Jiang Shuyi woke up feeling cold.

When she fell asleep, she was only wearing a shirt, and now, at the end of October, that shirt felt quite chilly.

She sneezed and hugged herself tightly, instinctively reaching out to feel beside her, hoping to pull the blanket over her.

But after searching for a while and feeling the stiffness in her neck and the coldness beneath her head, Jiang Shuyi groggily sat up.

Oh.

She was still in the classroom.

Jiang Shuyi caught a faint scent of roses in the air.

She sniffed her nose.

"Uh-oh, how long have I been sleeping...?"

Jiang Shuyi's heart sank.

"At least an hour." a cool voice came from beside her.

Jiang Shuyi immediately turned to look beside her.

"...The meeting ended, huh?"

Seeing the neatly dressed and meticulous Omega in front of her, Jiang Shuyi pretended to casually wipe the drool from her face and adjusted her collar.

—Wen Yao didn't see me drooling, right? She shouldn't have, right?

Her peripheral vision cautiously scanned the reflective window beside her, a bit concerned about whether she had wiped the drool clean.

But after recalling Wen Yao's words, Jiang Shuyi glanced at the clock hanging above the classroom, noticing the hour hand was nearing 'eleven.'

"Is it already this late?" She stood up abruptly.

"...When did your meeting end?"

Wen Yao rested her chin on her hand, calmly closing her book and putting it back in her bag. "An hour ago."

This answer was beyond Jiang Shuyi's expectations, and she blurted out, "...Then why haven't you gone home yet?"

Jiang Shuyi looked at her in disbelief.

"Then why didn't you go home after school? Don't you usually run faster than anyone else?" Wen Yao looked at her quietly.

"That's because you told me to wait for thirty minutes..."

Although she had waited for much longer than thirty minutes.

Jiang Shuyi thought about how hungry she had been for half the day and couldn't help but feel aggrieved. "Who knew your meeting would take so long? Even an old lady's foot binding wouldn't take this long."

Upon hearing this, Wen Yao paused her actions. "...You really are like a dog."

Jiang Shuyi looked at Wen Yao curiously, it was actually the first time someone had said that to her, and she didn't quite understand what it meant.

"How am I like one?" Jiang Shuyi asked.

"Simple-minded, noisy, and overly friendly." Wen Yao listed the similarities one by one.

Why did it sound like none of those were compliments? Jiang Shuyi puffed out her cheeks, feeling a bit unhappy.

"Take out the questions you want to ask," Wen Yao said, pulling out her pencil and tapping the desk. "I'll teach you."

Jiang Shuyi hesitated.

"But it's almost eleven o'clock, and the school is about to close."

Wen Yao looked at her calmly. "Don't want to ask anymore?"

"If you don't want to ask, then I'll go home." Wen Yao slowly put her pencil back in her pencil case and began to tidy up her desk.

Jiang Shuyi quickly grabbed the hem of Wen Yao's shirt.

"That's not what I meant. Please teach me."

"No, please teach me, Teacher Wen." Jiang Shuyi's tone was quite sincere.

If she let Wen Yao leave, with this Omega's temperament, Jiang Shuyi felt that she would never explain anything to her again.

---

Wen Yao stopped what she was doing and placed the problem in front of Jiang Shuyi, analyzing it for her sentence by sentence.

"...Do you understand now?" Wen Yao pointed to the blank space in front of her.

"Mm, I understand." Jiang Shuyi nodded earnestly and slowly stood up, preparing to leave.

"Then do it again by yourself." Wen Yao's voice halted her actions.

Hearing this, Jiang Shuyi's mouth twitched. "Aren't we... going home?"

It was really close to eleven, and the school gates were about to close.

Wen Yao remained silent. "Didn't you say you wanted to learn how to solve this problem?"

Jiang Shuyi glanced at Wen Yao's expression and obediently sat back down on the bench, her voice low. "...Okay, I'll do it right away."

How could she forget that this person was a strict teacher?

After Jiang Shuyi answered the problem, Wen Yao calmly picked up her already packed bag.

"Let's go, I'll lock the classroom door."

"Oh, okay."

Jiang Shuyi hurriedly stuffed her things haphazardly into her bag and followed her. "I'll walk with you."

---

When it's not raining or snowing, Jiang Shuyi doesn't take a car to school, so the driver didn't come to pick her up today.

Jiang Shuyi and Wen Yao lived in completely opposite directions, and they would part ways after walking to the main road outside the school.

However, since it was already late, Jiang Shuyi still wanted to walk Wen Yao home before heading back.

After leaving the classroom, the two walked along the road, with Jiang Shuyi walking behind Wen Yao, lifting the handle of Wen Yao's bag.

"..."

Noticing her bag felt a bit lighter, Wen Yao looked back and saw Jiang Shuyi carrying her bag, and she didn't refuse, continuing to walk forward.

"Wen Yao."

"Mm?"

"Did you stay just to answer my questions?" Jiang Shuyi was very concerned about this, to the point of obsession.

She felt there was an eighty percent chance that Wen Yao was waiting for her.

This made her feelings quite complicated; she couldn't sort out what she was feeling.

In short, a mix of inexplicable emotions surged up.

It could be described as happiness, with a hint of pride but also some guilt, but mainly it was an uncontainable joy.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Jiang Shuyi asked, her ears turning red.

"I just didn't leave because I had to lock the classroom door, helping you with the problem was just a side note."

Wen Yao looked ahead calmly, showing no signs of lying.

"I did try to wake you," Wen Yao said lightly, "but you were drooling and sleeping so soundly that I couldn't wake you."

"I heard that simple-minded people can indeed sleep very soundly, it seems there's some truth to that."

"..." Jiang Shuyi fell silent.

—So she really saw me drooling...

Jiang Shuyi's happiness vanished in an instant, replaced by sadness.

Wen Yao found it amusing to watch Jiang Shuyi's ears grow redder and said nothing more.

Soon, they arrived at the alley where Wen Yao lived.

"...When you get home, send me a text to let me know you're safe," Jiang Shuyi said, reluctantly releasing the handle of Wen Yao's bag. "Got it?"

Feeling her bag suddenly grow heavier, Wen Yao quietly replied, "Mm."

Seeing her like this, Jiang Shuyi couldn't help but want to reach out and ruffle her hair, but remembering her promise to Wen Yao not to touch her, she carefully turned her hand in another direction and patted Wen Yao's bag instead.

"Then you should head back quickly, don't make your family worry."

"..." Wen Yao lowered her gaze and said nothing.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Shuyi looked at her.

Wen Yao shook her head and continued walking deeper into the alley.

"Good night." Watching Wen Yao's back, Jiang Shuyi called out.

Wen Yao walked a few steps forward in silence, then replied lightly without turning back, "Good night."

---

Back home, lying on her bed, Jiang Shuyi received a text message.

It was from Wen Yao.

Jiang Shuyi opened it with excitement, but her face immediately fell.

Wen Yao: "I've arrived."

After years of texting, Jiang Shuyi had never seen such a simple yet disappointing combination of words.

But after thinking it over, she realized that for Wen Yao, not replying with just an "Mm" as she had last time was already commendable.

At least now there was an extra word, plus a period.

Two words and a period, in fact.

Jiang Shuyi thought positively.

Jiang Shuyi quickly typed a long message to Wen Yao, a lengthy text mainly thanking Wen Yao for teaching her how to solve problems tonight, and another longer point was to express her desire to repay Wen Yao's kindness by taking her to the amusement park this weekend, she still had two tickets.

Lying in bed with her phone in hand, she was worried about missing Wen Yao's reply, so she kept waiting.

However, after a long time with no response from Wen Yao, Jiang Shuyi eventually fell asleep with her phone in bed, drifting off into a hazy slumber.

Jiang Shuyi received Wen Yao's reply the next morning.

Unfortunately, the content of Wen Yao's message still conveyed her coldness:

"Not going."

This text was still two words and a period.

Jiang Shuyi suddenly realized that sometimes, even an "Mm" would be better.

---

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