With the system's prompt ringing in his ears, Wen Nan fell into deep thought.
The first task had 25 minutes remaining, which meant he needed to meet his final target within this time—a cool and reserved academic achiever.
This shouldn't be difficult. After all, not long ago, he received numerous messages on his phone from different targets, and one was from that academic achiever—
[Ye Jiu, tonight at nine, behind the classroom, waiting for you]
It's been more than an hour past the nine o'clock they agreed on. Unlike Little Pepper, who bombarded him with messages to urge an appointment, this academic achiever didn't send any further messages after that one, not even when Wen Nan didn't respond at all.
It seemed he had to head to the back of the classroom to meet this last target.
There was still one tricky problem—his full charm value was about to expire.
Facing the appointment with only 4 charm points, Wen Nan wasn't sure if this would change the other's attitude towards him.
Nonetheless, he had to go.
But before that... he needed to wrap up the current situation.
The school infirmary.
The school nurse finished treating Wu Yuwei's knee injury and went off to attend to other matters, leaving Wu Yuwei alone by the bed, silently weeping.
Alone in the quiet room, the more she thought the more upset and wronged she felt, tears flowed like a broken string of beads, unstoppable.
After some time, a shadow approached slowly and sat down beside her.
Seeing who it was, Wu Yuwei threw herself into the person's arms, crying her heart out, "He... he actually... rejected me..."
The person gently raised a hand to stroke Wu Yuwei's head, speaking softly, "Rejection is just rejection, you have plenty of admirers anyway, losing one isn't much."
Wu Yuwei shook her head forcefully, "But I'm not willing, this was my first confession, I even gave him my first kiss, why didn't he choose me? Not choosing me is one thing, but why choose Liu Qi? How could I lose to someone like Liu Qi? What does she have over me?"
The person listened patiently before piercingly pointing out, "So you're crying so bitterly, just because you lost to Liu Qi, not because Ye Jiu doesn't like you?"
Wu Yuwei was taken aback by the question, "I... I don't know..." and after thinking for a while, she asked, "Is it wrong to not want to lose to Liu Qi?"
The person shook their head, "It's not wrong, but there's nothing worth crying over either."
Saying this, they took out a pack of tissues, stuffing it into Wu Yuwei's hands, "Alright, stop crying. Wallowing in self-pity here won't solve anything, tears are the epitaph of the weak and the useless. If you're not willing, find a way to fight for it again. Sitting here wasting time won't make Ye Jiu like you any more."
Though the words were harsh, Wu Yuwei clenched the tissues, gritting her teeth, and indeed stopped crying.
The person smiled in satisfaction, reached out to gently wipe away the tear stains from Wu Yuwei's eyes, "Be good, rest a bit more, I have something to do in the classroom, I'll be back to find you soon."
With that, the person stood up and slowly walked towards the door.
Wu Yuwei watched the figure depart, suddenly remembering something and asking, "Did you find what you were looking for...?"
The person turned back, smiled at Wu Yuwei and nodded, "Yes, found it."
The moment the black mist in the sky dispersed, Little Pepper, Qiqi, and Aunt Mei returned to their original forms.
Qiqi hugged Aunt Mei's neck tightly, rubbing affectionately against her shoulder, "Aunt, how come you're at the school now?"
Lin Xue Mei raised her hand to ruffle her hair, "I was dealing with a client near your school today, finished early, so I thought I'd drop by."
As she spoke, she feigned annoyance, "Didn't expect you and Little Jiu to be so busy, sent you both messages and neither of you replied? I waited in the car for so long, if it wasn't for a helpful student with glasses who came to lead me in, I was about to leave."
While Qiqi and Lin Xue Mei were chatting, Wen Nan remembered Little Pepper still standing in the corner, turned around intending to say something, only to see her hasty departure.
The fiery demeanor from their first encounter had now vanished without a trace.
Little Pepper bent down to pick up a badminton racket from the ground, dashed off the playground with her long legs, as if she was afraid Wen Nan would chase after her.
'I'm not going to eat you... is it necessary to be so scared like a rabbit meeting a hungry wolf?'
Wen Nan thought to himself, shook his head helplessly, and turned towards Qiqi and Aunt Mei.
Seeing Wen Nan approaching, Aunt Mei immediately smiled, her eyes curving, and offered the snacks in her hand, "Little Jiu, I brought your favorite snow maiden, do you want to take it to the dorm?"
Wen Nan's eyes fell, briefly distracted.
Such white snow maidens, no, such round snow maidens, no, forget it...
He finally focused on his toes, stiffly saying, "Thank you, Aunt Mei."
"Bro, why is your face red?"
Qiqi raised her hand, poked Wen Nan's cheek, which Wen Nan caught and put her finger in his mouth.
"Hey! Are you a dog? Aunt, he's biting me! You better manage my brother!"
Aunt Mei laughed helplessly and shook her head, long used to the kids' antics. She recalled something else and glanced towards the corner, "That girl earlier over there, is she your classmate? Where did she go? Should I call her over to share the snacks?"
Qiqi thought of the tall and pretty girl from before and pouted instantly, "She's not our classmate, not even from our school."
"Is that so?" Aunt Mei looked at Wen Nan with a meaningful gaze, "I thought maybe she was Ye Jiu's new girlfriend."
Hearing this, Qiqi panicked, jumped up, hooked Wen Nan's arm, pulling him into her embrace, "My brother is mine, nobody can take him!"
Aunt Mei tapped Qiqi's brow, "You kid." Then she turned to the boy beside her, taller by half a head, and softly asked, "This weekend, do you want to come home?"
At some point, Aunt Mei started using "home" to refer to her place when talking to Ye Jiu, rather than "my home" or "our home," as if that home simultaneously belonged to her, Qiqi, and Ye Jiu.
"Isn't it obvious? Of course we're going back," Qiqi answered eagerly.
Aunt Mei smiled at Qiqi but finally set her eyes on the boy's face before asking again, "Are you coming?"
Wen Nan nodded, "Yes."
Aunt Mei's eyes curved again with a smile, "Good, I'll wait for you."