To Qin Su, Xu Xiao was simply an ex-boyfriend.
There was no reason to dwell on him.
The most important thing now was the upcoming exams.
With a pained expression, she picked up her lecture notes again and continued reading through them at lightning speed.
Fortunately, she had majored in languages.
As long as her memory was good enough to memorize vocabulary and grammar, she would be fine.
Had she been a science or engineering major, she would not only have had to memorize formulas and theorems, but also understand how to apply them.
During the seven-day May Day holiday, she made use of every spare moment and finally managed to catch up on nearly all the material for the four subjects being tested, covering everything from her freshman through junior years.
She could not guarantee outstanding grades.
At the very least, she should be able to pass.
Once the May Day holiday ended, Qin Su returned to her dormitory.
The transmigrator had moved out during her sophomore year, using the dormitory only as a place to rest during lunchtime. As a result, her relationships with her roommates had become fairly ordinary.
Of the three roommates, only Zhao Shiyu was in the same major as Qin Su.
Zhao Shiyu looked at Qin Su as though she wanted to say something but hesitated.
Qin Su, however, was in a rather good mood. Thanks to her roommate’s lecture materials, she should have no trouble passing these exams.
Her eyes curved into a smile.
“Xiaoyu, thank you for lending me your course materials. Once the exams are over, I’ll treat you to a meal.”
Unable to hold it in any longer, Zhao Shiyu asked, “Are you really okay?”
Qin Su looked at her in confusion.
Although Zhao Shiyu’s relationship with Qin Su had grown distant over the past two years, they were hardly enemies.
She pressed her lips together. In the end, she said nothing more, simply shook her head, and headed toward the examination hall.
However, the transmigrator had accumulated no small amount of resentment over the past two years.
On her way to the exam, Qin Su was stopped.
A female student wearing a blue-and-white blouse stepped directly in front of her. Every inch of her practically screamed four words: I’m here to cause trouble.
Qin Su raised an eyebrow and looked at her leisurely.
Although her cultivation had been reduced to nothing overnight, she still had a few tricks up her sleeve. At the very least, she had no intention of letting herself suffer a loss.
The girl flashed her a bright smile before holding up her phone.
“President Xu already has someone new.”
Displayed on the screen was a photo of Xu Xiao attending a banquet with the newly popular young actress Xia Jiayi. In the picture, the two were leaning close together, whispering intimately into each other’s ears.
Far from being angry, Qin Su actually felt rather relieved.
Since he had found a new love so quickly, he probably would not keep bothering her anymore.
“Then congratulations to them.”
She spoke sincerely, her expression genuinely cheerful.
Such a reaction was completely beyond the girl’s expectations.
She had assumed that after being dumped, Qin Su would be devastated upon seeing news about her ex-boyfriend’s latest romance. She had expected her proud demeanor to crumble.
Perhaps it would even affect her mood enough to ruin her exam.
“Y… You’re not angry?”
Qin Su broke into a radiant smile and clasped the girl’s hand.
“Not at all. On the contrary, I should thank you for bringing me such wonderful news. Now I can take my exams in a great mood.”
“You’re such a good person.”
Without hesitation, she handed the girl a figurative Good Person Card before walking away gracefully.
The girl was left standing there with a bewildered expression, staring at Qin Su’s retreating figure.
This made no sense!
…
On the rest of her walk, Qin Su encountered at least five classmates who pretended to be concerned while secretly reveling in her supposed misfortune.
Having expected this all along, she generously handed out Good Person Cards to every one of them.
Each time, the people hoping to enjoy a good show were left utterly speechless.
Qin Su paid no attention whatsoever to the curious looks around her.
Instead, she focused entirely on her exams.
To her delight, the questions turned out to be easier than she had expected. Many of them came directly from the lecture slides and textbooks.
For someone blessed with perfect recall, this type of examination was the easiest of all.
Qin Su completed the papers with remarkable ease.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said for her classmates.
The questions covered material from far too many different sections, including several minor details that most students had neglected during revision.
After the final exam ended, few people left the classroom immediately.
Instead, everyone frowned as they gathered together to compare answers.
“Did you answer the last essay question? The professor only mentioned that part briefly in class, so I didn’t bother memorizing it.”
“I looked over it before the exam, but it was such a huge section. I only remembered a small part of it. What about you, Shiyu? How did you do?”
Qin Su’s roommate, Zhao Shiyu, frowned slightly.
“I managed to answer it, more or less. But I probably won’t get full marks. This exam was much harder than I expected.”
“As expected of Shiyu! The rest of us are just hoping to pass, while you’re worried about getting full marks. That’s the difference between top students and the rest of us.”
“First place will definitely be yours again.”
“Stop exaggerating. I’m nowhere near being a top student.”
After being praised by several classmates, Zhao Shiyu’s mood visibly improved, though she still maintained her usual modest tone.
Sometimes, modesty was simply the most understated form of showing off.
Because of the acne scars on her face, she had endured countless hurtful comments ever since childhood.
Only her academic achievements ever earned her praise.
As a result, Zhao Shiyu devoted far more effort to studying than most people, and she genuinely enjoyed receiving recognition for it.
Her gaze landed on Qin Su.
Over the past few days, Qin Su had left a much better impression on her, reminding her of the girl she had first met when they entered university.
As a result, Zhao Shiyu was no longer as indifferent toward her as before.
“What about you, Qin Su?”
Qin Su slipped her pen into her bag.
Hearing Zhao Shiyu call her name, she looked up and smiled.
“Not bad. Passing definitely won’t be a problem.”
“Thanks to the lecture materials you lent me. Once I’ve moved, I’ll treat you to dinner.”
Zhao Shiyu looked puzzled.
“You’re moving?”
Qin Su answered calmly,
“Yes. The apartment I was living in belongs to Xu Xiao. Since we’ve broken up, there’s no reason for me to keep living there.”
Another female classmate overheard this.
Recalling all the gossip circulating online, she could not hide the excitement in her eyes.
“So why did you two break up?”
Qin Su sighed dramatically.
“Ever since I started dating him, my grades have gone downhill.”
“So I’ve decided to put all my focus back on studying and not disappoint my parents’ expectations.”
Studying really was the perfect excuse.
During her years in the cultivation world, Qin Su had been the most outstanding senior sister in the sect.
Now that she had returned, there was no way she could tolerate becoming a poor student.
Everyone else stared at her expressionlessly.
Judging by their faces, hardly anyone believed her.
One classmate quickly reacted.
“So… you’re saying you dumped Xu Xiao?”
Qin Su did not deny it.
“I was the one who asked to break up.”
Having finished packing her things, she gave them a slight nod before leaving first, leaving the rest of the group staring at one another in disbelief.
“Do you believe her? She’s making that up, right?”
“Whether she’s lying or not, we’ll know once the exam results are out.”
“If Qin Su really broke up with him because she wanted to focus on studying, but her grades end up even worse than before, we’re definitely going to laugh at her.”
Zhao Shiyu remained silent.
Of everyone present, she was actually the one who believed Qin Su the most.
After returning to the apartment, Qin Su began looking for a new place to live.
Since she intended to resume the cultivation she had practiced in her previous life, the house had to be spacious enough.
As a university student, she still had classes every week, so it could not be too far from campus or commuting would become inconvenient.
She also needed to save her money to buy gemstones for cultivation, so the rent could not be too expensive.
A large apartment in a good school district with cheap rent.
Naturally, no such bargain would simply fall from the sky.
So Qin Su calmly typed “haunted house” into the search bar.
A haunted house referred to a property where an unnatural death had once occurred.
Most people avoided such places at all costs, which made them much cheaper than comparable properties on the market.
Those were exactly the kind of places Qin Su was looking for.
After searching for quite a while, she finally found a suitable candidate.
It was an apartment in Tianshui Residential Community, measuring roughly one hundred and fifty square meters, with a monthly rent of only one thousand yuan.
Given its location and size, a normal apartment there would rent for at least five thousand yuan a month.
There was naturally a reason it was so cheap.
After a brief search, Qin Su found countless discussion threads about the apartment.
The posters all swore that it was severely haunted.
Every tenant who had moved in had been tormented into suffering nervous breakdowns.
Not a single person had managed to stay there for longer than a month.
For example, when washing their face, tenants would turn on the faucet only to find a red liquid flowing out.
Or they would wake up in the middle of the night to see a human face staring down at them from the ceiling.
Or the electrical appliances in the apartment would inexplicably stop working.
Because of these endless paranormal incidents, the haunted apartment had become rather infamous in the neighborhood.
…
Although some of the online stories were clearly exaggerated, many of the rumors contained genuine details.
According to the stories, the owner had once tried to hide the fact that it was a haunted property and secretly sell it.
As a result, he ended up in a lawsuit, lost the case, paid a substantial amount in compensation, and the apartment eventually returned to his ownership.
Qin Su was extremely satisfied.
Wasn’t this exactly the kind of home she had been dreaming of?
As for ghosts, spiritual energy in this world was far too scarce.
No matter how powerful a ghost was, it could only amount to so much.
At worst, she could simply let Qianjin eat it. That would even replenish some of its energy.
Her gaze drifted toward the tables and chairs in the room as a thought occurred to her.
Actually, if the ghost turned out to be sensible enough, she could leave it alive.
It could help clean the house and do the household chores.
That would save her a considerable amount of time.
At that moment, she deeply missed the Yellow Turban Warriors[1]Yellow Turban Warriors (黄巾力士): Powerful spirit servants or magically summoned guardians in Chinese Daoist and cultivation lore, often used to perform heavy labor, protect their masters, or … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2758160_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2758160_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); from her previous life.
They had been such excellent laborers.
So Qin Su decided not to bother packing up her belongings just yet.
She could always leave them for the ghost to organize later.
She quickly called the property owner and arranged a time to meet.
References[+]