The beautiful woman from the study, Lu Tingzhou's assistant.
Her target was clear—her. She held a mustard-colored thin fleece jacket and a paper bag.
This was the first time Cheng Buxi had taken a good look at her in broad daylight. Her expression and demeanor were humble, her clothes more formal and less revealing than that night. Perhaps because of that bad first impression, she instinctually couldn't be polite to her.
Wan Yi stepped toward her with small, quick steps, trying to help her put on the jacket.
Cheng Buxi still resisted her touch. Wan Yi's expression dimmed, and she explained, "It's chilly. Mr. Lu instructed me to make sure I see the Second Miss properly dressed."
See? Cheng Buxi thought it was more like "watch."
She had complicated feelings for this woman named Wan Yi. Not wanting any further entanglement, she grabbed the jacket and slipped it on quickly. "Okay, I'm dressed. You can leave now." Her tone was obviously dismissive.
"Mr. Lu also said he wants to have dinner with the Second Miss tonight." The woman was neither servile nor overbearing.
Cheng Buxi's expression was cold, her voice flat. "I'm not hungry."
Seeming to have expected this answer, Wan Yi's tone remained gentle. "Mr. Lu said that if you say you're not hungry, I should give you this."
He really had blocked every route. Cheng Buxi hadn't expected him to go this far. "..."
She took the bag; it was quite heavy.
Only after finishing this did Wan Yi leave. From head to toe, she seemed proper. She dressed very much like her cousin, Cheng Buxi thought.
Opening the bag, inside was a box of time-honored peach pastry and two bottles of old Beijing-style milk skin yogurt.
They were even pre-warmed.
Seeing them, Cheng Buxi was momentarily speechless. These were some of her favorite foods from before.
Except for cherry cakes.
-
A week later, results came out.
Cheng Buxi scored 61 on her microeconomics exam. Obviously, Professor Shen had done his best to help her pass.
But in the corporate tower, when he took Cheng Buxi's test paper to Lu Tingzhou's office for tea and small talk, revealing the appalling handwriting and nonsensical answers, the usually composed and self-controlled older brother showed a look of profound helplessness.
"Obviously, she tried her best on the exam," Shen Xiushi shrugged, smiling as he spoke up for her. "There's no need to be too harsh." He almost explicitly said she just wasn't cut out for academics.
Lu Tingzhou finished reading in silence, let out a deep sigh, folded the paper, and put it in a folder without comment.
After a moment, he asked, "About that building—any ideas? What would you suggest calling it?"
Actually, even before her college entrance exams, Lu Tingzhou had considered donating to get her into a decent school. After all, he would miss her too much if she went abroad.
But unexpectedly, she performed well and got into a 211 university—even if she was at the bottom, it was still her own achievement.
Shen Xiushi pondered, gazing out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the city's central axis. He raised an eyebrow. "How about calling it Yunhu Building?"
Yunhu from Yunbu? (Yunhu being Cheng Buxi's alias)
-
In the dormitory, only Feng Yuan failed an exam. The others tacitly avoided mentioning it, except for Xiao Yingying.
But the latter had been busy with her new relationship lately and rarely showed up. Whenever she did appear, though, she would say a thousand times how she barely passed and thank heaven. That only made Feng Yuan more despondent.
Cheng Buxi habitually took off her watch when washing her hands. She always cherished her belongings, let alone the beautiful watch her second sister had given her.
Feng Yuan, however, thought she was showing off. "What's so great about a cheap Tissot? You take it off every time you wash your hands. Afraid someone won't notice?"
"Can you not be sour? Even a Tissot is more than you can afford," Gao Yabin retorted.
"You!"
"You what? A bitter chicken who picks fights all day with nothing better to do."
Feng Yuan slammed the door and stormed off.
"Hmm, that was a bit harsh," Cheng Buxi said as she emerged from the bathroom, having heard the entire conversation. "Aren't you afraid she'll gossip behind your back?"
"Let her gossip. What's she got to be so full of herself about? Hanging out with Xiao Yingying every day—one's a flirt, the other's a mouthy pest. They're both rotten to the core and call others monsters."
Cheng Buxi sighed. "There's no need, really."
"Don't worry about her." Gao Yabin dressed neatly and smiled, proposing, "Come with me to the gym to watch the game. The city-wide college basketball finals are today. Neighboring S University has sent a huge crowd, and all the guys are handsome as hell."
"Today?" Cheng Buxi asked.
She remembered that Plant Trees had arranged to go shopping with her today as well.
Author's note: