“Okay.”

By the time he came back to his senses,

Ye Yubai had already said, “Okay.”

But just because he’d said okay didn’t mean he looked like someone who could get into Tsinghua or Peking University, right?

Don’t underestimate Tsinghua and Peking, you idiot!

Besides, Tsinghua and Peking were way too far from Nancheng.

He didn’t want to go somewhere so far from home.

Chengnan University was only a few stops past Chengnan Affiliated High School. It was still one of the top ten universities in the country. He could just go there and coast through!

That was what Ye Yubai was thinking, but he didn’t dare say it out loud.

Gan Lan looked serious.

Faced with her earnest gaze, there was no way he could say, “I don’t want to go to Tsinghua or Peking at all.”

“Starting tonight, we’ll memorize vocabulary and do practice tests together. We’ll study an extra hour every night!”

As she spoke, Gan Lan took out something that looked like a study schedule.

Watching her bend over, head down as she carefully wrote out her plan, Ye Yubai sighed.

Sigh.

If even a slacker like her was working this hard, what excuse did he, the top student in the joint exams, have to slack off?

He’d just go along with her for now.

…

The weekend evening came around before long.

Gan Lan had already made a study plan. After clearing away the dishes, the first thing she did was tell Ye Yubai to put his phone away and get ready to study.

But before the two of them could even get back to their room, they heard a knock at the door.

He opened the door and took a look.

As expected, it was Xue Ting, their new neighbor from across the hall.

Xue Ting smiled a little sheepishly. “There’s something wrong with one of my pipes. It keeps leaking, so… I wanted to ask if you knew a plumber’s number.”

Ye Yubai heard her out, then turned and repeated what she’d said to Gan Lan.

Gan Lan took care of all the little things around the house. He only knew how to eat, drink, and buy stuff.

Gan Lan wiped her hands and came out of the kitchen.

She was carrying a toolbox.

“Which pipe’s leaking? Take me to it.”

Ye Yubai froze.

What was that supposed to mean?

Was Gan Lan planning to fix it herself?

Ye Yubai tugged at her arm and whispered, “Since when do you know how to do this?”

Gan Lan glanced at him. “I learned from my dad over summer break.”

She could just make up a lie.

After all, the Ye Yubai of right now was just an innocent kid. He’d believe pretty much anything she said.

Sure enough, this time was no different.

“How much could you have learned in just one summer?”

“Take a guess.”

“Hmph. Then I’ll just have to stick around and see for myself.”

With that, Ye Yubai took the toolbox from her and followed her into Xue Ting’s apartment.

Xue Ting was incredibly grateful. She kept bowing and saying, “Sorry to trouble you.”

Every now and then, Gan Lan glanced back at her.

This girl…

She really didn’t seem like a bad person.

She was so sweet and clueless, as if she didn’t have a single scheming bone in her body.

It was awful to think that someone like her had been bullied so badly she’d had no choice but to transfer schools.

If Gan Lan hadn’t known what was going to happen to her, that would’ve been one thing.

But now, Gan Lan knew everything.

She really couldn’t bring herself to stand by and do nothing.

…

Gan Lan only knew a thing or two about fixing pipes.

But what she knew was enough to handle an ordinary leak.

After all, the soul living in this body was twenty-five years old. She had plenty of practical know-how.

Ye Yubai stood behind her, watching without looking away.

He watched her lie on the floor, tap and fiddle with the pipe for a while, and fix the leak.

She even mopped the floor for Xue Ting while she was at it.

The whole process took ten minutes, tops!

She was so practiced that he could only stare in stunned disbelief.

“Is this really the same Gan Lan I know? The Gan Lan I know would just scream for help when she saw a leak!” Ye Yubai was baffled all over again.

“There. It’s nothing serious. The screw on the joint was loose.”

Gan Lan packed up the toolbox, washed her hands, and got ready to leave.

“Big brother! W-wait a second…”

Xue Ting hurried after them.

She was carrying a baking tray.

On it were freshly baked mango egg tarts.

She gazed at Gan Lan with hopeful eyes and said, a little shyly, “Gan Lan, I don’t really have anything to offer you, so please try one of the egg tarts I just made. I hope you don’t mind.”

Gan Lan had just finished dinner and couldn’t eat any more, so she waved her hands and turned her down.

She’d fixed the pipe as a small favor. She hadn’t expected anything in return.

She’d been rejected.

Xue Ting looked obviously disappointed.

Then she turned to Ye Yubai, her cheeks flushing a little.

Both of them were so handsome.

Especially Ye Yubai!

He looked exactly like her favorite popular idol.

No, he might even be more handsome than the idol. After all, he was totally makeup-free, and there were no lights or filters!

Still, Gan Lan was the one who’d helped her, so she liked Gan Lan a little more for now.

She knew full well that her crush meant nothing to either of them. But at least it gave her something concrete to picture when she thought of the words “Prince Charming.”

“Um, Ye Yubai…”

Xue Ting stammered and stumbled over her words, but couldn’t quite get to the point.

Her face had gone bright red.

“Th-this… this is for you…”

Why did she always have to stutter when she got nervous?!

Xue Ting wanted to kick herself.

All she could do was hold out the tray. It was practically brushing against their clothes.

Seeing how nervous she was, Ye Yubai smiled and reached over to take an egg tart from the tray.

“Thanks for the egg tarts. I’ll make sure Gan Lan eats one.”

“Mm-hmm!”

Watching them go inside, Xue Ting let out a breath of relief.

“They’re such nice people.”

…

Back in the room,

they closed the door.

Gan Lan set down the toolbox and went to wash her hands again.

Ye Yubai sat on the sofa with his arms folded, deep in thought.

As time went on, he grew more and more suspicious of Gan Lan.

It had only been one summer, but Gan Lan’s cooking and other life skills hadn’t just improved a little—they’d made a huge leap.

She’d spent over a month of summer break in tutoring. Could she really have learned all this in the less-than-a-month she had left?

If it had been anyone else, Ye Yubai might have believed it.

But there was no way it could be true of Gan Lan.

She just wasn’t that smart.

Just as Ye Yubai was eyeing Gan Lan suspiciously,

the doorbell rang again.

“Coming.”

Gan Lan went to the door and opened it.

A man in a work uniform stood outside, holding a cake box.

“Is this Mr. Ye Yubai’s home?” the man asked.

“Yes.”

As soon as Gan Lan had answered with that one word, he handed her the cake.

Then he held out a delivery slip.

“Please sign for it.”

Gan Lan frowned.

It wasn’t Ye Yubai’s birthday.

Who would be sending him a cake?

She studied the cake box. Its familiar design, along with the deliberately obscured sender’s name on the delivery slip, slowly brought back a memory from her previous life.

Her pupils suddenly widened.

If she remembered right, this cake had been rigged with hydrogen balloons.

The moment someone cut into it, it would explode!

If there was a source of fire nearby, the explosion would be terrifying!

In her previous life, this exploding cake had nearly led to a tragedy.

“Who sent this cake?”

Gan Lan held back her anger and demanded in a cold voice.