Chapter 936: Childhood Sweetheart at Thirty

It's really just a coincidence mixed with an overly melodramatic, dog‑blood‑splashed scene.

Cheng Huai had no idea that, while he was participating in the chemistry challenge at the amusement park yesterday, that outstanding cousin of his was watching from below with his child.

This morning, that outstanding cousin brought his parents here.

Even now, Cheng Huai feels that scene burning hot on his face.

She barged in, didn't even look at me, went straight to Henian for money, opening with a demand of 500,000.

She said, they've raised this son for so long, he's a disgusting homosexual, can't have offspring, so they want Henian to pay the money as a bridal gift...

Song Xu frowned tightly, but wasn't very surprised; they all knew well what kind of trash Cheng Huai's parents were.

Cheng Huai picked at the table with his fingers, 'I never used to think about the future; I thought just getting through the present was fine. But today they showed up, letting me truly realize how big the gap between me and Henian really is.'

'This place, that family—I feel like I can never get away from them.'

'Don't let them affect you, Ah Huai.'

Song Xu scratched his head, advising him: 'Isn't the reason you cut ties with them just so they'd stop influencing any part of your life?'

Cheng Huai leaned back onto the sofa, voice weak: 'I'm not angry with Henian; I just don't know what to do next. Even if I get into Jing Shi, the gap remains—it's just shifted from a geographical distance to an indescribable class divide.'

That's why, when he suddenly learned there was also an engagement, he became completely flustered.

Song Xu was also troubled, propping his chin in thought, then suddenly slapped the table and stood up, having thought of a good plan.

'You can join my brother's project!'

He pulled Cheng Huai up, patted his shoulder, and said, 'Cheer up—you usually have the best ideas; maybe adding them to their project could make an extraordinary difference.'

Cheng Huai was dazed by the pat, 'You mean Jin Chen and Henian's joint project? But I don't know how to do that.'

'If you don't know, you can learn.'

Mu Henian had walked in at some point, unsure how much of the previous conversation he'd heard, then sat back down beside Cheng Huai, ruffling his hair gently, his voice soft.

'As long as Ah Huai is willing, I can teach him.'

'Who wants to learn from you?' Cheng Huai muttered sullenly, but ended up laughing, 'Even if you agreed, Jin Chen hasn't.'

Jin Chen strolled in with his hands behind his head, saying lazily, 'The project's chief executive has agreed!'

Mu Henian glared at him, 'Does fighting over who's boss get you to heaven?'

'No, exalted CEO—only by crushing you do I feel satisfied.'

Jin Chen gave him a thumbs‑up.

'Come on, Xiao Yu'er, let's go home and do homework! We've been playing wildly for two days, we have a pile of assignments to catch up on!'

Jin Chen hooked his arm around Song Xu's neck and walked out, still reminding them, 'If you two argue again, feel free to livestream it for me—I'd love to watch!'

Mu Henian responded by throwing a milk‑tea cup at him.

——

I had thought this matter was already settled.

On Monday, when he returned to school, nothing major happened—just the usual classes, and the usual foursome eating lunch and dinner together.

Besides, Jin Chen kept feeling that the brat named Liu Xiao kept glancing back at him from time to time.

Jin Chen wouldn't be narcissistic enough to think they liked him; he'd think Liu Xiao was out to assassinate him!

This left him on edge all day, but in the end nothing happened.

But by Wednesday, things started to feel off.

First, rumors began spreading internally that Song Xu and Mu Henian were from the wealthy Jing Shi clan, and that Henian had transferred schools just to cultivate feelings with Song Xu, making a future engagement and marriage convenient.

Within half a morning, the gossip had reached two other grades, and being purely word‑of‑mouth, there was no time to trace its source.

The foursome learned of this at noon.

Jin Chen was suddenly asked.

'Chen‑bro, you and Song Xu are so close—are you satisfied with Henian as your future childhood‑sworn little brother‑in‑law?'

Jin Chen:??

... What nonsense! Who started this!

Cheng Huai: '...' So annoying.

Song Xu and Mu Henian now can't appear on the same road at the same time, or they'll surely be stared down.

Thursday.

After a certain class, the four of them stood on the empty field, speechless.

Jin Chen was about to explode, 'All day today! Everywhere people ask me if I'm satisfied with you—bah!'

'Satisfied my ass—his blood pressure is about to blow!'

Mu Henian chuckled twice, 'It's not just one person asking me—will I have to support you in the future...'

The two now mutually despise each other.

Song Xu frowned, leaned on his brother's shoulder and shook it slightly, 'Brother, don't be angry.'

'Not angry, not angry—I'm not even mad at Xiao Yu'er.' Jin Chen hurriedly denied.

Cheng Huai: 'What should we do now? We can't just let the rumors keep spreading.'

Mu Henian: 'I'll go see the principal.'

As soon as he said that, he promptly earned strange looks from the three of them.

Jin Chen: 'What's your connection to the principal? You can find him whenever something happens.'

Mu Henian innocently replied, 'He's my grandmother's student.'

The three suddenly understood.

Five minutes later, Mu Henian was shoved by the three into the principal's office.

'It's all yours, muah‑muah!' Cheng Huai blew him two kisses and bounced away.

The three people gathered at the wall corner and waited.

Mu Henian: "……"

After a while, Mu Henian came out with a cold face, walked up to the three people, and shook his head amid their six expectant gazes.

"There are too many rumors; just cracking down won't stop them unless we find the source and make an example."

The four people all sighed.

"With so many people around the school, how can we possibly find the source?"

Song Xu worriedly pinched his earlobe.

"Hey! I have an idea!"

Cheng Huai suddenly perked up, waved at the three people, and said, "Come closer to listen."

——

That Friday.

The dormitory building is adjacent to the playground; doing the morning exercises lets you see below the male dorm.

During the morning exercises, Lao Cao discovered that Jin Chen and the four others hadn't come down.

Just as he was about to send someone up to check, an ambulance came wailing in.

All the boarding students stood on the playground, saluting the ambulance.

"Oh no, it couldn't be taking Song Xu, could it?"

Having received the signal in advance, Chu Han shouted loudly from the ranks of Class 6; obviously as a member of the dormitory, he also took part in this plan.

Lao Cao was so frightened he nearly fainted, then turned his legs and rushed into the dormitory building.

Just as he reached the bottom of the building, three doctors had already brought Song Xu down; Jin Chen, Mu Henian, and Cheng Huai, three people, hurriedly followed behind.

"Jin Chen, what's going on here!"

Lao Cao grabbed Jin Chen and asked.

"Teacher!" Jin Chen's face also turned pale; he glanced at his position, making sure everyone could see him before continuing.

"Xiao Yu'er… Xiao Yu'er got upset by the rumors these past two days, had a sudden heart attack this morning, and scared me…"

Cheng Huai shouted from ahead, "Jin Chen! Don't delay, hurry and come with us to the hospital!"

Before Jin Chen could finish speaking, he ran off; the ambulance again wailed away, leaving Lao Cao in disarray in the wind and everyone on the playground.