520. Finals
No matter if Ning Chu wanted it or not, time always flew by, and before she knew it, exam week had arrived, culminating in the final written test.
Since yesterday, the campus pathways had been bustling with students dragging their luggage, joyfully heading home.
Tomorrow, Wen Yang would embark on his internship journey, officially stepping into society, and she would face a brief separation from him for about ten days.
“Seriously…”
The exam paper was done and submitted, but Ning Chu was sprawled over the cold desk, mindlessly fiddling with her pen cap.
Ah, the comfort of school days… Just the thought of joining the 996 life—working so hard that entertainment nearly fades away—made her feel utterly exhausted.
“Ning Chu~ Let’s go!”
Ning Chu lifted her head and saw a few of her friends and Wen Yang waiting for her in the hallway. Yan Xinya was pressed up against the window, waving at her.
With a helpless sigh, she grabbed her things and got up to leave the classroom.
Leaving the air-conditioned classroom, the heat outside made her chest feel a bit constricted. She shoved her stuff into Wen Yang’s arms and stretched. “Finally done~ My b*tt hurts from sitting so long~”
“How did it go?”
“Not bad. I’m sure I passed.” Ning Chu gritted her teeth. “You really taught well, didn’t you, Wen Yang?”
“Right? I think I have a knack for teaching.”
Well, of course! If she didn’t finish reviewing a chapter every day, the Succubus’ food supply would run dry! Only a male protagonist like you would pull that off! Even a dog would cover its eyes!
It forced her to survive on just a little breakfast milk for days.
“Can Ning Chu really pass? I thought someone would be here to retake the exam with me…” Qian Qian moped, looking pitiful with her head down. “How about Wen Yang teach me instead?”
Without hesitation, Ning Chu decisively rejected this idea on Wen Yang’s behalf. “No way!”
“Huh? Why not?”
“His teaching style isn’t right for you.”
Yan Xinya perked up and asked, “Want to go out for dinner tonight? Let’s have Shao Qing treat us!”
But Ning Chu shook her head. “I have a train ticket for seven.”
“Ah? Why~”
She rolled her eyes at the Wolf Girl. “We just had a few meals together the other day. Are you not afraid of gaining weight?”
In reality, she was just worried about getting emotional in front of her friends. It was better to leave decisively.
“I have a train ticket tonight too,” Qian Qian raised her hand.
Yan Xinya drooped her ears and tail. “Alright~ I was just looking forward to one last meal before graduation.”
“Graduation isn’t until this time next year, okay? It’s not like we won’t see each other again.”
“Wen Yang stole her away, or else Ning Chu would definitely still be in school next semester,” the Wolf Girl muttered.
Sticking around school during the internship period isn’t great either~
Ning Chu silently rolled her eyes, matching Wen Yang’s pace as they headed downstairs.
The exam ended just after five, but with her seven o’clock train ticket, she had to rush back to grab her luggage and get a taxi to the station.
As they exited the teaching building, she suddenly turned around and asked, “By the way, Lily, do you want to come over to my house? There won’t be anyone at yours after you go back.”
She had brought this up before, and Lily had seemed hesitant.
This time, she directly shook her head. “I think I’ll pass.”
“Make sure to take care of yourself at home!”
Lily’s face turned slightly red as she averted Ning Chu’s teasing gaze.
At the fork in the road, the group stopped instinctively.
Wen Yang held Ning Chu’s hand and smiled at the other girls. “Shall we head out first?”
“Ning Chu~ Bye~”
“Don’t wait until the next time we meet, and Ning Chu’s got a big belly~” Yan Xinya teased, “The graduation photo won’t look good then.”
Ning Chu shot the Wolf Girl an annoyed glare. “No way! Wen Yang and I have already agreed! No kids!”
“Easy to say you won’t have kids, but once you really get pregnant, you wouldn’t want to get rid of it.”
“Stop talking nonsense! That’s impossible!”
She let out a huff, turned to the still shy Lily, and they exchanged a nod—consider it a goodbye.
The next time they would probably meet would be at the graduation ceremony…
Ning Chu suddenly thought that flunking the finals didn’t seem so bad; at least it gave her a reason to come back to school for a retake and see her friends who she had spent years with.
Watching her girlfriends banter and gradually move away, she struggled to hide the sadness in her eyes and lowered her head to stare at her shoelaces.
“Working doesn’t mean there aren’t holidays; I can take them out for a trip later on.”
Wen Yang reassured her from the side.
“Uh-huh.”
In truth, those close high school friends would barely maintain contact after graduation, with maybe one or two class reunions for a few years. With time, the relationships faded further.
Now, Ning Chu couldn’t even remember the names of some of her oldest friends… Even though they had all talked about getting together when graduation approached, someone always seemed too busy.
“Lily’s waving at you.”
She looked up to see Lily waving goodbye from a distance, and she waved back. Then she quickly grabbed Wen Yang’s shirt and, with her head down, hurriedly walked outside the school.
It was still that same road, one she had walked so many times from the school gate to the bus station.
The streets were filled with students dragging their luggage, and the usually empty buses were packed full.
Stopping at the bus stop, Wen Yang looked down at Ning Chu, who was trying to hide her emotions. He gently patted her little head. “You might want to think about what you’re going to do without me for the next few days.”
“It’s as if I can’t survive without you around…”
Ning Chu suddenly realized it wasn’t the time to be melancholic.
With her mother Black Bean at home, she had to sneak around like a thief to satisfy her own needs. If discovered, she might never be able to show her face at home again…
It’s all Wen Yang’s fault for making her more and more needy over the years!
“It’s your fault! You had to go so far for work!”
“The pay is good…”
Wen Yang chuckled and ruffled the little Succubus’s hair again, only to get swatted away in annoyance. “Don’t mess with my hair! It’s all a tangled mess thanks to you.”
“I have a ticket for tomorrow. I’ll clean up the rental apartment tonight and return it tomorrow.”
“Wait, I’ll drive you to the station, okay? I’m worried about you.”
Ning Chu was already scanning for shared bikes, retorting, “I’m not a kid; what’s there to worry about?”
“Let’s bike back. Waiting for the bus will take forever.”
“Why the rush?”
“What do you think?!”
Gotta get back and replenish her energy! For the next ten days, she wouldn’t be able to see any men!
No, it was because she was concerned Wen Yang might have too much energy without the Succubus around and get tempted by some seductress…
Ning Chu calculated the timing—the bike ride back would take about twenty minutes, and a taxi to the station would take an hour. That left her a mere half-hour of wiggle room to squeeze out of Wen Yang.
Too little…
“Let’s change my ticket to two hours later, hmm.”
——
She hadn’t gone home for New Year’s; she was returning tomorrow to celebrate the Lantern Festival.
From the thirty-first to the seventh of next month, with a week’s time of unsteady updates.
