My girlfriend isn't as cute as me.

"Go back and get some rest. There's vegetable porridge on the table; remember to microwave it for three minutes before eating," Lin Jiu instructed.

"Okay~" Wang Yuting replied sleepily.

Lin Jiu smiled and repeated, "I'm going out."

"Be careful on the road!"

Wang Yuting waved goodbye and watched Lin Jiu leave.

She stretched, yawned, and prepared to go back to her room to sleep.

"...It smells so good."

The aroma of vegetable porridge filled the living room, its enticing scent gradually dispelling any drowsiness.

Wang Yuting naturally turned a corner and walked into the washroom to brush her teeth and wash her face.

She went to the dining table and put away the dust cover on it.

"Eh?"

Wang Yuting couldn't help but smile as she looked at the cute sticky note on the lunchbox.

It was a reassuring, gentle expression, filled with anticipation.

"My Lin Jiu is so cute."

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Listen to Mom

"..."

Lin Jiu felt like he was being watched the whole way.

Lin Jiu wouldn't take the subway or bus if the journey wasn't too far.

During peak school and work hours, it's always packed with people, and Lin Jiu feels like he'll suffocate. Girls constantly crowd around him, making it awkward for him to look up or down. Besides that, kind people politely offer him their seats, leaving Lin Jiu feeling unsure whether to sit or not.

Lin Jiu, please sit down!

As for taking a taxi to school... do you have a mine or do you take taxis every day?

Although Lin Jiu wasn't very familiar with the terrain of Mingyuexuan residential area, map software is very advanced nowadays. He could simply locate his starting point and set his destination. The reason map software doesn't provide every single detail is for urban security reasons, to prevent it from falling into the hands of malicious individuals.

For example, a certain unscrupulous ride-hailing company has serious problems with illegally collecting personal information, such as collecting and recording citizens' personal information and city map information without authorization, and publicly publishing information on government officials' travel time and routes.

This is utterly despicable, shameful, and extremely malicious, endangering information security!

I was so angry at the traitorous dog that I fainted.

Lin Jiu turned his head and saw two boys secretly looking at him.

When the two boys saw Lin Jiu looking over, their faces turned slightly red. They pretended to be nonchalant and chatted awkwardly.

It wasn't just them; even the aunties and uncles passing by looked at Lin Jiu in surprise. There were even one or two children who ran over and circled around Lin Jiu. Even the office workers buying bread and milk at the newsstand couldn't help but take a second look at Lin Jiu.

Lin Jiu subconsciously checked her school uniform and trousers; they were clean and tidy, with no apparent problems. The backpack zipper was zipped up, there was no dirt under her shoes, and the loose trousers were tied up tightly to prevent them from falling down.

Because of Lin Jiu's "poor kid" mentality, he subconsciously buys clothes a size too big, thinking that if he grows taller in the future, he can still wear them and save money on buying them again. As a result, he hasn't grown any taller in the past few years, and the school uniform pants he bought in his first year of high school still feel loose after wearing them for so long.

This puzzled Lin Jiu. He hadn't gone out in women's clothing today, so what was there to watch?

As Lin Jiu's distance from the school gradually decreased, more and more attention was drawn to him.

This made Lin Jiu, who was used to being alone and quiet, feel extremely tired, and he sighed helplessly.

Lin Jiu wasn't some naive fool; on the contrary, he was able to use his keen observation skills to tell if someone was lying and roughly guess their true intentions. Of course, he couldn't handle anything more complicated.

In terms of understanding people's minds, Lin Jiu isn't a superhuman, nor can he hear what others are thinking. He relies more on observation, comparison, and prediction to identify the most likely options to occur, and then devise a response.

Lin Jiu glanced around, able to discern different emotions from the people's gazes. Most were curious, some had filthy eyes, some showed admiration, and a small minority were filled with jealousy.

Fortunately, not everyone was looking at him with negative feelings, but things that are not used to are still not used to.

Was my mother also looked at like this?

Lin Jiu remembered how his mother taught him when he was a child how to get used to other people's gaze and respond politely to it.

"Look back at those who are truly good to you, and remember their faces. If you have the chance to meet them again in the future, remember to say hello. As for those who just pass by, it's okay, just smile and nod. Maybe you won't see them again in the future, but since you had the chance to meet them once, it's a good thing."

"As for those who look at you with ill intentions, vulgarity, and greed, you must learn to just laugh it off. If you keep thinking about those who hate you, you won't have time to pay attention to those who like you. You need to understand why you sing. Didn't you say that you sing because your mother likes to listen to you? Then you must remember that feeling."

Lin Jiu recalled her mother's words.

"Little friend, do you have many questions? Why are others reading comics while I'm learning to draw and talking to the piano? Why are others playing games while I'm leaning against the wall reciting my ABCs...?"

Oh, I misspoke. It means to listen to your mother.

Lin Jiu's lips curled up slightly as he tried to accept his own radiant self, bathed in the sunlight.

Although he feels a bit of stomach pain now, he has decided to make a real change.

Lin Jiu felt more confident walking when she thought of Wang Yuting.

Upon arriving at the teaching building, the view became even clearer.

The corridor echoed with comments like, "Who's that?" "So cute!" "Did our school have someone like that before? A transfer student?" "Holy crap, my wife!"

Lin Jiu also saw several people who looked like his classmates, but coincidentally, he couldn't recognize them either.

To be honest, Lin Jiu has never been able to remember the names and faces of his classmates. Whenever he tries to memorize them, the faces of his junior high school classmates always pop up on his memory shelf, extremely annoying faces.

They label people without thinking, and then slander, exclude, and verbally abuse them without thinking.

If Lin Jiu learned anything during his three years of junior high school, it was how to protect himself.

This is why Lin Jiu never interacted with others in high school.

An injured stray cat will always be wary of anyone who tries to approach it.

"You should learn to laugh off those who look at you with ill intentions."

Lin Jiu muttered to himself.

He shook his head. How easy is that?

However, he is willing to give it a try.

"Have you done your homework? Let me copy it!"

"Five yuan per time."

Why don't you just rob it?

"What a joke, robbing can't make money as fast as this... Ah."

"What's wrong? The teacher's here? It's only this late... ah."

The boys who had been chatting animatedly at the back door of the classroom, eager to copy homework, froze when they saw Lin Jiu. Their minds seemed to short-circuit, and they momentarily lost their ability to speak. Their expressions were like those of students from another class who had wandered into the wrong classroom—a mixture of curiosity, confusion, and anticipation.

Her shoulder-length, jet-black hair cascaded down her shoulders, concealing a delicate, doll-like face beneath its neatly combed strands. Her bright eyes held an indomitable will. She possessed a small, straight nose, thin, cherry-red lips, and skin as smooth and lustrous as jade.

The classroom suddenly became incredibly quiet, as if the homeroom teacher had suddenly walked into the classroom through the back door without a word during a self-study period, staring at the students who were making the most noise.

Everyone was observing Lin Jiu, wondering who she was.

Of course, some people recognized him at a glance, such as class monitor Ning Yueyao.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, a smile playing on her lips, her eyes revealing admiration.

Before anyone else could guess the result, Lin Jiu had already returned to his seat and told everyone the answer.

"Ohhhhhhhh!!!"

The whole class erupted in cheers.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Oh no, I've become a substitute!

"Is that Lin Jiu?"

"Really? That gloomy guy?"

"No way, they've already come back from Thailand these past few days?"

The whispers among his classmates reached Lin Jiu's ears, but he didn't care.

He himself felt a little confused. He'd just tidied his hair a bit, why were these people getting so worked up? Who wouldn't remember what a classmate looked like after almost three years? —It was me! Never mind then!

Lin Jiu couldn't remember what her companions and classmates looked like, and once she thought about it, it made sense.

In reality, Lin Jiu had been quietly erasing his presence ever since he entered high school. He never interacted with anyone, not even in PE class, and always kept his long hair covering his eyes, giving him a gloomy and somewhat self-destructive air. Getting close to him would create a sense of oppressive atmosphere, making it hard to breathe.

Lin Jiu's seat was always empty at parent-teacher conferences, which led to some rumors. As a result, no one in the class ever approached him, and he was never invited to class gatherings, karaoke, movies, or meals.

Lin Jiu was happy with this peace and quiet; he didn't have that much free time, nor did he have extra money to spend on entertainment. Let alone weekends off, ever since he turned seventeen, he'd been working part-time at a convenience store after school every day. The only time he'd taken a day off… was because of his grandmother.

Lin Jiu was like a piece of uncut jade. The setbacks and hardships he endured covered him with a hard shell, forcing him to conceal his brilliance even when he met Wang Yuting.

"If there is a piece of uncut jade here, even if it is worth ten thousand yi, it must be carved by a jade craftsman."

Although an uncarved jade is worth ten thousand taels of gold, it must be properly carved by a jade craftsman to reveal its true value.

Lin Jiu is now like a beautifully carved piece of jade. His appearance didn't change overnight; he simply rediscovered himself.

"I regret it."

Huang Minmin looked at Lin Jiu, then glanced at her best friend with a wistful look.

"If I had made a move against him two years ago, do you think I would be in this situation now...?"

"No, don't think about it."

Ning Yueyao ruthlessly shattered her friend's illusions, saying bluntly, "Didn't you say before that you liked more mature men? How come you've changed your mind now?"

“I think Lin is very mature now, look at her.” Huang Minmin pointed in Lin Jiu’s direction.

Lin Jiu was now surrounded by several girls. The girls even ruthlessly kicked the male classmate sitting behind Lin Jiu out of his seat, their eyes revealing their undisguised interest.

"Lin Jiu!"

"……What's wrong?"

Lin Jiu turned to look at them. It wasn't that he was bad at dealing with the opposite sex; after all, in Lin Jiu's eyes, whether these people were male or female, it didn't matter... they were all dispensable to him. If he encountered them while working at the convenience store, perhaps he would be more interested, so his expression was very calm.

"Wow! It really is Lin Jiu! You scared me! I thought it was your older or younger sister!"