Leo was dazed. “I’m going to buy her a gift right now—a big gift! Jin, you guys go have fun! I’ve got important business to attend to!”
Lily looked around uneasily, swaying slightly back and forth. “Maybe… we should go too?”
The group quickly caught up with Leo, walking briskly and whispering among themselves.
“I knew that little bit of money wouldn’t be enough to appease a psychic’s wrath.”
“…Better be more careful from now on.”
The surrounding students overheard fragments of their conversation. Though curious, they didn’t dare approach since it was Jin and his crew. Only after Jin and the others had walked away did they start whispering among themselves. “What were they just saying?”
“Sounds like there’s someone powerful at this school.”
“What?! Who?”
“No idea, but they seem really mysterious. Feels like they’re incredibly strong.”
“…Spread the word—there’s a powerful mysterious figure at this school.”
“Did you hear? Jin and his crew aren’t actually the strongest at school. The truly powerful one has been disguising themselves as a normal person all along. No one knows who they are. Even Jin and his crew are their underlings.”
“Cool! Just like Superman!”
The topic of “the mysterious figure” quickly spread across the students’ social apps.
Zhao Zhenzhen had no idea. She had just returned to the classroom.
Betty followed her.
Zhao Zhenzhen was completely worn down by Betty’s persistence.
Even her voice sounded drained. “Everything you mentioned before—you don’t need to do any of that anymore. But we can form a study partnership.”
“A study partnership?” Betty was confused.
“A study group.” Seeing Betty’s look of realization, Zhao Zhenzhen continued, “I want to go to university, but my grades are pretty average right now. So if possible, I’d like you to help me with my studies.”
“I understand!” Betty nodded vigorously. Seeing that the classroom was empty, she leaned in close and whispered, “Actually, I want to go to university too.”
Zhao Zhenzhen was puzzled. “Why are you whispering?”
“Because if other people hear, they’ll call us nerds,” Betty said in a low voice.
“So the popular kids at school really are the cheerleading captain, the jocks, and all that?” Zhao Zhenzhen recalled the teen movies she’d watched before and asked Betty.
Betty nodded emphatically, adding, “And the beauty queen, the quarterback…” and on and on.
In summary: flashy, surrounded by followers, and especially full of personality.
What? Students should focus on their studies and get good grades? Please—who wants to be a boring nerd? That’s not cool at all.
“I don’t get it,” Zhao Zhenzhen shook her head.
But she didn’t care.
She was going to study hard regardless.
“Everyone’s gone. Let’s head out too.”
“Okay!” Betty said eagerly. “Let me carry your bag for you.”
“No need, I’ve got—” it.
The moment Zhao Zhenzhen pulled her backpack out of the desk cubby, she felt the weight was off. Her hand dipped, and water dripped from the bottom of the bag.
“Ah!” Betty stared at her backpack. “They soaked all your textbooks in water!”
Sure enough, everything was completely soaked.
Zhao Zhenzhen rummaged through the bag, confirmed that everything inside was drenched, then simply shoved the backpack back into the desk cubby. “Let’s go.”
“You’re not taking your bag?” Betty hesitated for a moment before quickly following.
“No. I’ll leave it there for now,” Zhao Zhenzhen said.
It didn’t matter anyway—there was no homework, so bringing it home or not made no difference. Besides, she deliberately wanted to leave the bag there. When she came back on Monday and saw people’s reactions, she’d be able to guess who did it.
And when that time came…
Zhao Zhenzhen snorted.
Betty shrank back slightly.
For some reason, she suddenly felt that whoever had pranked Zhao would die a miserable death.
This was an Eastern witch, after all!
Betty hugged her schoolbag and obediently followed Zhao Zhenzhen as they walked out. As she walked, she looked at her with eager puppy-dog eyes. “What do you want for breakfast tomorrow? I’ll buy it and bring it to you.”
Zhao Zhenzhen looked at her in surprise. “Tomorrow’s the weekend.”
Betty nodded understandingly. “Then should I knock at 10:30? You can sleep in a bit more?”
Girl, this eager sidekick attitude of yours is making me really uncomfortable!
“…No need to be that thoughtful.” Zhao Zhenzhen said with difficulty.
Betty gave a sweet smile. “I’m doing it willingly.”
“…No need to be that willing either.”
Betty still wanted to willingly walk Zhao Zhenzhen home, but fortunately Kate arrived.
Her car was parked at the school gate, and she leaned against the car door, smoking and chatting with the security guard.
When she saw Zhao Zhenzhen, she waved at her with the cigarette still in her mouth.
She had to admit—Kate, bathed in sunlight, biting the cigarette and flashing her white teeth in a grin, was a really cool-looking beauty.
Full of swagger.
Especially when this swaggering beauty saved her from a tight spot, she looked even more beautiful.
Anyway, Zhao Zhenzhen was deeply moved and let out a huge sigh of relief.
“See, someone’s here to pick me up.” Zhao Zhenzhen quickly waved at Betty. “See you Monday.”
“Alright.” Betty said with a look of regret. “See you Monday then.”
Kate had come to the school specifically to pick up Zhao Zhenzhen. To thank her.
Zhao Zhenzhen spoke first. “Congratulations.”
Kate was delighted and looked at her in shock. “You even know about this?!”
Zhao Zhenzhen had actually guessed. She wanted to verify whether the +1 she’d received at the very beginning was because what she’d said to Kate earlier had taken effect.
Like changing the original course of events or something.
Now it was confirmed that it was indeed as she’d guessed.
It felt a bit like doing good deeds and having the merit returned to you.
Though her panel was like an NPC panel in a game, so it probably wasn’t that noble—it was more like experience points earned after completing a quest, right?
And these points were quite valuable—1 point = 10 dollars.
She just didn’t know if they had any other uses. When she went out to set up her stall tomorrow, if there was a new one, she could try it.
Thanks to Zhao Zhenzhen’s advance tip, Kate had been thinking about which role to audition for while waiting in line.
Actually, she’d still had a sliver of hesitation until the director said exactly the same words as Zhao Zhenzhen. Only then did she fully believe it.
She was well-prepared and the result was excellent—right after she finished performing, the director and investors made the decision on the spot, and she signed the contract immediately.
Tomorrow Kate would be heading to the film set.
After coming out, she immediately called her mother, Mrs. Dalins. Naturally, she mentioned Zhao Zhenzhen as well.
So now Mrs. Dalins also knew that the Chinese exchange student staying at her house possessed some mysterious abilities.
An Eastern witch?
Mrs. Dalins immediately decided that Kate should pick her up from school on her way back. To thank Zhao for her help, Mrs. Dalins wanted to invite her over for dinner.
Kate also wanted to thank Zhao Zhenzhen, so she had no objection at all to her mother’s request for her to pick her up.
Also joining the celebration was Mrs. Dalins’s younger brother, White—an electrician with a scruffy beard who always looked like he hadn’t slept. He seemed gloomy and dispirited, but he had a decent heart, maybe?
Anyway, the lawn in front of Mrs. Dalins’s house was mowed and cleaned by him every week.
Zhao Zhenzhen searched through the original body’s memories for traces of White.
Probably because every time he came, he was mowing the front lawn, so even though he looked rather disheveled, Zhao Zhenzhen felt he smelled of fresh grass.
“Hey.” White, with his grass scent, didn’t move an inch from his seat on the couch. Hearing them come back, he only turned his neck and lazily raised a hand in greeting.
Zhao Zhenzhen found him quite amusing, so she raised her hand and said “Hey” back.
“Back already?” Mrs. Dalins poked her head out from the kitchen. “Dinner will be ready soon.”
“I’ll help.” Kate said to Zhao Zhenzhen, “You just sit tight.”
“I’ll set the tableware.” Zhao Zhenzhen followed behind Kate.
She followed too closely—when Kate turned around, she nearly bumped straight into her arms.
“No need.” Kate placed both hands on Zhao Zhenzhen’s shoulders, half-carrying, half-pushing her down into the single-seat sofa, snatching the popcorn from her uncle’s arms and stuffing it into Zhao Zhenzhen’s hands. “You just sit here and watch TV.”
Zhao Zhenzhen held the popcorn, a bit dumbfounded.
White, whose popcorn had been snatched away, just shrugged nonchalantly, picked up the remote, and asked her, “What do you want to watch?” Then he glanced at Zhao Zhenzhen’s face, which looked far too young, and turned his head to mutter, “Alright, you probably like cartoons.”
“???” Wait, why would she like cartoons? Where did that conclusion even come from?!
Zhao Zhenzhen’s eyes went wide.
But the cartoon really was good. It was The Powerpuff Girls!
To celebrate, White had brought a bottle of wine.
Zhao Zhenzhen drank orange juice by herself.
The celebration was for Kate, so naturally the dinner conversation revolved around her. But as they talked, the topic drifted to what Kate had encountered during her interview, and that led to Zhao Zhenzhen.
“Really?!” White looked at Zhao Zhenzhen with an incredulous expression, somewhat doubtful. “You actually have that ability… whoa, Dalins, you stepped on my foot!”
White shouted loudly.
“Did I? I must have accidentally touched it.” Mrs. Dalins smiled at him, but her eyes were blazing as if scolding him.
White had been dominated by his older sister since childhood—how could he not understand that Dalins was telling him to “shut up” with her eyes? He shrugged and behaved himself.
Mrs. Dalins nodded in satisfaction, turned her gaze to Zhao Zhenzhen, and said softly, “Zhao, would you like another glass of orange juice?”
“Thank you, this is enough.” Zhao Zhenzhen waved her hand.
Mrs. Dalins nodded. “Zhao, you… can really see it? Then could you take a look for me and White?”
Zhao Zhenzhen nodded, setting down her knife and fork. “I’ll give it a try. Who goes first?”
“White goes first.”
“Hey! Dalins, I—” White started to protest, but under his sister’s gaze, he gradually deflated. “Fine, fine.”
He looked at Zhao Zhenzhen, spread both hands, and wore a look of total indifference. “What do I need to do?”
“Nothing.” Zhao Zhenzhen tapped the milky-white Virtual Lightbulb above White’s head.
His personal panel popped up.
Mrs. Dalins and Kate, after Zhao Zhenzhen had agreed, held their breath slightly and widened their eyes from the side.
Seeing Zhao Zhenzhen raise her hand and make a gesture in the air toward White, her fingers swiping cleanly and decisively—
The mother and daughter immediately gripped each other’s hands, huddled together in shock as they stared at Zhao Zhenzhen, whispering to each other.
“She did this exact gesture to me this morning.” Kate whispered to her mother, with a hint of admiration she hadn’t even noticed in herself. “And then my interview went smoothly.”
“Shh——” Mrs. Dalins gestured for her daughter to keep her voice down, so as not to disturb Zhao Zhenzhen’s “ritual.” Her face was deadly serious. “I’ve seen this before—Taoist priests in Hong Kong films do exactly this.”
“It must be some kind of very mysterious, ancient incantation.”
Kate nodded vigorously. She and her mother were of the same mind.
When she looked at Zhao Zhenzhen again, the girl suddenly seemed different somehow. Kate couldn’t help but lean closer to her mother. “The first time I met her, I felt she was a little different from ordinary people.”
Mrs. Dalins nodded solemnly. “Me too.”
Zhao Zhenzhen’s toes were curled tightly, not daring to relax even a fraction.
The dining table was only so big, and the distance wasn’t far—no matter how quietly they whispered, she could still hear them!
Different from ordinary people from the very first meeting? But the first time you saw the original body, you two were muttering to each other that she was a bit too introverted.
She had her memories as proof!
Still drawing mysterious talismans?
Actually, she was just opening her interface panel.
Her hand, at this moment, was nothing more than a mouse hand.