After repeatedly confirming what Jiang Sui had picked up for Bai Xingyu, Qiao Man immediately sent him a message: Don’t ooc.
Jiang Sui: ?
Qiao Man: Don’t do things that don’t match your character, or the plot won’t follow through later.
Jiang Sui: ?
Qiao Man had to be more direct: Next time you pick up food for the female lead, give her something better, not just chili peppers and ginger slices.
Jiang Sui didn’t reply.
Qiao Man checked the time—it was past 7 p.m., and the cafeteria shouldn’t be closed yet.
She changed her clothes, freshened up briefly, and headed out. Just as she reached the door, Yi Yuanyuan and Jia Xin pushed it open and entered.
“Manman, sweetie?” Yi Yuanyuan exclaimed with surprise. “You’re awake?”
Qiao Man smiled. “Yeah.”
“You’re finally awake! We thought you were sick,” Yi Yuanyuan said, looking concerned.
Qiao Man kept smiling. “No, I’ve just been really tired these past few days.”
“Glad you’re okay. Are you going to eat?” Yi Yuanyuan shook her hand. “Could you grab a package for me while you’re out?”
“And mine too,” Jia Xin chimed in quickly. “I have a phone case that just arrived.”
Qiao Man’s smile faded slightly. “The package pickup isn’t far from the dorm, right? Why didn’t you grab them on your way back?”
Yi Yuanyuan: “Uh, it’s too hot. I didn’t want to go.”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s really hot outside,” Jia Xin chimed in, complaining.
Qiao Man’s smile faded a bit more. “And I’m not hot?”
“Huh?” Jia Xin looked up instinctively, startled by her cold tone.
Qiao Man’s smile instantly brightened again. “Never mind. Send me the pickup codes.”
Yi Yuanyuan: “Thanks, sweetie!”
“Thanks…” Jia Xin forced a laugh.
Qiao Man walked straight out. The moment she stepped out of the dorm, her expression turned cold.
Jia Xin kept staring at her retreating figure, growing more uneasy the longer she looked.
“Xinxin, what are you looking at?” Yi Yuanyuan called out, seeing her still blocking the doorway.
“Nothing…” Jia Xin quickly closed the door. “Don’t you think Manman seemed angry?”
“Angry?” Yi Yuanyuan opened a bag of cookies, munching happily. “No way. Manman has the best temper—she’d never get angry.”
Jia Xin frowned, starting to doubt whether she’d imagined it.
By 7:30 p.m., it was completely dark outside. The campus streetlights flickered on, buzzing and attracting mosquitoes and moths.
The cafeteria was relatively quiet at this hour. Qiao Man picked a vegetarian dish and a bowl of soup, then found a corner seat.
As soon as she sat down, the smell of meat wafted over from nearby. Qiao Man looked down at her bland meal and sighed.
Jing Da was a typical Mary Sue aristocratic school, and the cafeteria prices weren’t cheap. Although Jiang Sui had given her plenty of money, to maintain her poor little white flower persona, she had to stick to mostly vegetarian meals.
Come weekend, she’d find a restaurant where she wouldn’t run into anyone she knew and treat herself to a feast.
Qiao Man ate a bite of cabbage expressionlessly. When she looked up, she happened to see Bai Xingyu entering from outside. She paused, then glanced behind her and, sure enough, spotted Jiang Sui following.
Three days had passed, but her ex-husband was still as young and handsome as ever—which annoyed her a little.
“I could’ve come by myself. You didn’t need to follow me,” Bai Xingyu said, frowning as she hurried ahead.
Jiang Sui had spotted Qiao Man the moment he entered. Their eyes met briefly before he casually looked away.
“It’s fine, searching together will be more efficient.” He delivered the line with a flat tone.
Oh, this scene.
After having dinner together in the cafeteria, the male supporting character walked the female lead back to her dormitory building. Then the female lead realized she’d lost her keychain, so they had to return to the cafeteria to search for it, finally finding it after looking until past ten o’clock.
Poor male supporting character—worn out from all that searching, unaware that the female lead cared so much about that keychain because it was a seventeenth birthday gift from the male lead.
Poor Jiang Sui, at this hour when he could be in his dorm watching videos and playing games, instead having to act out two hours of keychain-searching plot.
Qiao Man wasn’t gloating, but she suddenly found her appetite had improved considerably.
Students came and went in the cafeteria, the crowd gradually thinning. After finishing her dinner, Qiao Man ignored the person searching for something and turned to leave. But just as she reached the cafeteria entrance, her phone vibrated.
No need to guess who sent the message.
Qiao Man took out her phone—sure enough.
Jiang Sui: Next time I’ll give you the chili peppers and ginger slices, stop eating that pig slop.
…Asshole. Go find your keychain.
Qiao Man snorted coldly and returned to her dorm. It wasn’t until Yi Yuanyuan asked her about a package that she remembered she hadn’t picked up the delivery yet.
“It’s fine, it’s fine, you can get it tomorrow instead. I’m not in a hurry,” Jia Xin quickly said.
Yi Yuanyuan chimed in: “Right, you can get it for us tomorrow.”
Can’t you go get it yourselves? The accusatory words were on the tip of her tongue, but Qiao Man forced a slight smile: “Okay.”
“You’re the best, Manman baby!” Yi Yuanyuan clasped her hands over her heart.
Qiao Man smiled perfunctorily and returned to her desk to start taking notes.
“Mortise and tenon structure… Manman, you’re studying this again?” Yi Yuanyuan craned her neck, completely unaware she was disturbing someone.
Qiao Man didn’t look up: “Mm.”
“If you like architecture so much, why didn’t you study it?” Yi Yuanyuan asked curiously.
Before Qiao Man could answer, Jia Xin spoke for her: “Did you forget? Manman said before that her mother hoped she would study economics before she passed away.”
“Oh right, she did say that, I forgot…”
The two girls chatted, their conversation beginning to diverge, gathering together and chattering nonstop.
Qiao Man expressionlessly put on her headphones—the world was finally quiet.
The original female supporting character had genuinely been interested in architecture-related things, but she was different. She could be said to have zero understanding in this area, and could only cram in her spare time to avoid revealing her ignorance during future interactions with the male lead.
Moonlight outside the window slowly shifted, music from her headphones flowed gently, and her ballpoint pen scratched softly as she copied notes.
When the time on her phone changed to “10,” Qiao Man shook her sore wrist and went to take a shower.
By the time she emerged from the bathroom, the little princesses had finally stopped chatting, each lying in bed playing with their phones. Qiao Man silently breathed a sigh of relief. Only after lying in bed with her phone did she notice Jiang Sui had sent her a message ten minutes earlier.
Him: How long do I have to keep searching? Not all night, right?
Qiao Man curled her lips upward, not answering Jiang Sui’s question.
There was a lecture at eight the next morning—the first large class for third-year economics majors since the two campuses merged, and also the second meeting between the original female supporting character and the male lead.
In the original text, the male lead already had some impression of the female supporting character due to their collision in the library. When he saw her in the same class, he realized they were in the same major.
Sharing a love for architecture and both studying economics, these commonalities made the male lead unable to resist glancing at her once more.
The world of novels is never short of exaggeration—all because of that one look from the male lead.
Later, rumors spread across the campus that he had feelings for the female supporting character. The female lead, who already had misunderstandings with him, became even more unwilling to engage with him. She dragged the male supporting character to a bar to drown her sorrows, and when the male lead saw this, he was instantly consumed by jealousy, deepening the misunderstandings.
As for the female supporting character, that extra glance caught the attention of her mischievous friends, who intentionally tried to set them up. When forming a study group, they deliberately included her, allowing her relationship with the male lead to develop further.
In short, all the subsequent plotlines stemmed from that one glance the male lead gave the female supporting character, making this public lecture incredibly important.
Although she didn’t think she would be late, just in case, Qiao Man set three alarms for around seven o’clock.
While setting the alarms, she had already prepared herself to upset Jia Xin and Yi Yuanyuan. However, before the alarms could ring, she was awakened by the loud commotion in the dormitory.
Qiao Man raised her hand to shield her eyes, adjusted to the light, and checked her phone—it was 6:10 in the morning.
“You’re awake, Manman,” Yi Yuanyuan, seeing her sit up in the mirror, greeted her without turning around. “Could you buy me some breakfast from the cafeteria?”
“Me too, me too!” Jia Xin immediately raised her hand. “Get me a cup of soy milk.”
“The meal card is on the table, just take it. After buying ours, remember to get something for yourself as a service fee,” Yi Yuanyuan stuck out her tongue at the mirror.
Qiao Man stayed silent for a while before expressionlessly reminding them, “It’s only a little past six.”
“It’s already past six!” Jia Xin exclaimed. “Hurry up with your makeup, Yuanyuan! We still need to pick out clothes!”
Qiao Man: “…”
Clearly, she wasn’t the only one who cared about this public lecture.
By 7:30 in the morning, the lecture hall was already packed. A glance around revealed that the audience was almost entirely female, with many not even from the economics department.
Before entering the classroom, Qiao Man made a stop at the restroom. She applied a barely noticeable light makeup in front of the mirror, tidied her hair slightly, and revealed her square caisson earrings.
After ensuring her appearance was impeccable, she took out a small mortise and tenon structure pendant and hung it on the most visible part of her bag.
Due to certain special reasons, her first encounter with the male lead had not been pleasant.
Now, she could only hope that Gu Hantian had forgotten about her from the library incident and would form a favorable impression of her based on these small details.
After completing all her preparations, a line of text appeared in Qiao Man’s mind—
[“At the entrance of the lecture hall, another chance encounter with Gu Hantian, who glances at her.”]
Plot prompts usually appeared ten minutes in advance. Instead of returning to the classroom immediately, Qiao Man timed it so she would leave the restroom with only one minute to spare.
The lecture hall at Jing Da was spacious, resembling a small auditorium more than a classroom.
The classroom door was right next to the podium. The moment Qiao Man reached the entrance, she felt a wave of gazes focus on her.
Jia Xin and Yi Yuanyuan had arrived early and saved seats. As soon as they saw Qiao Man, they waved enthusiastically.
“Manman, darling, over here!”
Qiao Man followed the sound and saw only her two roommates dressed to the nines.
She had originally planned to pretend to look for a seat and stall until the male lead appeared, but with their shouting, more glances swept over. Not going in now would seem deliberate.
Qiao Man sighed inwardly, thinking these two finally did something useful, yet it ended up being more of a hindrance.
Looking around at the classroom full of female university students wearing full makeup, she once again had the clear realization that “this really is a novel world”—
If this were the real world, even if Gu Hantian were devastatingly handsome, it wouldn’t be worth so many female students sacrificing their sleep.
Unless he paid everyone who came to see him.
Not getting any money, Qiao Man put on an innocent smile and was slowly making her way toward Jia Xin and Yi Yuanyuan when a slight commotion suddenly arose in the classroom.
Sensing something, she instinctively turned around and saw Gu Hantian entering the classroom, surrounded like the moon among stars.
The male lead truly lived up to his title—his halo brighter than the sun, capturing everyone’s attention the moment he appeared.
Qiao Man took a step back, inadvertently making some noise. Sure enough, Gu Hantian looked over, pausing when he saw her.
The black text on a white background in her mind vanished—the plot successfully completed.
Gu Hantian was still watching her, his gaze shifting from her face to her earrings, then from her earrings to the pendant on her crossbody bag, before finally settling back on her face.
Qiao Man flashed a friendly smile, ready to leave a deep impression on him, when Gu Hantian’s eyes revealed clear disgust.
Qiao Man: “?”
Half an hour later, Jiang Sui sent a message: Did you offend Gu Hantian?
Qiao Man: …