"Oh my god! It's really an iPhone 17!" Song Miaomiao exclaimed.
Jiang Silu was in a bit of a daze. She picked up the phone box, thinking at first that it was just an empty box, but it was surprisingly heavy. More importantly, it was still sealed.
A cosmetics set, a Chanel bag, a luxury down jacket, and a top-of-the-line iPhone 17.
This one box was worth tens of thousands.
Liu Shiting was already lying on her bed. When she saw Jiang Silu pull so many luxury goods out of the box, she was quite surprised.
After all, they had been roommates for over two months, and she had no idea Jiang Silu's family was this wealthy.
"Lulu, your mom is so good to you," Lu Yao said with envy from the side.
Jiang Silu started to panic, suspecting she'd picked up the wrong package, or that it had been sent to her by mistake.
She checked the recipient's information over and over again.
But her name, phone number, and school address were written clearly on it.
Jiang Silu could only explain awkwardly, "Let me call my mom and ask if she sent this."
With that, she immediately stepped out of the dorm room to call Jiang Yixia.
"Hello, Mom."
"What's up?"
"Did you send me cosmetics, a bag, and an iPhone?"
"No, I didn't."
"Huh? Then who sent this stuff to me?" Jiang Silu was baffled. "I thought it was a mistake, but I checked, and the name, phone number, and address are all correct."
Jiang Yixia immediately thought of someone. After hesitating for a couple of seconds, she said, "It was most likely your dad. He probably bought it for you as a way to compensate."
"My dad bought this?" Everything suddenly clicked for Jiang Silu.
After all, an ordinary person couldn't really afford such expensive luxury goods and an iPhone.
Unless it was her biological father.
When they'd first met, Jiang Silu had thought this Uncle Lu had a distinguished air about him—he looked every bit the part of a wealthy man.
She just hadn't expected her own biological father, as a form of compensation, to start by giving her such an expensive bag and phone.
But Jiang Silu had a backbone. She said bluntly, "Then I don't want them."
Jiang Yixia replied, "He already sent them to you, and you've signed for them. You probably can't return them, so just keep them. And don't feel guilty about it. After all, he hasn't been by your side all these years. It's only right for you to accept some gifts from him."
Hearing what her mother said, Jiang Silu hesitated for a moment.
She finally replied, "Alright. I'll put them away for now and only take them out when I need them."
"Okay," Jiang Yixia responded. "To be honest, your dad is determined to make it up to you and your brother right now. You can tell he's genuinely guilty, so if you can, try to forgive him."
"Then will you forgive him, Mom?" Jiang Silu retorted.
Jiang Yixia faltered. "I... I might not be able to forgive him right now. But what happened between your father and me shouldn't involve you two, so you're free to build a relationship with him."
"If you won't forgive him, then I won't either. You're the one who gave birth to me and raised me. He's only met me twice," Jiang Silu explained. "I don't even know what he likes to eat, what kind of clothes he prefers, or his favorite color. But I won't cause him any trouble. I'll just focus on living my own life."
"Alright." Seeing her daughter's resolve, Jiang Yixia didn't say anything more.
After hanging up, Jiang Silu returned to the dorm room.
She found Lu Yao holding the Chanel bag, holding it up this way and that as if modeling with it.
Seeing Jiang Silu return, she immediately exclaimed, "Lulu, this Chanel bag is the newest model, isn't it? Is it authentic?"
"Oh, I don't really know. It should be, I guess," Jiang Silu said awkwardly.
"Shiting, you're the expert in this area. Quick, take a look!" Lu Yao said, handing the bag to Liu Shiting.
Liu Shiting examined it and nodded. "It's authentic. I saw it in the store before, but it was a little too expensive, so I didn't get it."
"Wow, Shiting, if even you thought it was expensive, doesn't that mean this bag costs twenty or thirty thousand?" Lu Yao gasped.
Liu Shiting nodded. "Around there. I think I remember it being 29,998."
"Oh my god." Lu Yao then turned to Jiang Silu excitedly. "Lulu, your family's so rich! And all this time you've been carrying a bag that costs just a few bucks."
Of course, Jiang Silu wasn't about to say it was a gift from the father she had only met a couple of times.
So she could only explain, "My mom didn't buy it. An... an elder in my family did. To... celebrate me getting into college."
Having rarely lied in her life, she had finally broken that streak in front of her roommates.
"That elder really dotes on you." Lu Yao's attention then shifted to the makeup set on the desk.
She walked up, linked her arm through Jiang Silu's, and said, "Lulu, you know I have that competition downtown this afternoon... I was wondering if I could use some of your makeup?"
"Sure." Jiang Silu didn't wear much makeup to begin with, so she couldn't tell if the set she'd received was any good.
But considering all the other luxurious things she had received, and the fact that it was Chanel, it couldn't be bad.
"That's great! Thank you so much, Lulu! C'mere, let me give you a smooch!" Lu Yao said, leaning in.
Watching this display from the side, Song Miaomiao's expression turned to one of disgust.
Still, she hadn't expected Jiang Silu's family to be this well-off.
'And she even has a work-study job.'
Of course, it didn't matter to Song Miaomiao whether Jiang Silu's family was wealthy or not; she considered her a close sister either way.
Jiang Silu carefully put away the Chanel bag and the two down jackets. She glanced at her current phone, then finally decided to open the iPhone box.
Sometime before, Jiang Yixia had wanted to buy her a new phone. But after she did, Jiang Silu gave the new phone to her mother and used her mother's old one instead.
Jiang Silu's reasoning was that Jiang Yixia needed it for her business, and an old phone with poor reception would hurt the flower shop's revenue.
But Jiang Yixia knew in her heart that her daughter was just being considerate.
She often felt guilty that she couldn't afford to buy her daughter the things every ordinary kid should have.
Jiang Silu gazed at the brand-new iPhone 17—the top-spec model, at that.
It would be a lie to say she wasn't happy.
And since every girl has a bit of vanity, more or less, Jiang Silu's resentment toward Lu Fan had lessened somewhat.
Of course, forgiving Lu Fan at this moment was absolutely out of the question. Worst case, she would just return all these gifts.
She was not the type to bow down for material gain.
But since her mother told her to accept the gifts, and Jiang Silu was no fool...
She knew perfectly well that Lu Fan wasn't hurting for the money these gifts cost.
Just as Jiang Silu was fiddling with the new iPhone, Jiang Sifan returned to his dorm.
Coincidentally, the same SF Express deliveryman who had just brought Jiang Silu's package arrived at the building entrance and called Jiang Sifan.
"Hey, Jiang Sifan, you have a package. Come down and get it."
Jiang Sifan saw the SF Express tricycle nearby, walked up to the deliveryman, and said, "I'm Jiang Sifan. Do you have a package for me?"
"Yeah, this whole box is for you." As he spoke, the deliveryman pulled a large box from his tricycle.
This puzzled Jiang Sifan.
"I haven't ordered anything online."
"Can't help you there. Probably someone from your family sent it."
Just as Jiang Sifan assumed his mother had sent it, he received a message from Jiang Silu with a photo: "Did you get a package? It's from our father."
Jiang Sifan glanced at the photo, then at the box next to him. His face darkened, and he said angrily to the deliveryman, "I'm refusing this package. I don't want it."
"You don't want it?"
"That's right. I don't."
With that, he turned and stormed back to his dorm.