When Will My Childhood Sweetheart Marry Me?-Chapter 126: Princess

Jiang Shuyao escaped from his devilish grasp and dashed to the side, swallowing hard, "I’ll take the gift, but can I wear it when the time is right?"

The little girl was improving, knowing to employ diversionary tactics.

Pei Yan hadn’t actually intended to force her and sighed indifferently, seeming a bit disappointed.

Glancing at the time, it was one minute to nine.

The doorbell rang punctually; the cake from the shop had arrived.

Pei Yan stood up to answer the door, his peripheral vision catching a glimpse of the girl’s figure darting past.

She quickly stashed the dress from the coffee table into its box and took it into the bedroom, fearful he’d come up with some devilish idea.

If God had warned her earlier that adulthood would be filled with such thrills, she certainly would not have looked forward to this evening.

But upon seeing the mousse cake on the table, she discovered there are indeed perks to having a birthday.

Like the sense of ritual in blowing out candles on a cake and making a wish, something you can’t experience at any other time.

The two of them struggled to eat an eight-inch cake.

Pei Yan didn’t like sweets, but he still stubbornly ate several pieces with her.

The remaining cake was mostly scooped up by her hands and smeared over Pei Yan’s face.

He didn’t resist, letting her plaster it on his face in clumps, adopting the attitude of "tonight you’re the boss, as long as you’re happy," sitting lazily at the dining table with a grin, soon transforming into a big flowery face.

On days without her parents, Jiang Shuyao had never imagined her relationship with Pei Yan could leap forward to this extent.

Incredible as it was, she accepted it frankly.

Around ten, her parents called with a video chat.

With a face full of cake, Pei Yan helped her connect the video call to the TV, so she wouldn’t tire from holding the phone.

The room was silent when Ms. Zhu asked her daughter, "Isn’t Yan with you to celebrate your birthday? Why isn’t he visible?"

Jiang Shuyao glanced sideways with the corner of her eye, suppressing a laugh.

The guy didn’t show himself; through the screen, he called out to his godmother and Uncle Jiang in succession.

The family of three chatted, with Pei Yan standing to one side, equally bored.

After a few minutes, he quietly left, and even Jiang Shuyao didn’t notice.

As the video call was nearing its end, a message popped up at the top of the screen.

From the little rascal.

"Happy Birthday, my Princess."

Jiang Shuyao pursed her lips subtly, having been hyped up the whole evening, only now to receive a virtual blessing from across the door, that guy’s reaction time was incredibly long.

Yet the last four words made her smile uncontrollably.

She would occasionally hear such a term of endearment from him.

Princess.

Such a beautiful and noble word.

When exactly had she started to become his princess?

Perhaps a long, long time ago, or perhaps, just in this short month.

Before sleeping, Jiang Shuyao spread out the dress on the bed and quietly admired it for a long time with her eyelashes downcast.

In terms of taste in clothing, Pei Yan had undoubtedly inherited it one hundred percent from his mother.

His godmother was a woman who exuded confidence and elegance from the inside out.

Just like her name.

Zhen, reaching the most exquisite state.

Even under the scrutiny of the world’s criticism, she sought education abroad, searching for her own life path.

Lost in thought, Jiang Shuyao’s wandering gaze paused slightly.

Under the bright light, she inadvertently caught sight of the embroidery at the side waist of the dress.

M-Princess didn’t look like the name of a brand, yet she could understand the English word at a glance.

The girl’s eyes sparkled with the light of stars, and gradually, shallow dimples appeared on her cheeks.

For her eighteenth birthday that year, Pei Yan had given her a princess dress.

That night, Jiang Shuyao overcame her mental barrier and put on the dress, standing in front of the mirror for a full half-hour.

Even now, looking back, she still felt as if she were sleepwalking.

After New Year’s Day, her parents returned from out of town.

Two heavy gifts left her dizzy, especially after looking through the landscape and cultural photos Ms. Zhu had taken along the way, which deepened her desire to attend university in the Capital.

Zhu Yun had no idea what was on her daughter’s mind and just patted her head with a smile, "Don’t be envious. Once your college entrance exam is over, your dad and I will definitely make time to take you out for a trip."

Jiang Shuyao blinked her eyes and tentatively asked, "Can we go to the Capital? I’m quite interested in several universities there."

"..."

Her mother was stunned for two seconds.

Then with a look of surprise, "Capital Medical University is very good, Yaoyao, are you interested in visiting it?"

Uh, pretend she hadn’t said that.

Seeing her daughter’s blatant reaction, Zhu Yun realized she had said the wrong thing and then softened her tone, "Or Ligong University, Capital University of Finance, Agricultural University are all possible options; it really depends on your scores at the time."

Hmm, Jiang Shuyao nodded her head.

She really wanted to say that Yangjin Art College was also quite good, but unfortunately, she didn’t have the courage.

As the end-of-term exams approached, Jiang Shuyao had recently been visiting the secret base across the way less often, with Pei Yan bringing textbooks and papers over to find her at weekends.

Once, when Pei Donghan was passing by Yasong Residence on his way to his company, he whimsically came up for a look.

It was Old Jiang who opened the door for him, and as soon as he entered, he saw his unruly son being lectured by Shuyao, head covered and all.

"See, I told you to memorize that part and you wouldn’t listen. This is the fourth time you’ve taken the test and you still can’t answer it."

"’Cracked’ as in crack, you always write the left and right sides of this character backwards. You need to practice more, don’t make such basic mistakes."

"And the next question, it’s supposed to be an easy score..."

The girl was particularly serious about her studies, which didn’t surprise Pei Donghan, having watched her grow up.

What did surprise him was his own son, silently accepting criticism, not only showing no impatience but also diligently taking notes with a docility beyond belief.

He even doubted, was that really his son, Pei Donghan’s son? Surely not a mix-up.

The formidable group chairman laughed with pride out of place for the first time.

The tutoring was interrupted abruptly, and Pei Yan frowned as he looked towards the entrance.

With just one glance, he withdrew his attention and looked up to Jiang Shuyao, signaling, "Continue."

His own father arrived, and not a word of greeting.

Pei Donghan suddenly came back to reality.

Hmph, there was no mistake, it was still his own son.

In mid-January, Yunzhong started their end-of-term exams, and during that week of exams, Rong City saw the rare sight of bright sunny days.

Clear skies, cloudless for miles.

Chen Jin had been holding back for a full ten minutes, slowly withdrawing his gaze from the distant view, and as he wrote down this line at the beginning of his essay, he couldn’t help but laugh at himself.

Ever since stepping into the first year of high school, whenever he wrote essays, he could only come up with so many idioms.

Two were used up just at the beginning, how should he continue the story?

Headache.

Like Chen Jin, the person in the next examination hall was also troubled. Since Pei Yan had improved his score by fifty ranks in the last monthly exam, his exam number was no longer the last seat.

But it felt to him like a wild pheasant suddenly dropped into a rabbit warren, surrounded by the rustling sound of writing, and he felt his head was about to explode.

Damn it.

Given just a twenty-word ancient poem, and they expected an eight hundred-word essay.

What a damn joke...