Ji Qiuge found it strange—what was the second male lead approving of? Approving of her sneering at the female lead?
Just as she was about to speak, a stir rippled through the class.
Ji Qiuge immediately realized the male lead had arrived.
Sure enough, turning her head, she saw Fu Yunjing striding in, impeccably dressed in a suit, a pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on his face, radiating an overwhelming presence.
The moment he entered, a suffocating wave of pressure crashed over the room, making every student feel as though breathing had become a struggle. The commotion sparked by his arrival was instantly suppressed—dead silence fell over the entire class.
Ji Qiuge sneered inwardly. What oppressive presence? It's just the Plot doing its work.
She looked at Su Xiaoxiao.
Su Xiaoxiao was still bent over her desk, writing. After what had happened last night, she had made up her mind: during school hours, she would pay attention to nothing but her studies.
The moment Fu Yunjing entered, his gaze swept over the Soul-Bullet Sisterhood standing there, and because of Ji Qiuge's line of sight, he spotted Su Xiaoxiao.
He recognized her, and a playful smile curled at the corner of his lips.
He had made inquiries yesterday—a new commoner girl had transferred to the school. So this was her.
Recalling what she had said yesterday, Fu Yunjing found the young lady somewhat intriguing.
While Fu Yunjing was looking at Su Xiaoxiao, Ji Qiuge's gaze drifted to his shoes.
Unfortunately, today he was wearing a pair of matte black leather shoes.
It seemed those rainbow-colored leather shoes wouldn't be making an appearance anytime soon.
Just as she was thinking this, Ji Qiuge suddenly sensed a shift in the atmosphere. She looked up and saw Fu Yunjing staring at her with a dark, brooding expression.
He, too, had been reminded of last night's shoes by her gaze. He didn't know what had possessed him to pick out a pair of rainbow-colored shoes.
In any case, as a man who had never known failure, he had no desire to revisit what happened last night!
He had already taken immediate action yesterday, scrubbing all images and videos from press conferences and the like—making sure his shoes never appeared in any of them, and forbidding anyone online from posting anything related.
But the look in Ji Qiuge's eyes…
Fu Yunjing spoke coldly: "Ji Qiuge, if you don't return to your seat, does that mean you intend to answer my question directly?"
Ji Qiuge hesitated. Was this even in the Plot?
She remembered that today's main scenario involved the male lead teaching a class and posing a question. As the vicious female supporting character, Ji Qiuge naturally called on Su Xiaoxiao to answer in front of everyone.
Su Xiaoxiao couldn't answer, but her attitude was neither servile nor overbearing, which earned Fu Yunjing's favor. He then threw a question back at her—she failed to answer that one too, got mocked for it, and spent the rest of the day feeling utterly deflated.
【It's probably because of your leather shoes. Don't rely entirely on the original novel's Plot—remember, we're here to modify the Plot. When certain events shift, the content of the book will also change accordingly to avoid disrupting the Main Plot.】
The System reminded her helpfully.
Ji Qiuge didn't know what to say, and her silence only deepened the contempt and disgust in Fu Yunjing's eyes.
"So the Ji family no longer feels the need to regard me with any respect? Miss Ji, have you become incapable of understanding what I'm saying?"
The moment Fu Yunjing dropped those words, more than a few people in the room drew in sharp breaths.
That was a heavy statement.
The pressure in the room dropped even further.
Some couldn't help but recall Fu Yunjing's reputation as a tyrant outside these walls, fearing that in a fit of rage, he might do something that would drag them all into the fallout.
"I believe you've misunderstood, Professor," Ye Lingjun suddenly spoke, his gentle voice breaking the oppressive atmosphere.
"Classmate Ji is probably just intimidated by your presence and doesn't dare to answer. Besides, there's still a minute before the bell rings."
Fu Yunjing shot a sharp look at Ye Lingjun.
Ye Lingjun met his gaze calmly, showing no fear at all.
Ji Qiuge became even more certain that Ye Lingjun had a problem. In the original novel, Ye Lingjun had always disapproved of her high-and-mighty young miss attitude.
The same was true in her past memories—because she was always bullying the female lead, and Ye Lingjun was always standing in front of the female lead.
"Hey, System, what's his deal? Do you think he matches his character archetype?"
[Doesn't he? Isn't the male lead's second-in-command supposed to be a righteous, gentle, courteous, and helpful gentleman?] The System was puzzled.
Ji Qiuge: "…"
When she thought about it that way, there really didn't seem to be a problem.
"Isn't there a possibility that someone else awakened like me? Didn't you say you'd chosen him as a Host before?"
[Yes, but only one person can be conscious in a world. Without the World Consciousness's permission, characters cannot awaken.]
Fine, then.
Ji Qiuge stopped dwelling on that point. She nodded at Ye Lingjun and turned her gaze to Fu Yunjing.
Ji Qiuge forced a smile and said, "Yes, you misunderstood!"
She'd endure it!
Fu Yunjing swept a cold glance over her and said, "If that's the case, get back to your seat and attend class!"
Ji Qiuge let out a cold snort inwardly and sat down in her seat.
What was he so smug about? One day…
Wait! Ouch!
Ji Qiuge pulled up that classic line and suddenly felt it fit the situation just now perfectly.
But the problem was… she'd already missed the perfect moment. After having smiled and groveled, shouting it out now wouldn't be appropriate.
Ji Qiuge shelved that thought and secretly pondered a better opportunity.
In her view, a sense of conviction required the right setting and the right plot scenario before she could shout those lines confidently without any awkwardness.
Otherwise, suddenly yelling out a line like a lunatic—who could have conviction in that?
As she was thinking, the plot took over her body.
Ji Qiuge listened helplessly as Fu Yunjing asked a question from the podium, and "she" excitedly spoke up.
"Why not let Classmate Su Xiaoxiao answer? I heard Classmate Su Xiaoxiao has excellent grades, and since she's a new student, Professor hasn't seen her yet, have you?"
Fu Yunjing looked at Su Xiaoxiao.
"Then let Classmate Su answer."
Su Xiaoxiao immediately stood up, her face bright red, and whispered shamefully, "I-I'm sorry, I don't know…"
Ji Qiuge clearly heard herself let out a sneer.
She felt it was unreasonable. Since the male lead's aura was so overwhelming that no one dared to act out, why was it different when it came to her, the vicious female supporting character?
Fu Yunjing heard it and, sure enough, turned those cold, indifferent eyes toward her.
"Miss Ji is so confident—it seems you know the answer. Then you answer it."
Ji Qiuge was put on the spot, and under the plot's influence, she naturally stammered and couldn't say anything at all.
Fu Yunjing pushed up his glasses and sneered, "You don't even know it yourself, yet you dare to spout nonsense in my classroom. The Ji family's upbringing is nothing more than this."
With that, he stopped looking at Ji Qiuge and told Su Xiaoxiao to sit down first.
So Ji Qiuge was left standing there alone, embarrassed and red-faced.
As the plot's force dissipated, Ji Qiuge first breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly steeled her resolve.
She slapped the table.
All eyes turned to her.
Ji Qiuge lifted her chin, looking at Fu Yunjing with an air of arrogance. "Thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty years on the west—never bully a youth for being poor. Just because I can't answer today doesn't mean I won't be able to next time. What does that have to do with the upbringing of the Ji family?!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the classroom fell into a deathly silence.