The brief weekend passed in a flash, and before Qiao Man could get enough rest, Monday had arrived.
Due to an unspoken reason, even those who usually skipped classes had returned for the large lecture this Monday.
The teacher was startled by the overwhelming number of students as soon as he entered the lecture hall: “Is today some kind of auspicious day for attending class? Why are there so many people here?”
As soon as he said this, a wave of good-natured laughter erupted in the classroom.
“Teacher, have the exam results been released yet?” someone shouted.
At this question, many people glanced toward Qiao Man, who kept her head down, still replying to a certain dog’s message.
Her: I’m not taking it for free. I’ll pay you back triple when we return to reality.
Jiang Sui: Oh, I thought you were going to give me another second-hand air conditioner.
Her: …Why do you have so much nonsense to say.
Jiang Sui: Classmate Qiao Manman, you should show some proper begging attitude when asking for favors.
Qiao Man really wanted to retort, but remembering she had spent all the money he gave her over the weekend, she held back.
Her suppressed demeanor appeared to everyone as guilt and embarrassment.
Jia Xin secretly poked Yi Yuanyuan, signaling her to look over. Yi Yuanyuan curled her lip in disdain.
After adjusting her mindset, Qiao Man continued replying to Jiang Sui: Do you still want to know the follow-up plot or not?
Jiang Sui: Always using this to threaten me.
Jiang Sui: [Transfer: 50,000]
Jiang Sui: Remember to call me next time you go out to eat.
Qiao Man, who had been experiencing minor financial losses recently, successfully borrowed money and put down her phone contentedly. When she looked up, she noticed many people secretly watching her.
As she looked at each one in turn, they quickly turned away as if burned.
With the commotion in the classroom growing, the teacher had to forcefully quiet them down.
“Really want to see?” he asked.
A crowd of students nodded in unison below.
The teacher chuckled and displayed a QR code on the multimedia screen: “Scan it.”
Everyone took out their phones to scan the code. Xiao Chen nudged Gu Hantian: “The scores are out.”
Gu Hantian had met with Bai Xingyu last night, but they had argued after just a few words, leaving him so angry he hadn’t slept all night. Now he was catching up on sleep with his head on the desk, not looking up even when Xiao Chen called him.
Seeing he wouldn’t get up, Xiao Chen scanned the code himself. When the page redirected to the spreadsheet, he immediately checked the top ten names.
“She’s not there,” Xiao Chen sighed. “I knew it. With her grades, how could she make the top ten.”
Gu Hantian continued sleeping.
Xiao Chen scrolled down a couple times, then suddenly realized something was wrong and scrolled back up: “…Why aren’t you in the top ten either? Shocking, I’m not there either.”
Just as he said this, someone murmured quietly: “That’s strange, why can’t I see Qiao Man’s name?”
Others noticed the same thing, and soon the classroom was filled with whispers.
Qiao Man directly raised her hand: “Teacher, my name isn’t here.”
“This is the ranking for all six classes combined. Have you looked through all those names?” the teacher asked dismissively.
Qiao Man: “I only checked the first few.”
Her tone was calm, but the implication was utterly arrogant, instantly capturing everyone’s attention.
The teacher adjusted his glasses and asked: “What’s your name?”
“Qiao Man,” Qiao Man replied.
“Qiao Man,” the teacher smiled, “You’re on another list.”
As he spoke, he opened another QR code.
Phones rose in unison throughout the classroom.
Scan, redirect, display.
The classroom, which had been buzzing with noise and commotion, suddenly fell silent.
Gu Hantian, who had been sleeping, instinctively sensed something was wrong. Frowning, he lifted his head and saw Xiao Chen staring dumbfounded at his phone.
“What’s going on?” He snatched Xiao Chen’s phone and glanced at it casually.
First place: Qiao Man.
Second place: Gu Hantian.
…
The teacher smiled and said, “Listing the top ten on a separate table was Professor Liu’s suggestion. He said it would stimulate healthy competition among you. So, are you feeling stimulated now?”
Stimulated? Oh, they were definitely stimulated.
Qiao Man, who usually had average grades at the South Campus, had unexpectedly surpassed Gu Hantian from the North Campus to claim the top spot.
That was the North Campus.
And that was Gu Hantian.
Amid the silence, someone timidly spoke up, “Teacher, are these results accurate?”
It was Yi Yuanyuan, Qiao Man’s roommate.
Though the question felt subtle coming from her, it echoed everyone’s thoughts, and for a moment, no one objected.
“Of course, they’re accurate. I checked Qiao’s scores with Professor Liu myself. Her exam paper was clean and impressive. Feel free to borrow it from the office if you’d like—it could be helpful,” the teacher replied.
Since the results were accurate, there was nothing left to say.
No one could accuse her of stealing the exam papers beforehand. Jing Da might not excel in everything, but its security was reliable. Even if she had three heads and six arms, she couldn’t have stolen the test.
Someone muttered that she might have copied answers online.
Another immediately retorted, “Our professors create the exams—how could the answers be online?”
Copying from others was even more impossible. She was first place—who could she have copied from?
After eliminating all other possibilities, only one conclusion remained:
Qiao Man’s results were genuine.
Those who had been waiting to see her fail now felt conflicted, their gazes toward her shifting noticeably. Even Gu Hantian’s eyes held a trace of thoughtful contemplation.
Unaware of the undercurrents in the classroom, the teacher cheerfully asked Qiao Man, “Qiao, would you like to share how it feels to be number one?”
Called upon by the teacher, Qiao Man politely stood up, thought for a moment, and replied, “On the day of the exam, I happened to have my period and had a stomachache.”
“Huh?” The teacher didn’t understand her point.
Qiao Man modestly explained, “First place isn’t my limit, and neither is a 94.”
Then, she turned to look at Gu Hantian, who scored 93 and was now in second place, sitting in the last row.
Under everyone’s gossiping gaze, she smiled faintly and said, “But it’s enough.””
Gu Hantian: “…”
Two hours later, in the school’s small garden.
Jiang Sui closed the forum and tried to summarize the situation: “So, you provoked Gu Hantian.”
“I was just stating facts,” Qiao Man said, taking a bite of her ice cream.
Jiang Sui shook his phone. “Are you sure?”
The top post on the forum was a candid photo of her making her statement, taken by an anonymous classmate.
“My attitude was good, and my tone was gentle. No one could find fault with it,” Qiao Man corrected. “Besides, I didn’t ‘shout’—I spoke elegantly.”
Jiang Sui scoffed, certain that her definition of “gentle” was vastly different from the general public’s.
“Anyway, you’ve successfully completed the study group plot. Congratulations.” Jiang Sui raised his hand.
Qiao Man reluctantly high-fived him, only for her ice cream to end up in his hand the next second.
“Your period isn’t over yet. Eat less ice.” Jiang Sui took a big bite.
Qiao Man: “…”
“You mentioned before that in the original story, during the October holiday, the male lead would invite a bunch of people to his house for a party. That’s a crucial plot point. Since he dislikes you so much now, are you sure he’ll invite you then?” Jiang Sui handed her a tissue.
Qiao Man wiped her hands. “He will.”
“So confident?” Jiang Sui looked up sharply. “Seems you’ve already figured out how to win back his favor?”
Thinking of the upcoming plot, Qiao Man dodged the question. “By the way, do you know Zhou Feng? I saw you playing basketball together last time.”
Noticing her evasion, Jiang Sui’s eyes flickered. “I know him, but not well. Why?”
With an innocent expression, Qiao Man said, “Nothing much. When I came over earlier, I saw him barking like a dog on the basketball court. So creepy.”
“Barking like a dog? That is pretty creepy.” Jiang Sui raised an eyebrow.
After brushing off Jiang Sui, Qiao Man went straight back to her dorm.
Jia Xin and Yi Yuanyuan were also there. They seemed to want to say something when they saw her, but one glance from her silenced them.
Enjoying the peace, Qiao Man climbed onto her bed and started thinking about the next part of the plot.
When Gu Hantian agreed to let her join the study group today, it was obvious he disliked her even more than before.
But she wasn’t worried, because the next plot point would completely restore Gu Hantian’s favor toward her—
The beauty saving the hero.
To be precise, it was first the hero saving the beauty, then the beauty saving the hero.
The plot was cliché: the delicate female lead goes to the temple to sketch and encounters thugs trying to rob her.
Just as she’s being threatened by the thugs, the male lead appears out of nowhere and fights them. To help the male lead, the female supporting character blocks a knife attack and gets her right hand slashed by a thug.
Say what you will about Gu Hantian, but he was deeply grateful to those who helped him. Qiao Man didn’t expect him to care for her as much as he did the original female supporting character, but as long as this plot unfolded smoothly, it would at least make him feel indebted to her.
That was enough.
Before she knew it, it was Saturday again. The sky was overcast, with occasional flashes of lightning—a heavy rain was clearly on its way.
Qiao Man got ready and played on her phone in the dorm for a while, until a line of white text on a black background appeared in her mind—
[Go to the temple to sketch. When you reach the back alley outside the school, get stopped by thugs.]
Perfect.
She slung her drawing board and bag over her shoulder and headed out.
Jiang Sui suddenly sent a message: Japanese food, want some?
…She’d almost forgotten about him.
When she borrowed money a few days ago, they’d agreed to have a meal together over the weekend. Qiao Man thought he’d wait until Sunday to ask, but he’d messaged her now.
There was no way she could let him know about today’s plot.
After a moment’s thought, Qiao Man replied: No, sleeping.
Jiang Sui: Now?
Qiao Man didn’t reply. She left the dorm and headed straight for the school’s back gate.
Boom—
A low rumble of thunder exploded in the distance, so loud it seemed to shake the ground, startling pedestrians into screams.
Though it was only 3 p.m., the sky had darkened as if night were approaching. The usually lively back alley outside the school was now nearly deserted.
Qiao Man timed her steps, walking slower and slower. Just as she was about to exit the alley, she paused, wondering if she should walk through it again.
“Stop.”
A grim voice came from behind her. Qiao Man breathed a sigh of relief.
Seems she wouldn’t have to walk through again.
She turned around and saw a guy with dyed yellow hair, holding a knife.
“What do you want?” she asked, feigning terror.
Yellow Hair: “…” Why does her fear feel so theatrical?
Faint footsteps echoed from outside the alley. Qiao Man was about to scream according to the new plot prompt when the blond thug’s knife shook agitatedly. “Shut up if you don’t want to die!”
Qiao Man immediately froze.
“Money, give me all your money!” the blond thug urged. “Hurry up!”
“I don’t have cash,” Qiao Man said nervously.
The blond thug sneered, “Who are you trying to fool? Empty everything from your bag!”
“No, my bag is full of paint. It’ll break if I pour it out,” Qiao Man continued delivering her lines. If the situation allowed, she would have really wanted to roll her eyes.
Only someone with a sick mind would worry about paint getting broken at a time like this.
“Enough nonsense! I said empty it!” The blond thug grew agitated again, waving the knife more violently toward Qiao Man.
Although she knew it was part of the plot, Qiao Man still felt a bit frightened. Just as she was considering whether to calm him down, the fruit knife suddenly slashed toward her face.
Qiao Man instinctively stepped back. A figure suddenly rushed into the back alley, lifting a foot to kick the blond thug to the ground.
Qiao Man’s eyes lit up, but she froze when she saw who it was. “Jiang Sui?”
Jiang Sui gave her a cold, heavy glance, kicked away the fruit knife near the thug’s hand, and pressed him down, punching him repeatedly.
Another deafening thunderclap sounded, and raindrops the size of soybeans began hitting the ground, followed by a torrential downpour.
The sky grew darker, and the already poorly lit back alley seemed to have entered nighttime prematurely. The garbage piled at the alley’s entrance floated up as it soaked in the rainwater, emitting waves of foul odor.
Amid the flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder, Gu Hantian passed by the back alley and instinctively glanced inside.
Another flash of lightning briefly illuminated Qiao Man’s pale face and the cold glint of the fruit knife in her hand.
Looking further down, at her feet lay a bruised and swollen… corpse?
Gu Hantian froze for a moment, unable to resist taking a step back.