Aunt Mu was not a talkative person nor fond of stirring emotions, and she certainly would not lower herself to make such remarks. Yet, she had indeed done so, which was enough to show her esteem for Zhou Yiyi and the Zhou family’s attitude toward her. It even highlighted how much they respected their son.
Even though she was powerless and an orphan, they still supported her wholeheartedly. Honestly, Zhou Yiyi was touched.
Moreover, considering the state of things between her and Zhou Mo, it was hard for anyone to believe there weren’t any issues between them.
It had beco so natural that she never considered the nature of their relationship, which had, in fact, already surpassed that of ordinary classmates.
After Zhou Yiyi figured it out, although she didn’t engage in further interactions or warm up their relationship, she stopped avoiding him and accepted his kindness without reservations.
They went in and out together daily. As for sweeter monts, there weren’t any, because they were genuinely busy, busy with their studies and their respective clubs.
What could truly calm them down was possibly only the library ti available twice a week and the weekends.
Although Zhou Yiyi had attended a key high school in the city, it was nothing compared to the pressure she felt at Tsinghua.
This was the realm of top scholars—pick anyone, and they either had been recomnded for admission or were top scorers from the provinces or cities, if not one of the top few from key high schools. Here, even the air felt thin. Although Tsinghua had created a great learning environnt, with libraries as grand as museums, could you dare to relax in such a place?
If you dared to relax, others would leave you far behind. In your first year, you even had to prepare for the Level 6 exam.
Apart from daily studies, there were nurous competitions throughout the year. Participating and winning made for highlights in your resu; not participating while others did ant you remained unnoticed. That was competition.
If you ca to Tsinghua only to pass unnoticed, praised for just getting by, then you might as well go to sleep.
So, Zhou Yiyi felt that there was never enough ti to sleep each day.
Therefore, once bed curtains beca available, she imdiately bought and hung one; if daylight studies weren’t enough and she couldn’t keep up with the pace, she would study at night and catch up on sleep in the "space", managing to work hard while also not neglecting to write her novel. It was a way to release her inspiration and test whether she had the perseverance and talent for it.
The difference between a top scholar and an "Academic God" is that the forr can achieve their status through hard work, but for the latter, no matter how hard you try, you might not catch up to them.
Zhou Mo was the type who grew stronger when facing strong competition. Ever since Hua Yang, a typical genius, joined their class, his ambition and desire to win had been ignited. Sotis, he was so busy that he used al tis to read, and when Zhou Yiyi encountered a problem she didn’t understand, he would first let her look at his organized notes, and if she still didn’t understand, then he would explain it to her.
He was patient with her but didn’t take over completely, letting her handle problems in the most appropriate ways, a trait Zhou Yiyi deeply admired.
Because he at least helped her develop the good habit of thinking independently, not to rely entirely on him, and to understand how to use the limited resources around her to deal with endless problems.
Originally, they had planned to visit the Beijing Film Academy during the first weekend, but Zhou Mo was too busy, and she didn’t want to go alone. She could only apologetically contact Lin Mu, citing a heavy academic load, and suggested they et during the National Day holiday.
Lin Mu, though disappointed, understood that they were truly busy, so Zhou Yiyi and Zhou Mo spent two days in the library.
When overstressed, she would go buy Traditional Chinese dicine ingredients, preparing dicine Pills to nourish the brain and improve their blood circulation for both her and Zhou Mo.
Zhou Mo, who generally accepted anything she provided, assuming it was from a pharmacy, had no suspicion; little did he know that Zhou Yiyi had mixed the dicine Pills herself, drawing from many years of learning Traditional Chinese dicine in her past life as the Fat Queen.
At the end of September, just before the school holiday, the professor had assigned a major project due by October 20.
The enormity of the major project had already been ntioned; although they had twenty days, excluding the holidays, there really weren’t many days left.
But Zhou Yiyi genuinely felt she had been working too hard lately, so she had no intention of studying during the National Day holiday. After all, balancing work and leisure ant you should enjoy yourself when it’s ti to play.
This ti, Zhou Mo and she, without planning, rode bikes to et up with Lin Mu, who also bought a bicycle, and the three spent the National Day holiday cycling around Beijing.
It had to be said, Beijing in the golden autumn of October was packed with tourists—everywhere was crowded, and they found it a matter of amusent and complaint.
They even had to return to the school at night, exhausted, as without prior reservations, it was impossible to find accommodation at any major hotel.
On the 1st, they visited several attractions in the city. On the 2nd, they rose early at around four or five in the morning to watch the flag-raising ceremony, but the grand procession was barely visible. She even climbed onto Zhou Mo’s back and still couldn’t see clearly—the crowd was just too thick. Afterwards, they went to Tianann and the Imperial Palace, where it was still just lines and more lines.
By the 3rd, all three were exhausted. Eventually, none of them ntioned going to the Badaling Great Wall, and each returned to their respective schools to sleep in the dorm for a day, finally recovering their lost energy.
Afterward, the three kids concluded, "Next holidays, even if we think of going out, we’d better stay indoors. Damn, it’s just suffering and it’s a waste of money. What’s the point?"
Zhou Mo always felt that he and Zhou Yiyi didn’t seem as sweet as other couples, so one evening while walking on the sports field, he said,
"Today, Zhong Guo from my dorm packed up all his dirty clothes. I thought he was going to the laundry room, but he actually took them to his girlfriend’s place, claiming he couldn’t wash them well and that washing machines were full of bacteria. He insisted his girlfriend wash them by hand, saying you girls in the dorm do this often. Is it true?"
Zhou Yiyi squinted her eyes, "Are you implying you want to wash your clothes?"
Zhou Mo was startled by her quick response, but seeing her clearly unwilling posture, he knew he mustn’t admit he was jealous or trying to show off, rather than actually wanting his girlfriend to do his laundry. So, he shook his head vehently.
"No, no, that’s not what I an at all. Absolutely not!"
Zhou Yiyi scoffed, "Right, you’re just annoyed that I’m not warm or caring enough, not spoiling you like other girlfriends do, right? You want to hang your clothes on our dorm’s balcony, don’t you?"
Seeing Zhou Yiyi so blunt, Zhou Mo felt a stir of emotion, yet also a tremor of fear, "Could I, maybe?"
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