After dinner, He Nan directly took the two to the hotel. Cheng Xining was reluctant to leave, but under the intense and coercive gaze of He Nan and Ruan Yiqian, she still had to go to the hotel.
The two stayed at the hotel for one night, and after having breakfast the next day, they left Licheng.
Before leaving, Cheng Xining was tearfully upset, incredibly sad, and didn’t forget to warn Shen Mianmian not to pester He Nan, which left Shen Mianmian somewhat caught between laughter and tears.
Before you knew it, it was the eighth day of the lunar new year. The Li Family came back from Beijing, and Li Shiping returned with them. After a period of recuperation, Li Shiping had regained her former status as Miss Li—clean and beautiful, dignified and noble.
Shen Mianmian and He Nan went to the Li Family for a meal, as a way of celebrating the New Year. Since school hadn’t started, Shen Mianmian had free time, and Li Julin was also available, so he took the opportunity to tutor Shen Mianmian.
According to him, after a maximum of two years of hard work and once admitted to Beijing University, she wouldn’t have to work so hard anymore.
Two years of hard work for a lifetime of change—it was worth it. They had to seize these two years and not waste them.
Shen Mianmian’s love for learning and her cleverness also pleased Li Julin. Thus, they kept studying until the Lantern Festival when everyone gathered together again for a lively celebration. Updates are released by 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝗇𝖾𝗍
On the sixteenth day of the first month, Shen Mianmian’s vegetable store reopened. To her delight, the business was as good as ever. With some savings, Shen Mianmian began to pay attention to the houses around her.
She planned to use the money she had to buy a house in Licheng, but unfortunately, there weren’t many developers around and no commercial housing available for sale. Also, those old residential houses were rarely sold.
Luckily, Shen Mianmian was not in a rush and decided to try her luck.
With the start of a new semester, everyone entered a tense study atmosphere again. After almost a month’s rest, suddenly having to go to school regularly every day was something many students found hard to adapt to.
It took about half a month for everyone to adjust.
On Saturday, like before, Shen Mianmian went to help at the vegetable store. On the way, she realized that someone was following her. Fortunately, there were many people around all the way and it was daytime, so she wasn’t very scared.
When she arrived at the store, Dajun and Lu Siyuan were just about to leave. Shen Mianmian told them that she seemed to be being stalked, and Lu Siyuan said, "It must be Wan Dongcheng that guy looking for trouble again."
After saying this, he and Dajun were ready to rush out, but as soon as they reached the doorway, they bumped into a man head-on.
Thinking they had bumped into a customer, Lu Siyuan instinctively apologized. Upon seeing the man’s face clearly, he was stunned—the man looked so familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere.
"It’s okay, no problem." Gu Jianli’s thoughts were all on Shen Mianmian; he had no mind to care about being bumped into.
Shen Mianmian also recognized Gu Jianli and a wave of disgust immediately surfaced. Her expression instantly grew cold.
Gu Jianli, however, failed to notice the change in Shen Mianmian’s expression. He said happily, "It really is you! I thought I was mistaken just now, followed you for a long way, and didn’t expect it to truly be you. You’ve changed so much, become so beautiful that people wouldn’t dare to recognize you."
Ever since he last saw Shen Mianmian, he had been unable to forget about her, often dreaming of her. He had tried to find out news about Shen Mianmian but couldn’t find any. Whenever he came to the city, he would deliberately visit the vegetable market, hoping for a chance encounter, but he had never run into her.
This time, he didn’t come with high hopes, yet unexpectedly, he encountered her.