The young man’s breathing grew rapid and ragged, as if he couldn’t get enough air. He braced his palms on the table, his back arching tight in what looked like a painful spasm.
His eyes drooped, the rims turning bloodshot. His gasps became hoarse and pained, each one sounding like it could be his last.
Red spots appeared on his long fingers, and red blotches spread across his cheeks.
Jiang You started to panic. An allergic reaction was no small matter; if he didn’t get to a doctor soon, he could go into shock.
"What a... what a buzzkill."
After saying this, Jiang You had Yang Qi take the man to the hospital.
"Don’t let him die!" Jiang You added, unable to stop herself from worrying. Then, to stay in character, she quickly supplemented, "If he dies, what’s left for me to play with!"
Although displeased, Yang Qi still dragged the man off to the hospital.
Looking as though the fun had been utterly ruined, Jiang You got up from her seat and left.
Seeing this, her three little followers scrambled to leave the bar with her.
"Sister You, if you’re unhappy, how about we go to a spa?" Yu Lin suggested, assuming from Jiang You’s blank expression that she was upset.
"Sister You, or we could go shopping for clothes," Lin Xue also recommended.
"Right, right! Don’t let some piece of trash ruin your mood," Chen Yu chimed in, trying to curry favor.
"Of course I wouldn’t get upset over a mere plaything. I’m going back... to school." Jiang You had almost said ’home’.
’In any case, I’m as good as dead already,’ Jiang You thought. ’I’m doomed. The male lead must hate my guts.’
’But then again, he’s supposed to hate my guts.’
’Later in the story, the male leads will bankrupt me, the villainess, and have me exiled to a Remote Star.’
"We’ll take you back to school!" The three followers, just now remembering that Jiang You was living in the dorms, eagerly offered to escort her back.
「Rose Liss Academy Entrance.」
"J-Jiang... I... from the first... the first moment I saw you... I... I’ve... l-liked you." The boy was wearing a Rose Liss uniform with a red rose brooch on his chest. His face was completely flushed, and he was stuttering uncontrollably. He bowed at a ninety-degree angle, holding a love letter in both hands, raising it level with his head. "Please... please accept... my love letter."
Jiang You hadn’t expected it. She was just standing there, waiting for her followers to return with a drink from across the street, when someone suddenly rushed up in front of her. He appeared out of nowhere, giving her a fright. Before she could even react, the boy was holding up a love letter and confessing to her.
’But I’m the villainess!’
’There’s no way I’m accepting a love letter from some random nobody.’
The boy was waiting, his heart pounding with anxiety, when the girl’s cold, contemptuous voice crashed down on him. "Someone like you? You think you’re worthy of liking me?"
It was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him, chilling him to the bone.
Beside her, Lin Xue went even further, snatching the love letter, ripping it into four pieces, and throwing them at the boy. "Now get lost!"
"How ridiculous. Trash like this dares to confess to our Sister You." Chen Yu’s words were even more cutting as she chimed in with a sneer. "He should’ve taken a good look in a mirror to see what a pathetic loser he is."
Humiliated and wretched, the boy crouched down to pick up the pieces of his letter, then ran off, his eyes red and welling with tears.
Jiang You silently swallowed. ’Ouch, my followers’ verbal attacks are brutal.’
She thought they had gone a little too far, but remembering her role, she didn’t say anything.
’Oh well,’ she thought. ’At least this should put a swift end to that boy’s fantasies.’
Yu Lin returned with the drinks, jogging back over. "Here, Sister You. Your favorite peach soda."
As she spoke, she looked at Lin Xue and the others. "What just happened?"
And so, the group started walking toward the school gate. Lin Xue and Chen Yu began telling Yu Lin what had happened, embellishing the story to mock and belittle the boy even more.
Jiang You didn’t say a word, just listening to them talk.
They made him sound completely worthless.
"You have no idea! This guy came up to give our Sister You a love letter. It was hilarious! Who even gives love letters these days? And he was stuttering, repeating every other word, ’I... I... like you.’ HAHAHA, I’m dying!"
"Yeah, and he was wearing cheap cologne. He obviously tried to dress up, but he still looked totally tacky. It was hysterical."
"That cologne of his probably cost a few hundred. That’s not even a fraction of what Sister You spends on one fingernail, and he still had the nerve to confess? The gall of him!"
...
Even Jiang You felt a little embarrassed for him. ’The guy was just trying to give me a love letter...’
’They really are cannon fodder,’ she thought. ’Aren’t these the classic lines of cannon fodder characters?’
At the school gate, members of the student council’s disciplinary committee were writing down the names of students returning late.
Jiang You and her three followers, of course, ignored them and walked straight inside.
An arm shot out in front of Jiang You, blocking her path. It was followed by a cold, emotionless voice. "You can’t go in until your name is recorded."
Jiang You was forced to stop. She instinctively turned her head to look at the person beside her.
"Who do you think you are? Didn’t you see our Sister You’s purple brooch? You think you can afford to mess with her? Daring to write down our names, you got a death..." wish?
The follower’s arrogant tirade was cut short when she saw the golden rose brooch on the person’s uniform. Her voice died in her throat.
A golden rose brooch.
The young man was handsome, with neat black hair and alluring peach blossom eyes. But his pupils were the color of ash. A cross earring hung from his right ear. The overall impression was severe and unapproachable.
He had been born with the passionate peach blossom eyes of a romantic, yet his were the bleak, cold color of ash.
"Returning late. Five points deducted." Gu Qing’s pale lips moved. His long lashes were lowered, his gaze fixed impassively on the notebook in his hand, not even looking at Jiang You. He held a pen, poised to write down her name. "What class, what name?"
The three followers didn’t dare to speak.
"Oh, just another trick to get my attention." Seeing the golden brooch, Jiang You’s attitude shifted. She scoffed, then spoke as if granting a favor, "First-year Healing System, Class 1. Jiang You. Go ahead and write it down."
Without waiting for the young man’s reaction, she walked past him. Her three followers hurried to keep up.
Gu Qing wrote in his notebook:
First-year Healing System, Class 1, Jiang You.
The strokes were sharp, the handwriting strong and elegant, as if formed from steel. It was beautiful to look at.
"President..." A boy from the disciplinary committee timidly approached Gu Qing’s side.
A moment ago, the President had just been leaning nearby, casually observing their work as usual. Then, for some unknown reason, he had suddenly come over, snatched the boy’s notebook, and gone to block a very beautiful girl.
Gu Qing tore out the page, then slapped the notebook and pen back into the boy’s arms. "Get back to work."
With that, he turned and left. He glanced inexplicably at the piece of paper in his hand before slipping it into his pocket.
The boy stood there, baffled and confused, but he went back to recording the names of late students.
He then recalled the earlier scene where someone had confessed to that girl, and her arrogant, ice-cold rejection.
Strangely, he didn’t feel there was anything wrong with it.
That girl was so beautiful, so unattainable, that even he felt he wasn’t worthy of her.