Chapter 5: Guan Yizhou Is Here!

The moment the evening self-study bell rang, Shi Qi started packing up.

Pencil case, sketchbook, and the math test handed out today—she'd only done half of it, leaving the last two big problems blank to copy from Liu Qingqiao during morning reading tomorrow. She shoved everything into her bag in one go, not even bothering to zip it all the way up, then turned around to rush Liu Qingqiao.

"Hurry up, hurry up."

Liu Qingqiao was still leisurely tidying up the English workbook on her desk, baffled by the urgency. "What's the rush? The cafeteria isn't open tonight anyway."

"It's not the cafeteria," Shi Qi said, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she stood up. "It's the convenience store. They have limited-edition iced mung bean soup today! Liu Qingqiao, do you understand what 'limited edition' means?"

Liu Qingqiao's packing speed instantly doubled.

Zhao Yan in the back row had sharp ears. Hearing the keywords from two rows away, he tossed his textbook onto the desk and scrambled over. "Mung bean soup? There's mung bean soup today? Wait for me, wait for me, I'm coming too!"

The three of them squeezed into the flow of people in the hallway, heading toward the convenience store.

The store was on the first floor of the cafeteria building. By the time they arrived, a crowd had already gathered at the entrance, all there for the special supply. Shi Qi, relying on her height, stood on tiptoes to peek toward the freezer. Good, there were still a few cups left. She let out a breath of relief and was about to push forward when her feet suddenly stopped.

Two people were standing in front of the freezer.

One was a round-faced girl with a ponytail—Shi Qi recognized her as Li Wenyin, Yu Cheng's deskmate. The other had her back to them, long black hair with slightly curled ends.

Shi Qi didn't need to see the face to recognize that silhouette. She had just run into this person in the hallway that afternoon.

Liu Qingqiao saw them too. She nudged Shi Qi with her elbow and lowered her voice. "Hey, isn't that—"

"I know," Shi Qi interrupted.

Zhao Yan behind them hadn't seen clearly yet and kept pushing forward. "What's wrong? Did they sell out the mung bean soup?"

Shi Qi ignored him. She stared at the silhouette for two seconds. Over by the freezer, the shop owner was taking out mung bean soups, placing them one by one on the counter.

Shi Qi counted. Three cups left on the counter. No—the owner pulled another one from deep inside the freezer. Four cups. Four mung bean soups. But between Yu Cheng's group of two and her own group of three, there were five people total.

Five people, four cups. One short.

Shi Qi didn't know what came over her, but in that instant, her body moved faster than her brain. She fished her student card out of her pocket, pushed to the front of the counter, and raised her voice half a pitch higher than usual.

"Boss, I'll pay for all four together."

The owner took the card. *Beep.* Payment successful.

Zhao Yan's eyes lit up from behind. "Holy crap, Shi Qi, you're being this generous today? Treating me to a drink?" He reached out, ready to receive his cup, grinning almost to his ears.

Shi Qi picked up the mung bean soups from the counter, all four in her hands. She turned around, walked past Zhao Yan, and went straight to stand in front of Yu Cheng.

She shoved a cup of mung bean soup into Yu Cheng's hand.

"For you."

Before Yu Cheng could say anything, she stuffed another cup into her hand. The movements were fast, giving the other person no chance to refuse.

She still had one cup left. Liu Qingqiao was just reaching out to take it when Shi Qi grabbed her wrist instead, pulling her along as she walked away.

Zhao Yan stood rooted to the spot, his outstretched hand hovering in mid-air.

Where was his mung bean soup? Where was *his* mung bean soup? Weren't there four cups? If the four girls each had one, where was his?

"Shi Qi! Are you sick or something!" Zhao Yan's wail exploded from the entrance of the convenience store, full of vigor. "My mung bean soup!! Shi Qi, I hate you!!!"

Shi Qi didn't look back. She dragged Liu Qingqiao around the corner of the cafeteria wall.

Yu Cheng stood there, clutching two cups of mung bean soup in her hands.

"Yu Cheng," Li Wenyin finally couldn't hold back anymore. She leaned in and asked quietly, "Do you really not know Shi Qi?"

Yu Cheng thought for a moment and answered concisely, "I've seen her at school."

"Just seen her?" Li Wenyin didn't believe it at all. "Just 'seen her' and someone brings you milk tea and mung bean soup? You drank the milk tea this afternoon; what are you going to do with this one?"

Yu Cheng didn't answer. She looked down at the two cups in her hands. Then she did something that nearly made Li Wenyin's eyes pop out: she shoved one cup back into Li Wenyin's hand, kept the other for herself, and tore open the wrapper of a straw.

She took a sip. The mung bean soup was very cold, so cold she squinted for a second, then took another sip.

Wait. No, wait. Was that really Yu Cheng just now?

Wasn't that the Yu Cheng who gave face to absolutely no one?

Li Wenyin hurried to catch up, walking side by side with Yu Cheng. Yu Cheng bit on the straw, head down, walking without any discernible expression.

Li Wenyin pulled out her phone and opened the group chat named "Yu Cheng's Front-and-Back Seat Feeding Squad (5)."

She typed a line, deleted it, repeated this several times, and finally sent: "Sisters, I think someone is about to win over our Yu Cheng."

The group exploded instantly.

"???"

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Didn't Yu Cheng say last time she wasn't dating anyone?"

"Who is it? Who? Who's so bold?"

She lowered her head and typed another line: "Shi Qi. Shi Qi from Class 3 next door."

"I felt something was off this afternoon!!!"

"Doesn't Shi Qi actually look really pretty? Honestly, they're kind of a good match..."

The group went completely wild.

Li Wenyin put her phone back in her pocket and sped up two steps to catch Yu Cheng.

"Yu Cheng," Li Wenyin weighed her words carefully, "Do you really not know Shi Qi?"

"Mm. Don't know her."

"Then why does she..."

Yu Cheng moved the mung bean soup away from her mouth and fell silent for a moment.

"I don't know either," Yu Cheng said.

On the other side, Shi Qi dragged Liu Qingqiao and ran nearly half the length of the path in one breath. Only after turning the corner beside the cafeteria, completely out of sight of the convenience store entrance, did she let go.

She bent over, hands on her knees, panting.

Liu Qingqiao had been dragged until she was nearly dead. She leaned against a streetlight pole, gasping for a long time before straightening up.

"Shi Qi, what are you running for?" Liu Qingqiao panted as she spoke. "You... you give someone stuff and then run off like... like a thief."

Shi Qi didn't speak. She straightened up, her ears still red.

Liu Qingqiao glanced at her and couldn't help but laugh.

She took a sip of her mung bean soup and said slowly, "This afternoon you told me you were helping your cousin deliver milk tea, and tonight you're helping your cousin deliver mung bean soup again? You're really good to your cousin."

"...Shut up."

"I'm not done yet. You forgot Zhao Yan's portion too. He's still howling at the cafeteria entrance."

Shi Qi remembered too. She frowned, pulled out her phone, and checked. Sure enough, Zhao Yan had sent three messages.

"Where is my mung bean soup???"

"Shi Qi, come out and explain. Four cups of mung bean soup, three people, how did mine disappear???"

"Shi Qi, I'm telling you, we are never sisters again..."

Shi Qi stared at the screen, wanting to laugh but also feeling guilty. Finally, she typed a few words back: "Forgot. Sorry, sister."

Zhao Yan replied instantly: "Forgot? You forgot??? You say you forgot??? We're not sisters anymore!! I'm done with you!"

Shi Qi didn't reply again. She put her phone back in her pocket.

Liu Qingqiao stood nearby, sipping her mung bean soup while watching her send messages.

"Shi Qi."

"Hm?"

"Does your cousin know what you did today?"

Shi Qi thought about it. Chen Yu didn't know she'd gone to the convenience store tonight, nor did he know she'd delivered another cup of mung bean soup to Yu Cheng.

She didn't even plan to tell him. What would be the point? That kid would definitely send a string of grateful stickers and then urge her to keep delivering tomorrow, and the day after that.

"He doesn't know," Shi Qi said. "I don't plan to tell him."

"Why?"

Shi Qi hadn't figured out how to answer.