Shocking! The Broke Campus Heartthrob Is My Child’s Father - Chapter 77
Jiang Ruoqiao had signed up Lu Siyan for a trial roller-skating class.
That evening, she was supposed to take him to the lesson—and as Lu Yicheng happened to be free, all three went together. Nowadays, extracurricular classes were everywhere, as if any child without a special talent was somehow lacking. Jiang Ruoqiao considered herself a mature person—pushing herself was one thing, but pushing children? Unacceptable… yet she’d still bought the trial class…
Jiang Ruoqiao said with exasperation, “You wouldn’t believe it. Zhang Yuchen’s mom is so persuasive that before I could even react, my fingers had already placed the order.”
Zhang Yuchen’s mother was a contact on her secondary WeChat account.
Truly a remarkable talent.
In Jiang Ruoqiao’s view, Zhang Yuchen’s mom should go into sales—she would undoubtedly excel. After several compliments from Jiang Ruoqiao, Zhang Yuchen’s mom had already decided to start looking for a sales position after Golden Week!
Lu Yicheng, rarely seeing her with such an expression, laughed—then, catching her eye, hastily suppressed his smile. “Zhang Yuchen’s mom—short hair, right?”
Jiang Ruoqiao nodded.
“I’ve bumped into her twice when picking up Siyan,” Lu Yicheng said. “She really does know how to work a room.”
“Extremely good at it,” Jiang Ruoqiao agreed. “But she’s quite nice too—always answers my questions patiently. Like with this skating class: after I bought it, she told me what to watch out for and even called specially to explain. Such an enthusiastic person.”
If you want to know what “social MVP syndrome” looks like, just look at Zhang Yuchen’s mom in action.
She’d surely become a sales champion.
At the skating center, Jiang Ruoqiao had added the coach on WeChat to schedule a time. He welcomed them warmly. Several children were already warming up in the rink; Siyan was visibly excited. The lesson lasted one hour. The coach helped him suit up—helmet, skates, and protective pads for his knees and elbows.
Parents only needed to watch from the sidelines.
Siyan was very focused during class. The coach first had him practice lifting his feet and walking on the carpet.
When the class ended, he still wanted more.
Clearly, he loved roller skating. Jiang Ruoqiao had made peace with it—this wasn’t academic tutoring. As long as Siyan enjoyed it, it wasn’t about “competing”!
By the time the three emerged from the center, darkness had completely fallen.
With Golden Week approaching, national flags could be seen everywhere.
Siyan also had strong social skills and was already playing with other children in the plaza. Both Lu Yicheng and Jiang Ruoqiao privately hoped he would spend more time with peers his age. Not in a hurry to return home, they found a place to sit and watched him playing enthusiastically with his new friends.
After sitting down, Lu Yicheng said, “I’ll go buy Siyan a bottle of water.”
They had left in a hurry, and Siyan had finished all the water they brought.
Jiang Ruoqiao nodded.
When Lu Yicheng returned, he carried not only two bottles of mineral water but also an ice-cream cone.
It looked just like the ones from the Italian handmade gelato shop where she had taken Siyan before.
The ice cream was shaped like a flower, and from its pale color, appeared to be vanilla flavored.
Jiang Ruoqiao looked at him.
Lu Yicheng handed the cone to her.
Jiang Ruoqiao: “? You bought this for me?”
He nodded. “I originally meant to get it for Siyan, but seeing how happily he’s playing, I thought you might enjoy it instead.”
Though the weather wasn’t particularly hot anymore, ice cream would still melt if held too long, so he had only bought one.
She accepted it. “Thank you.”
Of course, she found it unusual. In this neighborhood, such an ice cream shop certainly wouldn’t be cheaper than the one near A University—at least thirty yuan or more.
A feeling arose: “I’m not eating ice cream, I’m consuming Lu Yicheng’s blood and sweat.”
She hesitated before taking a bite. Lu Yicheng sat beside her and, noticing her hesitation, said, “Don’t worry, I didn’t pay full price.”
Jiang Ruoqiao looked at him. “What?”
Lu Yicheng took out his phone and showed his social media feed. “I saw they were having a promotion at this new store—share their post and gather thirty-eight likes, and you get half off a cone.”
She glanced—and unexpectedly saw the comments:
「? Brother Lu, has your account been hacked?」
「How fresh—first time seeing Boss Lu post something like this hahahaha」
「Just guessing: who is Boss Lu buying ice cream for? Look at that store name, so flirty—”Sweeter Than First Love” hahaha」
「No need to guess—definitely for Jiang Ruoqiao (Boss Lu, short on cash? Just say so—with our life-or-death friendship, we’ll crowdfund your goddess pursuit!)」
Jiang Ruoqiao: “…”
Lu Yicheng suddenly realized there were comments and hurriedly put his phone away, visibly uncomfortable. “It wasn’t that expensive—less than twenty.”
That price was quite reasonable.
In truth, Lu Yicheng hadn’t wanted to share a post just to buy an ice cream cone, but when he saw the price, he thought about how she seemed to mind these things. Maybe sharing a post would make it better?
Jiang Ruoqiao took a bite. “It’s delicious.”
Lu Yicheng, you’re really wonderful.
She hadn’t felt that embarrassed before, but now her embarrassment level was visibly rising in a straight line.
Lu Yicheng: “Next time I won’t share posts to collect likes.”
Jiang Ruoqiao felt her humor threshold had really dropped—hearing his words, she somehow detected a note of wounded pride and laughed out loud. “No, it’s fine.”
“Just don’t make me like your post,” she added after a moment. “And don’t make me ‘slash the price’ for you—that’s enough.”
Does anyone understand that feeling?
Lu Yicheng clearly got the reference. “I won’t, don’t worry.”
Today was probably the perfect counter-example to his overthinking and believing he had handled things well.
The two chatted casually—this was their relationship now, certainly not close, yet able to discuss everyday matters. Thinking about what happened that afternoon, he spoke in a calm, quiet voice, “Remember when I mentioned that my household registration only had my name?”
Jiang Ruoqiao, still savoring her sweet ice cream, turned to look at him.
He wore a gray T-shirt today, with his unchanging black casual pants.
His features were actually quite striking, but the gentle, reserved aura around him softened what would otherwise be sharp lines.
Perhaps being too gentle sometimes meant losing a bit of conventional handsomeness. Yet this was also a strength—whoever saw him for the first time would invariably have a good impression.
“My parents died when I was very young. All these years, my grandmother raised me,” Lu Yicheng said. “She had a hard life—widowed early, she never remarried for the sake of her son and daughter. She worked tirelessly. When her son married and her daughter was wed, she finally had some good days, until her son and daughter-in-law passed away too. Even now, I feel I’ve been a burden to her. There wasn’t much I could do except study, study, and study more—to carve out a path that would let her enjoy her golden years.”
“For ordinary people like me, education is the best way out. The better I studied, the more I could ease her burden—first through tuition waivers, then monthly stipends, and scholarships for good grades.” He gave a self-deprecating smile. “I won’t hide it from you—I didn’t study because I loved it, but to make money now and in the future.”
Jiang Ruoqiao listened quietly.
On this matter, she deeply resonated with him. Indeed, for people like them, the surest path forward was through education.
“Life is full of regrets,” he continued. “Like me—even now I hate myself for not noticing her illness sooner. By the time I found out, it was already terminal. I simply wasn’t attentive enough. For a while, nothing seemed to matter—no matter how much money I earned or what house I bought, she would never see it.” He clasped his hands together, looking deeply at Siyan playing in the square. “Sometimes I think, if Siyan had come earlier, she would have been so happy. In her final days,” his voice became difficult and sad, “she was terribly worried about me…”
Jiang Ruoqiao felt an unexpected pang of sadness.
Her situation mirrored his so closely. She grew up with her grandparents; he with his grandmother.
But she had been luckier—her grandparents were still alive.
“Birth, aging, illness, death are life’s constants,” Lu Yicheng said. “We can only try to have fewer regrets and give them more happiness. We’re all ordinary people, powerless before the cycle of life.”
Jiang Ruoqiao was silent for a few seconds, following his gaze toward Siyan playing wildly in the plaza.
Children at that age have boundless energy—unfazed by heat or cold, playing until covered in sweat without even noticing.
Yet cautious too.. occasionally peering in their direction, waving vigorously, then rushing back to his friends.
“In my plan, I hadn’t intended to tell them about this for another two years,” Jiang Ruoqiao admitted. “I wished that only you and I knew in the whole world—not telling my grandparents or close friends. Saying I was afraid they wouldn’t accept it seems like I was deceiving myself. In truth, I was worried about disrupting my life, trying to maintain the façade as much as possible.”
Lu Yicheng smiled.
Perhaps now, in the entire world, only they could truly understand each other.
“Thinking about it now, my grandparents might be shocked at first—just like we were initially. But I believe they’ll come to love Siyan. Who wouldn’t?” Jiang Ruoqiao looked wistful. “I’m terrified to imagine what Siyan mentioned about that future… that they might never have met him. I can’t bear to think about it, cannot accept it—for that version of me, it would be a tremendous regret.”
Her expression gradually hardened with determination. “I’ve decided: after they arrive, I’ll let them interact with Siyan first, then tell them the truth—that he’s my child.”
“Thank you,” she said.
Lu Yicheng smiled gently. “It’s what I should do.”
He simply didn’t want her to carry the same regrets that he did.