The novel does describe Huo Yuxi as heart-fluttering here, but because she has other concerns on her mind, she doesn't plan to agree to be with Wei Chao.
Ji Jie knows that even without her causing trouble, the two of them wouldn't end up together today.
Wei Chao, however, has no idea.
Having been the resident brooding type for over a decade, he's only ever received confessions from others. The first time he took the initiative to show interest, someone ruined it—no wonder he'd go absolutely ballistic.
Beyond that, in the novel, Duan Baoni acted on a whim, goaded by the provocation into lunging forward to kiss him—and she didn't actually make contact.
But she isn't sure whether the "forced kiss" the mission requires just means making the motion, or whether actual lip contact is needed to count. To be safe, she has to complete it thoroughly.
She's already here, already lost face—if they rule the mission incomplete, wouldn't that be a huge loss?
As for how Wei Chao feels, she doesn't care.
【20/100】 already satisfies her.
This whole incident circulated around the school for at least a week. Ji Jie went home right after it was done and resumed her lessons, acting like nothing had happened—eating when it was time to eat, resting when it was time to rest.
So when Huo Zhenyan heard his younger brother come to tattle, it felt like listening to utter nonsense. "You saw it with your own eyes?"
"The whole school saw it, okay!" He Lingfeng wasn't even there, but just from hearing his friends relay it, he was already rolling his eyes into the back of his head.
He knew she couldn't keep up the act for more than a few days!
That mouth of hers—not only does it know how to lie, it also knows how to force kisses on people. Terrifying.
Everything he said carried the subtext of "why did you allow this kind of person into our home."
"You're always targeting her. What has she ever done to hurt you?"
He Lingfeng was momentarily stumped. "I guess… not really."
"Then shut your mouth and get out of my room." Huo Zhenyan had reached the end of his patience.
No one wants to be about to fall asleep at midnight, only to have someone burst into their room, steal half their bed, and force them to listen to gossip about their younger siblings' school life.
"Oh." He Lingfeng reluctantly rolled off the foot of the bed, then thought about it and felt indignant again. "Why are you so biased toward her?"
"When you first came here, I was biased toward you too."
Huo Zhenyan said, "Also, next time you come back at midnight after hanging out, sneak back to your own room to sleep. Do I look like I have a good temper?"
He Lingfeng laughed awkwardly twice and made a swift exit. "Okay, Yan-ge, no problem, Yan-ge, goodnight!"
Huo Zhenyan doesn't allow them to throw parties at home—he finds it too rowdy—so He Lingfeng always sneaks out to hang with friends.
For the most part, Huo Zhenyan turns a blind eye to it, but that doesn't mean he's blind. It's just that He Lingfeng hears too many complaints at gatherings, so when he gets home he can't help but come make a scene.
It's all because Huo Yuxi barely pays him any attention now.
The whole house is so quiet it's dull and flavorless, making him itch with restlessness.
Before heading upstairs, he glanced toward the corridor on the other side. The suite had already been tidied up, and Ji Jie had just moved in—from now on she'd be living on the same floor as his brother.
His thoughts churned, and He Lingfeng let out a scoff, shoved his hands in his pockets, and headed upstairs.
With his brother around, she probably won't cause any real trouble.
**
Ji Jie is very satisfied with her new room. Besides the bedroom, there's a separate walk-in closet, a study, a small living room, and even a mini fridge. Great—she won't have to go downstairs in the middle of the night for water anymore.
Next to the tea cabinet is a dedicated snack cabinet. She'll buy a small electric pot too, so when she's hungry from staying up late studying, she can cook instant noodles as a midnight snack.
If it were during exam prep, she could shut herself in here for ten days to half a month without coming out, studying herself into a stupor.
No one in the family mentioned the forced kiss.
And at school, everyone treated her like a pariah. Apart from Chu Yao, no one spoke to her anymore.
His sense of duty as class monitor was calling him to action. His attitude toward Ji Jie was even gentler than before the gossip started—shifting from treating everyone the same to deliberate care.
When you're rejected by the group, it's hard not to develop feelings for someone who shows up like that.
Ji Jie didn't resist talking to him either. But most of the time, she still carried her books alone through the crowds, long hair pulled up in a high ponytail that swayed faintly behind her.
It was during this period that Cheng Yunqiao noticed her.
At noon, Ji Jie didn't feel like eating and planned to make do with a bottle of yogurt, sitting on the steps behind the teaching building to memorize vocabulary.
"I like this brand of yogurt too."
An identical bottle of yogurt was placed beside her. Cheng Yunqiao sat down, her arm brushing lightly against Ji Jie's, carrying a hint of peach fragrance. "What a coincidence."
Ji Jie looked up at her, puzzled, but nodded and responded, "Yeah, quite a coincidence." The school vending machine only sold two kinds of yogurt.
"I'm Cheng Yunqiao." She tucked a strand of short hair behind her ear, her smiling eyes like cute crescent moons. "You're Duan Baoni, right? There've been a lot of rumors about you lately."
"I guess." Ji Jie put away her vocabulary book, paused for a moment, then began talking to her properly. "Aren't you supposed to go to the broadcasting station with Huo Yuxi?"
"We're only occasional partners. Our shifts aren't together today." Cheng Yunqiao raised an eyebrow slightly, tilting her head to study her. "What's going on? You seem to know a lot about me."
"Heard it from the class monitor," Ji Jie said. "You and her are the only two from our class at the broadcasting station."
"Ah, Brother Chu is just helpful—he's that thorough with everyone. So what did he say about me? He didn't secretly talk smack about me, did he? Haha."
"He said you have a great personality, and your family runs several beauty salons. If you want to get work done, just go to your place and mention the school name for a discount."
Cheng Yunqiao laughed like a string of wind chimes. "Say less, sis. Say less."
Outside, the wind picked up. The two girls clinked their yogurt bottles in a toast and headed together to the coffee corner inside the building, curling up on a sofa to continue their chat. "You just transferred here—how do you know Wei Chao? He's not in our class."
"My mom and his dad used to date," Ji Jie summarized simply.
"No wonder…"
Cheng Yunqiao paused, her expression shifting subtly warmer, her voice sweeter. "No wonder you could transfer into Huading mid-term. Some people even say you're a gifted-and-talented student—but who ever heard of a gifted-and-talented student dropping in halfway through? So you two have known each other a long time?"
Ji Jie gave a noncommittal mm. It prompted her to keep going. "Honestly, it's totally understandable, really. His family's so well-off, he's handsome, his grades are top-tier, and he's great at sports too—practically the perfect all-rounder. All the girls at school treat him like a king."
"But he doesn't have a great relationship with his family. Otherwise he wouldn't keep living in the school dormitory instead of going home."
She sighed with a somewhat mature air, as if worrying on behalf of her elders. "Last year when I went with my parents to his house for New Year's, Uncle Wei said he only stayed home for two days the entire winter break. Apparently it's been like that for years. You probably know about it, right?"
"I've never spent New Year's at his house," Ji Jie said.
"I've only been there a few times on ordinary days, and I even broke a Ming Dynasty blue-and-white plum vase at his place. He probably still hates me for it."
"You were the one who broke that vase." Cheng Yunqiao gasped, and the way she looked at Ji Jie now carried a bit more genuine admiration and sympathy. "That one seemed to be his mother's favorite before she passed away, a gift she left him for his first birthday… it's a miracle you're still alive."
Ji Jie also sighed. "Yeah, it's a miracle I'm still alive."
She remembered the description of that vase in the novel and found it very unique, so she had even gone online to look it up. Now the conservative estimate for its auction price started in the hundreds of millions.
—If Duan Baoni hadn't broken it.
But an auction value in the hundreds of millions was far less important than its more private sentimental value. At this point, Cheng Yunqiao's doubts about her identity were completely dispelled, and she teased her, "And then what, you wanted to offer yourself as compensation and pay yourself back to him?"
"I did want to compensate him, but he didn't want it." She shook her head. "Nothing I could do about it."
Ji Jie again remembered what he had said that day by the fountain in the small garden.
—Try losing your mind one more time. I'll make sure you can't survive in this school.
So scary.
Try it and see.
Cheng Yunqiao seemed to think of something, fell silent for a moment, then smiled again and lowered her voice. "Let me ask you, what did it feel like to kiss Wei Chao?"
"Actually kissing him for real didn't feel like much." She was not stingy with her honesty. "It was just like that." Just a touch, nothing to write home about.
"Tsk, you're pretty picky."
Ji Jie did not answer, only looked at her quietly. At such a close distance, her skin was so delicate that pores were almost invisible.
She said, "There are so many girls who like Wei Chao, and you're probably the bravest one."
"I thought someone like me would count as a freak."
"How can you say that? You're so candid, so real, much better than those people who play dirty behind others' backs."
Cheng Yunqiao leaned closer to her. Her moist lips looked very soft and pink. At such a close distance, the fruity scent of lip gloss was noticeable.
Ji Jie suddenly thought that on the overall ranking board, she was ranked fourth.
A soft hand landed on her hair, and Cheng Yunqiao gently tidied her bangs. "Wei Chao is good in every way, except his personality is too proud and aloof. At school, only the boys can get along with him."
"Actually, Brother Chu is pretty handsome too, right? He's also very thoughtful, and he's been taking care of you lately. You must be able to feel it too."
"Yeah." Ji Jie followed the thread of the conversation and asked, "What does Chu Yao's family do? Do you know?"
"I roughly know. His parents are both Chinese merchants, basically doing business abroad, and they left him here alone. So he's also been boarding at school since freshman year and rarely goes home."
Cheng Yunqiao was very happy that she was interested in this, and said some more good things about Chu Yao.
Ji Jie nodded from time to time in response.
A beautiful girl, a clever girl. A girl who was calculating and multifaceted.
Toward a friend she had just met, her voice was as pleasant as an oriole's, and her manner was intimate and cute.
"By the way, what do you think of Huo Yuxi?" She seemed to ask only in passing.
"That day after school, Wei Chao asked to meet her. Was he really going to confess? She seemed to act a little strangely."