Cen Sui and a group of her girlfriends played until very late before finally dispersing.
Those who could leave had already gone, while Cen Sui and a few others including Tao Miner simply stayed at the hotel for the night.
The next day they slept all the way until noon. When she woke up, lifting her head from the soft, snow-white pillows and bedding, her hair was a mess and confusion filled her face.
Her mind felt foggy. When she got out of bed, her feet tangled with each other as she walked and she nearly fell onto the carpet.
Even sitting on the toilet in the bathroom, her eyes remained closed in a daze. Standing before the mirror to wash up, she still squinted as if her mind had not figured out which bottle of alcohol she was still drunk in and unable to escape from.
Only after washing her face and finally lifting her head did she become a little clearer.
Cen Sui looked at the disheveled version of herself in the mirror. She blinked, raised a hand to tidy her hair, and even amused herself by striking a few rather domineering poses.
Finished, she stepped back into the room wearing slippers, yanked open the riverfront curtains, and shouted loudly, “Ladies, wake up!”
The three girls including Tao Miner were perfectly in sync. All of them frowned unhappily at the same time and let out a groan, pulling the covers over their heads.
Since they still refused to get up, Cen Sui no longer bothered with them.
She ordered a Chinese-style breakfast from the hotel for herself. Sitting down by the floor-to-ceiling window, she enjoyed the river view as she ate the luxurious breakfast, beginning her brand-new day at noon.
Once she had eaten until she was more than half full, she picked up her phone and unlocked it.
Opening WeChat, she saw that the senior she added last night had already accepted her friend request and sent her a message: 【Hello, junior. I am Lu Wenbo. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.】
Cen Sui tapped on his profile picture and added a remark with his name. Then she replied to his message: 【Sorry, I just saw it. For review materials, which books should I buy? Or any review guides or resources?】
This time Lu Wenbo replied very quickly and sent her a book list directly.
He then added: 【There are also some review materials that might be hard to buy. I have all of them here. Should I bring them to you when I am free?】
Cen Sui lowered her head, took a spoonful of porridge, then set the spoon down.
Straightening up, she typed on her phone: 【Let me treat you to coffee when you have time. It will be a good chance for me to consult you about how I should review.】
She added another line: 【My foundation is a bit weak.】
Lu Wenbo: 【It is fine. I can help you. Just ask me if you have questions.】
Cen Sui: 【Alright, thank you in advance, senior.】
Lu Wenbo: 【You are welcome.】
Cen Sui: 【Senior, when are you free this week?】
Lu Wenbo: 【I am free on Wednesday afternoon.】
Cen Sui thought about her class schedule but could not remember whether she had any classes on Wednesday.
Still, she did not think too much about it and agreed directly: 【Then let us meet on Wednesday afternoon.】
Lu Wenbo: 【Alright, see you Wednesday.】
By the time Cen Sui finished eating and wiped her hands with a wet tissue, Tao Miner and the others finally got up.
With their hair all messy, they dragged themselves to the table and sat down, eating some of the leftover sweet potatoes and wontons from Cen Sui.
The wontons were filled with fresh shrimp, each bite bursting with a delicious, savory fragrance.
Zhou Erbao nodded repeatedly in praise as she ate. “Not bad, not bad.”
Chen Danuan took a bite of sweet potato and glanced at her. “You have no idea how much this whole table costs.”
After swallowing a wonton, Zhou Erbao looked toward Tao Miner. “By the way, how much is this suite per night?”
Tao Miner answered simply, “About ten thousand.”
Zhou Erbao swallowed hard and quickly lowered her head to eat another wonton.
Adding in the room charge and all the decorations, drinks, and snacks from last night, they must have spent several tens of thousands at least.
Among the four of them, Zhou Erbao’s family background was the most modest.
Cen Sui looked at her and smiled, then turned to Tao Miner and said, “Let me treat this time. You do not need to spend money. After all, you were celebrating for me.”
Tao Miner looked at her and casually asked, “What is this? You struck it rich?”
Cen Sui leaned back in her chair, her face bathed in warm sunlight, vibrant and glowing. She smiled and said, “I only made a tiny bit of money. Nothing worth mentioning.”
For their usual spending level, four hundred thousand truly was not much.
But the three of them were all very curious and stared at her together. Chen Danuan asked, “What did you do?”
Cen Sui smiled again, just a little. “It is a secret.”
A moment later she added, “When I strike it rich enough to support all of you, then it will not be too late to talk about it.”
Zhou Erbao’s eyes widened slightly as she looked at Cen Sui. “Strike it rich?”
Cen Sui nodded. “If nothing unexpected happens.”
Tao Miner and Chen Danuan still wanted to ask more, but Cen Sui refused to say anything no matter what, so in the end each of them rolled their eyes at her.
Only Zhou Erbao grinned and said to Cen Sui, “Then I will wait for you to support me, hehe…”
*
She had classes in the afternoon. Cen Sui did not go home first; she went straight to the mall to change into a new outfit.
All the clothes in her wardrobe needed to be replaced anyway. Since she had time, she came to buy a few things so she could refill her wardrobe as soon as possible.
After changing her outfit and walking out of the mall, Cen Sui turned her head and saw Cen Jewelry on the first floor. The store was not very large. Her steps paused instinctively.
After thinking for a moment, she did not head back to school. Instead, she brought Tao Miner and the others with her to her family’s jewelry shop.
As soon as they entered, a store clerk came over to greet them. When the clerk’s gaze swept across the store, she noticed Tong Jingjing standing by the counter. Dressed in the store’s work uniform with her hair pinned into a bun behind her head, Tong Jingjing wore an impatient and unmotivated expression.
When Tong Jingjing saw Cen Sui, she instinctively froze for a moment and only reacted after quite a while.
Cen Sui did not expect Tong Jingjing to be in this shop. She pretended not to know her and simply walked to the counter to take a look.
Another store clerk stood beside her, speaking in a gentle tone, patiently asking what kind of jewelry she was looking to buy, whether it was for herself or for an elder at home, and mentioning the discount events they currently had.
Cen Sui had never shown up at her family’s company nor visited her family’s stores, so naturally these clerks did not recognize her.
Although she had not paid much attention before, she still knew that the gold and gemstone jewelry her family sold was mostly targeted at an older age group. There were not many designs suitable for young people, so she had never used anything from her own family’s store.
Tao Miner and the other two looked around behind her but were not particularly interested.
Cen Sui was not here simply to browse. She had something in mind. She wanted to learn as much as she could. Once she graduated and joined the company, she could inherit the family business and expand it, at the very least growing it beyond the bounds of Su’an City.
While Cen Sui was looking around, Tong Jingjing had been staring at her the entire time.
At first, Tong Jingjing thought Cen Sui might have changed somehow. But now it seemed she was not all that different from the description in the book.
On a normal day she was still dragging along a bunch of rich second-generation plastic girlfriends, going shopping, spending money, eating and playing around. She had posted on her social media last night and had not gone home, and today she was still out, carrying shopping bags in her hand.
In Tong Jingjing’s eyes, the current Cen Sui could be summed up in two bold words: wasteful spender.
Aside from being pretty and having wealthy parents, she was utterly useless.
Cen Sui accidentally caught that strange look in Tong Jingjing’s eyes again.
Curious, she looked at her and took two steps closer to ask, “What is it? Did I become prettier again?”
This time Tong Jingjing recovered quickly and hurriedly smiled. “Yes, you became prettier again.”
Cen Sui watched her for a moment with suspicion. Seeing Tong Jingjing’s pretentiously polite expression, she lost interest in talking to her and turned to leave.
Once she and Tao Miner and the others walked out of the store, the remaining two clerks, both with very sharp gossip instincts, immediately ran over to Tong Jingjing and asked, “Who were those people just now? Do you know them? They all look like rich second-generation kids.”
Tong Jingjing stayed calm and drawled, “My cousin, Cen Sui.”
The two clerks took a moment to process this before suddenly realizing, “That one… that useless young lady?”
Tong Jingjing let out a short sneer. “That is her.”
Clerk One said, “Wow, she really is pretty. Looks like a celebrity.”
Clerk Two also chuckled and lowered her voice. “What is the use of being pretty? I heard that aside from that First young master of the Chen family, she has nothing else in her brain. A high-purity love-obsessed fool, utterly useless…”
Clerk One wore an expression full of gossip. “President Cen has only one daughter. With her being so disappointing, who is going to take over the Cen family business?”
Clerk Two laughed lightly. “How would I know? Maybe she really will get together with that First young master of the Chen family. Then the company will fall into the Chen family’s hands.”
Tong Jingjing suddenly interjected coolly from the side, “But would Chen Yu be willing to marry her?”
Clerk One and Clerk Two exchanged a look. After a moment, they reached a silent understanding and both shook their heads at the same time.
Tong Jingjing adopted a serene, wise expression. “Personality determines destiny.”
Clerk One and Clerk Two nodded in agreement. As they looked at her, something suddenly occurred to them and one of them hinted subtly, “By the way, Jingjing, President Cen arranged for you to start at the bottom to train you. Does that mean… you know… that he has some intention?”
A smile hid at the corner of Tong Jingjing’s lips, though she said aloud, “Do not talk nonsense. Stay serious.”
Clerk One and Clerk Two each hugged one of her arms, as if reaching perfect understanding with her. “Anyway, we will just follow you.”
Tong Jingjing smiled with feigned helplessness. “I really cannot deal with you two.”
*
The afternoon classes were the last two periods. Cen Sui entered the classroom right on time and chose a seat in the back.
She had not made any real friends in her department, so when she was not sticking to Chen Yu for a seat, she simply sat alone.
Not long after she sat down, she saw Chen Yu walk in through the front door of the classroom, followed by his group of loyal cronies.
Their eyes met across the entire room, each gaze colder than the other.
Cen Sui could not be bothered to pay attention to him and had no interest in tangling with him any further. She quickly withdrew her gaze.
She looked calmly down at the book in front of her, as if she had not seen Chen Yu at all.
Chen Yu walked toward the back row with a dark expression, his intention extremely obvious. He wanted to sit next to Cen Sui.
But before he even reached the back, three girls suddenly appeared out of nowhere and sat down in the seats beside Cen Sui one after another, each wearing a delighted expression.
Chen Yu froze mid-step. “…”
Cen Sui looked at the three dormmates who had taken the seats beside her and slowly typed a question mark in her mind: ?
Chen Yu paused only for a moment before continuing toward the back row. Reaching the seats, he looked at the three girls and said bluntly, “Please move.”
Everyone in the classroom, including Cen Sui’s dormmates: ???
Chen Yu voluntarily wanted to sit with Cen Sui???
Wasn’t he always ignoring her and barely acknowledging her existence???
The three dormmates blinked in confusion, stunned speechless by Chen Yu’s tone and imposing presence.
They did not dare provoke Chen Yu. After freezing for a moment, they naturally lowered their heads, ready to pack up and leave. But before they could even stand, Cen Sui suddenly spoke. She looked at Chen Yu and said coldly, “Have some sense. Seats are taken on a first come, first served basis.”
Everyone’s gaze swung toward Cen Sui all at once, including the three dormmates. “!!!”
Cen Sui actually talked back to Chen Yu???
She even refused to sit with him???
Chen Yu’s brows tightened slightly. His face was dark, and before he could say anything else, the class bell rang and the instructor entered the classroom.
With no other choice, he could only take Wang Jie and the others to find empty seats elsewhere.
Cen Sui put the matter out of her mind and focused on her own class.
After listening for a while, she noticed her phone screen kept lighting up, so she unlocked it and took a look.
Opening WeChat, she found she had been pulled into a group chat with her three dormmates.
Ni Ni: 【That was so cool! From now on you are our goddess!】
Qian Qian: 【Kick the scumbag away! Yes!!】
Jia Jia: 【Applause applause】
After reading their messages, Cen Sui could not help letting out a soft laugh.
She had never noticed before how adorable these girls actually were.