Green plums cannot become lovers.

"Thank you." The woman looked at the hot water handed to her, her nose tingling with emotion.

How could the kettle be empty? She had clearly filled it full this morning. This young man, like her husband, was deceiving her, but this time she only felt warmth, like the teacup in her hand.

She carefully took a sip, but it wasn't as hot as she had imagined. The boy had adjusted the temperature for her in the kitchen, making it just the right temperature for her to drink.

Moreover, the water has sugar added, so it tastes sweet.

"I heard that sweet things can make people feel better, so I added a couple of rock sugar pieces to the water."

"Does Auntie think it tastes good?"

"..."

The young man's consideration for her completely overwhelmed the woman's grief.

She nodded and said, "It's delicious, thank you, Asuka."

"It's what I should do."

Holy crap, this is freezing!

Seeing that An and Asuka had calmed the woman down in just a few moments, the system couldn't help but exclaim inwardly.

After comforting the girl's mother, An and Asuka helped clean up the mess.

The broken glass was swept up, the water stains were mopped up, and everything that had fallen was picked up and put back in its place... Soon, the living room was completely transformed.

"Thank you, Asuka." The woman's emotions had completely calmed down, and her tone gradually returned to normal: "I've made you laugh and then troubled you so much."

"It's okay, I'll be satisfied as long as Auntie is happy."

"You silly child..."

Seeing the boy's earnest expression, the woman felt both gratified and moved. This boy was truly wonderful—gentle, considerate, and sensible, unlike that man.

Thinking of her increasingly unreasonable husband, at this moment her heart didn't feel so sad.

At noon, An and Asuka did not leave.

"Feiniao, go and rest. You can leave things here to Auntie."

"It's okay, I can handle this."

"..."

The boy's skillful movements and earnest demeanor filled the woman with both pride and heartache. Many children his age couldn't even make a decent fried rice, yet this boy had already mastered the art of cooking.

All of this was forged through the trials of life. He was also a child with a tragic past.

"Auntie, could you please soak these shiitake mushrooms for me?"

"it is good."

The woman nodded, never expecting that she would become the deputy.

Marina's mood improved considerably after Shizuka's comforting words.

An and Asuka prepared a few simple dishes, and then the four of them sat around the table to eat. The dishes emitted wisps of steam, which drifted into the air and transformed into the joy of the New Year, making the originally oppressive atmosphere much more harmonious.

The crisis has been temporarily resolved.

However, An and Asuka knew that even greater challenges awaited them, so they did not relax.

In the following days, An and Asuka went to Marina's house every day. Unsurprisingly, each time he went there, the girl's parents were either arguing or had just finished arguing, with the man disappearing and leaving the mother and daughter to process their emotions alone.

In short, there wasn't a single day of peace. Growing up in such an environment, one could be considered a saint if they didn't go astray.

To prevent tragedy from happening, An and Asuka spend a lot of time comforting the mother and daughter each time. Especially Marina's mother, he does everything he can to stop her from turning to the dark side.

What comforts him is that now, Marina's mother only feels sad and upset after an argument, and does not become irritable or easily angered.

Each time he offered words of comfort, she would quickly recover and even smile at him.

This is a good thing; if things continue like this, he'll be able to reason with women even further.

Since men's infidelity is inevitable, women should simply accept it and even take the initiative to let go.

This is the best solution for both sides.

Men can get the freedom they want, women don't have to cry all day, and most importantly, Marina won't be hurt anymore.

January 7th, winter vacation will end in two or three days.

However, because their holiday started later than other schools, they had an extra week of vacation, so there was no situation of 'working more but getting less paid'.

It hadn't snowed for the past few days, so traffic was much better. Besides, staying cooped up at home all day wasn't a good idea, so An and Asuka went out with two young girls and a young woman.

He was happy that everyone could come out and have fun together, but he didn't really like the place they went.

It just so happens to be a shrine.

That's true, it's normal for people to worship gods and Buddhas during the Lunar New Year.

Looking at the shrine in front of them, An and Asuka hesitated for a moment before following the three of them inside.

With so many people around, Grandpa shouldn't be able to spot him. Besides, he came as a 'believer,' so even if he were, they couldn't kick him out.

He is safe.

An and Asuka thought so, but when they saw their teacher, they had a bad feeling.

He suddenly remembered that his school seemed to be holding a benefit performance at this shrine.

An and Asuka were about to pull up their hoods without making a sound, but the next second a pair of eyes locked onto them.

"Flying bird!"

Volume 1: Chapter 41 For Your Own Good

An and Asuka couldn't escape and could only watch as Matsue Sakura ran happily to them.

"You little rascal, you say you're not interested, but your actions tell a different story."

"Teacher, please don't overthink it. I'm just here with my family."

As An and Asuka spoke, An moved aside, giving half of his body space so that Matsuzuki Sakura could see the person behind him.

"Hello, Ms. Matsue."

The two girls called out in unison, and Songyue Ying immediately stopped smiling and became more serious.

She replied kindly, "Happy New Year, Kirasaka-san and Kuze-san."

"By the way, who is this...?"

"Maria's mother."

An and Asuka introduced, and Matsue Sakura quickly greeted them as well.

After chatting for a while, Matsue Sakura prepared to leave. Before leaving, she didn't forget to offer some words of encouragement.

"Asuka, I heard that this competition will give you a bag of rice and two barrels of oil as long as you go on stage, and you'll also receive Miyaji's blessing, so it's okay even if you haven't practiced for two months."

Since this is a charity performance, there is no ranking order; everyone just needs to go on stage and perform for the elderly and children.

"Teacher, you should go do your work, or I'll report you for slacking off."

An and Asuka glanced at the 'volunteer' armband on Matsue Sakura's arm and threatened her expressionlessly.

"You brat, I'll deal with you after I'm done with my work."

Matsue Sakura glared at him angrily before hurrying away.

Normally, you can only visit a few areas of the shrine to worship, pray for blessings, draw lots, and that's it.

Today, because of the charity performance, people can choose to watch the show in the shrine's backyard after their prayers.

However, since the programs are mostly old-fashioned shows like drama or traditional dance, they don't attract many young people; they're mostly watched by older generations.

He wasn't particularly interested either, but since he was out to relax, he figured he might as well stay outside a little longer.

Seeing that the mother and daughter were gradually relaxing, An and Asuka made their suggestion to them, which was naturally not rejected.

The four of them went to the backyard together.

A stage had been erected closer to the courtyard wall, and a traditional opera was being performed on it.

The audience below the stage applauded and cheered from time to time, watching with great interest.

The group found a place to sit down and watched a few shows. An and Asuka initially thought it would be a bit boring, but after watching them carefully, they found them quite interesting.

Especially when it was the children's turn to perform, the children's innocent performances were interspersed among the serious traditional programs, which prevented the audience from experiencing aesthetic fatigue.

Finally, he saw Aoyama Nanami, who sang a song about the New Year and received enthusiastic applause from everyone.

"Nanami is really amazing."

"You sang very well."

The two girls exclaimed in admiration from below the stage, while the woman listened with a hint of curiosity.

Do you know that girl from earlier?

"Yes, I know her. She came in third place in the five-school performance. More importantly, she and Asuka are partners."

"Huh, really?"

The woman looked at An and Asuka with some surprise upon hearing this, "Does that mean Asuka can also play music? I didn't know that."

Noticing the woman's somewhat eager gaze, An and Asuka said, "I'm not very skilled, and saying it would only embarrass me in front of Auntie, so I didn't say anything."

"How could that be? Auntie wouldn't laugh at you." The woman sighed, "I really want to see Asuka's performance in person."

"I'll perform for Auntie again if I have time."

Even An and Asuka felt a bit of pressure when they said such things at this time.

"Okay, Auntie is looking forward to it."

"Ah."

Hearing this, An and Asuka secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but before they could finish, a voice suddenly came from the side that almost gave them a heart attack.

"No need to wait for time, perform for Ms. Kirisaka now."

"Matsuzuki-sensei!"

Upon seeing that it was Matsue Sakura, the three of them were about to stand up, but An and Asuka remained seated on the stools, their heads bowed.

"Playing dead won't work."

Matsue Sakura first gestured to the three of them not to be too polite, then stretched out her hands and pressed them on An and Asuka's cheeks, forcing them to raise their heads.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, looking extremely pleased: "You brat, I caught you again."

"Teacher Matsue is really persistent."

"Hmph, enough nonsense. I'll give you one more chance. Are you going to go on stage or not?"

"Why does the teacher insist that I participate?!" An and Asuka were puzzled. This shouldn't be such an important performance.

"I'll tell you."

Upon hearing this, Songyue Ying looked around furtively, and after making sure no one was paying attention to them, she leaned closer and whispered to An and Asuka, "The old lady sitting in the middle of the first row is our previous Minister of Culture and Publicity."

"You know what I mean, right?"

If it weren't for creating an opportunity for the boy in front of her, she wouldn't have put aside her teacher's airs and spent so much time pleading with him.

If someone else had rejected her like that, she would have ignored it long ago.

"understood."

An and Asuka completely understood, and he was very grateful to the woman in front of him for finding him such an opportunity.

Indeed, if I could be noticed by that so-called minister, my future path might be much easier.

But putting aside the question of how likely it is that an old man who has seen all sorts of geniuses would take notice of him, he simply doesn't have the time to do anything extra right now, and he doesn't want to catch anyone's eye.

After all, Marina is the most important person right now. If he had to choose between his career and his girlfriend, he would undoubtedly choose the latter.

Therefore, he still refused.

"I......"

"Birds".