Chapter 31: I Won't Compete with You for Shu Lingchen

Shu Shu, do you have time?

No.

Shu Shu was surprised for half a second that Chu Lian had come looking for her, but she didn't care why.

After speaking, she, gripping the two-thirds-eaten scallion pancake, smoothly walked past Chu Lian.

Chu Lian stared, not expecting Shu Shu to be so blunt and not give her face; then she realized something, understood why, her brows relaxed, and she light-footedly caught up to Shu Shu.

Shu Shu, you don't need to be so hostile toward me.

Shu Shu: "?"

Chu Lian pressed the corners of her lips and said, "I won't compete with you for Shu Lingchen."

Shu Shu: "??"

Chu Lian continued, "Although Shu Lingchen likes me, I won't respond to him; you can be with Shu Lingchen."

Shu Shu: "???"

"Are you okay?" Shu Shu said: "If you're fine, eat more candy balls."

Chu Lian knew that girls this age have strong self-esteem, especially before a love rival, they certainly don't want to be lesser; she wore an understanding, considerate look: "Shu Shu, I'm being sincere."

Shu Shu: "What I say is also sincere."

Chu Lian lightly furrowed her brows, looking at the unmoved Shu Shu, a bit anxious, she got straight to the point: "Shu Shu, you don't need to pretend; you oversee Shu Lingchen sleeping in class, skipping school, fighting—clearly because you care about him and want to be with him."

Shu Shu understood.

— Chu Lian misunderstood her relationship with the little idiot.

Shu Shu's expression was hard to put into words.

Chu Lian said: "Shu Shu, rest assured, I won't become an obstacle between you two; you can freely approach Shu Lingchen."

Shu Shu narrowed her eyes, feigning: "But you just said Shu Lingchen likes you, right?"

Chu Lian, hearing Shu Shu's words, immediately thought Shu Shu had let slip, felt happy, and said: "Then you should be good to him, draw all his attention; liking someone means treating them well; as long as you're sincere, look, Shu Lingchen is so poor, his life surely isn't good; at times like this you should care more for him."

"For example?"

"For example, let him eat well, dress well, live well, improve his life."

Just as Shu Lingchen does for her: he gives her a place to live and money to spend.

Chu Lian's eyes flashed with insight; this was already a kind of hint. She sighed: "I've heard Shu Lingchen's place is dilapidated and old, still rented; he surely doesn't rest well at night; Shu Shu, your family is so wealthy, you should easily be able to help him solve this; it's a good chance to get close to him."

Shu Shu raised an eyebrow.

So Chu Lian was planning this all along.

The abacus beads were almost popping onto her face.

In order to keep "sucking" Shu Lingchen's blood, she really left no stone unturned.

"Chu Lian, aren't you afraid that if Shu Lingchen finds out you came to me today saying these things, he'll be hurt?"

Chu Lian paused, then said: "It's fine, he won't."

Her relaxed words revealed a certain certainty.

Chu Lian curled her lips, not panicked, knowing it's fine; that idiot is easy to coax, never gets angry at her; as long as she speaks softly a few sentences, he'll believe everything.

She doesn't care at all whether she'll trample Shu Lingchen's sincerity.

Shu Shu's eyes grew cold.

Chu Lian felt this was a sure thing; her stance had already reached this point; Shu Shu would likely be pleased to see her concession.

She asked: "Shu Shu, what have you decided?"

"Not really." The remaining scallion pancake in her hand lost its flavor; Shu Shu pulled the bag up, packed it, casually tossed it into the nearby trash bin, her clear gaze piercing Chu Lian's thoughts: "I will absolutely not give Shu Lingchen a single cent."

One sentence, shattered Chu Lian's delusion.

Chu Lian was taken aback: "Why? Don't you want to be with Shu Lingchen—"

"Shut up." Shu Shu expressionlessly glanced at Chu Lian: "Watch out for getting struck by lightning."

After speaking, Shu Shu directly swiped the access control and entered Yujingyuan.

Left Chu Lian stunned in place.

— "Chu Chu! You'll get struck by lightning!"

— "Worried about getting struck by lightning."

Different places, different people, yet they uttered the same meaning.

Wednesday.

After the third class in the morning, Shu Lingchen eagerly asked Shu Shu how much money she had saved.

Shu Shu opened her ledger and said: "Fourteen thousand."

"Ah..."

Shu Lingchen went numb.

After working hard for almost half a month, he only had fourteen thousand.

Shu Shu then opened another "money-making channel" for Shu Lingchen: memorizing classical poetry and classical Chinese.

However, the unit price isn't high.

Memorizing a classical poem from the textbook earns 20 per piece; memorizing a classical Chinese passage earns 100 per piece; if you also memorize the annotations, the reward doubles.

Classical poetry is still relatively easy to memorize, because they're easy to recite.

But classical Chinese is literally deadly—it's awkward to pronounce and has many interchangeable characters!

Moreover, crucially, whether intentional or not, the teacher doesn't call roll in class, which directly cuts off Shu Lingchen's money-making opportunity like a cliff; and the monthly exam results won't be out until next week, so he can only rely on recitation.

Shu Lingchen, scratching his scalp with his brain aching, was chewing through a classical Chinese passage.

As he recited, he noticed Shu Shu beside him again using her phone to search for art news.

The keyword is Jing Shi, female, young violinist.

During this period, Shu Shu has been continuously following news on this matter, public accounts, Weibo, following a lot.

Shu Lingchen asked: "Mom, are you looking for someone?"

Shu Shu's hand paused.

She is indeed looking for someone.

She is looking for her daughter.

She had a daughter, no, she once had a daughter.

A daughter the same age as Shu Lingchen.

Initially, Shu Shu was carrying twins, a ten-month pregnancy, but the labor process was not smooth, she almost spent it in a semi-conscious state.

When she regained consciousness, only a small bundle of a son lay in the cradle beside the hospital bed.

And the daughter.

The delivering female doctor told her with great regret that her unborn daughter had already stopped breathing when she was delivered.

Shu Shu left the hospital with her healthy son and her daughter who had departed this world.

She personally took her daughter to the funeral home for cremation.

After that, Shu Shu remained silent for a very long time.

In the dream Shu Shu had before her death, her daughter was still alive in the world, living with her father, a violinist, and would in the future become handicapped in her hands due to an accident.

The part of the dream concerning her son has already been proven to be true in reality.

So that means there is a great possibility that her daughter is also truly alive and well.

Shu Shu was both happy and excited, yet at the same time afraid, afraid that the dream was just a dream.

Unconsciously, she filled the draft paper beside her with a name.

Three characters.

——Pei Muyin.

This is the daughter's name in the dream.

The daughter's surname is Pei.

Shu Shu almost immediately thought of that person.

She tried to search for news about that person; the head of the Pei clan, the first business empire, indeed has a daughter, but she could not find any concrete detailed information such as age, name, etc.

Thus Shu Shu could only start from the key information in the dream.

Violinist.

However, there was still no lead.

Searching for Pei Muyin yields many namesakes; searching for Pei Muyin plus violinist yields no relevant information directly.

The only lead is that she found that next month, in Jing Shi, there will be a recruitment event by an international orchestra called Berlin Su for the youth violin section, which is said to be an important opportunity that all young violinists do not want to miss.

So, could her daughter also go?