Chapter 22: Shu Lingchen, have you no shame?

Hearing Chu Lian say that, everyone's eyes lit up, and they immediately called the waiter to order a small cake each.

The saying "you get what you pay for" makes sense.

When everyone picked up their spoons and took the first bite of cake, they felt satisfied and delighted.

"It's so delicious!"

"Thank you, Chu Lian! Let us enjoy such a delicious cake!"

"Who in the school is spreading the rumor that Chu Lian isn't a true young lady? They say please for such an expensive dessert—if Chu Lian isn't a young lady, who is?"

Zhang Lu filmed the cake with her phone and said, "A bunch of idiots, Xiao Lian already said it was a mix-up caused by her father's assistant—such a careless assistant must be fired!"

The girl beside her, filled with righteous anger, said, "When I get back I'll post on the forum and really slap those rumor-mongers!"

Chu Lian listened, a dark light flashing in her eyes.

This wasn't the first time she had hosted like this; she always paid generously, which is why her persona as a wealthy young lady remained firmly established.

She never expected Shu Lingchen's house to be reclaimed, causing her such a big embarrassment over the weekend.

She had specially brought people here today to host—she needed to restore her reputation.

Chu Lian, holding a small silver spoon, opened her phone to see if Shu Lingchen had transferred money.

She used the usual excuse:

"Ah Chen, how do you like these new shoes? I really like this fresh color~"

Less than twenty seconds later, her phone vibrated.

Chu Lian's lips curled slightly as she was about to open Shu Lingchen's chat to receive the transfer, when she saw the reply:

"Looks great, Chu Chu has good taste."

"... That's it?"

Chu Lian froze.

"Just one reply? Where's the money?"

Chu Lian stayed on the chat screen, waiting a while but still no transfer came.

She bit her lip and typed skillfully: "Too bad it's too expensive, I can't afford it 【crying crying jpg.】"

Usually, as soon as she sent that, Shu Lingchen would hurriedly send her money.

Sure enough.

The next second.

The interface popped up a transfer notification.

Chu Lian's lips were about to curl up again, but when her eyes fell on the transfer amount, she stiffened.

"Shu Lingchen transferred you 200 yuan."

"Two hundred???"

"Clearly Shu Lingchen always starts at 666 when transferring to me—when has he ever sent so little!"

"What's going on?!"

Just as Chu Lian was bewildered, she heard Zhang Lu beside her suddenly shout: "Shu Lingchen?"

Chu Lian immediately looked up.

Sure enough, she saw Shu Lingchen holding many small paper boxes, somewhat surprised to run into him here.

And Shu Lingchen also saw Chu Lian.

His face showed a moment of joy, but seeing Chu Lian's classmates around, he quickly restrained it.

"Shu Lingchen, why are you here?" Zhang Lu stood up, blocking Chu Lian, filled with righteous indignation: "Are you deliberately stalking Xiao Lian? Have you no shame? Xiao Lian has rejected you how many times!"

He had heard such "shameless" remarks enough times to be used to them.

But he frowned and explained: "I wasn't stalking."

Zhang Lu sneered scornfully, looking at Shu Lingchen with contempt: "Still pretending? This place isn't cheap—can a thug like you afford it? If you're not stalking, why are you here?!"

Shu Lingchen couldn't be bothered to argue with a girl, especially since she was Chu Lian's friend; he always chose to yield, and just as he decided not to argue further,

"What, did you buy this shop? You can come, but others can't?" a lazy female voice said.

Shu Shu walked over.

Zhang Lu was taken aback.

Shu Shu curled her lip: "Hey, classmate, it's you—did you actually follow through on saying you'd eat feces?"

Zhang Lu: "……"

The few girls beside them exchanged glances; they were usually surfers, and last weekend a post on the forum was bumped to an explosive thread.

The new transfer student in Class 12, Shu Shu, comes from an extremely wealthy family, living in a huge flat over six hundred square meters in Yujingyuan.

She's richer than the school belle Chu Lian's family!

Also bumped up at the same time was the shameless line Zhang Lu had said.

——If Shu Shu were a 1600 homeowner, she'd eat feces!

Facing Shu Shu's question, Zhang Lu's eyes darted: "I—I was just joking, why do I have to follow through? Why do you keep picking on me?!"

Shu Shu nodded to herself: "Oh, I thought you had already done it behind people's backs; otherwise, why does your mouth smell so bad when you speak?"

"You!"

Zhang Lu's face instantly turned livid, about to retort.

Shu Shu directly lifted her hand to pinch her nose, frowning in disgust, as if Zhang Lu's words really stank.

Zhang Lu got even angrier!

Shu Shu directly lifted her other hand and grabbed Shu Lingchen's collar.

"Let's go."

Carrying two school bags and with his hands full of packed cake boxes, Shu Lingchen was just taken away by Shu Shu.

Only then did everyone react.

Shu Lingchen wasn't following Chu Lian; he came together with Shu Shu.

After they left, discussion started at the table.

"I've never seen Shu Lingchen get this close to any other girl before."

"What's their relationship? They came to the dessert shop together, and it feels like Shu Lingchen really listens to that transfer student..."

Everyone spontaneously looked at Chu Lian's face.

Chu Lian didn't have the time to worry about this right now!

She had thought Shu Lingchen would at least transfer two or three thousand to her, but who would have expected he only transferred two hundred.

How am I supposed to pay for the treat later!

Chu Lian has no concept of saving; she always spends whatever amount Shu Lingchen transfers to her, and since he gets a monthly living allowance of fifty thousand, why would she need to save?

So at this moment, all her remaining balance adds up to only a dozen or so dollars.

And the bill on the table shows that seven desserts for seven people add up to over nine hundred!

Chu Lian's heart tightened.

"Ah-Chen, these shoes are quite expensive, two hundred bucks... I can't afford them."

Her hint was quite obvious.

But after waiting a long time, she still didn't get a reply from Shu Lingchen.

Chu Lian began to panic.

Not long after, everyone had finished their cake, prepared to leave, and all sat there eagerly waiting for Chu Lian to pay the bill.

"……"

Chu Lian had no choice but to steel herself and get up, go to the cashier, first she collected the two hundred that Shu Lingchen had transferred, then she hesitantly asked the server in a low voice whether she could pay with credit.

"You can certainly use credit."

The server's normal volume made Chu Lian's heart pound, fearing that classmates not far away might hear.

Finally, she furtively took out her phone, scanned the QR code, and paid over nine hundred with credit, feeling the pinch for the first time when paying a bill.

And Shu Lingchen still hadn't replied.

What on earth is wrong with him!

Imperial Scenic Garden 1600.

Shu Shu was curled up on the sofa playing a matching game, with Shu Lingchen's phone placed on the coffee table.

It's an outdated old model, with a physical button below the screen.

If Shu Shu didn't missee at the dessert shop, Chu Lian's phone in her hand is the same latest iPhone as hers.

At that time, Shu Lingchen's phone kept lighting up; Shu Shu didn't need to guess who was constantly messaging him and why, and she ignored it.

In the kitchen.

Shu Lingchen neatly packed the takeaway desserts from the dessert shop into the fridge, and when he took out the last box, he found a pink heart-shaped sticky note at the bottom, bearing a neat female handwriting:

"Thank you for the mousse~"

"Mom, what is this?"

Shu Shu turned around and said, "That kid we met at the dessert shop wrote this; she paid our bill when she left."

When the server informed Shu Shu of this, she was also surprised.

What a kind little kid.

All we did was treat her to a piece of mousse.

For some reason, Shu Shu's mind once again conjured up those beautiful peach-blossom eyes, and her heart inexplicably softened.