Chapter 51: Perhaps a Bit Too Early

Qiao Yiran was just about to wave and say, "How about we skip the dessert and go shopping first instead?" when she turned her head and saw that Liu Miaomiao's gaze had already crossed the atrium, looking straight ahead.

The smile at the corner of her mouth instantly withered, shattering all over the ground.

Crap, she was still a step too late.

Seeing the expression on Liu Miaomiao's face darken instantly, Qiao Yiran panicked and wanted to comfort her, but as she opened her mouth, she had no idea what to say.

Having never experienced a similar scenario, she lacked the experience of comforting someone in this kind of situation...

***

On this side of the atrium, Su Xiaoqiang, realizing that her behavior just now seemed a bit too intimate, suddenly turned around and rubbed her slightly burning face with the back of her hand.

Why on earth did her brain suddenly short-circuit, causing her to directly accept a bite fed by this guy? In the eyes of outsiders, wouldn't we look like...

Su Xiaoqiang felt a mix of shyness and annoyance.

For some reason, in front of Lu Mingfei, she found it exceptionally easy to let her guard down.

Her gaze shifted gently, accidentally sweeping across the opposite side of the atrium, and she noticed two girls staring persistently at their direction.

They looked like middle school students, around her age, cute, bright, and both very pretty girls.

Only, one of the girls had her eyelids lowered, her pretty face filled with a lonely expression, looking sorrowful for reasons unknown.

Su Xiaoqiang tilted her head and pondered for a moment, confirming that she did not recognize either of these girls.

Since she didn't know them, perhaps they were...

Su Xiaoqiang turned back and gently poked Lu Mingfei's shoulder.

Lu Mingfei was currently hesitating whether to go back and grab a few more free samples from the dessert shop when he felt Su Xiaoqiang poking him with her pink-manicured finger.

"What, what is it?" Lu Mingfei asked. "You want another piece?"

"Pfft, pfft, pfft. Do you think everyone is a foodie like you?" Su Xiaoqiang wrinkled her nose, letting out a dainty, disdainful huff, and pointed her slender finger across the atrium. "Those two girls over there, see if you recognize them."

Lu Mingfei followed Su Xiaoqiang's finger across the atrium and locked eyes with Liu Miaomiao's sorrowful and desolate gaze.

Oh, good grief! Why is this little brat here too?!

Wasn't this girl's ankle still injured? Out shopping after just a couple of days—what would she do if her sprain got worse?

Lu Mingfei's primary concern was the injury to Liu Miaomiao's ankle.

Then, he realized something rather strange.

Why was the little brat looking at him with such a sorrowful gaze? She looked like a grievance-filled young maiden who had just discovered her boyfriend was cheating.

While he was still in a daze, he suddenly caught sight of the toothpick in his hand that had been used for the tiramisu cake.

Wait a second, could it be that when Su Xiaoqiang was eating cake from his hand just now, Liu Miaomiao had seen it?

***

"Let's go, Yiran." Liu Miaomiao suddenly pulled her gaze back from the distance, lowering her head to stare at the toes of her shoes.

She was always like this; whenever she felt nervous or sad, whenever her emotions were out of sorts, she would look down at her own toes.

This was something her piano teacher had taught her when she first started learning the piano.

That time was her kindergarten's arts festival, and also her first time playing the piano in front of a crowd.

She wasn't a naturally lively or confident girl. Although she had rehearsed several times beforehand, she inevitably got stage fright right before going on.

At that moment, her piano teacher told her that if she felt nervous about performing on stage, she shouldn't look at the audience below, but just look down at her toes instead. She followed the advice.

Although the performance that time was still a bit stumbling and hesitant, she finally had the courage to finish an entire piece in full view of everyone.

From then on, she developed this habit: whenever she felt uncontrollable emotional fluctuations in her heart, she would look down at her toes.

Only this time, why wasn't it working?

She watched her jade-like ten toes blur bit by bit in her field of vision, like a hazy layer of water mist blocking her eyes. Her chest felt tight, as if something was lodged near her heart, making it hard to breathe.

This feeling was very strange. Even the last time she mustered up the courage to invite Chu Zihang and ask him to give her a ride home on the way, only to be rejected, she had never felt this uncomfortable.

Qiao Yiran had originally wanted to drag Liu Miaomiao away for fear of making her sad, but when she saw Liu Miaomiao on the verge of tears and heard her proactively suggest leaving, a wave of resentment welled up in her heart instead.

"Leave? Why should we leave?" Qiao Yiran said indignantly. "Are you just going to stand by and watch this scumbag Lu Mingfei flirt with another girl?"

"Lu Mingfei and I don't have any kind of relationship anyway," Liu Miaomiao suddenly said.

Qiao Yiran froze. It seemed she was right—strictly speaking, Lu Mingfei was just an ordinary friend to both herself and Miaomiao.

It was only because of a few ambiguous incidents that had happened previously that her mind had subconsciously linked Lu Mingfei and Miaomiao together.

Besides, regarding the time Miaomiao had gone on a date alone with Lu Mingfei on Wangfujing Street, Miaomiao had told her beforehand that she was going to lay her cards on the table with Lu Mingfei, implicitly telling him that she didn't like him, asking him to give up his thoughts about her, and deciding they should just be good friends instead.

Since Miaomiao was the one who laid her cards on the table first, her side seemed to have even less reason to point fingers at Lu Mingfei.

Qiao Yiran slowly turned her gaze toward her best friend.

Miaomiao... it seems you've walked yourself into a trap this time.

Still, damn it! She still couldn't swallow this anger!

Clearly, Miaomiao was there first!

"That hateful guy Lu Mingfei, how can his romantic luck be so ridiculously strong!" Qiao Yiran gritted her teeth. "I curse him to buy a barrel of instant noodles without a fork, his mouse to break halfway through surfing the internet, and the cola he buys to forever be flat!"

After wishing this precise curse upon Lu Mingfei with utmost malice, Qiao Yiran finally walked over, linked her arm through Liu Miaomiao's, and said:

"Let's go. I'll send you home. A guy like this isn't worth crying over. He clearly ate your birthday cake just a couple of days ago, only to turn around and feed cake to another girl..."

Liu Miaomiao silently wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand and suddenly turned back.

"I'm not leaving anymore. Let's go over and have some dessert instead."

The atrium was vast and spacious, with bright fluorescent lights hanging high from the dome. Passersby couldn't help turning their heads upon seeing Liu Miaomiao's reddened eyes. Meanwhile, Qiao Yiran, upon hearing Liu Miaomiao's words, was completely dumbfounded.

"Why do you want to go back again?" Qiao Yiran couldn't help asking.

"We ran into a middle school classmate at the mall, so we should at least go over and say hello. Besides, Lu Mingfei and I are just ordinary friends to begin with. If I just leave like this, it would make it look like there's actually something going on between us." Liu Miaomiao lifted her slender neck, like a proud and beautiful swan.

Qiao Yiran looked at Liu Miaomiao's expression and nodded silently in her heart.

Don't worry, Miaomiao. No matter what, I will always stand behind you.

***

"It looks like they're heading this way," Su Xiaoqiang said.

"I see them."

"That girl with the red eyes." Su Xiaoqiang curiously looked at Lu Mingfei. "Could that be Liu Miaomiao?"

"How do you know?" Lu Mingfei asked in utter shock.

"I read that post on the Xiling High School forum: *Regarding the Degenerate Lu Mingfei and His Walking-on-Thin-Ice Life*."

"Crap! Why on earth were you reading that?!"

"Why wouldn't I read it?" Su Xiaoqiang put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. "Not to brag, but once high school starts, I'll also be a student at Xiling High. What's wrong with browsing the school forum?"

"..."

Watching Liu Miaomiao draw closer and closer, Lu Mingfei wanted to cover his face, but didn't dare to.

Clearly, he hadn't done anything out of line; he was simply accompanying Su Xiaoqiang out for a stroll.

So why did he have this overpowering sense of deja vu of being caught red-handed by a girlfriend?

Furthermore, his relationship with Liu Miaomiao was entirely innocent and clear-pasted.

Thinking about the two biggest campus belles of Xiling High from his past life—Su Xiaoqiang and Liu Miaomiao—who were about to have their very first summit meeting in this lifetime, Lu Mingfei's CPU couldn't help but start overclocking.

Damn Lu Mingze, running a harem indeed. Just dealing with Liu Miaomiao and Su Xiaoqiang alone was enough to make his CPU smoke.

Wait, he was still single! Wasn't this修罗场 (Shura field / romantic battlefield) arriving a little too early?