He tricked the female lead into becoming his boyfriend, but then went on to criticize the male lead.

Sang Jiuning's past five days have been nothing short of agonizing.

Calling it an immersive weight loss training camp wouldn't be an exaggeration. However, while others lose fat through sweating, this is an immersive, hellish English training program, with the level of torture only increasing.

Every morning at six o'clock sharp, she was woken up by the alarm clock. During the day, she attended classes as usual, and she could only rush back to the dormitory exhausted at ten o'clock at night. All the rest of her free time was firmly occupied by Wen Zhaoci.

In order to overcome the challenge of learning English, she reluctantly quit her part-time job at the bubble tea shop.

There was no way around it; her English was ridiculously poor. If she failed the CET-4 this time, the entire department would publicly criticize her, making her the laughingstock of the whole department. Sang Jiuning, who was proud and concerned about her reputation, didn't want to end up like that.

The thought of that scene made Sang Jiuning tense up, and she could only grit her teeth and accept Wen Zhaoci's all-around surveillance.

On Saturday morning, the piercing and mesmerizing wolf-howling alarm clock rang precisely in the dormitory, its howling sound extremely penetrating.

This was the ringtone she set on a whim back then, and now it perfectly matches the current situation.

Wen Zhaoci was like a hungry wolf lurking beside her, watching her English studies intently with sharp and obsessive eyes, not giving her even the slightest chance to slack off, which was terrifying.

Sang Jiuning slowly sat up, rubbing her aching temples. Five days of intense practice questions, vocabulary memorization, and listening comprehension exercises had filled her with English; she even dreamt of long and difficult sentences from reading comprehension.

But it must be admitted that the results are real.

She quickly washed up and got ready, a hint of excited accomplishment in her eyes.

After five days of systematic and targeted tutoring, her accuracy rate on a CET-4 past exam paper, excluding the essay section, is now consistently around 60%. Compared to her previous disastrous papers, her progress is phenomenal.

If I finish my studies and take the exams sooner, I can escape Wen Zhaoci's devilish control.

Supported by this thought, before seven o'clock, Sang Jiuning, clutching her schoolbag, arrived at Wen Zhaoci's apartment with practiced ease and gently pressed the doorbell.

The door was quickly opened, and a handsome and tall young man stood in the doorway. His cool and aloof eyes exuded a sense of detachment. He wore a simple black loungewear outfit, looking both lazy and noble, with the temperament of a wealthy young master etched into his very bones.

Sang Jiuning tilted her head up, her soft, sweet voice ringing out with a hint of ingratiation: "Good morning, Teacher Wen."

The address floated lightly into his ears, and Wen Zhaoci's narrow, dark eyes darkened almost imperceptibly, a strange itch rising in his heart.

This was the first time Sang Jiuning had called him that; it was so sweet and gentle, soft and pleasant to the ear.

His fingertips curled slightly, and an ambiguous thought uncontrollably popped into his mind: if he could make her blush and shout that next time they kissed, it would taste even better.

The thought flashed through his mind, but his expression remained cold and restrained as he gently stepped aside to let her in: "Come in."

Sang Jiuning had already figured out the layout of his house. She skillfully changed into the pair of cute pink Totoro slippers by the door, ran to the bathroom to wash her hands, and then obediently sat on the dining chair in the dining room.

Warm milk and delicate sandwiches were laid out on the table, their aroma filling the air.

She picked up the glass without any hesitation, took small sips of milk, and the warm liquid slid down her throat, dispelling the morning chill.

Wen Zhaoci slowly sat down and quietly enjoyed his breakfast.

He makes breakfast himself, sandwiches filled with tender and delicious fish, seasoned just right, fresh and not greasy.

Sang Jiuning took a big bite, her cheeks bulging, and couldn't help but secretly marvel at how good the rumored aloof and taciturn young master of a wealthy family was at cooking.

I used to think that Wen Zhaoci was aloof and unapproachable, and cold-hearted. But after spending more time with him, I realized that he was just cold-hearted, but he had a thoughtfulness that others couldn't see in the details.

After finishing breakfast, Sang Jiuning was very self-disciplined and took the initiative to clean up the plates and bowls, neatly putting them into the kitchen sink. Without him saying a word, she turned around, walked to her desk, sat down, opened her English workbook, and looked like she was obediently resigned to studying.

Wen Zhaoci walked to her side, glanced down at the wrong questions on the table, and lightly tapped the reading comprehension section with his well-defined fingertips. His voice was clear, cold, and deep, hitting the nail on the head: "Reading comprehension and listening are still your weak points. Ultimately, it's because your vocabulary is far from enough."

Sang Jiuning paused, her hand holding the pen drooping. She looked up at him with a pitiful expression, "I've been working so hard to memorize vocabulary every day, never slacking off morning or night. Isn't that enough?"

She memorized vocabulary until her head was spinning every day, filling several pages of her vocabulary notebook; she had given it her all.

"Not enough." Wen Zhaoci's tone remained firm, his gaze fixed on her reddened eyes, yet he still spoke resolutely, "There's only one week left until the CET-4 exam, time is tight, we must increase the amount of memorization from now on."

Sang Jiuning's heart skipped a beat, a sense of foreboding washing over her. Her large, watery eyes stared at him plaintively as she pitifully asked, "Then... how much should we increase it to?"

"Three hundred a day."

"Three hundred?!" Sang Jiuning's eyes widened instantly, she gasped, and her whole body went limp. Her mind, which was not fully awake to begin with, suddenly went blank.

Two hundred a day was driving her crazy, so they doubled it to three hundred. Is that something a human would do?

Her face fell, and she was on the verge of tears, but when she thought about the consequences of failing the course and looked at Wen Zhaoci's unyielding gaze, she finally slumped her shoulders and weakly compromised: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

Resignedly, I opened my vocabulary book and began to bury myself in memorizing words.

The girl, with her thick, long eyelashes drooping, was earnestly reciting words. Her profile was soft, and sunlight streamed through the French windows, casting a soft glow on her hair. She looked quiet and well-behaved.

Wen Zhaoci leaned against the table and watched quietly. The coldness in her eyes slowly melted away, replaced by a gentle tenderness. Her heart was filled with this obedientness, and she felt inexplicably comforted and at ease.

Just then, his phone rang abruptly. He glanced at the caller ID, turned and went into the bedroom, closing the door behind him before answering the call.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Jiang Shangyu's casual voice came from the other end of the phone: "Didn't we agree to go to my resort this weekend for a couple of days to relax? We're leaving at ten o'clock sharp. Are you ready?"

Wen Zhaoci peered through the crack in the door at the little girl outside diligently memorizing vocabulary, and replied in a flat tone, "Let's reschedule for next week."

"Huh? Changed it again? Why have you been standing us up every day lately?" Jiang Shangyu said, speechless.

"Ningning has her CET-4 exam next Friday morning," Wen Zhaoci said, her fingertips lightly stroking the edge of her phone, a hint of ulterior motive in her eyes. "She'll go straight there after the exam tonight and come back Sunday afternoon, perfect timing."

This way, he could spend an extra night with Sang Jiuning.

During this period, Sang Jiuning came to the apartment every day for tutoring. As they spent more and more time together, his desire for her to move in with him grew stronger and stronger.