Chapter 6: Etiquette of High Society (Part 2)
The hotel booked by Chuanhai No. 1 High School was called Mulan International Hotel, a property owned by a subsidiary of Huaji Group. The chairman of the group was also a school board member of Chuanhai No. 1 High School. The relationship was quite complicated, full of the subtle cultural connotations unique to Shenzhou. The common area at the entrance was paved with ordinary marble, polished to a shine. To the left was the lounge area, which included a sauna and massage rooms. To the right, the floor was covered with handmade silk carpets – it was said that the old woman who made these carpets had once worked for the Zhu family, though no one knew if it was true.
Chen Jianing, who was new to this environment, was immediately dazzled by the dazzling array of furnishings. Her family was just an ordinary middle-class family, how could she have ever seen such extravagance? She couldn’t wait to take out her phone and snap photos of every nook and cranny, brainstorming seven or eight different captions for her WeChat Moments. This was the most common thought in the minds of girls her age.
Lu Li led Chen Jianing to the fifth floor and explained the situation to the teacher in charge. The teacher politely let Chen Jianing stay in the vacant room next to Lu Li, only asking for her ID card to complete the check-in process.
As soon as Chen Jianing entered her room and saw the large bed covered with a dark red quilt, her eyes lit up. She threw herself onto the bed like a starving tiger. “This is the life I’ve always dreamed of~” Lu Li quietly placed her suitcase by the wall and replied, “Your dream is quite mundane.”
“What’s wrong with being mundane? Only you second-generations have the privilege to talk about dreams and love.” Chen Jianing rolled around on the bed, hugging the soft pillow, her small body almost completely sinking into the plush mattress. “The most vivid memory I have from my childhood is my mother counting banknotes one by one, preparing to pay my tuition fees the next day. She counted them once and then counted them again, afraid of missing a single bill.”
Lu Li had a similar experience when Sister Yameng gave him living expenses.
“I’m not a second-generation.”
“I don’t believe you.” Chen Jianing suddenly got up and pushed Lu Li out the door. “Okay, thank you. Now I want to rest for a while by myself. Bye, see you later.”
With a bang, Chen Jianing hastily closed the door, not giving Lu Li a chance to speak.
She’s still as rude as ever.
Lu Li wanted to continue persuading her to join his game development team. He knocked on the door, but there was no response. He could only return to his own room and continue swimming in the sea of knowledge. After reading for a while, he felt his stomach growling. He hadn’t eaten lunch. Lu Li went downstairs to the lobby, asked the manager, and was led to the dining area for lunch.
While eating, he happened to encounter the students from Chuanhai No. 1 High School returning from outside. They were gathered together, chatting and laughing, discussing whose villa to have a party at tonight. Someone saw Lu Li and came over to talk to him. “Young Master Lu, want to hang out with us tonight?”
Are we close? This thought popped into Lu Li’s mind. He smiled and said, “I don’t deserve to be called ‘Young Master,’ just call me Lu Li.”
“Young Master Lu is being modest.” Another girl said with a smile. “My uncle said he often sees you having dinner at Prime Minister Chu’s house. We’ll be relatives in the future. According to seniority, I might even have to call Chu Jingyi ‘niece’.”
Lu Li felt a little nauseous. These kids were only sixteen or seventeen years old, but they were already talking about “Young Master Lu” and “Prime Minister Chu,” speaking with bureaucratic airs. Talking to them felt like his soul was being tainted. Besides, would you really dare to call Chu Jingyi “niece” to her face? Did they really think Silly Goose was a pushover? He corrected them with a serious expression. “I’m just an ordinary person from the lower class. I have nothing to do with the Chu family. You must have misunderstood.”
“Perhaps.” The girl didn’t mind, covering her mouth with a smile. Seeing Lu Li’s refusal, the others didn’t insist and continued chatting and laughing as they walked deeper into the hotel.
On the other hand, after posting the hotel photos on her WeChat Moments with some artistic captions, Chen Jianing eagerly awaited likes. As expected, within half an hour, she had received more than thirty likes. Usually, her posts only received one or two likes. Some classmates who rarely interacted with her commented, “Did you strike it rich?” “Did you rob a bank?” “A hidden rich woman!”
Chen Jianing wasn’t satisfied yet. She also sent the photos to her dorm group chat, wanting her roommates to see that she was doing better after leaving the dorm. But all she received was a cold notification: “You have been removed from the group chat.” Her phone suddenly started buzzing non-stop. Some acquaintances she wasn’t close to sent her messages. Some were more subtle, asking where she was traveling, while others directly asked if she was a rich woman.
Chen Jianing didn’t reply to any of them. Looking at the red notification dots on WeChat, she suddenly felt a bit empty.
Yeah, it was quite pointless.
She looked around at the luxurious decorations of the hotel and then at her own scratched silver suitcase, which looked completely out of place in this upscale environment. No, it wasn’t the suitcase that was out of place, but her, right? She walked to the floor-to-ceiling mirror and looked at her reflection. The girl in the mirror had a wistful expression, messy hair, and was wearing clothes she bought online for a little over a hundred yuan. She had spent all her savings on mobile games and didn’t even have decent cosmetics. The only thing she could boast about was her relatively good looks.
This is pointless. She touched the mirror, leaving a faint fingerprint on the smooth surface. What am I doing? Just to get back at them, I ran to a place where I don’t belong with a stranger I just met, and I’m even feeling smug about it?
Did I get back at them? Yes. Am I happy? No. Why? I don’t know.
Chen Jianing suddenly grabbed her suitcase, took her room card, and walked out. She had changed her mind. She was leaving this place. She didn’t belong here.
The elevator door opened, and she bumped into Lu Li, who had just finished lunch and was returning to the fifth floor. Lu Li pushed the clumsy girl away, glanced at her suitcase, and asked, “What’s wrong? Don’t you like the room?”
“I’m sorry, I’d better leave.” Chen Jianing bowed deeply. “I thought about it carefully, and I think I should stay in the dorm after all.”
“Really…” Lu Li’s eyes held a hint of disappointment. “Have dinner before you go?”
“Well… okay.” She reluctantly agreed.
Chen Jianing hung her head, no longer as excited as when she first arrived. Her eyelashes were long, like a hazy cloud, casting a beautiful arc on her small face. Lu Li looked at her, but she was staring at the ground, lost in thought, like a canary longing to escape its cage.
Lu Li knew that he couldn’t keep her. He knew everything about Chen Jianing, but to her, he was just a stranger. This was probably the furthest distance in the world.
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