Thoughts of contempt and reprimand ran through Chang Jingwan's mind. Left with no choice, she dragged Xu Lele and attempted to walk toward the podium. However, Xu Lele shoved her hand away without any sense of personal loyalty toward her.

Yes, Chang Jingwan's hand was shoved away by Xu Lele in disgust!

Chang Jingwan stared at Xu Lele dejectedly and yet Xu Lele's smile remained innocent. "He only called you, so be a good girl and go ahead. I'll head to work in the meantime."

"You can walk with me to the front door before you head to work," coaxed Chang Jingwan.

"I love going through back doors," replied Xu Lele.

"..." Chang Jingwan was at a loss for words.

In the end, Chang Jingwan was defeated by Xu Lele's shameless response and watched as Xu Lele waved goodbye before leaving the lecture hall happily.

Surprisingly, none of the students left the lecture hall except Xu Lele, and even the male students who would usually dart out of the hall at the earliest acted unprecedentedly by sitting in their seats at that instant.

"..." Chang Jingwan was left speechless.

They came for lectures instead of watching a movie, so why were they acting as if an interesting show was going to play? 凸(艸皿艸)

A female student even took out a bag of green peas from her bag and offered it to her deskmate while Chang Jingwan tottered toward the podium.

Chang Jingwan's expression was flat and her mind was scattered.

Quickening her pace, Chang Jingwan reached the podium. After Ruan Zeer turned off the microphone and placed his book into his bag, he stood up and said, "Let's go."

Chang Jingwan began to speak, attempting to take her phone back but was stopped short after noticing the huge crowd that remained in the lecture hall.

Rumors about Chang Jingwan and Ruan Zeer's secret romance would probably spread in University A and the students' imaginations would start to run wild after what happened in the lecture hall just then.

Chang Jingwan figured that the best possible solution at this instant was to limit any sort of potential gossip topics that could arise in this situation.

Chang Jingwan fought the urge to demand her cellphone during the journey and only reached out to Ruan Zeer after they arrived at the main entrance. "I want my phone back."

Ruan Zeer smiled and reached into his pocket to take Chang Jingwan's phone before placing it on her palm. His fingernails, which were cut neatly, seemingly brushed against her palm gently by accident.

Chang Jingwan failed to realize that her palm was coated with a layer of sweat. Thus, other than the numbness in her palm, she felt extremely embarrassed upon the realization that her sweats were smeared across Ruan Zeer's fingertips on physical contact.

Since when did Chang Jingwan start to take care of her own image and was particular about every tiny detail in Ruan Zeer's presence? She had no idea.

Chang Jingwan quickly transferred her phone to the other hand before placing her sweaty hand behind her back to dry it without making her intention obvious.

Ruan Zeer noticed her reaction and merely smiled faintly in response.

Coincidentally, Chang Jingwan noticed Ruan Zeer's somewhat teasing expression as she lifted her gaze and was sheepish in an instant.

The warmth radiating from the cellphone and the thought that it was buried in Ruan Zeer's pocket for the latter half of the lecture made her left hand quiver in embarrassment.

"Uncle, Auntie!" A melodious and excited voice of a child traveled to their ears. The duo turned around and saw Little Youning and four other children running toward them after exiting the car.

While running, Little Youning shifted her gaze between Ruan Zeer and Chang Jingwan to figure out who had the better endurance to welcome her impact.

Obviously, Ruan Zeer was the winner in this category. Thus, after gaining considerable speed, Little Youning pounced right into Ruan Zeer's embosom.

Being an adult, Ruan Zeer was slightly stronger than average junior high students even though he was not physically trained like Wen Xu, hence holding Little Youning in his embrace was not exactly a difficult task.

Little Xicheng who was following Little Youning closely pounced into Chang Jingwan's embrace and chirped, "Auntie, I miss you!"

Although Chang Jingwan was not directly related to Qi Chengyue, Cheng Dongge figured that they were a family and allowed Little Xicheng to follow Youxuan and Youning's way of addressing Ruan Zeer and Chang Jingwan.

Chang Jingwan had developed a fondness for these cute little children. She knelt down and hugged Little Xicheng while planting kisses on her soft cheeks.

A tiny head suddenly popped beside Chang Jingwan out of nowhere. Surprise, surprise—it was Wei Muche who wanted Chang Jingwan to kiss him as well.

Chang Jingwan grinned but before she could lean forward and kiss him, Ruan Zeer called out to her all of a sudden, "Jingwan."

Chang Jingwan looked at Ruan Zeer subconsciously while Little Xicheng glared at Little Muche with a hands-on-hips pose. "My Dad used to say that action like yours was considered as two-timing! How could you ask other women to kiss you? You can't do that even…even if she's your aunt! Do you know how to maintain your chastity? Learn from Uncle Chu if you don't. He has a nickname called Chu Ruyu1!"

A smug formed on Little Muche's face. He smiled innocently and leaned his face closer to Little Xicheng while staring at her with his glittering eyes. "I'll let you kiss me then."

Little Xicheng wanted to seize this opportunity and teach Little Muche a lesson without realizing that this was actually a trap. Thus, she leaned forward foolishly and kissed both sides of Little Muche's cheeks respectively.

Ruan Zeer sighed at Little Xicheng's current naivety.

It seemed like Little Xicheng's intelligence was used up by her father.

"Uncle, where's my granduncle?" asked Little Youning after she was put onto the ground.

The muscles on Ruan Zeer's arms were sore after carrying Little Youning for quite some time, and they were still trembling despite shaking his arms. Thus, the idea that he should encourage his niece's weight loss appeared in his mind for the first time.

"Your granduncle is in the Chinese Academy of Sciences today, so he won't be able to meet us in this school. Come, I'll take you guys for some delicious food," said Ruan Zeer.

The children surrounded the duo happily and scampered off into food heaven.

Ruan Zeer scanned through the children and concluded that his niece was the largest and heaviest among all.

"Youning, are you hungry?" asked Ruan Zeer.

"Yes, I am! We had a sports competition this morning but my Dad didn't allow me to bring any snacks except shredded konjac for weight loss purpose. He even asked me to take a few bites if I started feeling hungry after watching other children eat. Uncle, it was agonizing! I could only watch as Er Cheng swallowed a pack of potato chips, two assorted fruit-flavored puddings, and a drinkable jelly! Me? Shredded Konjac only! How I wish my Dad… Dad would give me a packet of enokitake, too!" Little Youning whined to her uncle who knew her all too well.

"Youning, I gave you a pack of potato chips, two puddings, and a drinkable jelly when I was eating my food too! You had exactly the same food as I did plus three packets of shredded konjac! I'm not good in Mathematics but I sure know how to count!" Er Cheng counted with his fingers very seriously and attentively before continuing, "I asked my Mom to pack double for each food without letting my uncle know."

"..." Ruan Zeer was left speechless.

"You're still hungry right now?" asked Ruan Zeer.

"Yes, of course! My hunger won't be satisfied without meat," answered Little Youning while giving her belly a gentle rub.

Thus, Ruan Zeer brought the children to a vegetarian restaurant without hesitation. Frankly speaking, this restaurant served mainly bean curds and they were specialized in creating bean curd dishes with fragrance and taste of meat. Despite the inevitable mouthfeel difference with actual meat, it did serve as a decent substitute to satisfy cravings.

Little Youning's face turned green in an instant. "Uncle, are we seriously having this for lunch?"

"Protein is good for our health." Ruan Zeer had decided to help his niece to lose weight, thus he offered his answer as he stroked his niece's hair gently before tipping Chang Jingwan the wink.

Chang Jingwan tried to carry Little Youning but the child did not even budge at all. The corners of her eyes twitched uncontrollably at her niece's massive weight increase since she could only lift Little Youning off the ground for a very brief moment last time. Thus, she agreed silently with Ruan Zeer's decision that it was time for her to lose weight.

However, in order to prevent Little Youning's sorrow and psychological stress, Chang Jingwan remained silent and pretended as if she did not intend to carry the child at all.

Little Youning had always assumed that her body mass index was ideal at her current age.

"Youning, this restaurant can make bean curds taste exactly like meat and is very delicious. You like to eat braised pork, yes? This restaurant can cook braised pork-flavored bean curds that can melt instantly in your mouth. I remember that you love Braised Pork but the greasy feeling sickens you after eating too much. You won't have that feeling right here."

Little Youning started slobbering after listening to the description, so Chang Jingwan took a piece of tissue paper to clean her up. However, Little Youning grabbed her hand straight away and dragged her into the restaurant eagerly. "Let's go! Food will be served earlier if we make our orders earlier. I'm so hungry right now!"

"..." Chang Jingwan was left speechless.

"Senior Ruan?" A female voice traveled to their ears just when they were about to enter the restaurant.

The voice brought them to a halt. The children's eyes were shining brightly since they could detect something suspicious from that voice.

] Ruyu was translated directly from the term 如玉. 如 means "like" and 玉 means "jade", a term used to describe someone who is as pure as jade.