Young Master, I'll Give You a Three-Step Head Start

During the day, the town hall's night watchmen carried long poles and turned off the gas lamps along the streets one by one.

Wayne leaned ostentatiously against a gas lamppost, showing off as he chatted with a night watchman who had just finished his shift.

When he saw Li Mo and the two girls arrive,

Wayne twirled his cane and said elegantly, "Good morning, Mondel Town! What lovely weather today. The lawn salon this afternoon will surely-"

At that point, Anna suddenly interrupted him.

"Wayne, sorry, could you take Helen and scout ahead?"

Sorry?

Had she actually said sorry?

Goosebumps rose all over Wayne's body.

In his many years of experience, nothing good ever came of Anna speaking in that tone.

He stood at attention and saluted. "Yes, ma'am! ...Helen, I heard the bakery at the crossroads just baked a new lemon tart today. Let's go take a look!"

"Huh? B-but..." Before Helen could understand what was happening, Wayne ushered her along, urging her into a brisk run ahead.

In the blink of an eye, only Li Mo and Anna were left.

Anna took a deep breath and put a gentle smile on her face.

"Let's talk, young master Li Mo."

Calling him young master at home was part of her job, but how would he deal with her calling him that outside?

Li Mo's survival instincts kicked into overdrive, and he hurried to defend himself.

"I was very well behaved last night. I explained the math problems to you properly and didn't even turn my head once. I didn't do anything I shouldn't have, did I?"

Anna kept smiling and tilted her head.

"What's wrong? Have you forgotten what you said already? You said you couldn't sleep unless I took all my clothes off. And you call that not doing anything?"

Li Mo: "??"

He was utterly stunned. Feeling terribly wronged, he said, "Wait, when did I ever say that?"

"Last night, while you were working." Anna smiled at him. "I came over to tell you to rest and asked if you weren't satisfied with just holding me while we slept anymore, if you'd only go to sleep if I took all my clothes off and slept with you. And you said to me yourself, 'Mm-hmm, that's right.'"

As soon as Li Mo heard that, he realized what had happened.

His old habit must have acted up and caused a misunderstanding.

He immediately explained.

"You misunderstood, Anna. Now, whenever I get focused on my work, I tend not to know what I'm saying, and my brush-off personality comes online. Simply put, even if you'd asked me whether you should go blow up the town hall, I would've answered, 'Mm-hmm'!"

Anna's mouth twitched when she heard that.

"A brush-off personality... I've known you for over ten years. How come I never knew you had a personality like that? Hmm?"

Li Mo cleared his throat and gave an awkward laugh.

"Didn't I just grow up recently? I've entered puberty, so my brain is developing pretty quickly, and my personality has undergone a few minor changes..."

The smile gradually faded from Anna's face.

"So you're saying that from beginning to end last night, I was the only one getting the wrong idea, and I took my clothes off because of it?"

Li Mo had two choices.

Option A: agree with Anna and claim he'd actually been planning it all along last night, confirming his guilt as a lecherous young master in exchange for his maid's peace of mind.

Option B: uphold scientific materialism and reconstruct the truth of the incident based on the facts.

Without hesitation, he chose to tell the truth.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. And you only went halfway with your seduction and held me down so I couldn't move. It was really uncomfortable for me too, and I didn't sleep well all night."

Anna: "?"

At that moment, Anna was truly about to faint with rage.

She had agonized over it and spent so long preparing herself mentally last night, only for it all to turn out to be because this bastard had been brushing her off?

And now he even dared to turn the tables on her in the middle of the street, complaining that she'd only gone halfway with her seduction and made him sleep badly?!

She couldn't take it anymore!

Even a steamed bun might tolerate it, but a noodle couldn't!

Anna closed her eyes and took two deep breaths in succession, only to find that they did nothing to calm her emotions.

Her little fists were already clenched...

Then she took off her schoolbag and held it out to Li Mo. "Hold this."

Li Mo reached out and took the schoolbag. "What for?" he asked, bewildered.

Anna smiled. "It's hard to put my strength into hitting someone with a schoolbag on."

Li Mo: "Is there no room for negotiation?"

Anna: "Young master, since you took such care explaining those problems yesterday, I'll give you a three-step head start."

"One."

The moment Anna spoke, Li Mo turned and ran!

What was this, the otherworld version of "I'm counting to three"?

Li Mo got fired up too. You think you can outrun me?!

"Two! Three!!"

Finished counting, Anna said softly, "Here I come."

Li Mo said nothing and simply kept speeding up.

Before long, the two of them overtook Wayne and Helen.

Wayne took one look at the situation, and his expression changed.

"This is bad, they're really fighting! Quick, catch up and hold Anna back!"

Helen blinked timidly and asked in a small voice,

"W-what's wrong?"

Wayne had already started running after them. He looked back and shouted,

"Aren't you afraid Anna will beat Li Mo to death? Let's go!"

Helen stood there in a daze for a moment.

She looked up and saw that the three of them were already pounding down the street, running farther and farther away.

Li Mo ran in front, loudly begging for mercy as he went. Anna was hot on his heels, while Wayne ran alongside them, shouting,

"If you can settle it with your fists, don't talk it out! Hey, you can't beat him to death hitting him like that!"

Was Wayne trying to hold Anna back or add fuel to the fire?!

Helen didn't stop to think any further and quickened her pace to catch up.

Mondel Town had been blessed with a rare spell of fine weather that September.

The early morning sunlight fell on the boys and girls as they ran and chased one another.

They ran so fast, the sounds of their horseplay echoing down the entire street.

They were at such a vibrant age, and the road ahead seemed to stretch toward an infinitely vast future.

Without realizing it, Helen began jogging along with them.

The fresh morning breeze blew against her face, brushing the ends of her hair by her ears.

As she ran, the girl panted softly, her cheeks rosy, and then...

The corners of her mouth lifted in a rare, bright and gentle smile.

Some passing Puxiu Academy students saw Helen. One rubbed his eyes and said to his friend,

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Was that Helen just now?"

"I think... so? I never knew she looked so pretty when she smiled."

"Yeah, I'm starting to understand Matthew a little."

"Question Matthew, understand Matthew, but whatever you do, don't become Matthew... Don't forget how badly he embarrassed himself yesterday. The whole school's been joking about his stomachache. Now whenever people run into a question they can't answer, they say-"

"Damn... why now of all times... I'm so dizzy..."

Having finished imitating Matthew, the two students burst out laughing.

"I'm dying. Hey, if I were Matthew, I wouldn't even go to morning study today."

"Tell me about it!"

"Oh, right, let's hurry. I heard there's a transfer student joining Class One today. Let's go see what's happening."

"Class One? The entrance exams are almost here. Who'd transfer at a time like this?"

"No idea. I heard she's a noble young lady who just moved here from the next town over..."

As they spoke, a luxurious carriage bearing the unfamiliar crest of a family slowly traveled down the long street.

Behind its slightly raised curtain, a pair of cool black eyes quietly watched the noisy group of boys and girls running ahead...