Although he kept his distance from Huang Panpan, he didn't want her to get hurt by those hooligans. Her outfit did indeed make her prone to danger. After all, they had entanglements that spanned over a decade in a previous life. Even if he hadn't accepted her, there was still some affection left.

"Come with me!"

Su Zelin coldly tossed out a sentence.

Huang Panpan cheerfully followed along and even took the opportunity to hook her arm around Su Zelin's, asking gleefully, "Senior, where are we going? Are we getting a room?"

"Get your head out of the clouds, I'm taking you home!"

Su Zelin tried to pull away but couldn't. Huang Panpan held on tightly, and he didn't dare use too much force.

"Oh, but I don't want to go home so soon. How about you accompany me for a walk, Senior?"

"I don't have that kind of interest!"

"Then I'd rather go back and surf the net!"

"I'll treat you to a drink, and after that, you go home!"

Su Zelin ultimately relented.

Besides, he needed to educate Huang Panpan a bit.

"Okay, Senior!"

Not wanting to push her luck, Huang Panpan refrained from overstepping, fearing she might actually offend Su Zelin and cause him to walk away.

They ended up at a nearby stand selling iced drinks and ordered two cups of mung bean ice.

Before the ice drinks were served, Huang Panpan swiftly took out a small notebook and a pen.

"July 11th, clear sky. Tonight, I had my first date with Senior. He treated me to ice drinks. This is a major step forward in our relationship. It seems I'll soon be his official girlfriend!"

Are you Doraemon?

Where did that notebook even come from?

Su Zelin was puzzled.

Huang Panpan's entire gothic outfit had no pockets; where could the notebook be hidden?

Su Zelin was speechless at how outlandish Huang Panpan's diary was.

In her diary, not only himself, even her parents were not spared, becoming "future parents-in-law."

Let her write whatever, just see it as her daydreaming!

Once Huang Panpan finished writing her diary, Su Zelin cleared his throat and said, "Haven't I told you before? Don't go to internet cafes alone at night. Those places are full of sketchy stuff. Especially dressed like this, it easily invites trouble, understood?"

He tried to make his tone more amicable and persuasive.

"Senior, don't worry, I was just online at home using a phone line earlier!"

Maybe sensing Su Zelin's concern, Huang Panpan was quite happy.

Su Zelin nodded.

In the year 2000, it was indeed possible to go online at home, but it wasn't through household broadband. Instead, it involved dialing into a special number of an ISP via a phone line's analog signal.

This way of going online was slow to the extreme, and modems at the time were only 56Kbps, with a theoretical speed of 7KB/S.

Not only was it slow, but it was also expensive.

The cost was in two parts: internet fee + phone bill.

The phone bill was uniformly charged by the phone company, costing around 3 cents per minute, or $1.80 per hour.

The internet fee was charged by different ISPs, with varying prices. For instance, using a 263 internet card cost about $3 per hour.

Combined, the phone bill and internet fee came to $5 per hour.

The experience was poor, so people generally opted to go to internet cafes.

Also, making phone calls and going online were mutually exclusive: when using a landline to make calls, you couldn't dial in to go online, and vice versa.

Yes, it was that frustrating!

Only those with money, valuing convenience, would use a phone line at home to go online.

Huang Panpan's parents spoiled her quite a bit, fulfilling almost all her material desires and worrying she'd run around aimlessly during breaks, so buying a computer for her to go online via a phone line at home was relatively normal.

"As for this outfit, I only changed into what I'm wearing now after coming to find you. There's a saying that goes, 'A woman dresses up for her admirer.' Senior, do I look pretty?"

Huang Panpan puffed out her chest. She was confident in her looks, and there were plenty of admirers at school, but she couldn't care less.

"It's just okay. You look like a witch or something, like you'd stick pins in a voodoo doll of me!"

Su Zelin dismissed it.

Although this gothic style was quite striking and suited Huang Panpan well, he wouldn't admit it.

"No way, Senior, no matter what happens, I would never harm you, I swear!"

Huang Panpan said seriously.

This was indeed true, and Su Zelin believed it.

Before being reborn, she'd been entangled with him for over a decade. Though she was annoying at times, she never really did anything to hurt him, except for that one time when she slipped something in his drink, which was a bit over the top.

"In any case, you shouldn't wear this outfit. It's inappropriate!"

Su Zelin advised earnestly.

"Senior, don't you like it? Fine, I'll change out of it and throw it away when I get home!"

"Sweat, that's really not necessary!"

"It's okay, it's just a few hundred bucks, not worth much."

Su Zelin: "..."

Dang, this little rich girl can put on more airs than I can. How am I supposed to keep up!

As they drank their ice drinks, Huang Panpan took forever to finish. Su Zelin urged her multiple times before she finally did.

Then, Su Zelin got on his bike and took her home.

It was already past ten o'clock; most shops on the street were closed, and there weren't many pedestrians about.

Although public safety had improved since the 90s, there were still occasionally some hooligans roaming the streets late at night. Su Zelin wasn't comfortable letting such a conspicuously dressed girl go home alone.

Throughout the ride, Huang Panpan seemed to be in high spirits, humming songs and fluttering like a lark that just flew out of the valley.

Jianglan City wasn't large; riding a Jialing motorcycle around the city center didn't take long. Huang Panpan's home was located near the bustling commercial district, and it took just under ten minutes to reach their destination.

Lijing District, the city's first villa community, is also a gathering place for the wealthy.

Even in the year 2000, the villas here cost at least over six hundred thousand, when real estate had not yet boomed, this price could almost buy three well-located residential buildings.

In later years, this community became the only villa district in the center of Jianglan City, with second-hand villas priced astronomically.

Su Zelin's family is considered wealthy, but there is still a significant gap compared to a rich family like Huang Panpan's.

The bicycle stopped at the entrance of the community, it was already very safe here.

Huang Panpan reluctantly got off the bike, "Senior, I had a great time tonight, I'll visit you another day!"

"I'm busy, don't come looking for me!"

Su Zelin refused without hesitation.

"Okay, senior, let's just happily agree on that."

Huang Panpan said to herself nonetheless.

Su Zelin made up his mind, the next time he goes online on QQ, he must hide his status, he must not let this girl find him, otherwise, she'd run to the internet cafe again.

There aren't many internet cafes in Jianglan, all clustered in the business district downtown, if she finds out he's online, it would be very easy to locate him.

"You better head in, I'm leaving!"

Su Zelin rode away swiftly on his bike.

While Huang Panpan watched him disappear into the distance before bouncing her way into the community.

Soon she reached home, a three-story detached villa, covering an area of over 150 square meters, one of the best in the rich-filled Lijing District, and of course, the most expensive, nearly a million—it was a mansion in this era.

The villa was luxuriously decorated, like a palace, with a large crystal chandelier hanging on the first floor, and branded tiles, furniture, and appliances.

"Panpan, you're back!"

On the second-floor lobby, a graceful lady in a silk nightgown, her lingering charm intact, finally let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Huang Panpan on her anxious face.

Mu Panpan's mother, Li Juan.

Upon seeing her mother, the once joyous Panpan suddenly pulled a long face.

It seemed the mother-daughter relationship wasn't very good.

Not just with her mother, her relationship with her father was also indifferent.

When Huang Panpan was still young, the couple started their business, constantly on the move, leaving their daughter to be cared for by her grandmother.

Lacking parental companionship, the person she felt closest to was her grandmother.

One night when she was four, her grandmother suddenly passed away due to a stroke, her parents were not home that night, and the young Panpan helplessly kept vigil over her grandmother's cold body until morning, dazedly walking out to tell the neighbors that her grandmother wouldn't wake up no matter how she called her.

It was only then that the neighbors hurriedly contacted Panpan's parents, who rushed back home.

Losing her beloved grandmother left an indelible trauma on her young heart that night, and Panpan's disposition greatly changed, becoming more solitary.

But at that time, her parents hadn't realized the seriousness of the issue, as the couple were incompatible, even running separate businesses, and constantly quarreling over trivial matters at home, their relationship having deteriorated even though they hadn't divorced for their daughter's sake, all these subtly impacted Panpan's development.

By the time she finally became a rebellious problem girl, her parents realized something was wrong, but it was too late.

They eventually thought of accompanying Panpan, trying to act lovingly in front of her, but it was all futile.

Helpless, the couple continued to compensate her with the best material possessions.

Panpan's allowance was always several times that of her peers, in terms of material needs, everything was at her demand.

However, she was very lonely and internally rejected her parents, not even wanting to say more than a word to them.

She was a girl extremely deprived of love, but touching her heart was no easy matter, the professions of love from dogs around her seemed shallow and unreliable.

The only person who touched her heart was Su Zelin.

In the internet cafe, facing a group of thugs alone, other student dogs wouldn't dare speak up for her, their balls would shrink from fear, and not a word would be dared to utter.

But Su Zelin stood up under the pressure of those thugs to save a stranger like herself; for the first time, Panpan felt such protection and care, and this senior's towering and heroic image was instantly established, melting her icy heart, and she fell in love with Su Zelin at first sight.

The more introverted a person, once in love, the more serious they are, so Panpan stubbornly pursued Su Zelin for over ten years in her previous life, refusing to give up despite constant rejections.

"Where have you been so late, your dad even drove out to look for you!"

Li Juan casually asked.

"What does it matter to you; I'm not a child, I've got my hands and feet, I'll naturally come home!"

Panpan impatiently replied.

Her daughter's rude rebuttal didn't anger Li Juan, who just smiled apologetically, "Panpan, we were only worried about you."

"Haha, worried, why don't you just mind your own business!"

Panpan sneered, walking into her room and slamming the door shut with a bang.

Li Juan felt a bit helpless.

For her daughter to turn out like this, she and her husband had to bear the greatest responsibility.

Not paying attention to companionship in her childhood, and especially after the sudden death of her grandmother with Panpan keeping vigil overnight left an unerasable shadow in her heart, she might never forgive them in this lifetime.

Just then, her Samsung flip phone rang, it was her husband Huang Hongbo calling.

"I've searched several internet cafes, haven't seen our daughter!"

Huang Hongbo understood his daughter quite well; at times like this, when Panpan wasn't at home, the most probable location was the internet cafe.

"Don't look for her, Panpan is home!"

Li Juan replied without much patience.

"Also, we should get our daughter a phone for convenient contact, otherwise, her running everywhere all the time won't do."

"This is necessary."

Huang Hongbo agreed completely.

When it came to their daughter's safety, it was where the couple easily reached a consensus.

He quickly made a decision, "I'll buy a phone for Panpan tomorrow, wasn't there a dual-screen flip phone from Samsung released just last month, what was the model called..."

"A288!"

"Right, that's the one, with a pearl white color quite suitable for girls, Panpan will definitely like it!"

"Alright, I'll leave it to you then!"

"..."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.