After sharing a meal of coffee and desserts with Chen Xiaorui—enough to last me two whole days normally—she dragged me to the school’s back garden.

I had no idea what the school had been thinking, but tucked into a corner by the south gate was a legendary place known as “Lovers’ Paradise.”

It covered a little over five hundred square meters. It rested against the southeastern corner of the school wall, with no buildings anywhere nearby. The area was filled with lawns, bamboo, shrubs, and flowerbeds, all surrounding one enormous banyan tree.

After crossing the Wind-and-Rain Bridge over Jade-Faced Lake, behind the medical school building, we could reach Lovers’ Paradise.

“Qing-ge and I came here on a date before, and we saw something super cute.”

After pulling me around the dense bamboo grove and toward the giant banyan tree on the back hill, Chen Xiaorui gestured for me to climb up with her.

“Step here, then grab this branch. It’s easy.”

As she spoke, the slightly chubby girl had already started climbing.

“No way.”

I hesitated beneath the tree. “Wouldn’t it be bad if a teacher saw us?”

When she was little, Bi Xinxue had lived in the countryside and often raced all over the mountains and fields. Skills like tree-climbing and mountain-climbing were naturally nothing special to her.

Aside from swimming, she had nearly every skill a rural child was supposed to have—planting rice seedlings, herding pigs, climbing trees, riding oxen…

Since those skills were bodily memories, just like handwriting, I naturally possessed them too. After all, I could write in Bi Xinxue’s handwriting.

In fact, the moment I saw the enormous banyan tree, I’d already felt eager to give it a try. I didn’t need Chen Xiaorui’s instructions. The footholds and handholds I’d need to reach the branches had already appeared in my mind.

My main concern was whether I’d be punished for it.

After all, as the saying went, first-rate schools focused on academics, second-rate schools focused on discipline, and third-rate schools focused on both—though both sets of hands were grabby.

“They won’t. There aren’t any cameras nearby. Qing-ge and I often come here to admire the moon at night. It’s an open secret on the school forum.”

Chen Xiaorui had already climbed halfway up the tree. She sat on a thick branch and waved at me.

“Hurry up!”

“I’ll trust you this once.”

Curious about Chen Xiaorui, and grateful that she’d treated me to food, I climbed up after her.

“Wow, Xiaoxue. Judging by how you look, you must’ve done plenty of bad things before.”

After leading me onto a branch about seven or eight meters above the ground, Chen Xiaorui reached out her hand.

“You’re so good at this!”

“I’m a country girl. I’ve climbed trees nearly twenty meters tall. This one’s nothing.”

I grabbed Chen Xiaorui’s hand and gave it a hard tug. With that boost, I stepped onto the branch beside her.

“What did you want me to see?”

“That.”

Chen Xiaorui pointed toward a bird’s nest in the distance.

“They hatched.”

“Huh?”

I followed her finger and asked curiously, “The thing you said would cheer me up…is this it?”

Just as Chen Xiaorui had said, about two meters away from us, toward the west, a tiny bird’s nest lay quietly among the branches and leaves of another tree.

Perhaps sensing the vibration of the branch, the four hatchlings inside had already opened their beaks wide, crying hungrily for food.

“So cute…”

I’d grown up in the countryside too. It wasn’t as if I’d never seen anything like this.

Watching chicks break out of their shells and ducklings follow their mother into a pond had occupied much of my childhood. Still, perhaps girls were born with less resistance to tiny animals like these.

After seeing the newborn hatchlings, the last trace of gloom in my heart gradually faded away.

“Right? Qing-ge and I watched them from the moment they were still eggs. We saw them hatch.”

Chen Xiaorui smiled beside me.

“A lot of people on the forum know this tree can be climbed, but most of them only go one or two meters up. Qing-ge and I were the first to discover this spot.”

“We’re so close to them. Won’t we scare the adult bird?”

The little birds had failed to get any insects and were slowly shrinking back into the nest. I watched them with some concern.

“I remember my dad saying that if some animals picked up a human scent while they were hatching, their mother would bite them to death.”

“They won’t. Qing-ge and I have been here this whole time, and the mother bird still hatched the eggs.”

“That’s good, then.”

After taking a few more looks at the hatchlings nearby, I turned around.

“Didn’t you just have a fight with that Qing-ge? You still have the mood to come here for a romantic rendezvous?”

“Fighting is just something we’ve been used to since we were kids. He likes arguing with me over every little thing. Recently, he might’ve been busy carrying people through a new DNF raid, so I had to be the one to pick fights with him.”

“Usually, we fight in the morning and make up in the afternoon. Or we fight at night and keep playing together the next day.”

What kind of couple were they?

“I’m honestly jealous of you two.”

I straightened my skirt and sat down on the branch.

“You’ve been fighting from childhood all the way into adulthood. I’d assumed your relationship was terrible.”

“When we were little, we even used to beat each other up! Around eleven or twelve, I grew faster than Qing-ge, so he couldn’t beat me.”

Chen Xiaorui sat down as well.

“Then, when I was sixteen, he finally overtook me in height. But by then, he didn’t dare hit me anymore.”

“That’s why I’m saying you should find yourself a boyfriend, Xiaoxue. Haven’t you heard the saying? A college student who’s never been in love is incomplete.”

“But I…”

As I spoke, I heard footsteps.

“Shh…”

After a brief moment of panic, I stood up and lowered my voice.

“Someone’s coming.”

“Bro, why are you being so mysterious? What kind of nonsense can’t you say over the phone? I’ve got an interview after I eat.”

Along with that familiar voice, I saw two young men walk beneath the banyan tree.

They were Wang Mou, the president of the anime club, and Lu Tianxing, the head of the martial arts club’s sanda division.

“I know, but…”

Lu Tianxing stopped with Wang Mou beneath the giant banyan tree. He looked troubled.

“It’s hard to explain over the phone.”

Wang Mou looked deeply disdainful.

“What kind of thing can’t be explained over the phone? You had to meet me in person, and in a place like this…”

He paused.

“What? Are you trying to get gay with me?”

“Don’t overthink it. It’s about her again.”

“Her?”

Wang Mou stopped for a moment.

“You mean that Xiaoxue?”

“Yeah.”

Hearing that, Chen Xiaorui and I exchanged a glance almost at the same time. Then we both looked down at the two men beneath us.

“I…I still don’t dare confess.”

Lu Tianxing slammed his fist against the banyan tree and said dejectedly, “I feel like I’m completely useless. I’ve had so many chances to tell her…”

“Especially that night. I just…I couldn’t get the words out.”

“Why not?”

Wang Mou stepped forward.

“Brother, your conditions aren’t bad. You’re not ugly, and you’ve studied martial arts for so many years. After graduation, you’ll have plenty of prospects, whether you become a martial arts instructor or intern at a hospital.”

“No girl would reject you. You just have to open your mouth. What are you afraid of?”

“I’m from a rural household. My parents are both farmers.”

Lu Tianxing shook his head.

“Society outside isn’t as simple as you think. A hospital once asked me to intern there. I checked the details, and the pay during the internship was only 1,800 yuan a month.”

“Even after becoming a full-time employee, it wouldn’t be much more. And it was a three-shift schedule, including night shifts.”

“Even if she agreed to date me, she’d be working at night while I was resting. We’d barely have any time to talk.”

“Then can’t you become a martial arts instructor?”

“Instructors only make a little over 3,000 yuan. Maybe it’ll reach around 4,000 in the future. Don’t you think that salary’s embarrassing?”

Lu Tianxing raised his head and looked at Wang Mou.

“I asked someone to look into her current income. She can earn nearly 4,000 yuan a month just by working as a rental girlfriend.”

“I heard she also signed a contract with that café called something Rabbit, where she works as a maid. She seems to have found a lot of other part-time jobs in private too.”

“She’s only a freshman, yet she’s already working this hard. I…”

“To put it simply, you’ve grown insecure because you come from a rural household.”

Wang Mou sighed.

“I told you back in high school. There’s nothing wrong with having farmer parents. Once a man steps into society, he can still make his own way.”

“Right?”

“You act confident as hell when you’re joking around with the guys. You look thick-skinned, but deep down, you’re more insecure than anyone.”

“How do you know you definitely won’t make something of yourself after graduation?”

“But what if I don’t?”

Lu Tianxing gave a self-mocking smile.

“She’s so outstanding, and she works so hard. I…I’m really afraid that one day I’ll end up like those graduates in the news.”

“What if I can’t even afford a house? How could I possibly be worthy of her?”

“I don’t have anything else to say.”

Wang Mou planted his hands on his hips beneath the shade of the tree.

“You’re a martial artist, yet you’re this insecure. Then why did you flirt with her in the first place?”

“So why did you drag me here today? To use me as your emotional-support big brother?”

“I’m planning to train her for another month, then have her try working as a certified fitness instructor.”

“She’s a member of our martial arts club, but she hardly ever takes part in club activities. So I was thinking…”

Lu Tianxing’s voice was slightly hoarse beneath the tree.

“Could you help me again? While you’re developing your idol, please look after her a little.”

“Find out what she likes to eat and what her hobbies are. Give me some time to prepare.”

“Can you do that?”