Song Shudi woke up with a headache. She seemed to have had a hazy dream last night, a dream about a girl, but she couldn’t remember the details.
“Did you find out what I asked you to investigate last night?” Song Shudi wiped the sweat from her forehead.
She was referring to the system’s inability to detect Liu Xiyue’s location. If they had detected Liu Xiyue’s existence in time last night, she would have definitely avoided her.
“I found out. Liu Xiyue is likely not a native of this world.” 210 was incredulous at the results of its investigation.
“Huh? Not a native of the original world?” Song Shudi paused in her dressing.
“That should be the case. Logically speaking, natives of the original world shouldn’t be able to evade our tracking, but Liu Xiyue did. We can only not detect her when a transmigrator activates stealth mode.”
Moreover, when encountering Liu Xiyue at the sink, 210 also sensed the presence of other systems.
719 could sense 210’s energy, and conversely, 210 could also sense 719’s presence.
“I understand…” Song Shudi said softly, her tone devoid of emotion.
It turned out she wasn’t a resident of the original world; this was somewhat unexpected.
“Then what should we do if we run into Liu Xiyue in the future? Should we still avoid her?” 210 was becoming increasingly interested in Liu Xiyue. Perhaps she was even in the same profession.
“I don’t know.” Song Shudi refused to answer the question.
…School…
Song Shudi arrived early and immediately began memorizing the English vocabulary she needed to learn that day. Her hard work during this period was evident to all, and the class’s stereotype of Bai Lin as an incompetent student was slowly fading.
However, the original owner had committed many sins in her previous life, and completely changing this impression wouldn’t be something that could be accomplished overnight.
When Song Shudi first started studying seriously, everyone thought she was just putting on an act and would give up after a few days. Unexpectedly, Song Shudi became increasingly diligent, and her grades had been slowly improving over the past few months.
“Hey, do you think Bai Lin will make it into the top ten in the class?” Several high-achieving students huddled together.
High-achieving students tend to be more anxious than average students; they get a little nervous whenever someone in the class improves, fearing they’ll be pushed down.
“Probably not. She barely studied in her first year of high school, so her foundation is already solid. Besides, she likes to slack off; she might stop studying altogether after a while,” another high-achieving student chimed in.
They felt that no matter how much Bai Lin’s grades improved, she couldn’t surpass them, and getting into a top university in the end would be about right.
“Host, they’re talking badly about you.”
“I heard them, I’m not deaf.”
“Aren’t you going to get first place and show them?”
210 found these kids annoying, always secretly gossiping behind people’s backs. But because Bai Lin’s family was rich and powerful, she didn’t dare say it to their faces.
“No need. Getting first place directly would make them suspect I cheated,” Song Shudi didn’t want to be entangled in rumors.
With her own abilities, she was more than capable of getting first place in the class, and might even beat the second-place student by several tens of points. However, due to the original owner’s bad reputation, she could only keep a low profile.
Just then, a commotion broke out outside the classroom.
“Come and see! Liu Xiyue is here!” A boy sitting by the classroom door poked his head out and excitedly called over the rest of the class.
Morning self-study hadn’t started yet, and there weren’t many people in the classroom, only about ten scattered around.
Five or six boys sitting in their seats rushed towards the classroom door, unable to hide their excitement. Several girls followed along as well; who doesn’t like to see a pretty girl?
In the end, only Song Shudi remained sitting in her seat.
“She’s here! Where is she?”
“Did you bring your phone? Quick, take some pictures!”
The students quietly took out their phones from their drawers and snapped a few photos of Liu Xiyue whenever they could.
“Isn’t Liu Xiyue in the humanities class? What’s she doing here?” A girl looked at the photos on her phone; Building A was quite far from Building C.
While everyone was talking, Liu Xiyue was already almost at the door of their classroom.
“Is she here to look for someone in our class?”
As Liu Xiyue got closer and closer to Class 30, a few boys finally couldn’t sit still anymore. They were nervous and flustered, and even their words became a little incoherent.
They couldn’t possibly remain calm when such a beautiful girl walked up to them.
Sure enough, Liu Xiyue stopped directly in front of Class 30.
Liu Xiyue walked up to a girl and said softly, “Excuse me, where is office 339?” Her
gentle voice was like the warm sun in winter. The girl who was spoken to by Liu Xiyue instantly felt like she was in a gentle paradise. This feeling of being bathed in a spring breeze was really very comfortable. She liked Liu Xiyue’s voice.
Of course, Liu Xiyue wasn’t really there to ask for directions. She just wanted to scout out the place, see where Song Shudi was sitting, and also take a look at Song Shudi. The time she had bumped into him last night was too short; she hadn’t had enough of looking at him.
“Building C is a bit complicated… I’ll take you there myself.” The girl was somewhat flattered; she hadn’t expected Liu Xiyue to speak to her.
“Won’t that take up your time?” Liu Xiyue thoughtfully glanced at the clock on the wall; there were still fifteen minutes before morning self-study started.
Actually, just pointing her in a direction would have been enough; she didn’t want to delay the girl.
“It’s alright, 339 isn’t far from here.” The girl responded enthusiastically to Liu Xiyue; taking Liu Xiyue to 339 and back would take more than fifteen minutes.
“Thank you then.” Liu Xiyue thanked her politely.
The girl led Liu Xiyue away amidst everyone’s gaze.
Everyone was focused on Liu Xiyue, but no one noticed that Liu Xiyue’s peripheral vision was constantly on Song Shudi, including when she was talking to that girl, she was also looking for opportunities to look at Song Shudi.
But Song Shudi remained as steady as a rock, not looking up at all.
“Host, I feel like she’s watching you.” 210 also noticed Liu Xiyue’s gaze.
Liu Xiyue was clever; every time her eyes glanced in Song Shudi’s direction, she would quickly look away, making it unclear whether she was actually looking in their direction.
“Don’t flatter yourself. I don’t know her; she has no reason to look at me. Besides, Bai Lin warned me not to get too close to Liu Xiyue.”
In Song Shudi’s memory, the two were complete strangers; she wouldn’t presume to think the other had feelings for her.
Moreover, she was on a mission and would try to avoid unnecessary contact with people.
“That’s true.”
After Liu Xiyue left, the classroom quieted down for a while.
Several students noticed something unusual.
“When Liu Xiyue came in, why didn’t Bai Lin look at her? Isn’t he the one who likes pretty girls the most?”
“Yeah, yeah, when a pretty girl appeared at school before, she was more enthusiastic than anyone else, even going up to ask for her contact information. Why isn’t she moving now?”
“Is she really going to become a good student?”
Everyone wondered what had gotten into Song Shudi that made her stop even looking at pretty girls.
Only Song Shudi herself knew that Bai Lin was no longer there.
At lunchtime,
Song Shudi tidied up her desk and prepared to go to the cafeteria.
She had just bought a bowl of curry chicken rice when she noticed everyone’s eyes were focused on the cafeteria entrance.
Looking up, sure enough, it was Liu Xiyue again.
This was a public place, and teachers were patrolling the cafeteria, so students didn’t dare to crowd towards the entrance and could only find a spot close enough to see Liu Xiyue.
Liu Xiyue glanced at the people around her and finally found a seat close to Song Shudi. This spot wouldn’t disturb Song Shudi, but it would also allow Song Shudi to easily see her.
She was playing a little game, trying to make her presence known to the person she liked. Confident in her looks and charm, she figured if Song Shudi saw her a few more times, he might soften his attitude, making it easier for her to get his contact information later.
As it turned out, Liu Xiyue’s plan worked perfectly. Song Shudi only needed to look up slightly to see her.
Even 210 was captivated by Liu Xiyue’s beauty.
“Waaah, Liu Xiyue is so beautiful! The more I look, the more I like her.” The system, being a sentient being, genuinely admired Liu Xiyue’s looks.
Why wasn’t its host as beautiful as Liu Xiyue?
“She is indeed beautiful, without a doubt.” Song Shudi picked up a piece of chicken and put it in her mouth.
This wasn’t the first time she’d praised Liu Xiyue.
If she hadn’t seen countless female leads and become immune to beauty, she probably wouldn’t have been able to withstand Liu Xiyue’s visual onslaught.
Gradually, their eyes met more and more often.
Liu Xiyue’s lips curled into a smile; she had achieved her goal.
She tucked the strands of hair behind her ears, revealing her delicate jawline, a sight Song Shudi witnessed again.
Song Shudi: *cough cough*…
She quickly drank a glass of water. They’d almost finished eating; it was time to leave, or the atmosphere would become a little strange.
Watching Song Shudi’s departing figure, Liu Xiyue almost burst out laughing.
Coming out of the cafeteria, Liu Xiyue was in high spirits. She was delighted that Song Shudi had finally noticed her, their eyes had met, and she was sincerely grateful for her good looks.
She knew she was beautiful and adept at using her charm, but she knew Song Shudi wasn’t someone who only cared about appearances. To truly win her over, she would need to spend a lot of time “communicating deeply.”
“You really went to great lengths to pursue her. If it were anyone else, they would have won her over long ago, especially those who are obsessed with looks,” 719 remarked, admiring Liu Xiyue’s efforts.
A goddess of Liu Xiyue’s caliber—who wouldn’t she be able to win over?
“It’s precisely because she doesn’t care much about appearances that I have to be even more meticulous and attentive. If she were someone who craved good looks, I would have already used every trick in the book to seduce her.”
Liu Xiyue had been with Song Shudi, and during that time, she paid close attention to everything about him. She knew how to appeal to Song Shudi’s tastes and understood his character very well.