For You, a Thousand Times Over

After finally shaking off Sister Lin, Yang Zhi hurried to Ding Yebai's home. After a simple greeting, she began the lesson.

Ding Yebai got every dictation question right today, and he finally broke into a happy little smile.

Yang Zhi happened to catch that boyish smile and was stunned for quite a while.

She watched him with interest for three seconds. Just before she looked away, Ding Yebai raised his eyes and met her gaze.

Yang Zhi smiled naturally and did not say anything. Given her position, how could she possibly say something like, "You look pretty good when you smile. You should smile more"?

Wrong!

That would have been a huge mistake.

So she might as well keep silent.

Ding Yebai: "..."

Yang Zhi continued grading Ding Yebai's papers.

Ding Yebai's accuracy was also slowly, slowly improving. Although he always felt that he had made little progress, Yang Zhi kept encouraging him.

Yang Zhi began explaining the questions he had gotten wrong. Ding Yebai listened very seriously, completely absorbed, and did not even realize that the five-minute break had arrived.

In the end, Yang Zhi had to remind him.

"Take a break."

"Mm."

As usual, Yang Zhi opened her water bottle and took a drink.

Ding Yebai looked over his mistakes. After finishing, he raised his head to look at Yang Zhi and asked, "Sister Yang Zhi, what's your favorite quote?"

Yang Zhi: "Hmm?"

She froze for a moment, screwed the cap back onto her bottle, set it on the table, and looked at him in utter confusion.

Ding Yebai: "Of all the books you've read, is there a line you like the most?"

"Oh, you mean that." Yang Zhi gave a slight nod and said without hesitation, "Of course. There's a line in The Kite Runner that I really like."

Ding Yebai straightened up and looked at her with unusual seriousness.

Yang Zhi lifted her eyes, smiled calmly, and said, "For you, a thousand times over."

A gentle smile flickered at the corners of her lips, like a green lotus blooming in early summer—quiet and poetic, pure as water, with a faint fragrance.

Ding Yebai stared blankly for a few seconds before translating the line unhurriedly: "For you, a thousand times over."

Yang Zhi nodded, looking quite happy. "That's the one. You know it too?"

Ding Yebai: "Mm. The words Hassan said to Amir."

Yang Zhi: "I've always wondered what kind of feelings could make someone say those words to another person from the bottom of their heart."

Hearing that, Ding Yebai took the opportunity to ask, "Sister Yang Zhi, is there anyone you especially, especially like and cherish?"

Yang Zhi shuddered. She furrowed her brows slightly and looked at Ding Yebai in equal confusion. "Yes. Grandma and Mom."

"Then just put yourself in their place and you'll understand."

"..."

Yang Zhi nodded and smiled habitually. "That's true." After saying that, she rolled up her sleeve and glanced at her slim watch. "All right, it's time for class. Let's continue."

"Okay."

Ding Yebai picked up his pen and lowered his head, but in the end, he could not help sneaking another glance at her.

She still looked quiet and gentle, as beautiful as a painting.

What about the opposite sex? Don't you have anyone you especially like?

After class that evening, Ding Yebai sat on the living-room sofa, thinking about the words "For you, a thousand times over."

They had to be said once in Chinese, and once in English too.

After a while, he heard someone coming upstairs.

Without turning his head, he said, "Sis, you're back."

Ding Yuerong rubbed her sore shoulder as she tossed her bag onto the sofa. "Yeah. Starting a business isn't easy. Ah, why are you still awake, kid?"

Ding Yebai: "Almost."

He took an unhurried sip of water as he spoke.

Ding Yuerong sat down beside him, took a stack of papers from her bag, and stared at them intently.

Ding Yebai secretly stole a glance and asked casually, "What are you looking at?"

"Love letters."

"What? Cough, cough. Someone wrote you a love letter? That person must have bad eyesight. They should go see an eye doctor."

"Get lost. Are you sick? They're for Yang Zhi."

"..."

What????

"Yang Zhi came to my company before, and one of my key employees fell in love with her at first sight. He thought about it for a long time and finally decided to write her a confession letter."

With that, she held it out for Ding Yebai to see. "Look. My employee filled it from top to bottom. Twenty sheets of A4 paper, written on both sides. So heartfelt."

"Twenty sheets? That's way too much. Also, isn't it a little inappropriate for you to read someone else's love letter?"

"Tsk. I obviously got permission, all right? Besides, that employee of mine is a hopeless romantic. I heard he even read the whole letter aloud at the company and asked everyone if they had any suggestions."

"Oh."

The corners of Ding Yebai's mouth twitched a few times. On the surface, he remained perfectly calm and unruffled. But on closer inspection, the veins on the back of the hand holding his cup had bulged.

Ding Yebai: "So how did she... react?"

Ding Yuerong: "What other reaction could she have? She turned him down immediately. But I was afraid my key employee's fragile little heart would be hurt and that he'd quit the company in a fit of anger... So I had Yang Zhi write something for him."

"Oh," Ding Yebai said indifferently.

Three seconds later, he turned his head again and said in a low voice, "What did she write? Can I... see it?"

"You're actually interested in this?"

Ding Yebai froze and blinked a few times, looking slightly flustered. He turned his head away and said, "I just want to see her handwriting. It's pretty, so I want to study it."

"That's a pretty forced excuse. Here." Ding Yuerong did not ask anything else and simply handed him the paper.

Ding Yebai leaned closer and saw the familiar, elegant handwriting.

[I'm very sorry. I can't accept your confession. Thank you for liking me. I hope you meet someone you both truly like in the future and find an even more perfect love.]

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Ding Yuerong shook her head and sighed. "Her handwriting really is pretty."

Ding Yebai's eyes seemed glued to the paper. He could no longer hear a word his sister was saying.

Ding Yuerong: "Sometimes I think that even liking her is a lucky thing. She's so gentle even when rejecting someone."

"Why did she have to write..." Ding Yebai asked.

Ding Yuerong: "Hmm?"

Ding Yebai's gaze was resolute, like that of an immature child, with a hint of stubbornness. "She could have just said she didn't like him and been done with it. Why write so much for him?"

He did not even know what he was angry about or why his emotions had become like this.

I'm supposed to be the cold and aloof type. What is going on?

Ding Yuerong widened her eyes, utterly baffled.

"How is that a lot? And what's it to you, kid? Why are you getting so worked up? Yang Zhi isn't like what you think."

"Isn't she? What kind of person is she?"

Ding Yebai's expression practically spelled out the words "goody two-shoes."

"Hey, you little brat!" Ding Yuerong's eyelids immediately drooped. She patted Ding Yebai's back and argued, "She didn't do anything to you. Why are you so worked up? Yang Zhi isn't what you think."

She simply happened to have a pair of naturally gentle almond-shaped eyes, and her temperament was mild and unhurried.

"When it comes to matters of the heart, she's never vague! If she doesn't like someone, she rejects them, and she keeps her distance afterward. If she were some holier-than-thou green tea or a heart-stealing player, do you think someone with my personality could become her good friend?"

Ding Yebai thought that made sense. His sister was straightforward and carefree, so naturally she liked sincere people as friends.

His mind was a mess. The threads of his thoughts were growing thicker and twisting together until he could no longer untangle them.

Am I crazy? Why am I doubting her?

After spending time with her, don't I know what kind of person she is?

Gentleness could be faked, but character and kindness from the core of one's being could not.

What am I... angry about?

No, was this anger? His emotions felt wrong. This was not anger.

This was...

"Jealousy?"

Ding Yebai lifted his eyes blankly and stared ahead as he spoke.

The tangled clouds of sorrow in his heart seemed to part in that instant, revealing a bright moonlit sky.

Ding Yuerong shot him a sidelong glance and did not bother with him anymore. She said, "I'm going to bed," carefully tucked Yang Zhi's paper back into her bag, and got up to go to the bedroom.

After she left, Ding Yebai scratched his cheek with a finger, then pinched his own face until his cheeks puffed up.

Get a grip, Ding Yebai!!!

Bang!

He once again smacked his forehead with his hand. His lips silently repeated "Get a grip, get a grip, the wise do not fall in love, Uncle Three, Uncle Three, Uncle Three, Uncle Three" countless times.

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Thanks to The Human World Is Quite Noisy for 104 Origin Point Coins.