Shu Shu’s last experience of this kind of collective campus life—seven in the morning to six in the evening—was the last time she experienced it.
To be honest, she quite missed it.
Wearing the blue-and-white school uniform, everything she did felt fresh.
At noon, in the cafeteria.
Shu Shu carried her tray to the food window and took a little of everything, then found a seat and started eating enthusiastically.
The taste of school cafeteria food was something you couldn’t taste anywhere else.
It wasn’t that it was particularly delicious; it was simply that the flavor was unique.
After finishing her meal, Shu Shu returned the tray and was about to go back to the classroom when she heard a familiar name.
“Look, it’s Shu Lingchen.”
“He came again to bring yogurt for Chu, the school beauty.”
Shu Shu followed their line of sight.
She saw that not far from the cafeteria entrance, under a big tree, Shu Lingchen was squatting there. His school jacket was open, revealing a black skull T-shirt inside. With his messy “turkey-style” hair, he held a bottle of yogurt in his hand, looking careless and unruly.
“Tell me, isn’t he ridiculous? He doesn’t even take a look at himself. How could he have the nerve to keep pestering Miss Chu?”
“Just watch, he’ll be rejected again in a moment. What a clown.”
Mocking whispers kept coming.
At that moment,
Chu Lian had just finished eating with her classmates and was walking out of the cafeteria to return to the classroom.
A classmate beside her softly reminded her.
“Shu Lingchen is here again.”
Chu Lian sighed slightly, as if feeling helpless about being pestered.
Everyone around watched closely, waiting to see Shu Lingchen embarrass himself after being rejected again.
Right then—
A slender pale hand suddenly reached out before Chu Lian arrived at the tree and snatched the yogurt from Shu Lingchen’s hand.
Everyone froze.
Shu Shu calmly twisted open the cap, tilted her head back, and took a sip, then tasted it.
Grapefruit flavor, with fruit pulp—sweet and sour.
“Hmm, not bad.”
Shu Lingchen was also stunned. He looked at his suddenly empty hand, stood up, swallowed the word “Mom” that was about to come out, and said,
“…That wasn’t bought for you.”
Shu Shu said, “Oh, so I can’t drink it?”
“No… If you want yogurt, the convenience store over there sells it.” He had given her money yesterday.
Shu Shu repeated, “Oh, so I can’t drink it?”
Before Shu Lingchen could answer, she said calmly,
“Alright, I understand.”
After saying that,
Shu Shu tossed the yogurt back into Shu Lingchen’s arms and turned to leave.
“Hey—”
For some reason, Shu Lingchen suddenly panicked. Without thinking, he chased after her, feeling that if he didn’t, something terrible would happen.
“Are you angry?” he asked, quietly calling her Mom from behind.
Shu Shu turned to look at him with a completely unfamiliar expression. Her beautiful peach-blossom eyes blinked.
“Huh? Who are you, classmate? Do we know each other?”
“…”
Shu Lingchen’s survival instinct activated immediately.
“I’m sorry! I was wrong! You can drink it! Here!”
He held out the grapefruit yogurt with both hands to Shu Shu again.
But Shu Shu didn’t take it.
“If it’s not given sincerely, I won’t drink it.”
Shu Lingchen immediately said,
“It’s sincere! Twenty-four-karat pure sincerity!”
Shu Shu looked up at the sky and added,
“If it wasn’t bought for me, I won’t drink it.”
“…Then I’ll go buy you one right now. What flavor do you want? Strawberry? Blueberry? Or pineapple?”
Shu Shu thought for a moment.
“I’ll reluctantly take all of them.”
As long as his mom calmed down, everything was negotiable. Shu Lingchen hurriedly followed along.
“Alright, alright. I’ll buy them all.”
“I also want two grilled sausages.”
“Bought!”
So everyone watched as Shu Shu stood proudly with her arms crossed while Shu Lingchen obediently followed behind her like a puppy. The two of them headed toward the convenience store.
This was the first time that, in a situation where Chu Lian was present, Shu Lingchen directly ignored her.
Everyone was stunned.
“Who is that girl?”
“Why does Shu Lingchen listen to her so obediently?”
“She seems to be the new transfer student in Class 12. Her name is Shu Shu.”
“Wow, she’s so pretty! Even prettier than Chu, the school beauty!”
Chu Lian had already stopped walking without realizing it.
Standing there, she heard the discussions around her. Beneath her bangs, her eyelashes trembled slightly with an unclear emotion.
She couldn’t quite believe it.
Shu Lingchen had just “abandoned” her and walked away with another girl?
Before this, he had always been afraid she might misunderstand, and he always kept his distance from every other girl.
Shu Lingchen spent a huge amount of money at the convenience store. Shu Shu’s desk was stuffed with snacks before she finally “recognized” him again.
During the lunch break class,
In order to show his filial devotion, he passed Shu Shu a note:
“Mom, tomorrow is Saturday. Do you want me to take you out for a walk?”
Shu Shu replied:
“No. I want to sleep.”
Shu Lingchen: “…”
He wrote again:
“You still haven’t told me where you’ve been staying these days.”
Shu Shu replied:
“Didn’t I tell you? On the street. What, don’t you go out at night? Haven’t you seen me on the street?”
Shu Lingchen: “…………”
Alright then.
He tore the note into tiny pieces—so thoroughly that not a single word could be recognized—and then laid his head on the desk to quickly get some sleep.
These days Shu Lingchen hadn’t been sleeping during class anymore, because every time he slept Shu Shu would smack his head.
The huge bump on his forehead still hadn’t gone away.
He truly didn’t dare to get angry or complain.
There was no helping it—after all, this person was his biological mother.
To keep from getting sleepy during the day, he even started going to bed early and waking up early, despite previously staying up until two or three in the morning playing games every night.
Saturday.
Shu Shu slept in the presidential suite until the afternoon.
She walked to a small street stall to buy a hand-grab pancake.
Shu Shu was no longer the pitiful person from a week ago who had to perform to earn money just to buy one.
Now she was a rich woman who could freely add meat, bacon, and sausage to her pancake.
“Miss, it’s ready.”
“Thank you.”
Shu Shu took the steaming, fragrant deluxe hand-grab pancake from the vendor and squatted casually by the roadside to start eating.
At that moment, a group of people walked toward her.
At the front was Chu Lian.
Beside her were seven or eight students, both boys and girls.
Judging by the group, they were probably classmates going to visit “Chu Lian’s house.”
Shu Shu’s eyes met theirs for a second before she looked away and continued focusing on eating her pancake.
Unexpectedly,
Chu Lian took the initiative to walk over and said with a gentle smile,
“Are you… Shu Shu?”
“What a coincidence. I saw you at the school gate that day, but I didn’t expect you to be the new transfer student at No. 3 High School.”
As she spoke, she showed a troubled expression.
“I still haven’t personally thanked you for what happened that day. If it weren’t for you, I really wouldn’t know how to deal with Shu Lingchen’s confession.”
If Shu Shu had previously thought Chu Lian simply had a soft, timid personality before knowing the truth—
Now—
She sincerely rolled her eyes at Chu Lian.
Chu Lian clearly knew Shu Lingchen wouldn’t dare hurt her, yet she deliberately came over to thank Shu Shu.
By saying this, she indirectly made it seem like Shu Lingchen might have done something bad, lowering his reputation while making herself look generous and innocent.
As expected—
Times change, but manipulative people remain the same.
“What are you doing?!”
A female student behind Chu Lian saw Shu Shu rolling her eyes and rushed forward, frowning.
“Xiao Lian is thanking you. Don’t you have any manners?”
The one speaking was Chu Lian’s friend who had called Shu Lingchen a toad that day.
“Lulu.”
Chu Lian stopped Zhang Lu.
She looked at Shu Shu and bit her lip.
“Shu Shu, this should be our second time meeting. Did I do something that made you misunderstand me? I just wanted to thank you. I didn’t mean anything else.”
Shu Shu replied,
“There’s no misunderstanding. It’s all facts.”
Chu Lian was momentarily speechless.
She was the school beauty of No. 3 High School and often called “Miss Chu.” Everyone treated her politely. Rarely had anyone embarrassed her so directly.
“What’s wrong with you? Originally, after seeing you stop Shu Lingchen that day, I thought you were pretty decent.”
Zhang Lu stepped forward again to defend Chu Lian. Then she glanced at the pancake in Shu Shu’s hand and let out a mocking laugh.
“With such poor manners, it’s no wonder—you must eat these dirty, cheap things all the time. No wonder you can hang out with a poor guy like Shu Lingchen.”
Zhang Lu had been with Chu Lian yesterday and saw Shu Shu and Shu Lingchen going to the convenience store together.
Since she considered herself a friend of a rich young lady, her tone gradually carried a sense of superiority.
Chu Lian heard Shu Lingchen being called poor but made no attempt to correct it.
A question mark appeared above Shu Shu’s head.
Setting Shu Lingchen aside—what did the pancake ever do to deserve this?
The next second,
Shu Shu put away her pancake, grabbed Zhang Lu by the arm, and dragged her to the pancake stall.
She said to the vendor,
“Boss, she said your pancakes are dirty and smell poor.”