Chapter 290: Chapter 290: “Only Trouble, Not Happiness.

“I can’t talk right now, I’m really busy,” Shen Chen said. “Just call me if you need anything.”

“Okay, you go ahead.”

After hanging up, Xu Su went back to the classroom. She glanced at the watch in her hand, put it back into its box, and tucked it into her backpack.

’Was Shen Chen telling the truth?’

’He’s almost abnormally nice to me, but guys and girls can have a purely platonic friendship…’

Xu Su sighed. She was full of worries with no one to confide in. Her phone suddenly vibrated—someone in the group chat had @’d her.

Ever since her photo was leaked, she had barely said anything in the group, aside from one long chat on the day it happened.

The other group members seemed to be keeping their distance, too. They used to @ her for a chat all the time, but hardly anyone had done so in the past few days.

Only Sika, Liu Yun, and a few other girls still treated her the same as always.

The person who @’d her was Sika. The girl must have suffered some new setback with her crush, as she was asking quite mournfully:

[Susu, has being good-looking ever gotten you any special treatment in life? For example, the campus belle at our school gets so many love letters she could sell them for scrap.]

Xu Su’s lips twitched. She typed back, speechless: [No. Forget selling them for scrap, I didn’t get a single love letter in all three years of high school.]

’Special treatment for being pretty… I haven’t felt any of that. On the contrary, I was bullied with rumors in middle school because of my looks…’

Sika: [No way! The campus belle at our school’s drawer is full every day, with either gifts or love letters. How could someone as pretty as you not get a single one? Are the students at top high schools all that disciplined?]

You Shan: [I went to a top high school, and plenty of people were dating. No way everyone is that disciplined.]

[Maybe it’s because you’re *too* pretty, so guys are intimidated? Like, the kind of pretty that average guys don’t even dare to look at directly.] Liu Yun sent a drooling turtle sticker.

[Susu, you have to get into University B! When the time comes, I’ll meet you at the freshman reception, help you register, arrange your dorm, and show you around campus. I want to be your first good friend at University B.]

Xu Su: […Thank you, Master Liu Yun.]

Feifei: [There’s another possibility for not getting love letters. Your boyfriend is so outstanding that other guys around you don’t even think about competing. As for the real reason, I think it’s a bit of both.]

The group already knew that Xu Su had had two boyfriends, so Feifei’s comment was met with unanimous agreement.

A group member who rarely surfaced popped up and asked: [Susu, tell us about your love life! I really want to learn how to woo a girlfriend. What’s it like dating a great beauty day-to-day?]

Gossip is human nature, and these young people, who were good at games, especially loved it. Hearing this, they all started chiming in with “+1”.

Xu Su was a little speechless. ’Are they all treating me like a teacher?’

Especially Sika, who was howling with excitement, her earlier sadness completely forgotten.

Glancing at the time, she saw there was still over an hour until her afternoon class. Xu Su decided to just rest her head on her desk for a bit, her fingers lightly tapping out a message on the screen.

[My daily life is just like any other high school student’s. I wake up before dawn and leave the classroom at ten at night. As for how to win over a girlfriend…]

Xu Su thought for a moment, then continued typing: [Well, it was a high school romance. He was very patient when he tutored me, had a great personality… and he was pretty good-looking. There were other little things too, but they’re hard to describe.]

The little moments that build a relationship are impossible to describe simply. Xu Su found she could now talk about Xi Zirong with the group members in a casual, detached way.

You Shan: [I get it. The key point is “pretty good-looking.” If he’d been even a little ugly, it wouldn’t have mattered how patient or nice he was.] (smirk.jpg)

Xu Su readily admitted: […You’re right. That makes a lot of sense.]

’If Xi Zirong had been big and brawny, there’s no way my heart would have softened…’

Sika: [So, the prerequisite for being loved is still being good-looking, right?]

To think that the server’s sixth-ranked beauty also had anxiety about her looks! Seeing Sika’s message, Liu Yun, Feifei, and the other girls were all up in arms.

Nanyang: [Not necessarily. Didn’t Susu say she never even got love letters? It just goes to show that for a true beauty, it’s lonely at the top.]

Beiyue also popped up: [Look at our boss, hasn’t he been single forever? Who would dare to pursue him without some serious confidence?]

Xu Su was genuinely curious now. They were always talking about how outstanding and handsome Si Xuan was. She hadn’t been interested before, but now her interest was piqued…

Si Xuan’s profile picture was grayed out, indicating he was either offline or in invisible mode. Xu Su watched it for a moment, and just as she was about to end her daily group chat session, she saw someone @ her again.

Sika: [Susu, I remember you’re ranked second in your grade. If he could tutor you, does that mean your ex-boyfriend was ranked first in your school?]

Xu Su: [Yes. He started tutoring me in our first year of high school. Before that, I struggled to even stay in the top ten of my grade. Now, I’ve been stable at second place for a long time.]

’If it weren’t for Xi Zirong’s expert tutoring, which gave me such a solid foundation, how could I have won a scholarship for three consecutive years…’

Feifei: [From your tone, it doesn’t sound like you have any hard feelings toward your ex. So, why did you two break up?]

Xu Su froze. ’Why did we break up?’

’Because I fell for someone else. Because I moved on without a break…’

She didn’t reply for a long time, and Feifei realized she had overstepped. She sent a sticker of a little rabbit apologizing.

Xu Su didn’t answer. She had no intention of explaining every little detail to her online friends. She quickly locked her phone. Beside her, Qian Jia tugged on her arm. “Susu, I need to go to the restroom. Do you want to come?”

“Okay.” Xu Su glanced at the time. There was still half an hour until class. She got up and left the classroom arm in arm with Qian Jia.

Qian Jia looked at her. “Aren’t you stuffy, wearing a mask all day?”

“Not really. It just chafes the tip of my nose a bit, but you get used to it.” Xu Su touched the mask on her face. Since she started wearing it, she didn’t get nearly as many stares while walking on the school paths.

’I should have started wearing one sooner.’

Coming out of the restroom, Qian Jia’s eyes lit up as if she’d just thought of something. “Susu, being too beautiful… is it one of those happy little problems?”

“…” Xu Su shot her an annoyed glance. “It’s just a problem. There’s nothing happy about it.”

“You don’t appreciate the blessing you have.” Qian Jia grinned and leaned in to pinch Xu Su’s cheek through her mask. “But it is a problem if it affects your daily life. If you ask me, you don’t need to be *this* beautiful. The way you looked in our first year was good enough. You were stunning back then, sure, but not like you are now…”

She trailed off, at a loss for words, before finally adding, “A face that could topple nations!”

“There, there. If you don’t know the right word, just don’t use it.” Taking advantage of her height, Xu Su patted Qian Jia’s head. “I’ll just be a calamity to my boyfriend, not the whole country.”

’One Zhou Mochen is more than enough for me to bring calamity to. I have no desire to bring it to anyone else, let alone topple nations…’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep