ATPCN – Chapter 36

The meeting was set at a café in St. Blaisedon.

Of course, as a prestigious school imagined by a middle school student, how could St. Blaisedon not have a café? Zhuang Chi comforted herself all the way there, thinking that some normal universities have cafés too. But when she actually arrived, the café’s magnificent exterior, which was just as grand as the rest of the campus, still forced a pained expression onto her face for a moment. With mixed feelings, she pushed open the door and walked in.

Olivia noticed her the moment she entered. Remembering the rule about not being loud inside the shop, she didn’t call out. Instead, she just waved her hand eagerly in Zhuang Chi’s direction, her eyes sparkling. It made one think that if she had a tail, it would be wagging into a blur.

The person sitting across from Olivia noticed her actions, stirred slightly, and followed her gaze to the entrance.

…Oh, Zhuang Chi thought. Gu Ximian really is with Olivia.

It wasn’t that she thought Olivia would lie to her, but Zhuang Chi found the message Olivia had sent earlier too incredible—Gu Ximian wouldn’t say something like “I miss you,” would she…? Holding onto this doubt, she had rushed over, only to realize upon actually seeing Gu Ximian that her reason for coming seemed a bit strange.

Huh? Doesn’t this make it seem like she came just because she cared about what Gu Ximian said? Zhuang Chi thought. That sounds too ridiculous. Of course, she also really wanted to meet and chat with Olivia. At most, it was just… just…

…Just that her motives were a little impure.

Her inner excuses defeated, Zhuang Chi sighed silently. She quickly composed herself and walked towards their table. Olivia visibly grew happier as she approached, already preparing to scoot over to make room for Zhuang Chi. Gu Ximian, however, didn’t move. She just quietly set down her coffee cup and, at the exact moment Zhuang Chi stopped by their table, asked, “Which side do you want to sit on?”

There were only two sides. The four-person table had two sofas, with Gu Ximian and Olivia on one each. For Zhuang Chi to join them, she would have to sit on the same side as one of them. As soon as Gu Ximian asked her question, it was Olivia opposite her who first let out a sudden “Ah!” She immediately stopped moving, sat upright in the middle of the sofa, and said to Zhuang Chi with a serious expression, “I-It seems a bit crowded on my side. Maybe it’s because I’ve been eating a lot lately and gained weight—”

…This person was a terrible liar. Zhuang Chi silently glanced at Olivia’s excellent and slender figure, then at her tense, almost frozen smile. In the end, she chose not to expose her and turned towards Gu Ximian. “…Then, may I sit on your side?”

“Of course.”

Gu Ximian nodded readily and made room for her. Zhuang Chi sat down, feeling a little awkward, and breathed a sigh of relief that the café’s sofa was very spacious.

“I officially enrolled at St. Blaisedon today! I was actually supposed to enroll at the same time as you guys, but there were delays with paperwork and other issues, so it was pushed back a month.” Once Zhuang Chi was seated, Olivia eagerly jumped to the main topic. “And then, and then, I didn’t expect that Gu Ximian and I are in the same major, eh! I’m super happy! And then I suddenly really wanted to see you—you came so fast, is it because you really wanted to see me too?”

Bombarded with such undisguised goodwill right from the start, Zhuang Chi hadn’t gotten used to it yet and leaned back slightly, a bit overwhelmed. As she was considering how to respond, she saw a menu being passed to her from the side.

“Before we start chatting, is there anything you’d like to drink?” Gu Ximian said, pushing the menu in front of her. She then chuckled softly. “But they basically only sell coffee here… You’re probably sick of this smell by now.”

“…”

Quickly realizing Gu Ximian was referring to her pheromones, Zhuang Chi faltered. She subconsciously looked at what was in front of Gu Ximian and saw that she had ordered a mocha, which was now half-finished.

…So… so did Gu Ximian think of her while drinking coffee? Zhuang Chi suddenly felt embarrassed. She quickly turned her head forward, trying to focus on the menu in front of her. But no matter where she looked, there were only various kinds of coffee, which only made her face feel hotter the more she looked. She finally just closed the menu and sighed, “…Then I’ll have a mocha too.”

Gu Ximian smiled silently, then deftly placed the order for her. After she was done, she looked at Zhuang Chi again and said calmly, “Alright, it’s time to answer Olivia’s question. You came so quickly, is it because you really wanted to see her?”

“…”

In the end, the question came right back around. Zhuang Chi faltered. She looked at the composed Gu Ximian, then at the eagerly waiting Olivia, and felt that giving a negative answer in this situation would be too mean. Finally, she half-resignedly replied, “…I guess so. You could say that.”

Olivia didn’t mind her vagueness and immediately brightened up. But Gu Ximian nodded and pressed on, “What about me?”

“…”

Zhuang Chi fell silent for the second time. She looked at Gu Ximian, at a loss, but it was a good opportunity to ask about what she was confused about. “…So, the message Olivia sent… did you really say that?”

“…Hmm…” Gu Ximian’s eyes curved, her tone carrying a hint of deliberate confusion. “What did I say?”

“You missed her!” Before Zhuang Chi could speak, Olivia shot her hand up with a whoosh. Without waiting to be called on, she eagerly blurted out, “You said you missed her! Zhuang Chi, honestly, why would I lie to you!”

“…Yes, I did say that.” Her tone held a strange hint of regret. Gu Ximian looked at the relieved Zhuang Chi and said, “We haven’t seen each other for a few days. Don’t you miss me at all?”

…It was true they hadn’t seen each other since the banquet, Zhuang Chi thought, but weren’t they chatting on WeChat every day?

Ever since the banquet ended, it was as if a switch had been flipped in Gu Ximian. She started to proactively chat with her about this world. Perhaps because it was the first time she could talk about these things with someone else, Gu Ximian was surprisingly talkative. They discussed everything from the story’s background to character settings, going over the people and events around them in meticulous detail. Their chat history grew day by day.

At first, Zhuang Chi worried she would expose herself, but after chatting for a while, she gradually let go of that concern. Gu Ximian’s understanding of this world was vivid and lively. She had even accurately identified the character roles of Ling Jing, An Chen, and the others. It could be said that aside from mistaking Zhuang Chi as the “Official Match,” she had figured out pretty much everything else. And more than any other feeling, what Zhuang Chi felt first was a faint sense of pride—look, her female protagonist is such an outstanding person.

Perhaps because she felt proud of her, even now, knowing that Gu Ximian was teasing her, Zhuang Chi only found her cute and smiled with a hint of helplessness.

“…It feels like we’ve been together all along,” she answered honestly. “So I haven’t had the chance to miss you yet.”

“…” Gu Ximian was slightly taken aback, then she turned her head away. “…Is that so.”

I guess I passed the test…? Zhuang Chi looked at her lowered head and silent figure. Only after confirming that Gu Ximian didn’t intend to ask any more difficult questions did she finally relax and turn to Olivia. “Anyway… first, welcome to St. Blaisedon. How do you feel about being here?”

“I feel like this is a great place!” Olivia looked at her with a beaming smile. “The school is huge, everyone is nice and takes good care of me… Ah, and the uniforms are very pretty!”

It sounded absolutely perfect. Olivia was truly an easily satisfied, kind princess. Zhuang Chi smiled. Her coffee was brought over just then. As she took it, she heard Olivia continue with a sigh, “If there’s a chance later, I’d like to bring Lily to see this place. I’m sure she’d like it here too.”

Zhuang Chi’s hand paused, and she exchanged a silent, knowing look with Gu Ximian.

‘That Princess Lily seems to be hiding something from us.’ The day after the banquet, Zhuang Chi had received a message from Gu Ximian about what Lily had said at the party the night before. ‘She said her dance partner had to leave for something urgent, which is why she happened to be free to find Olivia… but I looked into it carefully and contacted the person involved. The truth is, Lily was the one who proactively turned down her dance partner.’

‘Whether she told such a lie because she didn’t want to leave a bad impression on us or for some other, deeper reason… in any case, she is definitely not as simple-minded as Olivia. Be careful if you have to interact with her in the future. You might not be very good at dealing with her, so just leave it to me then.’

…It felt like a “CAUTION” warning label had been slapped on Lily. Although Zhuang Chi remembered that Lily didn’t have much of a plotline left in the book, she accepted Gu Ximian’s kind offer anyway. Now, she responded properly to Olivia, saying polite things like, “It would be great if there’s a chance.” The subsequent conversation flowed smoothly. This time, Zhuang Chi finally explained the rules of rock-paper-scissors clearly to Olivia and even played a few rounds with the enthusiastic princess.

“Speaking of which, I heard that club recruitment day is coming up soon,” Olivia said, throwing out a new topic after they had their fun. “Do you two have any plans to join a club? I’m still hesitating…”

“I’m going to apply for the Student Council Presidium.”

As she said this, Gu Ximian explained to a somewhat confused Olivia what the Presidium was, continuing, “Putting other things aside, at the very least, this organization is indeed at the top of the school. There’s no harm in joining it.”

A calm, benefit-driven analysis. It was indeed a choice Gu Ximian would make. Zhuang Chi silently took a sip of her coffee, watching as Olivia nodded with partial understanding before looking at her. “What about you?”

“…”

Before answering, Zhuang Chi first recalled her chat with Gu Ximian from two days ago.

The context was a discussion about the plot’s direction. Gu Ximian had sent a message with some regret: 【It’s a pity we can’t confirm the actual plot development of this book, so we don’t know if we’re following the established plot or have already gone off course… I’ve actually always been curious about what would happen if we kept changing the plot, but I guess there’s no way to verify it.】

Zhuang Chi read this message over and over again, hesitated for a long time, and finally replied: 【Then let’s give it a try.】

To Gu Ximian, this was of course a nonsensical statement, and Zhuang Chi quickly moved past the topic. But Zhuang Chi knew in her heart that she had made a decision.

Up until now, she had interfered with or changed the plot several times, and from the current situation, it seemed no severe consequences had occurred. Zhuang Chi had previously suspected that she would get hurt every time she meddled with the plot—but nothing similar happened during the banquet, which made her cross out that theory.

If that’s the case, does that mean… she can change the plot’s progression?

…In any case, at least it seems it won’t cause harm to others—after all, even when someone got hurt, it was always her suffering. Zhuang Chi thought. Since she was also concerned about it, and Gu Ximian was curious too, then there was no harm in her giving it a try.

“Same as Gu Ximian,” Zhuang Chi answered softly. “I’ll apply for the Presidium too.”

This event had no process in the novel; Zhuang Chi had only written the outcome of “Gu Ximian joins the Presidium.” Anyway, even if she applied, she definitely couldn’t beat Gu Ximian, so it wouldn’t affect the result—it was a small intervention, quite suitable as a starting point for her to actively experiment.

“Wow…” Olivia let out an ambiguous sigh, looking at her and Gu Ximian with a gaze mixed with envy and anticipation. “You want to be in the same club as Gu Ximian, right? Mm-hmm, I get it. Then, then can I apply too? We can all—”

“…Although you can apply, the Presidium actually only has one spot, so we can’t all get in.”

“Eh, eh? Only one person… then why would you still—ah, I’m sorry, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be a competitor to Gu Ximian, I’m just a little curious…”

“It’s okay, I know what you mean. I’m not actually… trying to compete with her.”

Zhuang Chi gave a reassuring smile to Olivia, who was getting anxious from not knowing how to explain herself. She then looked at Gu Ximian, who had been watching her quietly all this time. After meeting her gaze for a long moment, she lowered her eyes and slowly stirred her mocha.

“…I’m just… giving it a try.”

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