Chapter 8

The two of them settled down to do their homework in Bo Ranying’s room.

Bo Ranying’s room featured a rectangular desk. After tidying up the scattered items on it, they cleared a blank space. They sat side by side on the same side, with about half a person’s width between them. A slight turn of the head allowed each to take in the other’s appearance fully.

Bo Ranying approached homework with a real sense of ritual. She first pulled out all the assignments from every subject, stacking them up on the desk. After pondering for a moment, she turned to Nan Qi, who was already prepared beside her, and asked which subject she planned to start with.

Nan Qi answered casually, “Math.”

To her surprise, Bo Ranying objected with dead seriousness. The girl, wearing her Star Dew Hair Hoop, shook her head firmly. “No, let’s do physics first. I calculated it—the tarot cards say starting with physics will bring us good luck today!”

“Is that so?” Nan Qi replied evenly. “Then physics it is.”

She had no strong attachments to such trivial matters and easily went along with Bo Ranying’s suggestion. She took the relevant assignment from her bag, glanced over the problems, picked up her pen, and soon immersed herself in solving them.

Bo Ranying watched her with a touch of envy for a few seconds before diving into her own work.

After about fifteen minutes, Bo Ranying hit a wall. She got stuck on a calculation problem and racked her brain for ages without any ideas. Unconsciously, she bit down on the pen tip, leaving marks all over the metal with crunching sounds, like the steady ticking of an old-fashioned clock.

Nan Qi glanced up and caught sight of the girl beside her wrinkling her dainty pink nose. Her sharp little teeth ground away at the pen tip as she stared at the workbook with a look of deep resentment, clearly utterly distressed.

Adorably cute, and pitifully so.

Nan Qi chuckled softly to herself and scooted her chair closer. “Hit a tough one? Need my help?”

“Yes, yes!” Bo Ranying nodded eagerly, forgetting to let go of the pen. Her eyes lit up like a sky full of stars.

She turned her body toward Nan Qi and slid the workbook over a bit, pointing with her neatly manicured, soft pink fingertip at the problem that had stumped her for so long. It landed on the white paper, and Nan Qi found herself staring at the girl’s finger. Her heart fluttered, and she zoned out for a moment.

“So how do we solve for the time it takes the car to reach rated power?” Bo Ranying prompted, completely oblivious to Nan Qi’s distraction.

Nan Qi snapped back to attention, her ears turning faintly pink. She shifted her focus to the problem, sorted out her thoughts, and then explained it to Bo Ranying step by step—breaking down the formulas and key concepts in a clear, accessible way.

When it came to studying, Nan Qi threw herself into it completely, and nothing else could distract her.

After hearing Nan Qi’s explanation, Bo Ranying suddenly saw the light. The once-bewildering problem broke down into simple symbols before her eyes. One look, and she knew exactly how to rearrange them to get the standard answer.

It was all thanks to Nan Qi.

With her excitement surging from conquering the tough problem, Bo Ranying glanced at the nearby profile of the other girl—her jawline taut. Following her impulse, she leaned up and planted a soft peck on Nan Qi’s cheek, a gentle, pleasant breath brushing past at the same time.

“Thanks, Little Qi! You’re amazing—I got it right away~” she gushed stickily sweet.

Nan Qi’s calm heart instantly rippled into chaos, as if an oriole had plummeted unreasoningly into the lake and was now stomping its claws wildly across the surface, determined to churn the spring waters into a frenzy.

In that instant, the ice melted away, and spring burst into bloom.

She couldn’t settle down for a long while.

“W-What are you doing?”

She stammered, her face heating up as a spark ignited at the tip of her heart. The secret feelings buried deep inside threatened to bubble over uncontrollably.

She didn’t spell it out, but Bo Ranying understood perfectly.

Blinking, Bo Ranying replied matter-of-factly, “You looked so cute and serious while explaining. Super charming. I wanted to kiss you, so I did.”

She especially adored Nan Qi—whether in her serious and aloof mode or her shy and bashful one, she was irresistibly cute. She was beautiful too, soft to hug, and kissing her felt like biting into a creamy candy, all sweet and melty. Plus, she folded so easily.

Most importantly, she was the one and only special to Nan Qi, the High Ridge Flower.

In their time together, every moment made Bo Ranying feel deeply cherished by her, and she craved it greedily.

“Oh—”

Nan Qi’s cheeks flushed red as she accepted the explanation.

While Bo Ranying wasn’t looking, she turned away discreetly and fanned her cheeks with her hand to cool off.

A moment later, she turned back as if nothing had happened, cleared her throat lightly twice, and said, “Let’s do English next.”

Bo Ranying chimed in delightedly, “My tarot cards say English should be second too!”

“Perfect.” Nan Qi pondered with feigned reserve. She left the chair she’d scooted over right where it was and settled in comfortably beside Bo Ranying to write.

She figured Bo Ranying had started the teasing first, so she was just responding in kind to her own desires.

Bo Ranying breezed through subjects she was good at.

Suddenly, the arm holding her pen was poked by a cool hand.

She turned to meet Nan Qi’s hesitant, pleading gaze. “Subject Representative, I don’t know how to do this one. Teach me?”

That title sent Bo Ranying floating on air. Being needed by the Class President was an honor she was determined to live up to. “Which one?” Her voice rose eagerly at the end.

Nan Qi considered for a second and pointed to a problem.

Bo Ranying nodded knowingly. “Ah, this one’s pretty tricky. We should start with…”

“Mwah~”

Out of nowhere, she was kissed. Bo Ranying blinked in a daze.

Bo Ranying: “?” She hadn’t even finished explaining!

Nan Qi gazed at her with utter innocence.

Bo Ranying opened her mouth. “Hey—” But before she could get the word out fully, her shoulders were pinned down. A forceful kiss branded her lips, overwhelming and inescapable, leaving no room for retreat.