“Jiaojiao, are you feeling any better?” Xu Qing asked as she walked into Sheng Jiaoyang’s room.

Sheng Jiaoyang nodded, her eyes not straying from her phone.

“What are you looking at?” Xu Qing moved closer to see.

“Mei Niu’s new product launch conference,” Sheng Jiaoyang answered without raising her head.

“Mei Niu? Who’s Mei Niu?”

Sheng Jiaoyang was silent for a moment before replying, “A celebrity.”

There is a celebrity called Mei Niu? Xu Qing caressed Sheng Jiaoyang’s head as she said, “Go have a meal first. You didn’t eat breakfast.”

Sheng Jiaoyang hummed in agreement, then picked up the phone and followed Xu Qing out of the bedroom.

The dishes on the table consisted of meat, vegetables, and soup. They were colourless, making anyone lose their appetite.

Xu Qing looked at the dishes that she’d prepared and remembered the food that she’d eaten for lunch yesterday; she suddenly felt ashamed.

“Jiaojiao, the food that I prepared isn’t delicious. Just put up with it as you mustn’t starve yourself. If you want to eat something else, Mother will go out and help you buy it later.”

“It’s fine, let’s eat this first. We’ll go out for a stroll in the afternoon.” Sheng Jiaoyang smiled at Xu Qing and started eating.

In terms of culinary skills, they were quite similar to each other and had zero talent. No, that’s not true…Mother Xu could still cook better compared to Sheng Jiaoyang. She was so bad that she was afraid to step into the kitchen.

“Jiaojiao, these years, I’ve made you suffer many hardships. I’m useless! Even my cooking is atrocious,” Xu Qing said mournfully.

Everything was all right a moment ago, so how did it abruptly become so depressing?

Sheng Jiaoyang raised an eyebrow, and picking at a dish with her chopsticks, she put a piece of food into Xu Qing’s bowl. “Eat it. The sooner we finish eating, the sooner we’ll go out to have fun. Ever since I’ve returned from the hospital, we haven’t gone out shopping together.”

“Does your stomach still hurt?”

“It’s much better now. You don’t have to worry, I know my body the best. Eat quickly!”

Xu Qing stared at the food that her daughter had placed in her bowl, and a happy smile couldn’t help but spread across her face.

Sheng Jiaoyang looking at the woman before her that was easy to satisfy as a smile gleamed in her eyes as well.

After lunch, the two of them walked hand in hand out of the neighbourhood.

“Jiaojiao, where are we going?”

“It’s hot today, so we’ll go to the mall.” Sheng Jiaoyang led Xu Qing to the nearest subway, and from there, they went to An Yuan Plaza.

Once they entered the huge shopping mall, Xu Qing lost all confidence. But, thinking that she’d only come for a stroll, and not to buy anything, she calmed down. It was difficult for her to find the time to windowshop with her daughter, so she especially cherished times like this.

Unfortunately, Sheng Jiaoyang hadn’t come here just to walk around. After moving into their new home, she’d originally wanted to bring Xu Qing out shopping, but because she’d received a phone call from the production crew, she’d had to focus on preparing her daily necessities for the competition. During this period, Xu Qing only had two or three sets of clothes to wear, so her heart was feeling quite upset. Therefore, even though she still felt a little unwell, she wanted to go out with Xu Qing.

“This isn’t bad. Go and try it on!”

“This skirt suits you too. Try it and show it to me!”

“Those are really nice. Here, change your shoes.”

“Oh, you’re still missing a purse. Here, carry this one.”

“Perfect, just carry it like this. The bill please!”

“Wait!” Xu Qing, who from the beginning had thought that she was just on a stroll, quickly pulled Sheng Jiaoyang to a stop.

“Jiaojiao, these things are so expensive. Don’t buy any of it, we’ll just go to the old city’s…”

“No!” Sheng Jiaoyang held both of Xu Qing’s shoulders as she tried coaxing her. “Isn’t money made to be spent? Since I have to dress up now, I want you to wear the best clothes too. Why on earth do you want to buy ordinary clothes? Alright, from now on, you don’t need to worry about anything. At home, just leave it to me to be responsible for earning money to support the two of us. As for you, just be as lovely as a flower, and that will do.”

Xu Qing was amused and laughed at Sheng Jiaoyang’s words, but worry was still visible on her face.

With the big and small shopping bags swaying next to each other, Xu Qing’s worries turned into helplessness, and eventually, helplessness to numbness.

She decided not to think about trivial matters anymore, and didn’t try to persuade her daughter not to buy more. From beginning to end, she only tried on the clothes.

In all the stores they left their address, and asked them to send the clothes to their home. Sheng Jiaoyang then grabbed Xu Qing and went empty-handed to a beauty salon.

After pushing Xu Qing towards the hairdresser, Sheng Jiaoyang sat on the sofa, straightened her legs, and started flipping through a magazine.

Suddenly, her phone started ringing.

Sheng Jiaoyang glanced at her phone and saw that it was an unfamiliar number.

“Hello?”

“Xu Jiaojiao, you actually blocked my number?!” A boy’s voice was heard from the phone’s speaker.

“Who are you?” Sheng Jiaoyang tilted her head as she asked.

“Your boyfriend!”

“…”

Sheng Jiaoyang hung up, then proceeded to add the number to her blocked list.

Not even two minutes passed before her phone rang with another unfamiliar number.

“What’s the matter with you? All you did was take part in a stupid competition, and yet now you’re acting like you don’t know me? Back then, you didn’t act like this when you received gifts from me!” These words came through as soon as the call connected.

“How much?” Sheng Jiaoyang asked impatiently.

“What?”

“How much was the stuff that you bought me worth? I’ll return it to you!”

The phone was silent for a moment before the boy spoke in a calmer tone, “I’m not calling you for that; I don’t care about that little bit of money. Where are you now? I’ll pick you up.”

“Didn’t we already break up?” Sheng Jiaoyang asked tentatively.

Since his number was blocked, then this boyfriend should just disappear already.

She suddenly remembered the day when Xu Jiaojiao had rushed in front of her car. She seemed to recall that Xu Jiaojiao had been crying at that time. Is it possible that she’d been dumped that day and had been so shocked that she’d run into oncoming traffic?

“We haven’t broken up yet…”

“Then, let’s break up!” Sheng Jiaoyang said before hanging up the phone once more.

The phone rang again.

She watched the caller ID flash across the screen in amusement. Should she get justice for Xu Jiaojiao?

When the phone stopped ringing, and then immediately started back up again, she answered the phone.

“Jiaojiao, listen to what I want to tell you until the end. That day, you just heard half of it. Yes, it’s true that I started chasing after you because I had a bet going with my buddies. I’ll admit it. But, you dared to say that I didn’t use my heart when I chased you?! Didn’t you agree to be my girlfriend because you felt my sincerity? Don’t be mad at me anymore, okay? Let’s go out and meet up.”

That’s all lies! Sheng Jiaoyang pursed her lips.

She was well aware of the virtues of those second-generation young masters, all of whom were idle enough to flock together to do stupid things. Xu Jiaojiao sure was unlucky! A good student like her actually ran into such a pest.

Perhaps it was because she didn’t respond, but the boy’s voice became even kinder.

“You have a right to be angry with me, but don’t you miss me? Tell me where you are and I'll pick you up.”

“Where are you?” Sheng Jiaoyang didn’t answer and instead asked a question of her own.

The boy on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment. “I’m at An Yuan Arcade City."

Huh, what a coincidence.

“Then, come to the fountain at An Yuan Plaza.” She really wanted to see for herself what that playboy who’d played Xu Jiaojiao for a fool looked like.

“You’re also in An Yuan Plaza?”

Sheng Jiaoyang was too lazy to talk nonsense with him, so she hung up the phone.

She then informed Xu Qing that she was going to meet a friend, and that Xu Qing was to call her after she was done.

Just as Sheng Jiaoyang exited the salon and turned a corner, she suddenly felt a sharp pain on her nape before passing out.

Meanwhile, at An Yuan Arcade City, a boy said to the people around him, “Dudes, I’ll go pick her up.”

“Go, go! I can’t wait to see the ugly duckling after her transformation.”

The guy laughed, retrieved his phone from his buddy’s hand, and walked out of Arcade City, heading towards the fountain at An Yuan Plaza. When he got there, he waited for a long time and called Xu Jiaojiao many times, but to no avail…no one picked up.

After waiting for half an hour, he was sure that he’d been stood up.

Damn you Xu Jiaojiao, you sure are gutsy!!