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Chapter 297

When she was in 9th grade, she had been on TV once before, as an impoverished student receiving a sponsorship. At that time, there was a pharmacy in Lüshan City that was just opening for business. As part of their grand opening, they were sponsoring underprivileged students as a charitable act.

Xiaoqi\'s homeroom teacher had applied for one of those sponsorships on her behalf. All she had to do was show up and she would receive 500 yuan.

That day the pharmacy was extremely crowded with people pushing and shoving to get in. There were also cameras present.

A whole group of old men and women seemed to be scrambling to rush into the pharmacy.

Xiaoqi still found it quite curious why everyone was so fanatically buying medicine. Even though there were promotions going on, it wasn\'t free. What\'s more, why were they buying so much medicine to stockpile? Could they somehow foresee what illnesses they were going to get?

In front of the unruly crowd, she and several other children her age stood holding up signs saying "Charitable Donation for Education," utterly at a loss as they faced the looming black cameras.

That evening\'s Lüshan City News showed footage of her, although she only flashed across the screen for one second. But Xiaoqi still saw herself on TV, and felt that image was destitute and pitiful. Her expression was rigid and resembled those famous photographic portraits of children from remote mountains who desired education, with eyes full of longing and accusation towards the whole world, or perhaps confused bewilderment.

The second time was after a swimming competition. She was much more composed then, speaking only when asked and sitting up very straight.

The third time was after a marathon competition. That time, she was far more relaxed, sitting less rigidly and speaking much more softly.

The fourth time was today\'s Mengshe City News. Xiaoqi looked at herself on screen and saw a huge change.

When she first talked about her childhood, she would cry. But deep down she felt more resentment and dissatisfaction. Now when she cried, it seemed to be more of a feeling of acceptance and reminiscence.

That impoverished and painful past had shaped who she was today.

Because she once had nothing, she now treasured everything she had.

Xiaoqi looked at herself on screen with neither arrogance nor complacency. She would keep working hard and maintain who she was.

Meanwhile, the two chef uncles watching along kept lavishing praise on Xiaoqi.

One did Chinese cuisine and the other Western. They often bickered with each other, boasting about which of their dishes Xiaoqi preferred.

Unfortunately, Coach Steven had rushed off excitedly to handle Xiaoqi\'s registration matters without even finishing his meal. Otherwise if he had seen this news footage, he undoubtedly would have boasted about his student to his old friends again, unable to resist showing off.

Xiaoqi\'s English was excellent. His old friends all spoke English, so there would be no problem communicating later.

When he first came to Huaguo, he had worried his students\' language abilities would be lacking. After all, having lived abroad so long, he tended to speak English most of the time.

Xiaoshengzhou, meanwhile, had not come to the racetrack today and gone home instead.

Xioyu was also unusually at home today, because it was Old Master Xia\'s longevity celebration. It wasn\'t one of those major longevity birthdays, since those were deliberately avoided—no celebrations for nine or ten, as the saying went. Normally the big longevity celebrations were for 49, 59 and so on...any other times were not appropriate for marking a major longevity birthday. But for family there still had to be a peaceful, harmonious feast.

The Old Master followed a very regular schedule every day. At 7:30am he would watch the Xinwen Lianbo news. At 8:30am he would watch the local Mengshe City News.

The TV broadcasts were set in stone. Even Xiaobao could not wrestle the remote control away to watch something else, and had to go to another room.

And so at this time, the TV was showing the English speech competition finals held at Qingmeng University.

Xiaoshengzhou knew Xiaoqi had gone to participate in the competition. She had mentioned it to him previously when he went with her to buy her apartment.

Xioyu had been busy recently with many business matters, worked like a dog. It had been a long time since he paid attention to the little girl. And now there was a steady girlfriend at his side—the one from the event they went to together where they ran into Xiaoqi. She was very tactful, and Xioyu had been taking her around lately.

But now he heard Xiaobao yelling excitedly, "Hurry look, it\'s Xiaoqi, Xiaoqi\'s on TV again!"

Xioyu had just raised a glass to his lips and ended up spewing it out.

On screen, the girl was smoothly speaking English. Xioyu\'s English was also quite good, but it was exactly because it was good that hearing her speak made Xioyu, a man who had never suffered hardship from childhood to adulthood, feel a twinge in his heart.

No wonder she loved money so much.

Entering all sorts of competitions for money.

But this same girl who loved money so much had donated it away unhesitatingly when she obtained it.

He didn\'t have that kind of integrity.

There were many money-loving women around him, yet not one was like her.

She never relied on anyone else. She was sufficiently outstanding all on her own. So outstanding that Xioyu couldn\'t think of anything he could do to win her over.

Xiaobao jumped down from her chair after seeing that segment, begging Grandpa to let her watch it again.

Since it was Old Master\'s longevity celebration today, he indulged his little granddaughter\'s request and insisted that Xiaoshengzhou fiddle with the remote to replay it two more times.

Then Xiaobao raised the lobster in her hand and declared solemnly, "Mama, I want to learn English too. Next time I\'ll chat with Xiaoqi in English."

Guo Ying had already corrected her multiple times to address her politely as "Big Sister," not directly by name. But her daughter was adamant they were good friends and peers, insisting on using her name...Right now, hearing her daughter finally take initiative in wanting to study, Guo Ying the old mother felt tears welling up. It was hard won for her daughter to want to learn anything besides demanding various foods. This was the first time she had voluntarily asked to study something.

After watching that news segment, Xiaoqi went to find Honey.

She assumed Honey was at some student council or club activity.

When she arrived at the café Honey had mentioned, on the second floor, there weren\'t too many people. It looked newly opened, with only Honey\'s table of four or five people.

"Over here, over here," Honey stood up and called to her.

Xiaoqi walked over. At that moment, the boy sitting across from Honey turned around.

Xiaoqi felt a thud in her heart.

It was him.

The dream hadn\'t been so clear and detailed, but going through the experience now, Xiaoqi somehow felt it was deeply imprinted.

She recalled that she had just gotten to know him initially and felt very positively towards him. The next day, instead of asking her out alone, he had called several student council members to get together and play board games and the like. Then in the evening he escorted her back to her dorm, and they naturally got together after that, it seemed.

Li Ruisheng turned around and saw the girl who had entered.

She wore light colored jeans, a pink tee, and a simple medium-long trench coat over it. She had a backpack on, little white shoes, looking very neat and trim. Her short hair had the front bangs pinned up in a little tuft, fully revealing her forehead. Her skin was extremely fair, but her gaze was rather cold and even sharp, as if she had somehow seen through him in one glance.

Yet when she smiled, she became very beautiful and charming. The corners of her eyes seemed to naturally curl up, making one\'s heart tickle.

Xiaoqi smiled at Honey and walked over to sit down beside her.

Honey shifted her body a bit to make room for Xiaoqi.

Originally there were five people, three men and two women. With Xiaoqi\'s arrival, it became three men and three women.

But perhaps because they had just seen Su Xiaoqi on TV, there was an inexplicable sense of restraint upon seeing her in person.

Li Ruisheng revealed his signature sunny smile and brought over a menu, asking Xiaoqi what she wanted to drink. Xiaoqi asked for a milk tea. Li Ruisheng then added peanuts, fruit, and ice cream waffles—he was very attentive.

Honey noticed that Li Ruisheng had ordered even more items than when she first arrived, and was behaving even more enthusiastically.

She had assumed Li Ruisheng was being so thoughtful out of consideration for her. She still felt it was very sweet of him.

Xiaoqi tried her best to suppress the strange feeling in her heart. Yes, Li Ruisheng was a very charming man. The former Xiaoqi couldn\'t see through that, but the current Xiaoqi saw right through him in one glance, probably because she understood too well.

"How did you guys choose this place? The environment is quite nice," Xiaoqi casually asked.

Honey smiled and said, "It was Li Ruisheng\'s suggestion. The owner is a senior from his hometown, also a sophomore."

At this time, a girl wearing a floral print skirt came over carrying peanuts.

Enhua School prohibited permed hair, but this girl\'s hair was slightly wavy, likely curled with a curling iron herself and tied in a low ponytail. The floral print skirt had a black and white apron over the front that was even longer than the skirt itself, revealing slender thighs. Even though it was already autumn, wearing this made her especially eye-catching. Seen from behind in particular, her waist was slender and her butt round as her legs looked very proportional. This senior sister had also put on makeup and smiled very sweetly, with a little mole at the corner of her mouth that didn\'t detract from her looks but rather added a hint of cuteness.

She handed the melon seeds to Xiao Qi, but passed them from the opposite side, next to Li Ruisheng. Even when she bent over, her body inadvertently touched Li Ruisheng\'s arm, yet he deliberately avoided it.

The coffee shop had the smell of brewing coffee, which smelled quite nice.

Student startups seemed to pursue quality at the beginning.

The melon seeds in front also smelled fragrant, creamy, and plump.

However, Xiao Qi frowned slightly, because the female senior who passed the melon seeds had a faint sweet smell, a rather cloying shampoo smell, and also a lingering scent that should be shower gel.

But Li Ruisheng also had this smell.

Subtle.

Xiao Qi looked at Miao Er smiling much sillier than usual, giggling happily, with the feeling of a silly older sister.

Looking at her own interface with the silent truth card, she recited to herself: "Use the truth card on Li Ruisheng."