Chu Lian took out her access card and swiped open the door to the building.
The group arrived in front of the elevators.
As the doors opened at the first floor, Shu Shu stepped inside first and pressed the button for the seventeenth floor with practiced ease.
Zhang Lu let out a sharp cry of indignation, “Hey, this isn’t even your house! Xiao Lian should be the one pressing the button! You’re totally overstepping your bounds!”
Shu Shu nodded: “Mm-hmm, that’s right, you’re absolutely correct. It’s not my house, yet I pressed the elevator button. I’m just a ‘cuckoo in the nest,’ thick-skinned as a fortress wall, shameless, and has no morals.” (TN: This is a direct hit to Chu Lian)
Zhang Lu was dumbfounded. She hadn’t expected Shu Shu to not only refrain from arguing but actually join in on the insults.
She immediately gave a cold snort: “Hmph, at least you have some self-awareness.”
Zhang Lu failed to notice that beside her, Chu Lian’s expression had stiffened for several seconds upon hearing Shu Shu’s words. For some reason, she felt that those insults were specifically to scold her.
The elevator was spacious. Just as the doors were about to close, a man in a work uniform carrying a tool bag rushed into the elevator.
“Wait a moment, please.”
After nodding his thanks, he took a card from his pocket, swiped the sensor, and pressed the button for the sixteenth floor.
The elevator began its ascent and soon reached the sixteenth floor.
As the doors opened, the sounds of renovation could be heard. The man with the tool bag stepped out and the others naturally looked out as well.
They saw a capable-looking woman holding blueprints, directing workers. Even though they couldn’t fully see the interior, the glimpses revealed a sense of luxurious sophistication. The students’ eyes lit up at the sight.
Before they could admire it for more than a few seconds, the elevator doors closed.
“Oh my god! What a beautiful house!”
“It’s as luxurious as a palace!” someone couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Xiao Lian, wasn’t the sixteenth floor empty?” Zhang Lu asked, confused. This wasn’t her first time at Yujing Garden. Every time she followed Chu Lian to 1701, the sixteenth-floor button was always dark and required a card swipe to activate.
Chu Lian explained that over a decade ago, the entire sixteenth floor had been bought by a single owner and knocked through into a single unit, thus creating a massive flat of over six hundred square meters.
The house had always been empty, but a few weeks ago, renovation workers had been coming and going to move in furnitures.
Chu Lian said, “The owner of the sixteenth floor must have returned.”
“That is way too wealthy!!”
“Such a rich person is our School Belle’s neighbor!”
Consequently, the group’s sense of “strength-worship” toward Chu Lian intensified.
Chu Lian pursed her lips and calmly accepted their admiring gazes. She then said warmly, “Once the renovation is finished, I’ll personally make some peanut cakes as a housewarming gift for the neighbor downstairs.”
“Wow, that’s great! Making them yourself shows a lot of sincerity!”
“You guys can be close neighbors from now on!”
“…”
“As for that gift… you might as well not bother sending it—”
Amidst the flattery, a disagreeing voice rang out.
Shu Shu leaned against the elevator wall, arms crossed: “I’m allergic to peanuts so I can’t eat peanut cakes.”
Everyone turned around.
Zhang Lu barked angrily, “Excuse me, who asked you? Xiao Lian is making peanut cakes for the neighbor, not for you. What does it have to do with you? Talk about being self-important!”
Shu Shu: “Didn’t she say they were for the owner of 1600? That’s me.”
The moment the words left her mouth, the atmosphere froze.
What did they just hear? Shu Shu was claiming that palace-like house was hers?!
“Some people start dreaming before the sun even goes down!” Zhang Lu mocked ruthlessly. “Are you still pretending? You couldn’t even get into the building on your own. If you’re the owner of 1600, I’ll eat sh*t!”
Shu Shu’s expression was unreadable for a moment. “Is your palate really that extreme?”
“The point is, you aren’t!”
At this point, Chu Lian spoke up: “Student Shu Shu, please stop joking. Lying is a bad habit.”
Ding.
The elevator stopped at the 17th floor, and the doors slid open.
“Alright, everyone come in.”
Chu Lian led the group to a door and skillfully pressed in the passcode. As the door opened, a wide view unfolded.
Standing in the entryway was a woman in her late thirties or early forties wearing an apron. She bowed to Chu Lian: “Young Lady, you’re back.”
Chu Lian introduced her: “This is my family’s maid, Wu Ma.”
Shu Shu: “?”
Didn’t Shu Lingchen say Chu Lian’s family was drowning in debt? Where did they get the money to hire a maid?
Shu Shu couldn’t help but look closer at the “maid” and discovered something shocking… the maid’s facial features were actually quite similar to Chu Lian’s.
OMG…
This couldn’t be… Chu Lian’s ‘sickly’ mother, could it?
Chu Lian said, “Because my parents are away on business all year round and worry about me, they found someone to look after me.”
Then, she instructed the maid: “Wu Ma, pour some water for everyone, cut some fruit, and prepare some snacks.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
“Wu Ma” gave a slight bow and turned into the kitchen.
The visiting classmates were all from ordinary backgrounds and had never experienced being served like this. They found it fascinating.
“My god, I’ve only seen scenes like this on TV.”
“The School Belle really is a genuine wealthy heiress!”
Shu Shu just shook her head: “How filial.”
Confused, the others turned to her and asked, “What are you laughing about?” (Note: In Chinese, “Xiao” can mean ‘laugh’ or ‘filial’.)
Shu Shu replied, “I said it’s ‘filially’ hilarious.”
Using her own biological mother as a maid to maintain a “rich girl” persona. Did that little idiot Shu Lingchen know about this?
The group didn’t understand her. But after Shu Shu’s earlier “wild claims,” they had all collectively decided that this new transfer student might have a delusional disorder. Since she was always talking nonsense, they simply ignored her and began touring the house.
“Wow! Old school game console controllers and game cartridges! These are long out of print! Student Chu Lian, can I play with these?!” a boy asked excitedly, walking up to a glass display case.
Chu Lian paused for a moment. “Those… they don’t work. They’re actually broken. I just keep them in there as decorations.”
Shu Shu glanced at the glass case. The console wasn’t broken at all. She had simply locked it away years ago because she was afraid four-year-old Shu Lingchen would play it sneakily. There was a combination lock and only she knew the code. Furthermore, the cabinet was of safe-deposit box quality—unless one smashed the glass and destroyed everything inside, it was really impossible to pry it open.
Hearing Chu Lian’s answer, the boy looked disappointed. “Oh, okay then.”
Then, another girl walked over to a different cabinet.
“Wow, so many collector’s edition figurines!” She started taking photos of the cabinet with her phone. “Student Chu Lian, could you take them out so I can get some close-up shots?”
Shu Shu glanced over again. Yep, still required a passcode to open.
And so, as expected, Shu Shu saw Chu Lian respond as if she had handled this many times before. She spoke smoothly: “I’m sorry, I can’t. These figurines are my father’s favorites. Even I’m not allowed to touch them, so…”
The girl laughed it off. “Understood, understood!”
Chu Lian said with a smile, “You can still take photos through the glass.”
“Right… okay.” The girl, who had been about to put her phone away, stopped. Awkwardly, she raised her phone again and took a few more shots through the glass.
“Let’s go look at the Moutai wall! The photo alone was shocking enough!”
So, the group queued up to take photos with the wall of Moutai.
“My god, the glass doors for the Moutai cabinet even have fingerprint locks. That’s so high-end!”
“Student Chu Lian, could you open it and show us?!”
“—No.”
Before Chu Lian could even decline, Shu Shu had already predicted the answer and spoken for her. As everyone looked over, she said lazily:
“Because that fingerprint lock is definitely registered to Student Chu Lian’s father. Only her father can open it, and she can’t.”
Shu Shu looked at Chu Lian and tilted her head: “Student Chu Lian, I’m guessing… that’s what you were going to say, isn’t it?”
Chu Lian was taken aback: “…Yes, that’s exactly right.”
Shu Shu smiled.
The smile made Chu Lian feel incredibly uneasy. Because that smile seemed to carry an all-seeing scrutiny, triggering her instinctive guilt.
For some reason, she had a premonition that inviting Shu Shu to visit the house had been a terrible mistake.
Sansukini: I’m just shocked that this mother-daughter scammer haven’t convince Shu Lingchen to transfer the house ownership to them… Or maybe they can’t (coz he’s underage still)