At that moment, countless male students had stopped outside the baozi shop. Even the people inside had all turned to look at Lin Fan and Su Qing.
“This guy invited the campus beauty to eat for seven yuan?”
“Seven yuan? My God, does this bastard have any conscience at all? He’s unbelievably stingy.”
“Not only is he stingy, he’s ugly too. I have no idea why my campus beauty would fall for such an ugly, stingy bastard!”
“My heart is breaking. My campus beauty!”
Listening to the chatter around him, Lin Fan covered his forehead. Even after a year of having his will tempered by Xuandaozi, he still felt a little too embarrassed to face anyone.
He had thought that inviting Su Qing to eat a simple breakfast was no big deal. They could just order whatever.
But after hearing the people outside, Lin Fan really began to feel as if he were being stingy.
“Oh my, Su Qing, how did you end up eating in a place like this?”
Suddenly, a woman’s voice came from outside. A rather pretty female student stood at the entrance, wearing light makeup and carrying an expensive handbag.
She was pretty, but still a notch below Su Qing.
“Who’s that?” Lin Fan asked quietly.
Su Qing said smugly, “Someone who’s jealous of my looks. Don’t bother with her.”
Su Qing had not lowered her voice, so everyone nearby heard her, including the woman at the entrance.
When Yuan Lin heard this, her face instantly flushed with anger, and she ground her teeth in resentment.
Her family was well-off, and she had been naturally blessed with good looks. If Su Qing did not exist, she would definitely have become the campus beauty.
Whether it was academics or beauty, Su Qing always overshadowed her. Yuan Lin let out a cold laugh. “What, is he your boyfriend? He’s nothing special. He only bought you seven yuan worth of food. My boyfriend was going to give me a car yesterday. It’s such a headache. There are already so many cars in our garage that we can’t fit another one. What a nuisance.”
Yuan Lin was secretly delighted. She hoped this really was Su Qing’s boyfriend, because then there would finally be one thing she, Yuan Lin, could beat Su Qing at.
“Hey, why don’t you eat by yourself? I’ll leave first,” Su Qing said, frowning. She did not want to cause Lin Fan any trouble.
Lin Fan said, “There’s no need. Keep eating. Let her say whatever she wants. If it makes her happy, she can even move a stool outside and keep talking.”
“Wouldn’t moving a stool out there be a little much? Wouldn’t that make her a shrew making a scene in public?” Su Qing blinked and said to Lin Fan with a bright smile.
Lin Fan said, “She’s not far off already.”
Having sat next to each other for years, the two were perfectly in sync. They traded remarks back and forth while Yuan Lin stood at the entrance, her veins practically bulging from her forehead.
“Hmph.” Yuan Lin snorted coldly and turned to leave.
Seeing that they had angered her into leaving, Lin Fan and Su Qing raised their hands and clapped in celebration. “Yay!”
“I thought she’d keep mocking us for a while longer,” Lin Fan said, tossing a baozi into his mouth. “Hurry up and eat. We have class after this.”
After breakfast, the two of them headed into the school.
Time at school was unbearably dull.
Before long, the dismissal bell rang. Lin Fan and Xu Dong began packing up and walked out of the classroom.
The two of them were heading toward the school gate.
Suddenly, they heard quite a few people discussing something along the way. “Have you heard? Someone went to cause trouble for the campus beauty?”
“Who would dare mess with her?”
“Apparently Su Qing offended Yuan Lin at the school gate this morning. Yuan Lin’s boyfriend found out, so he brought people to corner Su Qing today.”
Lin Fan’s expression changed slightly. Xu Dong hurriedly looked at him. “What do we do, Brother Fan? Su Qing’s been stopped.”
“What do you think? We’re going to take a look,” Lin Fan said.
Xu Dong hurriedly lowered his voice. “You just got back, so you don’t know what Yuan Lin’s boyfriend is like. His name is Lai Xiaolong. His father, Lai Qiye, is a major figure in Qing City’s business world.”
“So what?”
Lin Fan immediately ran toward the crowd.
Xu Dong took a deep breath and followed after him once more.
At the school gate, Su Qing stood where she was. In front of her stood Yuan Lin and another senior boy.
This was Lai Xiaolong.
Lai Xiaolong wore a white school uniform and had a crew cut. He looked no different from an ordinary student, but in Qing City, there were absolutely not many people who dared to provoke him.
A faint smile played across Lai Xiaolong’s face. “Campus beauty, I know plenty of people are chasing after you, but what you did to insult my girlfriend this morning won’t be resolved so easily.”
“Kneel down and slap yourself once. Then I’ll let what you did to my girlfriend this morning go.”
Lai Xiaolong spoke calmly, yet his words carried an air of unquestionable authority. Yuan Lin looked at Su Qing with pride written all over her face. “Oh, campus beauty, campus beauty. I wonder where that little boyfriend of yours is? Why don’t you have him come out and talk to my Brother Long?”
Yuan Lin was bursting with pride. The anger she had felt that morning had vanished without a trace, replaced by the anticipation of watching Su Qing kneel and slap herself.
Among the crowd of onlookers were quite a few of Su Qing’s admirers. Some of them wanted to step forward and stand up for her, but the thought of Lai Xiaolong’s background made their hearts tremble.
Quite a few of the top young men at No. 1 High School were also Su Qing’s admirers, but there was no reason for them to offend Lai Xiaolong over a girl they might not even manage to pursue.
At that moment, Du Shengxiao stepped out from the crowd. “Brother Long, isn’t this a little unnecessary?”
“Du Shengxiao?” Lai Xiaolong looked somewhat surprised. “What are you doing here? Trying to play the hero and save the beauty? I know you like the campus beauty, but stay out of this today. Do me a favor, and I’ll buy you a drink later.”
Lai Xiaolong still had to show the Du family some respect.
Under normal circumstances, Du Shengxiao would never have antagonized Lai Xiaolong for Su Qing. But then he thought of Su Qing’s relationship with Lin Fan.
He said, “Brother Long, could I have a word with you privately?”
“No need.” Lai Xiaolong waved him off.
Du Shengxiao’s expression stiffened. “Are you refusing to show my Du family any respect?”
Lai Xiaolong snorted coldly. “How would I dare refuse to show the Du family respect? But you, Du Shengxiao, don’t carry enough weight.”
If Du Shengxiao’s father were in charge of the Du family, Lai Xiaolong would never have spoken like this. But now, things were different.
Du Shengxiao drew a deep breath and clenched his fists. “If you want to lay a hand on Su Qing, you’ll have to knock me down first.”
Lai Xiaolong laughed. “Are you stupid? Su Qing hasn’t even agreed to anything with you, yet you’re already standing up for her? Fine.”
With that, Lai Xiaolong kicked out.
With a loud thud, Du Shengxiao was sent sprawling by the kick.
The people around them stared at Lai Xiaolong in astonishment. It seemed Su Qing really had run into someone she could not afford to provoke this time.
Su Qing knitted her brows tightly as well, unable to think of any solution. Of course, she had also been somewhat surprised that Du Shengxiao had stepped forward.
“Excuse us.” Lin Fan and Xu Dong pushed through the crowd and walked in.