The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

The next day was Saturday, and Xu Xi arrived at Wen Yao's house early in the morning.

They had discussed it last night and decided to take Zhao Lin out to buy some clothes today.

After all, Wen Yao's clothes were visibly ill-fitting on Zhao Lin, especially the middle part, which looked too uncomfortable.

Needless to say, Xu Xi's is even more outstanding.

The three of them arrived at Li Na's clothing store. Perhaps because of the cold weather, there were noticeably fewer customers in the store than last time.

The large store felt rather deserted.

Li Na wasn't in the store today; another salesperson served them.

Xu Xi and Wen Yao picked out two sets of winter clothes and a thick set of pajamas for Zhao Lin.

Since it's winter, we don't need to change clothes as frequently as in summer. Having two sets to alternate is enough.

Just as Zhao Lin was about to take out a piece of jewelry to offset the cost of her clothes, the sales clerk stopped her.

"Miss, our store manager has instructed that Xu Xi's friends don't need to pay when they come to buy clothes, so please keep this."

"Friend...?"

Zhao Lin lowered her head and murmured softly.

"Oh! Please tell Sister Na for me to thank her."

Xu Xi blushed and said to the sales clerk.

I owe Sister Na another favor.

She muttered to herself.

The salesperson smiled and nodded.

After leaving the clothing store, Wen Yao suggested that they go buy some groceries to prepare for lunch.

So the three of them went to the nearby farmers' market.

Xu Xi was in charge of picking out the vegetables and bargaining, while Wen Yao paid the bill.

As for Zhao Lin, she silently followed behind the two, carrying the groceries they had bought.

"Xi Bao, can you buy a fish? I want to eat fish."

Wen Yao tugged at Xu Xi's arm and shook it, her expectant eyes sparkling.

"Huh? Fish... I don't know how to cook it."

Xu Xi blinked, looking somewhat hesitant.

Since she started living with her brother, fish has never appeared on the dinner table.

Xu Xi felt that fish was too expensive; one pound of fish could buy several pounds of meat from other animals, which was not worth it at all.

Xu Nian felt that the fish was too fishy, ​​difficult to prepare, and required picking out bones when eating, which was very troublesome.

Naturally, Xu Xi had no idea how to cook fish.

"Oh, okay then~"

Wen Yao was somewhat disappointed.

"I will do it."

Zhao Lin, who had been silently following behind them, finally spoke up.

Wen Yao stopped and looked at Zhao Lin with some confusion.

Her eyes were filled with distrust.

A rich family's young lady, who never lifts a finger, how could she possibly cook, especially fish that even Xu Xi couldn't cook?

Faced with Wen Yao's doubtful gaze, Zhao Lin nodded firmly.

Wen Yao pouted and picked out a sea bass from the fish stall.

"Little girl, shall I kill the fish for you?"

The stall owner asked Wen Yao.

Wen Yao was about to say yes when Zhao Lin refused first.

"No."

She looked at Zhao Lin with a puzzled expression, knowing that killing fish was a tiring, dirty, and difficult job.

Asking the fishmonger to clean the fish can save you a lot of time.

Zhao Lin shook her head: "Fresh fish taste better. The longer it dies, the worse it will taste."

"Alright then."

After receiving the fish from the stall owner, the group returned to Wen Yao's house together.

As soon as they got home, Xu Xi and Zhao Lin went into the kitchen to start preparing lunch.

Zhao Lin, fully equipped with an apron, pressed the lively fish onto the cutting board.

She took a few deep breaths, then raised the back of the knife and slammed it hard against the fish's head.

Soon after, the bass fainted.

Then, she made a small incision below the fish's gills, and dark red blood slowly flowed out.

After the blood had been drained, she began to carefully scrape off the fish scales.

A few fish scales landed on her face and hair, but she just frowned and didn't stop what she was doing.

"I never expected you would do such dirty work."

Wen Yao looked at Zhao Lin's skillful fish-killing movements and couldn't help but admire her more.

While cooked fish is delicious, raw fish can be quite repulsive.

That horribly foul odor was unbearable just to smell.

Once the fish scales and blood scraped off get on your body, the smell will linger for days if you don't wash them off properly.

Even she wouldn't do the job, but this former young lady did it so skillfully.

Zhao Lin wiped the fish scales from the corner of her eye.

"Song Jiayi used to love eating fish, and I often cooked it for her, so I got used to it."

"Why not let the maid do it?"

"Their cooking isn't as good as mine."

Zhao Lin said with a touch of pride.

Wen Yao clicked her tongue.

"Do you cook whatever Song Jiayi likes to eat?"

Zhao Lin nodded.

Wen Yao rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I really don't understand you. You were such a good catch before, you could have gotten anyone else by now. Why are you so determined to pursue Song Jiayi?"

"Yes, he's good at academics, but how low is his emotional intelligence? He's never given you a kind look."

"I neither like nor reject you, I've been stringing you along for a year, and you still cling to me like a leech, how pathetic is that?"

Wen Yao's words were piercing, showing no mercy to Zhao Lin whatsoever.

That's true. Given Zhao Lin's current situation, she has no face left to save.

Zhao Lin laughed self-deprecatingly.

"I was immature before, but I've let it go now."

"Yaoyao, help me chop the vegetables."

Xu Xi was stir-frying pork tenderloin in a pot when she saw Zhao Lin getting increasingly depressed after being scolded by Wen Yao. So she made an excuse to call Wen Yao for help.

"understood."

Zhao Lin placed the prepared fish on a plate, sprinkled it with soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, sugar, and various seasonings, put it in a steamer, and turned on the gas.

The water droplets at the bottom of the pot gradually boiled, heating the fish and eventually adhering to the lid, forming a white mist.

Gazing at the white mist, Zhao Lin's eyes began to glaze over.

three years ago.

Zhao Lin, who is still in junior high school at a private school, is leading a group of her underlings in a brawl with another group of thugs.

"Sister Lin, the cops are here!"

"Hold!"

Zhao Lin gritted her teeth and pointed at the opposing leader with the baseball bat in her hand.

"Damn it, do you dare come back here and fight again at this time tomorrow?"

"Hey, if you're chickening out, just say so. Don't make excuses."

The leader of the thugs spat on the ground and looked at Zhao Lin mockingly.

"I'm talking to you, in such a hurry to go home and pay respects at your deceased mother's grave, hahahahaha..."

"mine!"

Zhao Lin flung the baseball bat in her hand and charged at him like a mad dog that had lost its mind.

His henchmen swarmed forward, and the two sides clashed again.

Zhao Lin was, after all, a girl, and was no match for this tall thug.

She was quickly put on the defensive, her body covered in cuts and bruises.

Her underlings only made a few token attacks, knowing they were no match for the other side, and retreated further and further as they fought.

Just then, a police siren sounded.