"Oh, that," Jing Yu said with a little smile. "The important thing is this: you give that Memory Tree to the girl you have feelings for, and then if she feels the same way about you, she gives it back to you. I came up with all of it from my own imaginings.

I was only thinking about it from the angle of a girl who likes you. If it were me, I'd definitely do it that way. But no one can predict whether the girl you like would do the same as me."

"What do you mean by that? That she doesn't like me?" Yang Puqi asked, stunned.

"That's not it," Jing Yu said. "You know as well as I do that everyone thinks differently. I can only roughly simulate this scenario—there's no way I can accurately guess what's in someone else's mind. So there are always surprises in everything. That girl of yours, after she receives the Memory Tree, might like you in her heart and yet never think to add to it and give it back. What if she just treasures it away? Then all your effort would be for nothing."

Yang Ce had assumed Jing Yu was just talking off the top of her head—that when she'd asked him to play along with her, she'd merely been making an idle threat, and that he'd gone along with it on the principle that it was better to believe it than not, without holding out much hope.

But he hadn't expected Jing Yu's analysis to actually make so much sense, to have something to it. Yang Ce nodded in deep agreement. "True enough. So what do we do?"

"Heh heh, that's exactly why I said it—there's still the most important point, which I haven't said yet." Jing Yu grinned. "Do you want to hear it?"

"If you've got something to say, say it. What's with all the nonsense?" Yang Ce looked at Jing Yu's infuriating air and truly did not know what to say to her.

"Then kiss me first," Jing Yu said, and brought her little face close, tilting it up slightly, closing her eyes.

Long lashes—who knew whether they were real or not—and cheeks flushed pink, altogether quite alluring.

Yang Ce didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He pushed Jing Yu away. "Stop messing around. Are you going to tell me or not?"

"What are you being so fierce for?" Jing Yu opened her eyes and pouted her lips in displeasure. "All you know is being fierce with me—how come I never see you being fierce with anyone else? You won't even take someone who's chasing after you, and instead you wear yourself out giving gifts and confessing to someone else. I don't know if there's water in your head or what."

Yang Ce looked at Jing Yu's aggrieved expression and truly did not know what to say. He sighed. "Xiaolu, I'm sorry. This thing called feelings—you can't force it. But maybe one day, the two of us really will strike a spark. Who knows? But it definitely won't be now."

It was only a casual word of comfort from Yang Ce, yet it made Jing Yu's eyes light up, wide and round, and a brilliant smile burst across her face in an instant. "Really?"

"I'm only making a supposition," Yang Yanzhou said.

"Heh heh, so you do have a conscience after all." Jing Yu puckered her lips in a show of grievance. "Even though I know that's probably a lie, said just to fob me off, I'm still really happy. I'll be happy for a whole month."

Yang Ce gave a faint sigh. He didn't understand why Jing Yu had suddenly developed feelings for him, nor could he comprehend what went on in her head.

"All right, can you say it now?" Yang Shuoxuan couldn't bear to discourage Jing Yu any further, and his tone softened considerably.

"Mm-hm," Jing Yu nodded. "I'll tell you—actually, when you write the content on this Memory Tree, you have to deliberately leave an ambush in it."

"An ambush?" Yang Yu nodded, all ears.

"Yes, an ambush," Jing Yu said. "Actually, this problem is easy to solve. Call it an ambush, or you could call it a hint. What you write is the story of how the two of you met, came to know each other, and fell in love, right? When you get to the end, you can deliberately write that you gave her this Memory Tree as a gift, and then leave some blank space after it for her to fill in. Of course, you can drop her a hint—that she filled in the Memory Tree and gave it back to you, and then the two of you lived happily ever after."

"Right!" Yang Xutang was thrilled after hearing Jing Yu's words. Jing Yu was right—if he hinted to Zhao Ying, she ought to understand what he meant, and she would do as the Memory Tree described: fill it in and give it back to him.

"All right, I've said everything I needed to say." Jing Yu sighed and said mournfully, "I'd wanted you to keep me company a while longer, to tell you at the very end, but I couldn't hold back and said it first anyway. You can go in a bit—I'll just go shopping by myself."

Had Jing Yu pestered Yang Ce with unreasonable demands to keep her company, he definitely would have refused. But now Jing Yu had said all this in such a pitiful, delicate way that Yang Ce really couldn't bring himself to refuse.

If he took what he'd wanted to know from Jing Yu and then turned and walked off, wouldn't that make him an ungrateful wretch? His skin might be a little thick, but he wasn't an ingrate. He hesitated a moment, then said, "I already said I'd go shopping with you. You haven't finished shopping—how could I leave?"

The reason Yang Yongjin was anxious was that Zhao Ying had classes during the day; she probably wouldn't be free until after four in the afternoon when classes let out. He could ask her out then. Right now there really was nothing to do.

"I knew you weren't that kind of person." Jing Yu secretly clenched her little fist, delighted inside—another step forward! She said to Yang Ce, "Great. I work all the time, and I haven't had a leisurely day like this in ages."

Luan Xiaoru wasn't eating, which was just as well—Yang Ce kept eating. He wasn't particular about such things; the priority was filling his belly. Jing Yu was the same. With their terms settled, the two of them set about steadily demolishing the food on the table.

The dishes at Heavenly Paradise were delicious to begin with, and for Yang Cenbin's private room the lobby manager had given special instructions for the head chef in the kitchen to prepare everything personally, making it all the more exquisite.

"Yang Ce, the food here is so good—way better than the school cafeteria," Jing Yu said in admiration. She came from a poor family and had never set foot in such a high-class restaurant. Though she'd recently become a white-collar worker and gotten some bonuses, that money had to go toward her grandmother's medicine, and with what little was left, Jing Yu still wanted to buy some pretty clothes. She was a girl, after all, and naturally had a love of beauty.

Yang Xutang laughed. "Look at the prices—how could it be the same?"

"Then take me here more often from now on, to improve my diet. I'm still growing—what if my chest doesn't develop properly? That would be terrible," Jing Yu said with a grin.

Yang Ce glanced at Jing Yu's chest. It looked perfectly normal—not exactly large, but you couldn't call it underdeveloped either. Still, he said, "Forget it. I'll have a word with the lobby manager in a bit. You come by yourself, and when you do, just sign and put it on my tab."

Jing Yu wasn't really a glutton. The reason she'd said all that was simply to have more chances to spend time with Yan. What would be the point of coming by herself? She wasn't that brazen—a girl coming alone to a place like this for a big meal.

"What I mean is, you can ask me for advice on matters of the heart along the way. I'm quite the expert, you know," Jing Yu said.