Chapter 1682 - 1622: Group Favorite Novel Counterparts 52

After the first snowfall, the weather in the Capital grew increasingly cold.

After class, An Yi hugged her books and came out to find Chu Kaifeng waiting for her outside the classroom.

"Senior," An Yi smiled as she walked over.

Chu Kaifeng reached out to take her books: "It’s snowing, and the road is difficult to walk. I’ll take you to your part-time job place."

"Okay." An Yi smiled on the surface, but inside she was cursing.

She really didn’t understand what was up with Chu Kaifeng and why he was so persistent with her.

Lately, Chu Kaifeng often found her, inquiring about her part-time job, saying he wanted to earn money and be self-sufficient too.

An Yi had never worked before; she just wanted to establish a persona of being independent and pitifully endearing at school. Chu Kaifeng’s actions really gave her a headache.

She had no choice but to muster the courage and find two jobs.

One was tutoring, and the other was working at a Western restaurant on weekends.

Initially, she thought she would just deal with Chu Kaifeng, and after a while, she would quit the jobs.

She wasn’t short of money and wanted to live well, not wanting to toil like this.

But An Yi didn’t expect that whenever Chu Kaifeng had time, he would come looking for her, fearing she would tire herself out or be in danger. Most of the time, he would pick her up for her part-time job.

This way, An Yi had to establish her persona firmly. She could only tirelessly work and earn money, not daring to quit her jobs.

Today was no different. She had to go tutoring, with snow outside and surprisingly cold, and the roads were difficult to navigate. Chu Kaifeng came early to take her there and was likely to wait outside until she finished, then accompany her back to school.

Numerous thoughts flashed through An Yi’s mind, continuously cursing inside, but her face expressed gratitude and happiness, making it hard for anyone to notice anything off.

Coming out of the teaching building, the cold wind made An Yi shiver.

Chu Kaifeng quickly took out a scarf to wrap around her: "It’s cold outside. I bought a scarf, you can wear it for now."

"Thank you." An Yi lowered her head to thank him, "How much is this scarf? I’ll pay you back later."

"No need." Chu Kaifeng smiled, looking at An Yi with tenderness: "You treated me to a meal last time, and I didn’t pay you back. Consider this scarf as my gift."

An Yi suddenly raised her head, her face blushing, her eyes filled with affection: "I’ll treat you to a meal another day. I’ll use my wages to treat you to something delicious."

"Okay," Chu Kaifeng responded.

"Let’s go."

The snow made the ground slippery. Chu Kaifeng feared An Yi might fall, wanting to hold her hand but recalling how An Yi was very mindful of perceptions; she was a very conservative girl. So he extended his arm for An Yi to hold onto.

An Yi nearly rolled her eyes.

Yet she still carefully held onto Chu Kaifeng’s arm, trying to appear shy.

After delivering An Yi to her tutoring location, Chu Kaifeng waited outside.

He hadn’t waited long when his pager went off.

The ones looking for him were a few buddies he played well with; since it was snowing, they wanted to go have hotpot together.

Chu Kaifeng thought about An Yi’s class end time and said to them, "I’ll decide the place, you all come over."

There was also a restaurant nearby, and a hotpot place not far away, so Chu Kaifeng decided on it.

Not long afterward, his buddies arrived at the hotpot restaurant’s entrance.

One stepped down from the car laughing, patting Chu Kaifeng’s shoulder: "How come the proud Mr. Chu picks such a place for a treat? Are you that down on your luck?"

Chu Kaifeng laughed as he entered.

Inside, a few of them requested a private room.

Once inside, they began ordering drinks and dishes.

Chu Kaifeng laughed, took out a pack of cigarettes, and lit one: "A junior is doing tutoring here, I came with her and have to take her back, no choice but to eat nearby."

The others started making fun: "What junior? You must have taken a liking to her, right? Tell us, what kind of girl is she?"

Speaking of An Yi, Chu Kaifeng had a face full of smiles, his eyes showing a hint of affection: "She’s a good girl, born into poverty yet not self-deprecating, proactive and motivated, independent and unyielding, not yearning for luxury, simple and honest..."

He used every word of praise on An Yi, thinking of her filled him with joy.

"Mr. Chu, seems like you’re in love."

Zhou Zhengnan, the young master of the Zhou Family, teased with a smile: "When will you introduce her to us?"

Zhang Chen, sitting beside Zhou Zhengnan: "Is she pretty?"

Chu Kaifeng nodded: "Pretty, really pretty, there’s no girl prettier than her."

The hotpot arrived, and the ordered side dishes were set on the table. As they ate, Chu Kaifeng continued speaking: "I can’t let you meet her now; I’m hiding my identity to get close to her. Sometimes, I even work part-time with her. She thinks my family is poor and often takes care of me. Even though she’s poor, she would still buy me snacks, and when we dine out, usually she’s the one eager to pay. If she found out my real identity, she might be scared away."

Only then did everyone carefully scrutinize Chu Kaifeng.

Upon closer look, they realized that today Chu Kaifeng’s attire was indeed quite shabby.

He was wearing a handmade, somewhat old sweater, with worn sleeves on the cotton jacket draped over the chair. His pants were very cheap camouflage trousers, and the shoes on his feet looked thick and warm, but actually were not worth much.

Wearing this outfit made him appear both old-fashioned and impoverished. If they weren’t old friends growing up together, they might not even recognize him upon suddenly meeting on the street. Truly, it’s admirable the young lady can still tenderly care for such a plain Mr. Chu.

Zhou Zhengnan nodded: "From what you said, looking at your attire today, that girl should be pretty good."

On the other side, He Jue shook his head: "The girl is good, and it seems you genuinely like her, but can you really get past your family’s hurdles?"

Indeed, everyone suddenly remembered that the Chu Family wasn’t one to be easily entered. Given the girl’s impoverished background, it was likely they wouldn’t allow Chu Kaifeng to be with her. Ultimately, she might be forced to end the relationship.

What is An Yi doing now?

She’s at Pei Yu’s.

Today she hasn’t accepted any tutoring work. She’s merely using Pei Yu’s place as a cover to maintain her diligent and hardworking image.

Upon arriving at Pei Yu’s house, she quickly changed clothes and left through the back gate of the neighborhood.

Later, she took a taxi and soon arrived at the real estate she was interested in.

Previously, An Yi had inquired here, and later asked Pei Yu to have a friend check it out. This real estate was truly excellent, and she had chosen a couple of layouts.

Today, An Yi was here to buy a house.

An Yi purchased three two-bedroom apartments, each around sixty to seventy square meters, paying in full and quickly handling the property certificate and related matters.

Returning to Pei Yu’s house with her freshly issued property certificate, she put her belongings in order and changed back into her old cotton outfit. Pei Yu emerged from the bedroom, looking as though she had just woken up.

"You’re back."

An Yi nodded.

Pei Yu handed the keys to An Yi: "I’m going back now; please watch over things for me if you have time these days."

An Yi took the keys and helped Pei Yu load her things into the car, watching her drive away before leaving the neighborhood.

Pei Yu drove to the airport, boarded a plane with her packed luggage.

She didn’t head home directly; instead, she went to the Provincial City first.

Pei Yu went to the Provincial City to visit someone; it was a friend she met sometime during an engagement. Later, an accident occurred, and she saved that person’s life, but got injured herself. By the time she recovered, that person had been taken back to the Provincial City by his family, and Pei Yu heard that due to the incident, he became crippled and was not living well.

Previously, she feared that the person would be saddened, and she wasn’t sure of her own feelings either, so she didn’t dare to visit.

Now she had come to terms and decided to visit because the person had been in touch with her all along; she wanted to see them during this trip.