Seeing that Zhen Zhu had gone quiet for a long time, Liang Sheng widened her eyes and raised her right hand menacingly, drawing out her words in a fierce tone. “Stinky Brat, are you gonna call me or not?!”
“Sister!” Under the circumstances, Zhen Zhu swallowed her pride and wisely called out “Sister.”
“Mm…” Liang Sheng nodded in satisfaction.
“Then hurry up and let me…” Zhen Zhu started yelling loudly again, but when she glanced back and saw Liang Sheng’s darkening expression, she wilted. Her voice gradually softened. “You… you let me down, okay?”
Liang Sheng saw the pitiful look on her face and figured it wouldn’t be right to keep tormenting a bear child like this, so she generously let go.
The moment Liang Sheng released her grip, Zhen Zhu shot forward like a bolt, putting a huge distance between them. She clasped her hands behind her back, covering her bottom, and eyed Liang Sheng warily.
Liang Sheng found her startled appearance hilarious. She boldly spread her legs and sat down on a chair, bursting into loud laughter.
“Hey…” The other girl spoke up suddenly.
“Hahaha… Huh?” Liang Sheng wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and looked at the bear child across from her in confusion.
Zhen Zhu put on an innocent expression and pointed at Liang Sheng’s lower half. “Oh~ Sister, aren’t you wearing safety shorts?”
Eh… Eh? Eh! Liang Sheng glanced at her own bold sitting posture and suddenly remembered she was wearing a short maid skirt. She jumped to her feet and did something utterly jaw-dropping.
Liang Sheng lifted the hem of her skirt with both hands, peeked down, let out a sigh of relief, then looked up at the stunned bear child with a slight smile. “Nope, I am wearing them—the extra-long kind!”
Zhen Zhu’s mouth hung open, unable to close for the longest time. “Are… are you an idiot…?”
Only then did Liang Sheng realize what she’d just done. She hurriedly dropped the skirt hem, her face flushing red. She glared at the little loli bear child across from her and threatened fiercely, “Don’t you dare tell anyone! Or I’ll spank your butt again!”
Zhen Zhu suddenly bolted away, stopping only about fifty meters from Liang Sheng. She turned back around, stuck out her little tongue playfully, pulled at the corners of her eyes to make a face, and taunted, “Nyah nyah nyah~ I’m gonna tell everyone! I’m gonna let them all know how stupid you are, you ugly freak!” With that, she dashed off.
“Hey! Wait up!” Liang Sheng waved her arms behind her, yelling frantically. “Stop for a second!”
“Only an idiot would stop!” Zhen Zhu shouted back without turning her head.
Liang Sheng stood there dumbfounded, hands still raised in the air. After a long moment, she muttered, “But… you ran off in the wrong direction…” Still, how could anyone get lost on school grounds? They couldn’t… right?
Wrong.
You never truly knew just how enormous the Noble Academy in a Mary Sue novel could be—how many venues it had, how vast its greenbelts were.
As Zhen Zhu ran, she suddenly sensed something was off. She looked up and realized there was no one around—just trees and greenery everywhere. She had no idea where she was.
The bear child finally grew scared. She gazed around in bewilderment and called out softly, “Is anyone there?” All that answered her was a chilly breeze.
Zhen Zhu shivered, her beautiful big eyes filling with terror. “Wah~” Her nose tingled, and golden beans—tears—nearly spilled from her eyes again.
After a long while, with her legs gone numb from standing, Zhen Zhu didn’t dare run anymore. “Wah wah wah…” The bear child burst into helpless sobs and plopped down onto the grass.
“Someone come… Anyone… Brother Su Ze, wah wah wah…” Zhen Zhu sniffled and mumbled through her sobs, calling for her beloved Brother Su Ze.
Clip-clop-clip-clop. Urgent footsteps approached.
Zhen Zhu looked up in surprise toward the sound, but tears blurred her vision. She could only vaguely make out a figure.
The figure drew closer and closer. Zhen Zhu kept wiping her eyes, hoping to see who it was.
When she looked up again, something felt wrong—this person wasn’t slowing down. Before she could react, the figure stepped right on her foot. “Ah!” Zhen Zhu cried out in pain. The newcomer tripped and tumbled to the ground.
“Huh?” Zhen Zhu finally saw who it was: Liang Sheng, the one with the bizarre earlier antics. Disappointment washed over her instantly, but having someone there eased her heart a little.
Liang Sheng had fallen hard. The ground was littered with sharp little pebbles that scraped her skin and embedded deeply into her flesh. But she had no time to worry about that. She struggled to sit up, glanced back, and sighed in relief.
Then… she scrambled toward Zhen Zhu on all fours.
Zhen Zhu panicked completely. “Hey hey hey, what are you doing?!” Thinking Liang Sheng meant to hit her, she squeezed her eyes shut tight.
So warm… That was Zhen Zhu’s first thought. Her neck felt ticklish. She cracked her eyes open and saw Liang Sheng clinging to her, refusing to let go.
“Wah wah wah, you stinky brat, you scared me to death, wah wah wah.” Liang Sheng’s shoulders shook as hot tears dripped onto Zhen Zhu’s shoulder.
“You…” Zhen Zhu froze.
“Why’d you run off like that?! I looked everywhere for you, you know that? I was so worried, wah wah wah.” Liang Sheng kept crying.
This bear child had truly frightened her. She’d waited left and right for Zhen Zhu to come back, but she never did. Back in the classroom, Zhen Zhu was nowhere to be found. So she’d gone to find Su Ze, who was busy fawning over Song An’an. Song An’an clung to him tightly while Liang Sheng, drenched in sweat, told him breathlessly, “Zhen Zhu’s gone missing somewhere. Let’s go look for her.”
To her surprise, Su Ze just gave a flat “Oh,” then handed a cup of milk tea to Song An’an and said carelessly, “She’s probably off playing. No need to worry about her.”
“…You!” Liang Sheng stared at Su Ze in disbelief.
Su Ze turned around, picked up a fruit tea, and offered it to Liang Sheng with his standard warm-guy smile. “Forget that. Why don’t you have some fruit tea and rest, Miss Liang Sheng? You’re looking a mess—you’re the one who matters.” He even leaned in to help fix her bangs.
Liang Sheng instinctively recoiled sharply, her eyes filled with undisguisable disgust as she stared him down.
Su Ze’s hand hung in midair. The scene fell awkwardly silent. Song An’an, on the other hand, seemed thrilled and grinned at Liang Sheng. A-Sheng hadn’t been touched by that stinky man!
“Heh…” Su Ze gave an awkward smile, lowered his hand, and gazed at Liang Sheng tenderly. “See? I picked strawberry flavor for you. I remembered—you love this taste.”
“Ah, no, I actually like…” Liang Sheng started to say her favorite was lemon flavor, but she caught herself in time. Something was off.
Since the start of school, she’d only bought fruit tea once, and it was lemon flavor—and Su Ze hadn’t been in the classroom during that break. So why did he think she liked strawberry?
Ah… She got it.
Liang Sheng smiled faintly, her dimples popping out like little bullets. “Yeah, I love strawberry fruit tea~”
