Chapter 40

Until lunch break, the mysterious person who had said they would return Shen Yuze’s campus card still hadn’t shown up.

Lu Ping had been restless all morning. Shen Yuze noticed his unusual behavior and asked what was wrong.

Lu Ping said, “That person who picked up your campus card still hasn’t returned it to you. Aren’t you worried at all?”

“It might not have been picked up by someone,” Shen Yuze replied calmly. “I thought back later—I took the card to several places. It might not have been lost on the sports field; it could be in some inconspicuous corner, like the bushes. If no one notices it, of course no one picks it up.”

“…” Lu Ping couldn’t tell Shen Yuze that his card had indeed been picked up—and that the person might pop out at any moment!

Seeing Lu Ping’s anxious expression, Shen Yuze comforted him instead. “Alright, I lost the card, not you. Why are you so worked up for me? Let’s eat first; it’ll get cold soon.”

As he spoke, Shen Yuze opened the lunchbox that his driver had just delivered.

Ever since Lu Ping got injured, Shen Yuze had eaten lunch with him in the classroom every day. The chef at Shen Yuze’s house had excellent skills, preparing different dishes daily. That morning, Lu Ping had looked in the mirror and even felt like his face had rounded out, as if he’d turned into a plump, white glutinous cake.

Today’s lunch was the usual four dishes and a soup, with generous portions. On top of that, there were some old-style flaky pastries specially made by the nanny—ox tongue pastries.

Ox tongue pastries were a common sweet from the Capital, about two fingers wide and one palm long. The outer layers were flaky, filled with salted sesame stuffing that was perfectly balanced between sweet and savory. The moment one’s lips touched it, crumbs scattered everywhere. Lu Ping ate messily, leaning forward with his neck stretched out, one hand catching the falling flakes under the desk.

After finishing one small pastry, he couldn’t bear to waste the crumbs in his palm. He tilted his head back and poured them all into his mouth.

Shen Yuze didn’t like sweets. He propped his face up with one hand and quietly watched Lu Ping eat.

The way Lu Ping ate was like a little mouse, holding the small pastry with both hands and nibbling at it bit by bit. His cheeks bulged, and his eyes sparkled, as if eating was the most important and wonderful thing in the world to him.

Lu Ping had a limited appetite and couldn’t finish more than two ox tongue pastries. Shen Yuze told him to take the rest home for his family to try.

Lu Ping happily packed them away.

He had to admit, sweets were the most comforting thing in the world! After eating two small pastries, the anxiety lingering in his heart had eased quite a bit.

There were still some food scraps left in the lunchbox. Lu Ping was a neat freak and didn’t want to take it home to wash, so he always went to rinse it out right after eating. Shen Yuze had once offered to help wash the dishes, but the young master, who had never done a day’s work in his life, cracked Lu Ping’s insulated lunchbox on his first try. After that, Lu Ping never dared to “trouble” him again.

Today, as usual, Lu Ping took the lunchbox and left the classroom alone. He walked slowly, and Shen Yuze glanced at him once before looking away.

But what Shen Yuze didn’t know was that once Lu Ping was out of his sight, he immediately changed direction and hobbled toward the stairwell.

He found an inconspicuous corner, stopped, pulled out his phone, and opened the Partner App.

He replied to the private message.

@fake-diaond: @ash, thanks. I just saw your message.

@fake-diaond: Where are you? I’ll come to you.

That’s right—this was the scheme Lu Ping had come up with after deep thought!

He decided to take the initiative. Instead of waiting for @ash to come find Shen Yuze, he’d go to @ash directly in Shen Yuze’s name. Once they met, he’d tell them he was Shen Yuze’s deskmate, there to pick up the card on his behalf… Anyway, the moment to test his acting skills had finally arrived!!

Lu Ping was lucky—@ash was online.

@ash: I’m at the little garden by the school back gate. I’ll wait for you.

Lu Ping was very familiar with that little garden; it was Zhaocai the little black cat’s territory, practically half his home turf. Heart pounding, he set off for the garden.

He didn’t have much time—he needed to wrap this up quickly.

Exiting the teaching building, he walked straight along the left side, turned two corners, and finally arrived at the little garden by the school back gate. In the distance, he saw a girl in a first-year uniform standing under a big tree with her back to him. She was of average height and build, with shoulder-length hair, pacing nervously in place.

“…Excuse me, are you ash?” Lu Ping asked tentatively.

Hearing the unfamiliar voice from behind, the girl spun around as if electrocuted, revealing a completely unfamiliar face.

Lu Ping had never seen her before. She wasn’t particularly pretty or ugly; her features were unremarkable, with just a few small freckles around her nose.

She looked so ordinary—like a drop in the ocean, a weed in a flowerbed… just like Lu Ping.

Lu Ping let out a slight sigh of relief, his initial tension gradually fading. Perhaps it was because he sensed the same “marginal student” vibe from her.

“Who are you?” the girl with the username ash asked, a bit embarrassed, her hands stuffed in her pockets. Lu Ping could make out the rectangular shape of a card inside.

“I’m Shen Yuze’s deskmate,” Lu Ping said, using the excuse he’d rehearsed in his head many times. “Shen Yuze got called away by a teacher for something urgent, so he asked me to come pick up his student ID.”

Lu Ping grew more fluent: “You’re a first-year, right? Thanks so much. Just give me his student ID.”

But ash hesitated, not moving.

Lu Ping let out an “ah” and scratched his head. “Sorry, he didn’t explain clearly before. I thought ash was a guy… Didn’t expect you to be a girl. Which class are you in? We’ll grab some snacks later and drop them off at your class.”

“Ashley. You can call me Ashley.” The girl suddenly interrupted him. She didn’t tell Lu Ping her class or real name, just used a pseudonym. She shook her head. “I picked up his campus card and asked him to meet not because I want any thanks. I just…”

The girl hesitated for a long time, thought it over several times, and finally pulled Shen Yuze’s campus card from her pocket—along with a letter.

The envelope was light pink, adorned with cute stickers.

“I wanted to give it to him in person.” Ashley smiled awkwardly. When she smiled, the faint freckles on either side of her nose seemed a bit more lively. “Since you came to pick up the student ID for him, you must be a good friend of his.”

“…”

“Actually, I’ve been quietly following Shen Yuze online for a long time. I like and comment on every one of his posts. Please give this letter to Shen Yuze for me. It has the words I want to say to him.”

Lu Ping stared at the pink letter like it was a pink bomb.

He kept a smile on his face, but inside, his mind had turned into that famous painting The Scream—what kind of off-script development was this?!?!?!!

…

With Shen Yuze’s campus card and that heavy pink love letter tucked in his pocket, Lu Ping drifted back to the teaching building like a wandering soul.

He was torn apart, facing the most unsolvable problem he’d ever encountered.

Lu Ping had long known that Shen Yuze had a face that “attracted bees and butterflies.” From the first day he transferred in, he’d been the object of many girls’ secret crushes. No one could resist Shen Yuze’s charm—not even Lu Ping, who sometimes found himself drawn to his deskmate’s superior features.

If Ashley were just a secret admirer asking Lu Ping to pass a love letter to Shen Yuze, he might have felt a bit weird about it but would have kept his promise and delivered it.

The problem was, Ashley wasn’t just Shen Yuze’s secret admirer—she was also a fan of @fake-diaond!

She said she’d been following @fake-diaond online, loving the life snippets and heartfelt messages he shared. Then she discovered that the blogger she’d been quietly following had transferred to Jiaojiang No. 1 Middle School! Overwhelmed with excitement, but too shy to approach, she could only watch from afar. If she hadn’t picked up Shen Yuze’s campus card this time, she never would have had the courage to ask him to meet and give him the letter.

But Ashley didn’t know that the @fake-diaond she followed was a fake. All those life snippets that resonated with her had come from Lu Ping’s hand.

Lu Ping had just been scorning the class monitor for using someone else’s photo to deceive a girl, and now karma had come full circle—it was his turn to face the consequences.

@fake-diaond was a fake diamond, with the hardest, most perfect exterior—and a glass heart that shattered at the slightest touch.

Lu Ping stared at the letter in his hand, wavering.

—Should he give this letter to Shen Yuze or not?

His steps grew slower and slower. He paced back and forth in the corridor, nearly pulling his hair out, but still couldn’t figure out how to handle this hot potato.

Just as Lu Ping was silently freaking out, a cold, sullen voice suddenly sounded from behind him—

—”Lu Ping, where exactly did you go to wash the dishes?”

The little mouse’s heart skipped a beat. He whipped around to find Shen Yuze standing just a few steps behind him, though he didn’t know when he’d appeared!

Shen Yuze’s brows were furrowed tightly, displeased. “You said you were going to wash the dishes, and you’ve been gone twenty minutes. I thought you got locked in the toilet again.”

He’d practically run through every boys’ bathroom in the teaching building and hadn’t seen Lu Ping anywhere.

“Uh…” Lu Ping was glad he’d prepared an excuse in advance. “I-I suddenly remembered that the person who picked up your card might have turned it in to the academic affairs office! So I just went there and asked the teachers, and sure enough, I found your card…”

Lu Ping hurriedly pulled Shen Yuze’s student ID from his pocket and handed it over.

But Shen Yuze’s attention wasn’t on his recovered campus card—it was on the bulging pocket on Lu Ping’s other side.

When Shen Yuze had called out to him earlier, Lu Ping had hastily stuffed something into his pants pocket.

Shen Yuze had excellent eyesight; he was sure he hadn’t seen wrong—that thing Lu Ping had hidden was a pink letter.

…His little mouse had secretly received a love letter behind his back?