since transferring to No. 1 High School, and her sense of joy and tension was incomparable to anything before. Seeing Tang Wu's trembling figure due to either nervousness or the cold, Su Cen felt a st...Chapter 40 Encounter

The school life was always relaxed, especially during the hot summer days. Particularly in the second to last month before the end-of-term exams, the atmosphere in the classrooms would become slightly tense as the school stepped up its promotion of exam preparation. Even students' extracurricular activities dwindled.

This was still at a relatively liberal environment like No. 27 High School; if it were another school, they would already be treating the approaching exams as an imminent threat. Senior Three students, however, often felt more relaxed during this period.

Just when Su Cen's two major enterprises started to take root in Fuzhou and his mother Zeng He had ambitious plans to open branches at every school gate across the city, and Su Licheng was gaining increasing influence within the company, frequently attending high-level strategy meetings and excelling in management evaluations.

Su Cen still attended classes as a second-year student, listening to his teacher thumping on the desk with earnestness, telling everyone, "Now your burden is much lighter compared to our time. Back then, the difficulty of exam questions was at least twice as hard."

During the break between the second and third classes on the playground, Su Cen caught a glimpse of Zhao Chengyan, Li Qingyang, and others. The latter stared back at him with a gloomy expression before averting his gaze, without further action. After the incident on that day, Zhao Chengyan and his group disappeared for some time and no longer harassed Su Cen openly.

Even members of the Chao Hua club learned about Su Cen gathering people to confront Zhao Chengyan after school. This altered their perception of him. Publicity Minister Chen Rong commented, "I didn't expect you to know Zhang Feifei. She's very popular. Tell me, who else do you know"

Since luring Lin Guangdong away, Su Cen had fewer opportunities at the club; even when asked for articles, he would refuse saying there was nothing new to write about. During a rare club gathering, however, many members started chatting with him.

Su Cen knew that due to the incident involving Zhang Xian, Zhu Zhiyu, and Zhang Feifei on that afternoon, people no longer regarded him as an outsider but rather someone quickly accepted by No. 27 High School. His status as a transfer student had gradually diminished.

Su Cen wasn't the sole focus of conversation for long before questions about his relationship with Zhang Xian and Zhu Zhiyu shifted to another topic.

A chubby female member lifted her spectacles, which somewhat resembled Sally Yeh's, saying mysteriously, "I’ll tell you a secret; my classmate witnessed this. One afternoon, he saw Tang Wu holding hands with a boy getting into a taxi. This is absolutely true."

Someone immediately said, “I heard about it too, but I don’t know which class the guy belongs to. Some say it's Yang Zhou who has been pursuing Tang Wu for ages. Could they be in a relationship secretly”

"It can't be Yang Cheng; I heard from my classmates that it’s a boy from Class 8 in their building, not very well-known. Anyway, I doubt this story because I don’t believe Tang Wu would date at this stage."

“I also think it's unlikely. They might just be friends.”

"Even if they are friends, holding hands is too much. Tang Wu treats everyone coldly; such behavior seems inappropriate. It’s quite unusual," Chen Ke frowned and then noticed silent Su Cen beside him asking, "Hey, do you know Tang Wu"

"I guess so." Su Cen rolled his lips.

Chen Ke felt relieved, finding it unsurprising that the transfer student Su Cen knew Tang Wu. If he didn't know, Chen Ke would have to conclude that even though he was rather good-looking, as a guy, he was just too slow on the uptake.

"President, how about you You and Tang Wu are friends now, so you must be in close contact. Do you know who this person is" Someone asked Li Qiyang.

Li Qiyang exchanged a look with Su Cen; when facing Su Cen's direct gaze, he turned his head away and shook it. "Really I don't know about this."

The crowd who had been hoping to get some information from him was slightly disappointed.

Second Seven High was big but seemed small at the same time.

After the incident with Zhao Chengyan, Su Cen noticed that he ran into Zhang Xian and Zhang Feifei more often. Of course, occasionally, he could also catch a glimpse of Tang Wu in some school areas—she was surrounded by many men and women like stars around the moon. Sometimes her bright eyes would glance at him before she quickly looked away.

At this time, Su Cen's friends on either side had identical gazes as if they were frogs squatting by a pond yearning to see a swan fly past.

The small convenience store in Second Seven High was strategically located and did brisk business. To some extent, it carried the memories of several generations of students who graduated from this school.

There were many people, often with groups waiting outside and sending representatives to buy things inside.

When Su Cen happened upon Zhuang Zhiyu's group at that moment, a man was just asking him and the seven or eight men and women around them about what they wanted to buy.

The crowd also noticed Su Cen; after a brief pause, some greeted him. Of course, this applied to those who were more amiable—some simply ignored him without any acknowledgment.

Zhuang Zhiyu still had better theoretical grounds for being familiar with Su Cen compared to others, so he smiled and said, "Hey, Su Cen! Buying something"

A girl who had a relatively good impression of Su Cen spoke up: "Just right, Wei Chao is going to buy now. You can tell him what you want."

Su Cen nodded and said, "A bag of milk and a bag of bread. Thank you." This was a small favor on behalf of his desk-mate Jiang Mingjun, who had asked him to get these items when he went downstairs.

Wei Chao, responsible for purchasing the drink, said indifferently to Su Cen, "Three dollars."

The others were taken aback. In their circle, there was no tradition of pooling money; whoever had the cash would simply pay and be done with it. They all tended to be generous, though none of them were lacking in funds.

With Wei Chao's words, some people froze. This practically signaled a clear exclusion of Su Cen. Zhuang Zhiyu's expression was less than pleased as he gave Wei Chao a stern look.

Su Cen pulled out ten dollars and handed it to Wei Chao.

"No change" Wei Chao didn't take the money, his face looking somewhat awkward. "I can’t make up for you. Why don't I give you some cash so that you go buy it No need to compensate!"

He then pulled out fifty dollars and handed it to Su Cen.

The others felt Wei Chao was being too overt about his disdain, which could be easily noticed by outsiders.

Su Cen thought for a moment, took out his wallet, and after rummaging through it, managed to find three coins, handing them over with a smile. "I happen to have it."

Wei Chao accepted the coins but could only meet Su Cen's amicable smile with resignation. If he were to continue being difficult, it would be hard to justify. Thus, he silently acquiesced and unwillingly squeezed into the convenience store.

Zhuang Zhiyu patted Su Cen on the shoulder. "Don't mind him; that's just how he is."

Su Cen nodded. He didn’t seem to care, but seeing half of Zhuang Zhiyu’s male and female companions chatting among themselves as if he wasn’t there, it was clear this situation went beyond what Zhuang had said.

During their way home after school, Zhang Xian, Zhuang Zhiyu, Zhang Feifei, and a few others usually walked together, talking about the latest school gossip or eating at nearby McDonald's for dinner. Afterwards, boys would often go to each other’s houses to play games while girls would head back.

On this walk home, one of the girls suddenly asked Zhuang Zhiyu, "Hey, are you sure Why is Wang Weiwei so enthusiastically recommending someone we don't know"

Zhuang Zhiyu frowned. "I've heard he helped out Wang Weiwei's family somehow... I'm not entirely clear on the details..."

"Wang Weiwei's dad used to be the Secretary of the Provincial Government, right Even if he were transferred to Xia Hai, it would still be a position as a市委書記！據說下一次調動很可能是我們蓉城的市委書記呢！蘇燦幫過他們家？哎喲，這可真牛啊，他爸是做什麼的？”說話的女人從鼻子裡哼了一聲，顯然不信。

知情人士說道，“我聽張可那丫頭說過了，他爸不過是一個大型國有企業部門經理而已。他媽也不知道在乾嘛，反正不出名。”

"哦，隻是一個小小國企部門經理？" 張賢也忍不住挑眉。

有男生笑道：“這樣也好，昨天張菲菲不是還很看好他的嗎，覺得他們家背景可能不俗。現在知道了吧。這小子壓根就是‘一根蔥，跳得凶’！”

張菲菲有些氣急，“我什麼時候看上他了？”

這時，張賢等人突然停住了。

第二十七中學校外有一塊空地，堆放著不少建築材料。這裡據說被某個房地產公司買下，但似乎還冇有動工，已經擱置了很久。

市政地下水管道施工正在進行，這塊空地臨時用作堆放水泥管的地方。很多學生放學會從這裡經過，他們也正好從此路過。

看到那邊有很多人，有的蹲著、站著，有些還手裡提著棍子。

張菲菲等女生的臉色變了，艱難地說：“是趙承言那夥人……”

確實是趙承言一行人，但也不僅僅是他們。錢隆和梁笑等人也在場，還有十幾個看上去體格健壯的人，穿著紅色白色統一的運動服，背後印著“建陽體校”。

趙承言正在跟一個蓬頭垢麵的人說話，看到他們便嬉笑著走了過來。那些早就在空地上磨蹭的一群人也開始行動起來，慢慢朝著這邊踱步而來……

The third update will come later, thanks to everyone's crazy voting today. Su Cen will also rise with the trend. spittle as the situation would be awkward.Returning to their lush school, different from the hectic start of freshman year, there weren’t throngs of people here anymore; everyone quietly navigated th...