Chapter Twenty-Five

Shen Yue rarely gets up early on weekends.

He crept stealthily to the second-floor railing, squatted down, and secretly observed Xue Meiying's movements.

As soon as Xinghai's most beautiful girl, dressed like a flower, opened the door and went out, he quickly went back to his room to grab his phone and keys, and rushed out like a rocket.

Xue Meiying gracefully stepped onto her black steamed bun. Shen Yue seized the opportunity, turned the key, and started the accelerator.

"......"

The neighbor next door was walking her dog towards her. She greeted Xue Meiying, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, with her car window rolled down. After a few brief pleasantries, the black-haired little dog drove off, and the golden retriever she was holding made a pooping motion. She quickly put her homemade poop catcher behind it.

After a satisfying bowel movement, she held her breath and pulled the bag off the pole and tied it up. A gentle breeze blew by, and amidst the strong smell, she subconsciously looked up and saw a familiar figure speeding forward on a pink electric scooter.

The reflective skull on the T-shirt looked incredibly arrogant in the sunlight. The neighbor squinted, and a figure instantly popped into his mind.

What was the name of Xue Meiying's unconventional eldest grandson again? I think I heard the old lady mention it...

The golden retriever barked twice, and the neighbor slapped his forehead, remembering something.

Dog Egg!

.

Seeing that he could no longer see the back of the black minibus in front of him, the non-mainstream grandson, Gou Dan'er, hurriedly parked his electric scooter at the entrance of the community and quickly got into the ride-hailing car he had booked in advance.

"Driver, follow the black car ahead!"

The driver's lifeless face suddenly radiated a different kind of brilliance.

He excitedly said "Okay," tightened his seatbelt, his adrenaline surged, and he almost flew Chen Yue off the gas pedal.

Shen Yue: "......"

You're pushing yourself too hard, Master.

After settling into his seat, Shen Yue silently gripped the handle on the top of the car window, staring intently at the steamed bun-shaped buttocks in front of him.

If his guess is correct, Xue Meiying's schedule today should be—

"...Luckily, I didn't name that brat Shen Yue 'Dog Egg' back then."

As expected, his gamble paid off; the ever-busy old lady invited Qu Qi and You Congxi over for milk tea.

Furious, Shen Yue huddled in a corner, secretly eyeing the three-person table diagonally opposite by the window.

This old lady, why does she say everything!

Shen Yue felt that the magnificent image he held in You Congxi's heart was about to be completely destroyed after Xue Meiying's nagging.

"......"

Qu Qi noticed You Congxi's unusual behavior: "Little Fish, what are you looking at?"

You Congxi had been looking around for three minutes, shaking his head back and forth. Even if he tried to hide it, the booth was small and any movement would be very obvious.

Hearing this, Xue Meiying looked over with concern: "What's wrong? Are you looking for the restroom?"

You Congxi, holding his phone, gave a nonchalant "hmm".

Xue Meiying immediately waved to a waiter and asked her to take You Congxi over.

After You Congxi left, only she and Qu Qi remained at the table.

Qu Qi forked a small piece of cake and put it in her mouth. She heard Xue Meiying ask casually, "Qiqi, are you and Xiaoyu classmates?"

Qu Qi swallowed the cake and nodded: "Yes, we're still deskmates."

Xue Meiying: "No wonder you two are so close. You're obviously good friends who hang out together all the time. Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever seen Shen Yue get along with anyone this well."

Qu Qi hesitated: "No way, I remember Shen Yue was quite popular and knew a lot of people at school." They even fought together.

Xue Meiying is straightforward and not good at beating around the bush. All this preamble had already exhausted her brain cells, so she simply asked, "Is that so? So what's his relationship with you?"

Qu Qi didn't expect her to ask that, but she didn't think much of it: "We're in a group, along with two other people. We get along well and haven't had many conflicts."

Xue Meiying wanted to ask something more, but a gust of wind blew by, and her eldest grandson, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, suddenly sat down next to her.

Qu Qi stared at him as if he had seen a ghost.

"Haha, Milk, Qu Qi, what a coincidence, you're here for milk tea too." Shen Yue smiled broadly. Although his excuse was lame, his expression was so sincere that it still startled the two of them.

You Congxi slowly sat down, showing no surprise at the unexpected guest opposite him, and too lazy to expose his low-level lie.

After all, she had already "coincidentally" bumped into him once in the restroom.

Shen Yue regretted sending the message as soon as he did; wasn't this digging his own grave?

But he quickly comforted himself, thinking, what if You Congxi didn't end up at his grave?

Just then, You Congxi got up and went to the restroom. He tidied his hair, which he had specially done that morning, and tried to salvage the situation by pretending to bump into her.

As soon as they entered, they were startled by You Congxi standing at the corner.

"Haha, You Xiaoyu, what a coincidence, you're here for milk tea too." Shen Yue smiled broadly.

"......"

You Congxi gave a half-smile and said, "Yes, what a coincidence, Gou Dan'er."

Shen Yue: "......"

The plan to delete all of his following lists really needs to be put on the agenda, even if it's as revenge.

"......"

Xue Meiying witnessed Shen Yue diligently pushing the newly served dessert to You Congxi, finally confirming her inner guess.

Xue Meiying genuinely wanted to make friends with the two girls when she invited them to milk tea. Though she's old, she's young at heart; she enjoys interacting with young people, as if she could absorb some of their enthusiasm and energy for the world.

Incidentally, she was also very curious about her eldest grandson's love life, since his family had been prepared for him to remain a bachelor for life since he was a child.

Learning that Gou Dan'er had a girl he liked was like the sun rising in the west, a rooster laying an egg, or an iron tree blooming—it was simply unbelievable.

Xue Meiying listened to the three bickering with a kind expression, resting her chin on her hand. Recalling the commotion Shen Yue had caused last night, she became increasingly suspicious.

"......"

In just one hour, Xue Meiying had almost pulled down Shen Yue's underwear.

Qu Qi almost laughed herself silly when someone popped up in the group chat. Xue Meiying was delighted and immediately made a video call. The online group assignment for the philosophy group started ahead of schedule, but instead of doing the assignment, everyone listened to the group leader's funny childhood stories.

Shen Yue, with a long face, glanced at the phone that Qu Qi had placed next to the table, then turned to look at You Congxi, whose lips were still upturned, and tried to obstruct her for the 108th time: "Grandma, that's enough, I..."

Xue Meiying was in the middle of her talk when she heard this and gave him an impatient look: "If you're impatient, then leave. You weren't invited in the first place."

Shen Yue: ".,..."

Which blogger did you learn this from?!

On this day, the philosophy group learned about the various wicked deeds of the Xinghai District bully, who was usually so arrogant, when he was a child, like a demon child.

For example, because he didn't want to eat the carrot, he picked it out of his bowl and fed it to the dog. The dog had just taken a lick when his father came out. The little devil picked up the carrot with lightning speed and put it in his father's bowl. The father, who always spoiled his child, ate the whole carrot that his precious son had given him, and only learned the truth many years later.

For example, a baby was told by the doctor that he was a high-needs baby from birth. The parents did not believe it and insisted on taking care of him by themselves according to the parenting books. From then on, they lived a wonderful life with no day or night but only the baby crying for no reason. In less than half a month, the couple's hearing deteriorated significantly, and they suffered from neurasthenia and postpartum depression. Every day, they were like walking corpses, revolving around the baby. They were only able to keep on their feet because of the continuous efforts of five nannies.

For example, when his classmates started smoking in junior high, Shen Yue tried smoking to maintain his status as the school bully. However, he choked on his first puff and was completely dazed. From then on, he kept his distance from such things and would suck on a lollipop stick every day to look cool. This caused him to get cavities, and Shen Lan would grab his ear and scold him.

Even during the online meeting that evening, the group was still talking about it with great enthusiasm.

He Qizheng: "I'm fucking laughing so hard! I know about that thing from junior high, we were classmates in junior high, but I never thought his past would be so funny, hahaha!"

Qu Qi: "Oh my, you two wouldn't know if you weren't there. Shen Yue's face was so dark, he could practically cosplay Bao Gong. I almost laughed myself to death."

Yin Zixuan: "It's not surprising that he did these things."

Shen Yue: "...You Xiaoyu, don't think I don't know you turned off the camera to secretly laugh. If you say another word, you'll all be muted."

After a period of commotion, they finally got down to business. Shen Yue secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but then he was startled by the background of a certain video frame.

"...He Qizheng, what's behind you?"

He Qizheng's entire background image had somehow changed to a grinning man wielding a shovel, with He Qizheng sitting right in the shovel's attack range. It was inexplicably funny, yet also somewhat familiar.

He Qizheng looked smug, as if to say, "You finally figured it out: The battle between Wang Laoqi, the God of Shovels, and Xie Guangkun, the Mastermind of Ivory Mountain, is a world-famous painting."

Seeing Shen Yue's puzzled expression, he shouted again, "No way, you haven't even watched 'Country Love'?? Go watch it, it's so good to watch while eating, you'll want to strangle Xie Guangkun while watching it, and you'll be so angry that you'll eat a few more bites of rice."

Shen Yue vaguely remembered that Aunt Zheng seemed to be obsessed with this TV series for a while. She would mutter things like "Kill Xie Guangkun" every day. At that time, he asked Aunt Zheng if Xie Guangkun had offended her and that he would find someone to deal with him. Aunt Zheng laughed and threatened him that if he fought again, she would tell Shen Lan.

Coming to his senses, Shen Yue looked at the other three video backgrounds, which had also all changed, and was speechless. Clearly, He Qizheng's stupid behavior had spread from person to person. Since he had already gone this far, he simply changed the background image to a classroom at No. 1 Middle School, and sat upright in the center of the classroom, calling for class.

Whether it was because Shen Yue changed the classroom background or because she didn't sleep well last night, You Congxi heard the others' heated discussions as if they were white noise to help her fall asleep. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and her consciousness drifted further and further away. Naturally, she didn't notice the meeting suddenly quiet down.

"......"

After silencing the last person, Shen Yue watched as You Congxi's head nearly hit the table. In front of the others, he couldn't hide the smile in his eyes.

How could someone be so cute? He thought.

After a moment, he moved his fingers slightly, setting You Congxi's interface to be visible to everyone. Then, facing You Congxi's peaceful sleeping face, he lowered his voice, imitating the tone of a Chinese teacher, and leaned close to the microphone of the headphones.

"You Congxi, you answer this question."

He splashed around in the stream and stood up quickly.