In Shanghai, Shen Yaoyao received a notice from school that she had to go to the Capital City for special training; she was studying painting at school.

Thinking that she’d be able to see Chu Ge once she got to the Capital City, Shen Yaoyao agreed without a second thought.

Mu Bingtong was helping her pack her clothes, clearly wanting to say something, but not knowing how to start.

Shen Yaoyao knew what Mu Bingtong wanted to say; she put down the clothes in her hands and looked at her seriously. "Sister Bingtong, don’t worry. This time when I go, I’ll definitely look for Chu Ge and have a good talk with him."

Mu Bingtong smiled and shook her head. "There’s really nothing much to talk about. If you see him, just remind him a bit more, tell him to take good care of himself, that’s enough."

Shen Yaoyao got a little angry. "Sister Bingtong, after everything he did to you, you’re still speaking up for him! I don’t care, I’m going to find him and demand a clear explanation!"

Seeing how stubborn she was, Mu Bingtong didn’t say anything more. She helped Shen Yaoyao finish packing and then drove her to the airport.

This was Shen Yaoyao’s first time in the Capital City; she was full of curiosity about the place, and after just a few days there, she had already tossed the whole "finding Chu Ge" thing to the back of her mind. She even made a bunch of new friends.

"Junior Shen Yaoyao, the teacher asked you to go over for a bit." A senior in a department uniform ran over and said, then turned and left right away, looking very rushed.

"You practice something else too?" Lin Zhong watched the senior’s back and asked Shen Yaoyao.

"Not really, I just wanted to find a part-time job while I’m studying. Maybe this is it." Shen Yaoyao didn’t know how to explain; she couldn’t exactly say she roped the teacher into asking someone from Huangpu Group to help her find a part-time job all because of Chu Ge!

Nangong Yunhai glanced over from a distance, paused for a few seconds, then went back to playing ball.

She didn’t know what the teacher wanted with her. When Shen Yaoyao had packed up and was about to leave, Nangong Yunhai was suddenly standing behind her. "Don’t delay next month’s game."

"Huh?" Ever since Shen Yaoyao came to the Capital City, Nangong Yunhai would strike up a conversation with her from time to time.

Back in Shanghai, she’d only seen him once because of Chu Ge; they hadn’t even spoken then. Now he was acting like they were already close.

"Go on."

"Oh." Shen Yaoyao made a sound of acknowledgment and had barely taken a few steps when she was stopped by Nangong Yunhai again. "Have you been in touch with Mr. Chu lately?"

Shen Yaoyao froze, then smacked her forehead hard. How could she have forgotten about that!

"I totally forgot about that!" she cursed herself silently. She decided she would call Chu Ge after she finished her errands and tell him about it.

Inside the gallery, everyone was already there. Only when Shen Yaoyao arrived did she realize it wasn’t the teacher looking for her alone, but an announcement for everyone.

"Next month we’re going to participate in an exhibition hosted by the Huangpu Family..."

Next month? Shen Yaoyao checked the time; luckily it was more than ten days before the basketball game. If they’d really been on the same day, she honestly wouldn’t have been able to handle it.

Talk about bad luck—she’d only used a few moves Chu Ge had taught her as exam tricks to muddle through playing basketball, and somehow the basketball coach picked her, saying she had to go play in a game next month!

"Shen Yaoyao, the exhibition is at the beginning of next month. There’s less than a month left, so focus on preparing for the exhibition."

"Mm, I got it, teacher."

For the next week, she spent all her free time holed up in the gallery. That day, a player suddenly came looking for her and said, "Shen Yaoyao, why haven’t you been going to the basketball court to practice? The game’s been moved up, did you know?"

What? Moved up?

"Moved up by how many days?"

"It was originally scheduled for late in the month; now it’s mid-month."

"That’s fine, at least it’s not early in the month." False alarm.

"The game is about to start and you don’t have even a shred of responsibility? It’s almost game time—don’t drag everyone down." At some point, Nangong Yunhai had appeared behind them. He gave Shen Yaoyao a deep look, then asked, "Have you contacted Chu Ge?"

"..." Shen Yaoyao was speechless. Nowadays, every time Nangong Yunhai saw her, he would ask if she’d seen Chu Ge! It wasn’t like she was Chu Ge’s shadow—how was she supposed to know where he was? He didn’t even pick up when she called!

"Who said I don’t have any sense of responsibility?"

"Then why haven’t you come to practice for a whole week?"

"That’s because... because..."

"Because what?" Nangong Yunhai folded his arms across his chest.

"Forget it. You already think I’m irresponsible, so what’s the point of explaining!"

"Nangong Yunhai, I think she has an exhibition to prepare for. The basketball game is in mid-month, so there’s still time," Lin Zhong helped explain for Shen Yaoyao.

"You also do painting?" Nangong Yunhai’s expression eased a little.

Shen Yaoyao hummed in acknowledgment. "I definitely won’t delay the game!"

"Practice properly. Extra training tonight—I’ll train with you." With that, Nangong Yunhai turned and left.

He said he’d train with her? Her hearing wasn’t going bad, was it?

"What did Nangong Yunhai just say?"

"He said! He’ll train with you!"

"Do you have to be that loud? You’re going to blow out my eardrums."

For several nights in a row, Nangong Yunhai showed up at the basketball gym right on time to give Shen Yaoyao "special training."

Good days are always short; in the blink of an eye, the painting competition day arrived. Because it would run for three days straight, the evening special training sessions were put on hold.

"The exhibition is the day after tomorrow, so don’t come over tomorrow," Nangong Yunhai said as he gathered the balls.

"Oh." Shen Yaoyao also started helping pack up.

"Be careful."

Be careful? It was just an exhibition, not a battlefield—what was there to be careful about!

The exhibition was set at G University. They arrived very early to wait at the venue. After the teacher finished going over the dos and don’ts, he went off to handle the event schedule, while they lounged on the steps, lazily checking out members from other schools. A few of them were faces they’d seen before, and when they saw Shen Yaoyao stand up, they came over to say hi.

But Shen Yaoyao’s attention was caught by a familiar figure—Chu Ge was striding in from outside. There was a Taekwondo competition here today, and he was serving as a judge.

When she saw Chu Ge, Shen Yaoyao hurriedly shouted, "Chu Ge!"

Chu Ge turned around in puzzlement. Seeing Shen Yaoyao, he remembered she’d come looking for him once in Shanghai. Expressionless, he asked, "You’re Shen Yaoyao."

Shen Yaoyao rolled her eyes at him. "Of course I’m Shen Yaoyao, who else did you think I’d be?"

"Right, what are you doing here?" Shen Yaoyao asked curiously.

Chu Ge shot the question back at her instead. "I should be the one asking what you’re doing here."

Feeling a little embarrassed, Shen Yaoyao scratched her head. "I’m here for further study. Oh right, did you change your phone number or something? Why can’t I get through when I call you?"

Chu Ge froze for a moment, then remembered he’d switched to a new phone for convenience, and had put Mr. Chu’s phone away.

He grunted in acknowledgment. "Yeah, I changed my number. I’ll tell you later. I’ve got something to do right now, I’m almost late."