Tofu is not as delicious as it seems.

Hou Rui gasped greedily for air, inhaling so sharply that he began to cough. Once he managed to suppress the coughing fit, he didn’t even pause to take in his surroundings. The moment he surfaced, the first thing he did was to clutch Lin Cheng tightly around the waist, pulling her close with all his strength.

Still unconscious, Lin Cheng expelled a fountain of water like a startled fish. Hou Rui repeated the process several times before finally detecting the faintest of pulses from her. But even then, Lin Cheng still hadn’t resumed breathing on her own. Hou Rui had no choice but to support her chin with one hand, tilting her face upward to keep seawater from flooding her nose and mouth, while using the other hand to swim with all his might toward the nearby shore.

The moment he set foot on land, Hou Rui immediately began emergency first aid: mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, chest compressions, and patting her back to clear the water. At long last, Lin Cheng’s breathing returned—he’d managed to pull this beautiful troublemaker back from death’s door.

After all that frantic effort, Hou Rui finally had a chance to lie down and catch his breath. But before he could relax, Lin Cheng slowly came to her senses—her first act was to deliver a stinging slap to his face, followed by pulling her clothes around herself and bursting into tears.

Hou Rui, innocent yet now sporting a red cheek, felt a pang of grievance. But then he thought of what Lin Cheng had been through, dragged into this mess and given a taste of death’s shadow—a terrifying ordeal for a sheltered girl. With that, he decided not to take her outburst to heart.

After half an hour or so, once Lin Cheng’s sobs had faded to sniffles, Hou Rui draped his jacket over her shoulders and said, “Come on, if you keep sitting here you’ll catch a cold. Let’s go back to school.”

Stubborn as ever, Lin Cheng turned her face away, refusing to budge from the sand.

“Come on!” Hou Rui said, reaching out to pull her up. But fate played another trick: as he tugged, the strap of Lin Cheng’s bra snapped, and with her arm raised by his pull, a large expanse of bare skin was suddenly exposed.

“I—I swear I didn’t mean to!” Hou Rui blinked, looking directly at Lin Cheng’s stunned face.

“You—you—you! I’ll make you pay!” Lin Cheng, silent until now, exploded in a fit of shame and rage. She leapt up and chased after Hou Rui, swinging wildly. Sensing danger, Hou Rui quickly threw up his arms to protect himself and ran for it. Before long, the two of them had dashed off the beach, one fleeing and one in hot pursuit.

Before much time had passed, Hou Rui was driving his battered old Forty down the highway back to the capital from Xiamiashan. Lin Cheng, wrapped in his jacket, sat quietly in the passenger seat, her gaze drifting as though lost in thought.

Hou Rui sneaked another glance at Lin Cheng’s face, then, unable to help himself, his eyes slid downward, briefly sweeping over her long, bare legs.

Damn, I’m being such a creep.

Feeling a flush of shame, Hou Rui coughed to cover his embarrassment, successfully drawing Lin Cheng’s attention. “Um, Lin Cheng? Let’s not mention what happened today once we get back to school, okay?”

“Why should I? I nearly drowned today,” Lin Cheng replied icily, her face frosty.

“But nothing happened in the end, right? If Liu Hai and his rich friends start pestering us again, it’ll be a real pain. Let’s just keep a low profile, all right?” Hou Rui grinned apologetically.

“Fine. On one condition: you have to meet my terms, and I’ll forget all about today.”

“What condition? As long as I can do it.”

“Within one semester, you have to learn French and reach Unit 2 proficiency.”

“What?” Hou Rui was so startled he almost lost control of the car.

Seeing his shock, Lin Cheng finally felt she had scored a small victory, but just as she was savoring it, Hou Rui’s phone rang—it was Jin Shanshan calling to check on him.

“Where are you? What are you up to?” As he answered, Hou Rui shot Lin Cheng a series of frantic “keep quiet” gestures before replying, “I’m test-driving a car, thinking of getting one for fun.”

“Wow, didn’t know you were so loaded! Just buying a car on a whim?” Jin Shanshan teased extravagantly.

“That’s right. Wealth is my natural trait. Just wait, honey, I’ll take you for a spin soon!”

“Hmph, who said I’d ride in your junk car?”

“Come on, aren’t you my darling wife?”

“Heh, I’m human—how could I be the wife of a monkey?”

Watching Hou Rui banter with his girlfriend, Lin Cheng felt a surge of anger and hurt. In the blink of an eye, she decided to play a little trick on him.

“Enough fooling around. Seriously, our classes are pretty intense lately, so I won’t have much time to hang out. You’d better behave yourself and not go fooling around,” Jin Shanshan finally got serious, signaling she was about to hang up.

“Isn’t your school a bit much? Keeping a young couple apart for so long—something’s bound to happen!” Hou Rui imitated the local Shanghai accent, hoping to cheer her up after detecting a hint of sadness in her voice.

“What could possibly happen? What are you trying to say? Explain yourself, you monkey!” Jin Shanshan seized on his slip and wouldn’t let it go.

As Hou Rui prepared to talk his way out of it, Lin Cheng, who had been quietly listening, suddenly leaned toward the phone and, with her seductive lips, uttered a clear sentence in French.

In that instant, both Hou Rui and Jin Shanshan were dumbfounded.

A few seconds later, when Jin Shanshan recovered, she began to roar on the phone, demanding an explanation. Under Lin Cheng’s triumphant gaze, Hou Rui could only fumble for excuses. “It’s nothing, really. She’s just a classmate who came with me for the test drive—she knows the car owner and can get a discount.”

“No way, that doesn’t add up! And what did she just say?” As a criminal investigation major at the Police Academy, Jin Shanshan wasn’t so easily fooled.

“I have no idea, maybe she was just complimenting the color of the car?” Hou Rui was on the verge of losing it.

“No, you need to come here, to my school—I want to meet this so-called ‘ordinary’ classmate.” Jin Shanshan bit out the word “ordinary” with icy emphasis.

“Come on, how am I supposed to do that? I’m still driving someone else’s car, and it’s hardly appropriate to bring a girl along to meet my girlfriend, is it?”

“I’m warning you, monkey, if you keep making excuses, you won’t have a girlfriend for much longer.”

“Okay, okay, my dear aunt! I’ll return the car first, then come to your school, all right?” Hou Rui finally relented. Whether he would actually go or not, he couldn’t keep arguing—any more, and not only would it hurt their relationship, but it would also let the instigator beside him enjoy the spectacle even more.

Apparently satisfied that Hou Rui had given in, Jin Shanshan calmed down a little and added, “At least you know your place. But I’m busy for the rest of today and tomorrow. Tell you what—send me a photo of her right now. If I’m satisfied, maybe you won’t have to come.”

“A photo? Of who?” Hou Rui stalled, glancing nervously at Lin Cheng. With her soaked clothes, long bare legs, and that innocent yet seductive face—if he really sent a picture, he’d be lucky not to get killed by a furious Jin Shanshan.

“Playing dumb, are you? Whose photo do you think I mean?” Jin Shanshan was on the verge of another outburst.

“Oh dear, the signal seems bad... lots of static... how about we meet tomorrow or the day after? I’ll introduce you two then. Gotta go now, bye!” With that, Hou Rui swiftly hung up and tossed his phone into the glove compartment.

“You lied,” Lin Cheng said coolly, bluntly exposing him.

“All because of you! What did you say just now?” Hou Rui finally had a moment to ask, eyeing Lin Cheng suspiciously and trying to read her expression for clues.

“I’m not telling you.” With that, Lin Cheng turned her face to the window, leaving only the back of her head for Hou Rui to glare at, forcing him to focus on driving.

By now, after all these delays, the Forty had entered the city limits. As Hou Rui prepared to exit toward the school, Lin Cheng, her spirits much improved after all the mischief, suddenly called out, “Turn left at the intersection ahead.”

“Left? But the way back to school is right,” Hou Rui protested instinctively.

“Can I go back to school or my dorm looking like this? Take me home first.”

Hou Rui sneaked another glance at Lin Cheng, clad only in his jacket and her underwear—she certainly wasn’t dressed for walking around campus. He agreed without hesitation.

After more than two hours, the bright red Forty finally made its way through the city and into a quiet, unassuming residential district, stopping in front of a towering 167-story apartment building.

Like a thief, Lin Cheng cowered low in the car, peeking out with wide, darting eyes, terrified someone she knew might see her in this embarrassingly alluring state.

She waited forty-five minutes, and only when the building’s entrance was deserted did she finally muster the courage to dash out, long legs flashing as she sprinted for the elevator.

Watching Lin Cheng bolt like a startled rabbit, Hou Rui was suddenly struck by a wicked urge for revenge.

“Lin Cheng, you forgot your pants!” he called out at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing through the apartment complex.

Startled into panic, Lin Cheng almost fell flat on her face. When she spun around, furious and ready to go for his throat, the bright red Forty had already sped away, Hou Rui’s laughter trailing behind as he made his escape.