Charm point maxed out, inheriting game assets-Chapter 1710 - 589: Repairing the Walls (Part 2)

Not to mention, they even held hands.

She slowly lifted her left hand, staring dazedly at it, as if the warmth from his hand was still clearly lingering there.

Orange curled up beside her, occasionally brushing her with its tail, seemingly sharing in its owner’s joy.

"Dingdong——" The WeChat notification sound rang out.

[Tang Song: "(╹◡╹) Got it, rest early."]

Seeing this reply, especially the emoticon above it, Zhang Yan rubbed her cheeks and smiled foolishly.

Then, she lifted her head and looked around at the disordered apartment filled with the aftermath of the dinner gathering, hastily stood up, and began to take action.

She swept and mopped the floor, bundled up the trash left by her friends and threw it away;

she wiped the tables and chairs, and straightened the couch cushions one by one;

she rearranged the bookshelf and desk, lining up every book neatly in order...

She was like a tireless little bee, meticulously cleaning every corner, trying to make this small rental look more decent.

After all... he mentioned he was coming back tomorrow.

Yet, as her gaze fell on the worn-out bathroom and kitchen, the emotion that had just ignited faded in an instant.

The bathroom and kitchen were where she used the most water, and because there were no tiles, the humid environment caused mildew to grow in the corners and around the vents, making it impossible to eradicate completely.

There were also the old refrigerator, range hood, and toilet...

These issues weren’t the kind that could be fixed by simple cleaning.

Even the most skilled cleaning service couldn’t make the worn-out hardware look new.

A strong sense of inferiority wrapped around her again, tears "drip-dropping" onto the worn linoleum floor.

But she just silently wiped them away, put on gloves, and then picked up the bleach, stubbornly scrubbing the stains bit by bit with a brush.

It was unclear how much time had passed.

"Dingdong——" The WeChat notification sound rang again.

She quickly took off her gloves and pulled out her phone.

[Tang Song: "I’m at the hotel now, you should be asleep by now. Goodnight, Zhang Yan, have sweet dreams."]

Looking at the "goodnight" message and the familiar salutation, Zhang Yan bit her lip.

She wanted to reply, but was a bit timid, afraid he would know she hadn’t slept yet and was waiting for his message.

She put away her phone, tried to calm her racing heart, and continued working.

Since she usually paid attention to cleanliness, the apartment wasn’t really messy.

It wasn’t until past one in the morning that she had thoroughly cleaned the entire place.

After washing up, Zhang Yan lay down on the bed, exhausted, and turned off the lights.

She closed her eyes, but couldn’t help opening them again.

In the darkness, the blue light from the screen illuminated her blank face.

She opened her chat with Tang Song, as if only by looking at those few lines of simple conversation could she confirm that everything that happened tonight was real.

The room turned dark once more, and the screen lit up again.

After repeating this a few times,

she finally couldn’t resist the drowsiness and fell into a deep sleep.

Today felt longer than the entire past month.

The conflict with her boss, buying the last two volumes of a manga, writing that letter, the miraculous reunion with him, chatting, reading manga, and holding hands...

At some point, the sound of her even breathing filled the quiet room.

She dreamed a long, warm dream.

It was an afternoon in middle school, the sunlight filtered through the poplar trees outside the window, scattering into mottled spots on the desk.

Jay’s "Rainbow" was playing over the classroom’s speakers, its slightly sorrowful melody flowing through the air like a breeze.

The windows were wide open, and the distinct cool breeze of the school building, mixed with the scent of chalk and grass, swept through the corridor, gently rustling the math test paper in front of her, making a soft rustling sound.

She turned her head, sneaked a peek at her deskmate reading a book, and whispered, "What was your score?"

"93, missed one easy question."

"Oh." She lowered her head further, her gaze fell on the number "69" on her own paper, "Why am I so stupid? These were questions I had practiced before..."

There were less than two months until the high school entrance exams, yet her math scores just wouldn’t improve.

Tang Song was very smart, always in the top three in their class, surely able to get into First Middle School.

While she, most likely could only attend Second Middle School.

In this small town’s middle school, that was actually already a good achievement.

But she still dreamed of going to First Middle School.

Her deskmate tapped her desk with his pen, then tilted his head and whispered with a teasing smile, "Zhang Yan, haven’t you heard? This time the math teacher wrote the scores backward. You need to rotate your paper 180 degrees to see your real score."

"Really?!" She excitedly turned her paper around.

Still 69.

"Hahaha." Her deskmate’s laughter was clean and clear, like ice-cold soda in the summer.

He nudged her with his elbow and said a few more witty remarks, making her cheeks burn.

At some point, Zhang Yan joined him, laughing shyly and softly.

The weight on her heart seemed to have been blown away by the laughter.

Then her deskmate put his book away, earnestly encouraging her, "It’s okay Zhang Yan, Second Middle School isn’t bad either. If you study hard, you can definitely get into a good college. Keep it up!"

"Keep it up."

...

On November 4, 2023, Saturday, cloudy, 21~31°C.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, casting mottled shadows on the yellowing walls.

Zhang Yan slowly opened her eyes to the urgent meowing of a cat.

First, she stared blankly at the ceiling, then glanced at the time on the wall clock.