The next morning, when Han Xiaoye opened the door to get ready for school, she found a camera sitting quietly at the doorstep.
The camera was the latest model from Sony, the one she had been dreaming of. Without even thinking, she knew who had sent it. It was Fu Zhiyan
Han Xiaoye smiled and carefully picked up the camera. With a skip in her step, she went downstairs, where Auntie Wang was preparing breakfast.
The dining table had only her utensils. Han Xiaoye ate a few mouthfuls of rice with her mind somewhere else.
"Miss, is the food not to your liking?" Auntie Wang couldn't help but ask when she noticed Han Xiaoye not touching any dished.
"Nah," Han Xiaoye replied, as if to prove a point, she took a few more bites and said, "It's delicious."
"Well, then..." Auntie Wang wondered why she wasn't eating it.
Before she could ask, Han Xiaoye swiftly finished her mouthful of food and nonchalantly inquired, "Auntie Wang, where's my uncle?" Though Fu Zhiyan wasn't her real uncle, many people, including Auntie Wang, believed he was. To avoid complications, Han Xiaoye had taken to calling Fu Zhiyan her "uncle."
"Young Master left early this morning. Seems like he's off on a business trip."
"Uncle is going on a business trip?!"
Han Xiaoye put down her chopsticks, eager for confirmation.
"How long will he be gone? When will he be back?"
Mother Wang was shocked by her intense reaction, but she thought about Han Xiaoye's background and felt that it was normal for Han Xiaoye to stick to Fu Zhiyan. Therefore, she smiled lovingly. "He'll probably be back tomorrow morning. Miss, if you miss Young Master, you can give him a call. If it's Miss Xiaoye, Young Master will be very happy to receive it."
"..." Han Xiaoye tried to picture Fu Zhiyan with a joyful expression, but her lack of imagination hindered her.
...
Unable to express her gratitude to Fu Zhiyan, Han Xiaoye felt a lingering sense of unfinished business, leaving her in a state of limbo. The entire class passed in a daze, her mind elsewhere.
As soon as the class ended, Su Rui hurriedly approached Han Xiaoye's desk, looking visibly anxious. "Xiaoye, are you okay after yesterday?"
"I'm fine."
"Don't lie to me. I distinctly heard Han Bao'er's voice at that time. If you were okay, you wouldn't have ended the communication," Su Rui's eyes welled up with self-blame. "I had planned to cut off the power, but I got caught before I could do it. That person forcibly took me back home and stood guard outside my door all night. I couldn't sleep at all. If something happened to you because I wasn't there, I... I'd never forgive myself."
"Ruirui, I'm fine."
Han Xiaoye grinned and turned around in front of Su Rui to prove her point.
"Look, not a single hair is out of place."
Still worried, Su Rui persisted, "But Xiaoye, who were those people last night? Did you...?"
"No, I absolutely didn't provoke anyone." I just happened to provoke the most badass person in Rui City.
She comfortingly embraced Su Rui and guided her to sit back in her seat. "There, there, Miss Beautiful Su Rui. Most likely, it was just the hotel management who discovered your computer intrusion."
"What about Han Bao'er?"
"Well, we share the same surname, don't we? For the sake of the Han Family's reputation, she didn't give me a hard time." Han Xiaoye effortlessly lied with a poker face.
Su Rui, being pure-hearted and gentle, believed her after considering it. Even if the family had their disagreements, Han Bao'er wouldn't make things difficult for Xiaoye. After all, they were sisters.
Feeling relieved, Su Rui suddenly remembered something and eagerly pulled out her phone from her backpack.
"By the way, Xiaoye, take a look at this."
"What is it?"
"It's Quan Ronglian's Weibo. He posted an update."
The person who rarely posted on Weibo had actually updated? Han Xiaoye took the phone handed to her by Su Rui. As soon as she read it, a cold sweat ran down her back.
Quan Ronglian had only sent a single message. "Who knows how to cook a minnow?"
The post was made at 8:30 last night, precisely the time she had sneaked away and coincidentally bumped into Fu Zhiyan.
And among the countless comments, there were those suggesting braised, others suggesting steamed, and even some with a twisted taste, advocating for skinning and eating the minnows alive...
She hadn't forgotten. Last night, when Quan Ronglian's "sugar daddy" called her, he referred to her as a minnow.
If one said Quan Ronglian's Weibo post didn't imply anything, no one would buy it!
Su Rui tilted her head, clueless. "Xiaoye, when did Quan Ronglian develop a taste for minnows? Wasn't he the one who despised unclean food the most? Could it be that our information is off?"
"Hehe..." Han Xiaoye smirked, tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Maybe he's lost his mind and suddenly switched up his preferences."
"Really? Then he must really have a thing for minnows, or else he wouldn't have gone out of his way to post on Weibo asking for minnow recipes. His last Weibo update was six months ago."
Just as Han Xiaoye was at a loss for words, the bell rang, signaling the start of class. She swiftly bid farewell to Su Rui and returned to her seat. Taking out her phone, she searched for Quan Ronglian's Weibo post and left a comment. "May divine grace spare the pitiable little minnow, for the Almighty shall bless you, Amen. (Note: Overindulging in minnows may cause impotence.)"
She added two praying emojis at the end.
With that done, she discreetly stowed her phone back in her bag. In the process, she caught a glimpse of her overachiever deskmate shooting her a scornful glance.
Speaking of her overachiever deskmate, Han Xiaoye's experience could be described as a tragic saga. In the second year of high school, she boldly opted for the science stream, despite not being particularly strong in that area, just to be with Su Rui. As fate would have it, her exceptional performance in the first monthly exam shattered the homeroom teacher's worldview, leading to her cruel separation from Su Rui and placement next to the academic prodigy, Ye Chen. Sitting next to a prodigy wasn't the issue, but Ye Chen was no ordinary prodigy. He consistently ranked first in their grade. Defying the stereotype of studious types being weak in sports, he was very good physically. And to top it off, he had a decent face, even though his personality was less than stellar. Naturally, this made him popular with the girls. Consequently, as the object of envy, Han Xiaoye found herself constantly facing petty troubles.
If the genius handsome deskmate had been nice to her, she could have endured it. But the problem was that the handsome desk mate treated her with merciless indifference, just like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. For over a year, his favorite pastime had been rolling his eyes at her and showing disdain. Whenever she saw that face, her adrenalin went haywire, and she felt like slamming the desk in frustration.
After securely stashing her phone, Han Xiaoye mimicked his expression and rolled her eyes back at him!
Hmph! Disdain, who couldn't do that?
Ye Chen's face darkened as he pursed his rosy lips.
Just then, their English teacher strutted into the classroom, wearing ten-inch heels. Clutching a stack of pristine English test papers, she sent a shiver down Han Xiaoye's spine.
"I mentioned it last week, today we'll be having a little assessment. Put away your books, and get ready for the test."
Last week... Last week, she had been tirelessly cramming at Fu Zhiyan's place, completely oblivious to the impending assessment! Oh no, she hadn't reviewed, and she hadn't even had time to prepare cheat sheets. What should she do? What should she do? Han Xiaoye was as anxious as ants on a hot pan.
The English teacher passed the test papers from the front row, and soon they reached Han Xiaoye. She took two sheets and passed the rest back, then handed one of the papers to Ye Chen beside her. As she passed the paper, she lowered her voice and said, "Hey, have you reviewed it?"