Chu Lian’s reaction was a bit intense. Meeting Shu Lingchen’s stunned gaze, she realized her mistake a moment too late.
“What I mean is, a clean hand wants no washing. Ah Chen, if we go out of our way to clarify it, it’ll just make it look like we have something to hide.”
Shu Lingchen recalled that in the past, whenever there were any rumors involving him and Chuchu, she would always be the first to clarify that it was a misunderstanding. His eyes grew unreadable, yet he remained persistent.
“Chuchu, I still think it would be better if you clarified it. Everyone on the school forum thinks you two are together.”
Chu Lian was growing impatient with how Shu Lingchen just wouldn’t let this go. Her tone turned sharp. “I already said there’s no need!”
Shu Lingchen’s throat bobbed. He asked, almost in disbelief, “Chuchu, I don’t see even a hint of rejection on your face regarding the rumors about you and Shi Jin. Are you… are you willing to let it happen?”
Chu Lian pursed her lips and looked him dead in the eye.
She thought to herself that since this fool no longer possessed any value, there was no longer any need to keep coddling him.
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“Xiaochen, don’t blame Auntie for never giving you a chance. When I asked you to help collect money before, you refused to do it. Look at you now—you have no money and no apartment. My daughter is so outstanding; how could she possibly consider you? To starve along with you?”
“Auntie Chu, debt collecting is illegal. It can’t be done. Aside from that, I will find other ways to work hard and earn money,” Shu Lingchen said urgently. “Really, I’ve been working hard to make money lately. I’ve already made nearly twenty thousand!”
As soon as those words left his mouth.
Mother Chu and Chu Lian instantly exchanged a look.
“Really?” Mother Chu’s face transformed in a split second. Delighted, she hurriedly asked, “How did you make it? Where is the money? Let me see it. I’m telling you, Xiaochen, Auntie has been wanting to change her phone lately.”
Shu Lingchen explained awkwardly, “The money isn’t with me. I… I can’t withdraw it for the time being.”
The money he earned from raising his hand to answer questions and reciting texts hadn’t reached the 200,000 threshold yet, so he couldn’t cash it out.
Hearing this, Mother Chu’s excitement vanished into thin air. She immediately concluded that Shu Lingchen was lying to deceive them, and her face fell completely. “For the time being? More like you’ll never be able to take it out. Right now, you can’t even produce a single penny from your entire body.”
“…”
It was true. The only money Shu Lingchen had on him was on a meal card inside his backpack, but that balance could only be swiped at school; it couldn’t be withdrawn to spend elsewhere.
“Well, there you have it. What a waste of my breath.” Mother Chu curled her lip and waved her hand dismissively. “Alright, stop loitering here. Auntie won’t be keeping you for dinner either. Hurry up and go back.”
With that, Mother Chu carried her small pouch, entered the apartment, and closed the door without giving Shu Lingchen another glance.
Shu Lingchen stood there, utterly dumbfounded.
He had never seen Mother Chu act this way, nor had he ever been treated like this by her.
It was as if Auntie Chu had become a completely different person, her attitude doing a total 180-degree turn.
“Ah Chen, you should go back first.”
After dropping those words, Chu Lian also bypassed Shu Lingchen and headed inside.
The door slammed shut right in front of his face.
All the light from inside was cut off, and the motion-sensor light in the hallway flickered out as well.
Shu Lingchen was left standing all by himself, completely at a loss in the darkness.
After a long while.
He lowered his head, turned around, and walked downstairs to leave.
…
Neither the mother nor the daughter of the Chu family cared about Shu Lingchen’s feelings.
Inside the apartment.
Mother Chu couldn’t wait to ask Chu Lian, “How are things progressing between you and that wealthy young master from your class?”
Chu Lian smiled with satisfaction. “After school, we’ve already gone out to review and study together twice.”
Mother Chu: “Good, that’s wonderful.”
Then Chu Lian frowned. “But there’s one annoying thing—Shu Lingchen is still an obstacle. I can’t wait to be linked with Shi Jin, but he just had to go and clear things up for me. So annoying.”
“A young master from a wealthy family like Shi Jin won’t like dealing with someone who is tangled up with street thugs.”
Chu Lian opened her phone and saw that Shu Lingchen had sent another message.
The content was nothing more than promises about how he would work hard to earn money in the future and would definitely never let her starve.
Chu Lian didn’t even bother to finish reading it.
All her focus was now on Shi Jin. Most importantly, she simply didn’t believe that a good-for-nothing street thug could ever earn much money on his own in the future.
Chu Lian held up her phone screen to show Mother Chu. At this moment, the face that had always looked pure and innocent was coated in a layer of mercenary calculation that didn’t match her age, making her look strangely discordant.
“I suppose I acted too well in front of Shu Lingchen before. This fool still hasn’t realized what’s actually going on; he probably thinks he did something wrong to make us angry.”
“This kid is completely useless now.” Mother Chu snorted and reminded her, “Don’t let him ruin things between you and Shi Jin.”
Chu Lian: “Of course I know that.”
Now that she had a path leading to Shi Jin, she needed to rid herself of Shu Lingchen—that annoying dog-skin plaster—as quickly as humanly possible 1Translator’s Note: “Dog-skin plaster” (狗皮膏藥) is a Chinese idiom used to describe someone or something that sticks to you stubbornly and is incredibly difficult to shake off or get rid of.
After a moment, Chu Lian suddenly said, “Mom, do this: call Shu Lingchen over again tomorrow.”
Mother Chu looked puzzled. “What for?”
Chu Lian’s tone carried a hidden meaning. “I heard that Aunt just quit her job recently, right? Call Aunt over here tomorrow too.”
The next day.
Shu Lingchen shamelessly begged Shu Shu to advance him two hundred yuan out of the money he had earned from reciting texts.
He pleaded with Shu Shu to make an exception just this once.
Shu Shu silently looked at her somewhat dim-witted son for a moment before finally relenting and agreeing.
After school.
Shu Lingchen reported to Shu Shu, grabbed his backpack, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Pei Muyin came to find Shu Shu and asked if Shu Lingchen wouldn’t be eating dinner with them today either.
“Yeah, he has something to take care of.”
Shu Shu looked at Pei Muyin, reaching up to gently pinch the soft baby fat on the girl’s cheek as she asked for her opinion. “Little Mousse, is it okay if we have our dinner a bit later today?”
“Okay.” Pei Muyin nodded obediently. As long as she was with Sister Mousse, anything was fine. Then, she curiously asked Shu Shu for the reason.
Shu Shu blinked her peach-blossom eyes and said mysteriously, “Because we have something to take care of, too.”
Clutching the two hundred yuan given by Shu Shu, Shu Lingchen rushed straight to the supermarket and bought two boxes of milk.
Last night.
Chu Lian had sent Shu Lingchen a message, saying that her aunt had returned and asking him to come over for a meal together.
Shu Lingchen thought that Chu Lian and Mother Chu were no longer angry, even though he hadn’t understood why they were upset in the first place.
Precisely because he heard that Chu Lian’s aunt was coming, he had begged Shu Shu for the two hundred yuan.
When meeting Chuchu’s relatives, going empty-handed would be bad manners.
Thus, carrying the two boxes of milk, Shu Lingchen made his way all the way to the residential building where the Chu family lived.
He went upstairs and knocked on the door.
“Coming.”
Chu Lian came over to open the door.
As soon as Shu Lingchen stepped inside, he called out a greeting to Auntie Chu. Then, turning toward the woman whose back was facing him next to Mother Chu, he prepared to greet her with a smile. “This must be Chuchu’s aunt. Aunt—”
The polite greeting died in his throat.
The woman turned around, revealing her face.
Shu Lingchen saw the very woman who had abused him back at the orphanage when he was a child—
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