Living Only For Myself: Make Those Who Hate Me Regret It-Chapter 146: Just a Perfectly Ordinary Friend.

Chapter 146: Chapter 146: Just a Perfectly Ordinary Friend.

"Whatever you say. I’ll send it back where it belongs." Shen Chen, who usually had a devil-may-care attitude and a half-smile for everyone, was completely expressionless now.

He pointed to the watch box in his hand and said, "I thought that since our first meeting probably didn’t leave you with a great impression of me, I’d give you a gift to smooth things over. But I didn’t expect you to genuinely despise me."

At the mention of their first meeting, Shen Chen’s expression turned a little unnatural. He hadn’t expected that while they were having fun, Zhou Mochen would suddenly go out and bring back a young girl.

As a result, he’d left a scar on her young, impressionable mind. He had originally planned to give Xu Su a gift so she wouldn’t be so confrontational with him next time. After all, judging by the way Zhou Mochen was acting, he clearly wasn’t going to let her go anytime soon.

But he never thought she’d be so genuinely disgusted by him. A flicker of temper rose in Shen Chen as well.

Seeing his reaction, Xu Su began to wonder if she had gone too far.

After all, the guy had come all this way to give her a gift, and she’d pointed him toward the trash can...

Xu Su pursed her lips, suppressed her own irritation, and explained in a placating tone, "I’m a student. Your gift is too expensive for me to wear. Shen Chen, you can give this watch to your girlfriend. Don’t let it go to waste."

It wasn’t that Xu Su felt bad for his wallet. It was mainly that if Shen Chen actually threw a brand-new, six-figure watch in the trash at the school gate, wouldn’t she—the student who was seen with him—become the talk of the entire school?

Shen Chen thought for a moment and reluctantly accepted her reasoning. He said, "Alright, then I’ll bring you a more understated watch tonight. What time does your evening self-study session end? I’ll call you, and you can come out and get it."

"...?" Xu Su was baffled by his insistence on giving her a watch. She raised her wrist, pulling up the elastic cuff of her school uniform jacket to reveal the watch face of the one Xi Zirong had given her. "Look, I have a watch. You really don’t need to buy me another one."

Unexpectedly, the guy’s train of thought seemed to be on a different track entirely. He glanced at the style of the watch on Xu Su’s wrist and nodded. "So you like this type? Got it. I’ll pick out a good one for you. You can never have too many watches. You can wear a different one every day if you want."

Xu Su: "..."

’If I didn’t know exactly what kind of person Shen Chen was, I’d almost suspect he had a crush on me.’

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Shen Chen waved his hand, his tone surprisingly casual, as if they were old friends. "You should head inside. I’ll call you to come get it tonight. I have to go back to Beijing tomorrow."

As Xu Su walked back to her classroom, the more she thought about it, the more ridiculous the situation seemed. It wasn’t that strange for Shen Chen to give her a gift, but his patient insistence on doing so was what felt completely absurd.

From what she knew of him, he probably wouldn’t even show this much patience with a brand-new girlfriend.

After mulling it over, Xu Su took out her phone and dialed Zhou Mochen’s number. No matter what, she wanted absolutely nothing to do with any ambiguous entanglements involving Shen Chen.

On the other end of the line, Zhou Mochen was in a meeting with a group of people. The atmosphere was incredibly tense. His first reaction to seeing Xu Su’s call was surprise, which was immediately followed by his expression softening.

He then raised a hand to signal for the meeting to pause, picked up his phone, and stepped out of the conference room to answer the call.

"Susu." Zhou Mochen’s voice was exceptionally pleasant over the phone, and he sounded a little surprised. "What made you decide to call me? Did something happen?"

Xu Su hadn’t left the school since returning on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. They hadn’t seen each other in over two months.

The evening self-study session was about to start, so Xu Su was in a hurry. She didn’t hesitate and asked him directly, "Shen Chen just came to my school gate to find me. He brought a watch and said it was a birthday present for me. Do you know about this?"

Zhou Mochen was taken aback for a second, then he chuckled. "Well, it seems the new year has made him more sensible. He actually knows to consider my feelings now."

Zhou Mochen’s voice was impossibly gentle. "Whatever Shen Chen gives you, just accept it. I know about this; he told me."

He couldn’t help but praise her again. "Susu, you did very well. Keep doing this in the future. No matter who gives you a gift, report it to me first."

It took Xu Su a long moment to process what he meant. Look at how he’d misunderstood the situation!

’He thinks I was afraid he’d get the wrong idea, so I called him specifically to report it?’

Xu Su quickly clarified, "Don’t you get the wrong idea. I’m not reporting to you. I just think it’s weird that he’s suddenly giving me a gift."

"It’s not weird," Zhou Mochen said with a laugh, his voice so gentle that even Huang Chao, standing a short distance away, couldn’t help but glance over. He continued, "You’re my person. It’s not strange for others to be eager to please you."

"..." ’He’s taking advantage of the fact that I don’t know Shen Chen’s true status yet.’ Shen Chen was the heir to the Shen family, for crying out loud. Why would he ever need to curry favor with her?

Of course, it would be a different story if she married Zhou Mochen and became Mrs. Zhou. But things were nowhere near that point. Why would the great Mr. Shen need to ingratiate himself with her?

’Unless... Shen Chen is certain that I will be the future Mrs. Zhou...’

A sense of sudden enlightenment washed over Xu Su. She could finally understand Shen Chen’s series of actions.

She relaxed a little. As long as Shen Chen didn’t have any other ideas about her, it was fine.

Don’t think Xu Su was being narcissistic. It was just that seeing how persistent Shen Chen was about the gift, she was genuinely afraid this playboy might have his sights set on her.

She couldn’t even shake off Zhou Mochen as it was. Someone like Shen Chen wasn’t even on her radar.

Having figured it out, Xu Su couldn’t be bothered to chat with Zhou Mochen any longer and hung up the phone.

She walked quickly back to the classroom. The evening self-study session was about to begin.

Changing seats for evening self-study had become the norm since last semester. Back in the classroom, Xu Su sat in Fu Jun’s seat as usual.

As she was wondering when Teacher Wu would rearrange the seating again—being deskmates with Wu Qianqian was really awkward now—a hand grabbed hers as it rested on the desk.

A moment ago, Xu Su had been walking on the track with Xi Zirong to aid their digestion. But then she’d taken a call, said she had to step out for something, and only returned just before class.

Xi Zirong had clearly heard the other students in class talking about her meeting with Shen Chen at the school gate.

Shen Chen was a year younger than Zhou Mochen, had a handsome face, and drove an eye-catching car. It wasn’t hard to imagine what the students were whispering about.

However, Xi Zirong’s expression was unreadable. He simply tightened his grip on Xu Su’s hand and asked in a low voice, "Susu, who was that person looking for you at the school gate?"

His voice was as gentle as ever, sending a pleasant tingle through her ear. Xu Su, finding it a bit much, tilted her head away slightly.

She didn’t know how to explain Shen Chen’s identity, so she paused for a moment before replying, "Just a regular friend, nothing more."

"Mm," Xi Zirong acknowledged, then pressed, "What did he want with you?"

"Sigh." Xu Su couldn’t help but sigh. "Xi Zirong, why do you have to ask about everything in such detail? It’s like you’re interrogating a criminal."

Xu Su had been feeling this way for a while. She was discovering that the shy, obedient boy he was before they started dating had been an illusion.

The longer they dated, the more controlling Xi Zirong became.