Chapter Nine: Childhood Betrothal

After speaking, Wen Yichen deftly opened the door, slipped on his slippers, and walked out of the bedroom. Two minutes later, he shuffled back in, slippers softly padding against the floor.

The sound of the door closing reached Jiang Muwen’s ears, and immediately her heart gave a heavy thump. She hadn’t done anything wrong, yet she felt as if she were a criminal awaiting her sentence.

Moments later, the scraping of a chair drifted over. In the next second, a gentle voice, warm as a savior’s, reached her: “Which question are you stuck on?”

The silence hung for a beat. Wen Yichen seemed to realize he’d misspoken—perhaps that wasn’t how he should have asked. After a pause, he corrected himself, “Which paper should we start with?”

Seeing she didn’t reply, his well-defined hand randomly picked up a test paper. He paused, eyes scanning the blank sheet, and then an incredulous look flickered across his clean features. “You can’t even do the first question?”

At his words, Jiang Muwen suddenly lost the courage to admit it. The way he said it made it sound as though even an idiot could solve this problem. She forced a weak laugh, “No… Let me take a look.”

As she spoke, she picked up her pen and pretended to read the question, then began scribbling on the paper. But she could only keep up the act for so long. Soon, she couldn’t keep it up any more.

Her pen slowed, tracing the simple diagram over and over, as if striving for perfection. She thought Wen Yichen must believe she was being diligent, never guessing he’d already seen through everything.

“Should I give you two colored pencils to shade it in?” Wen Yichen’s voice floated over, sending a shiver through Jiang Muwen.

Seeing her silent, he seemed to sigh in resignation. “If you don’t know how to do it, just tell me. I’m not going to eat you.”

“How did you know I couldn’t do it…” Jiang Muwen finally ventured timidly.

Wen Yichen sighed, leaning back in his chair in defeat. “You drew the diagram wrong from the start…”

Wen Yichen had thought he could get through an entire test with her in an hour, but now that seemed like a wild fantasy.

He sat up with a resigned air, drew out a pen from the holder, and wrote a neat string of characters on a scrap of paper: “Do you understand this concept?”

Jiang Muwen stared at his handwriting for a moment, then whispered, “No…”

Unperturbed, Wen Yichen wrote another question: “What about this one?”

After a pause, Jiang Muwen replied, even more timidly, “No…”

He wrote another one, then turned and fixed his gaze on her. “You must understand this one?”

Jiang Muwen dared not answer, only shaking her head cautiously.

Wen Yichen’s patience seemed to be wearing thin. He set down his pen. “Jiang Muwen, just how many concepts have you missed?”

He must have realized his tone, because he quickly amended, “…How many concepts have you actually understood?”

“…I don’t know either.”

With that, Wen Yichen finally understood—Jiang Muwen must not have grasped anything since the very first day of school.

School had been in session for some time, and now she faced a dozen test papers; it was a daunting task. Expecting her to finish them alone was like asking her to wrestle a polar bear.

“I’ll go over every concept with you from the beginning. Listen closely, I’ll only explain once.” As he spoke, Wen Yichen pulled a clean sheet of paper from the side.

His pleasant voice sounded softly in her ear, and it was as if they had returned to the third year of middle school, with him sitting beside her, patiently explaining each problem…

The last rays of sunset filtered lazily through the curtains, spilling across the desk. The clean white paper was soon filled with beautiful notes, each scattered concept linked together, all presented clearly on a single page. In this moment, in her eyes, he was a savior crowned with a halo.

Looking at Wen Yichen, Jiang Muwen felt as if she’d stumbled upon a treasure. “Wen Yichen… How can you be so amazing? The teacher spent almost a month explaining this, and you covered it in just a few hours!”

At her praise, Wen Yichen seemed a bit embarrassed. He cleared his throat deliberately and averted his gaze, only to spot the clock on the bedside table. “It’s time for dinner…”

With that, he set down his pen and walked toward the bedroom door.

The last day of the holiday happened to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival. With Jiang Muwen here, Su Yu warmly invited Wen Nuan’s family over as well, saying they should all celebrate the festival together with dinner.

Not only that, but Wen Yichen’s elder brother, Wen Yixin, also appeared at the table. After graduating from university, he’d moved out, and aside from holidays, Wen Yichen rarely saw him.

Wen Yixin was only a few years older than Wen Yichen, his clean-cut face framed by gold-rimmed glasses. He was impeccably dressed, cultivated—a quintessential “abstinence-type” heartthrob, as people called it.

Yet, this description suited only the silent Wen Yixin. Once he opened his mouth, that aura vanished. The brothers were opposites in temperament—one took after their father, the other after their mother.

At the table, the adults chatted happily. Wen Yixin sat next to Wen Yichen, who in turn sat beside Jiang Muwen.

The adults’ conversations seemed forever beyond the reach of the children, so at meals, the grown-ups talked while the young ones focused on eating.

But who knew how the adults’ conversation turned, for suddenly the words “childhood betrothal” drifted to Wen Yichen’s ears, making his hand holding the chopsticks tremble.

“Do you remember the engagement we made for the children back then?” Su Yu remarked casually.

Her words seemed to stir Wen Nuan’s memories. Soon she laughed, “Of course! We said if one of us had a boy and the other a girl, we’d arrange a childhood betrothal for them.”

“Yes, yes, and the more I look at these two, the more I think they’re a perfect match,” Su Yu continued.

At that moment, Wen Yichen was taking a sip of his drink. He hadn’t even swallowed when he heard Su Yu’s words. Truly startled, the drink caught in his throat and he choked.

This reaction naturally caught the attention of both Jiang Muwen and Wen Yixin. Wen Yixin glanced at him, then chuckled softly. The next second, he leaned closer to Wen Yichen and whispered, “If you don’t want her—I’ll take her.”