From the moment they left the office with Ci Ye following behind, Song Fu had felt that something was off. His reaction was too different from what she had imagined. Given that she had already explained the purpose of the engagement, he should have at least proposed breaking it off immediately or shown some cold disgust.
After the assistant walked away and only the two of them remained, Song Fu hesitated before speaking. “I thought you would be angry.”
Ci Ye was picking a store on his phone, one that could not be too far from school or the commute would be troublesome. When he heard Song Fu’s words, surprise appeared on his face. “Why would I be angry?”
Song Fu gave a brief summary. “Because my engagement to you is just to make other people unhappy. There’s no liking involved.”
The second half of that sentence stung no matter when he heard it. Ci Ye did not like it. “Didn’t you say that from the beginning?” And not just once.
Song Fu was stunned. She blinked and corrected him. “I did say… I said I didn’t like you, but I didn’t say the real reason for the engagement.”
“What difference does it make to me?” Ci Ye thought there was none at all.
He had just heard “don’t like” again, and it really hurt a little right then. He touched his left cheek, which did not even have a red mark, and leaned his face closer. “Look at my face. Is it disfigured? It feels a bit painful.”
As that handsome face drew near, it still had an impact. Song Fu had noticed long ago that Ci Ye’s eyelashes were thick and long. Because they were such a deep black, they stood out strongly.
With a mischievous glint, she reached out and pressed hard on the spot he had touched. “It really hurts. Next time, don’t solve problems with fighting.”
Meanwhile, Lu Qunwen had also returned to Class B’s classroom. He had not even sat down when several people eagerly asked about the situation.
“What did the homeroom teacher say?”
“Will Ci Ye get expelled this time?”
They chimed in one after another, giving Lu Qunwen a headache. He shook his head first, finding it hard to explain. “It doesn’t seem to be what we thought.”
The few exchanged glances and frowned in unison. “Then what is it?”
“Zheng Ci said Ci Ye fought because he was helping her. The one who did wrong was Chen Yu.” Though Lu Qunwen said it out loud, he still could not quite believe it in his heart. “I need to confirm it with Chen Yu.”
“Zheng Ci?” The classmates knew she was Chen Yu’s girlfriend. “Zheng Ci is involved too?”
Lu Qunwen thought of Song Fu’s warning not to talk too much and chose to shut his mouth. He could not help feeling irritated. Chen Yu was the one who did wrong? How was he supposed to believe that? Chen Yu was his good friend with excellent grades. They lived in the same neighborhood. Chen Yu had even come to his house to play before, and his mom had praised the boy from head to toe.
…
A week later, the school made its decision: Chen Yu was given a withdrawal notice, and Zheng Ci did not come to class for a while. Later, the homeroom teacher said she had transferred.
To avoid making Ci Ye’s already poor reputation worse, the homeroom teachers of both Class A and Class B did not explicitly state the reason for the withdrawal but emphasized that Ci Ye had fought to help a classmate. Of course, they also stressed that solving problems with violence was wrong and had Ci Ye make a slight self-reflection.
“Little Qunwen, you need to stay away from that Chen Yu from now on.”
Lu Qunwen’s home was close to school, and his family was strict, so he never brought his phone. Though he had said he wanted to confirm, he would have to wait until the holiday.
He got home and had just put his bag on the sofa when his mom came over with a plate of fruit and spoke up.
The complete flip in attitude left Lu Qunwen momentarily unadjusted. “What happened to him?”
Mother Lu lowered her voice. “I heard he bullied a little girl, and she even called the police. Her parents refused to accept his apology.” Being in the same neighborhood, she had heard that much but knew no more details. “I remember Chen Yu is in your class, right? Your school should expel people like that. He can’t affect your studies.”
Hearing the latter part, Lu Qunwen thought of his own words and flushed red. “Didn’t you tell me to play with him before?”
“How was your mom supposed to know he was like that?” Mother Lu did not understand where her son’s anger came from and just gave her advice earnestly.
Lu Qunwen felt embarrassed. He did not even know who to blame. If Chen Yu was really the one who did wrong, then what did that make all the things he had done? A complete clown.
He suddenly stood up. “I’m going to my room.”
Mother Lu had just washed the fruit for her son to eat. She knocked on the door from the doorway. “Your favorite grapes. They’re good for your eyes. Eat more later.”
Lu Qunwen did not respond.
Mother Lu continued. “I saw your homeroom teacher post in the group that there’s a parent-teacher meeting next Sunday. Something about educating on puppy love. Why bother with that? Wouldn’t it be better to spend the time on studies? You haven’t been dating anyone at school, right?”
Hearing the last sentence, Lu Qunwen, who was sitting on his bed, thought of Song Fu.
His voice was muffled. “No, I haven’t dated anyone.”
She had a proper fiancé.
If it really was just a business alliance based on interests like he had said, that would be fine. But the truth was not like that.
To Song Fu, Ci Ye’s existence was clearly special. Even a cold attitude made it easy to distinguish indifference from helplessness.
Many people, like him, felt a distant unapproachability the first time they met Song Fu. But once they got a little familiar, they found her personality pleasant. That pleasantness came from her indifference to most things… except Ci Ye, who was the one she cared about and paid attention to.
It was enviable.
The envied Ci Ye was correcting errors on his test paper, suspecting the exam setter was deliberately targeting slackers.
Was this a test made for humans?
He would have to show it to Aunt Song later.
The parent-teacher meeting was scheduled cleverly right after the monthly exam results came out on Sunday, with a cruel disregard for the students’ feelings.
Song Fu’s monthly exam score was still second place, but this time, no one in the class was surprised. It was not the first time, and they were used to it. Besides, Song Fu herself seemed very calm about it.
First place was no surprise. What was surprising was Ci Ye’s score.
“Zhao Li, you became dead last. You’re done for at the parent-teacher meeting.”
The boy named Zhao Li was chatting with his buddy in the front seat about gaming over the holiday. Hearing this, he thought it was a joke. “What?”
The classmate looking at the scores laughed with schadenfreude. “I said you’re dead last.”
Zhao Li did not think it was fake. He rushed to the podium like an arrow, checked the scores, and saw his name at the very bottom. His face turned ashen; he could not accept it. “For real?” He immediately looked for Ci Ye’s name and found it now in fifth from the bottom.
He turned to his good buddy. “Looks like no gaming this holiday.”
His good buddy gave him a sympathetic look.
Ci Ye himself had looked at his score. He was not overly satisfied—after all, he was still in the bottom ranks—but his mouth corners did not droop.
He wanted to tell Song Fu, but she had not gotten first this time, so he did not dare.
He could only secretly compare the gap between himself and Song Fu.
…
Before the scores came out, Song Fu had already gotten a “spoiler” on the rankings through the System, so she showed no surprise at all. She just yawned and reorganized the upcoming plot.
The parent-teacher meeting that followed was actually a key plot point.
At this time, the male and female leads should have already developed feelings for each other, bubbling with ambiguity. At the parent-teacher meeting, the male lead’s dad—Ci Ye’s father—did not come, but the female lead Zhu Chenxi’s parents did. They even recognized Ci Ye as the boy who had saved their daughter years ago, so they said some thankful words.
That was when the male lead Ci Ye realized the reason the female lead had been paying attention to and helping him: guilt and sympathy. He interpreted all her actions that way and became irritated.
Sunday.
The weather was fine.
At their age, all classes held parent-teacher meetings at the same time, so each class selected a few students to greet parents at the school gate to prevent them from getting lost. Song Fu and Ci Ye were not among them, but Lu Qunwen was.
“Hello, ma’am. Which class is your child in?” Lu Qunwen saw the pretty lady going back and forth in front of the class signs several times and took the initiative to ask.
A flash of embarrassment appeared on Mother Song’s face. She gave a dry laugh. “I actually don’t know.” High school parent-teacher meetings were infrequent. The last one was in their first year, and now in second year, classes had been reassigned based on course selections. She had forgotten to ask, and Song Fu had not mentioned it. “My daughter is Song Fu. Do you know her?”
Lu Qunwen was stunned. “Yes.”
So this was Song Fu’s mom. She did look somewhat similar.
Mother Song breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you classmates?” She could not help probing sideways into her precious daughter’s school life. “Does she eat properly usually?”
Lu Qunwen answered, “Yes, don’t worry.” They were actually not in the same class, so he did not know too well, but the students greeting parents all followed the same principle: only say good things. Otherwise, if their classmate got scolded because of them, it would be awkward.
Mother Song asked again, “What about Ci Ye? Is he behaving?”
Hearing that name, Lu Qunwen’s smile stiffened. After a brief silence, he replied, “He’s doing very well. He helped a classmate recently, and his score on this monthly exam improved a lot.”
“I see.” Mother Song thanked him and asked where the classroom was. Only then did she realize the student she had chatted with for half a day was not her daughter’s classmate but from the next class over. “Sorry, did I waste your time?”
“No, no.” Lu Qunwen shook his head like a rattle-drum.
Five minutes later, Mother Song had arrived in the classroom and greeted Song Fu and Ci Ye. But before she could sit, the homeroom teacher called her aside for a talk.
The homeroom teacher started from exam mindset, moved to Song Fu’s target universities, and praised her from beginning to end. Mother Song listened with a smile that never faded. There was no helping it; her daughter was just that outstanding and worry-free.
Mother Song was just about to ask about her future son-in-law Ci Ye when the homeroom teacher changed tack—
“But no matter how sensible she is, in parents’ eyes, she’s still a child, right?”
“Ah, yes, that’s true.”
“This engagement, no matter what, is still a bit early. It won’t be too late to talk about it after high school graduation, right?” The homeroom teacher chose his words carefully, trying to be tactful without offending. After all, he did not understand the ways of rich families.
Mother Song nodded vigorously in deep agreement. “I think so too. It’s too early. In my opinion, even after university graduation would be fine.”
The homeroom teacher was a bit confused. “Was this decided by Song Fu’s dad?”
Mother Song sighed again. She could not say it was her own daughter who had asked for it and said vaguely, “Various reasons. Though the engagement happened, the marriage is definitely not rushed. Whether it really happens in the future is uncertain. It’s still early.”