The light from the streetlamps was a warm yellow, and the autumn night was a bit chilly, yet Ruan Mei felt heat all over her body, especially on her face, neck, and ears.
She organized her words and spoke slowly:
“You, you haven’t been to class these past few days, and the homeroom teacher is really worried, so she asked me to call and check in… If you need to take leave, just let me know, and I can ask for you.”
On the other end of the line, Fang Zhishui let out a soft chuckle, making it impossible to discern the meaning behind it.
Ruan Mei only felt an electric current pass from the phone to her ear, making her tingle all over.
“I’m fine, it’s okay. I’ll be back in class tomorrow, and I’ll make up the leave slip myself.”
“Mm… Alright then, well…”
Ruan Mei knew this call should end here, but her heart was still racing wildly.
If she hung up directly, would that be impolite? Maybe she should find an excuse, but what excuse could she find?
The streetlamp was warm, the moonlight poured down like liquid mercury, and the wind blew lightly. Ruan Mei felt the scent of strawberries on her had grown stronger.
“Is there a problem you can’t solve with a question?”
Fang Zhishui suddenly asked a question that Ruan Mei found difficult to answer.
“Ah, no, no. Oh, right, do you want my class notes from these past few days tomorrow?”
Ruan Mei naturally steered the conversation back to academics, and the inexplicable panic in her heart began to subside.
“Yes, I will. Thank you.”
After Fang Zhishui replied, silence fell between them again, yet neither was willing to hang up first.
“Did you… have you differentiated yet?”
Ruan Mei bit her lip. Feeling that Fang Zhishui’s attitude was quite good, she finally decided to ask the question that had been bothering her for days.
In the original story, Fang Zhishui was supposed to differentiate in the second year of high school, but the entire plot had changed now; perhaps Fang Zhishui would differentiate early?
“I haven’t.”
The voice on the other end flatly denied it, clear and firm, not sounding like a lie.
“Oh… That’s good then…”
“What about you, though… Why would you suddenly think of that? Have you already differentiated?”
Fang Zhishui’s tone became serious.
Ruan Mei felt as if she had been struck by lightning, her whole body trembling like a sieve.
Fang Zhishui then asked lightly:
“Are you an Omega, or an Alpha?”
Ruan Mei felt a lump stuck in her throat, unable to move up or down, feeling like she was about to choke herself to death.
She swallowed hard, trying to adopt a tone that sounded amused:
“H-How is that possible! T-There are only three people who have differentiated in the whole class right now, and my parents are ordinary people too. I couldn’t possibly have differentiated!”
Fang Zhishui chuckled softly but didn’t press the topic further, instead asking:
“How is everything at school…?”
Ruan Mei was completely bewildered:
“What? Everyone is fine.”
Fang Zhishui was silent for a moment, then said calmly and politely:
“Alright, that’s it then. I’m hanging up.”
Before the other person could hang up, Ruan Mei nervously blurted out:
“Ah, well, good night!”
Fang Zhishui chuckled again, and an extremely gentle tone came through the receiver, making the listener feel like they were floating on clouds.
“Good night, Ruan Mei.”
The call abruptly clicked off.
Ruan Mei felt dizzy, her steps as if she were treading on clouds, left foot tripping over the right as she walked back.
Grandma was sitting on the bed doing needlework. Seeing her walk in like that, she let out a loud shout:
“Hurry up and get inside to study!”
Only then did Ruan Mei snap back to reality. She stuck out her tongue at her grandmother and went into the inner room to study. Grandma’s voice had become full of energy lately due to better nutrition, and that shout had been quite startling.
After finishing her homework and getting into bed, Ruan Mei pulled the blanket up to her chin, a smile curving her lips as she thought about the gentle tone in which Fang Zhishui had said, Good night, Ruan Mei.
Fang Zhishui kept his word and arrived at school even earlier than Ruan Mei the next day.
When Ruan Mei reached her desk and put down her schoolbag, she saw Fang Zhishui turn his head and look at her with a raised eyebrow.
Ruan Mei immediately became nervous, unsure where to put her hands or feet. She grinned foolishly at Fang Zhishui, feeling like a simpleton.
Fang Zhishui said:
“Morning.”
Ruan Mei nodded and replied:
“Morning.”
Seeing Fang Zhishui turn back around, Ruan Mei quickly sat down and let out a long breath.
She remembered the class notes, quickly flipped through her own notebook, and handed it over to Fang Zhishui’s desk, receiving a lukewarm “Thank you.”
The morning classes passed quickly. During lunchtime, Ruan Mei ran straight to the back hill with her lunchbox, planning to prepare grass for the rabbit as soon as possible so she could return to class early for a nap.
The rabbit was indeed getting fatter every day, looking clean, tender, and lovely. Ruan Mei picked a lot of green grass from the ground beside her and offered it to the rabbit’s mouth, but the rabbit seemed to look at the grass with disdain.
What was wrong with this rabbit? Did it really eat something else, as Grandma suggested, making it look down on the plain grass?
Ruan Mei pondered for a while, then picked out a leaf of lettuce from her own lunch bowl and held it under the rabbit’s nose. The rabbit swiftly darted away.
It seemed… it probably hadn’t eaten human food either.
Then, was it that the rabbit was naturally gifted and had found tastier grass and nutrients on its own, causing it to get fat?
Time was short. Ruan Mei quickly ate while settling the rabbit down, then carried her lunchbox down the hill.
From a distance, she saw Fang Zhishui walking past from the side his direction suggested he was heading to the cafeteria.
According to the original story, Fang Zhishui did not enjoy the privileges a rich family should afford him; he got his meals from the cafeteria just like the other students, eating alone.
Later, the male lead would start bringing Fang Zhishui lunch, carrying various luxurious seafood feasts to a corner of the cafeteria for the two of them to share.
Ruan Mei walked over with her lunchbox but was called to a stop by Fang Zhishui.
“You brought your own lunch?”
Ruan Mei nodded. She wasn’t as scared of Fang Zhishui now. Although she habitually felt unlucky, she could treat him normally on the surface.
“Did you make it yourself?”
Fang Zhishui seemed to become interested in Ruan Mei’s lunchbox.
Ruan Mei shook her head:
“My grandma made it. I’m not very good at cooking.”
Fang Zhishui nodded and looked up towards the back hill.
She reached up to smooth her long hair and waved at Ruan Mei. Ruan Mei felt something dazzling flash across her eyes. Staring blankly, she watched Fang Zhishui turn and walk away in the direction of the cafeteria.
At this hour, everyone else would have finished eating at the cafeteria there probably wouldn’t be much left to eat… Was Fang Zhishui’s family really that stingy, why didn’t they even provide her with meals? Did they not want her to have any special treatment at school?
Thinking of Fang Zhishui’s trashy Alpha mother and trashy sister from the original story, Ruan Mei couldn’t help but sympathize with Fang Zhishui.
She sat back down in the classroom and, recalling the previous scene, suddenly remembered a detail:
When Fang Zhishui raised her hand to smooth her hair, she revealed a section of her wrist. On the wrist, as white as the bright moon, was a shocking, deep cut mark.
It looked very deep, not the kind of mark made playfully, but a wound deeply carved in with a knife, perhaps deep enough to show bone!
It looked like a relatively new injury, with some swollen, raised flesh on both sides.
This image kept flashing before Ruan Mei’s eyes. She propped her head up with her hand, wanting to curse Fang Zhishui’s Alpha mother fiercely.
If she ever met this so called mother, she would definitely give her a piece of her mind. What was the point of being a mother if you didn’t even notice your child had attempted self-harm, or offer to bandage it?
When Fang Zhishui returned after eating, Ruan Mei gave up on her nap and continued to observe closely. She noticed that Fang Zhishui didn’t move her injured left hand at all, nor did she put any weight on it, as if it were useless.
Such a beautiful, slender hand could it really be ruined?
Ruan Mei was very anxious. After some thought, she took out her phone from her desk drawer and searched for “what medicine to use on a wrist-slitting wound.”
She jotted down several kinds of medicines that came up in the search results. After school, Ruan Mei first went to the pharmacy and bought several types of medicine, using up almost all of her wages for the day. Only after buying them did she go to work at Hongfu Mall.
Sister Chuang now looked at Ruan Mei with some admiration. Seeing her arrive, she pulled her aside and said with a stern face:
“This month’s bonus is out, and you have one too one thousand yuan. Go sign for it at the finance office later, and you can take the cash right away.”
Ruan Mei:
“!!! Thank you, Sister Chuang! I can buy new padded clothes for my grandmother!”
Sister Chuang showed a slight smile and suggested:
“Bring your grandmother to our mall, and I’ll help you find a store with employee discounts so she can try clothes on immediately. This is also my personal reward for our excellent employee.”
Ruan Mei was absolutely ecstatic, so happy she wanted to jump up. She mentally calculated several suitable dates and proactively gave Sister Chuang a light hug.
“Thank you, Sister Chuang! Thank you so much!”
Sister Chuang patted Ruan Mei lightly:
“I’m just following regulations. As long as you keep working hard, that is the greatest thanks you can give me.”
Ruan Mei was so excited by this good news that she couldn’t sleep all night. The next day, she woke up particularly early and arrived at the classroom well ahead of time.
Seeing that the seat in front of her was still empty, Ruan Mei immediately pulled out the large bag of medicine from her bag and stuffed it into Fang Zhishui’s desk.
She paused, then ran to the school convenience store, bought a bag of small snacks, and stuffed that into Fang Zhishui’s desk drawer as well.
She hoped this could be a small contribution, as the female lead was quite tragic, after all.
A while later, Fang Zhishui arrived at the classroom, her face icy cold, seeming to be in a bad mood.
She sat down at her seat, casually tossed her schoolbag aside, and reached into her desk drawer to get a pen. Her fingers brushed against a large pile of plastic bags.
With a rustling sound, the plastic was crushed, making a jarring noise in the quiet classroom. Several students who were reciting their lessons looked over.
Fang Zhishui remained expressionless and pulled out the pile of plastic bags.
One bag was full of plastic wrapped snacks, and another bag was full of medicine.
Ruan Mei was right behind Fang Zhishui, holding a book up to cover her face, secretly watching Fang Zhishui’s movements.
Fang Zhishui first opened the bag containing the medicine, casually grabbed two items to look at, seemed uninterested, and threw the entire bag of medicine aside, causing a few bottles to roll onto the floor.
Then Fang Zhishui looked at the snack bag, taking out each item one by one to look at it.
Ruan Mei’s heart pounded. These were all things she liked herself she wondered if Fang Zhishui would like them?
Fang Zhishui flipped through the contents of the bag: strawberry dried fruit, strawberry flavored millet bars, strawberry mini cakes, strawberry Pocky sticks…
Hmm, that’s very much like someone.
Fang Zhishui turned and glanced behind her, seeing the other person quickly bury their head in a book, leaving only a fluffy top of their head visible.
She deliberately spoke up:
“Who sent these snacks? I don’t like a single one of them.”
That fluffy head immediately drooped lower, looking dejected just from the posture of the head.
Fang Zhishui knew what was going on. She took out a millet bar, put it in her mouth, and after finishing it, said:
“However, the taste isn’t bad.”
That fluffy head immediately became lively, moving left and right, peeking at Fang Zhishui from the side of the book.
Fang Zhishui had already turned back around, holding the snack in her hand, a smile playing on her lips.
In her heart, a strawberry flavored wind suddenly arose, gradually driving away the dense dark clouds.
The taste… was really not bad.