After the Lantern Festival, Gu Zhijing had to bid farewell to his joyful holiday life and return to school.
Every second semester, a tense atmosphere would begin to permeate the school, as the senior students were getting closer to the college entrance examinations in June.
Faced with motivational banners visible throughout the school and the sight of senior students studying everywhere, even the freshmen began to feel an inexplicable sense of urgency.
"Which university are you all planning to attend?" Qu Zizhou asked his friends during lunch.
"I'll stay local. Isn't the best school in the country right here?" Qi Anlu had a clear goal - he wanted to attend the country's top university, not for anyone else but himself.
"I don't even need to say it. I'm not leaving home. The school doesn't matter; I'll take whatever I can get," said mama's boy Gu Zhijing.
"Same here."
Hearing that all three planned to stay local, Qu Zizhou sighed.
"Looks like I have no choice but to study hard. My mom said if I don't get into a university, she'll exile me to Guinea with my dad."
"With your final exam results, how could you not get into university?"
"..."
"Can't argue with a top student like you."
While Gu Zhijing was beginning his grueling academic life, Nian Suian received a phone call from Zhao Yue about Yu Chun's schooling matters.
Yu Chun had previously attended high school for a while before dropping out, and waiting until September to start freshman year would be a waste of time.
"I've been tutoring her lately, and she won't have any problem keeping up with the freshman curriculum."
Zhao Yue also explained the reasons for wanting Yu Chun to attend school in the city, mainly considering safety and educational quality.
"I asked if she wanted to go home weekly to see her grandmother or rent a place in the city for both of them to live together. She said she wants to stay with her grandmother. Since it's complicated to transfer into a public school mid-term, I found her a private school."
Zhao Yue had arranged everything regarding Yu Chun's schooling, which moved Nian Suian deeply. "You've arranged everything so well, much better than I could have."
As for living expenses, they would rely on the money Yu Chun had saved from her previous job. The school Zhao Yue found offered scholarships, so as long as her academic performance was excellent, supporting herself wouldn't be a problem.
"I thought you'd be concerned about her situation, so I wanted to let you know. Don't worry about anything else - our CEO Liu is covering her tuition."
"Your CEO..."
"That's right, our CEO is both a miser and a philanthropist."
Nian Suian laughed at Zhao Yue's description, though it was quite accurate - spending considerable money to help others with education while being reluctant to take dating prospects to expensive restaurants.
"Send me her school address later. I'll visit her when I have time."
Nian Suian really liked Yu Chun, such a beautiful and well-behaved young girl, and was willing to help whenever possible.
Recently, with Gu Zhijing at school and Gu Junxing at work, Nian Suian was the only one left idle at home.
The renovation of the new house had just begun a couple of days ago, so Nian Suian decided to check on it.
After changing clothes, she called the driver and headed out.
Butler Su had not only found a renovation team but also hired a supervisor who watched over everything all day.
As soon as Nian Suian arrived at the entrance, the supervisor immediately came to greet her.
"Madam, we're currently working on the plumbing and floor heating. It should be finished in two or three days."
Nian Suian stood at the doorway and looked inside, where pipes were being laid amidst flying dust.
She carefully walked in, intending to check the master bedroom.
Although it still looked like a bare shell, the outline was becoming visible, and the windows had the feel that Nian Suian wanted.
There was quite a bit of dust inside, so she didn't stay long.
"Thank you for your hard work," Nian Suian said to the workers before leaving.
"It's no trouble at all..." one of them replied with a smile.
The wages here were high - initially, they were afraid to take the job, thinking such high pay must be a scam. Only after repeated assurances from a senior worker who had always referred jobs to them did they dare to come.
When work began, a man had visited once, saying money wasn't an issue, but the work needed to be done meticulously.
Though they didn't understand why wealthy people would buy houses in this neighborhood, they were just workers - as long as the pay was good, everything was negotiable.
Jiang Yun wasn't home today, and Sheng Xia was at work. Nian Suian had planned to go straight home after the inspection, but when she saw some familiar faces downstairs, she had a new idea...
"Auntie, do you remember me?"
Nian Suian's extroverted personality burst forth as she went up to greet them.
"You're... Oh! I remember now, aren't you the young lady who was watching the commotion with little Jiang that day! Here to see little Jiang again today?"
Nian Suian found a place to sit down and said, "She's not home today, I'm not here for her."
Pointing to the location of the new house, she told the aunties and grandmas, "I bought a house here too. I came to check on the renovation."
One grandmother slapped her thigh and laughed:
"So old Wu's house was sold to you! What a coincidence, I live right upstairs."
"That is quite a coincidence, Grandma. I hope the renovation isn't disturbing you?"
"Don't worry about that, Xiu Yun is hard of hearing, she can't hear anything," another grandmother chuckled.
"Who's hard of hearing! It's not disturbing at all. They don't start work until after nine when I'm already out for my walk."
After some small talk, Nian Suian got to the main topic.
"Auntie, Grandma, about that incident last time, what happened? How did those three people resolve it?"
Grandmother Xiu Yun, clearly the gossip ringleader, immediately brightened up when Nian Suian asked about this.
"Oh, there's so much to tell about that!" This statement alone indicated that the matter wasn't simple!
"What happened? Did Qiao Qiao choose the older or younger brother?"
"She chose neither!" Nian Suian had thought that given how the story was developing, she would have chosen at least one of them.
"Really? What about the child?"
"She took the child with her, so now it's just the brothers left in the house. But..."
Nian Suian thought that with Qiao Qiao taking the child and leaving, the matter would end there, but Grandmother Xiu Yun's "but" caught her attention again, and she immediately assumed an attentive listening pose.
"This younger brother, he brought home another girlfriend during New Year's... and guess what, her name is also Qiao Qiao!"
An auntie sitting nearby corrected her: "Not Qiao Qiao, you heard wrong, it's Qiao Qiao!"
Nian Suian was dumbfounded!
This kind of romantic drama, from ancient times to the present, never goes out of style...