Give Me Another Smile

Wang Zhen didn't know what subjects middle schoolers nowadays needed to learn, so she simply stacked the book together with the mock papers before putting them away into her daughter's schoolbag.

Just as Wang Zhen was about to turn around and leave, something stopped her foot. Looking down, she found that it was an open drawer.

What a forgetful girl, Wang Zhen dotingly smiled before crouching down to close the drawer. However, as soon as she crouched down, the pink envelope sitting in the drawer instantly caught her attention.

Wang Zhen didn't wish to pry into her child's privacy without consent, but...her hand still reached for the letter against her will.

After inwardly muttering several apologies, Wang Zhen flipped open the envelope with trembling hands, took out the letter inside, and began reading it with a curious heart.

The letter started out rather normally, and Wang Zhen couldn't help but wonder if she had been overthinking things for a moment. However, the more she read, the more startled she became as she realized that the letter was indeed a love letter.

When Wang Zhen saw the signature at the end of the letter, she couldn't help but doubt her eyes for a moment. After all, this letter was written a few years ago. But Yin Zhao-an's emotional instability had only appeared recently, so this letter shouldn't be the cause.

Wang Zhen sighed in relief when she finished reading the letter. She recognized the name of the letter's sender. Although she wasn't particularly familiar with the boy, she had heard many people around her talking about him and saying he was a disciplined and sensible boy.

Wang Zhen felt guilty after peeping at her daughter's love letter. So, she quickly returned the letter to its original position and quietly left the room, turning off the lights on her way out.

…

Ever since Wang Zhen learned that her daughter had an admirer, she would walk around the military compound and chat with people whenever she had free time at home, gathering any information she could on the boy named Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu's father was a military instructor, while his mother was a doctor working at the military hospital. Zhao Yu's father had placed high hopes on him since he was young, his father hoping he would join the military as a soldier. But... It would seem that Zhao Yu wasn't exactly fit for the role as he had an overly soft personality. Wang Zhen didn't know how the boy ended that way, but she guessed that he probably took after his mother.

Of course, Wang Zhen wasn't looking into Zhao Yu as a prospective son-in-law. She was simply trying to understand what kind of boy could get her daughter to keep his love letter for several years.

…

Ignorant of her mother's antics, Yin Zhao-an was busy tackling her high school entrance examination with Tang Yu. Though, unlike Yin Zhao-an, Tang Yu had a much easier time with the government examination.

Tang Yu had already experienced the test once before, so she knew what kind of difficulty to expect going in. Even mathematics, which was usually the most challenging subject in the high school entrance exam, shouldn't be a problem for her. Although she majored in broadcasting at university, she studied Further Mathematics for around one and a half semesters, and she highly doubted the high school entrance exam's difficulty could be greater than that.

Yin Zhao-an preferred to study in a quiet environment. Regardless of whether she knew how to solve a problem, she would always hole herself up in her room to research the problem. Oftentimes, she would eventually come to the right answer. But for questions that could stump her, they were most likely questions that others couldn't solve, either.

Meanwhile, the group of young delinquents continued spending their days guarding the alleyway. Whenever they saw Tang Yu and Yin Zhao-an walking by, they would consciously hide, the reason being that Yin Zhao-an said they looked too scary, and she was worried they might scare her Tang-Tang.

Because of Yin Zhao-an's behavior toward Tang Yu, the blond delinquent, also known as Wen Tao, would always subconsciously refer to Tang Yu as "sister-in-law." After all, Yin Zhao-an was his "Big Bro."

Initially, Wen Tao assumed Yin Zhao-an was protective of Tang Yu because the latter was his "Big Bro's" girlfriend. Hence, he and his cohorts automatically assigned the position of sister-in-law to Tang Yu. He didn't change this manner of address even after learning that Yin Zhao-an was a girl.

Meanwhile, Yin Zhao-an nearly gave Wen Tao a hammer strike to the head when she heard him referring to Tang Yu as "sister-in-law." However, she eventually decided to let Wen Tao and his underlings be, considering she didn't refuse to let them address her as "Big Bro." Anyway, it wasn't a big problem since Tang Yu would never hear this manner of address.

Speaking of Wen Tao, he was the textbook example of a rebellious adolescent boy. He disliked being told how to live his life and loved doing the opposite of what his family asked of him. He was also determined to hew out a career for himself.

Indeed. Wen Tao's so-called career was leading a group of rebellious youths to rob people in dark alleys, euphemistically referring to the act as "collecting protection fees."

However, when Wen Tao learned that Yin Zhao-an was not only a good fighter but also a top student, he unexpectedly felt ashamed of himself. The competitive spirit within him refusing to let him be outdone, Wen Tao eventually decided to hand his motorcycle over to his buddies and return to his dust-covered books.

…

The high school entrance examination wasn't as major of an event as the college entrance examination, so it went by without much excitement.

When the bell for the final paper rang, all examinees put down their pens and waited for the invigilators to collect their papers. Along with the end of the exam, the quiet hallways also started to get noisy.

Tang Yu left the classroom with a transparent bag containing her exam admission ticket and writing utensils, the smell of rain and mud flowing into her nostrils. Whenever it was time for the high school entrance examination, it would always rain in her city, almost as if the city or the exam was under a curse.

When Tang Yu walked over to the nearby window and looked downstairs, she saw a dense stream of people holding umbrellas walking out of the school. Seeing this, she decided to stand by the corridor and wait for the turbulent crowd to pass.

At this time, a group of boys walked by, the boys seemingly having done well in their exam as they were laughing and messing around with each other. While walking by Tang Yu, one of these students jokingly pushed one of their companions. The person pushed was caught off-guard, so he ended up stumbling backward in Tang Yu's direction.

They were in a narrow corridor, so there was no way for Tang Yu to avoid a collision with the boy, so she subconsciously took a defensive posture. However, the crash she expected never happened.

Relying on her tall body, Yin Zhao-an effortlessly helped the boy come under control while she shielded Tang Yu behind her. Meanwhile, the boy hurriedly apologized to her in embarrassment before quickly running away with his companions.