[“Why are you so short?”]

Ever since the parents’ meeting, Luo Siyu had been secretly looking forward to seeing Zhou Leqi.

She couldn’t wait to know how she would react after seeing Zhou Lei, and whether her mother, who claimed to be the first wife, would still be able to be arrogant? Would she just have to watch helplessly as Zhou Lei abandoned them?

It was so satisfying.

However, unfortunately, she hadn’t had a chance to see Zhou Leqi since that day. Class 1 and Class 43 were too far apart, and she couldn’t find a reason to go over there. Later, she heard that Zhou Leqi was absent from school for two consecutive days. Luo Siyu thought she must have suffered a very serious blow, maybe she had gotten sick from anger. This was good news for her, but the bad thing was... she heard that Hou Zihao had also taken leave.

They had disappeared together for two days.

Why was that? Why would they take leave together?

Could they be together?

Luo Siyu felt uneasy about this.

She really wanted to investigate the reason behind this, but unfortunately, there were no direct ways. Later, she thought about it and came up with an idea involving Zhang Zhouning. Although Zhang Zhouning was a liberal arts student, he always hung out with Hou Zihao and the other science students and was close to them, so he might know something about him.

And what was even more convenient was that Zhang Zhouning was a bit easy to flirt with.

She had previously gone to Hou Zihao to borrow math notes. Hou Zihao later gave them directly to Zhang Zhouning to pass on. He was also a helpful person. When he gave the notes to Luo Siyu, he even proactively said to her, “These are Monkey’s notes—alas, he actually doesn’t write down the basics because his grades are too good. These notes don’t even have a system, other people simply can’t understand them—if you want to find some that are understandable, I can lend you mine.”

With these words, Luo Siyu had established a connection with Zhang Zhouning.

Actually, Luo Siyu didn’t care about the notes at all. She didn’t really look at anyone’s notes when they got to her. At most, she would just copy them once, or simply photocopy them. Her mind wasn’t on studying at all. She was more concerned with socializing, and her ultimate goal was to win over Hou Zihao, with the secondary goal of integrating into the student circles of the high school.

Zhang Zhouning was a good breakthrough point.

So, taking the opportunity to look at his notes, she slowly started talking to him. Sometimes she would even pretend to ask about some challenging math problems that she would never possibly understand. Gradually, it became hard not to become familiar.

This Wednesday, after the weekly exam, she stayed behind during Zhang Zhouning’s duty time and went over to inquire about Hou Zihao.

“You’re talking about Monkey,” he replied while sweeping the floor. “He hasn’t come these two days. Yan Lin also said he hasn’t seen him.”

Luo Siyu responded softly and then asked, “Then why hasn’t he come? Is he sick?”

“Don’t know.” Zhang Zhouning honestly shook his head.

Luo Siyu pursed her lips, paused for a moment, and then asked, “I heard that their top science student hasn’t come these days either?”

Hearing this, Zhang Zhouning raised his eyebrows and asked with some doubt, “The top science student? Do you know her?”

Luo Siyu was taken aback, then replied, “N-no, I just heard about it and asked casually...”

Zhang Zhouning said “Oh,” and before he could respond, they suddenly heard a snicker from the side. He turned his head and saw that Mi Lan was wiping the blackboard behind him.

This little devil, what was she laughing at again?

Zhang Zhouning put down the broom and asked, “What are you laughing at?”

Hearing this, Mi Lan also put down the blackboard eraser, turned her pretty head to look at Zhang Zhouning, and also glanced at Luo Siyu.

Her expression was a bit contemptuous. She said to Zhang Zhouning, “Zhang Zhouning, it’s not that I’m criticizing you, but you’re really a clueless straight guy—how come you still can’t tell what she means after all this?”

Zhang Zhouning was confused. “Huh?”

Mi Lan rolled her eyes and made it clear, “She’s chasing Monkey, and you’re just a tool. You even eagerly offered to lend her notes. I’m really impressed.”

Such direct words inevitably made Zhang Zhouning embarrassed, and Luo Siyu on the side was already blushing with shame.

She clenched her hands and retorted to Mi Lan, “Don’t talk nonsense! Monkey and I were junior high school classmates, I don’t have any other intentions towards him!”

Mi Lan curled her lip and said speechlessly, “We’re all old hands here, it’s pointless for you to give me folk remedies, right? I’m also chasing Yan Lin. If you want to chase, then chase. There’s no need to hide it.”

She paused and added, “But I advise you to give up. God Hou is different from Yan Lin. He clearly already has someone he likes. Isn’t it that top student in their science class? Breaking up a couple will bring you bad luck for life. You’re essentially a mistress, there’s no way to wash that clean.”

After speaking, she turned back to wipe the blackboard—she was short, so she had only wiped the bottom part of the blackboard just now, and now she had to jump up and down to wipe the higher parts, as if she had a small spring in her feet.

The atmosphere in the classroom was tense, Luo Siyu’s emotions were especially strained, and Zhang Zhouning didn’t dare to breathe loudly, feeling like the two girls were about to tear each other apart. He was caught in the middle, in a real dilemma, literally not daring to fart.

Fortunately, reinforcements arrived from heaven at this time—Yan Lin came.

He had come to return the compass to Zhang Zhouning. He hadn’t brought it to the exam today, and as soon as he reached the door, he heard Mi Lan again loudly saying she wanted to chase him.

Speechless, he put the compass on the table after entering and was about to leave, but unfortunately, he was spotted by the sharp-eyed Mi Lan. She smiled at him, as pretty as a flower, and while bouncing up and down to wipe the blackboard, she called out to him, “Hey, Yan Lin, wait a moment! I’ll be done wiping soon, let’s go together!”

Zhang Zhouning also hoped Yan Lin would stay to stabilize the situation, so he also chimed in, “Yeah, yeah, it’ll be done soon, just wait a bit.”

After speaking, he seized the opportunity and ran to the other side of the classroom to sweep the floor, a good distance away from both Mi Lan and Luo Siyu.

Luo Siyu stood stiffly in place for a while. No one spoke to her or offered her a way out of the awkward situation. She felt very embarrassed. Later, she saw Yan Lin waiting impatiently for a while. Finally, he couldn’t stand watching Mi Lan bouncing up and down to wipe the blackboard anymore. He walked over in a few steps and took the blackboard eraser from her hand. Being a tall guy of over 1.8 meters, he could reach the top of the blackboard with a stretch of his arm and wiped it clean in no time. While wiping, he also complained to Mi Lan, “Why are you so short?”

Mi Lan usually particularly disliked others saying she was short, but at this moment, seeing Yan Lin proactively come to help her, she was overjoyed and wouldn’t argue with him.

She sweetly hugged Yan Lin’s arm and retorted playfully, “One tall person in the family is enough. You’re already so tall, what’s the point of me being taller?”

Never missing an opportunity to take advantage of him.

Yan Lin was speechless. As soon as he finished wiping the blackboard, he turned around and left. Mi Lan rushed to her seat to grab her bag while calling out behind him, “Hey, Yan Lin, wait for me!”

She quickly ran after him as well.

So, only Luo Siyu was left in the classroom... looking like she had been isolated.

In fact, no one intended to isolate Luo Siyu. Everyone was already in their senior year of high school, so tired from studying every day that they didn’t have the energy to engage in any isolation tactics.

She simply couldn’t fit in.

She was too different from the students at the high school. This difference wasn’t just in academic performance, but also in behavioral habits and lifestyle. She didn’t share a common language with them. They usually talked about exams and which tutoring classes were better, topics she couldn’t participate in. She sometimes didn’t even understand their jokes. Those words contained metaphors and puns she couldn’t comprehend, and also hid some small allusions and origins. Her knowledge reserve wasn’t enough for her to join such conversations.

The bigger obstacle was the one she had set up for herself.

She subjectively felt that the students at the high school were remarkable. She defined them as “smart people” and believed she was far inferior to them. So she had to constantly remind herself to appear “smart.” This pretense was very difficult, far less easy than pretending to be well-behaved. Moreover, even pretending to be well-behaved made her seem stiff and unnatural.

She actually wasn’t happy at the high school.

Beauty appears in contrast.

She had originally thought that leaving the third high school and coming to the first high school was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to her. However, reality made her realize that this luck came at a price. She wouldn’t suddenly become an excellent model student just by changing schools, just as plastic wouldn’t become a diamond by being placed in a showcase.

So she began to miss the third high school, where she had been in her element.

At that time, she had many friends she got along with. They talked about boys, celebrities, and school gossip, mostly stimulating topics like who went to a hotel with whom. She also had many suitors, all of whom revolved around her and treated her like a goddess, spreading their tails like peacocks in front of her, trying to lure her into hotels as well.

The most enthusiastic of these boys was named Ding Peng.

He was a hoodlum. Back then, getting into a school like the third high school required his parents to pull strings. In the end, he had frantically practiced volleyball and turned himself into a “special sports student” to muddle throughinto the school. After entering, he didn’t study and spent his days loitering outside under the guise of training. The teachers were too lazy to care about him.

But he looked good, and some girls discussed him behind his back. Luo Siyu didn’t like him because she knew his future would at most be inheriting the small shop his parents ran, no different from her own father who ran a street food stall. His future held only bleakness.

But he had always liked her and even declared in school that he would definitely win her over. This satisfied her subtle vanity—she enjoyed his attentiveness towards her and even more enjoyed the envious or jealous gazes of other girls. She even felt good when she heard some girls curse her as a “slut” behind her back, viewing such insults as proof of her victory in the competition.

Now that she had encountered setbacks at the first high school, she thought of Ding Peng again. She proactively asked him to meet up. Ding Peng was very excited and treated her to a meal at a small restaurant. While eating, he sat closer and closer to her and even tried to touch her thigh.

She slapped his hand, cursed at him, and he cursed back, but he was smiling because the curse didn’t mean he was angry, it was just a casual way of speaking.

Heaven knows how much Luo Siyu missed this way of communication—she loved cursing. This kind of language made her feel good and energetic. But unfortunately, she had to pretend to be a well-behaved girl in front of Zhou Lei, not only not being able to curse but also having to act timid, gentle, and weak.

Fuck that pretense.

Now she could finally speak unrestrainedly. She could be herself with Ding Peng, using vulgar language to tease him and acting dissolute in front of him, but she didn’t satisfy his desires—of course, she wouldn’t satisfy him. She only wanted to get some comfort from him, not to give herself away.

Ding Peng probably understood this, but he was still willing to play along with Luo Siyu. In this process, he would consider it a gain if he could touch her a little more. If he could哄 (hǒng - coax, trick) her into bed one day, that would be a huge win. If she got pregnant and agreed to marry him, and then shared some of her new stepfather’s money with him, that would be a windfall that would make his ancestors’ graves emit green smoke.

Therefore, both of them had their own calculations in mind. When they were together, they were quite lively, each feeling like they had gained something and also feeling like they might lose something.

Seeing the atmosphere progressing, Ding Peng called the waiter over and ordered a bottle of wine, coaxing Luo Siyu to drink. After half a bottle, he felt he was about ready to put his arm around her shoulder. So he casually did so, and she indeed didn’t resist. Ding Peng was secretly pleased and flirtatiously asked her, “What’s up? Did you realize those bookworms at the first high school are boring? Isn’t your Peng-ge more fun for you?”

After asking, he took another gulp of wine, but he didn’t hear Luo Siyu’s reply for a long time. He felt strange and turned his head to see a chef coming out of the back kitchen of this small restaurant, a disheveled middle-aged man. Luo Siyu was staring at him.

That was her biological father.

Luo Long.