He has a girlfriend—how could he possibly be interested in other girls?
He just looked a couple more times, that’s all.
Ling Heng tossed his phone onto the sofa.
“Crazy.”
Ji Ran raised an eyebrow. “Hey, you foreigner, you can speak Cantonese too?”
Ling Heng scratched his dark hair and said, “Who’s a foreigner? I speak Mandarin more standard than you, Guangdong boy.”
Even though he had a Western face—high nose bridge, deep-set eyes, blue irises—he had studied in the Imperial Capital before middle school. His Mandarin was standard with a Beijing accent, and he identified as Chinese.
His name was in the Ling family genealogy.
In the future, he would marry and have children, continuing the Ling family line.
Also, he didn’t stick his chopsticks upright in his rice.
How was he a foreigner?
Ji Ran laughed. “So you learned Cantonese for me, not because Xiao Qiao said Cantonese sounds nice?”
“You’ve never seen someone with language talent? Mandarin, Spanish, French, German—I got A’s in all of them. You think I’d need to specifically learn Cantonese?”
Ji Ran said, “I’m saying Cantonese is good. Cantonese is gentle—it can neutralize the hostility in you.”
Ling Heng asked sincerely, “Do I have any?”
On 520.
Qiao Shutang received a call early in the morning.
“Hello, you have a courier package that has arrived at the designated location. Please come pick it up promptly.”
“Okay, just leave it at the pickup station.”
“The station is overflowing. You’d better come get it yourself.”
Qiao Shutang suppressed her morning grumpiness, washed up, and changed clothes.
She had specifically come to stay at her grandmother’s house to receive this damn package.
Qiao Xingye’s school was three kilometers from their grandmother’s house.
Between the subway and the bus, she chose a shared bike.
After riding to the pickup station, she didn’t even get off the bike before calling the courier back.
A courier in work uniform walked up to her and gave the code phrase: “6658?”
“Yes, Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao.”
The courier took a securely wrapped large package from the delivery vehicle.
“Miss, the sender would like you to inspect the goods on the spot.”
“Alright.” Qiao Shutang got off the bike.
She borrowed a pair of scissors from the courier and, with a flurry of fierce effort, finally removed the waterproof and shock-absorbing layers stuck firmly on top.
Inside was a European-style vintage leather suitcase—Hepburn red body with cream-white trim. Absolutely beautiful.
Qiao Shutang’s eyes lit up.
She actually quite liked this suitcase—to the point of valuing the container over its contents.
Opening the suitcase, it was full of Harry Potter merchandise.
There were robes, scarves, a wand, an acceptance letter, and such things.
Not expensive—no burden in accepting them. Refusing would have seemed pretentious.
She sent Ling Heng a message.
Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: 【Gift received, thank you.】
Then she closed the suitcase and gave the courier an OK gesture.
The courier handed over a form and pen: “If there’s no problem, please sign here.”
After signing, Qiao Shutang prepared to ride the shared bike back, only to discover the bike had been taken by someone.
w(Д)w
After thinking about the transportation cost, she decided to just head back to school early.
It would also save her from bringing such an eye-catching suitcase back and being interrogated by her grandmother.
She walked slowly toward the subway station, observing several times along the way to confirm no one was following her, then relaxed and took the subway back to school.
On the hour-plus journey, she opened the Tomato APP and read novels with relish. An author called “Mo Xiaoxi” wrote CEO romance novels that really suited her taste—she got absorbed at first glance and almost missed her stop.
After exiting the station, seeing the many girls in the flowing crowd holding fresh flowers and gift boxes, she finally realized.
Today was 520.
Ling Heng was a foreigner, so he probably didn’t know about China’s 520 holiday.
But the gift he sent her happened to arrive on 520.
A wonderful sense of destiny welled up in her heart.
Qiao Shutang curved her lips.
Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: 【I really like it~ (ω)】
Calculating the time difference, it was early morning over there right now, and Ling Heng was still asleep.
So she put her phone away and focused on crossing the street.
A small electric scooter suddenly darted out from the edge of the crosswalk.
The person on the back seat reached out and snatched her box.
“Huh?” Qiao Shutang was dazed for a moment.
“Stop, thief! My box!”
A male classmate pedaled his bicycle so hard it was practically smoking, and actually caught up to the electric scooter.
He roared furiously.
It scared the petty thief into throwing the box at him.
The box hit the male classmate’s arm. Enduring the pain, he rode back and returned the box to Qiao Shutang.
“The box got damaged when they threw it. I picked up whatever fell on the ground and put it back in. Check if anything’s missing?”
The box had obvious scratches. Qiao Shutang felt like crying a little.
But she still showed concern for the other person first.
“Classmate, you’re hurt. Let me take you to the hospital to get it checked.”
The male classmate was about to habitually say it was fine, but when he got a clear look at Qiao Shutang’s face, the words at the tip of his tongue took a turn.
“What’s the best hospital for orthopedics?”
Qiao Shutang quickly said, “I know. Let me call a taxi.”
In the taxi, they exchanged WeChat contacts.
The male classmate was named Fan Junzhe, a junior, one year above her.
After arriving at the hospital, the doctor examined Fan Junzhe: “Minor soft tissue contusion. If you’re worried, you can get an X-ray.”
Out of caution, Qiao Shutang insisted that Fan Junzhe get the X-ray.
In the waiting area outside the X-ray room, Qiao Shutang found an empty seat for Fan Junzhe.
“Senior, sit here.”
“You sit, you sit.”
The two people in the seats nearby turned their heads to look over—it was Feng Yiyao and Jia Duo.
Enemies are bound to meet!
With one glance, Qiao Shutang saw that beneath the gauze, Feng Yiyao’s nose had visibly caved in.
She couldn’t suppress the upturned corners of her mouth no matter how hard she tried.
Serves her right!
Even injured like this, Feng Yiyao still didn’t forget to provoke Qiao Shutang.
“Ooh, a new short, poor, ugly boyfriend? Can’t even afford to buy you a flower?”
Fan Junzhe’s face instantly turned green.
Qiao Shutang shot back: “Did your nose get punched crooked because your mouth is so foul?”
Feng Yiyao covered her nose with both hands.
“Hmph, this was an accident. Don’t spread rumors.”
Qiao Shutang gave an “I understand” smile.
She leaned close and whispered, “Don’t worry. Jia Duo isn’t dating you for your looks anyway.”
Then she said loudly to Jia Duo: “Even if she’s disfigured, you won’t call off the engagement, right?”
Feng Yiyao’s hands, which had been covering her nose, slid down to cover her mouth.
“Duo-gege, you’re not planning to propose today, are you?”
She was so pleasantly surprised!
Jia Duo felt like he was being roasted over a fire.
He somewhat regretted telling Qiao Shutang his plan.
Should he go with the flow or deny it?
He really didn’t want to sleep next to a disfigured face.
“What’s between us doesn’t need to be explained to outsiders.”
Just then the nurse called Feng Yiyao’s number, and Jia Duo immediately helped Feng Yiyao inside for the X-ray.
Fan Junzhe suddenly stood up and strode out.
Qiao Shutang jogged after him.
“Senior, I’m sorry. She was targeting me, not you. You’re great.”
Fan Junzhe braked abruptly.
He looked her level in the eye.
“I’m great? Then would you be willing to date me?”
Qiao Shutang’s brain short-circuited and she couldn’t think of how to respond.
Fan Junzhe mocked himself: “I’m not even the square root of 3 in height, average-looking, and I can only afford to eat by working part-time jobs. I really am short, ugly, and poor.”
“And I don’t know my own limits—a toad lusting after swan meat—so I pretended to be injured to win your sympathy.”
“I don’t even meet the basic standards of character. I don’t deserve to be your friend. I’m sorry!”
After saying that, he ran off in a flash.
Qiao Shutang couldn’t catch up and wanted to send him a WeChat message to explain, but Jian Chu’s call popped up first.
“Hey babe, you’ve been posted on the confession wall.”
“Huh?”
“Lost and found. The title is ‘Found the campus beauty’s dropped 520 gift, crying from jealousy!’ There’s a photo of you in it.”
Feng Yiyao also saw this viral post and was so angry that her freshly stitched wound split open.