The atmosphere in Class 3-4 has been strange these past two days.
When a teacher was present, they were very quiet, but as soon as self-study began, Hu Qian, sitting at her desk, would be hit by things accidentally thrown her way, sometimes paper balls, sometimes erasers.
Hu Qian endured it for several days. After school at noon, no one went with her to get lunch. She also found a note stuck to her back that read – Liar.
At this moment, she finally couldn't bear it anymore, burying her face in her desk and pretending to sleep, no longer wanting to pretend she didn't care.
But she didn't regret it. If given the chance again, she would still choose to drive away Liu Chen and Mi Zhuzhu.
Her mother had said yesterday that for students expelled like this, the best fallback was to study in the county town below. Furthermore, students who transferred in during their third year of high school found it difficult to get along with the original students.
Thinking that Liu Chen might have to study miserably in the county town's high school because of her and be ostracized by her classmates, Hu Qian took a deep breath and looked up.
At least I'm doing better than her!
"Wow, Liu Chen and Mi Zhuzhu are eating KFC in their school uniforms?"
"The boys behind them are so handsome, are they their boyfriends?"
"Don't know? Mi Zhuzhu too, just posting a picture and not saying anything, what's the point? We even defended her!"
Boyfriends?
Hu Qian had a premonition that something very important had happened. She used a tissue to wipe the tears from her face, then opened her phone.
Looking at this new phone she had painstakingly obtained, the imagined envious gazes of her classmates did not appear. Blinking, her vision blurred with tears, Hu Qian opened QQ.
The class group, which hadn't had any new messages for a long time, once again jumped to the top of the chat window.
Hu Qian clicked on the class group and kept pressing the up arrow, scrolling for a long time before finding the photo they were talking about.
She clicked on the image and saved it locally.
After doing all this, she opened her phone's album and only then did Hu Qian realize that the boy behind Liu Chen… wasn't her boyfriend from the tutoring class during the summer?
She went to eat KFC with her tutoring class boyfriend after dropping out?
Before Hu Qian could figure it out, she heard an exclamation from behind her:
"Wow! This school uniform is from Shifan Fuzhong! And it's the main campus!"
"Really?"
"This boy on the left is from our neighborhood. His mom is a high school teacher at Shifan Fuzhong, and they say she's his homeroom teacher. Also, his family is very rich, living in the duplex penthouse in our complex. I heard the renovation alone cost the price of a house!"
Shifan Fuzhong?
Liu Chen was driven to Shifan Fuzhong by her, and eating KFC with her boyfriend?
At this moment, Hu Qian finally couldn't hold back. She gripped her phone and buried her face in her desk, sobbing uncontrollably.
—
After eating KFC, Liu Chen also brought back a large pile of egg tarts and chicken wings, which were easy to carry, for her classmates.
Thinking about it, Liu Chen uploaded the group photo of the four of them taken today to a newly created album in her QQ space, titling it "Third Year High School Life."
Bringing the egg tarts and roast chicken wings back to the class, they were indeed warmly welcomed and were quickly divided up within minutes.
Moreover, Liu Chen's desk was also piled with return gifts, including but not limited to Wangzai puffs, Wangzai milk candies, Fujiya lollipops, and even a bottle of Pepsi.
Tearing open a Wangzai milk candy and popping it into her mouth, it was sweet, and the milky flavor traveled from her mouth all the way to her heart.
Just as she was savoring it, Liu Chen felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. SMS group messaging in '08 wasn't as insane as it would become later. Text messages still cost money back then, so any incoming message was worth looking at.
Who would look for her and couldn't wait for a QQ reply?
She opened it and saw an unfamiliar number:
'What's your bank account? I'll transfer money to you.'
"Heh."
Liu Chen, who had been feeling a bit listless due to her period, perked up immediately upon seeing this message. Such a simple and direct scammer, trying to scam her?!
Today, I, your sister, will teach you what a scammer is!
'How much will you transfer me?'
'One hundred thousand.'
Seeing the "one hundred thousand" sent by the other party, Liu Chen raised an eyebrow. Good heavens, this guy was quite a braggart!
'Then give me a picture of yourself. If you send it to me, I'll give you my account.'
'?'
'Send me a picture first, and then I'll tell you.' So I can go to the police station and hand in your photo!
The sender of the text message didn't reply for a long time, so Liu Chen stopped paying attention. Before afternoon classes, she would take a nap to refresh herself!
—
Beijing,
Ren Yu, sitting in his office, frowned as he looked at the message on his phone.
"A photo?"
Ren Yu sat in his office chair and opened his phone's album. As expected, there were no photos.
He disliked taking pictures, he always had since he was young.
But the young girl's thoughts were always so whimsical. Although he didn't understand why he needed to provide a photo for the commission of the custom sales software he built for Liu Chen,
Thinking about how doting his mother and grandmother were on this newly recognized sister, Ren Yu calmly walked out of his office.
"Shen Hong."
Shen Hong, whose hair was as messy as a bird's nest, immediately jumped up from his office chair upon hearing Ren Yu's voice, frantically clicking to exit Dota on his mouse.
"Boss, I was wrong! I was just testing our competitor's product to find its shortcomings and improve our own!"
Ren Yu glanced at the computer screen.
"Good."
Upon hearing this, Shen Hong paused, then used his right hand to sweep the stray hair from his forehead to the top of his head, smiling smugly.
"Of course, of course! I'm always preparing for our company!"
After saying that, he suddenly lowered his head and looked at the game he was playing.
"Ahem, it's just that the preparation is a bit long-term. Boss, what do you need me for?"
Ren Yu's gaze fell on the latest Sony phone on Shen Hong's desk. When he bought it, Shen Hong had bragged about how its camera resolution beat all other phones on the market.
"Take a picture."
"Oh, take a picture? What kind of picture? Our company's work status? Should we tidy up?" As he spoke, Shen Hong picked up his phone from the desk and used the screen as a mirror to look at his face.
Fair and plump, hmm, the food has been good lately.
"Take a picture for me."
The sound of keyboard typing in the office immediately stopped.
"What? You said take a picture for whom?"
Ren Yu glanced calmly at Shen Hong.
"For me."
Shen Hong's eyes lit up, and the corners of his mouth began to curve upwards frantically.
"Old Ren ah, what's going on? I think about it, a photo, tsk tsk, you're into online dating? Let me tell you, online dating is unreliable. Who knows what the person behind that innocent-looking profile picture looks like?"
Ren Yu glanced at Shen Hong.
"It's not online dating, it's a sister."
"What sister? You're playing quite a game! You're even calling her sister?"
"Liu Chen, my sister."
"Liu Chen? That name sounds familiar? Ah! Isn't this your sister?!"