Chapter 43 Strategy: Try playing dumb again on the forty-third day.

As the voice faded, Bai Jiangxin turned back only after making sure the person was far away.

Turning around, he saw a figure skipping and hopping with a schoolbag on his back. The streetlights at night stretched the person's shadow long, extending all the way into his eyes.

Someone was swinging a paper bag of desserts around in their hand. In their excitement, the bag suddenly burst open from the bottom, spilling the desserts all over the floor.

Bai Jiangxin chuckled, but to avoid her noticing that he had seen her embarrassed expression, he quickly turned his head away and took two steps forward.

When I turned around again, the person was gone.

He picked up the paper bag in his hand and lifted it up. It was quite sturdy, and he didn't know how she had managed to tear it.

The paper bag was full of desserts: mango, cheese, and chocolate—all of Xiang Di's favorites. It was just a pity that her favorite cream puffs weren't there.

She assumed he also liked cream puffs, and before paying, she confidently promised that she would get up earlier next time she had a holiday and buy them for him.

Bai Jiangxin asked, "Why don't you sleep in a little longer during your holiday?"

She confidently said no, her biological clock was already set, and she would automatically open her eyes at the same time every day.

However, she kept reminding herself that she had to set multiple alarms that day to make sure she could get up, otherwise Bai Jiangxin wouldn't be able to eat the freshest cream puffs.

Bai Jiangxin did not expose her boasting.

Ye Minjia lamented today that he was too easy to win over; Xiang Di hadn't given anything in return, yet she had gotten him.

Actually, she didn't do nothing at all; at least this lazybones was willing to get up early for him.

However, Bai Jiangxin also felt that she was a bit too easy to pursue.

Just a few cream puffs, and she got him, wasting his remaining two months of one-on-one tutoring and early morning wake-up service.

-

Xiang Di returned home carrying a bag of desserts.

My brother is about to defend his thesis and is staying at school tonight. My parents are still awake, sitting in the living room watching TV and waiting for him to come home.

Mother Luo Qinshu asked, "Why are you so late?"

"I went to the bakery downstairs to buy something, so I was a little late."

“If you want bread, just send a message and ask your dad to buy it for you. He's worried something might have happened to you since you're so late, and he's even thinking of going downstairs to look for you.”

Xiang Di said nothing would happen, but her father, Xiang Rongqiang, immediately said, "A young girl lingering outside so late, you know, it's better to be safe than sorry."

Xiang Di didn't tell her parents that she didn't come back alone. She felt a secret joy, as if she were secretly dating someone behind her parents' backs, so she didn't dare tell them that she was late.

Seeing that she had bought so many desserts, Luo Qinshu assumed that her daughter hadn't eaten enough at school that night, so she immediately asked her husband to make some late-night snacks for their daughter.

Xiang Rongqiang got up and headed towards the kitchen, but Xiang Di quickly stopped him.

"Buying so much must have cost a lot of money," Luo Qinshu asked her. "Is the allowance your dad gives you enough?"

"It's definitely not enough. These kinds of snacks sold in stores are ridiculously expensive." Xiang Rongqiang held up the receipt and exclaimed, "Just one mango tart costs almost twenty yuan."

Luo Qinshu said, "Then transfer some more money to your daughter. She'll be under a lot of pressure studying in the last two months. It would be good for her to eat something sweet to relieve the stress."

Xiang Di originally wanted to say that she didn't buy these things, but Bai Jiangxin bought them for her, but her parents wanted to give her pocket money, and only a fool would refuse it, so she shut up.

Within seconds, Xiang Rongqiang transferred several hundred yuan to her again.

Xiang Rongqiang patted his daughter on the shoulder: "Don't eat this cream all the time. Just have a few bites occasionally. Eat more healthy food, okay? Go do your homework. Don't stay up too late. If you can't finish, that's fine. If the teacher scolds you, just have the teacher call me and your mom. We'll explain to the teacher for you."

Xiang Di obediently replied with an "oh," and just as she opened the door, she remembered something else.

She turned to them and asked, "Have you received the notice for the parent-teacher conference? I have my mock exam this week, and the parent-teacher conference is next week."

“Your teacher mentioned it in the parents’ group.” Luo Qinshu frowned. “Di Bao’er, there’s something I need to tell you. There’s a case about a teacher at a special school abusing a student. I told you about it last year, and you saw it online yourself, didn’t you? The trial is next week. The case is being investigated by the police station in your father’s jurisdiction, and I’m the judge, so your father and I both have to be there…”

The implication is that neither of them will be able to attend the parent-teacher conference.

Xiang Di didn't think anything of it and said, "Then you can go to court. I'll have my aunt go to the parent-teacher conference in your place."

Xiang Rongqiang: "Should I send your aunt? I was thinking of sending your brother."

Xiang Di immediately frowned in disgust: "No! I don't want my classmates to know that my brother is a borderline internet celebrity."

Moreover, Xiang Sheng is currently very popular online. Every time a marketing account lists beauty bloggers, Xiang Sheng's name is always included. If she is recognized by her classmates at school, it will be very troublesome.

Since Xiang Di's disdain was so obvious, the couple couldn't say anything and could only suggest that their aunt go instead.

After discussing the parent-teacher meeting, Xiang Di prepared to go back to her room to do her homework.

"Daughter," Xiang Rongqiang called her again.

Xiang Di: "What?"

Xiang Rongqiang said, "After this case is over, and you've finished your college entrance exam, you can go wherever you want. I'll ask your mom for some annual leave and bring your brother along. We can go on a family trip. Or, if you don't want to come with us and want to go with your classmates, I'll cover all your travel expenses."

Xiang Di knew that her father was making it up to her, so she readily agreed: "Okay, you keep your word."

"Absolutely. Your dad swore to you with his police badge that he would never go back on his word."

"Don't joke around with the police badge!" Luo Qinshu glared at her husband, then said to Xiang Di, "Di Bao'er, your dad and I have to apologize for the parent-teacher conference. You said it was the last parent-teacher conference for senior year, but neither of us could find the time to go..."

"It's okay." Xiang Di didn't care at all. "You guys have work to do, it's not like you didn't go on purpose."

That's true, but there's just too much work. The couple works at the police station and the court, respectively. It's not just Xiang Di, but also Xiang Sheng. From childhood to adulthood, whenever the school announces a parent-teacher conference, the couple is always tied up with work. They take leave whenever they can, and if they can't, they ask other relatives for help.

When Xiang Sheng was a child, he complained to his parents several times that his classmates thought he was from a single-parent family and no one cared for him. Later, when he was in junior high school, he understood his parents' hard work and stopped complaining.

But Xiang Di has never complained since she was a child, not even once.

The couple remembered that it was during summer vacation when Xiang Sheng, who was in elementary school, went to a summer camp. There was only one child in the family. That night, they were cooking at home. The rice was already cooked and they were about to stir-fry the dishes when they received a call from their workplace that they had to go over. The couple told Xiang Di, "You can stay home and watch cartoons. Mom and Dad will be back in a little while."

Xiang Di, who is still in kindergarten, said yes.

However, they didn't get back until after 10 p.m., and the couple realized they couldn't go back. So they called their younger sister, Luo Yayi, who was still in high school, and asked her to come over and help them.

Several tens of minutes later, Luo Yayi called and immediately berated her sister and brother-in-law.

Then she sent another photo to the couple. Little Xiang Di was asleep on the table. On the table were three bowls of rice that had already gone cold. There were no side dishes, only a jar of meat sauce for mixing with rice. The two adults' bowls were untouched, filled to the brim with rice. Only Xiang Di's special little bowl had been used to eat more than half of the rice with the meat sauce.

Her parents hadn't come back for a long time, and Xiang Di was so hungry that she served herself rice. Since there were no side dishes, she took out a jar of meat sauce from the refrigerator to eat with the rice. After she finished eating, she served rice to her parents, and then sat in a chair watching cartoons while waiting for her parents to come back, until she fell asleep.

From then on, the couple always showed a little more favoritism towards their daughter, Xiang Di.

Due to the nature of their work, there was no other way. Even though the couple had provided their child with the best material conditions within their means, they still felt indebted.

They didn't pay much attention to Xiang Di's grades, and Xiang Di never caused them any worry. Her grades in elementary and middle school weren't outstanding, but they weren't bad either. She was lucky when she took the high school entrance exam and barely made it into a key high school. She worked even harder in high school, and after two years of hard work, she actually got into the honors class in her senior year.

It's comforting when a child is sensible, but when a child is too sensible, it only makes people feel sorry for them. Sometimes, the couple can't tell whether their daughter genuinely doesn't care that they're busy with work, or if she's been disappointed too many times and has given up hope on them.

Seeing the guilty looks on her parents' faces, Xiang Di didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"It's really nothing."

"Really?" Luo Qinshu asked hesitantly. "You have no complaints about your parents?"

“I really don’t have any complaints at all. I know you’re not coming home because you’re busy saving other families.” Xiang Di smiled, her eyes filled with understanding and tenderness for her parents. “You’re absent from this parent-teacher conference because you’re going to court that day to seek justice for other children and their parents. That’s great, why should I have any complaints?”

The couple fell silent. In other families, it's the parents who need to understand and care for their children, but in their family, it's they, the parents, who are truly understood and cared for.

Despite lacking companionship, Xiang Di has grown into a considerate and sensible child.

What they didn't know was that Xiang Di never felt lonely; she truly felt she was already happy enough.

Although her parents spent little time with her, they never lacked love for her. From childhood to adulthood, she lacked nothing in terms of food and clothing, never experienced hardship, and never did any work. Although she didn't have expensive jewelry, she had many toys. She didn't have a princess's castle, but she had her own little room filled with her little hobbies.

And today, the boy she's had a crush on for three years said he has feelings for her.

Isn't this happiness?

Xiang Di's parents often tell her that they have no expectations for her and do not expect her to get into any top university. They just want her to be happy.

They told her the same thing this time: the college entrance exam wasn't that important; they just wanted her to be happy, and they didn't ask for anything else.

Xiang Di felt her parents were being a bit too sensitive, as if they were afraid she would develop psychological problems because of her absence from the parent-teacher conference. So she said, "I'm quite happy at school every day. Although the academic pressure is indeed quite high, I have my own way of solving problems, and the teachers and classmates are all very nice. Liang Qianqian, whom I told you about before, takes special care of me in class. Our class monitor is also very nice, and..."

She paused for a moment, and whether it was to seek excitement or something else, she suddenly mustered up the courage to mention Bai Jiangxin in front of her parents.

"And you know I'm in the honors class now, right? The top student in the grade is also in my class. We get along pretty well, and he'll help me with any questions I don't understand."

Parents are all like this; they all hope that their children will be influenced by good company. Everyone wants their children to get along well with classmates who have good grades, let alone the top student in the grade.

"Really?" Xiang Rongqiang was very happy. "High school is so stressful, yet he still takes the time to tutor you. Your classmate is a good person. You should thank him properly and treat him to a few meals whenever you have time. I'll pay for it."

Hearing her father praise Bai Jiangxin as a good person, Xiang Di was even happier than if she had been praised herself. She nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes, I will."

Xiang Di happily went back to her room to do her homework. The couple looked at each other and both breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiang Rongqiang sighed, "I wonder which lucky bastard will be the one to win the lottery and marry such a wonderful daughter of ours."

Luo Qinshu chuckled: "You're thinking too early. You haven't even graduated from high school yet."

"That'll be soon." Xiang Rongqiang said with a sneer, "Many girls are chased and dated as soon as they go to college. Your daughter is beautiful, has a good personality, and is very popular. Just you wait, when she goes to college, the number of people chasing her will be enough to form a football team."

Luo Qinshu was still reassured: "It's alright. Your daughter is very innocent and shy. I bet if a boy pursues her, she won't even understand what it means."

Xiang Rongqiang said, "That's true."

But then they thought that it wasn't good for a girl to be too naive. She would be easily deceived when she entered society. She should know a little about the relationship between men and women. The couple discussed it and decided that as soon as their daughter finished the college entrance examination, they would take some time to hold a small family meeting to properly teach her about the relationship between men and women.

"Do you think our daughter knows anything about this?" Xiang Rongqiang asked, unsure. "Shouldn't she have learned it in biology class?"

Luo Qinshu was even more uncertain than him: "Do you think she still believes that kissing is enough to get pregnant?"

"..."

So the couple, one a policeman and the other a judge, were impartial and incorruptible when judging criminals, but inexplicably became shy when it came to their youngest daughter's sex education.

-

Xiang Di was secretly reading pornographic articles while snuggled under the covers.

There was nothing she could do; she was too excited today and couldn't sleep, so she turned to reading erotic novels. But instead of putting her to sleep, they made her even more excited.

Especially when she saw the scene of two red lips holding a jade pillar, and the humble door opening for you for the first time, she imagined herself and Bai Jiangxin and actually felt something.

Several hours in the morning, while her parents were asleep, Xiang Di opened her bedroom door, ran to the bathroom, quietly changed her underwear, and washed and dried her wet underwear.

This excitement and insomnia caused her to miss her alarm the next day, and she didn't wake up until after nine o'clock.

When Xiang Di got up, she found that she had received a lot of messages on her phone, all from Liang Qianqian and the others, asking why she hadn't come to school yet.

Bai Jiangxin's was the only one missing.

Didn't we agree yesterday that I would call her every morning to wake her up? Why didn't I?

Was she dreaming yesterday? Bai Jiangxin never said he had feelings for her or wanted to pursue her?

Could it be that she has been secretly in love with Bai Jiangxin for too long, and the unrequited love has made her unable to distinguish between dreams and reality?

So what does her insomnia that night mean? Does it mean she was just being delusional?

Xiang Di put down her phone in despair, a chill running through her heart. She knew she wasn't so lucky as to win the lottery.

After sitting on the bed for a few minutes, Xiang Di suddenly remembered that she had to get up and go to school.

Xiang Di jumped out of bed at the speed of light, rushed out of the room, intending to just brush his teeth and wash his face quickly before leaving.

While brushing her teeth, she didn't forget to call her mother, complaining incoherently with toothpaste foam in her mouth about why her mother didn't wake her up.

Luo Qinshu said she left home in the early hours of the morning, and when she heard that her daughter had slept until after nine o'clock in the morning, she was very surprised: "I asked your dad to wake you up before I left, didn't he wake you up?"

Xiang Di called her father again, and her father said, "I called you, I called you several times, but you didn't wake up. I'm in a hurry to get to work, so I'm leaving now."

Although he is a father, he is still a man, and he can't very well wake his daughter up with violence.

Fortunately, her father knew before he left that she would most likely oversleep and be late for school today, so he had already called her homeroom teacher to ask for sick leave.

Sometimes, parents lie to teachers without batting an eye, even more so than their children.

With her father backing her up, Xiang Di finally felt relieved.

Now that she had already asked for leave, there was no need to rush. Xiang Di slowed down and sent messages to several classmates who cared about her to let them know she was safe and sound, saying that she had just overslept and would be at school soon.

Bai Jiangxin's chat box remained silent even after he had replied to all his classmates' messages.

So was yesterday really a dream?

After washing up in a daze, Xiang Di combed her hair, slung her schoolbag over her shoulder, and headed out to catch a ride to school. As she went downstairs, she suddenly saw that the bakery downstairs was open.

To verify whether what happened yesterday was a dream, Xiang Di went into the bakery, intending to ask the employee from yesterday. If it wasn't a dream, the employee would definitely remember.

But when I pushed open the door, the employee on duty this morning was not the same one as last night.

Xiang Di was in despair. When the shop assistant saw her come in, he greeted her with a "Welcome!" She didn't want to just leave like that, so she thought that since she was already there, she simply bought two cream puffs.

She divided one portion among the other classmates and herself, and the other portion, if yesterday wasn't a dream, she would give to Bai Jiangxin; if it really was a dream... she would give it to him too.

On the way, Xiang Di couldn't resist eating a few, but found that the cheese puffs she used to love, even though they were freshly baked, suddenly didn't taste as good.

When Xiang Di arrived at school, there were still five minutes left before the bell rang. Not wanting to go in during class time to avoid being stared at by the whole class, she waited outside until the bell rang before going in.

As soon as she entered the classroom, her eyes immediately went to Bai Jiangxin.

No results were found.

Xiang Di walked in with a puzzled look on her face. When Wang Sichen saw her, he jokingly said, "So you've finally decided to come to school?"

Xiang Di nodded, then looked past Wang Sichen at the empty seat next to him.

She asked casually, "...Where's Bai Jiangxin? I have a problem I can't solve, and I was thinking of asking him at school today."

Wang Sichen: "He hasn't arrived yet, you should ask someone else."

Xiang Di was shocked: "He hasn't arrived yet?!"

"yes."

What happened to him?

"Nothing much, just sleeping at home. I have something really funny to tell you—"

Wang Sichen laughed as she explained, "Isn't the first period our teacher's class? When the teacher saw that he hadn't come to class and hadn't asked for leave, he called his dad in front of the whole class. But his dad wasn't home, so he gave the teacher the housekeeper's number. The teacher then called the housekeeper, who said he was still sleeping. The housekeeper didn't dare to wake him up. Poor housekeeper, that's the humiliation of being a working person."

Xiang Di's lips twitched: "...And then?"

"Then the teacher got angry and told the aunt to wake Bai Jiangxin up, and that he would take responsibility for any consequences. So the aunt went to wake Bai Jiangxin up."

Wang Sichen laughed even harder at this point, and couldn't continue, so she asked Ye Minjia to continue talking to her.

As a result, Ye Minjia couldn't continue laughing, and Xiang Di overheard the whole thing while the other classmates were giving their own explanations.

At that time, Chen Jinghua asked the aunt to wake Bai Jiangxin up. The aunt didn't hang up the phone, but just kept it on speakerphone and went upstairs to wake Bai Jiangxin up. Everyone in the class was forced to listen to a live broadcast of the first person in the grade to get up.

After Bai Jiangxin was woken up, his aunt immediately put her phone next to him and said that his homeroom teacher asked her to wake him up.

Bai Jiangxin was so sleepy at the time that, through Chen Jinghua's phone, the whole class heard their aloof top student's husky and sleepy sexy deep voice as he woke up.

At that time, quite a few students in the class seemed to be thinking about something and were secretly laughing under their desks.

Chen Jinghua said with dissatisfaction, "Bai Jiangxin."

Bai Jiangxin's voice was soft and hoarse: "Yes, teacher."

"Do you even remember that you're a student and you're supposed to come to school for classes?"

Bai Jiangxin nodded.

Chen Jinghua raised his voice: "Remember you didn't come to school?"

Bai Jiangxin said softly, "I overslept."

Chen Jinghua found it amusing: "You overslept and you still have the nerve to say that? How did you oversleep?"

"...It's not convenient to say."

He couldn't say, and Chen Jinghua was too lazy to ask, continuing to scold him: "You're still number one in the grade, and you overslept and didn't come to school. Is this how you set an example for the other students?"

Bai Jiangxin remained silent. Chen Jinghua assumed he had realized his mistake and sternly ordered, "Come to school immediately for class."

"Okay." Bai Jiangxin agreed first, then said softly, "I'll come when I wake up."

Chen Jinghua was both angry and amused. After hanging up the phone, he immediately ordered all the students in the class to bring Bai Jiangxin to the office for criticism and education as soon as he arrived at the school.

Some of the students had been classmates with Bai Jiangxin for three years, and they had never heard him sleep in. Two classes had passed, and everyone was still talking about it with great relish. They only regretted that they hadn't taken out their phones to record it, otherwise they would have posted it on the confession wall and let the whole school admire the school heartthrob's sleeping in style.

Wang Sichen said to Xiang Di with regret, "What a pity, you missed a great show."

Xiang Di looked regretful: "What a pity!"

Although she didn't know why Bai Jiangxin slept in today, she somehow missed hearing his voice when he first woke up. Damn it, it must have sounded so sensual and sexy, and so evocative.

Xiang Di immediately glanced at the whole class with envious, jealous and hateful eyes.

Damn it, you all ate so well, but I didn't get to eat anything.

Jealousy is useless; what's missed is missed, and Xiang Di can only give up.

But Bai Jiangxin hasn't come to school yet, so what should she do with the cream puffs she brought for him?

Xiang Di messaged him, not daring to ask him directly about yesterday's events. She could only ask tactfully, "Why haven't you come to school yet?"

Two minutes later, Bai Jiangxin replied: [Just woke up.]

Xiang Di: [Did you go to bed very late last night?]

Bai Jiangxin: [Hmm.]

Xiang Di: [Did you stay up too late doing your homework?]

Bai Jiangxin: [No.]

Xiang Di: [Why is that?]

Bai Jiangxin: [...]

Bai Jiangxin: [Try pretending to be stupid again?]

Xiang Di pursed her lips. She wasn't sure if yesterday's dream was real. What was wrong with testing the waters a little more indirectly? Why did she have no patience at all? Would she just go straight to the point from now on without any foreplay?