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In the dormitory, she hurriedly took a shower, racing against time. When she got home, Zhang Yunyi spent a long time in the bathroom, washing every strand of hair and every toe with meticulous care before finally coming out. She felt as if every pore of her body had opened, and it was incredibly refreshing. Lying on her small bed, she could still catch the faint fragrance of the clean sheets. Just as she was about to sigh and declare herself the happiest person in the world, she suddenly remembered the few exam papers the teacher had handed out. Instantly, she was speechless and choked up.

So annoying!

After eagerly waiting for a whole day off, they still assigned so much homework. Who are they trying to kill?

Reluctantly, she climbed off the bed and obediently went to her desk. She turned on the lamp, took out the papers, spread them flat, took a deep breath, and prepared herself to be baptized by knowledge. After several minutes of picking a pen from the pencil holder, she chose a beautifully designed ballpoint pen.

After writing down her name, Zhang Yunyi noticed her nails had grown a bit long. She put down the pen, found a nail clipper in the drawer, and trimmed her nails.

She also applied some hand cream while she was at it.

In short, by the time she refocused and started working on the problems, twenty minutes had already passed.

In the living room, Yin Wendan lowered the TV volume. Seeing that it was almost midnight, she yawned, turned off the TV, and when she reached the guest bedroom, she squatted down and noticed light seeping through the door crack. Feeling a bit helpless, she didn’t even knock and walked right in.

She strode quickly to the desk, muttering, “Still reading comics this late? Go to bed early, will you? What about your eyes?”

Zhang Yunyi was quite startled. “...”

Yin Wendan looked closely and thought she must be mistaken. “You’re doing homework?”

Finally, Zhang Yunyi found an opportunity to retort and wouldn’t let it pass. She immediately played the aggrieved card, “What else? Mom, next time before you come in, could you please knock? And I’m already a senior in high school, still reading comics—are you really watching me like that?”

Okay, her mom wasn’t wrong.

In her previous life, every time she came home, she wouldn’t do her homework until the last second and would then bury herself in comics.

Yin Wendan hesitated for a moment. “It’s quite late. The homework can be done tomorrow just as well. Go to sleep.”

Zhang Yunyi puffed out her chest. “It’s still early.”

Yin Wendan wanted to reach out and feel her forehead—was she sick?

“Also, Mom!” Zhang Yunyi had to defend her rights. “From now on, if you come in without knocking, you have to pay a fine—fifty yuan each time!”

Yin Wendan laughed and poked her forehead hard. “I won’t give you fifty; I’ll give you a big slap.” Then she softened her tone, “Want me to make you some juice?”

“No thanks,” Zhang Yunyi said lazily. “If I drink it, I’ll have to brush my teeth again. Too much trouble.”

Yin Wendan didn’t insist further, reminded her a few more times, then quietly left the room with a smile on her face. She thought, how did she get such a sensible daughter? Back then, she was clueless, but now she was so diligent. After some thought, she decided to increase her weekly allowance by a hundred yuan.

Zhang Yunyi guessed, guessed again, and furiously flipped through her books. She finally finished one exam paper, stretched, and took a moment to check her phone. It was full of missed calls and message bombardments from Li Jiayue.

All of this was expected. Even in the tangled, jumbled texts, she could sense his refusal to accept the situation. To make her take back "forget it," he had even made many promises—silent tears from a man, loud sobs from a woman. But she had already been through this once and knew better now. She couldn’t soften her heart at a time like this. Unless she wanted to be with him again, she shouldn’t give him even the slightest hope.

She looked once more and then put the phone away.

...

Since her rebirth, this was the first time Zhang Yunyi had slept until waking naturally. The sun was shining on her quilt. She glanced at the time: 10 a.m. She shuffled out in slippers, hair messy. Zhang Zhikuan was mopping the floor. Seeing his daughter awake, he grinned, “Did Dad wake you up?”

“No.” Zhang Yunyi sniffed the air. “It smells so good!”

Zhang Zhikuan said, “Your mom went out early this morning to buy beef-filled pancake bread and sticky rice. There are steamed dumplings in the pot, and the fried rice noodles are still hot.”

Zhang Yunyi’s stomach was already growling. She had woken up hungry. Without further ado, she quickly washed, then sat at the dining table to enjoy breakfast. It was no problem if she couldn’t finish it all—her dad was the family’s leftover food cleaner...

“Don’t eat too much,” Yin Wendan reminded her. “You won’t want lunch if you’re too full. Your grandpa sent fresh beef early this morning.”

“Where’s grandpa?” Zhang Yunyi swallowed a mouthful of pancake bread and asked vaguely.

“He couldn’t wait for you to get up,” Zhang Zhikuan came to the table. “He has a card game appointment at eleven.”

Zhang Yunyi was envious.

Her grandparents were retired and lived nearby in an old house. Their daily lives were full and joyful.

“Let’s eat later today!” Zhang Yunyi said. “I’m going out to buy some things soon.”

Yin Wendan considered, “You’re just a kid. What are you going to buy? Let your dad drive you.”

Zhang Yunyi had no argument.

Even when she was twenty-seven, her mom would tell acquaintances on the street before leaving that the kid at home was still waiting for dinner.

There was no room for objection now.

After Zhang Zhikuan finished mopping, he grabbed the car keys, and the father and daughter headed out. Zhang Yunyi didn’t ask her dad to come along. She entered the supermarket, found a box of instant black coffee on the shelf, and eagerly bought some mint candies that gave a cool sensation all the way to her head.

Across the street was a chain bakery. She didn’t have to pay for that—her dad’s workplace gave out cake cards as benefits, mostly used by her.

She bought three boxes of freshly baked egg tarts and some cookies with longer shelf lives.

Standing in front of the transparent display case, she thought of Chen Kuo.

She wanted to bring him something to eat but had no idea what he liked. Then, a flash of inspiration struck. At the company, she had occasionally overheard Fei Shijie mention that Chen Kuo loved chestnuts from an old, reputable shop in Jiangzhou.

But she wasn’t sure if she remembered correctly.

She hadn’t paid close attention at the time and wouldn’t have cared anyway—who pays attention to what the boss likes to eat?

Well, she might as well try. If he didn’t like it, it didn’t matter. The thought counted.

After getting in the car, she excitedly asked her dad to drive her to that shop. It was just a narrow storefront back then, nothing like the chain it would become ten years later.

“Roasted chestnuts?” Zhang Zhikuan looked puzzled. “Don’t you dislike those?”

“They’re for a classmate.”

It wasn’t very close; driving took more than ten minutes. Good products don’t fear hidden alleys. The shop was very popular. It opened at 10 a.m., closed once sold out, and was done for the day by 4 p.m. By eleven, a line had already formed.

Zhang Yunyi followed the queue nervously, wondering if this was too flattering.

She rarely doubted herself and quickly answered her own question: Of course not!

Times had changed.

The class monitor had just given her a set of exam papers yesterday. This was a reciprocal gesture. If she thought about it, the boss’s gift was much more expensive than the chestnuts—she was actually profiting.

Though the line looked long, she was served quickly and bought three portions.

She valued her time, so buying for only the monitor seemed unfair.

One for the monitor, one to share in the dorm, and one for her parents.

...

Lunch was sumptuous, only slightly less grand than New Year’s Eve dinner. Zhang Yunyi polished off two bowls of rice at once and took a nap at home. Her parents were soon ready to drive her to school.

In the back seat, Yin Wendan took some bills from her wallet and handed them to her. “Eat more meat at school. You’re so thin; you need meat for strength.”

Zhang Yunyi took the money and counted it but didn’t notice the extra hundred. “I eat meat every day and drink milk!”

“Why suddenly like milk again?” Yin Wendan asked.

Zhang Yunyi had disliked milk since childhood, saying it smelled fishy. “For protein.”

“Want me to buy you a whole carton?” Zhang Zhikuan was watching the road ahead; there was a supermarket not far away.

“No, no way!” Zhang Yunyi politely declined. “Parents can’t enter the dorm. Carrying it up six flights would kill me. There’s a school store, too.”

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She left early today, not because she was rushing to school, but because she hadn’t finished her exam papers.

In senior year, teachers didn’t check homework; it was all self-discipline.

Zhang Yunyi couldn’t help but think: if she had had this self-discipline at seventeen in her past life, she might have done better on the college entrance exam. Her parents would have been so relieved.

After watching her parents drive away, she returned to the dorm, put away her change of clothes and egg tarts. The first to arrive was Zhou Anqi, an eager student, who was lying on the bed reading. She peeked in and was surprised. “Zhang Yunyi, it’s just after four. Why are you going to the classroom so early?”

“I haven’t finished the papers. By the way, the egg tarts are for you all. Don’t forget to eat them.”

“Now I’m not sleepy,” Zhou Anqi said. Her athleticism showed as she jumped off the bed, took a bite of the egg tart, and the crispy crust flaked off. “Delicious!”

“I’m heading to class now.”

Zhou Anqi muttered, “You’ve been terrifyingly diligent lately.”

Zhang Yunyi wanted to cry. Was this what she wanted? If she were her former self, at her intellectual peak, wouldn’t lying in bed listening to music be more enjoyable?

“Don’t mention it,” she sighed heavily. “Too much to say, only tears.”

With that, she grabbed the roasted chestnuts and her school bag and left the dorm to head to the classroom. There were others like her, but not many. Just as she was about to approach Chen Kuo’s desk, she suddenly thought: does he share her surname? Of course not. If she was bringing food, she had to leave a note!

She stuck a small sticky note on the paper bag: “The exam questions are really useful, thank you ^_^”

After placing the chestnuts inside Chen Kuo’s desk, she returned to her seat, scratching her head and wearing a pained expression as she worked on her homework. Time flew by. When she briefly emerged from her misery, many classmates had arrived, and the classroom had grown louder.

She felt a bit hungry and went to the cafeteria with her wallet.

Having eaten so well at home all day, she decided to keep it light for dinner, only eating a bowl of vegetarian knife-cut noodles.

She felt there was some kind of fate between her and her boss. On the way back to class, she met Chen Kuo again. Of course, he no longer avoided her. They maintained the distance appropriate for classmates and chatted.

“Just finished eating?”

“Yeah, the cafeteria’s knife-cut noodles are good,” Zhang Yunyi nodded repeatedly. “What about you? Have you eaten? What did you have?”

“At home.”

They chatted casually as they approached the teaching building, climbing the steps one after another.

“I don’t even have time to eat at home. I haven’t finished my papers,” Zhang Yunyi smiled softly. “Class monitor, you’ve surely finished yours, right?”

Chen Kuo nodded. She heard the frustration in her voice as she said, “Almost a whole day off, and I’m still rushing homework. I’m exhausted. It’s so hard.”

He swallowed his retort, “It’s pretty simple when done,” back down.

They stopped chatting at the rear door of the classroom and returned to their seats. Chen Kuo hung his backpack on the chair, relaxed as he tidied the books on his desk. Habitually, he reached into the desk compartment for his pencil case but accidentally grabbed something that rustled.

He stared for a few seconds, then pulled it out and looked down. It was a bag of roasted chestnuts he loved.

And on it, a green sticky note.

Simple words, which he recognized, but somehow felt strange and confusing when put together:

What is this?

What does it mean?

He didn’t understand, didn’t comprehend, and instinctively looked back toward Zhang Yunyi.

She was adjusting her hair and accidentally met his gaze. A smile curved her lips as she beamed at him.