A person must first stay alive.
Then, naturally, other things follow.
Remembering the perfect S-shaped figure she’d once had, then looking at her current cylindrical form, Lin Tingwan wanted to cry.
Fortunately, the reliable system immediately issued today’s training task:
【Today’s training task: run 5 kilometers. Completing it will earn a reward.】
So Lin Tingwan gave up on the approaching bus and decided to run to school instead.
She’d left home early today anyway, so running there wouldn’t make her late.
Near the Lin family’s villa there was a river, and along the riverbank ran a wide, long pedestrian path.
And this river was a long one, running straight through their entire city.
Conveniently, she could run directly to school.
As for working up a sweat along the way, Lin Tingwan no longer had the luxury to worry about that.
She couldn’t very well run all that way, then go back home to shower and change clothes, and then go to school, could she?
Not to mention whether she had enough time, or spare clothes to change into, besides, the original owner squeezed onto buses and transferred to the subway to get to school every day.
With her enormous body, by the time she got to school she’d already be covered in a foul sweat.
This was also one of the reasons many classmates didn’t like the original owner.
Ordinary people had no way of knowing it was because her home was too far away and the commute was exhausting, they all assumed the original owner was simply too slovenly to keep clean.
In Lin Tingwan’s memory, the original owner had once overheard her stepsister badmouthing her behind her back to classmates, spreading rumors that she hadn’t bathed in a month.
By the time Lin Tingwan reached school, the back of her entire shirt was soaked through.
Lin Tingwan knew that if her body hadn’t already improved somewhat, given the original owner’s physical condition, she probably would have collapsed on the way there.
She wondered whether, once this task was complete, it would light up the “Marrow-Cleansing Water” icon.
Thinking this, Lin Tingwan communicated it to the system just like that.
The Top Student System’s answer was:
【Host, yes.】
Before she could even feel happy, the mechanical voice in Lin Tingwan’s mind continued:
【Host, your effective running distance today was 4.9 kilometers. The task has not been completed.】
There was an unspeakable phrase she wasn’t sure whether to say out loud.
Already exhausted and unable to force down any more of this task, Lin Tingwan simply treated it as part of her weight loss and started guzzling mineral water right at the school gate.
Skipping a meal or two was fine, it was dehydration that did real harm to the body’s health.
By this time, students were already trickling in through the school gate one after another, and a few who recognized Lin Tingwan pointed at her and whispered among themselves.
“Isn’t that the Lin family’s second young lady? Why does she look so wretched?”
“What second young lady, she’s not even Mrs. Lin’s real daughter.”
“What, don’t tell me she’s…”
The girl didn’t finish that sentence, but she and her friend exchanged a knowing smile.
Lin Tingwan understood this too.
To cover up her own status as a child from a previous marriage, Lin Yuexuan had deliberately spread rumors among the classmates, thirty percent truth, thirty percent fabrication.
To be fair, she hadn’t exactly lied, she’d just never told the whole truth either.
This had left many classmates who didn’t know the real story thinking Lin Tingwan was the child of her father’s mistress.
They even praised Mrs. Lin for her generosity.
Unlike Lin Yuexuan, who’d tested directly into the school, the Lin family had donated a large sum of money to the school just to get Lin Tingwan into the rocket class.
While putting down Lin Tingwan, of course, those people would then praise the smart, hardworking, beautiful and generous girl next door, Lin Yuexuan.
Lin Tingwan didn’t care about the looks people were sizing her up with.
In her past life, after she’d achieved success, how much gossip had circulated behind her back?
Even malicious slander, black fans, and rival camps paying for hit pieces, spreading rumors that she’d slept her way up and had no real acting skill.
The Best Actress had never bothered with any of that, a string of gleaming trophies, one after another, was the best proof of her ability!
Damn it, their classroom was on the third floor, and as she climbed the stairs, Lin Tingwan felt like her legs no longer belonged to her.
The soreness in her legs was truly killer, her legs trembled nonstop as she climbed.
Right at that moment, the mechanical voice sounded in her mind again:
【If the host completes the task, an icon will light up, allowing you to exchange for “Marrow-Cleansing Water.”】
Lin Tingwan gave a cold, dry laugh, automatically blocking out the “garbage” in her mind.
By the time Lin Tingwan struggled her way to her classroom, before she’d even entered, the first thing she saw was the school beauty, Lin Yuexuan, radiant and gorgeous, surrounded by classmates sitting around her.
She’d finished breakfast at home, then been driven over in a luxury car by the driver.
The driver, Old Huang. Lin Tingwan quietly laughed to herself.
She’d played out this kind of plot before, if she ever had the chance to get a DNA test done on Old Huang and Lin Yuexuan, who knew what the result would be.
Lin Yuexuan had no idea exactly what her mother had arranged, but she knew that in a few days, this annoying dead fat pig would vanish from her life for good.
Because of this, her mood had improved considerably, and she even, rarely, gave Lin Tingwan a smile.
Lin Tingwan couldn’t be bothered to pay her any attention, and walked straight to her own seat.
This left Lin Yuexuan thoroughly infuriated, while the girls around her rushed one after another to comfort and flatter her.
Miss Lin was rich and generous with her spending, and a few nice words could earn quite a few favors.
Why wouldn’t they?
Because she’d run to school today, stopping to rest quite a few times along the way, Lin Tingwan arrived just barely in time.
Basically everyone in class had already arrived, only the last seat in the fourth row group was empty.
That was Jiang Suizhou’s seat.
What did it mean to be a “school god”?
Even though he showed up to class late, left early, and slept through lessons every single day, he still came first in every exam.
That was why the homeroom teacher, Teacher Zhou, had such conflicted feelings about Jiang Suizhou, always fixing him with a look of exasperated disappointment.
Being first in the class or even the school wasn’t such a big deal, wouldn’t it be even better to push himself further and take first in the whole city, or even the whole province?
Jiang Suizhou completely ignored Teacher Zhou, continuing to do exactly as he pleased.
He basically stayed up all night busy with something every single day, didn’t nap during the day, how was he still keeping up this pace and staying alive?
At that moment, Jiang Suizhou also arrived at the classroom, only to see the girl who’d declared she’d knock him off his first-place throne staring blankly at his seat.
Strange, though, he’d been enrolled for a while already, but Jiang Suizhou looked at Lin Tingwan as if meeting her for the first time, just like yesterday.
As if they’d never known each other before at all.
Even though it was the same outward appearance, surely, at least, someone with that degree of obesity couldn’t easily be impersonated or faked by someone else?
But Jiang Suizhou had that feeling, the girl in front of him right now had clear, bright eyes.
Not the same person as that muddled fat girl who’d been out of it every single day before!
And what was Lin Tingwan doing at this moment?
Staring blankly at Jiang Suizhou!
Because, right at this moment, the system, ignoring her warning—
Earlier, worried she might suddenly space out during class and get called out by the teacher for it—
That would end up making her fail to complete tasks and lose life value, which would be a huge loss.
So Lin Tingwan had negotiated with the system that once she entered the classroom, the system would automatically go silent.
But right now, the system actually spoke up:
【Ding! Special soul fluctuation detected. Host must accept the following random task, save the fate of the antagonist character, Jiang Suizhou.】