Sunday afternoon, June 22.
Song Yunshen was at his computer at home, sorting through the English Club membership roster. He took the information on the thirty-three suspects he had tallied yesterday and compiled it into a spreadsheet.
Afterward, he slung his backpack over his shoulders, went downstairs, and hopped onto his beloved bicycle. He planned to make a quick trip to the convenience store at the neighborhood entrance to print out the spreadsheet.
As soon as he parked his bike in front of the store, however, he spotted a familiar figure inside.
"Boss."
"What is it? You want to buy these two mugs?"
"Um... I saw the label saying they’re buy-one-get-one-free, right?"
"Yeah, five yuan. You take both."
"Then if I only want to buy one of them, can you sell it to me for two-fifty?"
"Little girl..." The boss was clearly a bit speechless. "At least read the rest of the buy-one-get-one-free sign. This is a special promotion for couple’s mugs.
"If you buy one, who am I supposed to sell the other one to?
"No way. Either you buy them both together, or you look at some other mugs. See those over there? They’re four yuan."
"But..."
Song Yunshen walked into the convenience store and leaned in for a closer look. It really was Yan Zhenxia’s daughter, Ningning.
Recalling how troubled Yan Zhenxia had looked yesterday when she asked if she could delay her rent payment, and seeing Ningning agonizing over a difference of one or two yuan, Song Yunshen walked up to the counter. He took out his phone and scanned the QR code.
"WeChat Pay received: five yuan."
"Boss, I’ll take the mugs." Song Yunshen walked over to Ningning’s side, picked up the two mugs, and handed them to her. "We just met for the first time yesterday. Think of this as a meeting gift."
The girl looked up at Song Yunshen in surprise, then looked down at the two mugs he was offering.
Facing her directly this time, Song Yunshen got a much clearer look at her.
She was wearing a Shulan Middle School uniform that still stretched tight across her ample chest. The touch of baby fat on her cheeks was just right, making her look exceptionally sweet and cute.
"I didn’t say I was going to buy them..." Ningning muttered, putting up a stubborn front. She didn’t reach out to take them. It seemed her personality wasn’t quite as soft and docile as her face suggested.
"You go to Shulan, right?" Song Yunshen glanced at the school badge propped high on her chest. "That makes you my junior. I guess we have some connection after all."
"You went to Shulan for middle school too?" Ningning asked with a hint of curiosity.
"Yeah." Song Yunshen nodded. "Do you know Teacher Ruan, Ruan Zheng? She was my homeroom teacher. What grade are you in? I think she’s teaching eighth grade right now."
"Teacher Ruan?" Ningning’s eyes widened slightly in shock.
"Oh? You know her too?"
"She’s our homeroom teacher..."
"What a coincidence." Song Yunshen raised his eyebrows in surprise, then smiled and said, "Then you definitely have to take these mugs. Come on, take them, take them.
"Teacher Ruan isn’t just my old homeroom teacher; she’s also my uncle’s wife.
"Back then, it was thanks to my assists that my uncle finally won her over."
"Eh?! Really!" Ningning’s eyes bulged. She never expected Ruan the Tiger to have such a history.
Drawn in by Song Yunshen’s gossip, Ningning subconsciously accepted the two mugs.
Meanwhile, Song Yunshen sent a file to the store owner’s QQ to have it printed out, casually chatting with Ningning about interesting stories from middle school.
But Ningning soon snapped back to reality. She reached out and shoved the black ceramic mug into Song Yunshen’s arms. "One is enough for me. You take the extra one."
"Oh, sure." Song Yunshen nodded and accepted it.
"I’ll transfer you two-fifty," Ningning said, pulling out her phone.
"There’s no need. It was meant to be a gift anyway." Song Yunshen shook his head, politely declining.
"No." Ningning stared at him stubbornly. "If you don’t take the money, I won’t take this mug either."
Looking at the adamant expression on her cute face, Song Yunshen realized she was dead set on this. He didn’t refuse again and simply took out his phone.
[Payment Received: No Lemons For Me (**Neng) — 2.50 yuan]
"Why don’t we add each other on WeChat?" Song Yunshen suggested. "Since you’re my aunt’s student and also happen to be my tenant, you can tell me if you ever run into any difficulties."
"Oh, oh... sure." Without overthinking it, Ningning scanned Song Yunshen’s QR code and added him as a friend.
[Whereabouts of Yun Shen Unknown]: Song Yunshen.
[No Lemons For Me]: Xia Keneng.
After exchanging their real names, Song Yunshen changed Xia Keneng’s contact note on his phone.
Then, he took the freshly printed spreadsheet from the boss, shoved it into his backpack along with the black mug, and walked out of the convenience store with Xia Keneng.
"By the way, why were you buying a mug?" Song Yunshen asked, casually bringing up a topic as he straddled his bike.
"It’s all your fault..." Xia Keneng muttered under her breath.
When Song Yunshen had visited her home yesterday, Xia Keneng had gone to pour him some water as her mother instructed.
But they only had the personal mugs used by the four of them. No one ever came over to visit, so they didn’t even have disposable cups.
Serving him water in a bowl would have been impolite, and her mother definitely would have scolded her for it.
In the end, Xia Keneng had no choice but to grit her teeth and pour him a glass of water using her own mug.
Even though she had scrubbed it vigorously afterward, Xia Keneng, who was a bit of a neat freak, still felt unsettled about it. She could only find time to come buy a new mug today.
But as for right now...
Xia Keneng looked down at the mug in her hand, then sneaked a peek at Song Yunshen’s face. To her surprise, she felt herself blushing.
She realized the boss had mentioned earlier that these were couple’s mugs... She wondered if Song Yunshen had heard him.
How embarrassing!
The mug in her hand was mostly white, but it featured a little black dog with faint black paw prints scattered across the background.
As for the one in Song Yunshen’s backpack, it had a black background with a little white cat drawn on it, and it was covered in tiny cat paw prints.
To share a pair of couple’s mugs with someone for the first time in her life under these circumstances—Xia Keneng had the urge to pay another two-fifty just to take Song Yunshen’s mug back.
But she glanced at the boy sitting on the bicycle again. Her eyes lingered on his chiseled profile and his occasionally bobbing Adam’s apple, and she inexplicably suppressed the thought.
Mhm... Saving money was more important anyway.
"I’ll get going, then?" Song Yunshen, not harboring nearly as many complicated thoughts as Xia Keneng, said to her once he was settled on his bike.
"Oh... bye." Xia Keneng waved at him and watched as Song Yunshen pedaled away toward Ningjiang Middle School.
Upon arriving at school, Song Yunshen parked his bike and made a quick stop at the nearby English Club activity room to place the reply letter he had written yesterday onto the designated bookshelf.
Then, he hurried over to the Class 5, Grade 10 classroom. After sitting down at his desk, he pulled the suspect list out of his backpack, turned around, and patted Zhong Long on the shoulder.
"Fat Dragon, I have a task for you."
"What’s up, Brother Shen?" Zhong Long, who was secretly reading a novel at the desk behind him, looked up in confusion.
"I’ve got a list of girls here. You’re well-informed, so do me a favor and see which ones on here are pretty," Song Yunshen whispered conspiratorially.
Zhong Long was the class’s resident gossip peddler. He loved making friends everywhere and had a vast network of connections around the school. Whenever there was a juicy rumor, he was always the first to know.
Hearing Song Yunshen’s request, Zhong Long chuckled, instantly intrigued. He held up a finger. "One dinner. Deal?"
"Deal."
"OK." Zhong Long patted his chest. "Let me see the list."
"Here."
"Any specific requirements?" Zhong Long asked. "What’s your type, Brother Shen?"
"What do you mean?"
"Aren’t you trying to find a girlfriend?" Zhong Long gave him a wicked grin. "Why else would you ask me which girls are pretty?"
Song Yunshen was speechless. "...It’s not like that. Just pick out the prettiest ones on the list, alright?"
He wasn’t looking for a girlfriend.
He was looking for his future girlfriend.
He wondered why it felt like those two things meant the exact same thing.
"Fine." Zhong Long didn’t dwell on it. He looked down and scanned the list before his eyes suddenly paused. He couldn’t help but ask, "Are we looking for the top few prettiest, or the absolute prettiest one?"
"What do you mean?" Song Yunshen asked, raising an eyebrow.
"If you want me to pick out the prettiest few, that’ll take a bit of effort. But if it’s the single prettiest one, the answer is already staring you right in the face."
"Which one are you talking about?" Song Yunshen asked curiously.
"This one." Zhong Long pointed at the twenty-third name on the list. "Class 4, Grade 11: Xia Jinsu!"