Her voice reached them before she even came into view.
“Cang Wei?”
Gu Lai stood in front of Room 301, knocking with a slightly hurried rhythm. Checking the time, it was already 8:00 AM.
They had agreed last night to go to school at 7:30, and worrying that she might oversleep, Gu Lai had set eight or nine consecutive alarms.
As a result, when the time came, Cang Wei was nowhere to be found at the door, and her messages went unanswered.
After waiting another half hour with still no movement, Gu Lai grew worried that something might have happened to her and stood outside Room 301, knocking continuously.
A moment later, Cang Wei opened the door, looking at Gu Lai’s anxious and worried expression. “Sorry, I overslept.”
Cang Wei welcomed her inside, her tone carrying an apology.
“I thought something happened to you. As long as you are fine, that is all that matters.” Gu Lai let out a sigh of relief. My mission target, my five million dollars, you being safe and sound is the best thing possible.
Gu Lai sat down politely on the sofa. “There is no rush. Go wash up first.”
With that, she quietly observed Cang Wei’s living room. The overall color tone leaned toward white, and the fabric sofa looked cozy and comfortable.
Cang Wei washed up quickly, changing into her school uniform in just a few minutes. Casually gathering her hair with her hand, Cang Wei walked toward Gu Lai. “Do you have An Xin’s phone number?”
Finding yesterday’s call history, Gu Lai handed her phone to Cang Wei. “I do.”
“Beep.”
A melodious ringtone sounded, and the call was answered quickly. “Gu?” Teacher An Xin’s voice came from the other end.
Cang Wei’s posture was relaxed as she spoke unhurriedly, “Teacher An, this is Cang Wei. The two of us will be a little late.”
“Cang Wei!”
“It is one thing for you to be late on your own, but why are you dragging the new student along with you? Do you want to lead her astray the moment she arrives?” An Xin’s voice carried three parts disbelief and seven parts sheer astonishment.
“I woke up late, and she was waiting for me.” Cang Wei glanced at Gu Lai, offering an explanation for once.
“Ah? You two…” Before Teacher An Xin could finish speaking, Cang Wei hung up the phone.
Gu Lai sighed inwardly.
Her stomach let out a rumble, and she rubbed it with her hand. She had gotten up too early, and since she hadn’t eaten anything last night, she was a bit hungry. Since they were already late anyway, being a little earlier or later probably wouldn’t matter much, right?
Thinking of this, Gu Lai raised her eyes to look at Cang Wei.
For some reason, the latter’s complexion looked somewhat pale. Her demeanor was composed, but her figure was slender and frail.
It was almost as if she were somewhat malnourished.
Gu Lai thought of the male lead in the book, Huo Heya. His family background was ordinary, but he always loved to compare himself to others. He constantly asked Cang Wei for expensive gifts, and Cang Wei always gave him whatever he wanted.
Unlike other female leads with illustrious backgrounds, Cang Wei’s living allowance was limited. Although the book didn’t mention it, when Gu Lai asked yesterday, she learned that Cang Wei received two thousand a month.
This sum of money was not small. According to the original book’s setting in Licheng where No. 7 High School was located, a normal salary was only around two to three thousand.
Yet, with the male lead taking her money away, Cang Wei could only scrimp and save on her own.
At this thought, that inexplicable irritation welled up from the bottom of her heart once again. Gu Lai had never been good at hiding her emotions, and she was no different now.
Seeing this, Cang Wei assumed she was worried about the teacher’s reprimand. “It is fine. I will go explain later.”
Gu Lai shook her head. “I am not upset about that.”
Cang Wei felt a bit puzzled, but stopped talking, simply watching her quietly.
“Well, I am a little hungry.” She couldn’t very well tell the truth, could she? Gu Lai came up with a white lie. Actually, it wasn’t really a lie, because she was genuinely a bit hungry right now.
In Gu Lai’s view, heaven and earth were vast, but eating came first. She believed that everyone loved good food, and Cang Wei was no exception.
As the saying went, if you wanted to make friends with someone, you had to capture their stomach first.
However, if she had to cook for herself, Gu Lai sighed, the difference between her and a good cook was like the difference between a strawberry and a Jurassic dinosaur.
They had nothing to do with each other.
Her culinary talent was close to zero.
Therefore, she had to find another way. Gu Lai’s mind worked quickly. Eating meals with Cang Wei every day, how was that not another form of capturing her stomach?
After a long time, Cang Wei would surely start treating her as a good friend. Continuing like this, she would be one step closer to successfully completing the mission and taking her money home.
“There is a breakfast shop at the entrance of the residential complex.” So she was just hungry. The corners of Cang Wei’s mouth lifted into a somewhat helpless smile.
[No. 7 High School]
After finishing breakfast, neither of them was in a rush and they took a leisurely stroll. When they stepped through the school gates, Gu Lai checked the time: 8:37 AM.
Teacher An was currently in the classroom. Seeing Gu Lai and Cang Wei enter right as the bell rang, An Xin turned a blind eye, treating it as a common occurrence.
“Respect the examination and strictly enforce discipline.” Gu Lai sat in the examination room, listening to the familiar yet unfamiliar pre-exam instructions, feeling a sense of nostalgia.
The cool pen barrel was clutched in her palm as Gu Lai swept her gaze over the test paper. Her Chinese score was close to full marks, so this test paper was naturally a piece of cake.
It was just the math. Gu Lai twirled her pen, her hand not stopping while she thought. A municipal math competition paper really was somewhat difficult.
Moreover, this test paper was quite different from the type Gu Lai had focused on back in her day.
For some questions, Gu Lai used college-level knowledge, and for the rest that she couldn’t remember or recall, she didn’t dwell on them.
Rather than pushing herself too hard, it was better to cut herself some slack.
Looking at the completed test paper, Gu Lai nodded with satisfaction. In exams, mindset was also very important. What you didn’t know, others didn’t know either; what you knew, others still wouldn’t know.
After working on the test for so long, the breakfast Gu Lai had eaten earlier had long since digested. She was feeling a bit hungry again, and just as she was walking toward Class 7, a wave of commotion suddenly came from behind her.
“I’ll go, did that Cang Wei really get money for you?”
“As expected of my Brother Huo, he has so much charm. Nearly two thousand given just like that.”
“Heh, she owes it to me.” This remark sounded somewhat through gritted teeth, but Huo Heya’s face was clearly filled with smugness.
Gu Lai instantly stopped in her tracks. Brother Huo? The male lead of the original novel, Huo Heya?
When that group walked up beside her, Gu Lai glanced at them without a trace. The one in the middle, the one she found most displeasing to the eye, should be Huo Heya.
His school uniform was tied loosely around his waist, he was tall, his hair was cropped into a buzz cut, and his brows and eyes looked gloomy.
Thinking of what she had just heard, Cang Wei had actually gotten money for Huo Heya? If she really gave Huo Heya nearly two thousand, with more than twenty days left this month, what was Cang Wei supposed to do?
Filled with indignation, What is so good about that person? Why… Before Gu Lai could finish her thought, her shoulder was suddenly patted.
“Why are you standing out here?” Cang Wei had rolled up the sleeve of her right arm, exposing a wrist with clearly defined bones. Her slender fingers lightly held a neutral pen.
“Nothing.” Gu Lai didn’t want to talk to her, taking three steps in two and turning back to the classroom.
Was she throwing a tantrum?
Unsure of how she had offended this new neighbor, Cang Wei chuckled in spite of herself.
Back at her seat, Gu Lai was still furious. She had given all her money away, so someone could just wait to drink the northwest wind this month.
It wasn’t that people shouldn’t bravely pursue love, but there had to be a bottom line, right? Furthermore, that Huo Heya was truly no good bird.
Living off a woman while acting completely righteous and insatiably greedy.
When she first read Sweet Pampering, Gu Lai had been driven to heart-palpitating anger by Cang Wei countless times. Now experiencing it in person, her fury burned even more intensely.
Tap, tap.
Two light knocks fell on her desk.