3: Moved
“Thank you, class monitor.”
Mo Li took the jacket from Si Xiuyuan’s hand, but the next second, she draped it over Wu Jiao’s shoulders.
As the garment settled on her, Wu Jiao was momentarily stunned.
Mo Li gave Wu Jiao a knowing look, her eyes flicking down to Wu Jiao’s chest area. Wu Jiao understood instantly.
The unspoken understanding between girls doesn’t travel through the air, it’s like telepathy.
Wu Jiao immediately put the jacket on and zipped it up.
No. 1 High School’s uniform was very breathable. The water stains were slowly spreading through the fabric, faintly revealing the outline of her bra underneath.
Perhaps that was the real reason Si Xiuyuan had offered her his jacket in the first place.
Wu Jiao thanked him as well, but she was in a daze, her mind a complete mess.
[Mo Li is so kind. No wonder she’s the little white flower female lead. As for Si Xiuyuan… he might be a psycho toward the female lead, but he’s always been pretty gentle and considerate to everyone else. Sigh… if only he’d spare me. I wonder what he thinks of me right now.]
[In the original plot, Mo Li caught a fever from being drenched with that bucket of water. Si Xiuyuan was the first to notice something was wrong, carried her to the infirmary, and took care of her. While she was asleep, he stole a kiss, interlaced his fingers with hers, and watched her motionlessly until she woke up.]
[That’s definitely psycho behavior, but it totally hits my… you know… who can relate? This kind of damp, creepy male lead, as long as you’re not the one dating him, it’s super satisfying to read about in a novel.]
Mo Li said gratefully, “Class monitor, we’ll wash it and return it to you.”
She really did have a lot of good feelings toward him.
She’d lost count of how many times he’d extended a helping hand to her.
Every time she ran into trouble, Si Xiuyuan would appear at just the right moment. And whenever she asked him for help, he never refused.
He was completely different from the other boys. He was too unique.
If she had to describe him, Mo Li wanted to say that the sense of comfort Si Xiuyuan gave off didn’t feel like a boy at all, it felt like a girl.
He was outstandingly good-looking, yet he seemed completely unaware of it and always genuinely praised others.
His uniform and desk were always clean, just like his temperament — pleasing to the eye.
He was attentive yet appropriately polite, never presumptuous or boundary-crossing like other boys.
Wait… since when had she started noticing these things about him?
And why did he always appear precisely when she needed help the most? Could it be that he also felt…?
Mo Li clenched her hands, not daring to look at Si Xiuyuan.
She was afraid she might… fall for this boy.
Wu Jiao looked slightly ridiculous wearing Si Xiuyuan’s uniform.
Si Xiuyuan appeared slender, but in reality, he was lean with broad shoulders. His uniform was large on him, and even larger on her.
Wu Jiao wasn’t short, nor was she petite, but wearing his uniform now, she could have easily gone on stage to sing a duet.
Si Xiuyuan’s eyes held a smile as he subtly looked away.
He said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s the least I could do. But… what just happened? I was too immersed in grading the papers to hear anything. Is there anything I can help with?”
Wu Jiao: !
[Great! He didn’t hear anything! Then I’m saved!]
Wu Jiao, who had been looking listless just a moment ago, suddenly had a spark of light in her eyes.
Mo Li said politely, “No, thank you. Goodbye, class monitor.”
“Okay. I’ll be going, then.”
The young lady, who had been basking in his gentle smile just a second ago, now had that smile frozen on her face.
She was bursting with anger, but just then, Zhang Hongli walked back in, accompanied by the homeroom teacher of Class 7.
After getting the full picture, the two teachers let Yan Yixin and her companion go back to class, keeping only Wu Jiao and Mo Li behind.
Since Wu Jiao had a good attitude about admitting her mistake and Mo Li said she didn’t blame her, the teachers didn’t give her a hard time. They just made her write a 2,000-character self-criticism and warned her not to let it happen again.
Wu Jiao and Mo Li walked back to the classroom together. For a while, neither spoke.
They weren’t familiar with each other to begin with, and there had been minor friction before. The atmosphere was now awkward and strange.
“Um—”
“Um—”
They both stopped in their tracks and spoke at the same time.
Mo Li said, “You go first.”
The two stood face to face, their reflections mirrored in each other’s eyes.
Wu Jiao paused for a moment, then said sincerely, “I was really awful before. My brain wasn’t working right, and I did some bad things to you. I’m truly sorry.”
Mo Li waved her hand. “It’s okay. Actually, I need to thank you today. Thank you for…”
Mo Li trailed off, unable to find the words.
Wu Jiao finished her sentence: “Thank me for not throwing dirty water on you?”
“What’s there to thank me for?” Wu Jiao’s expression turned serious. “I almost did throw it on you. Your way of thinking is a bit dangerous. You want to thank someone just because they thought about hurting you but didn’t follow through?”
Mo Li said slowly, “Well… they could have hurt me, but in the end, they didn’t. That proves they’re not a bad person.”
Wu Jiao couldn’t find a rebuttal.
“Classmate Wu, I don’t think you’re a bad person. Thank you, really, for today.”
Mo Li tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled at her.
Just then, a gust of wind blew, lifting her hair like a petal dancing in the breeze, and Wu Jiao’s heartstrings trembled.
Mo Li truly deserved to be the female lead.
In the original story, despite her poor background and misfortunes, despite being bullied at school, she still managed to maintain a kind and optimistic heart, blooming beautifully even in the storm.
Who wouldn’t like a girl like that?
But—
Wu Jiao frowned. “Still, you shouldn’t be thanking me.”
Wu Jiao thought if she hadn’t woken up, she would have done far worse things to hurt her. Actually, she should stay away from her. That’s the only way to keep herseslf safe.
If someone has already entertained the thought of hurting you, even if they haven’t acted on it, there will come a day when they can’t suppress that thought anymore. By the time they actually hurt you, it’ll be too late.
Mo Li tilted her head, confused. “Why?”
But if Mo Li thought the way she did, she wouldn’t be the female lead.
“My gut tells me you won’t hurt me.” Mo Li extended her hand toward Wu Jiao. “Maybe, Wu Jiao, we could be friends. I think you’re a really good person.”
I think you’re a really good person.
Wu Jiao was slightly stunned.
No one had ever said those words to her before. She was the first.
Wu Jiao couldn’t remember when exactly she had reached out and taken Mo Li’s hand in return.
By the time she thought better of it, it was already too late.
Perhaps that was the power of the female lead, with a single sentence, she could easily make others lose all reason.
How could a vicious supporting character become good friends with the female lead?
It would require either a very high IQ or exceptional acting skills, at least one of the two.
Wu Jiao, possessing neither, now sat at her desk, staring at her test paper in despair.
She hadn’t yet explained things to the young lady, and the math exam she’d taken in the morning had been handed back in the afternoon.
She scored a 43.
Having narrowly escaped disaster just moments ago, Wu Jiao now found herself in another predicament.
In the original story, the author lavished pages and pages on the emotional entanglements of the male and female leads. There was almost no mention of them studying seriously. Yet somehow, they could effortlessly achieve high scores and get into top universities.
As for her, the vicious supporting character, aside from detailing all the trouble she caused, the author glossed over everything else.
Thus, Wu Jiao, living and breathing in this real world, had no choice but to face the reality of her 43 on the math test.
Her deskmate in front of her passed back her test paper, happened to see her score, and said, “Good luck.”
Wu Jiao was actually quite touched.
So, there was still someone who thought she wasn’t beyond saving. Maybe she wasn’t doing that badly after all.
Then Wu Jiao heard his inner thoughts:
[LMAO. He could probably stomp on the answer sheet, drag it through the dirt, and still score higher than her. I don’t even know how she got into our class. There are 31 people in total. Si Xiuyuan and Mo Li both got perfect scores. Except for the one who didn’t show up for the exam, she’s second to last. Well, I guess that is an improvement from last time.]
Wu Jiao: “…”
Wu Jiao stared at the two-digit red number on her test paper, and her aging face flushed with heat.
He wasn’t wrong. Her grades were truly atrocious.
Even so, it seemed she had finally set foot on the right track. The vicious supporting character plot was moving away from her. Everything was heading in a positive direction.
But raising her score by 100 points in one month was still a huge challenge for her.
Still, given some time, she believed she could get into college on her own merit!
She would prove that she was no worse than the male and female leads. She would be the protagonist of her own life!
In less than a minute, without Xiao E even saying a word, Wu Jiao had already cheered herself up.
No one noticed that in the corner of the classroom, a bottom-tier student had begun her comeback.
Not far away.
“Class monitor, what are you looking at?”
A female classmate had brought her test paper over to ask Si Xiuyuan a question.
“Nothing.”
Si Xiuyuan turned his head back.
But the female classmate looked curiously in the direction he had just been gazing — right at Wu Jiao’s row of seats.
The seat next to Wu Jiao was empty. That meant Gao Tianchi had skipped class again.
As class monitor, Si Xiuyuan was also responsible for attendance, so he was the most aware of who was absent.
The class monitor really was so responsible!
Falling for him was easier than breathing.
**