Returning to the Su residence.

Mother Su and little Su Ning immediately surrounded her.

“You just got off the plane, Cici, are you tired? I’ll have the kitchen prepare something for you to eat.” Her daughter had always been raised delicately; this time she traveled far without anyone by her side to take care of her, not even a bodyguard. Mother Su had been endlessly worried. If not for the messages her daughter sent these past two days to report her safety, she would have worried herself to death.

“Jiejie is tired-tired.” Little Su Ning couldn’t even be bothered with his pudding anymore. The little one automatically clung to Su Ci, his small hands even earnestly massaging her legs, obedient to the extreme.

“I’m not tired.” Su Ci touched his head. She found that little Su Ning and little Kuaile were both quiet and well-behaved, adorable children. If they had the chance, they were actually quite suitable to be friends.

Mother Su asked, “Cici, you went to City D this time. You won’t need to keep running over there anymore, right?”

Her daughter only said there were still some matters over there, but hadn’t explained clearly what they were. Yet she vaguely guessed it was probably related to that young boy.

Su Ci shook her head. “No.” After the college entrance exams, Lu Zhe would be coming over.

Only then did Mother Su feel relieved. Suddenly remembering something, she said, “Cici, the youngest son of the He family, He Ermeng, came looking for you several times. I told him you hadn’t returned yet. Does he have something urgent?”

She knew the He family’s youngest son had been pursuing Cici for several years.

But since her daughter was still young, neither she nor her husband wished for her to date. However, she also knew her daughter’s standards were high. Even the He family’s young son, she wouldn’t like — let alone the other boys at school.

So when it came to their daughter’s dating matters, they were quite at ease.

“I know. I’ll contact him,” Su Ci replied casually, not intending to bother with He Ermeng at all.

She had already guessed that He Ermeng was looking for her merely because of the phone call Lu Zhe picked up.

He Ermeng wasn’t anyone to her; they had no relation. She didn’t want to explain nor pay him any attention.

“Right, one more thing.” Mother Su smiled and said to her daughter, “Your father has decided to host a banquet in ten days to announce your return. Otherwise, people will keep thinking our Cici is really dead.”

“Ten days?” Su Ci froze.

“What’s wrong?” Mother Su saw her daughter react strongly. “Cici, you don’t want to?”

“It’s not that.” Su Ci pressed her lips together. She looked at the life-value on Mother Su’s wrist — only ten days left. It also meant that they would meet with disaster on the day of that banquet.

Mother Su patted her daughter’s head. “That day we’ll only invite a few close friends among the wealthy families and business partners. No reporters, no outsiders. In a couple of days, I’ll have several designed gowns sent over for you to choose from.” Her daughter would surely be the most beautiful.

Suppressing her thoughts, Su Ci nodded. “Okay.”

The next day.

When she returned to the classroom, Su Ci immediately saw He Ermeng, brazenly occupying her deskmate’s seat.

“Cici, you’re here.” Like a small dog that smelled meat, the moment he saw Su Ci appear, He Ermeng instantly brightened up.

“Cici, I brought lots of breakfast for you. See what you like.” He Ermeng wore the Chuangming High School uniform, his features sharp and handsome.

Su Ci rejected him directly. “I’m not eating.”

He Ermeng circled around her. “Cici, you already ate at home? It’s okay, you can have some snacks when you get hungry after class. These are what I had the family chef make especially for you. You’ll definitely like them.”

“I’m not hungry. Take them back and eat them yourself. Class is about to start, what are you still doing here?” If it were any other girl, being courted this earnestly by the little tyrant, she would have melted long ago. But that didn’t apply to Su Ci.

The classmates secretly watched, sighing that the little tyrant only ever yielded in front of Su Ci.

Of course, a small number who couldn’t stomach it felt Su Ci was too arrogant. He Ermeng had pursued her for so long, yet she always ignored him. They couldn’t understand what kind of boy, in her eyes, could possibly be worthy of her.

“Cici, I haven’t seen you for several days.” He Ermeng’s dark eyes burned as he looked at her. “You went to City D? That day I called you, who was the boy who answered your phone?”

At the time, he had been so agitated he nearly bought a plane ticket to fly to City D to find her.

Su Ci pushed away the face he leaned toward her. “It has nothing to do with you.”

He Ermeng’s expression collapsed instantly.

His whole face was filled with sorrow as he looked at her, aggrieved. “Cici, I was just jealous, so I wanted to know who that boy was, why he could hold your phone, and even help you answer your calls.” He paused, then guessed, “Could it be that Cici’s phone was stolen?”

Compared to anything else, he would honestly rather her phone had been stolen.

Su Ci couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “Your phone is what got stolen.”

She stabbed directly into He Ermeng’s chest. “I gave him my phone to hold. If he answers my calls for me, I’m happy enough already. What kind of relationship do you think I have with him?”

Su Ci herself didn’t even know what kind of relationship she and Lu Zhe had now. If she had to seriously define it, they were probably at the stage of saliva exchange.

He Ermeng froze.

He took a deep breath. “Cici, that joke isn’t funny at all. If you don’t want breakfast, I’ll take it away.”

He stood up and casually handed all the carefully prepared large boxes of breakfast to the people in the row behind him, startling them into a dazed expression.

“Cici, I’ll go back to class first. If you need anything, just have someone call me from the next class,” He Ermeng said, looking at the girl a bit reluctantly.

“Just go already.” Su Ci said impatiently.

A study slacker who never studied properly, his brain full of romance all day, and he still expected her to like him? Impossible!

She and Lu Zhe were both top of the grade, and even they weren’t dating yet!

He Ermeng could only leave Su Ci’s classroom. The handsome face that had looked like a pitiful little puppy moments ago now showed no trace of it. His brows carried deep violence. Once he found out who that boy on the phone had been, he would kill him.

The class was already used to seeing the little tyrant storm off angrily or heartbroken because of Su Ci, but once again, they witnessed her pride and cold heart.

At the corner seat of the first group, a girl finished eating melon seeds and happily posted on the forum: “The school tyrant gets rejected by the school belle again.”

As Su Ci’s classmate, she always posted every tiny movement related to Su Ci on the forum at the first moment, and many people followed her threads.

Sure enough, soon after she posted, comments began flooding in.

She nudged her deskmate. “Duoyu, how many times do you think this makes that Su Ci has ruthlessly rejected the school tyrant?”

Wen Duoyu was startled by the touch and sat up straight. “What?”

“Were you not listening to me?” The girl rolled her eyes. “I said, how many times has Su Ci rejected He Ermeng already?”

“I don’t know.” Wen Duoyu’s spirits were not good.

The girl pursed her lips, her tone carrying a sour edge. “What’s wrong with you these past two days? You’re always spacing out when I talk to you. You think you’re Su Ci? Eyes always looking down on people?”

Wen Duoyu didn’t dare talk back. She moved her lips, then finally spoke. “Can you lend me five thousand yuan?”

“What?” The girl gave Wen Duoyu a strange look. “You just asked to borrow two thousand from me last week, and you haven’t even paid me back yet.”

The girl pursed her lips. “I’m just saying, since you special-aid students came to our school, you should study properly. The school didn’t admit you so you could learn how to spend money. When are you going to pay me back?”

Wen Duoyu’s fingers holding her pen turned pale. She spoke softly, “I don’t have money right now, but I’ll return it to you as soon as I can.”

“When is ‘as soon as you can’?”

The girl was slightly dissatisfied. “I really don’t know why the school admits people like you. The grade rank one is Su Ci; grade rank two and three aren’t you special-aid students either. Your grades are only top twenty in the class, nothing impressive.”

She added again, “Truly can’t understand why the school admitted you.”

Wen Duoyu’s lips were bitten until they turned white. She lowered her head, not making a sound.

The girl found her boring. She pursed her lips and continued scrolling on the forum.

Su Ci received a call from the driver. The car had run into some trouble on the road and would be late, so she could only wait in the classroom.

“Cici, ride home in my car.” After school, He Ermeng rushed over again.

His features were outstanding, and with his background, his brows carried a natural arrogance. He had once told Su Ci that he was the school’s campus prince—he hadn’t been lying.

Many girls at school liked He Ermeng, especially with the affectionate persona he had on campus. Even if he looked hard to approach, nearly every day some girl confessed to him.

And now, his gaze had softened like a pitiful little puppy, trying to please Su Ci. If it were any other girl, she would have softened and fallen for him long ago.

Su Ci glanced at him, annoyed. “There are less than two months before the college entrance exam. You’re ranked dead last in the grade, and you still have the nerve to bother me? Sit farther away. Stupidity is contagious.”

Thick-skinned as he was, He Ermeng wasn’t bothered at all by being despised. “Cici, you know the college entrance exam isn’t important to people like us.”

Others relied on the exam to change their fate. But for people like them, their birth had already determined everything. Scoring well on the exam was merely icing on the cake.

Su Ci rested her chin on one hand and rolled her eyes. “Don’t use your own stupidity as an excuse.”

“Cici hopes I’ll study seriously?” He Ermeng gazed at her with dark, bright eyes.

“Whether you study or not has nothing to do with me.” She only cared about Lu Zhe’s grades, but since his grades were excellent, he didn’t even need her to care.

At that moment, Su Ci’s phone rang. It was the driver calling.

She slung her bag over her shoulder, ignored the still-chattering He Ermeng, and left directly.

“Cici, wait for me.” In one leap, He Ermeng jumped handsomely out of his seat and chased after her. “Cici, can I ride home in your car?”

Su Ci said speechlessly, “After saying so much, your mouth isn’t tired?”

“Not tired. Thank you for your concern, Cici.” He Ermeng’s black eyes looked damp as he gazed at her.

Su Ci didn’t even want to give him a glance. She suddenly felt a bit grateful that Lu Zhe wasn’t talkative. His cold personality was worlds apart from He Ermeng’s… and quite nice, actually.

At this moment, a girl walked out of the doorway with her head lowered and accidentally bumped into Su Ci.

“Watch where you’re going.” He Ermeng pushed the girl aside with one hand, then turned around anxiously to ask Su Ci, “Cici, are you okay? You didn’t get hurt, did you? Does it hurt? Do you want me to rub it for you?”

Su Ci slapped away his reaching hand, irritated. “I’m not made of glass; I don’t shatter from a bump.” She looked toward the girl He Ermeng had pushed into the wall. “Are you okay?”

The girl was Wen Duoyu. With her head lowered, she shook it, then left.

As she passed by, Su Ci saw the life-value on her wrist — a thin, faint red line, with a note beside it: 15 minutes.