Chu Lian swiped her key card and opened the unit door.
The group arrived at the elevator.
The elevator happened to stop on the first floor. Shu Shu walked in first, pressing the button for the seventeenth floor as if she had done it a hundred times.
Zhang Lu exclaimed angrily:
“This isn’t even your home! Xiao Lian should press it! You’re totally overstepping!”
Shu Shu nodded earnestly:
“Yes, yes, exactly. It’s not my house, yet I pressed the elevator button. I am squatting in someone else’s nest, my face is thicker than a castle wall, shameless, immoral, and lacking in decency.”
Zhang Lu froze in shock. She didn’t expect Shu Shu to not only accept her accusation but to agree with it.
She let out a cold laugh:
“Hmph, at least you have self-awareness.”
What Zhang Lu didn’t notice:
Chu Lian’s face had stiffened for several seconds as she listened to Shu Shu’s words.
For some reason, it felt as if Shu Shu were scolding her.
The elevator was spacious.
As everyone stepped inside, just before the doors were about to close—
“Wait a moment.”
A man in a work uniform carrying a toolbox rushed in.
He nodded politely, swiped a card at the sensor, and pressed the button for the sixteenth floor.
The elevator ascended.
Soon, it reached the sixteenth floor.
The doors opened, and the sound of renovation work came through. The man with the toolbox stepped out.
Everyone looked over.
They saw a capable-looking woman holding blueprints, directing the workers.
The house behind her, though partially visible, already radiated luxury and sophistication. Everyone’s eyes lit up.
Before they could admire it for long, the elevator doors closed.
“Wow! Such a beautiful house!”
“So luxurious, like a palace!”
Someone couldn’t help but marvel.
“Xiao Lian, isn’t the sixteenth floor supposed to be empty?”
Zhang Lu asked, puzzled. She had visited Yu Jing Yuan before, and whenever she accompanied Chu Lian to 1701, the button for the sixteenth floor was always dark, needing a key card to activate.
Chu Lian explained:
“The entire sixteenth floor was purchased by a single buyer over ten years ago, merged into one large 600+ square meter flat. It’s been vacant until now.”
“But in the past week, renovation workers have been arriving, setting up furniture,” she continued.
“The owner of the sixteenth floor must have returned.”
“Wow, that’s so extravagant!”
“Such a wealthy neighbor for our school’s top beauty!”
Everyone’s admiration for Chu Lian intensified.
Chu Lian pursed her lips and accepted the gazes calmly, saying warmly:
“When the renovation is done, I’ll personally make some peanut cakes for the neighbors downstairs as a greeting.”
“Wow, that’s thoughtful! Homemade gifts show sincerity!”
“Then we can visit often!”
“…”
“This greeting gift… I’ll pass,” a dissenting voice spoke up.
Shu Shu leaned against the elevator wall, arms crossed:
“I’m allergic to peanuts. I can’t eat peanut cakes.”
Everyone turned around.
Zhang Lu snapped:
“No, who asked you? Xiao Lian is making the peanut cakes for the neighbors, not for you. Mind your own business!”
Shu Shu replied:
“Didn’t you say it’s for the owner of 1600? I am.”
Her words froze the room.
Did they hear that correctly? Shu Shu was claiming that the luxurious palace-like apartment they had just glimpsed was hers?!
“Some people start dreaming too early!”
Zhang Lu sneered mercilessly:
“It’s this late in the day and you’re still pretending? You can’t even get past the building’s entrance! If you’re the owner of 1600, I’ll eat dirt!”
Shu Shu stared at her for a few seconds, expression unreadable:
“Your taste is that bad?”
“But the point is, you’re not!”
At this moment, Chu Lian said gently:
“Shu Shu, please don’t joke around anymore. Lying is not a good thing.”
Ding!
The elevator stopped on the seventeenth floor, and the doors slid open.
“Alright, everyone, let’s go in.”
Chu Lian led the group, turning right to a door, and expertly entered the code.
The door opened, revealing a spacious view.
At the entrance stood a woman in her thirties or forties wearing an apron. She bowed slightly to Chu Lian:
“Miss, you’re back.”
Chu Lian introduced her:
“This is our housekeeper, Wu Ma.”
Shu Shu: “?”
Wasn’t Chu Lian’s family supposedly in debt and being chased by creditors? Where did the money come from to hire a housekeeper?
Shu Shu couldn’t help but look closely at the housekeeper.
To her shock, the woman’s facial features resembled Chu Lian’s.
OMG…
Could this be Chu Lian’s mother, the one who wasn’t in good health?
Chu Lian explained:
“Because my parents are often away on business, they were worried about me, so they hired someone to take care of me.”
Then she instructed the housekeeper:
“Wu Ma, pour water for everyone, cut the fruit, and prepare some snacks.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Wu Ma bowed slightly and went into the kitchen.
The classmates, coming from ordinary families, had never experienced such service—it felt surreal.
“Wow, this is the kind of scene I’ve only seen on TV.”
“Chu Lian really is the epitome of a wealthy heiress!”
Shu Shu shook her head:
“So filial.”
Everyone looked at her, puzzled:
“What are you laughing at?”
Shu Shu:
“I mean ‘so filial it’s ridiculous.’ Using your own mother as a housekeeper to maintain a rich girl image.”
No one understood.
But after Shu Shu’s previous “outlandish” claims, everyone assumed the new transfer student had a fantasy disorder and spoke nonsense. They ignored her and continued to explore the house.
“Wow! Old-school game console controllers and cartridges! All of these are long out of print! Chu Lian, can I play?”
A male classmate excitedly approached a glass cabinet.
Chu Lian hesitated:
“Actually, you can’t play with these. They’re broken. I keep them for decoration.”
Shu Shu glanced at the cabinet.
The console wasn’t broken at all.
When she was four, she had locked the cabinet to prevent young Shu Lingchen from playing with it.
It had a combination lock, known only to her.
The cabinet itself was safe-grade; unless the glass and contents were destroyed together, it could not be pried open.
Hearing Chu Lian’s reply, the boy looked disappointed:
“Oh, okay.”
Another female student approached a cabinet:
“Wow, so many collector’s figurines!”
She aimed her phone at the cabinet to take pictures and asked:
“Chu Lian, can you take them out so I can get a closer shot?”
Shu Shu glanced over.
As expected, a password was required to open it.
So naturally, Shu Shu preemptively answered for Chu Lian, speaking casually:
“No, these figurines are my father’s most treasured items. I’m not even allowed to touch them, so…”
The girl laughed awkwardly:
“Understood, understood!”
Chu Lian smiled softly:
“You can still take photos through the glass.”
“…Okay, okay.”
The girl, hesitant, raised her phone again and took a few pictures through the glass.
“Let’s check out the Moutai wall! The photos alone blew me away!”
One by one, everyone posed for pictures with the Moutai wall.
“Wow! Even the glass doors outside the Moutai wall have fingerprint locks. So high-tech!”
“Chu Lian, can you open it for us to see?”
“No.”
Before Chu Lian could refuse, Shu Shu, anticipating the answer, lazily spoke for her:
“The fingerprint is definitely registered to Chu Lian’s father. Only he can open it; even Chu Lian cannot.”
Shu Shu tilted her head toward Chu Lian:
“Chu Lian, am I right in guessing that’s what you meant to say?”
Chu Lian paused:
“…Yes, exactly.”
Shu Shu smiled.
Chu Lian felt a chill down her spine.
That smile seemed to see through everything, making her instinctively feel guilty.
For some reason, she had a premonition that inviting Shu Shu to tour the house might have been a mistake.