Chapter 237: Part of the Plan
“You want to pay tuition?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“How do you want to pay? I’m not short of money, and I don’t really need anything.” Sister Yu looked into Lin Muqing’s eyes with a sly smile and spoke softly.
“Umm…”
Hearing this question, Lin Muqing froze again. She didn’t know what she could give Sister Yu. But since Sister Yu brought it up, it must mean she already had something in mind.
Thinking that, Lin Muqing just stared at her and quietly waited for her to continue.
“How about this,” Sister Yu said after pausing as if she was thinking hard, “Since I don’t need anything, I’ll just give you one small request.”
“What request?”
Lin Muqing tilted her head in confusion.
“Starting today, if you want to attend my lessons, you have to use the methods I teach you to make yourself look pretty. Oh, and you have to wear a maid outfit.”
“!?”
Facing Sister Yu’s smile, Lin Muqing’s eyes widened in shock. She blinked quickly, looking stunned. Sister Yu’s request was really strange. Lin Muqing tried to bargain with her, but Sister Yu didn’t back down at all.
Sister Yu: Let’s be honest, we just want to see Lin Muqing in a cute maid outfit.
“But why?”
Wiping away imaginary sweat from her forehead, Lin Muqing asked, confused.
“Because it’s cute and makes people happy,” Sister Yu answered, resting her chin in her hands.
“I agree,” Ye Mengze quickly added, jumping in to help.
“But…”
Looking at the two older girls in front of her, Lin Muqing wanted to refuse, but she realized that no matter what she said, they could always talk her into it. After a bit more talking, she finally went into the changing room and put on her special maid outfit.
“And you still need to make yourself look pretty,” Sister Yu reminded her kindly when she came out.
“Mm…”
Feeling shy, Lin Muqing gripped the hem of her skirt tightly with both hands, her face turning red without her control.
Lin Muqing: I clearly said I would never wear skirts again… but ugh…
After spending some time using the beauty tips Sister Yu taught her, she finished getting ready. Then Sister Yu pushed her toward the office, saying the manager was busy and needed some documents, so she should deliver them and help out a little.
Ye Ziming got quite a pleasant surprise.
“Do I look strange?”
While helping with the store’s accounts in the office, Lin Muqing frowned slightly and asked her good buddy. His gaze wasn’t unfriendly, but it made her feel embarrassed and a little nervous.
“No.”
Ye Ziming shook his head honestly. Before Lin Muqing could speak again, he added,
“It’s just… today you look prettier and cuter than usual.”
After he said that, the office suddenly went quiet. The two of them just looked into each other’s eyes. During that silence, a light blush slowly spread across Lin Muqing’s cheeks.
For some reason, when she heard her good buddy say that, Lin Muqing didn’t feel annoyed at all. Instead, she felt a little happy for no clear reason.
“Hmph.”
Acting proud, she looked away and pretended to be mad, ignoring him. Pouting, she continued to focus on her own work. Seeing her blushing face and her cute reaction, Ye Ziming couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
“Fruit flavor. Want to try one?”
Smiling with satisfaction, Ye Ziming took out a candy, gently poked her cute cheek with it, then held it out to her.
“Emmm…”
She looked at the candy, then quietly glanced at him. After hesitating for a moment, she reached out her hand. She unwrapped the candy and put it into her mouth while still pretending to be angry and not wanting to talk to him. Like a little cat, no matter what, she had to keep her proud attitude.
“Is it tasty?”
Ye Ziming asked softly.
“It’s… okay.”
She mumbled back.
“Want another one?”
He asked again. Hearing that, she secretly stole another glance at him, then naturally held out her hand without saying a word, still pretending to be cool.
Time passed slowly. Besides helping Ye Ziming with some work, Lin Muqing also went back to the break room to learn more makeup skills from Sister Yu. When work ended, Uncle Liu the driver had already left, so the two went home in Ye Mengze’s car.
At night, after finishing her homework, Lin Muqing lay on the sofa in the living room, holding her phone and searching for tips on running 1,000 meters. At this point, she was basically cramming last minute, which was useless.
Online, most advice was just “practice running more.” They said if you run more, you’ll pass. Wasn’t that just asking for her life!?
“Big Bro, I think I’m doomed.”
Halfway through playing on her phone, she saw her good buddy walk out of his room, so she started complaining to him.
“Tomorrow I’ll run with you.”
Smiling with a bit of helplessness, Ye Ziming reached out and patted her head. Daily cat-petting mission complete (n/1).
Lin Muqing felt it was amazing. His hand was like magic, when it rested on her head, it felt both comfortable and safe. When she felt most relaxed, she didn’t even notice that she had opened her mouth and was making a cute “purr” sound.
At times like this, Lin Muqing was at her most obedient. Even if Ye Ziming reached out his other hand to pinch her cheek, she barely reacted.
The night passed simply, and soon, the next day arrived.
“Big Bro, I’m a little nervous.”
“Run slower later, I’m afraid I can’t keep up.”
In the afternoon, during PE class, after warm-up exercises, Lin Muqing kept talking to Ye Ziming, following closely beside him. She was really nervous because soon it would be their turn to run the 1,000 meters.
Ye Ziming, on the other hand, was speechless. He thought there was no need to be nervous at all. To him, 1,000 meters was just a few minutes of running.
“Stay with me, I’ll aim right at the passing line.”
When it was their class’s turn, Ye Ziming held a borrowed stopwatch and waved it in front of her.
“Big Bro~”
Lin Muqing looked up at him with teary, grateful eyes. She didn’t expect he would give up a perfect score just for her.
But after they started running, her gratitude quickly disappeared.
By the 500–800 meter part of the run, her pace got slower and slower, falling further behind him. Ye Ziming glanced back and quickly realized she was running out of energy.
He wasn’t surprised at all. Instead, he smiled faintly, because he had already guessed this would happen.