Daydreaming about Me

Chapter 16

The slap was loud and clear, leaving Shen Juan stunned.

He never expected to be hit, and he was completely unprepared. The force wasn’t small, causing his head to tilt slightly to the side, his hair swishing along with it.

“What the…?” he blurted out.

Shen Juan recalled how Lin Yujing would wake up in class every time the bell rang, always frowning with a look of annoyance, and would need at least three to five minutes to fully wake up.

He suddenly felt relieved that he had never tried to wake her up in class; otherwise, he would probably have received two slaps.

This girl really had a temper when she woke up.

He turned his head.

Lin Yujing was completely stunned, her mouth slightly open, just staring at him.

Shen Juan looked back at her, his dark eyes unreadable.

Five seconds later, Lin Yujing burst out laughing.

She couldn’t hold it in and started laughing. At first, she tried to suppress it, but soon she was laughing uncontrollably, hugging a pillow and leaning back on the sofa.

She had just woken up, not from a nap in class, but from a deep sleep on the sofa she used as a bed. The blanket was tangled around her, she was hugging a pillow, and her eyes were bright and shining.

Her hair was a bit messy from sleep, and she looked very soft and relaxed.

“Sorry,” Lin Yujing said, laughing. “Sorry, I didn’t realize it was you. Your voice was so close.”

Shen Juan couldn’t help but smile at her laughter.

This girl had a lot of nerve.

He leaned back on the sofa, looking at the girl who was struggling to hold back her laughter, feeling a bit helpless. “Is it that funny?”

“No, not really,” Lin Yujing rubbed her face, which was sore from laughing, and looked at him obediently. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to. Don’t be mad.”

“I know, I’m not mad,” Shen Juan said, feeling truly helpless.

With the tension gone, Lin Yujing cleared her throat, pulled off the blanket, and slowly folded it. “Your expression just now was terrifying. I thought you were going to hit me. Is the last person who slapped you no longer in this world?”

Shen Juan raised his hand and rubbed his still-tingling cheek with his thumb. “The last person to slap me hasn’t been born yet. You’re the first.”

The way he did this was quite attractive, with a bit of a careless and sexy vibe, very alluring.

Lin Yujing looked at him and blinked, clicking her tongue and shaking her head.

Shen Juan didn’t notice. He stood up and watched her fold the blanket and put it aside. “It’s late. Shall I take you home?”

Lin Yujing stood up as well, checked her phone for the time, and saw it was half-past ten. She had slept for over two hours.

She had slept very soundly, which surprised her. It had been a long time since she had slept so well.

“No need, I live nearby.” Lin Yujing casually grabbed her hair, bit on a hair tie, and started to tie it up.

Shen Juan stared at the black hair tie for a moment, then looked away. “Nearby?” “Yes,” Lin Yujing said, tying her hair and shaking her head. “Just next door.”

Shen Juan didn’t say much more. He walked her to the door, and the girl turned around, waving at him. “See you on Monday?”

Shen Juan leaned against the black iron door. Jiang Han and the others had left without him noticing, and the small string of lights was off, leaving only a dim corridor light casting shadows on his face.

He smiled faintly. “See you on Monday.”

In this city, there were still cicadas singing in early September, and the temperature difference between day and night was significant. Lin Yujing didn’t wear a jacket when she went out, and now she couldn’t help but rub her arms.

It wasn’t that cold, just that kind of damp chill that made her teeth chatter.

Passing by a 7-11, she went in to buy some snacks. There were a lot of leftovers at the Oden counter, but she was too full to buy more. She grabbed a pack of blueberry-flavored bubblegum from the counter, paid for it, and popped it into her mouth.

By the time she got back, it was nearly eleven. The house was still empty. Lin Yujing went upstairs and was about to head to her room when the door to the next room opened.

She froze, just about to say hello, but Fu Mingxiu turned around without a word.

Lin Yujing turned as well, opening her door to go in when Fu Mingxiu suddenly spoke. “Can you be quieter next time?”

Lin Yujing turned back. Fu Mingxiu stood at the stairway, frowning at her. “Do you know what time it is? You may not want to sleep, but others do. You coming back so late is really annoying.”

“…”

Lin Yujing almost laughed. With the soundproofing in this house, even if she cursed him right outside his door, he probably wouldn’t hear. How loud could her footsteps be?

This lousy attempt to pick a fight was so obvious, almost as if he had “I just want to make you mad, come on, argue with me” written on his face. Lin Yujing wouldn’t take the bait. She nodded sensibly. “Got it. I’ll buy you some earplugs tomorrow.”

“…”

Fu Mingxiu: “What?”

Lin Yujing gave him a glance. “Aren’t you bothered by the noise? With such good soundproofing not working, let’s add some earplugs.”

Fu Mingxiu stepped forward, looking down at her with a dark expression. “Lin Yujing, I don’t care what you used to do, whether you came home late or stayed out all night. Now that you’re in my house, and since you’re my ‘sister,’ you better behave. Otherwise, I won’t tolerate you.”

Lin Yujing stood there, hands at her sides, looking obedient. She raised a bag of snacks in her hand and shook it at him.

Fu Mingxiu frowned. “What?”

“Snacks,” Lin Yujing said. “I was hungry, so I went out to buy some.”

Fu Mingxiu sneered. “There’s nothing to eat in the fridge? No food or drinks?”

“There’s plenty,” Lin Yujing said calmly, looking at him. “But I don’t know whose they are. I don’t want someone to badmouth me the next day, saying ‘Miss Lin is really something, sneaking around at night and taking whatever she wants without asking.’”

She lazily lifted her eyes: “Or being dragged over and questioned face-to-face about why I didn’t say anything before eating his food. You might not understand, but when you’re living under someone else’s roof, you have to be careful.”

Fu Mingxiu stood there, speechless for a long while.

Lin Yujing gave him a sweet smile, blew a blueberry-flavored bubble with her gum, and said, “I’m going to my room now. Goodnight, brother.”

The weekend passed quickly. After their unpleasant conversation at the door late Saturday night, Lin Yujing and Fu Mingxiu didn’t speak again. Although he would sneak glances at her during meals, he didn’t say anything, perhaps because Aunt Zhang and the servants were present.

Lin Yujing pretended not to notice, finishing her meals quickly without sparing him an extra glance.

On Monday morning, when she went downstairs, Fu Mingxiu was already there. They had breakfast together, and Lin Yujing headed out, with Fu Mingxiu following.

Old Li was nowhere to be seen. Lin Yujing stood at the door and glanced at Fu Mingxiu. The man, with a cold face, said nothing and walked away.

“…”

Lin Yujing truly didn’t want to bother with him and couldn’t understand why this college sophomore, a few years older than her, was so childish.

She rolled her eyes, crossed the garden, exited the yard, and pushed open the main gate to walk forward.

Halfway there, someone suddenly honked behind her. Fu Mingxiu drove up beside her, frowning as usual. “Didn’t I say I’d take you today?”

“Didn’t you leave first?”

“I went to get the car,” Fu Mingxiu said irritably. “Who are you mad at?”

“…”

“I’m really not,” Lin Yujing sighed. “I thought you changed your mind and didn’t want to take me.”

Fu Mingxiu snorted coldly. “Get in.”

Resigned, Lin Yujing climbed in obediently.

She thought they might end up having another round of arguments, but surprisingly, the man in front was very quiet and didn’t say a word the entire way, though his frown never eased.

Half an hour later, the car stopped on a street near the school. Lin Yujing patted the passenger seat. “Drop me here. I’ll walk the rest of the way; otherwise, it’ll be a detour.”

Fu Mingxiu glanced at her, parked the car by the roadside, paused, and coughed loudly twice. “Hey.”

Lin Yujing, who had just opened the door, turned back to look at him questioningly.

“The stuff in the fridge,” Fu Mingxiu said, looking away. “You can eat it. No need to be so particular.”

Lin Yujing was stunned.

Fu Mingxiu, clearly annoyed, clicked his tongue and glared at her. “Alright, get out. Can’t you see the traffic up ahead? Don’t I need to get to school on time?”

Lin Yujing was still processing this even after she reached the classroom.

Fu Mingxiu’s personality was actually easy to figure out. Typical rich kid, proud, self- centered, thinking he was the best in the world, the universe’s favorite, and everything around him belonged to him.

So Lin Yujing’s arrival annoyed him, made him feel threatened, as if his family and possessions would now have to be shared with someone else.

As Aunt Zhang said, Lin Yujing was there to take the inheritance, to steal what originally belonged only to Fu Mingxiu.

His dislike for her was understandable, even though she didn’t particularly care for his family’s money; she wasn’t exactly poor herself.

She thought so, but today she felt that maybe her analysis of him wasn’t entirely accurate.

In a daze, Lin Yujing entered the classroom. As usual, no one was next to her. Shen Juan usually arrived around the second or third period.

Seeing her, Li Lin, who sat behind, lit up as if seeing the light of his life. “Jing, did you do the physics homework?”

Lin Yujing responded with a sound, pulled out her physics paper from her bag, and handed it to him, asking casually, “Need the math one too?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Li Lin took it, almost moved to tears, and began writing furiously. “I’m so touched. Meeting such a considerate deskmate, you’re my lifeline, the light of my life.”

Li Lin was quite talkative when Shen Juan wasn’t around, spouting endless nonsense like a juicer. But as soon as Shen Juan arrived, he’d go silent.

While Li Lin worked on his assignments, Lin Yujing chatted with him intermittently. Most of the time, she listened as Li Lin talked. After taking a sip of chrysanthemum tea, he said, “Really, I admire you. Facing the school’s top bully so fearlessly, your courage and guts are truly impressive.”

Lin Yujing rested her head on her hand, thinking about the boy’s expression after she slapped him.

Confused, dazed, shocked, and incredulous, all mixed together. In the end, it was so complex he forgot to be angry.

Lin Yujing had thought she might have to forfeit her life there.

The school bully getting slapped by a girl — if that got out, he’d lose face in the social circle.

Lin Yujing decided to find a time to treat Shen Juan to lunch and formally apologize. But she didn’t see him. Shen Juan didn’t come all morning until lunch break.

Lin Yujing finished her lunch alone, walking back to school with a bottle of flavored milk in her mouth. Just as she reached the school gate, someone ran towards her.

Someone threw themselves into her arms.

Did this school have such a way of throwing oneself at someone?

Lin Yujing almost dropped her milk, stepped back, and saw Little Marshmallow looking at her anxiously, almost in tears.

Her school uniform was crumpled, hair messy, covered in colorful chalk dust, and there was a bruise at the corner of her eye, like she’d bumped into something.

Many students around were watching her.

Lin Yujing’s expression turned cold: “Who did this? That red string from last time?”

Little Marshmallow didn’t speak, just shook her head, eyes red. “They… looking for you, downstairs… you… you shouldn’t go back.”

Lin Yujing laughed. “Looking for me? That’s good, saves me the trouble of finding them.”

She started walking towards the teaching building. Little Marshmallow tugged at her, starting to cry, her voice choking and her whole body trembling. “It’s my problem, don’t go. There are a lot of them… they got help… don’t go…”

Lin Yujing stopped and looked at her.

She was about 168 cm tall, while Little Marshmallow was very short, thin, and delicate, a head shorter than her. Lin Yujing lowered her head, seeing the girl’s trembling shoulders and messy hair.

Lin Yujing sighed, lifted her hand, and straightened her collar. “I don’t know your name yet, but I really like you.”

Little Marshmallow looked up, her face full of tears, nose red from crying, looking very pitiful.

Lin Yujing leaned down slightly, patted her messy head, and said softly, “No one can bully the people I like.”

Lin Yujing pulled Little Marshmallow towards the second-year teaching building. From a distance, she saw a group of people standing downstairs. Little Marshmallow told her that the red string girl was named Li Shiqi, and she was standing in the middle, talking to a boy beside her.

Lin Yujing glanced at them, four or five girls, one boy, too far to see their faces, but they looked tall and strong.

They didn’t know which class Lin Yujing was in, and Little Marshmallow certainly didn’t tell them, so they waited downstairs. Lin Yujing didn’t understand why this had to be resolved on a Monday, days after the incident.

Did it have more ceremony because of the flag-raising ceremony on Monday?

Li Shiqi saw her too. The group stood straight, including a broad and muscular boy in a school uniform, clearly not from this school.

Lin Yujing walked closer and, seeing the boy clearly, laughed.

She found it amazing how she always ran into the few people she knew in this place. The muscle guy.

The muscle guy from the 7-11.

The muscle guy who got punched by Shen Juan and puked stomach acid.

A kind of fate.

Muscle guy probably didn’t recognize her; she was just a background figure that day. He must have been too dazed by Shen Juan’s punches to notice anyone else, as his expression remained arrogant.

Lin Yujing turned to Li Shiqi. “Miss, what’s the meaning of this?”

Li Shiqi crossed her arms and looked at her. “No meaning. My brother had nothing to do today, so I brought him to say hello to you,” she leaned in closer, “kneel down and apologize to me, let me return the slap, and we’re even.”

“…”

Lin Yujing began to doubt the school’s graduation rate again, wondering how this middle- school-style street girl even got into high school.

She smacked her lips, smiled, and said, “How about this, I don’t think this is a big deal. I have a few solutions. See if any work for you.”

Her voice was soft, with a smile, completely devoid of the arrogance she had in the noodle shop that day.

Li Shiqi also smiled, looking smug and satisfied, thinking she had won.

There were many people on the playground during lunch break, and everyone was watching them. Lin Yujing counted on her fingers, raising her thumb: “