant protests and started chatting away.
Ansheng gently squeezed his mother's hand and laughed, "Everything's going pretty well."
An Wenwen nodded. "Your mom and I came by just to check on you, and by the way, the school called us earlier asking us to come hand in some paperwork."
"Did you turn it in?"
An Wenwen nodded again, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes folding into a smile. "I heard you came in second to last in your class on your first exam?"
Ansheng pursed his lips, silently conceding the fact.
"It's fine, I know that's not really your fault. We used your mom's phone number when we registered you, and she forgot to forward the notification to you."
By now, Pang Ling had helped Ansheng to the sofa, but it was a bit crowded. Ansheng had his parents sit on the sofa while he took a seat on the carpet.
"Hmph, my son is brilliant! What's wrong with letting them win one round?" Pang Ling crossed her arms, looking extremely smug.
"Mom, please stop hyping me up..." Ansheng wore a helpless expression.
There were simply too many academic monsters at this school. Take Miaomiao, that violent study freak, for instance—she had already shocked him beyond measure.
"I'm not hyping you up. Look, Ansheng is still studying even after getting back from school."
Pang Ling pointed at the desk full of textbooks. Ansheng had no choice but to bite the bullet and nod, taking credit for it all.
He couldn't possibly tell them that the school's invincible, peerless beauty who ranked first in their grade had personally come to his house to tutor him, could he?
He figured that if he said that, his mom would probably start screaming and lose her mind right on the spot...
"It's great that you have the drive to study, but remember to take breaks and relax," An Wenwen said with a comforting and approving look, offering his own advice.
"I've been relaxing just fine."
Miaomiao, who was hiding on the bed and quietly observing, looked slightly startled.
*Remember to take breaks and relax...?*
She suddenly remembered that Ansheng had told her the exact same thing before, but she seemed to have thrown it to the back of her mind.
So the atmosphere in this family was... really this relaxed?
A trace of imperceptible envy flashed through Miaomiao's eyes.
An Wenwen looked around the room and smiled. "It's still decorated just like your old room, full of action figures and posters."
"You already know this is my only hobby."
"Exactly! Wenwen, why aren't you giving Ansheng some pocket money so he can buy a few more!"
An Wenwen's mouth twitched. "I hand my entire salary over to you, where am I supposed to get money to give the kid?"
Pang Ling was taken aback. She coughed twice and said, "Well... I think it's better to buy things in moderation..."
Ansheng smiled at Pang Ling. "Don't worry, I haven't been spending recklessly. I won't go over budget. You guys should buy more clothes for An Yue instead; my living allowance is plenty."
"Speaking of An Yue, she's been studying really hard lately," An Wenwen brought up.
Ansheng raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't that girl usually hate studying? How did she do a complete 180?"
Miaomiao, who had been feeling a bit down, snapped back to reality and looked surprised.
*An Yue? Ansheng has a younger sister?*
She wouldn't have that same gloomy look on her face as Ansheng, would she...?
Pang Ling hijacked the conversation. "She said she wants to work hard to catch up with her big brother. She said her big brother went to study somewhere so far away, and the school is so prestigious, so she's going to strive to get into Chunhe as well."
"Is that so? Just let her do her best, but make sure she doesn't wear herself out. Her junior high is pretty strict, and being in the third year now, it's definitely going to be even more tiring."
"If only Ansheng cared about his old mom the way he cares about his little sister..." Pang Ling sighed, making a show of covering her face and pretending to cry.
"You just need to get some good rest, Mom. Dad is great at his job, so don't worry. And play a little less mahjong."
"Hey, hey, did you two gang up and sell me out?" An Wenwen's words sounded reproachful, but his tone was infinitely gentle.
"Playing mahjong is a real skill of mine! I'm an undefeated general!"
Pang Ling looked quite proud of herself. An Wenwen patted Pang Ling on the shoulder and turned to Ansheng.
The few of them chatted idly for a while, gossiping about trivial family matters.
"Alright, we just came to see how you were living. Now that we see you're doing well, we can rest easy. I'm still pretty busy with work, so we're going to head back."
"Mm-hmm." Ansheng stood up to see his parents out, but An Wenwen waved his hand to refuse.
He took Pang Ling's hand and walked to the door. "There's no need to be so formal between family."
"Mom's going to miss you, Ansheng—"
Pang Ling looked reluctant to leave. Ansheng stepped forward and gently gave her a quick hug.
"Get some good rest, don't overwork yourself, and by the way, pass along a message to my sister for me: 'Tell her not to push herself too hard.'"
"Mm-hmm, we're off, Ansheng—"
"Take care of yourselves, Mom and Dad."
Ansheng waved with a smile, watching them gradually disappear from his line of sight.
He turned around and glanced at Miaomiao hiding in the bedding, letting out a sigh of relief.
*Phew, good thing they didn't notice.*