Reborn in 2006, I met Mr. Zhou from the past.

The man noticed her shifty eyes and the faint blush creeping up her ears.

"I just got back and was waiting for you." His voice was deep and pleasant.

"Huh? Wait for me?" Su Fengnan's eyes widened in surprise, her cheeks flushed instantly, and her heart felt like it had been hit hard by something.

Oh no, Su Fengnan, you can't be infatuated! She frantically warned herself in her mind.

Seeing her like this, Zhou Chenyu's smile deepened, secretly glad he'd made the wise decision to come without changing his clothes. His tone carried a barely perceptible hint of doting: "Well, I wanted to discuss something with you. I have a competition tomorrow and the day after, so I can't tutor you on time. We can make it up next week, okay?"

Su Fengnan blinked, lowered his head, and softly replied, "Okay." Yes, the National Rally Championship (CC) is this weekend, and he'll probably be competing.

Before she could think it through, a beautifully packaged box of chocolates was handed to her. "Here, I brought these for you. Have some energy if you're tired from studying."

Su Fengnan's heart pounded even harder. She lowered her head, not daring to look at him, and took the chocolate with both hands, whispering, "Thank you, Teacher Zhou."

Noticing her embarrassment, Zhou Chenyu's tone became even gentler: "There's a car rally this weekend. If you're interested, you can go check it out."

Su Fengnan nodded quickly: "Okay."

Her heart pounded uncontrollably like a drum. She hurriedly said, "Then I'll go back first, goodbye Teacher Zhou," and turned and ran into the stairwell as if fleeing.

Watching the little girl flee in panic, Zhou Chenyu's eyes were filled with pleasure. She was shy… the little girl he valued had finally learned to be shy. The weariness in his heart vanished instantly.

On the other side, Su Fengnan threw her schoolbag and chocolates on the sofa as soon as she entered the house and rushed into the bathroom. She splashed several handfuls of cold water on her face, and only after her heartbeat returned to normal did she look up at herself in the mirror.

She hated this feeling of being out of control.

She admitted that she had been dazzled by Zhou Chenyu's good looks, but in this life, all Su Fengnan wanted was to make money! In her two marriages in her previous life, she had never experienced such a heart-pounding moment. That fleeting thrill was a first for her, both in this life and the last; she couldn't suppress it, so she could only run away.

After a long while, she calmed down completely and couldn't help but despise herself: her soul was already over thirty years old, how could she still be so lacking in self-control?

But then she thought about it again and felt relieved. Let things take their course; the most important thing right now is to focus on herself. Whether it's studying or making money, nothing can stop her from moving forward. Having figured this out, she fearlessly went into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Meanwhile, Zhou Chenyu, having achieved his goal, went home in high spirits to change his clothes and drove to Zhucheng. In the afternoon, he and Mu Yang and other team members ran two laps around the track before heading straight to Zhucheng, where they still had to attend a banquet hosted by the sponsor.

Inside the car, Assistant Zhao drove while advising, "Boss, it's still two hours until we arrive in Zhucheng. Why don't you take a nap? I'll wake you up when we get there."

Zhou Chenyu flipped through the documents in her hand without looking up: "It's okay, I'm not tired."

Assistant Zhao opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed his words. He knew he couldn't persuade his boss—Zhou Chenyu had been working almost non-stop day and night for the acquisition, and for meetings that required his presence, he would fly away in the afternoon and fly back early the next morning. He also had to prepare for the rally race, and he was genuinely worried that his boss's health wouldn't be able to keep up.

Two hours later, they arrived in Zhucheng. Zhou Chenyu had indeed taken a short rest along the way and had now recovered his energy.

Assistant Zhao asked, "Boss, should we go directly to the hotel to meet Young Master Mu?"

Zhou Chenyu glanced at the message Mu Yang had sent on her phone screen: "No need, they've already arrived. Let's go straight to the hotel."

……

During evening self-study, people in the classroom were vaguely discussing the apology letter on the bulletin board, and students in the front row would occasionally turn around to steal glances at Su Fengnan. She didn't care at all, just staring blankly at the book in front of her, plotting a plan in her mind: how to avoid evening self-study, or even come to school, only showing up during exams, and studying on her own the rest of the time.

Coming to school every day is a waste of time, and these rumors have also served as a reminder—when she's not at school, she won't have these kinds of troubles. While studying and reviewing, she can also focus on her career.

After thinking for a moment, she had a preliminary idea: First, her monthly exam results at the end of the month must be excellent; second, she needed to focus her efforts elsewhere, such as submitting short articles to newspapers and magazines, or participating in essay competitions, and it would be even better if she could win an award.

"Sigh, there's not enough time..." she muttered to herself. Even if the school didn't grant her request in the end, being able to skip evening self-study would be good enough.

"Su Fengnan, may I sit next to you?" A girl suddenly ran over, sat down next to her, and said in a low voice.

Su Fengnan was startled and turned around to see Tang Qiuyue. This girl was from Class 1, and had an introverted and gentle personality. Su Fengnan had a pretty good impression of her.

"You're so scary, Ms. Tang!"

Tang Qiuyue was somewhat embarrassed and apologized repeatedly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

Su Fengnan sighed and remained silent. She had no connection with Tang Qiuyue and didn't understand why the other woman had suddenly come over to her.

The teacher had already left the classroom, and the students took the opportunity to slack off. Tang Qiuyue seemed to have made up her mind, and mustered her courage to ask softly, "Su Fengnan, what's with the apology on the bulletin board today? The whole school is talking about you and Zhang Li now; you've become the top topic."

She leaned closer and whispered, "We all think you did the right thing. People like Zhang Li deserve to be punished."

Su Fengnan looked up in surprise: "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Tang Qiuyue said awkwardly, "I just wanted to thank you. You helped us a lot by getting rid of Zhang Li, that two-faced scheming woman."

It seems there's a story behind this. Su Fengnan raised an eyebrow: "You guys? There were female classmates who were also bullied by her?"

"She spread rumors about me and a male classmate before. If it weren't for classmates testifying, I would never be able to clear my name. There are also two girls in the next dorm who were bullied by her and dared not fight back, and..."

Su Fengnan frowned slightly and interrupted her, "Wait, stop talking."

Tang Qiuyue was interrupted and stared blankly at her: "Huh? What's wrong?"

"You don't need to tell me about your past. It's all in the past. The person who did the wrong thing has already been punished. You just need to focus on your studies from now on."

Tang Qiuyue felt a little wronged, but quickly became serious again: "Su Fengnan, we've been in a study group for a year and are classmates who study together. I hope we can become friends, and I hope we can both achieve academic success. This is my heartfelt wish, and I hope you'll accept it."

Before Su Fengnan could react, Tang Qiuyue had already stuffed the things into her desk drawer and turned back to her seat.

She took the gift out of the drawer—a square box with a pretty ribbon tied to it. Inside was a Jay Chou CD, along with a note: "This is also a gift for my favorite idol. I hope you can shine on stage like him."

Well, Tang Qiuyue really knows how to cater to his tastes. Although she gave up the vocal music exam, who doesn't like beautiful music? Su Fengnan accepted this kindness.