It wasn’t that Jiang Wan completely believed what this new, slightly different voice had told her.
After all, she didn’t trust the Systems attached to those transmigrators either.
However, since she had already tested her earlier theory on Lin Chengyan and confirmed that it was a way to expel transmigrators, Jiang Wan was determined to continue using it.
There was no way Jiang Wan would abandon a workable solution just because of the words “1/15” and allow those transmigrators to disrupt her life and steal everything she had.
…As long as she didn’t go bald, everything else was negotiable.
The commotion caused by Lin Chengyan being taken away wasn’t particularly significant.
After all, he had raised his hand in front of everyone and told the instructor that he felt dizzy and wanted to rest. Then he’d promptly fallen headfirst onto the ground, effectively proving that he really had been “dizzy.”
The students quickly settled down again, returning to their military postures under the stern orders of their respective instructors.
Jiang Wan headed toward her class’s formation, only to receive a disapproving look from the instructor even before she reached him.
“If you’re not feeling well, don’t come back,” the instructor said with a frown, his expression looking somewhat displeased. “Go rest over there. Don’t end up fainting too.”
Jiang Wan was about to argue that she was actually quite healthy when someone interrupted their conversation.
“Jiang Wan, come here for a moment.”
Jiang Wan turned around and saw her childhood friend standing there, straight-backed and looking thoroughly displeased.
The instructor breathed a sigh of relief. “Isn’t that your school’s student council president? Go on, then.”
Jiang Wan: “…”
This instructor is surprisingly well-informed. He even knows who the student council president is.
She turned and walked toward Yue Mingshi, asking curiously, “What are you doing here? Did the second-year students come to watch the first-years undergo military training?”
It wasn’t as though the second- and third-year students had never done something like that before. After all, Quanzhou only held military training for first-year junior high and first-year high school students. Since they weren’t the ones suffering, why wouldn’t they enjoy watching their juniors suffer instead?
“No.” Yue Mingshi frowned and briefly held Jiang Wan’s wrist. “Your hand’s a little cold. Has your period started?”
Although he phrased it as a question, his tone was completely certain.
Jiang Wan: “…Mm.”
Seriously, why does everyone remember it more clearly than I do?
Yue Mingshi frowned even more deeply and turned to lead her toward a group of girls who were resting. “Then why are you standing out there?”
Quanzhou’s military training rules were relatively lenient. Girls who were on their periods weren’t forced to participate.
Jiang Wan followed Yue Mingshi through the blazing sunshine for a few steps before suddenly remembering something.
“Did any girls send you friend requests yesterday?”
“I didn’t accept them,” Yue Mingshi replied without looking back.
Jiang Wan: “Oh.”
Logically speaking, the next step after obtaining someone’s contact information would be to add them as a friend. That meant Chu Yishan’s subsequent mission had probably failed.
“…”
Instead, Yue Mingshi stopped walking and turned to stare at Jiang Wan.
“Why are you asking about that specifically?”
Jiang Wan flashed him a smile, using her adorable little canine teeth to evade the question.
Yue Mingshi: “…Forget it. Sit here and behave yourself. No cold drinks.”
Of course Jiang Wan wouldn’t drink anything cold.
In the past, she had stubbornly continued trying, but ever since discovering that cold drinks really did make her menstrual cramps worse, she had finally learned to give up. (:з」∠)
Before the two of them even reached the girls sitting or standing beneath the trees, they had already attracted attention. By the time they approached, several girls were smiling and waving at Jiang Wan.
Jiang Wan hadn’t paid much attention at first, but when she looked more closely, she realised that Chu Yishan was among them.
Her attention involuntarily shifted toward the top of Chu Yishan’s head.
The girl’s hair was glossy black and thick, without the slightest sign of patchy baldness.
Jiang Wan suddenly understood.
The energy source for Lin Chengyan’s System…
Was hair follicles!!!!
Jiang Wan immediately relaxed.
Looks like I’m not going bald.
Yue Mingshi didn’t speak to the girls beneath the trees, maintaining a habit he’d had since childhood: he made no distinction between genders.
In Yue Mingshi’s eyes, there were only three categories of people in the world: Jiang Wan, Yue Mingshi, and everyone else.
“Don’t get into trouble,” he simply warned Jiang Wan.
Jiang Wan met his gaze innocently.
To be fair, whenever Jiang Wan had gotten into trouble while growing up, there had almost always been someone nearby willing to help clean up the mess.
Yue Mingshi was one of those tirelessly devoted helpers.
Yue Mingshi’s brows were tightly knitted, making him look as though he wanted to hit someone. But Jiang Wan knew he was probably just suppressing a sigh with all his might.
“Senior,” Chu Yishan called out, half teasing as she asked, “You actually have time to come watch our military training? I thought you were always busy.”
Yue Mingshi shifted his gaze toward Chu Yishan. His eyes rested on her briefly before moving away.
“I’m not busy.”
Jiang Wan understood what he meant.
Yue Mingshi had long since grown accustomed to treating her as a part of his everyday life.
Did being busy determine whether or not you breathed?
Of course not.
Jiang Wan didn’t feel embarrassed about it because things had always been this way since childhood.
But Chu Yishan continued with a bright smile. “That’s true. The semester has only just started. Senior must be so busy that you haven’t even had time to check your phone, right?”
She lightly twirled a strand of hair around her finger, and Jiang Wan’s gaze involuntarily followed the movement.
“…”
Yue Mingshi finally understood.
“I rejected your friend request,” he said.
Chu Yishan’s expression froze. Her fingers also stiffened, and she accidentally gave her hair a sharp tug.
Jiang Wan sucked in a breath of cold air.
Your—hair—!
Yue Mingshi gently patted Jiang Wan on the head before turning and walking away.
For some inexplicable reason, a sentence appeared in Jiang Wan’s mind:
Being cool is like the wind—it follows me wherever I go.
“Sigh. Senior is still as unapproachable as ever,” one of the girls who had witnessed the entire exchange remarked. “But I really wish I had an older brother like that. Someone who treats everyone else differently but makes an exception just for me.”
“Me too. Unfortunately, my older brother is an idiot who even steals my New Year’s money to spend on himself.”
“Heh. Try having a younger brother. If he doesn’t drive you to an early grave, I’ll admit defeat.”
Chu Yishan recovered her composure and joined the conversation with a smile.
“That’s right. I’d love to have an older brother like Yue Mingshi too.”
“You don’t want an older brother. You want a boyfriend, don’t you?” one of the girls teased.
“Of course not.” Chu Yishan blushed as she denied it. “It’s just that he’s so outstanding, and there are some things I’d like to ask him about. Unfortunately, he already has such a wonderful little sister in Jiang Wan. He probably wouldn’t think much of an ordinary girl like me.”
“Wow, you’re calling yourself ordinary? Aren’t you the class beauty?”
“That’s just everyone joking around…” Chu Yishan said bashfully. “It’s only something the boys in our class say for fun. Don’t take it seriously. I’ve never thought I was prettier than everyone else or anything.”
“No, actually,” another girl said. “We held an open vote. Everyone participated, boys and girls alike.”
Chu Yishan: “…A vote?”
The girl pointed at Jiang Wan. “Look, this is the school beauty we all voted for together. Our adorable Little Wan… No, I mean, our adorable, perfect Jiang Wan.”
Jiang Wan had deliberately stayed on the sidelines without joining the conversation precisely because she was afraid someone would suddenly drag her into this topic.
Now she turned around and said coldly, “Don’t call me Little Wan.”
The surrounding girls weren’t frightened in the slightest.
Instead, they became even more excited.
They enthusiastically recommended Jiang Wan to Chu Yishan.
“See? Isn’t she adorable?!”
Chu Yishan maintained an awkward but polite smile.
“Mm… Mm. Of course. After all, she’s the little sister Yue Mingshi likes so much.”
The girls beside her gradually stopped smiling.
They exchanged glances, looking somewhat hesitant.
“Uh…”
Ever since meeting Chu Yishan a few days earlier, Jiang Wan had noticed that this person always seemed to slip some hidden meaning into everything she said.
It was as though she couldn’t speak normally without doing so.
Just like Lin Chengyan, her manner of speaking was strange. She didn’t quite fit into this world, as though she belonged to an entirely different genre.
What kind of System does Chu Yishan have? A Green Tea System?
“So what you’re saying is,” Jiang Wan said bluntly, breaking through the awkward silence that had settled over everyone, “everyone only likes me because of Yue Mingshi?”
Jiang Wan really disliked this way of speaking, where every sentence contained a hidden barb.
Mainly because it was too troublesome.
If you genuinely disliked someone, why not just say so to their face?
“No!” Chu Yishan waved her hands helplessly. “I just think… I think… you’re both wonderful people, and you look really good together. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say something that would make you misunderstand.”
Jiang Wan stared at her for a moment.
Mm. Definitely a Green Tea System.
“Could you stop talking like that?” Before Jiang Wan could say anything, the girl beside Chu Yishan couldn’t take it anymore. “For a moment, I thought summer vacation hadn’t ended and they were still showing My Fair Princess on television.”
As she spoke, she rubbed the goosebumps on her arms.
Chu Yishan: “…”
Her System spoke: [Recommendation: Adjust your behaviour according to this world’s setting.]
Chu Yishan: [What am I supposed to do? I just came out of a palace-intrigue drama! It’s already impressive that I don’t go around calling everyone ‘Elder Sister’ and ‘Younger Sister’ every day! Besides, doesn’t this way of speaking work in every world? These middle school students are so damn troublesome!]
Another girl gathered her courage and spoke up.
“I think so too. If you don’t actually mean anything by it, then the way you talk really makes it easy for people to misunderstand. You should probably change it.”
As the saying goes, only people of the same gender can recognise a genuine green tea.
Chu Yishan forced a smile.
“Thank you. I understand.”
After a while, she called out to her System in her mind.
[Check favorability.]
[Detected conquest target’s favorability toward Host: -5. Favorability toward female protagonist Jiang Wan: 96. Target’s favorability has entered negative values. Host, please work hard to improve the situation.]
Chu Yishan had a breakdown internally.
[How did it drop into negative numbers?!]
Jiang Wan, who had overheard the entire exchange, was pondering a question of her own.
How did Yue Mingshi’s favorability toward me go back up to 96?
Before all this, Jiang Wan had assumed that her five guardians would all have the maximum favorability of 100 toward her—assuming favorability was something that could actually be quantified.
[Didn’t you say school-life novels were the easiest?] Chu Yishan continued interrogating her System. [How is any of this easy?!]
[This world is currently undergoing reassessment. Once the new difficulty rating has been determined, compensation points will be issued.]
The words “compensation points” improved Chu Yishan’s mood somewhat.
She snorted and complained: [Just wait. Once I’ve exchanged my points for the ‘Universal Heartthrob’ and ‘White Moonlight’ Halos, these high school students won’t have another chance to mock or ridicule—]
Chu Yishan was still grumbling to her System when she unexpectedly met Jiang Wan’s gaze.
Jiang Wan, the female protagonist of this world, was quietly watching her.
There was something about her expression that made Chu Yishan feel…
As though Jiang Wan had somehow heard all the contempt and dissatisfaction she’d just expressed inside her head.
The thought made Chu Yishan shiver despite the scorching summer heat.
She unconsciously lowered her mental voice as she asked her System: [The natives shouldn’t be able to sense the existence of Systems or discover the identity of transmigrators like me, right?]
[Impossible,] the System replied calmly. [This System is a higher-dimensional product. Host, please rest assured.]
[That’s true,] Chu Yishan muttered. [They’re just a bunch of fictional characters anyway.]
Reassured, she relaxed and gave Jiang Wan a sweet smile, her eyes curving into crescents.
But Jiang Wan’s breathtakingly beautiful eyes revealed a faint, ambiguous smile.
She didn’t respond and simply turned her face away.
Chu Yishan had to admit that the students of Quanzhou had been completely justified in voting Jiang Wan their school beauty.
If Jiang Wan didn’t deserve the title, then nobody did.
“…She’s just a female protagonist,” Chu Yishan muttered under her breath.
For some inexplicable reason, however, she no longer dared to look at Jiang Wan.
Instead, she sat down in the shade, hugged her knees, and fell silent.
…
Jiang Wan shifted her gaze toward the distant sky.
Her anger meter gradually filled to the brim, and she was mentally rolling up her sleeves.
“She’s just a female protagonist”?
“Just a bunch of fictional characters”?
Well, these transmigrators were nothing more than “1/15” themselves.
Lin Chengyan hadn’t been gone for very long before his homeroom teacher brought him back.
There was a piece of medical tape stuck to his forehead.
“It’s good that you don’t have a concussion,” the homeroom teacher said, depositing Lin Chengyan directly among the resting girls. “Stay here and rest. There’s no need to rush back to military training.”
Lin Chengyan nervously found himself a spot at the edge of the group.
He didn’t dare look at anyone, resembling a pitiful little boy who had been excluded by his classmates.
Jiang Wan watched him for a while.
She felt that Lin Chengyan had practically become a completely different person.
The strange, out-of-place confidence he’d displayed earlier had vanished without a trace.
A sudden suspicion arose in Jiang Wan’s mind.
She took the initiative to approach him.
“How are you feeling? Is your head still dizzy?”
“N-No, it’s not dizzy anymore,” Lin Chengyan stammered.
He didn’t even dare raise his eyes. Instead, his gaze darted nervously around the ground near his feet.
“Thank you for calling the teacher earlier and having someone take… take me to the school medical station.”
“Is there something on the ground?” Jiang Wan asked, crouching down in front of him.
Caught completely off guard, Lin Chengyan suddenly found himself face-to-face with Jiang Wan, who was crouching with her arms around her knees.
His reaction was so dramatic that he jerked backward and nearly fell over.
His entire face instantly turned bright red.
“J-Jiang Wan!”
The girls showed absolutely no sympathy for Lin Chengyan’s embarrassment.
They burst into laughter.
Amid the clear, ringing laughter, Jiang Wan calmly stood up.
As expected, Lin Chengyan doesn’t remember.
It was as though that unknown transmigrator had merely borrowed Lin Chengyan’s body.
Once the mission failed and the transmigrator departed, all that remained was the original person, completely bewildered.
So they’re “just a bunch of fictional characters,” huh?
Still, this was a good thing.
It saved Jiang Wan a great deal of trouble.
But could it also be possible that…
Jiang Wan turned to look at the enormous water bottle sitting beside her schoolbag.
“…”
Did I hit him that hard earlier?
…
At lunchtime, the first-year high school students, despite having spent the entire morning roasting beneath the sun, were still full of energy.
Under the guidance of their respective instructors and homeroom teachers, they headed toward the cafeteria.
Class Five was seated beside Class Six.
Immediately to Jiang Wan’s right was a table of boys from Class Five.
She happened to know one of them.
His name was Lu Yiming, the vice president of the basketball club.
He had an exceptionally outgoing personality. Even at a school where almost everyone was remarkably sociable, he stood out as a master of social interaction.
When he saw Jiang Wan, Lu Yiming grinned and waved at her, revealing two neat rows of pearly white teeth.
Jiang Wan sat down beside him.
Her gaze swept over the four meal trays, and she asked, “Why are all your meals exactly the same?”
Lu Yiming raised his eyebrows and gestured for her to look in the other direction.
Jiang Wan turned around.
The class welfare representative from Class Six was already approaching with a food trolley.
On the trolley were dozens of identical lunch sets.
—No picky eating. Everyone had to eat the same meal.
Jiang Wan stared at the meal tray in front of her and fell silent.
“…”
Normally, Jiang Wan appeared to be a perfectly well-behaved child who wasn’t picky about food.
She also rarely left anything uneaten.
But there was a reason for that.
The reason was simple: she always chose her own dishes.
It was rather like saying, “Mom and Dad are never picky eaters because Mom and Dad are the ones buying the groceries.”
Unfortunately, the balanced combination of meat and vegetables in front of her wasn’t remotely close to her usual list of acceptable foods.
To ensure the students ate properly, the instructors patrolled the tables with stern expressions.
Noticing that Jiang Wan hadn’t touched her chopsticks, Lu Yiming leaned toward her and whispered, “You don’t like the food?”
Jiang Wan glanced at him and slowly nodded.
“Carrots, green peppers, purple cabbage. I don’t eat any of them.”
Lu Yiming clicked his tongue.
“You’re that picky? Give me whatever you don’t want.”
With someone offering to solve her problem, Jiang Wan didn’t hesitate.
Taking advantage of the moment when the instructor turned around, she moved her entire bowl of mixed vegetables in front of Lu Yiming.
“Thank you.”
Suppressing his laughter, Lu Yiming pushed his own empty bowl toward Jiang Wan to help cover up their little act of cheating.
“Are you a little kid or something? You won’t even eat green peppers and carrots.”
“I’m a minor. How am I not a kid?” Jiang Wan asked in genuine confusion.
“You’re right, you’re right.”
The Class Six instructor turned around.
His stern gaze swept from left to right before landing on Jiang Wan’s meal tray.
—Everything else was untouched, but one bowl was completely empty.
The instructor felt gratified.
This child really loves eating vegetables.
After the instructor slowly walked past their table, Lu Yiming spoke again.
“The sports meet is coming up not long after military training ends. How many events are you signing up for this time?”
“Don’t the rules say that everyone can enter a maximum of two events, excluding relays?” Jiang Wan replied. “If I sign up for too many, the other classes will report us again, won’t they?”
“Class Six of the first year promises not to be the first to deploy Jiang Wan,” the dorm leader interjected jokingly.
When Jiang Wan was little, her health had been terrible.
She was constantly going to the hospital, leaving her entire family worried sick.
As a result, once her health improved somewhat, her family began enrolling her in all kinds of physical training classes.
After ten years of consistent exercise…
Well, her athletic performance had apparently become rather impressive.
“The sports meet is still pretty far away, isn’t it? It’s next month,” Jiang Wan said. “The diagnostic exam is different. That’s right around the corner.”
The other seven people at the table immediately made expressions of utter despair.
“I’d already forgotten about that! Don’t bring it up again!”
The diagnostic exam was another school tradition.
After all, summer vacation was so long. Once students returned after two months away, the school naturally needed to assess how much of the previously taught material they still remembered.
As a result, every subject would be tested.
Originally, the exam should have taken place on the second day of school.
It had only been postponed because of military training.
Just as they reached this point in their conversation, several first-year high school teachers walked past the cafeteria together, chatting and laughing.
Each of them carried a thick stack of brand-new examination papers.
Lu Yiming’s gaze settled on the papers.
“I really wish I knew what was written on those. Then I could ask a top student about them and memorise the formulas in advance.”
As he spoke, he very conspicuously directed a supposedly discreet glance toward Jiang Wan.
Jiang Wan thought for a second.
Considering that Lu Yiming had eaten the vegetables she disliked, she decided to repay the favour.
She gave him a page number from their knowledge checklist.
“Maths. Memorise that page.”
“Seriously?” The boy beside Lu Yiming immediately craned his neck and asked in astonishment. “You can see what’s written on those papers from this far away?”
“I can’t,” Jiang Wan replied calmly. “But I heard Teacher Liang mention that a lot of people got two related trick questions wrong in the placement exam.”
Liang Daoguang was the question setter for the new first-year high school mathematics department and a Special-Grade Teacher.
At this, several boys sitting at the table behind Lu Yiming whipped around.
“Jiang Wan, what page number did you just say? I didn’t hear clearly!”
Jiang Wan: “…”
So you’ve all been sitting there with your ears pricked up, listening to everything, huh?
She suddenly remembered the week before the placement exam, when countless people had approached her asking to borrow her notes so they could photocopy them.
What a joke.
Jiang Wan never took notes.
Lu Yiming immediately pulled a supplementary study guide from his schoolbag and flipped to the page Jiang Wan had mentioned.
He muttered to himself as he memorised the three lines of important formulas highlighted on the page.
Three minutes later, he closed the book and confidently recited the power-reduction formulas:
cos² α = (1 + cos 2α) / 2; sin² α = (1 + cos 2α) / 2; tan² α = (1 + cos 2α) / 1 – cos 2α)
The boys sitting at the same table were thoroughly impressed.
They burst into loud applause.
“Damn, Lu Yiming! That’s amazing!”
Lu Yiming nodded modestly.
“It’s nothing, really. Anyone could memorise them.”
Jiang Wan listened to the entire recitation with an expressionless face.
“…”
Three lines of formulas.
Three mistakes.
And these people were actually proud of themselves.
They’re beyond saving.
Might as well wait for death.