When Lu Li got back to the classroom, An Baili’s seat was still empty. The silly goose was just sitting there in a daze.

When she saw Lu Li come closer, Chu Jingyi put on that hesitant look again, like she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

Lu Li deliberately glanced at the class monitor’s shoes one more time. He was worried Chu Jingyi had tailed him and An Baili earlier, then eavesdropped on their conversation in the hallway. But seeing her blank, airheaded expression, he laughed at himself. He really was getting paranoid.

Anyone might eavesdrop, but the silly goose? Impossible. Even if he jumped off from here, he’d still believe that.

“Lu Li, um, um...” Chu Jingyi called out to stop him. “Actually, there’s one more thing I want to tell you...”

“Hm?”

“Well, Lu Li... I’m sorry...” Chu Jingyi suddenly gave him a proper bow, so serious that it startled him.

Lu Li jolted and quickly helped the class monitor back up. How was he qualified to receive an apology from the only daughter of the Prime Minister of Chuanhai? If she flicked a fingernail, he’d have to grab his bag and get the hell out of Chuanhai City. He forced out a smile. “What are you apologizing for?”

“I used to think you and An Baili were a couple. I made a lot of arrangements on my own. That must’ve caused you trouble, right?”

“That?” Lu Li looked puzzled too. “I thought we already talked that through last time.”

He really didn’t get why the class monitor was bringing this up again. Hadn’t they already made it clear over the phone?

“I just felt like I still needed to apologize properly.” The silly goose stuck out her tongue.

When a girl does that, especially a beautiful girl like Chu Jingyi, it looks especially cute. But once a woman gets older, sticking out her tongue starts to look greasy. So Lu Li had always firmly believed in one thing: if you’re going to stick out your tongue, do it early.

“It’s nothing, really.”

“There’s one more thing too. It’s just... um, how do I put this?”

Chu Jingyi looked a little strange. Like she was lying, or making it up on the spot.

Lu Li suddenly remembered his previous life, when he’d gone around pitching for investment, talking nonsense and making things up to investors. It was kind of similar to how Chu Jingyi looked now.

If An Baili had acted like this, Lu Li definitely would’ve turned and left on the spot.

People had a strange kind of inertia. If an honest person did something, most people would assume it was honest without even checking. But if a sly person did something, then even after it was verified, most people would still think they were up to tricks.

“Ah, it’s about the st-study group. Do you want to join my study group? You see, midterms are coming, so we should at least...”

“Sure.” Lu Li agreed at once, then asked just to be safe, “An Baili’s coming too?”

“N-no, Baili, she... she can’t make it.” The lie was full of holes.

Lu Li more or less understood how a girl like this thought. Chu Jingyi probably wanted to make up for what she’d done. Girls this simple were like that. If they did something bad, their first thought was to make up for it, afraid they’d caused trouble for someone else. Thinking that, Lu Li’s tone softened a little more.

“What does the study group do? How many people are in it?”

Chu Jingyi’s face suddenly turned red. She stammered, “R-right now, just two.”

She’d been way too careless. She should’ve prepared a draft before lying. She really admired people who could lie without a script. Just saying a few lies already made her too embarrassed to look Lu Li in the eye.

But Lu Li’s gaze was so gentle. Being looked at like that, the silly goose felt strangely warm inside.

Lu Li let out a soft laugh. It was one thing for the silly goose to start a study group, but she was making it all secretive too, like she was sneaking around. It was honestly way too cute.

He deliberately lowered his voice. “Okay. Don’t let word get out.”

“O-oh!” The girl actually answered seriously twice.

If the silly goose ever became some underground agent, then the world must really be ending. Chu Xiaodong was such a shrewd man, so how had he raised a daughter like this?

No, that wasn’t right. It was precisely because Chu Xiaodong was so shrewd that Chu Jingyi had been able to grow up so well in a greenhouse.

Just when Lu Li thought the topic was over, the silly goose suddenly tugged on his sleeve again.

“Lu Li, do you really hate Baili?”

“I do.”

It was hard to say who had been more at fault in their relationship. But Lu Li at least knew one thing: he and An Baili were completely incompatible.

A wrong love would only lead to a wrong marriage. It would hurt two people, two families, and maybe even innocent children. Lu Li didn’t want to be reborn together with An Baili. Not at all.

“Y-you won’t lie to me again, right?” Yibao spoke very carefully.

What do you mean, again? Lu Li complained inwardly. Did he lie to Chu Jingyi that often? Even if he had, they were only little lies. As the saying went, when a scholar lies, it’s not called lying. It’s called copyright fees...

“Pinky swear.” Chu Jingyi held out her small little finger. Her jade-like finger was slender and pink, even her nail neatly trimmed, tiny and adorable. She seemed to have a habit of pinky swearing. In her world, maybe it carried some especially important meaning.

“No. Isn’t that childish?”

“Liar...” Her cheeks puffed up. Lu Li almost couldn’t resist poking them with a finger.

“Pinky swear.” She said it again, this time with a hint of coquettishness in her voice.

Lu Li wanted to hear it one more time, so he deliberately said, “No.”

“Pinky sweeear~”

His whole body went numb. Lu Li nodded at once. “Okay, okay, okay. I’ll swear to anything.”

Some things really couldn’t be blamed on King Zhou. When a pretty girl actually acts spoiled with you, a man’s protective instinct and vanity both get completely satisfied.

“Pinky swear and seal it, for a hundred years, no changing. Whoever changes is a...”

Lu Li cut in first. “Whoever changes is a big white goose.”

“Why a big white goose?”

“Because big white geese are goofy and dumb.”

“Really?” The class monitor tilted her head and thought about it seriously. “That does seem true. You know so much.”

And just like that, the underground intelligence organization that belonged only to the two of them—no, the study group—was officially founded today.

What Lu Li still didn’t know was that everything he promised Chu Jingyi today was the beginning of him falling into another whirlpool...

*

After school that day, Lu Li got a WeChat message from his sister:

[Yameng-jie: Someone’s knocking on your door. I didn’t go check, so I don’t know who it is.]

When Lu Li rushed back to his room in a panic, he saw someone he hadn’t expected.

“Ruan Qian? Why are you here?” It was that girl who was always stuck to Zhou Haiming’s side. She wore smoky makeup like his, and right now she was pacing anxiously back and forth outside Lu Li’s door.

“Brother Lu, you’re finally back!”

“Where are Zhou Haiming and Chen Shiwei? Aren’t you guys always together? Come in and sit.” Lu Li had just started unlocking the door when he heard Ruan Qian say:

“We ran into that An Gulai! Brother Haiming and Brother Shiwei got into a fight with him! Brother Lu, please come help us!”

Lu Li’s eyes instantly sharpened. “An Gulai? The An Gulai you mentioned last time?”

“Lizi, what’s wrong?” Zou Yameng next door opened her door too. “A fight? Lizi, count me in!”