Chapter 24: Chapter 24: What to Do If My Parents Are Called to School?

Back then, Xu Su took pleasure in provoking Zhou Mochen. She was always taking jabs at him in their daily interactions, so there was no way she would suddenly stoop to asking him not to fire her cousin.

And Zhou Mochen showed no mercy to his wife’s younger cousin. He went so far as to blacklist Zhang Yingying throughout Beijing, forcing her to move back to Chang City.

His ruthlessness made Xu Su think he was punishing her yet again. After all, Zhou Mochen had always enjoyed using such tactics to teach her a lesson.

Sensing Xu Su’s gaze, Zhang Yingying looked up at her older cousin and gave a somewhat distant smile.

Xu Su smiled back and asked, “Just started junior high this year?”

Zhang Yingying nodded. “Yeah, at Second High School.”

Xu Su was surprised for a moment, then it hit her: Zhang Yingying’s junior high was right next to her own school.

Second High was also a key school in Chang City. Compared to the boys of the Xu Family—who either dropped out or went to vocational schools—the girls of the third generation were, by contrast, one more outstanding than the next.

Aside from Xu Su, whose grades would later decline, causing her to barely scrape into an undergraduate program, both sisters, Zhang Yingying and Zhang Tingting, would go on to get into top universities in Beijing.

Xu Su encouraged them, “Study hard.” Then she looked at Zhang Tingting. “You too. Make sure you study hard.”

Even though they were peers, her tone was exactly like that of an elder.

Zhang Yingying was a little surprised by her tone but still nodded silently. Looking at her skin-and-bones frame, who could have seen the vibrant, confident metropolitan woman she would become more than a decade later?

No one at the women’s table was drinking, so they finished their meal quickly.

The men’s table, on the other hand, was a different story. The three Xu Family brothers rarely gathered, and Mr. Xu himself loved to drink, so their meal lasted for a very long time.

After sitting for a while longer, Xu Su excused herself, took a bus back to school, and then rode her bicycle home.

After arriving home, Xu Su thought for a moment and decided to open the red envelopes. She had a good memory and could still tell which of the five envelopes in her hand came from whom.

The red envelope from her grandparents contained twenty yuan. Her youngest uncle’s had ten, and her aunt’s husband’s also contained twenty. What surprised Xu Su was that the envelope from her eldest uncle—the one who was born mute and had hearing problems—was filled with a full fifty yuan.

Xu Su’s eldest uncle had been disabled since birth and had no income. He earned a little money by collecting bottles near the stalls at night markets. Coincidentally, Xu Ruyue’s husband’s family was in the scrap collection business, so he always took the bottles and scrap he found to sell to his brother-in-law.

Although Xu Ruyue’s husband wasn’t great to his wife, he hadn’t lost all sense of decency. He never deliberately shortchanged his mute brother-in-law when he came to sell scrap.

’Right now, the old couple of the Xu Family are still around, so Xu Jian Country lives with his parents and doesn’t have to worry about food and clothing. But once they’re gone, what kind of life would a bachelor with no income who gets by collecting scrap lead?’

’Would his two younger brothers really take care of their disabled older brother?’

Xu Su felt the fifty yuan weigh heavily in her hand. In her previous life, her grandparents had been alive and well right up until her rebirth.

Her eldest uncle never had much of a presence in the Xu Family. In her past life, Chen Shulan had taken away the red envelope he gave her before Xu Su even had a chance to open it, claiming she was putting it toward her food expenses.

Therefore, she had never known that the gift her eldest uncle gave his eldest niece was the most generous of all the relatives.

Sure enough, when Chen Shulan and her husband returned that evening, they asked about the red envelopes.

Xu Su obediently took out the red envelopes and handed them over. Chen Shulan didn’t suspect her daughter of hiding any money; although she favored her son, she still trusted her daughter’s character.

When they heard that her eldest uncle had given her fifty yuan, Chen Shulan and her husband were quite surprised.

Xu Weiping was particularly touched, saying repeatedly that even though his older brother was mute, he had a good head on his shoulders and knew who his real family was.

The weekend passed just like that, and on Monday, it was time to go back to school.

As soon as she entered the classroom, Xu Su noticed the atmosphere was different than usual. Classmates she had already gotten to know kept stealing furtive glances at her.

Xu Su touched her face but didn’t feel anything. She quietly asked her deskmate, Luo Huayang, “Is there something on my face?”

Luo Huayang clearly knew what was going on. He stammered for a moment, then leaned in close and whispered, “The rumor going around class is that you and the class president are dating.”

Xu Su froze. ’I’m dating Xi Zirong? How come I’m the last to know?’

She instantly recalled walking with Xi Zirong for a while the previous afternoon and getting on the same bus. A classmate must have seen them.

’I never would have thought that in an age with so little entertainment, teenagers could be such gossips. Their imaginations are incredible. A boy and a girl stand a little too close, and baseless rumors start spreading.’

Xu Su felt a little helpless. She and Xi Zirong barely interacted on a normal day; walking together yesterday had been a pure coincidence.

’What if this rumor reaches Teacher Wu’s ears and he calls my parents in?’

She explained earnestly, “There’s nothing going on. If you hear anyone else saying that, please help me tell them I’m not dating Xi Zirong.”

As one of the people involved, Xu Su couldn’t very well make a big fuss and explain it to everyone individually, but she couldn’t let the rumor spread unchecked either.

’And who was Xi Zirong? He was the apple of every teacher’s eye. Anything that could possibly distract him from his studies was public enemy number one for the faculty.’

’The last thing Xu Su wanted was to get on Teacher Wu’s radar.’

During lunch in the cafeteria, Huang Feng brought up the topic as well.

Xu Su repeated her earnest explanation. Huang Feng had attended junior high at First High School, so she knew a lot of students. Having her step in to clarify would surely have an effect.

Sure enough, after a couple of days, Xu Su no longer felt those gossipy stares on her.

During the lunch break, Huang Feng, Qian Jia, and the other girls gathered around. Being teenage girls, they inevitably chatted about the usual topics.

The conversation went from which teachers were easiest to understand to the hot guys and pretty girls in every class.

In fact, everyone had already heard a thing or two about the most eye-catching freshmen in each class back during military training.

For instance, Xu Su had been crowned the new school beauty of First High School, while also holding the title of class beauty for the advanced class.

Apparently, the choice for school beauty in previous years had always been a bit controversial, but Xu Su’s appointment this year was unanimously approved by the boys from all twenty-something classes in their grade.

The most famous students in the advanced class this year were Xi Zirong, the renowned “study god” from junior high, and Xu Su, the “school beauty” who had tested in from a county-level town.

That was why, when the rumor that the two of them might be dating started spreading a few days ago, so many people were paying attention, both openly and secretly.

Now that things were cleared up, Qian Jia and the other girls were curious what kind of person Xu Su was interested in.

After all, if she wasn’t even interested in Xi Zirong, it was hard to imagine who could possibly catch her eye.

At their age, it wasn’t uncommon for high school students to be secretly dating. They already understood what it meant to like someone.

Huang Feng had told her there were three couples in the advanced class alone. Xu Su had secretly observed them and found they were all still at the stage of explaining homework problems to each other. ’I guess that’s what romance is like for top students,’ she mused.

If Huang Feng hadn’t told her they were couples, Xu Su would never have guessed in a million years.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep