From jerk to baby and back again!

[Wait, let me think back. Did I just go out of character and ruin my sweetie persona?]

He Zhen thought it was impressive that she still had room to worry about her persona.

[Probably not. I didn't swear out loud just now. Still a good girl.]

Yao Tao rubbed her hands together and decided everything was okay. Perfect.

The two of them left the principal's office. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Yao Tao, Qiao Lang let her and He Zhen return to class.

Zhong Wen and the others had only just left the school for the hospital when they received some good news: Zhang Rui had woken up.

He hurried to Zhang Rui's hospital room to ask who exactly had injured his son, only to find a white-haired man in his sixties already sitting there with a cane.

Zhong Wen's heart sank. All he could think was that Yao Tao had lied.

Two men stood behind the elderly man, one on either side, their posture impeccable.

Zhong Wen himself wouldn't have believed anyone who said they weren't military.

The old man smiled amiably and greeted Zhong Wen. "Shall we sit down and talk?"

Zhang Rui's gaze darted around, not daring to meet Zhong Wen's eyes.

Zhong Wen stumbled and nearly collapsed onto the floor. Fortunately, Auntie Liu caught him.

He Zhen and Yao Tao walked along a wooded path on campus.

He said nothing. Yao Tao started reviewing what had happened again, and the more she went over it, the angrier she became.

He Zhen swallowed the question he had been about to ask: whether they should go back to class.

[Nope. The more I think about backing down, the angrier I get.]

[Why should I put up with it?]

[Those bastards! Their parents are decent enough, but look at the kids! Useless at everything except stirring up trouble, and they have the nerve to cry?]

[I need to go cry to my uncles too!]

[I'm so pissed. The more I think about it, the angrier I get.]

[Damn it, I won't calm down until I've polished off seventeen or eighteen cakes.]

[No, I'm sending a message right now.]

He Zhen didn't think there was anything wrong with what Yao Tao was doing. He just found it a little funny to watch her cheeks slowly redden and puff up.

"Want something to eat?" He Zhen thought it over and decided to take her out for the cake she loved.

Yao Tao looked like an angry little pufferfish. The more she thought, the angrier she got, and the angrier she got, the more her cheeks puffed up. He Zhen wanted to poke her cheek and tell her there was no point getting worked up over this.

But then he reconsidered. Why shouldn't Yao Tao be angry?

They had cornered her. If she hadn't been such a good fighter... He Zhen felt uneasy again.

What if it had been someone else?

[Holy shit, I really didn't expect Fu Xin shedding a few tears to have such a huge effect.]

[Looks like she really is desperate.]

[Zhong Shengtai was originally going to corner Han Qinglu. Well, this works too. Serves him right.]

[What kind of miracle worker did this?]

[Amazing. They beat him beyond recognition. Doesn't that put Zhong Shengtai straight out of commission?]

[Hehe, a true miracle worker. Now Zhong Shengtai can't stir up trouble for Han Qinglu.]

[All right, that counts as a good deed.]

One moment Yao Tao was puffing out her cheeks; the next, she was chuckling.

[Take one step back and it's a sheer cliff. I still can't swallow this insult.]

Seeing that she didn't seem to have heard him, He Zhen felt both helpless and a little sorry for her. Yao Tao really was furious. "Would taking you out for dessert cheer you up a little?"

*[?]*

*[??]*

*[???]*

If there had been a ceiling, Yao Tao's head would definitely have hit it right then.

[Aaaaaah, my baby is actually worried about me!]

[I don't care, I don't care, I don't care! He's worried about me.]

[He loves me!]

He Zhen: ...He did not.

He Zhen still took Yao Tao to a newly opened dessert shop near the school.

There weren't many people inside. The students were all still in class.

There were, however, bags upon bags of takeout waiting for delivery riders to collect them.

[He Zhen is skipping class with me!]

[Round that up, and we're on a date!]

[Mom, I've made it!]

Yao Tao was going wild inside her head, but she sounded perfectly well-behaved. "He Zhen, what are you ordering?"

"Just a lemon black tea. You order. See what you like." He Zhen wasn't particularly fond of sweets. He simply wanted to make Yao Tao feel a little better.

But Yao Tao's mood might already have shot well past the target.

[Boohoo, I like lemon black tea too. Combine like terms, and we like each other!]

[I knew it. I must have been exceptionally brave that day!]

He Zhen: ...He had no idea how Yao Tao had managed to circle back to those R18 scenarios in barely a dozen seconds!

[If only this useless brain of mine worked!]

Practically drooling, Yao Tao attacked the menu with determination. Before she knew it, she had ordered seventeen little cakes.

"Would you like any of these packed to go?" the server asked tactfully.

She was afraid Yao Tao wouldn't be able to eat that much.

[Who are you underestimating?]

As Yao Tao said that inwardly, her expression faltered slightly at the sight of He Zhen.

[Oh my god, I really do seem to have ordered too much!]

[Aaaaaah, my baby won't think I'm a bottomless pit, will he?]

[Damn it, this is why I said I shouldn't let my emotions control me!]

[I'm over thirty if you add my two lives together. Why am I still like this?]

[I'm supposed to be the gentle, adorable, demure little-sister type!]

[Blah blah blah. I'm tired. Let it all burn!]

He Zhen scrolled through his phone. On the menu accessed through the QR code, he saw that most of what Yao Tao had ordered was chocolate. She really did seem to love chocolate. "It's fine if you can't finish. You can pack it up and take it back to share with your roommates."

[Boohoo, he's so sweet.]

[But Fu Xin definitely wouldn't eat this much.]

[Damn it, I lost.]

He Zhen hadn't realized she was so fond of comparing herself to Fu Xin.

When he thought about how Fu Xin was also tied to the cause of this incident, the smile on He Zhen's face faded a little.

It seemed he didn't really understand Fu Xin.

The perfect image of Fu Xin in his mind was gradually crumbling, revealing an entirely different Fu Xin.

Fu Xin wasn't as innocent and pitiable as he had imagined.

He Zhen didn't want to assume the worst.

He would ask her about it, but not now.

Yao Tao had been planning to show a little restraint, but when she saw the square cakes the size of a fingernail, she nearly lost control of her expression.

[What the hell? I thought they'd at least be palm-sized. What is this?]

[Hey, doesn't your shop take this "girls eat like birds" thing a little too seriously?]

[Eighteen cakes, and the plates are the most impressive part!]

Yao Tao felt she could eat each one in a single bite.

He Zhen smiled. "Go ahead. We can order more if you want."

[Oh my god, if putting up with this tiny bit of mistreatment gets my baby to take me out and foot the bill, Zhong Shengtai's parents can make all the trouble they want!]

[I'll gladly take this mistreatment!!!]

"Are you paying?" Yao Tao asked, her eyes curving into crescents. Her incurably cheeky mouth had acted up again, and she regretted it as soon as she spoke.

[Aaaaaah, I'm so forward!]

[But we've already done everything there is to do, so this doesn't really count as being forward, does it?]

That thought sent Yao Tao into another bout of secret delight.

[Oh, why am I such a bad girl? Hehehe!]

[Another day of loving myself even more!?]

"...We're splitting it," He Zhen said expressionlessly.

Yao Tao: ...

[Jerk.]

[Not a shred of gentlemanly behavior!]

[Right, he saves all his gentlemanly behavior for Fu Xin. How would anyone else get a turn?]

He Zhen couldn't even muster any annoyance anymore. When she was happy, she called him baby and darling. When she wasn't, he was a damn simp and a jerk.