Chapter 4 – Competing for Attention

◎ Don’t you know about first come, first served? ◎

When something feels off, it usually is.

Gu Ying’s first instinct was to turn around and leave, but the dozen or so pairs of eyes stuck to her like glue, not budging for even a second.

Zhang Tao was often seen tagging along with Gui Xiwen. If she publicly snubbed Zhang Tao in front of all these people, it would be the same as offending Gui Xiwen himself. And with so many neighbors around as witnesses, there’d be no way to deny it.

After weighing her options, Gu Ying reluctantly moved her feet and walked toward Zhang Tao, who had taken it upon himself to act familiar with her.

The closer she got, the stronger her sense of unease grew. The people around her were all casting curious, probing looks her way, as if trying to break down her sudden appearance into facts and figures.

Gu Ying suppressed the anxiety bubbling in her chest and continued walking toward Zhang Tao step by step. His excitement was written all over his face, as though he was genuinely thrilled she was coming over. Gu Ying, however, was baffled by this inexplicable enthusiasm.

Next to him, Gui Xiwen presented a stark contrast. He sat slightly turned away, his head tilted at just the right angle to avoid looking at her—even once.

Strange. Far too strange.

It was all just so out of sync.

Just as Gu Ying was about to reach the empty seat Zhang Tao had pointed out—still puzzled over what was going on—a crisp, clear female voice suddenly called out to stop her.

“Gu Ying, come sit over here.”

Gu Ying instinctively turned her head and saw a girl with a high ponytail smiling kindly at her.

She remembered her—Li Qing. They’d met on Gu Ying’s first day after moving into the courtyard.

It had been around dusk. Sun Lanqing, having swiftly cleaned up the house, left a pile of trash behind. Gu Ying, who hadn’t done much to help, was tasked with taking it out.

The city had designated spots for dumping garbage, but Gu Ying didn’t know where they were. Carrying two bags, she asked an elderly lady passing by, who pointed her to a spot and told her to leave them there.

Just as she set the bags down, a sharp female voice rang out nearby: “Hey! Don’t you know there’s a designated place for trash? Why are you dumping it randomly?”

Gu Ying was new and unfamiliar with the area, but she wasn’t the type to take unfair treatment. She pointed not far away and said, “That old lady told me to put it here.”

The girl had gotten angrier, her face full of disdain. “If you didn’t know, just say so. Why blame someone else? People from the countryside really are ignorant.”

Back then, Gu Ying didn’t realize even sharp-tongued girls like her could wear such kind smiles.

Li Qing had probably long forgotten that incident—or assumed Gu Ying had. But she hadn’t. Her memory was sharp.

Suddenly, Gu Ying remembered that Li Qing and Ming Xue were close friends. They were often seen together.

If Li Qing was having breakfast here, then that meant Ming Xue…

Gu Ying shifted her gaze to the right and, sure enough, spotted Ming Xue sitting beside Li Qing.

Ming Xue was beautiful, with delicate features and fair skin—the type who stood out in any crowd. Unfortunately, Gu Ying didn’t pay much attention to appearances, which was probably why she hadn’t noticed her until now.

And so, the real issue revealed itself.

Right now, Zhang Tao—Gui Xiwen’s good friend—had invited her to sit with him. But now Li Qing—Ming Xue’s close friend—was also inviting her to sit?

What were Gui Xiwen and Ming Xue doing here together?

Why were their friends separately inviting her?

Suddenly, Gu Ying understood the meaning behind all those stares earlier. They weren’t looking at her—they were watching a drama unfold.

She froze where she was, slightly at a loss.

Clearly, she should’ve just gone to the canteen for breakfast today.

Had she gone there, none of this nonsense would’ve happened.

Her mind spun in circles, but to everyone else, it seemed like only a few seconds passed before they saw her decisively walking toward Li Qing.

Gu Ying didn’t have a great impression of Li Qing, but under the circumstances, sitting with her was the smarter move.

If she sat with Li Qing, she could always explain things to Gui Xiwen later. But if she chose Zhang Tao’s side, there’d be no explaining things to Ming Xue—or the dozen or so nosy onlookers.

Gu Ying wasn’t clueless—she had good judgment.

The moment she sat down, Li Qing leaned in like an old friend and asked quietly, “Gu Ying, how do you know Zhang Tao and the others?”

Her wording was careful—“Zhang Tao and the others”—but Gu Ying knew exactly what she meant. What Li Qing really wanted to know was how she knew Gui Xiwen. Zhang Tao’s warmth toward her earlier had clearly puzzled her.

There were five people at the small square wooden table. Besides Gu Ying and Li Qing, there was Ming Xue and two other girls Gu Ying wasn’t familiar with. After Li Qing asked her question, Gu Ying noticed the other three all looked at her too, seemingly waiting for her answer.

Gu Ying didn’t even hesitate. “I don’t know them.”

Li Qing clearly hadn’t expected that answer. Her expression stiffened a little. “Zhang Tao called out to you like that just now. Didn’t seem like strangers to me.”

“Maybe he just felt sorry for me,” Gu Ying replied expressionlessly. “Just like you all do.”

That shut the whole table up.

An awkward silence spread quickly.

Unbothered, Gu Ying stood up casually to buy breakfast. She returned with a plate of fried sugar cakes and a bowl of savory tofu pudding, and began eating with a calm and content air.

The others at the table stared at her, momentarily stunned.

They weren’t sure if she was doing this on purpose or if she was just… a bit dim.

But in the gossip mill of the courtyard, Gu Ying had never been known as clever or bright. Everyone said the new girl from the countryside was timid, weak, had poor health, and wasn’t much to look at. She stayed in her room all the time and rarely came out.

Now it seemed… not only was her health bad and looks unremarkable, but maybe her brain wasn’t working right either.

Gu Ying, fully misunderstood as a fool, nibbled her sugar cake while subtly glancing over at Zhang Tao. Seeing that he made no move to come over and chat, she finally relaxed a little.

Zhang Tao, sitting at the other table, was visibly annoyed.

He was the one who invited her first—so why had Li Qing suddenly jumped in to steal her away? Didn’t she understand the meaning of “first come, first served”?

But if he made a fuss, it’d seem petty. And yet, not making a fuss left him feeling wronged.

He looked over at Gu Ying, who was happily eating at the other table, and couldn’t help grumbling to Gui Xiwen, “Hey, do you think that tanned girl really knows Li Qing and them? I’ve never seen Ming Xue or Li Qing hanging out with her.”

Gui Xiwen lifted his eyes and gave him a cold glare. “You don’t know her either. Didn’t stop you from inviting her to sit, did it?”

Ah. Here it comes. The post-factum scolding.

Zhang Tao suddenly felt a little guilty about what he did earlier. But what else could he have done? Everyone had been staring at him, and he just couldn’t take the pressure. It seemed like a good idea to share the spotlight.

Still, he muttered stubbornly, “How can you say I don’t know her? We helped her buy candy yesterday, didn’t we?”

“Oh really? Sounds like a deep and meaningful friendship,” Gui Xiwen said dryly, completely shutting him down.

Zhang Tao deflated, sulking in silence. He couldn’t help casting a few resentful glances in Li Qing’s direction.

Li Qing caught them immediately and leaned toward Ming Xue to whisper, “Ming Xue, look—they’re totally targeting you. Zhang Tao’s glared at us several times now. Be careful. I’m worried Gui Xiwen might try to get back at you.”

Gu Ying, who had been quietly and diligently eating breakfast nearby, finally figured out why Gui Xiwen and Ming Xue were sitting together. According to Li Qing, Ming Xue had arrived at Old Chen’s place first for breakfast, and Gui Xiwen, looking for an opportunity to take revenge, had followed soon after.

All of a sudden, Gu Ying began eating faster.

If Gui Xiwen really intended to get revenge, she needed to leave this troublesome place quickly. Her health wasn’t great to begin with—just a few shoves could be too much for her to handle.

To avoid getting caught up in anyone’s personal grudges, Gu Ying completely abandoned her previous leisurely eating posture and began wolfing down her food.

The few people sitting next to her couldn’t help snickering inwardly at the unrefined way she was eating. She looked like a starving ghost reincarnated—who eats breakfast like that? As if she hadn’t eaten in days.

Seeing her like this, the others couldn’t even be bothered to talk to her and just let her eat by herself.

While still keeping an eye on Gui Xiwen, Li Qing began chatting casually with Ming Xue. “Oh right, Ming Xue, yesterday some middle-aged woman wearing a headscarf came to my house looking for you. Said she was your aunt. Do you really have an aunt like that?”

Ming Xue just shook her head and replied calmly, “Some distant relative from who-knows-which branch of the family.”

“Oh, so maybe she heard you fell the other day and came to check on you?” Li Qing asked.

“Nope. She came asking my dad for a favor—didn’t even bring anything with her. My mom’s been in a bad mood lately and cussed her out, then kicked her out.” Ming Xue’s comment made everyone at the table cover their mouths to stifle laughter.

Gu Ying didn’t laugh. She looked up at Ming Xue, puzzled.

Ming Xue rarely spoke on her own. She only answered when Li Qing asked her questions. Her tone remained even and flat, but her face was quite expressive—as if she was deliberately trying to appear less mature.

Gu Ying remembered that the last time she saw Ming Xue, she didn’t act so awkward. Could this be some kind of after-effect from that fall?

But Gu Ying had no time to think further about Ming Xue. She had already finished a plate of fried sugar cakes and now hurriedly picked up her tofu pudding, shoveling it into her mouth one spoonful at a time.

Her anxious eating posture happened to catch Gui Xiwen’s eye just as he looked up. Gui Xiwen let out a light snort, a barely noticeable smirk appearing at the corner of his lips.

This person really eats in such an uncultured way.

But… it did look kind of appetizing.

So Gui Xiwen also picked up a bowl of tofu pudding.

Zhang Tao looked at him in shock. “Xiwen, I thought you never ate tofu pudding?”

“I want to try it,” he replied.

Zhang Tao: “……”

Okay then. Wasn’t it you who once said tofu pudding looked like baby poop?

Just as Gui Xiwen brought his bowl over, Gu Ying wiped her mouth and put down her empty bowl—she was already done.

Gu Ying was very satisfied with how fast she had eaten. Since there was no obvious conflict yet between Gui Xiwen and Ming Xue, this was the perfect time to slip away.

Avoiding trouble is always better than getting involved—Comrade Sun Lan’s advice was absolutely right.

Gu Ying stood up like her feet were greased, ready to leave. “I’m done with breakfast. You guys enjoy; I’m heading back.”

None of the people at the table were familiar with Gu Ying. Li Qing had only called her over earlier to ask about her relationship with Gui Xiwen. No one had paid much attention to her.

Gu Ying wasn’t particularly good-looking, and to make it worse, she was small and thin, looking underdeveloped and lacking any sort of presence. No one here was interested in being friends with someone like that.

Now that she was leaving, everyone was secretly thrilled—if they could bang drums and set off firecrackers to send her off, they would. Just sitting there with them felt like she was lowering their social value.

Gu Ying, of course, understood this too. She didn’t want to be a sore sight either, so she left decisively and quickly.

But she hadn’t walked far when she suddenly heard Li Qing behind her exclaim in surprise: “Hey, Ming Xue, where did you get that Chinese knot around your waist?”

Ming Xue’s voice suddenly brightened from its usual calm tone—there was a hint of joy in it. “Someone gave it to me.”

“Wow, who gave it to you? Was it a boy or a girl?” Li Qing’s gossipy voice rang out from behind.

Gu Ying stopped in her tracks without meaning to.

A terrible feeling rose in her chest, but she resisted the urge to turn around.

She kept walking, telling herself it couldn’t be. The Chinese knot she gave Zhang Kuo—there’s no way he would give it to Ming Xue. They weren’t even close.

Besides, Zhang Kuo wasn’t that kind of person. He wouldn’t re-gift something someone else had given him.

It must’ve come from someone else. Don’t overthink it.

As she walked, Gu Ying kept trying to calm herself down, but her pace got slower and slower.

In the end, she turned around decisively, marched back to the table, stopped in front of Ming Xue, and held out her hand coldly. “Let me see your Chinese knot.”