The so-called "incentive mechanism" is actually quite irrelevant to Jiang Shuyi.

Back when she was in elementary school, her parents tried to tempt her with sweet rewards to get her to put in some effort.

"Shuyi, if you score 90 on this exam, Dad will buy you the latest game console, okay?"

Her father patted her head and said with a loving gaze.

Jiang Shuyi looked at her father's face and fell silent for a moment.

She shook her head and, in a tone of escape, said, "Actually, I don't really want the game console, it's fine if I don't get it."

She gave up right away!

The phrase "If you score this many points, we will buy you this or that" simply didn't work on Jiang Shuyi.

The latest game console, limited edition toys, clothes, cash... none of these held any meaning for her.

She could firmly remain unmoved, never having put in any effort for these rewards, resolutely maintaining her refusal.

The reason she was so resolute was that her life was never lacking.

In such an environment, if she truly wanted something, all she had to do was say a few words and act a little spoiled, and her parents would buy it for her.

She hardly needed to do anything or achieve any outstanding results.

Learning, on the other hand, was an endless suffering.

Learning meant spending long hours hunched over a desk, hammering knowledge into her mind like nails.

Why bother? Jiang Shuyi always thought this when she saw those who were writing furiously, working themselves to the bone.

To go through so much pain to obtain something just within reach, Jiang Shuyi felt it was better to take it easy and not make herself so anxious.

Thus, Jiang Shuyi had hardly studied seriously before entering university.

However, by a stroke of miraculous luck during her senior year, she managed to get into a decent university.

Then, without heeding the advice of her seniors, she entered a research lab of a cold professor, and thus began her painful journey of studying.

Therefore, the reason she started to work hard in her studies wasn't for the sake of learning itself.

At first, she just thought about not embarrassing herself too much and not causing trouble for her professor.

But deep down, she still didn't want to study.

However.

"I remember you seemed very eager to go to the amusement park a while ago."

"If you do well on the exam, we can go together."

Wen Yao paused and turned to her, "Consider it a reward for you."

Jiang Shuyi took a deep breath.

The amusement park and Wen Yao.

Just putting those two words together made Jiang Shuyi feel something special.

Everything felt unusual, and just thinking about it gave her a sparkling sensation.

She was really looking forward to going to the amusement park with Wen Yao.

As a student who had never held any illusions about exams, for the first time, she genuinely looked forward to the exams coming soon.

So, after returning home, Jiang Shuyi immediately started memorizing the physics notes that Wen Yao had given her, studying diligently until she drifted off to sleep.

For the first time, Jiang Shuyi felt the joy of learning from the bottom of her heart.

---

But happiness is fleeting.

"Summarize the problems from this section in your draft notebook. I just revised the values, write the process again in your notebook, and then you can go have dinner."

Jiang Shuyi looked at the clock, which had already reached seven, and let out a pitiful "Mm."

Her biological clock was calling.

Dinner was usually at five o'clock, and now it was already two hours late.

Wen Yao put away her pen and calmly continued reading her book.

While Jiang Shuyi was working on a set of physics training problems for her second year, Wen Yao had already completed a set of entrance exam questions and was now reading a particularly headache-inducing philosophy book.

Seeing the familiar title, Jiang Shuyi gasped.

She had read that book before.

It was just that she had read a translated version, and even after going through it twice, she still felt a bit lost.

And Wen Yao was already reading the original version... It really showed her true capabilities, didn't it?

"Don't look at me, focus on the problems, Jiang Shuyi," Wen Yao said without looking up.

". . ." Jiang Shuyi silently turned her head back to the physics problems, casting a glance around Wen Yao's home.

Yes, Wen Yao's home.

The reason she was sitting here now was quite simple: they usually studied at the city library on Saturdays.

But today was the first Saturday of December.

And the first weekend of each month was the library's closing day.

So the city library was closed today.

"Then just come to my house." Wen Yao had calmly told her.

And that's how things ended up like this.

Before coming to Wen Yao's house, Jiang Shuyi had some vague expectations.

But those expectations had been ground away by a whole day of studying.

一I'm so hungry. 

Jiang Shuyi wiped her tears in her heart.

Jiang Shuyi stubbornly wrote a few derivation processes in her notebook.

When she realized she had accidentally written 'spicy chicken cubes' instead of the simplest step in her problem-solving process, she admitted to herself that she was nearly starving.

She could hardly hold on any longer, putting down her pen and pitifully saying, "Wen Yao, I'm hungry."

一Food.

一I want to eat.

一Now.

一Right now.

Jiang Shuyi looked at Wen Yao with a hint of helplessness.

Her face was filled with the words "I want to eat."

Jiang Shuyi felt that being hungry was unavoidable for her.

As an Alpha, she consumed energy much faster than an Omega. A whole day of focused studying was even more exhausting for her, a sporty Alpha, than exercising.

But as Wen Yao listened to her complaints, she merely turned a page in her English book and said flatly, "Mm, I'm a bit hungry too."

"Isn't that perfect?" Jiang Shuyi raised her head to look at Wen Yao's unresponsive, cold expression and enthusiastically suggested, "Then let's eat!"

Hearing Jiang Shuyi say the most heartfelt sentence of the day, Wen Yao glanced at her and remained silent.

"You're not seriously thinking about waiting for me to solve the problems before eating, are you?"

Jiang Shuyi joked, pointing to her own face with her pen.

Wen Yao didn't deny it, lowering her head and calmly turning another page of her book.

"Wen Yao," Jiang Shuyi's smile faded, "Aren't you hungry?"

". . ." Wen Yao looked at her, "As long as you finish the problems, we can eat."

一That means I still have to wait a long time... 

Jiang Shuyi thought, feeling wronged.

"Wen Yao..." Jiang Shuyi spoke up, feeling aggrieved.

"'Timely encouragement is necessary, time waits for no one,' don't talk nonsense, Jiang Shuyi."

Wen Yao coldly and quietly lectured Jiang Shuyi.

She pointed her pen at the table in front of her.

"Don't worry, before you finish your homework, if you don't eat, I won't eat either."

That statement was truly deadly.

". . ." Jiang Shuyi didn't say anything more.

She silently looked at her.

'If you don't eat, I won't eat' was truly her Achilles' heel.

After all, Jiang Shuyi absolutely didn't want to be the reason Wen Yao went hungry.

The thing she feared most in life was dragging others down.

Because that would make Jiang Shuyi feel a deep sense of guilt.

So, what could she do?

She could only endure her hunger and quickly finish all the exam questions she disliked the most...

---

Halfway through her work, Wen Yao got up and went to the stove to start cooking.

Watching her cook, Jiang Shuyi found it hard to concentrate.

She straightened her back and secretly glanced over at Wen Yao.

"Why has your pen stopped again?"

Wen Yao shot a quick glance at the distracted Jiang Shuyi, cracking two eggs into a bowl, and asked calmly.

". . ." Jiang Shuyi immediately turned her head back, lowering it and pretending to be serious, "No, no, I'm writing."

She defended herself.

"I hope you haven't forgotten that you need to finish your homework before you can eat."

Wen Yao began cooking with a calm and steady demeanor.

". . ." Jiang Shuyi smelled the aroma of the food, and that deadly feeling of hunger surged in her stomach again.

She looked at the problems in front of her and nodded repeatedly, "Oh."

Before long, Wen Yao had prepared a table full of dishes.

She made some home-cooked meals: spinach and egg soup, stir-fried tomato and potato strips, and sautéed asparagus.

And Jiang Shuyi had also completed the homework Wen Yao assigned. After Wen Yao checked it and found no issues, they tidied up the table and began to eat.

At the moment the food entered her mouth, Jiang Shuyi finally felt satisfied in her heart.

"It's so delicious!" she said candidly.

". . ." Wen Yao glanced at her, nodded, and didn't say much.

For her, eating was inherently a quiet affair.

Jiang Shuyi stuffed her mouth and began to eat ravenously.

Watching her eat even more messily than usual, Wen Yao paused with her chopsticks.

"I've never had such delicious food before." Jiang Shuyi said again.

"These are just home-cooked dishes." Wen Yao looked at Jiang Shuyi's sincere face and quietly said, seemingly unaffected.

In fact, Wen Yao was very aware of her average cooking skills.

The Alpha in front of her might really be starving, so she was experiencing an unusual illusion about the food. That's how Wen Yao analyzed it in her mind.

But whether it was because of Jiang Shuyi's praise or because her enthusiastic eating style infected her, a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of Wen Yao's mouth.

"But it really is delicious." Jiang Shuyi said, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster.

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

Wen Yao placed a bowl of soup in front of Jiang Shuyi.

"Mm, mm..." Jiang Shuyi nodded and took a sip of the soup.

Jiang Shuyi's eating style was quite appetizing.

But after a while, Jiang Shuyi began to carefully pick up the dishes to eat.

Wen Yao then noticed that Jiang Shuyi's bowl was already completely empty, with not a single grain of rice left.

Wen Yao hadn't actually cooked much rice, she had just made double the amount based on her usual appetite.

But she had forgotten that Alphas usually eat more than Omegas.

Looking at her own bowl that hadn't been touched much, Wen Yao thought about offering her bowl to Jiang Shuyi.

She felt that she didn't particularly need to eat this bowl of rice.

But just as her hand was raised into the air, she heard Jiang Shuyi's voice.

"It would be great if I could eat your cooking every day."

"Every day..." Wen Yao repeated quietly, glancing calmly at Jiang Shuyi.

Jiang Shuyi was still picking up food, and upon noticing Wen Yao looking at her, she quickly said, "Ah, I was just saying that."

How could she dare to trouble this person to cook for her every day? That would be too presumptuous.

Wen Yao's hand paused, placing the rice back in front of her.

"Oh."

Wen Yao replied in a flat tone, using her chopsticks to take a bite of rice.

---

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆Charvinovel ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆