Chapter 30

Standing still in place like a wooden chicken for over ten seconds, Li Zhe caught up and spoke with a deliberate tone,

“B-b-b-b-b-b-b-brother Yan.. what you just said… it surely… surely isn’t true, right?”

“Mm.”

Shang Yan, after teasing, walked lazily towards the depths of the cafeteria with one hand in his pocket.

“…it’s fake.”

Li Zhe breathed a sigh of relief, flashing a smile tinged with lingering fear.

Unfortunately, before his smile could hold, a tall-legged boy in front of him uttered without turning back,

“But if you keep coveting her, I can’t guarantee when it won’t come true.”

Zhe: “??????”

However, Shang Yan ignored him and proceeded directly towards one of the serving windows.

Approaching, Shang Yan found Su Miao Miao going through her third process of being squeezed out from the crowd.

———

The cafeterias at Sanzhong School were typically organized with students queuing up for meals, as there would be patrolling teachers supervising the process. However, on the occasional day when the teachers were absent, the students immediately became enthusiastically engaged in a live enactment of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest.”

In this “jungle” environment, the students most likely to be eliminated were those of smaller stature. Watching the serving window grow farther away, amidst the noisy commotion, Su Miao Miao’s small face began to pale.

After being pushed back into the crowd for the third time, she weakly held her tray and lowered her head. Suddenly, a forceful shove from behind caused her to lose her balance and stagger backward.

Startled, the girl hastily reached out to the side, but in an instant, her hand was enveloped by a warm palm, and her waist was supported.

Quickly standing upright, she turned around, saying, “Thank you… Master?”

Su Miao Miao looked up in surprise at the young man.

On the cold, pale face of the young man, his expression seemed somewhat unfriendly at that moment.

The hostility swirled halfway in his dark pupils as he lowered his eyes to size up the girl, quietly asking, “Are you hurt?”

Su Miao Miao shook her head.

Shang Yan glanced up, his gaze falling on a boy in the crowd ahead who was still struggling to push in.

All emotions in his dark eyes suddenly sank to the depths.

Shang Yan furrowed his brow.

Taking a couple of steps forward, he grabbed the boy by the back of his collar with one hand, veins bulging.

With a dull thud as something hit the ground, the boy was knocked down flat.

“Whoa—what…”

The shocked crowd erupted into a commotion, hastily scattering in all directions.

“Bro…. Brother Yan…?”

The boy on the ground snapped out of it, looking at Shang Yan in fear.

Shang Yan looked down expressionlessly, his lips twitching slightly.

His voice was as cold as iron in midwinter—”You blind to be stepping on others to push forward?”

It had been a month since the start of the school year, and the name “Shang Yanlou” was already known throughout Sanzhong.

The boy on the ground, trembling lips, stammered, “I’m sorry, Brother Yan… I didn’t see…”

Beside him, Su Miao Miao, who had been stunned, finally regained her senses and hurriedly grabbed the hem of the boy’s shirt at his waist.

“Master, please don’t be so harsh.”

Shang Yan’s figure stiffened momentarily, but eventually, he lowered his eyes and released his grip, suppressing his anger. He turned away with a cold glance.

After the recent chaos, the area around the serving windows fell silent. The students’ gazes shifted towards them.Li Zhe, who had been standing foolishly aside, finally came to his senses, approached with a mournful face, and waved his hand.

“Get in line! Don’t act like you’ve never seen food in eight lifetimes, embarrassing yourselves!”

There was some commotion among the students. Soon, orderly queues formed in front of all the serving windows in the cafeteria.

Shang Yan picked up new trays and chopsticks from the utensil area and stood shoulder to shoulder with Su Miao Miao at the end of one of the queues.

The students in front of them were silent, occasionally sneaking glances back.

Su Miao Miao wore a somber expression.

Shang Yan stared at her for a moment, his cold demeanor softening.

“What’s wrong? Angry at me?”

“…”

Su Miao Miao remained silent, quietly lifting her head to glance at him.

After a moment’s thought, she earnestly advised, “Master, you shouldn’t be so harsh. People won’t like you…”

“What about you?”

“Ah?”

Not sure how the conversation turned towards her, Su Miao Miao looked up at Shang Yan in bewilderment.

Shang Yan’s gaze flickered. He indulged his own desires, subtly setting a trap.

“Don’t you like me anymore, kid?”

Su Miao Miao realized and quickly shook her head.

Her nose wrinkled slightly, her expression oddly serious, with a glint in her amber eyes.

“I will always like you, Master.”

The targeted little creature fell into the trap without realizing.

Tongue against his palate, Shang Yan lowered his head, a silent smirk playing on his lips.

His eyes were pitch black.

“You’d better remember that.”

Su Miao Miao: “…”

The back of her neck suddenly felt cool.

Under the gaze of nearly half the cafeteria, Su Miao Miao hastily grabbed her meal from Shang Yan and hurried back to the spot she had agreed upon with Qi Wenyue and Liao Lanxin as their “base.”

As soon as she sat down and placed her tray, Qi Wenyue reached over with both hands, grasping her left hand and holding it up.

“Miao Miao, promise me that whenever the patrolling teacher is absent, you’ll remember to invite your Master to come and walk around the cafeteria.”

Su Miao Miao was left speechless by her request.

Liao Lanxin glanced disdainfully at Qi Wenyue, then turned back, tapping her tray with a contented expression.

“However, today truly was the best experience I’ve had getting a meal in this cafeteria.”

After exchanging jokes, the three of them began eating.

Qi Wenyue, engrossed in her phone, was determined to dig out the identity of Su Miao Miao’s mysterious new “stepmother” from online forums.

Su Miao Miao nervously brushed it off.

Just as she took a bite of her food, Qi Wenyue suddenly gasped.

Su Miao Miao’s fingertips trembled in fright.

She turned to look.

Liao Lanxin, sitting opposite, seemed surprised. “You found it already?”

“No, no…”

Qi Wenyue waved her hand excitedly. She took a sip of water from the nearby cup, cleared the food that had choked her throat, then pointed at her phone screen and said to Su Miao Miao:

“I just read on the forum, it’s insider news—next month is the school’s 20th anniversary celebration.”

Liao Lanxin remained silent for a moment before waving her hand. “What’s there to get excited about?”

“The key is not that,” Qi Wenyue tapped her screen. “The key is someone on that forum mentioned that because of photo shoots for publicity and historical records, this year’s anniversary event will have two students chosen as the most visually appealing hosts!”

Liao Lanxin understood, her gaze meaningful as it landed on Su Miao Miao.

Su Miao Miao, who was eating obediently, hesitated for a few seconds before slowly looking up.

“I won’t be hosting.”

Qi Wenyue slapped her shoulder enthusiastically.

“Who said anything about hosting, darling? They’re looking for the most visually appealing promotional hosts this time, and your appearance is already a clear pass!”

Liao Lanxin suddenly asked, “How many girls will be selected?”

“Just one,” Qi Wenyue replied without hesitation.

Liao Lanxin glanced at her with a complex expression, signaling something with her eyes.

Qi Wenyue caught on. “Oh, right! How could I forget about Shu Wei? She may not match Miao Miao in terms of looks, but she’s been popular at Sanzhong for quite a while.”

Upon hearing Shu Wei’s name from Qi Wenyue, Su Miao Miao’s movements involuntarily paused.

Remembering the scene she witnessed outside the library water room that morning, she lowered her eyes slightly.

Unconsciously, various emotions faded from the girl’s beautiful face.

Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and her rosy lips pressed together.

She rarely harbored ill feelings towards anyone.

She also seldom participated in any activities that required her to speak or be in the public eye.

But if she was competing against Shu Wei…

Perhaps this was the first time in her life that she felt a desire to compete with someone for something.

Under Liao Lanxin’s prompting gaze, Qi Wenyue came back to her senses and quickly smiled at Su Miao Miao.

“But right now, it’s all just hearsay. Although some people are talking about an internal election and voting, there hasn’t been any official word about voting yet. Maybe it’s just a rumor they started.”

Qi Wenyue said this while tapping her tray.

“Let’s eat first! The first class this afternoon is PE. You missed the last class, uh, because of those annoying people led by Qiao Xinyi, right? The PE teacher even asked about you while holding the attendance list.”

“Mm.”

….

After lunch, the three of them didn’t return to the classroom but headed straight to the sports field.

The sports field was unusually crowded today.

Passing by the garden area, the three stood by the basketball court. Liao Lanxin glanced around unexpectedly and turned to ask Qi Wenyue, “Is there a school basketball game today?”

Qi Wenyue paused for a moment, then smacked her forehead. “How could I forget about that?!”

With that, she prepared to rush diagonally across the field. “Ah, I’m going to cheer for my little angel, Chu Ming!”

Su Miao Miao listened nearby, feeling confused.

Liao Lanxin looked disdainfully at Qi Wenyue and explained, “Chu Ming is the captain of the school basketball team. He looks good and plays basketball very well. Qi Wenyue is his number one fan girl.”

Su Miao Miao understood and nodded.As Qi Wenyue was about to rush over, a classmate standing half a meter away teased her,

“What’s this, Qi Wenyue? Are you betraying us?”

Qi Wenyue responded, “Betrayal? How am I betraying anyone?”

The classmate replied, “Today isn’t just about the school basketball game. There’s also a friendly match between our class and Class Three. If you’re not here cheering for our class and go running over there, isn’t that betrayal?”

Qi Wenyue was stunned. “Our class and Class Three, this period?”

“Yeah,” the classmate nodded with a smile, pointing in the direction diagonally across the basketball court.

“Didn’t you notice? Even Shang Yan, who rarely attends PE, is here.”

Qi Wenyue was speechless.”……”

Su Miao Miao subconsciously looked over in the direction mentioned.

Across more than half of the basketball court, she indeed spotted his figure.

The boy stood among Li Zhe and others, dressed in a new set of sportswear—a sleek, black version that accentuated his long and slender frame, his pale skin looking almost luminescent in the sunlight.

The gazes of most of the girls on the basketball court seemed to be drawn to him, subtly.

Su Miao Miao withdrew her gaze. “Does Shang Yan… play basketball too?”

Upon hearing this, the girl who had spoken earlier from the class looked at Su Miao Miao with a complex expression.

Qi Wenyue burst into laughter. “Miao Miao, darling, you really know so little about your Master, don’t you? Shang Yan not only plays basketball but also received a special invitation to join the school basketball team back in his freshman year—our school’s basketball team is quite well-known in the province, and they never accepted freshmen who weren’t exceptional until him.”

The other girl chimed in, “Joining the school basketball team was a breakthrough for him, but he declined it outright… So it’s not necessarily unfounded that there might be tension between him and Captain Chu.”

Qi Wenyue awkwardly scratched the back of her head. “Back in freshman year, we thought Shang Yan was being a bit too… but then we realized he’s basically a polymath, excelling in every area. It makes sense why he turned down the offer.”

“Yeah,” the other girl agreed.

The girl clearly held a favorable view of Shang Yan and continued with a sigh, “There are rumors around school about his mysterious background, which makes sense… How could someone from an ordinary family possibly raise such a person? It feels like we’ve lived for over a decade, but he seems to have lived twice as long or more, considering how he knows so much…”

After finishing, she turned to Su Miao Miao with a smile and asked, “I heard that you and Brother Yan are master and disciple. Su, have you never heard Brother Yan mention this?”

Su Miao Miao frowned inwardly. “Well… We mostly interact in the computer club. In our daily interactions… we’re not close.”

“Oh, I see.” The girl bid farewell and walked away, leaving Su Miao Miao feeling unsure whether she believed her or not.

Qi Wenyue teased Su Miao Miao with a smile. “Miao Miao, darling, honesty is important. If these words reach our Brother Yan’s, they could really hurt!”

Su Miao Miao nervously glanced in the direction where the boy was standing.

Whether it was a psychic connection or something else, Shang Yan, who had been casually chatting there, suddenly looked in their direction.

Their eyes briefly met, and the sense of guilt that Su Miao Miao had been suppressing instantly multiplied several times over.

She hurriedly avoided his gaze, but this evasion did nothing to divert his attention.

In Su Miao Miao’s heightened awareness of his gaze, Shang Yan seemed to fix his stare more intensely on their location.

Feeling uneasy, Su Miao Miao reached out to pull Qi Wenyue and Liao Lanxin.

“How about we… go over to the school basketball team’s side and take a look?” Su Miao Miao suggested anxiously.

Qi Wenyue teased, “Are you trying to initiate a rebellion?”

But Liao Lanxin glanced knowingly in a certain direction.

Moments later, she lowered her head and chuckled softly. “It’s too late.”

Confused, Su Miao Miao asked, “Huh?”

“Shang Yan is coming over, Miao Miao.”