In the restaurant, perhaps because it was dinner time, most of the guests were students participating in the competition, and Su Qing was familiar with them.
The hotel's meals were all buffet-style.
Su Qing didn't eat much, so a bowl of clear noodle soup was enough.
"You're eating so little," Tian Shasha muttered, gaping at Su Qing, who had only taken a bowl of noodles.
In reality, Tian Shasha had only taken a salad or something.
Seeing Su Qing looking at her, Tian Shasha pursed her lips a little embarrassedly. "I've been trying to lose weight lately, so I'm having salad tonight."
Su Qing thought, if Liu Ranran were here, she'd definitely yell, "Even a top student need losing weight?"
Su Qing said nothing, only nodded gently. She had never been good with conversation and didn't know how to start.
The phone dinged impatiently.
"Su Qing, do you want to check your phone?" Tian Shasha kindly reminded her.
Su Qing nodded and pulled her phone from her pocket. The messages were mostly from one person: Jiang Sui.
[Su Qing, you left me and ran away?]
[I'm hungry]
[I won't leave until you come back]
…
And so on, a series of frustrating text messages.
Su Qing, completely absorbed in her conversation, didn't notice that Tian Shasha was staring at her phone for a long time.
"Su Qing, is that a message from your boyfriend?" Tian Shasha asked shyly, pushing up her glasses, as if the words were difficult to bring out.
Unexpectedly, Tian Shasha would ask so many questions. Su Qing squeezed the phone in her hand, put it back in her pocket, and shook her head in denial.
"It's a text from home."
"Is that so?" Tian Shasha said, seemingly unconcerned.
"Su Qing, let me tell you, girls like us should stay away from guys like Jiang Sui." Tian Shasha took a sharp bite of her salad and tilted her head as she spoke, obscuring the emotion on her face.
Su Qing was stunned.
She and Tian Shasha weren't familiar with each other; they'd only met today, so they knew each other only by name.
How could she say that?
Su Qing pinched her palms and looked at the noodles in her bowl. Her appetite, already lacking, grew even weaker. She put down her chopsticks and looked at the girl across from her with a cold gaze.
"Do you want to say something to me?"
It took a moment.
Tian Shasha slowly raised her head and shook it, saying nothing.
After a long pause, she said something.
Actually, Su Qing agreed with what she said.
What was it?
"Don't fall in love with Jiang Sui, you'll become unfortunate."
Su Qing wasn't sure if she'd heard that, her mind was in a state of disarray.
As she was heading to her room after dinner, Li Ran sent a message to the group chat she'd created that afternoon.
[Tomorrow morning at 9:00, we'll meet in the hotel lobby and visit Jiangcheng No. 1 Middle School.]
Many students responded, and most of them were excited.
But it was unclear who had said that.
[Teacher, it seems like one of our classmates transferred from Jiangcheng No. 1 Middle School to Wuzhen No. 1 Middle School. Would you like her to be our guide?]
Su Qing's heart sank uncontrollably.
She thought she had escaped that place and would never return, but unexpectedly...
Until someone replied, "Okay."
That person was none other than Jiang Sui..