“Hey Ranran, why are your dark circles so heavy? Didn’t sleep well last night?” Jing Shu, Lin Ranran’s deskmate, asked, not noticing Lin Ranran’s gloom.
Mentioning this made Lin Ranran even angrier.
She had tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep, checking her phone dozens of times.
Yet, even by this morning, she hadn’t received a single greeting message from Gu Chenshi!
How could he be so petty? And if he didn’t want Kong Xiao to walk her home yesterday, why didn’t he try to stop it?
If he had just made an effort, she would have let him do it.
Instead, he just walked away without looking back, pretending to be cool.
Lin Ranran deliberately raised her voice: “Yeah, I didn’t sleep well. I’m a bit annoyed.”
Jing Shu asked curiously, “Yesterday was your birthday, and we had so much fun. What are you annoyed about?”
Lin Ranran suddenly didn’t feel like talking.
Her already irritable mood grew even more restless.
After saying she was so annoyed she couldn’t sleep all night, she noticed that Gu Chenshi—that guy—didn’t even show concern, let alone look her way!
Being ignored by others—no, to be precise, being ignored by Gu Chenshi made her feel uncomfortable, and there was even a hint of an emotion she hadn’t noticed herself—panic.
As she shoved her backpack into her desk compartment in frustration, she felt something inside. A small thrill of excitement surged through her. She reached in and pulled out a beautifully packaged box of chocolates.
Lin Ranran pretended to be displeased, stood up, walked over to Gu Chenshi, and tossed the chocolates onto his desk. With a cold expression, she said, “Hey, Gu Chenshi, don’t randomly give me snacks anymore. I don’t like them.”
Zhou Xiangyu, seeing the exquisitely packaged chocolates, suddenly felt the milk he was drinking lose its flavor. He looked at Gu Chenshi with suspicion.
His expression seemed to say, “Damn, Old Gu, didn’t you just say being a simp isn’t as fun as studying?”
What a hypocrite!
Is slapping yourself in the face fun?
Gu Chenshi didn’t pick up on Zhou Xiangyu’s silent outburst. He looked expressionlessly at Lin Ranran, who was as proud and aloof as ever, and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t give you anything ever again.”
Spending his parents’ hard-earned money to please a woman who trampled on his dignity so casually—if he ever made that mistake again, he might as well get hit by a car and break his leg.
Lin Ranran was stunned.
Gu Chenshi’s expressionless face and cold tone felt unfamiliar to her.
Zhou Xiangyu silently gave his buddy a thumbs-up in his heart. That’s more like it.
He reached over, took the chocolates, and said to the dazed Lin Ranran with a grin, “You really don’t want them? Then I’ll eat them.”
Just as he was about to unwrap them, Gu Chenshi snatched them back.
Zhou Xiangyu: “…”
He felt deeply wronged.
Seriously, she said she doesn’t want them. What, you can’t bear to let me have them?
I’m your good buddy who’d take a bullet for you!
Can we still be friends? If not, let’s break up today!
Gu Chenshi explained, “I didn’t buy these.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Kong Xiao rushed over, snatched the chocolates from Gu Chenshi’s hand, and pointed at him angrily:
“Gu Chenshi, have you no shame? These are the chocolates I gave to Lin Ranran. How dare you shamelessly pretend they’re from you?
It’s bad enough that you’re stingy, but how can you be so despicable and shameless? I look down on you!”
Lin Ranran was shocked.
So the chocolates weren’t from Gu Chenshi, but from Kong Xiao?
Why would they be from Kong Xiao?
Kong Xiao did occasionally give her small gifts and snacks, but Gu Chenshi did too!
When she saw imported chocolates that clearly differed from the usual snacks Gu Chenshi gave, why did she immediately think of him?
Perhaps she had finally found a reason to talk to Gu Chenshi…
Gu Chenshi looked at the agitated Kong Xiao as if he were an idiot: “Which eye of yours saw me say I gave this?”
Zhou Xiangyu unconditionally stood by his good friend: “Kong Xiao, what are you barking like a mad dog about? I won’t stand for you slandering my buddy’s character.”
Kong Xiao had just gone to the restroom with a stomachache. When he returned, he saw his goddess standing in front of Gu Chenshi’s seat, with Gu Chenshi holding the chocolates he had placed in her desk drawer that morning. His mind conjured up some absurd assumptions, and in a fit of impulsiveness, he rushed over—only to end up making a fool of himself.
He ingratiatingly placed the chocolates in Lin Ranran’s hands: “Lin Ranran, you often have low blood sugar. You—”
“Eat them yourself! Don’t ever give me anything again!”
Lin Ranran’s face darkened as she flung the chocolates back at him, venting all her frustration on Kong Xiao.
She turned and stormed back to her seat.
Kong Xiao, however, turned his glare toward Gu Chenshi: “Gu Chenshi, be honest—what did you do to upset Lin Ranran?”
Gu Chenshi scoffed lightly: “It was the chocolates you gave that caused the trouble. What does that have to do with me?”
Zhou Xiangyu chimed in: “Yeah, yeah. Is your IQ not up to par? Can’t you see such a simple cause-and-effect relationship? Go home and eat some pig brains to make up for it.”
Kong Xiao had recently come into a windfall from his family’s hometown being demolished for redevelopment. He had been acting particularly high-profile and arrogant lately, which many in the class found irritating.
Kong Xiao was left speechless by their retorts. As he left, he shot them a venomous glare.
Gu Chenshi shuddered suddenly.
Among Lin Ranran’s many admirers, if he ranked second, Kong Xiao undoubtedly took first place.
It was rumored that Kong Xiao had even sunk to the level of secretly taking photos of Lin Ranran and fantasizing about them before bed.
In the past, when Gu Chenshi heard such gossip, he felt furious, believing his goddess had been defiled.
But without evidence, there was nothing he could do.
So, could Kong Xiao, that bastard, have been the one who beat up Zhou Xiangyu in his previous life??
In his past life, he had been powerless. But in this life, as long as he found out who assaulted Zhou Xiangyu—even if the incident never repeated—he would not let them off easily!
The school operated under a closed management system, with all teachers and students required to eat lunch in the cafeteria.
Gu Chenshi and Zhou Xiangyu walked shoulder to shoulder, following the crowd toward the cafeteria.
Although Zhou Xiangyu knew that Gu Chenshi’s sudden realization that being a devoted admager was less interesting than studying must have stemmed from something, he didn’t press for details since Gu Chenshi didn’t want to talk about it.
However, it was well-known that Gu Chenshi liked Lin Ranran. Aside from his regular studies, he basically revolved around her.
It couldn’t be denied that he was the boy who appeared most frequently by Lin Ranran’s side.
And on the way to lunch, Gu Chenshi would inevitably accompany Lin Ranran, help her get her food, and eat with her.
Many people believed they would eventually move beyond this “more than friends, less than lovers” stage and naturally become an actual couple.
So when Gu Chenshi abandoned Lin Ranran and instead walked alongside his friends, many found it unbelievable, thinking the two of them must have had a falling out.
Jing Shu watched curiously as the two tall boys ahead chatted and laughed, then glanced at the visibly downcast Lin Ranran. She held back for a moment but ultimately couldn’t resist asking.
“Ranran, what’s going on between you and Gu Chenshi?”
Just hearing the name “Gu Chenshi” filled Lin Ranran with resentment.
Ever since last night, this guy had been acting strange, and it continued even now!
What did he want?
A cold war?
Fine, she had never lost before—who was afraid of whom!
Provided by the great author, Impatient Little Pumpkin: School Belle, Don’t Cry, My Deep Affection Isn’t Meant for You.