He tricked his amnesiac partner into becoming crippled.

Chapter 256 The Childhood Sweetheart's Guide to Admitting Defeat (Part 6)

Wen Yan remembered the things she would do even when she was sleepy. As soon as she saw Zhou Yan return, she tugged at his sleeve and said in a soft voice, "I'll go with you to send Little Crocodile away."

Zhou Yan couldn't refuse, so he had no choice but to take it with him.

Tancheng is located by the sea, at the end of many major rivers. Zhou Yan checked the map and took the little crocodile to the nearest riverbank to release it.

That way it will be safe.

Wen Yan was a little reluctant to part with the little crocodile. She squatted down to say goodbye and talked a lot. Zhou Yan only heard one sentence: "Little crocodile, wait for me to grow up and I will come to find you. I will take care of you."

Zhou Yan: "..."

The little crocodile, with its short, stubby legs, trudged to the riverbank. Its large, pointed head gave Wen Yan one last look, then glanced at Zhou Yan, before slowly sinking into the water and disappearing from sight.

On the way back, Wen Yan was in low spirits, staring at her toes without saying a word.

Zhou Yan had no experience in comforting children. He paused for a moment, then placed his hand on her head and patted it stiffly and awkwardly: "Come back to it when you grow up."

"Mmm." Wen Yan's voice was muffled, sounding pitiful. She looked distressed and said, "Zhou Yan, I can't walk anymore. I want to be carried."

Under the clear moonlight, the young man carried the girl on his back and walked step by step toward home.

The girl was sleeping soundly, her arms wrapped around the boy's neck.

The next day, Zhou Yan unusually called Wen Yan to go to school. It was still early, and she had just gotten up.

Bai Wan had made breakfast and was packing it into a bag when she saw him. She handed him both breakfasts together and said, "This is breakfast for you and Xiao Yan. Sit down for a while and we'll go together after Xiao Yan finishes washing up."

Zhou Yan nodded and sat obediently on Wen Yan's special stool, remaining motionless.

He lowered his eyelids slightly, concealing the surging complex emotions in his eyes. He had spent the entire night thinking about how to change Wen Yan's values.

The best and fastest solution, according to calculations, is for her to make more friends and stop confining herself to his side.

Wen Yan saw Zhou Yan sitting obediently in the yard and exclaimed in surprise, "Zhou Yan! This is the first time you've asked me to come to school!"

Zhou Yan was focused on her emotions, and seeing that she was as carefree as ever, his anxiety, which had been building all night, subsided.

On his way to school, he told Wen Yan, "I'll be going to the training camp in a few days."

Wen Yan asked in surprise, "Didn't you say you weren't going?"

As Zhou Yan looked at the road, he explained, delivering the longest speech he had ever given:

"I wasn't planning to go at first, but after thinking about it carefully, I realized that going to the training camp could improve my grades. If I pass the competition, I can be admitted to the No. 1 Middle School as an outstanding student without taking the entrance exam, with tuition and food expenses waived. At present, it is my best choice."

He came up with a bunch of reasonable reasons to try to convince Wen Yan, and also to convince himself.

“But that means we won’t be able to see each other for at least six months. You’ll still be going to the No. 1 Middle School, which is the furthest from home. Mom definitely won’t agree to me going. She wants me to go to the No. 3 Middle School. We’ll be separated for three and a half years…”

Wen Yan was a little confused; she had never been separated from Zhou Yan for so long before.

Feeling a pang of sadness, she glanced at Zhou Yan, who was looking down, tugged at his sleeve, and spoke with a hint of grievance in her voice:

"Zhou Yan, can you think of a way? I want to go to the same school as you and I don't want to be separated from you."

Zhou Yan was pulled to a stop by her. He glanced into her misty eyes and felt a pang of sadness at the confusion and reluctance in them.

He sighed inwardly and finally conceded: "How about I commute to school?"

Zhou Yan didn't realize that his voice was so gentle, and there was no longer any coldness in his eyes, only the reflection of Wen Yan's aggrieved and tearful face.

Wen Yan was in a daze, and nodded as if possessed: "Okay."

By the time she realized what was happening, they had already reached the school gate. She made Zhou Yan promise that even if he went to No. 1 High School, he would still come home every day.

Her confident eyes grew weaker and weaker when they met Zhou Yan's dark, glassy eyes.

The No. 1 Middle School is far from here, taking fifty minutes by bus, which means Zhou Yan has to get up at five o'clock and won't get home until eleven-thirty at night.

Wen Yan felt a little guilty and didn't dare to look at Zhou Yan; her request was indeed excessive.

But Zhou Yan agreed.

Not long after, he packed his things and boarded the training bus. Wen Yan and Bai Wan saw him off, but Zhou Min wasn't there.

Through the car window, Zhou Yan saw Wen Yan standing on tiptoe, trying to wave to him, with what seemed to be tears in her eyes.

He sighed helplessly; she was such a crybaby.

But they didn't notice that the corners of their mouths had already turned up slightly.

Life returned to normal. After Zhou Yan left, Wen Yan started attending elementary school alone and became much more withdrawn.

Wen Qingshan felt sorry for him, but Bai Wan told him that it was a sequela of separation and that it would get better after a while.

This period of recovery lasted for more than a month.

Therefore, when Wen Yan proposed that she wanted to take the entrance exam for the junior high school of No. 1 Middle School, Wen Qingshan and Bai Wan agreed without hesitation.

Seeing Wen Yan smile again, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

That night, Wen Yan lay in bed chatting with 233.

At this point, Zhou Min had already made contact with Zhou Zhi, and Zhou Zhi had already sent people to secretly investigate Zhou Yan, so that once he entered high school, he would be taken away and placed under house arrest.

But because of her meddling, Zhou Zhi was busy traveling all over the world seeking medical treatment and had no time to care about his illegitimate son who was living abroad.

Zhou Yan also had time to rise to prominence.

A year passed quickly. Zhou Yan was already halfway through his first year of junior high, while Wen Yan was still preparing for the entrance exam to junior high.

In the past, Wen Yan would wait for Zhou Yan to come home at night, talk to him for a few minutes, and then go to sleep, but recently, Wen Yan has stopped coming.

I asked Bai Wan and found out that Wen Yan had made new friends and was having a lot of fun with them, so she was probably tired.

Zhou Yan was pleased to hear this.

However, this relief turned into frustration after two weeks of waiting for Wen Yan's research.

We finally managed to meet, but he got sleepy after only a couple of words.

Zhou Yan noticed the dark circles under her eyes and told her to go to sleep.

This meant the two of them had even less time together.

It wasn't until the summer before Wen Yan entered junior high school that Zhou Yan saw Wen Yan with her multicolored hair, which looked like a feather duster.

Her once bright and clear eyes were now covered by a thick fringe, and she also had eyebrow and lip piercings.

Zhou Yan's gloomy and lifeless eyes froze, his usually indifferent face cracked inch by inch, and his expression was indescribable.

The autumn wind blows, leaving him disheveled.

Zhou Yan spoke with great difficulty, "Wen Yan, what... is wrong with you?"

After talking for a while without saying a word, I simply posed a profound question.

Wen Yan didn't care, her expression was indifferent:

"You don't understand, this is fashion, the latest trend. All my girlfriends are like this, I can't be an outlier. Zhou Yan, you're out of touch, do you want to join me?"

She chewed bubble gum, whistled casually, and even made a salute.

Zhou Yan gasped, telling himself to calm down. Girls are all like this during their rebellious phase; it can be corrected.

He exhaled, his expression more serious than ever before: "This is wrong."

"Hello, old Gu Jiu."

Zhou Yan: "I'm thinking of you. Eyebrow and lip piercings can have side effects..."

Wen Yan interrupted him, domineeringly flipped her bangs, took off her eyebrow studs, and showed them to him. There were two eyebrow studs, and also one on her lip.

“You look like an old woman. I didn’t hit you, I just wore this.” As she spoke, Wen Yan held up two silver eyebrow studs, looking smug. “I still have to go to school, of course I can’t.”

Zhou Yan looked at the eyebrow piercing sticker in her hand, pursed his lips, and asked seriously, "Do you think it looks good?"

Wen Yan thought for a moment and said, "My sisters think it looks good."

Are they sisters again?

Zhou Yan frowned again. "I'm not asking about your sisters, but about you. Do you like this? Colorful hair, lip piercings, shoes that pinch your feet, and bangs that cover your eyes."

He couldn't hold back any longer: "You even have to lift your hair to see where you're going. Do you really like it like this? I don't want anyone else's answer; I want to hear yours."

Wen Yan brushed aside her thick, multicolored bangs, tilted her head slightly, looked at the boy who was half a head taller than her, and fell into deep thought.

Finally, she shook her head, her eyes filled with confusion, just as he had when he left for the training camp, confused about the future and about their relationship.

She seemed caught in some kind of endless vortex, and spoke softly:

"I do not know either."