Chapter 135: The Journal

"Is that so? Then I'll give you a double-combination punishment when you get back!" Wang Manshu said helplessly while massaging her temples.

"Um... let's forget about that," Lin'er raised her head and looked at her mom with a pitiful expression.

"Alright, alright. I need to go play mahjong with your aunties. Make sure you two take precautions!" With that, Wang Manshu hung up the phone.

Lin'er put her phone down with an awkward expression, took the small box out of her bag, looked at it for a moment, and tossed it straight into the drawer.

Hearing the faint, lingering sounds from nearby, Lin'er sighed helplessly and decided to head over to Sister Zhiyi's room to steer clear of the awkwardness!

Nan Zhiyi was still hunched over her desk writing something when Lin'er pushed the door open, causing her to immediately close her notebook.

"Sister Zhiyi?" Lin'er looked at her actions with curiosity. "What are you writing? So secretive."

"It's a secret," Nan Zhiyi said, making a move to put the notebook away.

Lin'er took a few quick steps forward. Before Nan Zhiyi could get a firm grip on it, Lin'er snatched the notebook right out of her hands.

"What kind of secret could possibly be kept from me!" The moment Lin'er grabbed it, she scurried away, sat down on the other side of Nan Zhiyi's bed, and flipped the notebook open.

Nan Zhiyi initially wanted to snatch it back, but seeing that she had already opened it, she simply walked over and sat beside her to read along.

As soon as Lin'er flipped open the notebook, she was met with dense pages of handwriting. She raised her head and gave Sister Zhiyi a quirky look.

"You even keep a diary?"

"Of course, I've been writing one since I was a child," Nan Zhiyi said, taking her notebook back and snapping the clasp shut.

Nan Zhiyi's diary was filled entirely with recent events, and Qin Xuan's name appeared dozens of times on a single page...

"Is that really necessary?" Lin'er sighed in amazement.

She used to keep a diary too, but hers only contained entries like:

"March 3rd, Wednesday, overcast, boring school day. Today Qin Xuan carried me to school on his back again, so happy!"

"May 20th, Saturday, sunny, Qin Xuan barged into my room without knocking while I was changing clothes! He even stood there in a daze for a moment, so annoying..."

...

Later on, Lin'er forgot to put her diary away one day, and Wang Manshu discovered it. It started off fine, but as she read further, she realized things were getting increasingly improper!

This incident happened during their first year of high school, which was why Wang Manshu had made her and Qin Xuan choose different academic tracks.

Regarding the diary, Wang Manshu hadn't confiscated it; she simply put it back where she found it. However, from then on, she kept a strict eye on the distance between the two of them—too bad she couldn't stop it once they got to college...

When Lin'er woke up the next day, she realized her diary had been tampered with. Based on her mom's subsequent actions, Lin'er guessed that her mom must have read it. Ever since then, Lin'er never kept a diary again.

Seeing Sister Zhiyi's diary reminded Lin'er of her own old journals, goodness knows where they were currently gathering dust. They were full of scandalous remarks—thankfully her mom had only found that one particular volume...

"Alright, hurry back to bed and get some sleep. The noise next door should be gone by now, right?" Nan Zhiyi said with an "I understand" expression, gently pushing Lin'er toward the door.

"I want to sleep next to you tonight," Lin'er turned around and said to Zhiyi.

Nan Zhiyi clutched her collar in mock terror: "No way! I only want to sleep next to Qin Xuan."

"Tsk tsk tsk, Qin Xuan is probably exhausted by now and wouldn't want to sleep next to you," Lin'er replied with absolute certainty.

Unfortunately, Nan Zhiyi eventually gave in to Lin'er because Lin'er promised to tell her some of Qin Xuan's embarrassing childhood stories. Needless to say, Nan Zhiyi was tempted...

So the next morning, Qin Xuan was energetically cooking breakfast in the kitchen when he saw Lin'er walking out of Nan Zhiyi's room looking completely exhausted. He asked with a puzzled look, "What on earth happened to you?!"

"What are you looking at? I'm going back to sleep for a bit!" Lin'er cast a sidelong glance at Qin Xuan and tried to slip away on stealthy steps.

However, Qin Xuan blocked her path with a spatula in hand: "Why were you in Zhiyi's room? What did you two get up to?"

"Huh?!" Lin'er gave Qin Xuan a disgruntled look. "Get lost, get lost! What are your dirty mind wandering off to all day? I was just chatting with her about some things you did in the past."

Hearing this, Qin Xuan stepped aside. That was a relief...

"Another ten minutes of sleep!" Qin Xuan shouted at her retreating back.

Lin'er nodded feebly and threw herself onto her bed the moment she reached her room.

When Qin Xuan finished setting breakfast on the table, it took a monumental effort on his part to drag everyone out of bed.

Nan Zhiyi sat nearby, watching Qin Xuan eat a fried egg. Remembering what Lin'er had told her last night, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Qin Xuan falling into a ditch..."

"Cough, cough!" Qin Xuan was eating peacefully when Nan Zhiyi's sudden remark made him choke and cough twice.

He turned his head and gave Nan Zhiyi a disgruntled look: "I'm begging you, please don't talk about that! I'm trying to eat."

"Oh..." Nan Zhiyi smiled at him and finally lowered her head to continue eating.

Seeing this, Qin Xuan turned his gaze to the drowsy Lin'er sitting beside her. *Have I not disciplined you two for a few days, making your skin itch for some punishment?*

Meeting Qin Xuan's gaze, Lin'er instantly cowered and obediently focused on her meal.

Come to think of it, this week marked the halfway point of the semester. As the group walked toward school, they expressed mild astonishment upon realizing this—time truly flew by far too quickly.

"So, cherish your time," Nan Zhiyi said as she stood at the parting crossroad, holding Qin Xuan's hand. "Give me a few more kisses right now, or else I won't be this pretty in the future!"

"You mean even prettier, right?" Qin Xuan tilted his head and kissed her cheek.

"Haha, exactly!" Nan Zhiyi returned the kiss, then let go of his hand with a bright smile. "Such a smart boy!"

With that, she waved goodbye to Liu Ruoxi and set off down the street.

"Tsk tsk tsk, why are these two people so thick-skinned?" Liu Ruoxi wrapped her arm around Qin Xuan's and said to Lin'er beside her.

"Precisely! They never praise us," Lin'er gave Qin Xuan a scornful look.

Qin Xuan helplessly reached out to hold Lin'er's little hand as well. "Do you guys even need my compliments? Don't you know how pretty you are by looking in the mirror?"

"Such smooth talk. Why weren't you like this before?" Liu Ruoxi let Qin Xuan hold her hand and retorted.

"Before? Just like back then when you first saw my little brother—didn't you say it looked ugly too? Yet you ended up loving it so much later on."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Liu Ruoxi didn't catch on for a second, but she had a strong feeling those words weren't innocent.

Meanwhile, Lin'er, who figured it out immediately, felt her face flush red and nodded in fierce agreement inside her heart!

Qin Xuan leaned down and whispered something in Liu Ruoxi's ear, prompting her to immediately punch him. *Shameless scumbag! No PDA allowed on the sidewalk.*

Recalling that incident, it had happened during the summer vacation between the third year of middle school and the first year of high school. Back then, Liu Ruoxi was still naive and innocent; she had spent an entire night studying knowledge online, and driven by pure curiosity, she sneaked up on Qin Xuan while he was taking a nap on the sofa...

When Qin Xuan was startled awake, he initially thought he had caused it himself, only to find Liu Ruoxi squatting right beside him... still holding her smartphone, seemingly in the middle of her research...

Afterward, Qin Xuan gave her a severe scolding, chalking it up to youthful curiosity. The two of them never spoke of the matter again, and even Lin'er remained completely unaware of it.

Sitting in the classroom as the lecture began, Liu Ruoxi's mind was still wandering off. She truly couldn't believe she had actually pulled off something like that back then! It was utterly humiliating—especially since she had gotten chewed out by Qin Xuan afterwards!