You Guys Wouldn’t Have Taken My Casual Acting Seriously, Right Chapter 65

Jiang Shu had thoroughly embarrassed himself and didn’t want to pay any attention to Shen Fu anymore. Besides, the weekend was over, and he had to return to school.

Thanks to him, Shen Fu enjoyed three peaceful days.

Assistant Zhou drove Shen Fu to the Guomao shopping district to buy things. “The backpack and stationery you brought with you, don’t use them anymore,” he said. “Once you officially start school, you can’t keep using those old things. Of course, I’m not telling you to throw your own belongings away. What I mean is, don’t let your classmates see you using them at school.”

Shen Fu couldn’t really understand why. Her backpack had been brought back from the capital by her father the previous year. It was practically new. Although it had gotten muddy at the train station, she had washed it, and now it looked as good as new.

Still, she nodded.

The more you spoke, the more mistakes you made. In an unfamiliar place, it was better not to talk too much.

Assistant Zhou bought Shen Fu a huge pile of things. While they were checking out, Shen Fu secretly glanced at the receipt and was shocked by the prices printed on it.

“Actually, I already have plenty of clothes,” Shen Fu said quietly, a little embarrassed.

She truly felt there was no need to buy everything again.

Assistant Zhou said, “It’s different. You’ll be studying here for the next three years. You’ll definitely need to find a way to fit in, right? If you don’t want your classmates causing you trouble, don’t be different from them. We just need to stay around the average level of the other girls.”

Shen Fu was silent for a long time before finally nodding.

Seeing that she was still unconsciously staring at the receipt, as if trying hard to memorize all the numbers on it, Assistant Zhou smiled. “I paid with a card anyway. How about this? I’ll keep a record for you, and when you’re an adult, I’ll send you the bill all at once.”

Shen Fu agreed and felt relieved.

Her parents had also been transferred to the hospital with the best medical facilities available. After Assistant Zhou took her there to visit them, Shen Fu felt gratitude beyond words. Even relatives might not have gone this far for her. And yet Old Master Jiang had merely been acquainted with her grandfather years ago.

For the Jiang family, all of this might have been effortless. But for Shen Fu, it was no different from being thrown a lifeline.

While staying with the Jiangs, she tried to do whatever she could to help. When Assistant Zhou was too busy to organize documents, Shen Fu sorted them according to the labels on the folders. When Auntie Zhang was too busy to loosen the soil around the flowers in the garden, Shen Fu spent an entire afternoon doing it herself with a small gardening shovel.

“Want to go to your place and play games?” At the school gates, the driver opened the car door. Jiang Shu tossed his backpack into the car and had barely gotten in himself when Wang Xuanheng climbed in right after him, speaking in that irritatingly cheeky tone of his.

Jiang Shu knew exactly what he was after. He wanted to see what Shen Fu, the girl who had moved into Jiang Shu’s house, looked like.

Normally, if Wang Xuanheng suggested going to another school to check out pretty girls, Jiang Shu would at most sneer and ignore him. But for some reason, this time he was extremely annoyed.

If she lived in his house, then she was one of his people now. He was basically half a guardian and this brat was already eyeing the child his family was taking care of?

“Get lost. No time.” Jiang Shu kicked Wang Xuanheng out of the car.

When the car stopped in front of the villa, Jiang Shu took off his earphones, grabbed his backpack, and headed inside, looking everywhere for Shen Fu. He needed to warn her to stay away from Wang Xuanheng. No way was she allowed to learn about puppy love at such a young age.

He stomped upstairs, tossed his backpack and earphones onto the carpet, and immediately spotted a figure in a cotton dress standing on the terrace.

Shen Fu? What was she doing over there?

Jiang Shu strode over and slid open the glass door. He found Shen Fu hanging laundry.

The laundry room had a dryer, but Auntie Zhang, who worked at the house, was rather old-fashioned and insisted that clothes needed sunlight to be properly disinfected. Jiang Shu usually couldn’t be bothered to care. But why was Shen Fu the one doing it now?

Perplexed, he folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe. She was standing on a chair, stretching up on tiptoe while struggling to hang clothes on the drying rack with a long pole.

His gaze accidentally swept across the fair, slender calves and ankles exposed beneath her dress. He was used to seeing the legs of boys he played basketball with. This was the first time he’d seen a girl’s ankles from such a close distance. A strange feeling suddenly rose in his chest.

Probably just unfamiliarity.

He quickly looked away and followed her movements upward. Then he saw what she was hanging up. His oversized T-shirt. And his athletic underwear.

Her hands were small and pale. The underwear was dark-colored. The contrast was so stark that his eyelids twitched violently.

Jiang Shu’s head buzzed as blood rushed upward. “Shen Fu, what are you doing behind my back?!”

His shout startled Shen Fu so badly that she nearly fell off the chair.

Jiang Shu hurried over and steadied her.

Shen Fu barely regained her balance. “I was helping Auntie Zhang…”

Using his height advantage, Jiang Shu snatched the underwear from her hands. One look and his brain nearly exploded. It was the pair with the Superman logo on the back. His head buzzed even louder. How could this happen? If she had to hang laundry, couldn’t it at least have been one of the normal pairs?!

Any dignity he had as a guardian figure was completely gone!

His face turned crimson. Both embarrassed and furious, he said: “I’ll do it myself!”

“Oh…” Shen Fu obediently climbed down.

The boy was tall enough that he didn’t even need the chair. Standing in front of her, he simply raised the clothes pole and hung it up.

Afterward, his body remained stiff, and his expression was painfully awkward. He glanced down at Shen Fu. “Why are you still standing here?”

Shen Fu froze. Then she took two steps back, turned around, and ran away.

Jiang Shu: “…”

Why was she running? And why had she secretly been hanging his underwear while he was at school?!

One embarrassing incident after another. Jiang Shu’s face was still burning red. He found it difficult to bring the matter up with Shen Fu directly. After calming down slightly, he found Auntie Zhang in the laundry room and gritted out:

“From now on, don’t let Shen Fu touch my…”

He paused.

“…clothes.”

He simply couldn’t bring himself to say the word underwear.

Auntie Zhang was stunned. “Of course, Young Master.”

They had already allowed Shen Fu to move into the house, why was Young Master Jiang still so resistant toward her?

Life would probably be difficult for the poor girl in the future… Thinking this, Auntie Zhang couldn’t help leaving a plate of fruit aside for Shen Fu.

Shen Fu didn’t dare provoke Jiang Shu. The only solution was to reduce the number of times she ran into him.

When Young Master Jiang came downstairs, he didn’t see her. Instead, he noticed the seven or eight shopping bags full of clothes and shoes that had been left near the front entrance and hadn’t been put away yet.

Beside them was a backpack filled with school supplies. 

Just looking at the backpack made him think it was hopelessly uncool. Assistant Zhou was already in his thirties. The things he picked out for Shen Fu were expensive, but they looked completely ordinary. What girl still carried a rose-red backpack to school these days? If she brought that to school, would she even be able to make friends?

He rummaged through the clothes as well. They were all designer brands, but the styles were outdated.

Jiang Shu felt like he was worrying himself sick. Having nothing better to do, he picked up the bags, returned to the car, and called Wang Xuanheng.

Shen Fu finished her homework in her room. Just before going to bed, she suddenly remembered that she still hadn’t brought the things from the entrance hall inside.

She checked the time. It was a little after nine at night.

At this hour, Young Master Jiang was probably in his room playing video games.

Shen Fu quietly opened her door, intending to go downstairs and bring her things up.

But the moment she opened the door, several shopping bags toppled into the room.

Had Assistant Zhou brought them upstairs?

Shen Fu carried the bags inside in two trips.

Her room had a bathroom and a walk-in closet. She hadn’t brought many clothes with her, so the closet was still mostly empty. She took the clothes out of the bags and began hanging them up.

After a while, she suddenly realized something was wrong.

These weren’t the same clothes they had bought during the day. She went through the last kraft paper bag and discovered that the rose-red backpack had also been replaced by a shoulder bag decorated with sparkling pink sequins.

“…”

A question mark slowly appeared over Shen Fu’s head.

Still, she didn’t think much about it. She simply assumed Assistant Zhou thought these items were more suitable and had exchanged them for her.

The next day, Shen Fu officially started school.

She was already sitting at the dining table eating breakfast while Young Master Jiang was still lying in bed, refusing to emerge from under his blankets.

Assistant Zhou knocked on his door several times before the door on the second floor finally opened impatiently.

The boy had only just gotten up. His handsome, pale face was full of world-weary displeasure, and his entire body radiated irritation.

After coming downstairs, Assistant Zhou quietly said to Shen Fu: “He has terrible morning grumpiness. Hurry up and eat. Don’t provoke him.”

After hearing that, Shen Fu immediately sped up the rate at which she stuffed buns into her mouth, hoping to finish before Jiang Shu came downstairs.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t eat as fast as Jiang Shu could descend the stairs.

The boy’s long legs carried him down in just a few strides. He went to the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of ice water, took a swig, and lazily sat down at the dining table.

Seeing little Shen Fu looking at him from across the table, he propped his chin on one hand and said lazily: “Just so you know in advance, don’t tell anyone at school that you know me. And don’t tell anyone you’re living in my house.”

If she did, her next three years would probably be anything but peaceful. There would be people trying to curry favor with her but there would also be people lining up to bully her.

After speaking, he looked over the dress Shen Fu was wearing.

It was one he had picked off the rack himself yesterday.

Jiang Shu had no idea what girls were supposed to wear. But if he copied what the girls at school wore, he probably couldn’t go wrong. And now that the little girl was wearing it, she looked far prettier than any of those girls.

The young master was extremely satisfied.

Shen Fu noticed him staring at her and then telling her not to say she knew him at school. She assumed he thought she looked uncool and embarrassing.

So she nodded and stuffed buns into her mouth even faster.

Two cars were waiting outside. The one taking Shen Fu to school was relatively modest and low-key. The one taking Jiang Shu was as flashy as possible, just like his personality.

Shen Fu finished eating first. By the time she got into her car, Jiang Shu was only just strolling toward the entrance to change his shoes.

Assistant Zhou said something to him. The boy responded impatiently, still looking half-asleep. After putting on his shoes, he grabbed his backpack and got into the car, looking lazy and carefree. Perhaps sensing someone watching him, he lifted his eyes toward Shen Fu’s car.

Shen Fu immediately looked away.

October in Jincheng sat between late summer and early autumn. Leaves had begun falling. After a heavy rainstorm, the air was fresh, and droplets of water still clung to the parasol tree leaves outside the school.

Since it was Shen Fu’s first day of school and she didn’t know what time classes started, Assistant Zhou had woken her at the same time he normally woke Jiang Shu. As a result, she ended up leaving a little late.

When she got out of the car, the school gates were already about to close. A stern-looking dean was standing there checking attendance.

Nervous, Shen Fu hugged her backpack and sprinted toward the school.

She slipped through the gates just one second before they closed.

The dean remembered her as the transfer student who had come to complete enrollment procedures a few days ago. Since she was new, he didn’t lecture her and simply let her through.

No sooner had Shen Fu entered than Young Master Jiang arrived right behind her, carrying his backpack and wearing an annoyed expression.

And was immediately stopped.

“Late again! There are only 365 days in a year, yet somehow you’re late 367 days of them!” The dean scolded him in exasperation. Pulling out the tardy record book, he said: “Sign your name!”

Jiang Shu was used to being late. He couldn’t care less. Without even raising his eyelids, he casually took off his backpack.

The dean watched as he turned the backpack upside down and shook it. For a long time, not a single pen fell out.

“…”

Jiang Shu: “…”

Last night, while gaming, he’d taken out a pen to draw a route map. Apparently he’d tossed it aside afterward and forgotten to put it back.

The dean exploded. “You come to school without a pen?!”

Jiang Shu shot back: “Do you have one?”

The dean: “…”

Jiang Shu continued: “If even you, a teacher, don’t have one, why would I?”

“…” The dean was furious but, for a moment, couldn’t think of a comeback.

Jiang Shu glanced toward Shen Fu, who was trying to sneak into the school. “Lend me a pen.”

However, the moment he spoke, Shen Fu stared straight ahead. She walked right past him without even looking at him and continued through the school gates without slowing down.

If he said she didn’t know him at school, then she truly didn’t know him.

Her commitment to the role was incredibly strong.

Young Master Jiang: “…”

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