Although she didn’t know why Yu Mo had suddenly called her name, it provided a perfect escape from the awkward social circle she had been trapped in. With a quick acknowledgement, Bai Xi turned and walked back.
Jiang Zhiya left as well, with Chen Jingmo following close behind. Eventually, only Ye Ying and Fu Zuo remained at the door. Ye Ying didn’t stay long either; after returning the materials and exchanging a few more words with Fu Zuo, she left—after all, the breaks at Nanluo Academy weren’t very long.
Bai Xi returned to her seat and took back the “forced-to-be-hungry” 002. Just as she did, a head popped up from the front row.
“You know that Ye Ying girl?” Jiang Zhiya turned around, leaning her upper body against Bai Xi’s desk. She reached out and poked at 002. “Nice cat.”
“Yeah, I know her.” Stroking 002’s head, Bai Xi looked at these characters from the original novel with a sense of bewilderment. They were supposed to be genuine high schoolers, so why was everyone’s hidden agenda so difficult to read? At first, she thought Jiang Zhiya was a scatterbrained, simple girl, but after some contact, Bai Xi realized it wasn’t that simple.
“I heard Ye Ying and Fu Zuo met at a middle school competition. It’s my first time meeting her too, but… Fu Zuo and Ye Ying are very close. You get what I mean, right?” propping her chin on her hand, Jiang Zhiya dropped this cryptic line out of nowhere.
Bai Xi: ???
Bai Xi felt like she had missed out on a billion plot points. What was wrong with everyone? Why were they all coming to her with these riddles? First, Fu Zuo had revealed that Jiang Zhiya and Chen Jingmo were siblings, and now Jiang Zhiya was telling her that Fu Zuo and Ye Ying had known each other since middle school. What did any of this have to do with her, Bai Xi?
Seeing the massive question mark practically hovering over Bai Xi’s head, Jiang Zhiya frowned in confusion. “Do you really not know, or are you just pretending?”
“Know what?” Was there something I was supposed to know?
Just as Jiang Zhiya was about to elaborate, the bell rang. The Biology teacher—clad in a suit and looking like the embodiment of justice—stepped onto the podium right on time. He slammed the blackboard eraser against the desk with iron-fisted authority. “Class begins!”
This Biology teacher was the only substitute teacher in International Class Two who could rival the “troublemaking” Language teacher. He was also incredibly close with Old Liu. If anyone dared to act up in his class, they could expect to be dragged to the playground by Old Liu to run laps.
Thus, while Bai Xi waited expectantly for Jiang Zhiya to give her the answer, she watched as the usually rebellious Jiang Zhiya obediently turned around and began copying Chen Jingmo’s homework.
Bai Xi: … One really has the guts to write it, and the other really has the guts to copy it.
With her “informant” temporarily offline, Bai Xi glanced at Yu Mo beside her. She decided not to rely on this “brother” who hadn’t even memorized the names of his classmates after two years.
The period passed relatively quickly. Bai Xi finished two sets of exam papers before the bell rang. As soon as it did, she lunged forward and grabbed Jiang Zhiya just as she was about to run out with Chen Jingmo.
“You only said half of it. What’s the other half?” Bai Xi had been holding back her curiosity for an entire period; she wasn’t about to let Jiang Zhiya get away now.
Startled for a moment, Jiang Zhiya remembered the topic and patted Bai Xi’s shoulder. “Bro, I almost forgot if you hadn’t mentioned it. But this isn’t the place to talk. Come on, let’s go to the activity room.”
Seeing Jiang Zhiya acting so mysterious, Bai Xi handed 002—who was sleeping on her lap—to Yu Mo. “He doesn’t have cat food. He eats whatever I eat. If you think he’s hungry, just feed him whatever.”
Assuming Yu Mo was still fixated on 002’s diet, Bai Xi—who honestly didn’t know what a system cat could actually eat—gave some vague instructions and headed out with Jiang Zhiya.
Left behind, 002 and Yu Mo stared at each other for a long time. Finally, Yu Mo deigned to pick up a small cracker (courtesy of Qian Ying) and held it up to 002’s mouth.
On the other side of the building, Bai Xi followed Jiang Zhiya to the fourth-floor activity room.
Since the fourth floor only housed International Classes One and Two, the extra rooms were divided into private lockers, activity rooms, and art studios for the two classes. It was like each class had four classrooms to itself, plus a panoramic balcony lounge area.
The activity room was usually empty. When Bai Xi and Jiang Zhiya arrived, only two girls were inside chatting. Seeing Jiang Zhiya enter with Bai Xi behind her, the two girls immediately cleared out to give them space.
Once the room was empty, Bai Xi stood casually by the door. “Can you talk now?”
“You don’t have to stay so far away from me. You’re good-looking, but I’m not the type to force people into things.” Seeing the diagonal distance between them, Jiang Zhiya patted the chair next to her. “Sit down. I won’t bite.”
With a helpless smile, Bai Xi felt that she really was “old.”
Sitting next to Jiang Zhiya, Bai Xi finally unraveled the whole story.
It was actually very simple. It could be explained in one sentence: Fu Zuo liked Ye Ying.
Bai Xi truly hadn’t considered this possibility. After all, this was a romance novel, not a “girls’ love” story. A female supporting character liking the female lead? This was a total mess!
Apparently, Fu Zuo and Ye Ying had bonded over competitions and became kindred spirits. Although Ye Ying came from a poor background, she was beautiful, gentle, and lacked the “spoiled heir” traits common among their peers. She had even introduced Fu Zuo to many ordinary, everyday things the latter had never experienced.
In the process, the “not-so-straight” Fu Zuo fell for Ye Ying. However, Fu Zuo knew Ye Ying well and realized she wasn’t on the “same path,” so she never dared to confess. Furthermore, as the eldest daughter of the Fu family, she couldn’t act on every whim. Aside from a few close friends, everyone thought they were just ordinary best friends.
The reason Fu Zuo had been paying such close attention to Bai Xi was that even while she was in Europe, she stayed in constant contact with Ye Ying. And during that time, the name that appeared most in Ye Ying’s messages was “Bai Xi.”
Fu Zuo naturally felt a sense of crisis. Ye Ying had always found boys her age too immature and had never paid any of them much mind, rejecting every suitor who came her way.
After investigating Bai Xi and learning about her background—a sickly, refined, and well-traveled young master—Fu Zuo felt threatened. Whether it was Ye Ying’s naturally kind and soft-hearted nature or her preference for knowledgeable, scholarly people, Bai Xi posed a significant threat to Fu Zuo’s position.
Hearing this, Bai Xi thought of the cold, indifferent Ye Ying who had watched her lying on the grass. Her lip twitched almost imperceptibly. Naturally kind and soft-hearted? Give me a break.
Listening to Jiang Zhiya drone on about Fu Zuo’s “lens-distorted” impression of Ye Ying, Bai Xi suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. She couldn’t tell if Fu Zuo’s “love filter” for Ye Ying was just too thick, or if Ye Ying was simply that good at acting in front of her. The gap in perception was staggering.
“Anyway, in short, I’ve never seen Fu Zuo so anxious. We were supposed to stay in Europe for two more weeks, but because of this, Fu Zuo applied to return immediately. She packed last night and flew back. You wouldn’t believe it—four hours ago, we were still sleeping somewhere over Europe.”
Jiang Zhiya let out a timely yawn and offered her final summary: “Basically, I think Fu Zuo really loves Ye Ying. I can also see that you don’t have any romantic feelings for her. So, telling you this is just a heads-up. We’re all in the same circle; we’re bound to run into each other. Fu Zuo is serious about Ye Ying. I didn’t know you before, but my impression of you is pretty good now, so I don’t want any friction between us because of this. It’s better to have everything out in the open.”
After hearing the whole story, Bai Xi realized she had overthought things. These “kids” were still just kids; they didn’t have many complex motives beyond their youthful romances. Even if they were precocious, it was only in their studies. They couldn’t be experts in everything. The fact that they thought about their family families at all was already impressive.
Smiling inwardly at her previous caution, Bai Xi felt that she should perhaps step out of the “author’s filter” and look at these people objectively. At the end of the day, they were just a group of seventeen and eighteen-year-old adolescents in the middle of puberty.
Just as Bai Xi was about to say something, the activity room door was kicked open with a thunderous BANG. The door swung wildly, traced a 90-degree arc, and—with a pathetic clack—ended its short life.
And there stood a group of “adolescents” looking anything but innocent. They were radiating killing intent, especially the leader, Chen Jingmo, who looked as if he had a blood feud with her.
“Jiang Zhiya, get over here!” Chen Jingmo grabbed a nearby baseball bat and slammed it against a ping-pong table. The deafening crack startled everyone.
Jiang Zhiya, who had been having a perfectly good talk with Bai Xi and was on the verge of solving her best friend’s love rival problem, was not in a good mood after seeing Chen Jingmo barge in with such hostility.
“Chen Jingmo? What’s wrong with you?! I’m right here. Are you trying to pick a fight with me or something?” Jiang Zhiya rolled up her sleeves, showing zero fear. She charged over to Chen Jingmo and grabbed his collar, her tone even more aggressive than his.
Chen Jingmo grabbed her hands and threw her behind him. “Take care of Lord Jiang. Today, I’m here to deal with Bai Xi. You guys stay at the door. No one interferes!”
Bai Xi, who had been sitting cross-legged watching the show: ??? Deal with me?
Dusting off her hands, Bai Xi stood up. She pointed at her own nose with a look of doubt. “Deal with me? Do I have a grudge against you?”
“Stop playing dumb! Bai Xi, if you had the guts to take responsibility, I’d respect you as a man. But this ‘playing innocent’ act makes me look down on you even more! You don’t know who the guys at the affiliated middle school belong to? Or do you just not know the rules of Nanluo?” Chen Jingmo toyed with the baseball bat, watching as his lackeys dragged Jiang Zhiya out and lined up to take the place of the now-broken door.
Bai Xi: I really don’t need you to ‘respect me as a man.’