It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

After informing the male servant at the door, a girl with yellowish-green hair, or simply brownish-yellow, greeted them from inside with a warm smile.

Although her hair is brown, this girl doesn't have a hint of sleazyness; instead, she exudes a sunny disposition. Her long, slender legs and agile movements give her a youthful aura. Furthermore, the freckles on her wheat-colored face give her a natural, unpretentious look.

Upon seeing Newton, she excitedly rushed up to him, shouting, "Isaac!!!"

Newton, too, showed a pleased expression and called out her name: "Anne!"

They then embraced each other at the door. Although they were classmates, their age and size made them look more like sisters than classmates.

“I didn’t expect you to get to London so quickly,” Anne said excitedly.

“Because I already have a secret weapon to deal with Hope,” Newton said with a smug smile, then added, “My house isn’t cleaned yet, so I’ll have to stay at your place for a few days first.”

Although she has a small house in London, she hasn't lived there for a year and a half, and it would take two days to clean it up, so she has to stay at a friend's house for the time being, and Anne is a good choice.

Anne patted her chest and assured her, "Of course, no problem. You can stay for as many days as you like."

After exchanging pleasantries, Anne invited Newton into the house, and it was only then that she finally noticed Li Cheng, whom she had been ignoring all along.

Annie pointed at Li Cheng without any politeness and asked Newton, "Who is he?"

Although she initially mistook Li Cheng for Newton's newly hired servant, upon closer inspection, she found that his slouching posture and the way he casually looked around were nothing like those of a servant, which puzzled her.

Upon hearing this question, Newton looked embarrassed.

Regarding the issue of identity, Li Cheng had brought it up once before. At that time, Newton thought he was going to tease him again, so he covered his ears and pretended not to hear... In the end, considering the publication of the paper and a series of troubles, after discussion, Li Cheng decided to temporarily use the identity of a collaborator.

So, as agreed beforehand, Newton said, "You can call him Li Cheng. He's my research collaborator." But after saying that, she rolled her eyes and added an undiscussed suffix, "He's also one of my suitors."

"A suitor? You should at least have a ball for me to chase..." Li Cheng gave Annie an awkward yet polite smile.

"Suitors?"

Annie didn't smile at him. Instead, she frowned and looked Li Cheng up and down as if he were something dirty, her expression full of hostility. "How come I've never heard you mention this before?"

Wow, even the suitors are so hostile. If it were my fiancé, he'd probably kill me. Could it be that something special happened between you two...? Goodbye, goodbye. Someone like me, an outsider to the BL world, probably shouldn't be staying here. Sorry for bothering you.

After a flurry of thoughts running through his mind, Li Cheng began to introduce himself:

"My name is Albert Lee, but people who know me call me Lee or my nickname Li Cheng. I met Miss Newton not long ago. Because I admired her talent and beauty, I took the initiative to propose to do research with her. Now we are practically collaborators."

Li Cheng paused for a moment, then added, "As for the suitors, that was just a little joke."

"Admiring my talent and beauty..." Miss Newton completely ignored the second half of the sentence. She was so pleased by the first half that she felt every pore on her body open up. She closed her eyes, and a smile unconsciously appeared on her lips.

Newton has been praised before, but flattery depends on the person and the occasion.

"Cough cough."

However, Newton's simple joy was interrupted by Li Cheng's cough. Li Cheng cast a murderous, icy glare at her—this 1.5-meter-tall girl who had arbitrarily added a suitor to her list was one thing, but she was so smug that she almost forgot to cooperate.

Newton snapped to attention and quickly nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "Yes, yes, just kidding. Besides, Li Cheng also played a part in my secret weapon against Hope."

"Oh, I see."

Anne's hostility lessened slightly, and she casually pulled Newton's arm and led him inside: "Come on, come on, let me take you back to your rooms to rest first."

......

The villa wasn't large, but in London where land is incredibly expensive, such a house represented a lifetime's savings for an average citizen. As for the interior furnishings, Li Cheng couldn't understand them, but they seemed quite nice.

As I passed through the hall, two men emerged from the inner room. One had a full head of red hair, was obese, and had a face full of fleshy marks; the other had blond hair and blue eyes, a dignified appearance, and an air of grandeur.

"Richman couldn't hold on."

“It’s a bit strange, he was in good condition the last time I saw him.”

The two men seemed to be discussing something, but when they saw Li Cheng and his two companions pass by, the fat man stopped talking.

Then, Li Cheng saw him put on a friendly smile and greet Newton, "This young lady must be Mr. Stoller's daughter? She's so lovely; she'll definitely grow up to be a beauty."

Mr. Stoller was referring to the blond middle-aged man, who was also Anne's father—clearly, this fat man had ruled out the correct answer, Anne, and mistaken the blond Newton for Mr. Stoller's daughter.

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere between Newton and Anne, who had been chatting and laughing just moments before, instantly turned cold.

?

The fat man also realized that something was wrong. He paused for a moment, then turned to Li Cheng with a puzzled look on his face, as if to say, "Could it be that I remembered wrong? Mr. Stoller doesn't actually have a daughter, but a son?"

The blond man's lips twitched twice, but he couldn't say a word.

As for Newton himself, he was still in a daze and didn't understand what was going on.

Annie was the first to react. She rolled her eyes at the fat man and complained, "What kind of eyesight do you have? Can't you even tell who my dad's daughter is?"

Although he was scolded, the fat man couldn't refute it and could only laugh awkwardly.

"Hey, hey, hey, your dad's blond, you're brown; your dad looks so serious and dignified, you don't look like someone who can stay at home. I might make a mistake too..." Li Cheng thought to himself, feeling sorry for the fat man, but remained silent, watching the show unfold.

Seeing this, Mr. Stoller knew that only his intervention could salvage the awkward situation.

"Annie, take your friend to the room."

He scolded his daughter to save face for the fat man, then turned to her and said, "President Carter, my daughter is just being silly, please don't take it to heart."

The fat man took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "It's nothing, it's nothing, haha, it's mainly my fault."

The two men's voices gradually faded into the distance, and Li Cheng and his two companions continued their actions. The brief interlude did not dampen Li Cheng's mood at all... or rather, he had watched a good show, and his mood improved even more.

Upon reaching the second floor, three rooms had already been prepared. Li Cheng's room was on the outermost side, separated from Newton's innermost room by two Freya rooms, clearly a deliberate arrangement.

Li Cheng opened his suitcase and first checked his belongings in his room.

Half a draft that was not yet finished, a tin box of finished soap, a soap recipe encrypted in simplified Chinese characters, two sets of clothes that fit well... After confirming that everything was correct, Li Cheng locked the box again and hid it under the bed.

After doing all that, he took off his coat and trousers and lay down on the bed to rest... That wretched Newton, who slept like a little pig in the car using his shoulder as a pillow, forcing him to stay awake the whole time.

Chapter Thirteen: Teacher, you didn't assign homework.

When Li Cheng awoke, he found himself sitting in a carriage, with Newton in front of him, a deep ravine and a precarious place, constantly striking poses and preening at him.

"Huh, why am I still in the car... Wait, holy crap, how did you suddenly grow so big???"

Looking at Newton, who was sitting opposite him with a plump figure like a woman and was constantly throwing him flirtatious glances, Li Cheng felt a jolt, as if his long-established worldview was about to collapse.

"Ugh, I'm going through puberty, I'm developing really fast!"

Newton made a shy face, then winked at Li Cheng and said sweetly, "It's just the two of us in the car now~"

"But this is too fast, it's only been a blink of an eye... Oh well, whatever, I'm going to be the one chasing the ball."

Halfway through his sentence, Li Cheng gave up resisting, completely blinded by those two sinful lumps of flesh. He reached out and grabbed forward with all his might...

————Daydream Divider————

boom--

The violent sound of the door being pushed open woke Li Cheng from his sweet dream. He slowly opened his unfocused eyes.

"It's time to eat. How long are you going to sleep?"

A sprightly Newton shouted from the doorway—Freya had gone to help in the kitchen, and she had volunteered to wake Li Cheng.

He was so close to touching it... Awakened in such a brutal way, Li Cheng felt a sense of world-weariness, thinking, "Oh, world, just let it be destroyed already."

"it is good."

He suppressed his morning grumpiness, rubbed his eyes, sat up in bed, and slowly began to get dressed.

Throughout the entire process, Newton watched with curious eyes from the doorway.

Li Cheng was just about to get out of bed when he looked up and saw that the real-life version of a busty woman still standing in the doorway. He immediately said irritably, "What are you still standing there for? Do you want to watch me put on my pants?"

Newton then realized her behavior was wrong, snorted, and ran away without even closing the door.

......

After going downstairs, a sumptuous dinner was already prepared on the table.

There was meat, vegetables, and soup, and the male head of the household wasn't home; only Newton's friend Anne was in charge of the hospitality, making it a perfect meal.

The three of them took their seats.

Anne stood up, opened her arms, and greeted the two as if she were the hostess.

Her opening remarks were simple and direct: "Come on, come on, dinner's ready, eat as much as you like."

Li Cheng and Newton were starving, so they didn't care about formalities and just picked up their plates and started eating—luckily, the Stollers weren't around, so they didn't have to be too particular.

After three rounds of drinks and five tables of dishes... wait, there's still one who hasn't grown up yet, so it's three cups of tea and five dishes.

Cambridge University has not yet started classes.

Seeing that the two had finished eating, Anne was the first to start a conversation, saying to Newton, "Professor Mitchell asked me to write to you, saying that we should wait until we have enough to start the banquet, and if we don't have enough in a month, we won't wait any longer."

"So you can play for another month?"

As Newton spoke, her two delicate little feet dangled back and forth below, showing little interest—whether or not classes were offered, or when they were offered, didn't matter much to her. She had already completed all the university courses on her own; all she needed to do was pass her graduation thesis.

"That's what I thought too."

Anne immediately made a bitter face: "But I was still worried, so I asked again, and my tutor assigned me an extra project to investigate why the epidemic in London ended and to submit it to him before the start of the course."

Teacher, you didn't assign any homework... Li Cheng couldn't help but lower his head and chuckle to himself.

"What are you laughing at?" Annie, with her sharp eyes, glared at Li Cheng and said, "You dare to laugh at me? Believe me, I'll kick you out right now!"

Li Chenghan said, "You misunderstood. I couldn't help but laugh out loud because I thought of a simple solution. So I was laughing at your mentor, not at you, really."

Anne looked at her with distrust: "What can you do? You don't even live in London."

Since he had eaten her food, Li Cheng couldn't argue with her. He simply said, "I really do, but there's nothing I can do if you don't believe me."

Anne was skeptical. She first looked at Newton with pleading eyes, but Newton shook his head to indicate that there was nothing he could do.

After all, this is a humanities-oriented topic, which is completely unrelated to her major.

Simply giving him a look wasn't enough, so Annie did something even more astonishing. Without any external assistance, she tilted her entire body 50 degrees to the right, bringing herself close to Newton's ear, and whispered, "Does he really have a way?"

Newton glanced at Li Cheng, who was admiring the scenery, pursed his lips, and said with a hint of helplessness, "Although he is despicable, he probably didn't lie."

Universal gravitation, soap... and a whole host of strange and unfamiliar things and stories left Newton with the impression that Li Cheng was knowledgeable and seemingly omnipotent.

"What's this guy called again? Help me out! I can treat you to a meal!"

Annie immediately disregarded her pride and shouted at Li Cheng.

At least remember their names first!