In the days following the physical examination, Ruan Mei felt something was off about her entire being.
Her gaze would drift towards Fang Zhishui from time to time, but she would swiftly withdraw her eyes before the other person noticed, pretending nothing had happened.
She was also often distracted during class, having already received pointed looks from the subject teacher several times, which made Ruan Mei very flustered.
Although Ruan Mei lacked experience, she could guess the reason the previous physical examination had stirred up some of her latent Alpha instincts, causing her unrest.
Ruan Mei quickly went to buy suppressants.
In that era, suppressants were common items sold in pharmacies, available for anyone to purchase.
Ruan Mei specifically entered a large pharmacy and bought the most expensive Alpha suppressant, which few people usually bought. She endured the pharmacist’s strange look for a long time before hastily escaping after paying.
Afterward, she secretly injected a dose of suppressant every morning before school. Upon arriving at school, she intentionally pulled over Qiang Kai, a known troublemaker sitting in front of her, and asked:
“Do you smell any strange scent?”
Qiang Kai replied:
“Who hid roast chicken in their desk? I’m going to steal some during the break!”
Ruan Mei:
“…”
It was no use talking to him. She was quite worried. She wasn’t sensitive to her own scent, and Li Namei was an ordinary Beta who couldn’t smell Alpha/Omega pheromones. Most people she knew were also Betas. She had no way to test the effectiveness of the suppressant!
Worrying was useless, so Ruan Mei quickly adjusted her mindset, deciding to just treat the suppressant as a talisman. The suppressant wasn’t the main issue now; the priority was to quickly get rid of this strange feeling toward the female lead and focus on her studies and work!
Unfortunately, the suppressant had no effect whatsoever on her involuntary habit of secretly glancing at the female lead; Ruan Mei still couldn’t help herself.
Once, during a math class, Ruan Mei made a rule for herself: every time she looked at Fang Zhishui, she had to draw a tally mark in her notebook upon coming back to her senses. By the end of the lesson, she counted 23 marks!
In just one class period, she had turned to look at Fang Zhishui 23 times? This was getting out of hand; at this rate, she was going to get cervical spondylosis!
Ruan Mei was extremely concerned. After thinking carefully, she discovered an even more serious problem: out of those 23 times, she hadn’t once caught Fang Zhishui’s gaze!
What did this imply?
It meant either Fang Zhishui hadn’t noticed her glances at all, or Fang Zhishui was deliberately controlling it and avoiding meeting her eyes!
The more Ruan Mei thought about it, the more a cold sweat broke out on her back. Fang Zhishui possessed exceptional sensory abilities she must have been deliberately controlling it! In other words, she knew Ruan Mei was secretly watching her every day! And she was deliberately not exposing it what ill intentions she must have!
Ruan Mei decided to dedicate one third of her energy to controlling her eyes, preventing them from darting around, so as not to hand over any leverage to the female lead!
The best method was to avoid Fang Zhishui whenever possible.
Ruan Mei diligently took her books to the small woods on the back hill to study during morning self-study, lunch breaks, afternoon self-study, and physical education classes, avoiding the main class crowd.
As the autumn wind picked up, fewer people went to the small woods, and recently, Ruan Mei was often the only one there.
One day, while Ruan Mei was reciting a book in a secluded, deserted spot, she suddenly sensed a white shadow appear beside her.
Since becoming an Alpha, her perception had improved considerably. She quickly realized it was a small rabbit snow white, soft and clean, with red eyes and big ears, hiding in a pile of fallen leaves, looking small, pitiful, and weak.
Ruan Mei was delighted. What young girl didn’t love small animals?
She crouched down, searched around for a long time until she found a blade of green grass, extended it toward the little rabbit, and said:
“Bunny, come eat!”
The rabbit remained motionless, its eyes wary, completely rejecting Ruan Mei’s kindness.
Ruan Mei was completely focused on the rabbit and didn’t hear the sound of footsteps crunching on fallen leaves nearby.
She tiptoed over, gathered a small pile of leaves, made a tiny nest, found many more blades of grass, plucked off the tender leaves, placed them on top of the leaves, retreated far away, and remained silent, just staring at the little rabbit.
After a long while, the little white rabbit crept out stealthily, tentatively picked up a blade of grass, chewed it, and quickly retreated back into its leaf pile hiding spot.
Seeing the little rabbit eat the grass, Ruan Mei excitedly rubbed her hands together, experiencing the joy of feeding!
She abandoned her homework, mentally calculating how to set up a small home for the bunny. She immediately dashed back to the classroom, found a cardboard box, then found a plastic bowl used for takeout that was reasonably sturdy, filled it with water, and rushed back to the back hill in one go.
She was afraid the rabbit might have run away, but to her surprise, the rabbit was still quietly staying in the same spot. The green grass she had placed there had already been eaten.
Ruan Mei was overjoyed as she arranged the little rabbit’s future nest:
“The bunny is so cute! Were you abandoned by someone? You look like a pet rabbit. You’re so adorable, you must protect yourself. Not everyone will be as kind to you as I am. Someone might catch you… Ah, my own life is already so out of my control, but your bunny life should be freer. For now, you can stay here temporarily, and I’ll go back and persuade my grandmother to let me bring you home!”
After rambling on, Ruan Mei placed the cardboard box in a very hidden tree hollow, put the water bowl beside it, and found some dry leaves and weeds scattered around to place inside the box.
She didn’t know if the rabbit would go inside, nor did she want to force it in. So, she plucked some cute looking small grasses and laid a trail of them from outside the box all the way into the cardboard box as bait.
She hid in the shadows and watched until the class change bell rang, but still didn’t see the rabbit move.
Ruan Mei could only walk down from the back hill one step at a time, turning back every few steps, to return to class.
What she didn’t know was that after she left, Fang Zhishui slowly emerged from behind a tree and walked gracefully towards the little rabbit.
The rabbit flicked its ears, its fiery red eyes round.
After finishing the class, Ruan Mei took the opportunity during the break to borrow several books from the library, such as Domestic Rabbit Rearing and Rabbit Care Techniques, and secretly read them in her desk.
It was the first time in her life she had a pet! Although it wasn’t an official pet yet, anything she cared for and fed could be considered a pet!
Feeding a small, weak animal that feeling was truly wonderful.
As Ruan Mei flipped through the books, she resolved that she must persuade her grandmother to let her take the little rabbit home. After all, her current salary could afford to support a rabbit.
As she was reading, her gaze fixed on one page, and she studied it intently for a long time.
Her body trembled slightly, and her face suddenly filled with terror.
This book had full color illustrations explaining which grasses rabbits could eat and which poisonous ones they could not.
Ruan Mei realized that the cute little grasses she had later placed near the rabbit’s box as bait were actually poisonous weeds!
What if the little rabbit ate those poisonous grasses? It might not eat them, but if it ate even one, it would die. Wouldn’t she have killed this little life?
Ruan Mei became restless. She looked closely at the plants in the illustration book again the one she had provided was indeed a poisonous weed.
The thought of the little rabbit foam at the mouth, writhe on the ground, and die after eating the toxic grass nearly brought tears to Ruan Mei’s eyes.
She suddenly stood up with a jolt, startling the teacher:
“Ruan Mei, why are you standing up?”
“I… Teacher, I need to use the restroom!”
“Oh, go ahead. You look a bit pale. If you need to go to the school clinic, you can do that too. Report back when you return.”
Now that Ruan Mei’s academic performance had improved, making her the student with the greatest progress this semester, all the teachers viewed her with newfound respect and gave her considerable trust.
Ruan Mei immediately rushed out of the classroom. The moment she was outside, she couldn’t help but glance at Fang Zhishui, and their eyes met exactly Fang Zhishui was smiling at her.
Fang Zhishui was laughing, tilting her head to look at Ruan Mei, her eyes deep and bright, her appearance charming and vivid, as beautiful as a character in an oil painting.
How embarrassing, to be mocked by the Female Lead… This thought flashed through her mind, and Ruan Mei ran out of the classroom. Seeing that no one was around, she immediately started running with all her might towards the small woods on the back hill!
As an Alpha, she now knew she possessed ten times the explosive power and athletic ability of ordinary people. When running at full burst, she was practically just a blur, far superior to that punk Qiang Kai.
Ruan Mei knew that with her aptitude, she was rare even at A High School, but the more outstanding she became, the more she wanted to hide it forever.
No matter how strong she was, a strawberry scented pheromone that was enough to keep an Alpha from ever holding her head high!
Ruan Mei rushed through her chaotic thoughts until she reached the little rabbit’s spot on the back hill and frantically searched everywhere.
The little rabbit was gone!
It wasn’t in the initial pile of leaves, nor was it in the spot where it had been eating grass. It wasn’t under the nearby trees or in any small holes!
Even more terrifying, Ruan Mei discovered that the few toxic weeds she had placed nearby had also vanished!
In her distress, her eyes grew hot and moist. She checked the last place the cardboard box.
In Ruan Mei’s estimation, a timid animal like a small rabbit probably wouldn’t voluntarily enter a cardboard box. She had only placed a nest there as a precaution.
But to her surprise, when she walked over, the little white rabbit was sitting obediently inside the box, resting on the dry leaves and weeds she had previously laid down, chewing on a piece of grass in its mouth.
Ruan Mei felt a bit of her tension ease. She looked closely and saw that the grass the rabbit was chewing was not one of the poisonous weeds she had provided, but another edible grass found nearby.
The toxic weeds she had placed near and inside the box were gone without a trace.
What happened? Were they eaten? But the rabbit looked lively and energetic; it didn’t seem like it had eaten poison.
Ruan Mei thought it over and could only guess that perhaps the book was old, and the pictures had been printed incorrectly.
She squatted next to the box and watched the rabbit eat grass for a while. Seeing that the rabbit showed no ill effects, she finally relaxed completely and returned to class.
After that class, while everyone was still noisy during the break, the class teacher, Zhang Fan, walked in.
She clapped her hands on the desk:
“Everyone, quiet down for a moment! There’s a new task from the higher ups. Every class needs to pair up advanced students with struggling students for mutual learning and supervision. So, the top 20 and bottom 20 students in our class will be paired up.”
Ruan Mei was first shocked, thinking the school always managed to come up with such strange ideas. However, when she heard the pairings were based on rank, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Fang Zhishui was first, but Ruan Mei was no longer last on the last exam; she was within the top 20 of the class. Surely Fang Zhishui wouldn’t be paired with her?
However, Teacher Zhang Fan looked at Ruan Mei with kind little eyes and said:
“Student Ruan Mei, I am very concerned about your studies. Therefore, I have decided to pair Fang Zhishui, our class’s top student, with you. Your grades have improved too quickly perhaps your foundation isn’t solid enough, so she can help you build a stronger base!”
Ruan Mei stared, mouth agape, and started to refuse:
“But Teacher, I…”
A cool voice came from the other side of the classroom:
“Fine.”
Ruan Mei looked over at Fang Zhishui almost in despair. She saw the other girl staring at the teacher with the demeanor of a model student, but the smile on her lips was very strange.
Ruan Mei thought: I was wrong. I shouldn’t have transmigrated here in the first place. If I hadn’t transmigrated, my grades wouldn’t have improved so quickly, and I wouldn’t be forced to be paired with the female lead… I was wrong, I was truly wrong…