Chapter 123: A Promise for Eternity

Yang Lili stood up and pulled Qiu Dong inside, casually closing the door behind them. Seeing that he could not refuse, Qiu Dong took the microphone from Dong Yanyan’s hand and smiled at Teacher Chen, "Teacher, why don’t we sing a song together?"

Teacher Chen looked at him gently and replied with a smile, "Then let’s sing 'True Hero'."

Dong Yanyan instantly felt her imagination running wild: How romantic! A tragic romance, a forbidden love, a younger-top trope—who could resist? Especially since the teacher was naturally born with such a submissive air!

After finishing their song, Teacher Chen and Qiu Dong left, clinging to each other. As they reached the door, the students from the Broadcasting and Television class were still calling out affectionately, "Teacher, don't forget to come back and eat dumplings later!"

"Eat them yourselves! The teacher is eating with our class!" Qiu Dong looked back, waved at them triumphantly, and headed upstairs with the teacher.

A sigh of disappointment filled the classroom; students began banging on desks and kicking chairs to show their dissatisfaction.

"Well, we have to consider the feelings of our brother class, don't we? Siying, Yanyan, let’s continue!" Lin Feng laughed.

With the teacher gone, the students became even more uninhibited, and the party grew even livelier. Liu Siying beat the drum faster and faster; whoever ended up with the prop had to perform, and those who refused had to imitate the sounds of cats or dogs.

When it was Song Mingcheng's turn, he told the story about a meat bun and a noodle getting into a fight. Dong Yanyan had heard this joke many times, but the way he delivered it—in his deadpan tone with an expressionless face—was a dry humor in itself. She grabbed the leg of a desk, laughing so hard she couldn't straighten up.

Next came the musical chairs. Liu Siying directed everyone to arrange five chairs in a circle in the middle of the room. Six students ran around them, and Dong Yanyan joined in with gusto; she loved grabbing a "sofa" the most!

Liu Siying shouted "Stop!" and everyone scrambled to sit.

"Sofa!" Song Mingcheng sat down first.

"Bench!" Dong Yanyan immediately sat down beside him. Yang Lili squeezed in next to her, and Yang Xiaohai and Zhang Lei also managed to snag chairs.

Dong Yanyan looked at Xinran, who was left standing foolishly to the side, and was speechless.

"Xinran, someone will keep you company soon!" Dong Yanyan said as she removed another chair, and they started running again.

"Sofa!" Song Mingcheng grabbed a chair first again.

"Bench!" Yang Lili sat down right beside him, and Yang Xiaohai and Zhang Lei managed to secure seats as well.

Dong Yanyan stood aside, frustrated, looking at Xinran in silence.

"Xinran, someone will keep us company soon!" Dong Yanyan gritted her teeth and removed yet another chair.

After a few rounds, Yang Lili emerged victorious. Liu Siying checked the time and exchanged a smile with Dong Yanyan.

"The winner has to perform, Lili. Give us a dance," Dong Yanyan said with a smile, turning on the tape recorder. Folk-style music began to play. Yang Lili took off her trench coat and performed a peacock dance.

Amidst thunderous applause, she took an elegant bow on stage.

"Classmates, our party is coming to an end. Thank you all for your support and for the companionship over the past half year. Shall we sing 'Appointment to Eternity' together?" Liu Siying pressed the button on the tape recorder, lifted the microphone, and called out, "Girls, stand on my side! Boys, stand on Yanyan’s side!"

Students flooded to the center of the stage. Dong Yanyan looked back and saw that, as if by agreement, all the girls had gathered on her side, leaving Liu Siying with the boys. Finding it a bit awkward, Liu Siying ran over to her side; after all, for a duet, the camps had to be clearly divided.

"Once I was moved by you, once I was hurt by you, my heart understands itself..." Dong Yanyan held the microphone intently, intentionally keeping her voice clear and sweet. Yet, she felt a lingering melancholy; so much had happened in these six months, and yet it had passed by so quickly.

"I have also felt lonely for love, I have also felt lost for love, I kept nothing hidden in the depths of my heart..." Lin Feng’s smile remained as confident and charming as ever, tinged with a faint trace of sorrow.

"I wish to accompany you to share the dreams of this life, I wish to stay with you to share the sorrows of this life! No need for oaths of the sea and mountains, unafraid of storms and wind, as long as I can walk with you! You are already in my heart, you are already my all. Fate has destined you and me, let me hold your hand, an appointment to eternity—"

Amidst the cheers of the students, the Christmas party concluded. Everyone excitedly brought out large basins and ingredients from the cafeteria and began kneading dough and chopping filling to make dumplings! The cafeteria was open that night, offering to boil dumplings for every class for free.

"Mengmeng, Gu Xiaohan, you guys come over and wash the vegetables! Leng Haoyang, you knead the dough! I'll chop the filling!" Lin Feng tied on an apron, picked up a kitchen knife, and began directing with great seriousness.

Leng Haoyang rolled up his sleeves, grabbed a large basin, poured in half a bag of flour, and noisily began to add water.

"Leng Haoyang, stop messing it up, let me do it!" Leng Yue saw he was doing it wrong, quickly shooed him away, and started adding water to knead the dough herself, while Liu Ying helped her hold the basin.

Seeing how professional she was, Lin Feng laughed, "Leng Yue, you’ve got the makings of a virtuous wife!"

"Obviously!" Leng Yue replied, looking proud.

Dong Yanyan was next to Lin Feng, chopping cabbage with a rhythmic *thwack-thwack-thwack*. She looked over and saw Du Xinmeng and Yang Lili tearing apart a roasted chicken at another table.

"Lili, you know she’s a glutton, why let her tear that apart! It won’t be enough for her to eat!" she said, stamping her foot playfully at Yang Lili.

"Yanyan, I’ll tear you the tastiest piece!" Mengmeng ran over with half a chicken leg and stuffed a piece into her mouth.

"Mmm! So good!" Dong Yanyan mumbled in praise while eating.

"I want some too! I want some too!" Leng Yue reached over with her flour-covered hands, and Mengmeng fed her a big bite as well.

"Mengmeng, you aren't giving me any?" Lin Feng teased her with a smile.

"Here you go, brother-in-law!" Mengmeng stood on her tiptoes and stuffed a big bite into his mouth.

"You brat, get back here! What are you blabbering about?" Yang Lili scolded with a laugh.

Lin Feng just smiled nonchalantly.

Leng Haoyang was amused, "Mengmeng, there's another brother-in-law here! Come over, come over! I love chicken legs the most!"

Du Xinmeng realized the chicken leg in her hand was nothing but bone.

"I gave it all to you guys, what am I supposed to eat?" She pouted, looking depressed at the gnawed-up bone. She looked up and saw Leng Haoyang holding two large tomatoes, her eyes beginning to glow.

"I can't give you these. I stole them from the cafeteria with great difficulty," Leng Haoyang said, stepping back warily and hiding his hands behind his back.

"Leng Haoyang, keep those tomatoes. I’ll make some tomato and egg drop soup in a bit," Dong Yanyan said with a smile.

"Oh! Then I have to go steal two eggs!" Leng Haoyang said, ready to leave. Lin Feng called him back and urged, "Be careful, don't let anyone catch you. And bring me back a green onion!"

"Got it!" Leng Haoyang agreed, turning and running out.

Yang Ruining glared at Lin Feng with dissatisfaction, "Class monitor, you don't go steal them yourself, but you make Leng Haoyang go! How embarrassing if he gets caught!"

Lin Feng smiled calmly, "Have you ever seen a head of the household go stealing things personally? That's what the butler is for."

"The way you say it, it sounds like our family's morals are quite crooked," Dong Yanyan laughed. "The cafeteria has been exploiting us for half a year; at the end of the year, can't they give us a little rebate?"

"There are those who rake in the money outside, and those who guard the coffers at home," Leng Yue said with a meaningful smile. Before she could finish, Yang Xiaohai ran in hastily from the door, reaching into his pockets and pulling out several eggs.

"I managed to grab a few eggs from the cafeteria to stir-fry later," he said with an innocent face. "Lucky I went early; the eggs were almost snatched up by other classes."

"Lili, hurry and hide these eggs in your dorm! If the head chef finds out the eggs are gone, he'll definitely search every class," Lin Feng said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Yang Lili quickly took the eggs and ran off.

Dong Yanyan saw Xinran standing idly by her side, so she asked her to help chop the dumpling filling for a while, while she walked outside the door to take a break. The party in the Broadcasting class across the hall hadn't finished yet; through the wall, she could hear Ren Jiaxuan’s clear voice and Du Jingxuan’s sweet tone.

"When the wind blows, I laugh at the falling flowers; when the snow dances, I raise my cup to the moon..."

Dong Yanyan walked to the window by the stairs and gazed at the thousands of lights outside, lost in a daze. Everything felt like a dream. How many times had she returned to this place in her midnight dreams—the place that held the memories of her youth? From her twenties to her thirties, the years of her youth had slowly drifted away, filled with regrets about how fleeting time was. At twenty-six, she had become pregnant and a full-time housewife; by the time she had raised her child, she suddenly realized she was already in her thirties. It is true that women with families and children age easily; perhaps busy lives simply pass by too quickly—too fast to even notice the passage of time.

What if she could start over? A mere half-year, or even ten years, was just a blink of an eye.

"Looking back, a lifetime has already passed," she murmured sentimentally to herself.

"Yanyan, what are you thinking about here?" Ren Jiaxuan’s voice came from behind her. She turned around to see him standing there in a silver-grey suit and shirt. He looked dashing and refined; she liked seeing boys in formal wear—it was manly and had an air of distinction.

"I was thinking about the way you climbed through this window that night," she teased, then added, "How time flies; it's almost time for break."

"Yeah, it’s almost break," Ren Jiaxuan said with some regret. "That means we won't be able to see each other for over two months. I feel like I've been tricked by you—you're having your birthday at home during winter break, and with this month, that means you're going to put me through a three-month test."

Dong Yanyan’s eyes crinkled into a smile, "I'm giving you a chance to change your mind. Right now, the girls at our school are betting on how long it will take for you to dump me—one month or two? I'm curious myself."

Ren Jiaxuan shook his head and sighed, "So you're that insecure? What do you think, then?"

Dong Yanyan couldn't stand his self-righteous, cavalier attitude. She stood on her tiptoes, pinched his chin, and smiled, "I never doubt my eye for choosing a handsome man, but you know me—I'm a kind person. I can't bear to see so many people waiting in line, so who knows? Maybe one day, when I'm in a good mood, I'll do something that everyone expects. After all, sharing the joy is better than enjoying it alone."