Chapter 223 - 98: The Childhood Sweetheart Is No Match for the Heaven-sent

Chapter 223: Chapter 98: The Childhood Sweetheart Is No Match for the Heaven-sent

"Really?"

"Of course," Zhang Shutong said with a smile, draping the towel over a nearby rack.

He thought he saw Gu Qiuyan come out.

He wasn’t sure if she had seen him.

He recalled their last encounter at the mall. When her gaze met Ruoping’s, it was as if an invisible magnetic field had sprung up between them. This time, however, there was no such feeling.

He just suddenly shivered.

Zhang Shutong had always trusted his intuition, but this time, it seemed to be failing him.

’How could I be cold in a room filled with warm air?’

Then he remembered he hadn’t even taken off his jacket.

Last night, after he had walked through the door, it was Gu Qiuyan who had immediately told him to change his shoes, take off his jacket, and put down his schoolbag.

This just went to show that he wasn’t a very meticulous person.

The villa had underfloor heating. The marble floor was an elegant gray, like a mineral meticulously selected from nature itself. Despite so many visitors today, it remained spotless. Each slab of stone was shockingly large, almost the size of four standard tiles in a normal home, making the space feel grand and open.

The crystal chandelier overhead cast a brilliant, palace-like glow upon the room. Outside was a world of ice and snow, while inside was birdsong and fragrant flowers—figuratively speaking, of course. In reality, the living room was filled with the sound of their lively chatter.

So when the chatter suddenly ceased, he knew Gu Qiuyan had walked into the living room.

Sure enough, as soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, Zhang Shutong saw Gu Qiuyan sitting on the sofa.

There was a separate, standalone armchair in the sofa set. No one was sitting in it, as if it had been reserved specifically for her. As Zhang Shutong drew closer, he noticed Gu Qiuyan was dressed like a princess today. Though she had been wearing a black sweater that complimented her fair skin when she went out that morning, she had changed into a simple, white French-style blouse for lunch.

The collar of the blouse was adorned with exquisite lace trim, and a crystal-studded button fastened each cuff, enveloping her in an aura of classic romance. The young woman’s chest was like a ripe fruit, exuding a subtle, youthful vitality. The hem of her blouse was tucked into a cyan suede skirt that tapered along her graceful curves, accentuating her impossibly slender waist.

Today, she had her jet-black hair coiled at the back of her head like a flower bud, held in place by a silver clip.

’She’s beautiful,’ Zhang Shutong thought.

Of course, this time she hadn’t asked for his opinion.

Her hands were folded over her stomach, and she gave a slight nod, like a queen receiving her subjects, accepting everyone’s greetings.

"Qiumian, you’re down," Song was the first to speak.

"Classmate Gu..." an awkward laugh, "Uh, good afternoon." That was Du Kang.

"Hello," Qingyi said calmly.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Lu Qinglian said, equally composed.

Gu Qiuyan greeted them one by one, her demeanor poised and elegant. Ruoping was right behind him, and it seemed the two girls still didn’t get along. A brief nod and a faint smile were the most they could manage, and Gu Qiuyan returned an equally faint smile.

Zhang Shutong loved gatherings like this where everyone was together. He too nodded a greeting to the young miss... or rather, the princess.

And was ignored.

’Wait a minute.’

’Why was I the only one she ignored?’

Zhang Shutong thought maybe it was too noisy and she hadn’t heard him, so he greeted her again. This time, the smile vanished from the girl’s face. She shot him a blank look before turning back to talk to Song.

Zhang Shutong blinked.

He couldn’t quite figure out what was going on.

He had thought he would need to make introductions, but Gu Qiuyan was already chatting with them on her own.

’What’s with this feeling of being left out in the cold?’

He looked at the sofa again; it was already full.

It was, after all, just a sofa, not the legendary Noah’s Ark that could fit all eight people in the living room.

However, the armchair Gu Qiuyan was sitting in still had some space. Though it was a standalone piece, it was wide, and she took up so little room that a third of it was still empty. He figured someone could squeeze in.

Zhang Shutong certainly couldn’t be the one to squeeze in. He looked around for a chair to move, but just then, Song stood up voluntarily.

"Alright, you kids chat. You don’t get many chances at school, so take today to make friends and get to know each other. I’m going to step outside for a smoke." As he spoke, the man stood up. "Shutong, you too. Don’t just stand there. You’ve been running around the most today. Come sit down."

Zhang Shutong was grateful to Song for giving up his seat. He was just about to take it when a voice said, "Wait."

It was Gu Qiuyan, who stopped him with a cool tone:

"Who said you could sit?"

The surrounding chatter fell silent for a moment. His buddies instinctively shut their mouths, unsure of what was happening between the two.

Zhang Shutong froze. He realized the problem was more serious than he’d thought. Not only was he being ignored, but he wasn’t even allowed a seat.

This was all a bit much.

Since it had come to this, he was about to go be by himself in the dining room for a while, but then he heard Gu Qiuyan speak again:

"You have snow on your jacket. Take it off before you sit down. Don’t get the sofa wet."

Zhang Shutong looked down and saw that his denim jacket was indeed dotted with clumps of snow.

’Alright then.’

’So she wasn’t rejecting me, she was just afraid I’d get her family’s sofa dirty.’

Zhang Shutong didn’t need her to tell him where to put the jacket. He ran to the closet in the entryway, hung up his coat, and returned to the sofa, grumbling internally about how he was getting more and more proficient at this.

By then, the group was already chatting and laughing again.

Gu Qiuyan must have inherited her father’s gift for conversation. She spoke with ease and showed no signs of stage fright. To be honest, after spending more time with her, he often forgot that she was a bona fide young miss with countless lackeys at her beck and call, and not just the girl who would glare at him from time to time.

This time, Zhang Shutong sat next to Qingyi. He had originally been sitting next to Lu Qinglian, but Ruoping had taken that spot. The group’s current seating arrangement was as follows: