Confessing To The School Queen In Front Of The Whole School - Chapter 36

“We just met, so you’re not finding out late.”

Xia Meng looked at the sky and the signboards, avoiding her uncle’s face. She felt deeply apologetic for leaving such a profound first impression.

Tao Yun didn’t know how to respond for a moment.

The pharmacy owner held a small bear keychain, which Xia Meng probably dropped when taking out the red envelope. In any case, Xia Meng would rather not have that string of keys now.

The pharmacy owner looked puzzled and asked, “Tao Yun’s Uncle, you don’t know?”

How should they explain this?

They couldn’t possibly say that the two of them were playing such a wild game that they had already established the aunt-niece relationship.

Xia Meng pondered, “To be honest, the connection is a bit distant. I only just found out myself…”

Tao Yun, who was about to offer an explanation, said, “…”

Yes, that’s right, exactly!

The uncle was full of question marks: “How distant must it be for me not to know?”

Xia Meng sighed and pretended to be profound: “Sometimes fate is just so subtle. Even after years of separation, people can become family.”

To be honest, the moment she saw Tao Yun, she felt like she should write her into the family tree.

Given that, wasn’t calling her “Little Aunt” acceptable?

The uncle was successfully fooled, but he felt it was inappropriate: “Since she’s a distant relative, let’s not call her ‘Little Aunt’ anymore.”

Otherwise, he would feel like he suddenly had an extra younger sister.

It was quite strange.

It also felt a bit like the other person was taking advantage of him.

Xia Meng replied casually, “Okay, Uncle. No problem, Uncle.”

The uncle: “…”

For some reason, he felt even more taken advantage of.

Completely bewildered, the uncle could only drop the subject: “Let’s have a meal together sometime when you’re free. It’s not easy for us all to meet.”

The pharmacy owner was still holding the keychain. He looked between the three of them, unable to integrate into this ‘family gathering,’ so he handed the keychain to Xia Meng.

Hurry up and take it; he had to get back to work in his store.

Xia Meng took the keys.

She was eye-to-eye with the little bear ornament.

Tao Yun was speechless for a moment, seeing Xia Meng talk nonsense and successfully fool her uncle. “Then we’ll head back first.”

With the things bought, Tao Yun wanted to leave.

She truly didn’t know how to interact with her uncle now.

Tao Yun was usually quiet; she was polite and would respond to anyone who spoke to her with a slight smile, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed talking.

It was the same when dealing with relatives.

In the past, Tao Yun could chat with her uncle, discussing her studies, her mother’s health, and would nod in agreement after listening to her uncle’s advice.

But her uncle’s words kept echoing in her mind.

Like a thorn that couldn’t be removed.

Tao Yun didn’t know how to change her uncle’s perspective, or how to explain that this person wasn’t some distant “Little Aunt,” but a future family member.

The kind who could be tried to be written into the family tree.

She could only take the bag from Xia Meng’s hand: “Let’s go back to school.”

Xia Meng noticed something: “Alright, Uncle, we’re heading back to school now. We’ll come to see you when we have time.”

So, the two of them walked back to school.

It was actually a bit of a distance from the school, about twenty minutes on foot. They didn’t feel it on the way there, but the road felt long on the way back.

Xia Meng subconsciously wanted to call a taxi.

Even though she was in good health, she had to be lazy sometimes, right?

But Tao Yun walked ahead without speaking, and Xia Meng withdrew the hand she was about to raise.

Xia Meng: “Do you not like seeing your uncle?”

Tao Yun: “…”

They had never really talked about their family matters with each other.

However, Xia Meng’s family was simple and easy to get along with, so there was no need to discuss it. Seeing it with her own eyes was proof enough.

Tao Yun originally wanted to avoid this topic, but then she remembered that the person asking was Xia Meng.

Xia Meng was different; she wasn’t someone who cared much about others’ privacy. Whenever Lin Ruoruo gossiped, Xia Meng would always intentionally or unintentionally occupy herself with other things, never stopping.

Xia Meng asked because of Tao Yun.

Because Xia Meng asked, Tao Yun didn’t intend to avoid it.

She replied, “My family is not well-off. People at school don’t know about this. Teacher Ji said she was worried that the students’ attitude might affect my studies.”

Xia Meng was a little surprised.

She had thought that someone like Tao Yun must be a prodigy, and even if her family wasn’t extremely wealthy, she must have lived a carefree life. She never expected Tao Yun to say that her family’s financial situation was poor.

So, was Tao Yun doing part-time jobs to help support the family?

Would stopping the part-time job now affect her family?

Xia Meng looked closely at Tao Yun. When saying these things, she still looked calm, not at all like Teacher Ji had suggested, someone whose studies would be affected by her classmates’ attitudes.

Right. Even when a girl confessed to her, this person remained as calm as ever.

And even managed to trick the person into her trap.

Tao Yun said, “The person just now was my uncle. He has helped my family a lot. The convenience store where I worked part-time is actually owned by him. Although he has the typical flaws of a middle-aged man, he’s not a bad person.”

Xia Meng let out a long sound, having no good feelings towards people who smoke in public.

Xia Meng: “Then why don’t you like seeing your uncle?”

Tao Yun explained, “It’s not that I dislike him, I just feel… it’s unnecessary.”

A slightly heartless remark.

Tao Yun lowered her eyes: “I will be successful, and I will repay my uncle’s family, but I don’t like family interaction.”

Detached.

That was Tao Yun.

Tao Yun thought that Xia Meng probably wouldn’t understand. Xia Meng could laugh and joke with her mother, with no sense of family hierarchy. When she went to see her grandfather, she would show a sweet smile even if she wasn’t feeling energetic.

She was a little princess living at home, which would always be her safe harbor.

Tao Yun had noticed that Xia Meng didn’t seem to have many friends at school.

It was only recently that her relationship with the students in Class 8 became very good.

Tao Yun was even more emotionally aloof than Xia Meng imagined.

When saying these things, she still carried a sense of indifference. She wouldn’t pretend otherwise just because it was Xia Meng; on the contrary, precisely because it was Xia Meng, she wouldn’t hide it.

Yet, she was nervously waiting for Xia Meng’s reaction.

She was worried that Xia Meng might lower her opinion of her due to the significant gap in her image and her expectation.

In short, Tao Yun was not as calm as she appeared.

All her emotions were because of Xia Meng.

She slightly turned her head, carefully observing Xia Meng’s every reaction, being unusually cautious, which was unlike Tao Yun.

And Xia Meng stopped in her tracks.

Tao Yun’s heart leaped—

The reason Xia Meng stopped was not what Tao Yun thought. Instead, the system started acting up.

System.

I’m not acting up, thank you.

It’s just that you need to complete missions to earn survival time, and a mission just happened to refresh. All of this is beyond my control.

So now, you have two choices—

Option One: Treat your uncle’s family to a meal. (You have half an hour. Completion Reward: Forty-eight hours of survival time.

Option Two: Deduct forty-eight hours of survival time.

To be frank, the reason this mission refreshed is because you guys were acting up. It has nothing to do with this system!

Xia Meng stopped walking and looked at Tao Yun with some difficulty in expressing herself.

She had originally wanted to say, If you don’t like seeing him, then don’t. It’s not like we can’t afford to be generous. But the rapidly decreasing survival time slapped her hard, telling her:

You actually can’t afford to be generous.

Although she had earned a lot of survival time from that school auditorium incident.

It wasn’t enough for Xia Meng to squander. Forty-eight hours—she couldn’t stand that deduction.

Xia Meng looked distressed, and she saw Tao Yun also becoming conflicted.

Xia Meng: …

Although she didn’t quite understand what Tao Yun was conflicted about, Xia Meng thought seriously: Since Tao Yun disliked family interactions, she would just go see him herself!

She hadn’t been written into the family tree yet.

But she didn’t mind using the identity of “Little Aunt” to treat the uncle’s family to a meal!

Uncle, I’m your long-lost ‘sister’!

She wasn’t sure if her uncle would believe it.

The turn came so quickly. Xia Meng still wanted to hear what Tao Yun would say next; it was a rare chance to understand Tao Yun.

However, a half-hour mission time… she really couldn’t afford to miss it!

Xia Meng grabbed Tao Yun, her mind turning into a browser, frantically searching for an excuse: “I’m hungry!”

When people are hungry, they must eat!

Tao Yun: “…”

She wanted to rub her forehead.

What to do if the child is hungry? They couldn’t just keep starving her.

Tao Yun looked around: “There are some restaurants nearby. Let’s go eat first.”

Xia Meng was anxious: “But… wouldn’t that be a waste of money!”

Tao Yun: “?”

Wow, she actually heard that from a rich lady’s mouth.

Xia Meng: “Anyway, we haven’t gone too far. Why don’t we go to your uncle’s place and mooch a meal!”

Tao Yun: “…”

A rich lady actually wants to mooch a meal!

Why go to her uncle’s place? Tao Yun checked her WeChat balance and figured treating the child to one meal was not a problem. Just as she was about to say there was no need, Xia Meng dragged her and started running.

Was she that hungry?

Xia Meng dragged Tao Yun back towards her uncle’s convenience store.

I originally didn’t intend to do this. I planned to go and brazenly face my uncle alone.

Why did her hand move uncontrollably and drag Tao Yun along?

The other person didn’t want to go, wasn’t this forcing her? Xia Meng really wanted to smack her meddlesome hand a few times.

When they arrived at the uncle’s convenience store, Xia Meng realized why her hand ran back with Tao Yun.

It was saving its owner!

Without Tao Yun, could Xia Meng really have gone alone and said to her uncle, “I’m your ‘sister,’ and I’m treating you to a meal?”

No. Imagination is rich, but reality is stark. Xia Meng would only shrink her neck and let the system deduct those forty-eight hours of survival time.

Then, she would shamelessly beg the system to refresh the backend more often to see if there were any two-birds-one-stone missions like “kissing.”

The current situation was that Xia Meng had dragged Tao Yun back.

The uncle looked at them, completely confused, but still greeted them and politely asked if they wanted to eat a grilled sausage.

Tao Yun was forced into an awkward situation.

She suspected Xia Meng did it on purpose but couldn’t find any evidence. Fortunately, she had quick-witted improvisation skills, and they were slightly better than Xia Meng’s.

“Mom asked me to treat you to a meal to thank you for taking care of us all this time.”

Thus, her WeChat balance went from covering Xia Meng’s meal to covering her uncle’s family’s meal.

The difference was quite significant. Tao Yun couldn’t just let Xia Meng mooch a meal, could she?

Uncle: “You’re only slightly better off and you’re already wasting money? Are you thinking of coming back to work part-time again?”

Xia Meng seized the opportunity: “How about this? I’ll treat everyone!”

Tao Yun: “…”

Listen, now that was a rich lady’s statement.

Uncle: “You’re still a student. How much money could you have? Don’t waste it. How about I treat you two to a meal tonight?”

“That won’t do! Your treat doesn’t count!” Xia Meng blurted out anxiously.

Besides, the mission required her to treat her uncle’s family. Forcibly dragging just the uncle to dinner wouldn’t work.

Tao Yun had already provided a good excuse, and Xia Meng didn’t want to waste it. She stiffened her neck: “I am Tao Yun’s Little Aunt, and her elder! You have taken care of her family for so long, what’s wrong with me treating you to a meal!”

The uncle was stunned for a moment, then wore a face that said, I can’t afford to mess with this person.

Xia Meng was self-assured: “What is it!”

Xia Meng: “For so many years, I’ve been unable to take care of Tao Yun. From now on, Tao Yun’s family is my family. I will continue to take care of them!”

“I will also be grateful to you all!”

“We’ll start with this meal! No refusing!”

Uncle: Damn, I really can’t afford to mess with her.

Why are you so imposing? You’ve already put on such a show. Is this really the level of confidence a high school student should have?