Hearing Chu Lian say this, everyone’s eyes lit up. They immediately called the server over and each ordered a slice of cake.
The old saying “you get what you pay for” definitely held true.
The moment they picked up their spoons and took their first bite, their faces filled with delight and surprise.
“Oh my god, this is amazing!”
“Thank you so much, Chu Lian! We’d never get to eat cake this good without you!”
“Seriously, who at school started that rumor saying Chu Lian isn’t actually a rich heiress? She didn’t even blink at treating us to such expensive desserts. If Chu Lian isn’t a rich heiress, then who is?”
Zhang Lu snapped photos of the cakes in front of her with her phone, chiming in, “A bunch of idiots, that’s who. Lian already said it was just a blunder caused by her dad’s assistant. A careless assistant like that definitely needs to be fired!”
The girl next to her nodded in righteous indignation. “As soon as I get back, I’m opening a thread on the school forum to slap those rumor-mongers right in the face!”
Listening to them, a dark gleam flashed across Chu Lian’s eyes.
This wasn’t her first time treating people like this. She always picked up the tab generously, and because of that, her persona as a wealthy young lady had always remained rock-solid.
She really hadn’t expected Shu Lingchen’s apartment to be repossessed, making her lose face so terribly over the weekend.
She had purposely brought these girls here today to treat them—she had to rebuild her reputation.
Twirling her small silver spoon, Chu Lian opened her phone to check if Shu Lingchen had transferred any money yet.
She used the same kind of excuse she always did:
“Ah Chen, look at these new shoes, what do you think? I just love this fresh color~”
In less than twenty seconds, her phone buzzed.
A smirk tugged at the corner of Chu Lian’s lips. Just as she was about to tap into her chat with Shu Lingchen to accept the transfer, she saw his reply:
“They look great. You have amazing taste, Chuchu.”
…And that was it?
Chu Lian froze.
Just a one-sentence reply? Where was the money?
She stared at the chat interface, waiting for quite a while, but no transfer notification popped up.
Biting her lip, her fingers flew across the keyboard with practiced ease: “Too bad they’re so expensive, I can’t afford them [crying face.jpg]”
Usually, whenever she sent a line like this, Shu Lingchen would eagerly and immediately transfer the cash to her.
Sure enough.
The next second.
A transfer prompt popped up on the screen.
The curve of Chu Lian’s lips was just about to rise again, but when her eyes fell on the amount, her smile instantly hardened.
“Shu Lingchen has transferred 200 yuan to you.”
Two hundred???
Shu Lingchen usually started at 666 yuan whenever he sent her money. When had he ever transferred an amount this pathetic?
What the hell was going on?!
While Chu Lian was still reeling in shock, she suddenly heard Zhang Lu yell from beside her, “Shu Lingchen?”
Chu Lian snapped her head up.
Sure enough, there was Shu Lingchen, holding several small paper takeout boxes. She was a bit surprised to bump into him here.
Shu Lingchen noticed Chu Lian too.
A flash of joy crossed his face, but seeing the classmates surrounding her, he instantly reined it in.
“Shu Lingchen, what are you doing here?” Zhang Lu stood up, shielding Chu Lian behind her like a protective barrier, her voice dripping with indignation. “Are you stalking Chu Lian on purpose?! Have you no shame? How many times does she have to reject you?!”
Shu Lingchen had heard variations of the phrase “have you no shame” so many times that he was entirely numb to it.
Even so, he frowned and explained, “I wasn’t stalking anyone.”
Zhang Lu let out a sarcastic, scoffing laugh, looking down her nose at him with a gaze that claimed she saw right through him. “Still playing dumb? Nothing in this shop is cheap. Can a broke delinquent like you even afford to breathe in here? If you weren’t stalking her, why else would you show up here?!”
Shu Lingchen couldn’t be bothered to get into a shouting match with a girl. Plus, since she was Chu Lian’s friend, his default choice had always been to back down. But just as he decided to let it drop without arguing further—
“What, did you buy out this shop? If you can be here, why can’t anyone else?” a lazy female voice chimed in.
Shu Shu walked over.
Zhang Lu blinked, startled.
Shu Shu’s lips curved into a slight smile. “Oh, hey, classmate, it’s you. Quick question: did you ever follow through on your promise to eat shit?”
Zhang Lu: “…”
The other girls exchanged glances. They were all avid internet surfers, and over the weekend, an absolute bombshell of a thread had been pinned to the top of the school forum.
Shu Shu, the new transfer student in Class 12, came from an insanely wealthy family and lived in a luxury flat over 600 square meters in Imperial View Gardens.
She was way richer than even the school beauty, Chu Lian!
Along with that thread, Zhang Lu’s arrogant boast had also been bumped to the top.
—If Shu Shu really lives in Unit 1600, I’ll eat shit!
Facing Shu Shu’s blunt question, Zhang Lu’s eyes darted around nervously. “I-I was just joking. Why would I actually do that? Why do you keep picking on me?!”
Shu Shu gave a slow, understanding nod. “Ah, I thought you’d already done it in secret when no one was looking. Otherwise, why would your mouth smell so foul whenever you talk?”
“You!”
Zhang Lu’s face instantly turned the color of a bruised plum. Just as she was about to snap back—
Shu Shu raised her hand and pinched her nose, frowning in utter disgust as if Zhang Lu’s words actually reeked.
This made Zhang Lu even more furious!
Without missing a beat, Shu Shu raised her other hand and grabbed Shu Lingchen by the collar.
“Let’s go.”
Laden with two backpacks and hands full of boxed-up cakes, Shu Lingchen let himself be hauled away by Shu Shu just like that.
Only then did the group at the table finally realize what had just happened.
Shu Lingchen hadn’t been stalking Chu Lian—he had come with Shu Shu.
After they left, a flurry of whispers erupted at the table.
“I’ve never seen Shu Lingchen get this close to any other girl before.”
“What’s their deal? Coming to a dessert shop together… and why does it feel like Shu Lingchen listens to everything that transfer student says?”
In unison, everyone turned to check Chu Lian’s expression.
But right now, Chu Lian had no mental energy to worry about that!
She had originally assumed Shu Lingchen would at least send her two or three thousand yuan. Who could have guessed he’d only send two hundred?
How on earth was she going to pay for this treat now?!
Chu Lian had absolutely no concept of saving money. She had always spent every dime Shu Lingchen transferred her as soon as she got it. After all, he had a 50,000-yuan monthly allowance; why would she ever need to save?
Because of that, her total combined balance at this very moment amounted to just over a dozen yuan.
Meanwhile, the bill sitting on their table clearly stated that seven desserts for seven people came out to nearly 900 yuan!
Chu Lian’s chest tightened.
She hurriedly shot another message to Shu Lingchen: “Ah Chen, these shoes are pretty expensive. You can’t… buy them with just two hundred yuan.”
Her hint was glaringly obvious.
But she waited for a long time, and still, there was no reply from him.
Panic began to set in.
Before long, everyone finished their cakes and got ready to leave. They all sat there expectantly, waiting for Chu Lian to go settle the bill.
“…”
Chu Lian had no choice but to bite the bullet and stand up. Walking over to the cashier, she first accepted the two hundred yuan Shu Lingchen had sent. Then, with an embarrassing awkwardness, she softly asked the server if she could pay using Huabei [a virtual credit feature].
“Of course you can use Huabei.”
The server’s normal, clear speaking volume made Chu Lian’s heart leap into her throat, terrified that her classmates not far away would overhear.
In the end, acting like a thief, she scanned the QR code with her phone and put the 900-plus yuan charge onto her credit account. It was the first time paying for something actually made her chest ache with financial pain.
And Shu Lingchen still hadn’t replied.
What the hell was wrong with him?!
Unit 1600, Imperial View Gardens.
Shu Shu was curled up on the sofa playing a matching tile puzzle game on her phone. Resting on the coffee table beside her was Shu Lingchen’s phone.
It was a heavily outdated, old-model smartphone—the kind that still had a physical button at the bottom of the screen.
If Shu Shu wasn’t mistaken, the phone Chu Lian was holding back at the dessert shop was the exact same latest-model iPhone that she had.
During this time, Shu Lingchen’s screen kept lighting up repeatedly. Shu Shu didn’t even need to guess to know who was messaging him or what they wanted. She simply ignored it.
In the kitchen.
Shu Lingchen was carefully organizing the desserts they had brought back into the fridge. As he picked up the very last box, he spotted a pink, heart-shaped sticky note stuck to the bottom. Written on it was a line of neat, elegant handwriting that clearly belonged to a girl:
“Thank you for the mousse~”
“Mom, what’s this?”
Shu Shu glanced back over her shoulder and said, “The kid we ran into at the dessert shop wrote it. She paid our bill before she left.”
When the server had informed Shu Shu about it earlier, she had been quite surprised herself.
What a genuinely sweet kid.
They had only offered her a single slice of mousse.
For some reason, the image of those beautiful “peach blossom” eyes flashed through Shu Shu’s mind once more, causing her heart to soften inexplicably.