Chapter Twenty-Six: When the Author of the Story Encounters the Protagonist

In just a little over ten minutes, Luo Chen had finished the mountain of homework before him. It wasn’t so difficult after all, it seemed. Does this make me a model student? After checking the time, Luo Chen gathered up his completed assignments and handed them to the young woman, Dai Xinhua.

“All done.”

“So fast?” Dai Xinhua had just managed to shake off her clingy best friend when she saw Luo Chen finish his work already. Could he have just scribbled anything down? She eyed Luo Chen suspiciously and flipped through the exercise book.

Hmm, the handwriting is nice—her first impression. Then, glancing over the contents, she was startled to find that it hadn’t been done carelessly at all. The reasoning was clear, the wording concise, and several historical analyses were spot-on—she couldn’t have written it herself.

Who’d have thought—he’s actually pretty impressive. Dai Xinhua wondered if she’d gone too far drawing Luo Chen as the submissive one in her sketches.

No, no, after all, Yanhe is so capable—she’s the dominant one. Yes, that’s how it should be.

“What’s wrong?” Luo Chen looked curiously at the girl, who seemed lost in thought. Judging from her earlier attitude, had she done something she didn’t want him to know about? Especially considering the surprised look on Zhao Qianqian’s face when she saw him—it definitely seemed like they were hiding something, probably related to him.

But Luo Chen had no intention of eavesdropping. Everyone has their secrets—if they didn’t want him to know, he wasn’t about to pry. After all, they weren’t exactly close.

Still, Luo Chen watched the girl standing there, staring blankly at his homework. He walked over and waved his hand between her eyes and the exercise book.

“What are you thinking about?” Luo Chen glanced at his completed assignments. There didn’t seem to be any problem.

“W-w-way too close!” Dai Xinhua snapped back to herself, saw how near Luo Chen was, and stumbled backward in a fluster, almost tripping over a desk and sending exercise books flying everywhere.

“Careful, are you all right?” Luo Chen stepped forward to steady her, a bit helpless. Was he really that intimidating?

“I’m fine,” Dai Xinhua sighed as she looked at the scattered notebooks.

Luo Chen gave a wry smile and bent down to help pick up the books. It seemed he wasn’t very welcome here.

“Wait, let me do it myself, you don’t need to bother,” Dai Xinhua said, suddenly panicking as she remembered her sketches were mixed in with the books. If those were found…

Ahh! She’d rather die! If the author of those kinds of sketchbooks was caught by the protagonist, she’d definitely be beaten to death.

She hurried to gather the materials, desperately trying to recover her drawings before Luo Chen noticed. One, two, three… Where’s the fourth one?

Holding the three sheets, Dai Xinhua searched for the missing fourth drawing.

“Are you looking for this?” Luo Chen held up a sheet of paper, his expression a bit odd.

Dai Xinhua was struck as if by lightning, standing there dumbfounded, staring at the drawing in Luo Chen’s hand.

She was certain she would die for this!

The girl clutched her head in despair, eyes squeezed shut, bracing herself for the worst.

“Nicely drawn! Though a bit too soft,” Luo Chen said with a laugh, looking at the girl who seemed ready for his judgment. She’d secretly been sketching him—so he wasn’t destined to be alone after all.

Having a cute girl like her secretly drawing his likeness every day—could it be she liked him?

He looked at the young woman before him: dressed in a peach-pink dress, a beret atop her head, eyes closed as she trembled ever so slightly. She was simply adorable.

Luo Chen had a secret weakness for girls in berets, so seeing this one apparently surrendering, he had the urge to squeeze the top of her head—the beret must feel great.

But Luo Chen wasn’t shameless enough to pinch a stranger. He could just buy a beret for Tianyi and squeeze that all he wanted.

“Please don’t—huh?” Dai Xinhua had prepared herself for the worst, but realized things weren’t unfolding as she’d imagined. She peeked at Luo Chen, who showed no sign of anger, then lowered her hands.

“It’s… good?” she asked, confused, glancing at the three drawings in her grip. Wait—surely that wasn’t—

As realization dawned, she snatched the drawing back from Luo Chen and, after checking it carefully, let out a deep breath.

The fourth drawing only featured Luo Chen himself—an unfinished piece she’d started that morning, yet to add anything else.

“It’s really well done, you don’t need to hide it,” Luo Chen said as he looked at her artwork—elegant, betraying her strong artistic skill.

Though the style was a bit… “fujoshi,” as long as there weren’t any pairings, he could accept it.

“It’s just some random sketches,” Dai Xinhua said, her gaze evasive. If he’d seen the other three, he definitely wouldn’t have been so complimentary. Luckily, this one wasn’t finished yet.

But how long could she keep this up? She didn’t hold out much hope.

With both of them working together, the scattered books were soon picked up. After handing her the last one, Luo Chen took his leave.

“Is it really… good?” Dai Xinhua murmured, hugging her four drawings to her chest once Luo Chen had left. She hoped he’d always think so.

Because he’d spent so much time at school, Luo Chen returned home to find Luo Tianyi and Yanhe had been waiting at the dinner table for quite a while.

“You’re back, Luo Chen!”

“So slow, Luo Chen, I’ve been waiting forever!” Even without listening to their voices, Luo Chen could tell the first greeting was Yanhe. For his food-loving little sister to wait for him before eating was already impressive.

“Sorry, something came up at school, so I’m late,” Luo Chen apologized, feeling a little guilty for making them wait.

All in all, Luo Chen was a person of principle—he never made excuses for his mistakes.

After a simple meal, he found an excuse to take his sister alone into her room. He took out the beret he’d prepared and placed it on Luo Tianyi’s head.

Then he gave it a gentle squeeze.

It felt surprisingly nice—so he did it again.

Luo Chen soon found himself unable to stop, pinching and squeezing his sister’s beret until—

“Yah! Ow!” Unable to stand her brother’s antics, Luo Tianyi bit down on Luo Chen’s wrist.

“Ow, ow, ow! That hurts!”