Dedicated to studying, yet forced into a chaotic situation.

Chapter 193 How immoral!

After Shi Sui left.

Xu Chaomu immediately distanced herself from Jiang Ming, reverting to her usual aloof and distant demeanor.

Jiang Ming looked down at his hands, feeling uneasy: "Brother Xu, don't cut off my hands. These hands still need to touch the keyboard and work like a beast of burden for you."

Xu Chaomu glanced at him indifferently.

Jiang Ming understood. Because it was the landlady who forced them to hold hands, the boss wouldn't cut off his hand.

But what he didn't understand was—

"Brother Xu, why didn't you tell her that you came here specifically to see her?"

This wasn't a chance encounter; it was premeditated.

Xu Chaomu lowered her eyes and looked at the bracelet on her wrist, a faint glimmer of starlight flashing in her eyes.

"I just want to see her on the first day of the new year. Nothing else needs to be said."

*

When Shi Sui returned to the velvet flower making stall, Chen Man had already finished making the velvet flowers.

Shi Sui thought the red, fuzzy flowers were plum blossoms, but Chen Man insisted they were peach blossoms. After gesturing to them, she stuck them in Shi Sui's hair.

She poked Shi Sui's bun and pinched her cheek: "So pretty."

When Chen Man was pregnant, she only wanted a daughter. The saying goes, "Sour for a boy, spicy for a girl," so she probably ate spicy food.

It turned out to be a man.

Fortunately, she was well cared for, but the heartless man didn't even spend the New Year with her.

……

The Pei family's den of dragons and tigers is truly a place you can't get out of once you step in.

Thinking about this, she couldn't help but feel a little down.

"Is this little girl your daughter? She's so beautiful, even prettier than the female lead in those TV dramas."

"It's so beautiful, I'm being tricked into having a second child, a daughter."

“My daughter is so much better. My son is always getting into trouble, and his dad doesn’t care. I’m the one who gets scolded every time he goes to school.”

"..."

The women sitting next to Chen Man were all around the same age, and they started chatting amongst themselves.

Shi Sui felt embarrassed by the praise and thanked him silently.

Chen Man's mood instantly brightened. After chatting with the strangers for a few more minutes, she took Shi Sui to browse other stalls.

I happened to wander into the fish lantern stall.

Chen Man: "Sui Sui, the handsome guy who was standing here with you just now, was he your classmate?"

"Yes, he's my classmate. I didn't expect him to come to T City too."

"Is he your boyfriend?"

Shi Sui shook her head: "No, no."

“Don’t rush to say no. With such good looks, he could become your boyfriend even if you’re not one,” Chen Man said. “It would be a shame not to date more handsome guys while you’re young.”

Shi Sui: "?"

"Oh no, Sui Sui, I didn't mean for you to have a relationship too early."

"I just want to tell you that it's too difficult to meet the right person right away. You really need to date a lot to know what kind of person is right for you."

“Chen Xun has been clinging to you since he was little. I knew he liked you a long time ago, but he just wouldn’t admit it.”

Chen Man smiled and said, "Just treat him as a backup plan."

Shi Sui: ...How immoral!

*

The business reopened on the ninth day of the first lunar month, and Shi Sui helped Chen Man with the work in the shop.

The next day, Pei Shuoxun also came to T City. There was no time for idle chatter; the two of them worked together in the shop.

The wholesale store at the source has always been booming, and this year Chen Man plans to open a processing line to try her hand at e-commerce.

I stayed until the Lantern Festival and ate T City's specialty, mountain starch paste. It had a texture like lotus root starch, sticky and gooey, and was filled with red beans, small glutinous rice balls, raisins, etc. When I ate it, my belly was bulging.

School started the day after the Lantern Festival.

This semester, Shi Sui no longer lives on campus, so she left a little earlier.

"Wow, I didn't even see it clearly. Was that Shi Sui, the beautiful girl who skated past me just now? Her back view looked like..."

"Yeah, ahhhhh, hurry and chase after her! Sister Sui looks so cool on her skateboard!"

"Wow, she skateboarded over the obstacle course! That was so cool and awesome!"

"Ah, I'm dead! Sister Sui is killing everyone again!"

With delicate and bright features, she has the face of a sweet girl, but she is also a great fighter. She can quickly master various sports and is full of youthful energy and a free spirit. She is super cool!

Shi Sui is incredibly popular among girls; she's practically a walking, talking queen.

Even the boys admired her greatly, not only because she was good-looking, but also because she was quite skilled at skateboarding.

The school is two or three kilometers away from home, which takes at least 20 minutes to walk. To save time, Shi Sui bought a skateboard to get around.

I was skateboarding while listening to English through headphones.

When she arrived at school, she felt someone looking at her, as if greeting her, so Shi Sui took off her noise-canceling headphones.

Although it seemed like they were strangers, they still smiled and waved.

Then the skateboard quickly passed through the crowd, turned and braked at the back of the teaching building, and carried the skateboard upstairs.

The girl who stayed behind blushed and her heart pounded.

—Ahhh, Sister Sui greeted me! Oh no, I'm totally smitten.

Upon entering the classroom, I found that most of the students had already arrived, having gathered topics of conversation throughout the winter break. The classroom was more bustling than a vegetable market.

The class representatives went to collect the winter break homework.

Shi Sui is the class representative for chemistry. When she goes to collect homework, everyone chats with her.

So much so that when the assignments were collected, she was surrounded by a group of girls who all wanted to hand in their assignments with her.

“Okay, I’ll go too.” Xu Chaomu took her homework and walked to Shi Sui’s side.

In a flash, the girls disappeared: "Oh, then we won't go. Shi Sui, you go hand in your homework with the academic genius."

Shi Sui touched her nose, feeling a little strange. Didn't they just say that they ate too much breakfast and went for a walk to digest their food?

After meeting once during the Spring Festival, Shi Sui and Xu Chaomu spent a few days in T City together, organized by Jiang Ming. However, they haven't seen each other since the clothing market opened.

However, the two frequently communicate on WeChat, mostly about studies and company matters.