Chapter 3: Preposterous
Shi Qi was long used to stares like that.
It wasn’t narcissism. She’d just heard too many compliments growing up, so many she had no choice but to admit her face really was pretty.
Back in middle school, people would stop her on the street to ask if she wanted to be a trainee at their agency. She’d wave them off. High school was worse—wherever she went, people took a second look. At first it made her uncomfortable, but slowly she stopped caring.
Getting looked at wasn’t going to cost her a chunk of flesh.
She strolled back from Class 2’s door, hands stuffed in her uniform pockets, still thinking about those two cups of milk tea.
Would Yu Cheng even drink them? With that “don’t take things from others” personality her cousin mentioned, she’d probably hand them off to whoever was sitting next to her. That pile of snacks on her desk would likely end up benefiting the classmates in front, behind, and beside her.
Whatever. Given is given. Who cared if she drank it or not.
Thinking this, Shi Qi turned the corner of the hallway and nearly crashed into someone.
She instinctively took a step back and looked up.
It was Yu Cheng.
Yu Cheng walked toward her against the light, long black hair draped over her shoulders, the ends curving naturally. Born slightly wavy.
Just left loose like that, yet somehow unreasonably pretty.
Shi Qi stared blankly.
This girl was even a natural curl.
God was seriously unfair sometimes, she thought. How could someone’s hair grow this perfectly? Those eyes were as cold and distant as ever.
The two beauty marks at the corners of her eyes stood out sharply in the side light, making it impossible to look away.
Yu Cheng wore a white short-sleeve shirt today, her uniform jacket draped over one arm, exposing a slender, pale wrist.
Pretty. Genuinely pretty.
Cold. Genuinely cold.
Realizing she’d been staring for a while, Shi Qi snapped out of it and silently cursed herself for being rude.
She yanked her gaze away, stepped aside, and pretended to look at the bulletin board at the end of the hall.
Yu Cheng brushed past her.
She stood there for a second, catching the faint scent of laundry detergent lingering in the air. Didn’t know the brand. Smelled good.
Shi Qi rubbed her nose and walked back to Class 3 without looking back.
By the time Yu Cheng walked into the Class 2 classroom, more than half the students were already there. The afternoon of return-to-school day was always noisy.
She didn’t care. She walked straight to her seat.
Two bags of chips, a box of Ferrero Rocher, a carton of milk that had been sitting there god knows how long, and two cups of milk tea.
Yu Cheng glanced at the pile, set down her bag, and started her usual return-to-school routine: distributing snacks.
Front desk, back desk, deskmate—everyone got a share. She didn’t like eating these things, didn’t like owing favors, and definitely didn’t want to carry them home.
The best solution was giving them to the people around her. Problem solved, everyone happy.
The people sitting near her were used to it. The first day back was always their snack resupply day.
The round-faced girl in front always pressed her palms together like she was praying, acting endlessly grateful, saying that sitting next to Yu Cheng meant she must’ve saved the galaxy in her past life.
Yu Cheng gave the chips to the front desk, unwrapped the Ferrero and split it half to the girl on her left and half to the girl on her right, and put the milk on the corner of her deskmate’s desk. Then she reached for the two cups of milk tea.
Guming brand.
She was about to hand them to her deskmate when the ponytailed girl who’d taken the drinks for her earlier suddenly spoke up.
“Yu Cheng!”
Yu Cheng turned to look at her, saying nothing, her eyes asking what’s up.
The girl leaned over the back of her chair, eyes sparkling, her whole expression screaming “ask me, ask me.”
“Guess who sent these two cups of milk tea?”
Yu Cheng pulled her gaze back, uninterested. Nine out of ten times it was another so-called “grade hottie” or “campus god” they kept talking about. The grade hottie title had changed hands three times this semester alone.
She pushed the milk tea toward her deskmate and prepared to flip through the textbooks she’d need next week.
Her deskmate was quick, reaching out to grab it.
Then the ponytailed girl’s next sentence dropped like a bomb.
“It’s Shi Qi!”
Yu Cheng’s hand stopped.
“Shi Qi from Class 3 next door! For you!”
The noise in the classroom seemed to drop a notch in that instant.
Her deskmate’s hand hung mid-air, watching helplessly as Yu Cheng pulled back the milk tea she’d already offered.
The cup returned to Yu Cheng’s hand, the condensation wetting her fingers.
She looked down at the cup, then at the straw. Guming’s packaging was always flashy.
Then she tore open the straw wrapper, poked it through the lid, and took a sip.
Her deskmate’s hand stayed frozen in the grabbing position, her entire body stiff, looking like she’d seen a ghost.
Yu Cheng accepted it.
Not only did Yu Cheng accept it, she drank it.
This was Yu Cheng.
Since freshman year, the line of people giving her stuff could circle the teaching building, and she’d never once accepted anything from anyone.
Chocolate, love letters, expensive, cheap—whoever sent it, same result. All distributed to the people around her.
Even that limited-edition figure from the guy next door who supposedly had a gold mine at home last semester, she shoved to the back desk without opening the box.
And now, she was drinking milk tea sent by Shi Qi.
The ponytailed girl swallowed hard and asked carefully, “Yu Cheng, is that flavor good?”
Yu Cheng glanced at her, then placed the other cup on the corner of her own desk, showing no intention of giving it away.
“Not bad.”
Her tone was as flat as ever, no special emotion detectable.
The person involved, Yu Cheng, completely ignored the commotion around her, flipping through her textbook and taking another sip.
The round-faced girl in front set down her chip bag, turned around, and slumped onto Yu Cheng’s desk. She opened her mouth, wanting to ask but not daring to, holding it in until all she could squeeze out was, “Yu Cheng, do you know Shi Qi?”
Yu Cheng turned a page. “No.”
The round-faced girl froze, clearly not buying that answer. “If you don’t know her, why did she send you milk tea?”
“No idea.” Yu Cheng didn’t lift her head, voice flat. “Did you finish your homework?”
The round-faced girl choked, wanted to press further but didn’t dare, and sulkily turned back around.
Her deskmate stared at Yu Cheng silently for a long while before finally leaning over, lowering her voice to ask, “You really don’t know her?”
“Mm.”
“Then how did she know where your seat was?”
Yu Cheng finally looked up at her. “Mm. Guessed.”
Her deskmate was blocked speechless by that answer. Her mouth moved, then closed, and she finally shifted her gaze to the strawberry milk on the desk.
The ponytailed girl turned around from the front row, propping her elbow on Yu Cheng’s desk. “I thought she was your friend.”
Yu Cheng turned a page, eyes staying on the textbook. “Not close.”
“Then—”
“Do your homework,” Yu Cheng cut her off.
Right then, footsteps and laughter came from the hallway outside. A few guys from Class 3 next door passed by the door with their arms around each other’s shoulders.
One of them glanced into Class 2 and caught the eye of a bespectacled guy in the back row. The two nodded across the distance—a greeting.
The Class 3 guy walked past, but quickly stepped back half a pace, poking his head into the classroom, probably looking for someone.
He didn’t find who he was looking for. As he pulled his gaze back, it swept over Yu Cheng’s seat and landed on the two cups of milk tea on the desk corner. His steps paused.
Then he looked away and followed his friends.
The bespectacled guy in the back saw it clearly. He lowered his head and sent a message to that Class 3 guy.
“What were you looking at just now?”
The reply came fast: “Did Shi Qi’s milk tea get delivered?”
“Delivered. She’s already drinking it.”
The other side sent a shocked sticker.