The last time Shu Shu had experienced the 7-to-6 collective lifestyle of campus life was… well, the last time she was alive.
To be honest, she missed it quite a bit.
Wearing the standard blue-and-white uniform, she felt a sense of novelty in everything she did.
At noon, in the cafeteria.
Shu Shu stood at the window with her tray, taking a little bit of everything before finding a seat to dig in.
The food in a school cafeteria has a taste you can’t find anywhere else. It’s not necessarily that it’s delicious; it’s just that the flavor is uniquely “cafeteria.”
After finishing her meal and returning her tray, Shu Shu was about to head back to the classroom when she heard a familiar name.
“Look, it’s Shu Lingchen.”
“He’s here to deliver yogurt to the School Belle again.”
Shu Shu followed their gaze.
Not far from the cafeteria entrance, under a large tree, Shu Lingchen stood with his uniform jacket hanging open, revealing a black skull-print T-shirt underneath. With his turkey-red hair and a bottle of yogurt in his hand, he was squatting there looking like a total delinquent.
“Isn’t he hilarious? He should take a look in the mirror before pestering a young lady like Chu Lian.”
“Just watch, he’s about to get rejected again. Tch, what a clown.”
Mocking whispers drifted through the air.
At that moment, Chu Lian and her friends happened to finish their lunch and were heading out of the cafeteria back to class.
A classmate whispered to Chu Lian, “Shu Lingchen is here again.”
Chu Lian let out a soft sigh, projecting an air of helpless resignation at being harassed.
The onlookers fixed their eyes on the scene, waiting for the moment Shu Lingchen would make a fool of himself after the rejection.
Just then.
Before Chu Lian could reach the tree, a slender, pale hand reached out and snatched the yogurt right out of Shu Lingchen’s grasp.
Everyone froze.
Shu Shu nonchalantly twisted off the cap, tilted her head back for a sip, and savored it.
Grapefruit flavor, with pulp—sweet and sour.
“Hmm, not bad.”
Shu Lingchen was stunned. He looked at his empty hand, stood up, swallowed the word “Mom,” and said: “…That wasn’t bought for you.”
Shu Shu: “Oh. So I’m not allowed to drink it?”
“No, it’s just… if you want to drink it, they sell it at the snack shop over there.” He had given her money yesterday, after all.
Shu Shu repeated: “Oh. So I’m not allowed to drink it?”
Before Shu Lingchen could answer, she said in a flat tone, “Fine, I get it.”
With that, Shu Shu tossed the yogurt back into Shu Lingchen’s arms and turned to walk away.
“Hey—!”
For some reason, panic surged in Shu Lingchen’s heart. Without thinking, he chased after her. He had a gut feeling that if he didn’t catch up, he was doomed.
“Are you mad?” he whispered “Mom” from behind her.
Shu Shu turned to look at him with a face full of strangers, her beautiful peach-blossom eyes blinking. “Gee, classmate, who are you? Do we know each other?”
“…”
His survival instincts kicked in immediately. Shu Lingchen apologized instantly: “I’m sorry! My mistake! You can drink it! Here!”
He held the grapefruit yogurt out to her with both hands.
Shu Shu didn’t take it. “I don’t drink things that aren’t given sincerely.”
Shu Lingchen blurted out, “It’s sincere! 24-karat pure sincerity!”
Shu Shu looked up at the sky and added, “I don’t drink things that weren’t bought for me.”
“…Then I’ll go buy some for you right now! What flavor do you want? Strawberry? Blueberry? Pineapple?”
Shu Shu thought for a moment and said, “I guess I’ll take them all.”
As long as his mom stopped being angry, everything was fine. Shu Lingchen hurried to follow her lead: “Fine, fine. I’ll buy them all. All of them.”
“I also want two grilled sausages.”
“Buying them!”
And so, everyone watched as Shu Shu walked toward the snack shop with her arms crossed arrogantly, while Shu Lingchen followed at her heels like a puppy.
This was the first time Shu Lingchen had ever completely ignored Chu Lian when she was present.
The crowd was left in a daze.
“Who is that girl?”
“Why is Shu Lingchen so obedient to her?”
“I think she’s the new transfer student in Class 12, Shu Shu.”
“Wow, she’s so pretty! Even prettier than Chu Lian!”
Chu Lian had stopped in her tracks without realizing it. She stood there as the whispers reached her ears, her lashes fluttering strangely beneath her bangs.
She couldn’t quite believe it.
Shu Lingchen had just “discarded” her to go off with another girl?
He used to be so terrified of her misunderstanding that he kept a strict distance from any member of the opposite sex.
*
After Shu Lingchen “bled” a significant amount of cash at the snack shop, piling Shu Shu’s desk high with snacks, she finally “recognized” him again.
During the afternoon nap period.
Trying to show some filial piety, he passed a note to Shu Shu:
Mom, tomorrow is Saturday. Want me to take you out for a walk?
Shu Shu wrote back: No. I’m going to sleep.
Shu Lingchen: “…”
He wrote again: You still haven’t told me where you’ve been staying these past few days.
Shu Shu: Didn’t I tell you? On the streets. Why, do you not go out at night? Did you not see me on the sidewalk?
Shu Lingchen: “…………”
Fine.
He shredded the note into tiny pieces—the kind that couldn’t be reconstructed—and collapsed onto his desk to squeeze in some sleep.
Shu Lingchen hadn’t slept during class these past few days because every time he closed his eyes, Shu Shu would smack his head. The lump on his forehead still hadn’t gone down.
He was furious, but he didn’t dare say a word.
What could he do? This person was his biological mother.
To avoid being sleepy during the day, he had even started breaking his habit of gaming until 3:00 AM and was actually trying to “sleep early and wake up early.”
Saturday.
Shu Shu slept in her presidential suite until late afternoon.
She went to a street stall specifically to buy a shredded pancake (jianbing).
Shu Shu was no longer the pitiful girl from a week ago who had to rely on “street performance” to earn money for a pancake. Now, she was a “rich lady” who could add extra meat, extra bacon, and extra ham sausages whenever she pleased.
“Here you go, little girl. It’s ready.”
“Thank you.”
Shu Shu took the hot, fragrant, “deluxe” pancake from the vendor and squatted unceremoniously by the roadside to start munching.
At that moment, a group of people walked toward her.
Leading the group was Chu Lian.
Behind her were seven or eight students, both male and female.
Judging by the formation, these were likely the classmates going to “Chu Lian’s house.”
Shu Shu’s eyes met the group for a split second before she looked away and went back to her pancake.
However.
Chu Lian actually approached her on her own initiative, a gentle smile on her face. “Is it… Student Shu Shu?”
“What a coincidence. I saw you at the school gate the other day, but I had no idea you were the new transfer student at No. 3 Middle.”
She then put on a troubled expression. “I haven’t had the chance to personally thank you for what happened that day. If it weren’t for you, I really wouldn’t have known how to handle Shu Lingchen’s confession.”
If Shu Shu had previously thought Chu Lian was just a bit of a pushover before knowing the truth, now…
She gave Chu Lian a sincere, massive eye-roll.
Chu Lian knew perfectly well that Shu Lingchen wouldn’t hurt her, yet she insisted on coming over to “thank” her. This move indirectly confirmed the narrative that Shu Lingchen might have done something bad, dragging his reputation through the mud while making herself look magnanimous and innocent.
Indeed, times change, but the “Green Tea” remains eternal.
“What are you doing?!”
A female student behind Chu Lian saw Shu Shu roll her eyes and rushed forward, frowning. “Xiao Lian is thanking you. Do you have any manners?”
The speaker was Zhang Lu, the same friend who had called Shu Lingchen a toad that day.
“Lulu.” Chu Lian held Zhang Lu back.
She looked at Shu Shu and bit her lip. “Student Shu Shu, this is only our second time meeting. Have I done something to cause a misunderstanding? I only wanted to thank you; I didn’t mean anything else.”
Shu Shu: “No misunderstanding. It’s all facts.”
Chu Lian was choked up. She was the School Belle and everyone called her “Young Lady.” People were usually incredibly polite to her; rarely did anyone lose face for her so bluntly.
“I swear, what is wrong with you? I thought you were okay because you stopped Shu Lingchen that day.”
Zhang Lu stepped out again to defend Chu Lian. As she spoke, she caught sight of the pancake in Shu Shu’s hand and let out a mocking laugh:
“So unrefined. I guess it comes from eating that dirty, low-class trash. No wonder you hang out with a poor loser like Shu Lingchen.”
Zhang Lu had been with Chu Lian yesterday and had seen Shu Shu and Shu Lingchen going to the snack shop together. As she considered herself a friend of a “wealthy lady,” her words were becoming increasingly superior.
Hearing Shu Lingchen being called a “poor loser,” Chu Lian made no effort to clarify anything.
Shu Shu had literal question marks over her head.
Leaving aside Shu Lingchen for a second, what the hell did my pancake do to you?!
In the next second.
Shu Shu tucked her pancake away, grabbed Zhang Lu’s arm, and dragged her over to the pancake stall.
She called out, “Boss! She says your pancakes are dirty and taste like poverty!”
Sansukini: Our Mommy Shu Shu doesn’t take revenge, but she will give face-slaps. More face-slapping soon.