"No, Uncle, I'll just find a ride-hailing service or a taxi later, or I'll have my dad find someone to take me."
"Okay, then." Without dwelling on the matter, Shang Zhengxin turned to his daughter, telling her to be careful and instructing Chen Bing to take good care of Shang Yunmiao. Finally, he pulled out his wallet and stuffed several RMB notes into their pockets before leaving with the others.
After watching the other person leave, Chen Bing squeezed the thickness of the red bills in her hand, then looked down at them again. After assessing the amount of RMB, some unhealthy thoughts began to creep into Chen Bing's mind.
After mentally condemning her sinful thoughts again, Chen Bing took Shang Yunmiao's hand again. The other girl, pulled by the touch, immediately snapped out of her daze, patting her chest with a relieved expression: "I was so scared! I thought I was going to get a terrible scolding from Dad for skipping class."
Girl, your focus isn't on skipping class. For the two of us, shouldn't the more serious issue be the public display of affection? That's a factor for conviction; the time, place, and circumstances of the embrace are merely factors for sentencing.
Didn't you see the look Dad gave me just now? He looked like he wanted to kill me! You're such a clueless kid.
"What 'skipping class'? We're just asking for leave properly. Didn't you see that Uncle Shang tacitly approved it?" After saying this with feigned composure, Chen Bing's trembling legs finally calmed down.
"Well, thankfully I have a sick leave slip."
After feeling relieved, Shang Yunmiao refused to engage in any intimate behavior with Chen Bing again. She could forgive the brief hand-holding that had caught Chen Bing off guard, but now she needed to keep her distance. She would strictly adhere to the school rules of Experimental No. 1 Middle School, maintaining an arm's length distance; at that distance, holding hands was definitely out of the question.
Seeing this, Chen Bing didn't insist on holding Xiao Shang's hand, after all, Uncle Shang had indeed startled him just now.
The two maintained an arm's length distance as they walked towards the aforementioned bakery. However, the distance gradually decreased, shrinking from an overly restrictive arm's length to a normal fist's gap. During this time, noticing that Xiao Shang instinctively raised her hand to link arms with him several times when they encountered crowds, Chen Bing, being a man, felt it was his duty to take the initiative.
Reaching out, Chen Bing put her arm around Xiao Shang's shoulder.
Meeting the other person's puzzled expression, Chen Bing explained, "This posture makes us look intimately close, but it also makes us look like innocent buddies, doesn't it?"
Xiao Shang thought so too. After gesturing to Chen Bing's shoulder, he ultimately gave up on retaliating with the same gesture.
The two good buddies remained in that position and soon arrived at the reserved place. After spending four hundred yuan on a 12+8 inch cake, they continued to browse elsewhere.
Making a cake isn't something that can be done all at once. Fortunately, this shop is usually quite busy, and today is New Year's Day, so they've pre-made a small portion of each style. It should be finished in about an hour.
The two then found a place to have a meal and bought some snacks before leaving, taking the cake they had bought with them.
However, there wasn't enough time. By the time they got into the ride-hailing car, it was already 6:20 PM, the normal time for evening self-study at Baishi No. 1 Middle School. But it should be fine; by the time they got back, the party might not have even started. Everything was dragging on, and the only thing the two of them couldn't help with was setting up the venue. They could just share some food later; hopefully, no one would mind.
Along the way, Xiao Shang kept staring at the light blue yogurt-flavored ice cream cake, her legs swinging gently. She looked very happy.
"What, want some? I should have made a smaller portion to eat on the way."
"No, it's not that I want to eat, I'm just really looking forward to tonight."
Oh, I see.
After affectionately patting Shang Yunmiao's head, Chen Bing put his arm around her shoulder, wanting her to snuggle into his arms.
However, after noticing that the driver was glancing at her in the rearview mirror from time to time, Shang Yunmiao gently pinched Chen Bing's waist and refused his request to get close.
Okay then, I'll put it on later.
Winters get dark early, and Shandong Province isn't a western province like Xinjiang, so it's completely dark by 6 PM. Baishi No. 1 Middle School is located on the edge of the town, surrounded only by a restaurant street and a few rows of houses; the rest are vast fields of winter wheat.
Therefore, it's normal for the area around Baishi No.1 Middle School to be a bit dark at this time, but today, it seems a bit too dark, and Chen Bing felt a sense of unease.
As the taxi pulled up at the school gate, the pitch-black gate came into view for Chen Bing and the other person.
Sure enough, my anxiety came true: Baishi No.1 Middle School lost power again.
Turning his head to look at Shang Yunmiao sitting next to him, he saw that the little girl was staring blankly at the pitch-black school.
Without saying much, Chen Bing opened the car door, picked up the things in the car, and said to her, "It's okay, let's go see what's going on first."
Turning around, Shang Yunmiao gave a soft "hmm," then got out of the car and helped Chen Bing carry her things.
The light from cell phones illuminated every corner of the campus, and although there was a power outage, it didn't feel dark here tonight.
On their way to the classroom, Chen Bing and her companion ran into an acquaintance.
"Zhang Yuan?"
"Hey! Brother Bing." Zhang Yuan, who was walking with a group of people, heard the familiar voice calling him and turned around to look for Chen Bing.
"Brother Bing, you've gone out." Zhang Yuan asked curiously after seeing what Chen Bing and the other person were carrying.
"Yeah, I went out to buy some things. What, is the school out of power again?" Chen Bing asked uneasily, glancing at the bags Zhang Yuan and his classmate were carrying.
"Yes, it stopped about half an hour ago. Our homeroom teacher told us that those who could contact their parents could go home directly, and those who couldn't should go back to the dormitory and go home the next day."
"Then, what about the New Year's Eve party? Are we canceling it?"
"The multimedia equipment isn't working. Our class was planning to watch a movie while eating. Now that we can't watch the movie, we just finished distributing our things and went back to our dorms."
"Oh, okay, go ahead then, don't keep your classmate waiting too long. Oh, and I bought some snacks, I'll share some with you."
Zhang Yuan didn't stand on ceremony; after saying thank you, he parted ways with the two.
After glancing at the stunned Xiao Shang again, Chen Bing felt a pang of heartache.
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