Chapter 126: School Opening

On the day of elementary school opening, even the busy Li Zhaodi specially made half a day's time to go with Su Ruo and Bai Xinya to see An'an and Qin Xiao off to school.

At the school gate, everywhere were children crying nonstop; the well‑behaved An'an and Qin Xiao seemed out of place.

Su Ruo felt that as a parent she should say something, so she patted Qin Xiao's head and said, "Study hard; if anyone bullies you, fight back."

Then she likewise patted An'an's head and said, "Study well; if someone provokes you, go easy on them."

As for it, Su Ruo wasn't worried at all that An'an would be bullied; instead she worried that if someone truly clueless provoked An'an, they'd end up with broken bones.

After all, if parents had to be called in, that wouldn't be good either.

Bai Xinya heard this and gave her a sideways glance, saying, "Is that what a mother should say?"

Her An'an is so well‑behaved and sensible, just a little princess—how could she hit anyone?

Su Ruo could only chuckle at that; it was a scene Bai Xinya had never seen, where An'an snapped a thick adult‑arm‑sized stick in one move.

If she had seen it, she wouldn't have worried about that, given An'an's current skill—even a few grown men couldn't get past her.

As the bell rang, the teacher led An'an and Qin Xiao inside; Su Ruo smiled and waved at them, while Bai Xinya turned away, crying loudly, and Zhou Feng gently pulled her into his embrace.

Su Ruo looked at the school gate, seeing the other mothers equally worried and reluctant, and thought she ought to cry a little for the occasion, but since she couldn't bring herself to tears, she decisively gave up.

After seeing An'an and the others off, Zhou Feng and the others drove Su Ruo to school,

Because formal classes would start in two days, when Su Ruo arrived the dormitory was empty; she chose a bunk by the window, a spot with heating that was warm in winter and cool in summer.

Su Ruo took a rag and carefully wiped the bedding many times; she also covered the upper bunk and the wall beside the bed with old newspaper, then hung a pure‑blue cloth, and outside the bed she hung a curtain, making this her private space from now on.

After finishing, Su Ruo looked at her clean, cozy bunk and felt very satisfied, after all this would be her home for the four years of college.

Bai Xinya again accompanied Su Ruo to buy many necessities; the three of them ate lunch together before returning to the dorm.

This time, Su Ruo didn't let them see her off; she simply stood at the school gate and waved for them to leave.

But when Su Ruo returned to the dorm, she immediately saw that her bunk had been disturbed.

A thirty‑year‑old middle‑aged woman picked up Su Ruo's quilt and was about to place it on the dusty upper bunk.

Seeing this, Su Ruo immediately snapped, "What are you doing?"

The people in the dorm were startled; the middle‑aged woman's hand shook, and Su Ruo's cup fell to the floor.

Su Ruo walked straight over, snatched her cup from the woman's hand, and asked, "Why did you move my cup?"

The middle‑aged woman finally came to her senses, gave Su Ruo a dissatisfied look, then withdrew her harsh gaze and forced a false smile, saying, "Classmate, our young lady's health is poor, so the upper bunk is inconvenient for her; could you swap bunks with her?"

"No!" Su Ruo refused without hesitation.

The woman had thought Su Ruo, being young, was a little girl who couldn't stand losing face; she hadn't expected Su Ruo to refuse outright, and angrily said, "What kind of person are you? You have no sympathy at all!"

Su Ruo gave her a cold stare and said, "Sympathy? Is your young lady missing a hand, lame, or on her deathbed, needing my pity so I give up my bunk?"

"You…" the middle‑aged woman pointed at Su Ruo, trembling with anger, unable to utter a word.

Then the girl standing behind the woman said, "Classmate, Aunt Wang is also looking out for me; this is my compensation, so please don't be angry."

Su Ruo looked at the girl before her, who wore a pure‑white dress and looked delicate; she fixed her gaze on the girl's face, and for some reason, from the first sight she took a dislike to her.

Just now, when the woman moved her quilt without permission, the girl stayed silent; even when the woman argued with her, she didn't speak, but now she was willing to talk.

Su Ruo merely glanced briefly at the chocolate the girl had brought over, then withdrew her gaze.

"No thanks, I don't like sweets, and I also don't like others touching my things, so you and your aunt had better stay away from my bunk."

Having said that, Su Ruo got onto her bunk and pulled the curtain shut.

The girl's hand froze in place; she hadn't expected Su Ruo to be so blunt.

But soon her expression returned to normal, and she divided the chocolate in her hand between two other people.

She smiled brightly and said, "Hello, classmates, I'm Feng Xiran; we'll be living in the same dorm from now on, so please look out for each other."

Her composed demeanor made it seem as if the unpleasantness just now had never happened.

One of the girls, after receiving the chocolate, nervously said, "Hello, I'm Sun Yanni; if you're willing, we can swap bunks."

Sun Yanni pointed to the bunk opposite Su Ruo's.

Feng Xiran smiled and said, "Then thank you, classmate; I'm not in good health and can't climb up and down, so I'll give you this bottle of snow‑flower cream as my thanks."

Sun Yanni stared at the snow‑flower cream in her hand, unable to come to her senses; she wanted to return it, but felt reluctant to do so.

Seeing this, the middle‑aged woman looked at her with utter contempt and said in a sarcastic tone, "Sun Yanni, you're really nice—unlike some people who have no sympathy at all."

Su Ruo was reading when she heard that, but didn't even lift her head.

Sun Yanni felt a bit embarrassed; she was always timid and, faced with this, simply didn't know how to handle it.

"Aunt Wang, don't say that; from now on we're all classmates and should get along well."

Feng Xiran said something neither soft nor hard.

Seeing that Su Ruo completely ignored her, the middle‑aged woman, feeling bored, went to help Feng Xiran tidy the quilt.

Seeing this, Sun Yanni hurriedly put all her belongings on the upper bunk; although she had already wiped that bunk, the middle‑aged woman still looked disgusted and wiped it several more times before placing Sun Yanni's things on it.

What no one noticed was that Feng Xiran, abandoning her earlier innocent‑flower look, fixed her gaze on Su Ruo's bunk with an extremely deep, inscrutable expression.