I was approached by a cat-eared girl.

"No, I want to learn."

I want to hear the truth.

“…”

Bai Xiaoqi was silent for a moment, then whispered, "I feel very tired of studying, and I don't really want to study."

"So your purpose in studying is simply not wanting to disappoint me, meaning you've been forcing yourself to study, is that right?"

"Ah."

Bai Xiaoqi nodded silently.

Chen Shuo stared at the book in his hand for a long time before finally throwing it aside. Since someone always had to compromise, he would rather choose to do it himself.

“Starting today, you don’t need to study anymore. I don’t want you to force yourself to do something you don’t want to do.”

“…”

Hearing this, Bai Xiaoqi bit her lip, feeling that she wasn't as happy as she had imagined—no, not happy at all.

After a moment of silence, she loosened the cushion and opened her arms to him.

Chen Shuo pulled her into his arms and asked, "Is this how you celebrate?"

"No, I feel upset."

"Why are you upset? You should be happy that you don't have to study anymore."

"Because I feel you're unhappy."

Chen Shuo shook his head, "I'm not unhappy, I just..."

“You have it, I can tell.”

Bai Xiaoqi interrupted him, then wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes pleading, "I'll study hard from now on, please don't be unhappy, okay?"

"I'm not unhappy, really."

Seeing the pleading look in her eyes, Chen Shuo hugged her tightly with pity and said in a soft voice, "Even if you don't study, I won't be unhappy, and I won't be disappointed in you because of it. Everyone pursues different things and has different ways of thinking."

Although I hope you can become excellent through your studies, you may not think so, nor may you be willing to.

Therefore, I cannot impose my will on you and force you to become the way I want you to be. That would be selfishly doing something in the name of your own good, and it would only make you more resistant, ultimately escalating the conflict. I don't want that.

"But I want to be a better Bai Xiaoqi, so that you'll like me even more."

"I like you very much now too."

Bai Xiaoqi buried her face in his neck, took a deep breath, and asked, "But if I become outstanding, you'll like me even more, right?"

"If you are willing to change because of my will, I will definitely have a lot of positive emotions and will like you even more, that's for sure."

"Then I want you to like me more."

Upon hearing this, Chen Shuo hesitated for a moment and said softly, "I will like you even more, but not because of your studies. Even if you don't study, I will only like you more and more. Feelings will deepen with time."

"Um.."

Bai Xiaoqi gave a muffled reply, not wanting to continue the topic, and gently rubbed her nose against his face, asking softly, "Want to eat my tongue?"

Before she finished speaking, she pressed her lips to Chen Shuo's.

Halfway through the kiss, Chen Shuo noticed something was wrong. One hand kept grabbing his sweater and pulling it down.

After their lips parted, he turned his head to look and found that the collar of his sweater had been pulled up to his shoulder.

"Why are you pulling my sweater?" Chen Shuo pulled the sweater back, but the neckline was already loose and he didn't know if it could be fixed.

“…”

Bai Xiaoqi remained silent, her face flushed as she got off his lap. She felt something strange about her body, a strange urge she couldn't quite describe.

I used to have this feeling occasionally when we kissed, but it was very mild, never as obvious as it is today. I didn't feel any burning sensation or any indescribable discomfort.

Picking up the math workbook from the ground, she said, "I will study hard."

"I think you should think about this carefully, rather than act impulsively..."

"I want to learn!"

The sudden increase in tone startled Chen Shuo. After a long pause, he finally said, "If you want to learn, then learn. Don't be so loud, you scared me."

"I....."

Bai Xiaoqi opened her mouth to explain, but didn't know what to say, nor did she know why she suddenly became fierce. She just felt that the strangeness in her body made her very irritable.

She stood there with her legs clamped together for a moment, then walked somewhat awkwardly to the wardrobe, rummaged through it and pulled out her pajamas. At the same time, she quickly hid a clean pair of panties inside the pajamas to cover them up. She bit her lip tightly and paused for a moment before saying in a deliberately calm tone, "I'm going to take a shower."

"I didn't mean..."

Chen Shuo had barely uttered a word when she glared at him, and he swallowed back what he was about to say.

Watching her leave with a flushed face, Chen Shuo was puzzled. What was wrong with this little cat?

How did it become so cute and fierce?

Looking at the time, it was past 1 a.m., which was actually the first day of the Lunar New Year, his birthday. He had originally wanted to take this opportunity to bring up the matter of whether he could hold her while sleeping.

But now...

Chen Shuo silently changed into his pajamas, then turned on the bedside lamp, turned off the main light, climbed onto his folding bed, covered himself with the blanket, and leaned against the headboard.

Although he didn't know why, he knew for sure that his little cat was unhappy and seemed quite angry. He would have to think of a way to coax her after she finished her bath.

As for holding her while sleeping, anything can happen in dreams.

After taking a shower, Bai Xiaoqi pulled off her shower cap and felt all the strange sensations in her body disappear. She no longer felt irritable and felt like a cute little kitten again.

With a blush, she washed her underwear, put on her pajamas, and slipped out in her slippers. She first went to the balcony to hang her underwear to dry before entering the bedroom.

As soon as I entered the room, I saw Chen Shuo leaning against the headboard, looking at me.

The moment their eyes met, she felt inexplicably uneasy and bit her lip, asking, "What are you looking at?"

"Come here." Chen Shuo beckoned to her.

Bai Xiaoqi hesitated for a moment, then walked over slowly, stood at the foot of the bed and looked at him, "What are you doing?"

"Come a little closer."

"..."

Upon hearing this, she hesitated again, then slowly moved her body to the edge of the bed. Just as she was about to ask again, Chen Shuo suddenly grabbed her wrist, then pulled her onto his lap.

"Let me go."

Seeing her twisting and struggling in his arms, Chen Shuo couldn't hold her down at all. He could only hold her tightly to prevent her from breaking free. "Don't move. If you twist a few more times, my arm will break. You know I'm in poor health."

Upon hearing this, Bai Xiaoqi immediately calmed down and obediently let him hold her in his arms.

Seeing that she had finally calmed down, Chen Shuo breathed a sigh of relief, loosened his grip on her arm, and then asked, "Can you tell me why you were angry?"

"I'm not angry."

"Then why were you being so fierce just now?"

Upon hearing this question, Bai Xiaoqi's face flushed red again. Feeling somewhat guilty, she turned her gaze to the side, her lips parted a few times, and she whispered, "I'm sorry."

"I'm not asking you to apologize to me, I just want to know why, and then comfort or coax you."

“…”

Bai Xiaoqi shook her head.

"What does shaking your head mean? You don't want me to know the reason?"

"Ah."

"What if I really want to know?"

Bai Xiaoqi remained silent for a moment after hearing this before speaking: "You'll know in the future."

"?"

Chen Shuo was stunned.

Chapter 90 I won't tell you

Chen Shuo never expected her to suddenly blurt out such a line, "That was clearly my line."

Is this what they mean by "one is influenced by one's surroundings"?

Because I used this phrase to brush her off every day, she also learned to use it to brush me off.

While Chen Shuo was still in a daze, Bai Xiaoqi had already broken free from his embrace and climbed onto the big bed.

She grabbed her blanket and was about to cover herself with it when she remembered something. She then pulled the cat-shaped pillow into the blanket as well, turned over, and hugged it.

After thinking for a moment, she declared very seriously, "I will study hard and become very, very good, so that you will like me even more."

At this point, she changed the subject, saying somewhat uncertainly, "But I don't want to study, so you have to urge me, okay?"

“…”

Upon hearing this, Chen Shuo was unsure whether to nod or shake his head. From the bottom of his heart, he hoped she would study, and his starting point was indeed for her own good.

But people are always a product of contradictions, or rather, they always overthink things, always worrying that all sorts of problems will arise between the two of them, leading to conflicts and ultimately bad results.

So, they subconsciously chose to nip any potential problems in the bud.

Thinking about it carefully, the same applies to studying. I would rather not let her study than have conflicts between the two of us in the future because of this. This is probably a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.

Is this really a good thing?

Actually, it's not a good idea. We can't let her remain semi-illiterate forever, and besides, it makes it seem like we lack confidence in the relationship.

"From now on, I'll make sure you study. If you don't study, I'll spank you."

"You wouldn't have the heart to hit me."

"Not necessarily."

Bai Xiaoqi was about to continue her rebuttal when she suddenly felt something pressing against her back. She reached up and pulled it out; it was her phone. She instinctively turned on the screen, and when she saw the time displayed, she immediately became anxious. "Go to sleep! You're not allowed to talk to me anymore!"

"It was clearly you and..."