Chapter 24: Another Class Monitor

Oh.

No.

It wasn’t like this before.

Before, she would reply to his messages almost instantly.

Why was she always leaving him on read now?

Had his confession yesterday scared her?

But they had exchanged sweet words on WeChat before.

And she was the one who sent them every day.

That shouldn’t be it, right?

Sigh.

Once again, he regretted going abroad.

Yun City

Tang Shu buried herself in front of her tablet, revising her comic’s storyline and rushing to finish her manuscript.

She was completely absorbed.

Before she knew it, noon had arrived outside the window.

By the time she finished drawing, put down her pen, and stretched lazily—

her phone rang.

It was Tao Qingrou.

After answering, her mother’s gentle voice came through.

“Shushu, it’s already past twelve. Why haven’t you come down to eat yet? We’re all waiting for you.”

Tang Shu froze.

Glancing at the time, she suddenly realized.

Without noticing, she had spent more than two full hours drawing.

“Oh no, Mom, I forgot! I’ll be right there!”

She hung up, quickly packed away her tools, and got up to freshen herself up.

She changed into a youthful outfit.

A loose, soft butter-yellow long-sleeve top.

Flowing black wide-leg pants.

A pair of clean white sneakers.

Her long black hair was tied into a half-ponytail, with several small braids woven along one side.

Cute and playful.

Finally, she slung a small beige crossbody bag over her shoulder.

After finishing, Tang Shu left her room.

While walking downstairs, she opened WeChat.

As always, Shi Zhiyu’s chat remained pinned to the top.

Several messages were waiting for her.

Looking at them, the corners of her lips unconsciously lifted.

She couldn’t help thinking:

Goodness.

I’ve really been so busy lately that I completely forgot about him.

Without realizing it, their roles seemed to have completely reversed.

Before, she had constantly updated him on everything, afraid of neglecting him.

Now it was him who constantly thought about her and kept reporting everything he was doing.

Was this the scary power of habit?

Even with the time difference, when it was already late at night on his side—

he still stayed awake waiting for her messages.

Could it be…

that he was really losing sleep because he missed her?

The moment the thought appeared, Tang Shu immediately smacked her own forehead lightly.

What nonsense was she thinking?

She quickly typed a sweet reply.

Shu Shu Has Candy:
“I was busy just now~”

“Gege needs to go to bed earlier from now on. No staying up late.”

“Today is another day of liking Gege very, very much~”

After sending the message, she put her phone into her bag.

Then she grabbed her scooter keys, climbed onto the family’s white electric scooter, put on her helmet, and headed toward Song Qing Shu Hotpot.

After arriving at the restaurant, the family enjoyed a lively lunch together.

Tao Hongyi volunteered to stay behind and help Tang Songhai and Tao Qingrou manage the restaurant.

That way Tang Shu could go out and meet her friend without worrying.

After saying goodbye to her family, Tang Shu rode her scooter directly to Qingxia Plaza.

The plaza was crowded and bustling.

Stores lined both sides of the streets.

Tang Shu parked her scooter steadily.

She had just removed her helmet when a familiar voice called out.

“Shushu! Over here!”

Tang Shu looked up.

Following the voice, she immediately spotted Zhao Yingying standing beneath the shade of a tree.

But when her gaze swept over the person beside Zhao Yingying—

her footsteps paused slightly.

Standing next to her friend was someone she hadn’t seen in a very long time.

The surprise only lasted a moment.

Quickly composing herself, she smiled warmly and walked over.

“Yingying, long time no see.”

Zhao Yingying immediately hooked her arm through Tang Shu’s.

Leaning affectionately against her, she complained:

“Exactly!”

“You came back and didn’t even contact me first.”

“If I hadn’t seen your Moments post, I wouldn’t even know you were back in Yun City.”

“That’s so unfair!”

At that moment, the young man beside them spoke.

His voice was refined and gentle.

“Tang Shu.”

“It’s been a long time.”

“Do you still remember me?”

Tang Shu looked at him.

Her smile was polite and appropriate.

“Of course.”

“How could I forget Class Monitor Gao Xu?”

The young man’s name was Gao Xu.

He had been their class monitor in high school.

Excellent grades.

A gentle personality.

Very popular among their classmates.

Zhao Yingying leaned close to Tang Shu and whispered secretly:

“Gao Xu lives in the same residential community as me now.”

“When I came out to meet you, I happened to run into him.”

“I casually mentioned I was meeting you.”

“And he came along too.”

“He said it had been a long time since he’d seen an old classmate and wanted to stop by.”

Tang Shu raised an eyebrow teasingly.

“Oh?”

“So the two of you are secretly dating?”

“Tang Shu!”

Zhao Yingying’s ears immediately turned red.

Embarrassed and annoyed, she pinched Tang Shu’s arm lightly.

Beside them, Gao Xu watched the two of them bicker.

A faint smile appeared in his eyes.

“Stop teasing her.”

“I really did hear that you’d come back.”

“It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other.”

“I thought I’d take the opportunity to catch up.”

“I hope Tang Shu doesn’t mind me tagging along?”

Tang Shu straightened up.

Still smiling faintly, she replied:

“I do mind, actually.”

“After all, Class Monitor and I aren’t that familiar.”

The atmosphere instantly froze.

For a moment, Gao Xu’s smile stiffened.

A trace of awkwardness appeared on his face.

Even Zhao Yingying was stunned.

She hadn’t expected Tang Shu to answer so directly.

Quickly, she stepped in to smooth things over.

“Come on, don’t listen to her!”

“Shushu’s joking!”

“Let’s go, let’s go.”

“I’ll buy milk tea for both of you!”

Gao Xu recovered quickly.

Not a hint of annoyance appeared on his face.

Instead, he maintained his gentle smile.

“I didn’t realize Tang Shu was still this straightforward.”

“We were classmates for three years.”

“That should at least count as being acquainted.”

“How could we not be familiar?”

Tang Shu’s expression remained calm.

Her smile was light.

“If Class Monitor wants to meet old classmates, why not organize a class reunion during summer vacation?”

“The more people there are, the livelier it’ll be.”

“Everyone gathered together naturally becomes familiar.”

Gao Xu’s eyes brightened.

“That’s actually a good idea.”

“Then Tang Shu must come.”

“You’ve missed several reunions already.”

“A lot of people in class still remember you.”

“After all, you’re the only one who went all the way to Jiang City for university.”

“You’re the farthest away from all of us.”

“Everyone would love to see you again.”

Tang Shu replied,

“We’ll see when the time comes.”

“If I’m free, I’ll stop by.”

Gao Xu nodded.

“Then I won’t interrupt your reunion with Yingying.”

“I mainly came today because I was curious.”

“Why do you never attend class reunions?”

“We invited you to group gatherings several times.”

“People even messaged you privately on WeChat.”

“But you never seemed to respond.”

Hearing that, Tang Shu felt somewhat embarrassed.

She had always been quiet by nature.

She didn’t enjoy small talk with people she wasn’t close to.

Her social circle was extremely small.

She only liked chatting with people she genuinely cared about.

When facing old classmates she wasn’t particularly close with, she never knew what to talk about.

As a result, she often ignored those messages altogether.

Back in high school, she had been even quieter.

Most of her time was spent studying and solving practice problems.

Quiet.

Well-behaved.

In the eyes of many classmates, she was probably a cold, distant girl who didn’t fit in and only knew how to study.

People didn’t know her very well.

But they all felt she was difficult to approach.

Lowering her eyes slightly, Tang Shu explained softly:

“University classes and club activities keep me pretty busy.”

“Most of the time I’m so occupied that I don’t even check my messages.”

“I ended up missing a lot of invitations.”

“It wasn’t intentional.”

“Sorry.”

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