Another segment of the plot passed by rather peacefully.
During her time at St. Blaisedon, Zhuang Chi had gradually figured out some rules for survival. First, the plot events she was involved in didn’t happen very frequently. Second, the feasibility of deliberately avoiding all of them was not very high. It was probably because too much time had passed; she could basically only recall the general direction of the original plot, which was of little use in providing precise guidance for the present. Third, keeping her distance from the relevant characters was indeed an effective way to avoid the plot, but from the moment she had reached out to block the hawk at the school gate, this path was destined to no longer be a straight one.
After all, this had directly created a connection between Zhuang Chi and Ling Jing, which in turn unfortunately led to her getting involved in every plot related to Ling Jing. In contrast, her connection with An Chen was weaker, so she had never been dragged into his side of things.
But something must have happened in places she didn’t know about, Zhuang Chi thought. After all, in her book, An Chen and Ling Jing’s character roles were similar, so their relationship progression with Gu Ximian should also be parallel, with neither side leading or lagging too far behind—
“Hey, listen to me, Zhuang Chi! I went to the library today and saw the Student Council President with Gu Ximian!”
…See? She did occasionally hear this kind of corroborating evidence. Zhuang Chi chewed her food distractedly. Beside her, Lu Man let out a surprised “eh,” and said in a rather curious tone, “You actually go to the library?”
“…Huh?” Ling Jing’s ears twitched, and she immediately flew into a rage. “Are you trying to say I can’t read?!”
Ling Jing had been sticking to Zhuang Chi like glue recently. Ever since Zhuang Chi didn’t expose her during the flower-giving incident, she had shown a growing tendency to get closer to Zhuang Chi, and now they had gradually started eating together. At first, it was just Ling Jing having one-sided “chance encounters” with them at mealtimes, but after a while, even Lu Man couldn’t stand it anymore and couldn’t help but call her out, “If you want to eat with Zhuang Chi, why don’t you just say so? Waiting at the cafeteria entrance for over half an hour every mealtime will scare away people who actually want to eat.” And so, it naturally evolved into their current relationship of eating together whenever they were free.
Of course, this was inseparable from the fact that their master-servant relationship hadn’t ended yet—sigh, if this dragged on any longer, it would almost be October. So far, only two of her reports had been accepted and approved, and who knew when the rest would be done—but Ling Jing’s closeness to her was probably mostly mixed with personal emotional factors. Zhuang Chi thought, to put it simply… Ling Jing didn’t seem to have many friends.
“Hey, I can’t be bothered to argue with you!” Ling Jing, having just finished arguing with Lu Man, turned back resentfully, looking like steam was about to come out of her ears—clearly, she hadn’t won the argument. This made her still a bit huffy when she turned to Zhuang Chi. “Zhuang Chi, listen to me—how are you eating so fast? Were you just focused on eating and not listening to me?”
“I was listening, I was listening. You said you saw An Chen and Gu Ximian at the library.”
She had a bad temper, didn’t speak pleasantly, and most of the time, she still had the arrogant air and mannerisms of a delinquent young lady. It was no wonder her social skills were so poor. But once you got to know her, you’d realize she was surprisingly easy to handle. For example, right now, after hearing Zhuang Chi confirm what she’d said, Ling Jing’s expression softened, and she happily returned to the topic, “Anyway, I caught the two of them alone! Seriously, I could tell what that guy was thinking at a glance. His fox tail was about to show, hmph…”
“Well, I think your intentions are pretty obvious too.”
It was simply the pot calling the kettle black. Ling Jing was even more obvious than An Chen. Although she had been quite dejected for two days after her failed attempt at giving flowers, Gu Ximian’s attitude towards her had softened compared to before, probably because she had helped out that day. As a result, Ling Jing was slowly showing signs of rekindling.
Thinking it was best not to get involved in these emotional entanglements, Zhuang Chi reached for her salad and casually started a new topic, “Speaking of which, I ran into that Alpha from the susceptible period incident again. Of course, he’s perfectly normal now. But he actually recognized me and apologized quite embarrassedly. I thought he was completely out of his mind back then—”
“Huh? Is the topic of An Chen over just like that?”
But Ling Jing was not pleased and looked a little surprised. “You—you’re not even going to ask for the details? It’s Gu Ximian and An Chen, Gu Ximian!”
It seemed she thought Zhuang Chi hadn’t heard the key person’s name, so she even emphasized it twice. Zhuang Chi had just put a piece of lettuce in her mouth. She slowly swallowed it before freeing her mouth to respond, “…I heard you.”
“That’s her normal social life,” Zhuang Chi poked at the purple cabbage in her bowl, deciding she didn’t want to eat it and pushing it to the side. “It’s not good to talk about it behind her back like this. Isn’t being overly concerned a bit weird?”
It was a valid point. Ling Jing had no rebuttal, but she still couldn’t seem to let it go completely, muttering things like, “Why do you talk like an outsider?” and “An Chen and Gu Ximian have known each other for a long time, it’s dangerous,” all of which Zhuang Chi heard clearly.
When had she given Ling Jing the impression that she cared a lot about Gu Ximian’s affairs… Zhuang Chi silently chewed her salad. Although she did care, it… was probably the more “passive” kind.
Since the start of school, her relationship with Gu Ximian seemed to have maintained a somewhat delicate distance. In fact, from a normal perspective, they were just ordinary friends. They chatted occasionally, ate together occasionally, and sat together during the classes they shared, but they never hung out alone.
But… Zhuang Chi thought, even so, she seemed to be the person closest to Gu Ximian.
Although she wasn’t very involved in Gu Ximian’s life, she could get a glimpse of it from their shared elective with the literature department—Gu Ximian never once sat with her classmates. It wasn’t that their relationship was bad; on the contrary, many people would greet her with smiles that were either nervous or overly enthusiastic, and Gu Ximian would respond to each one, perfectly polite.
Perhaps it was because she had seen such scenes that Zhuang Chi occasionally had a strange awareness, as if the door Gu Ximian faced her with was a little more ajar than the one she showed others. She even sometimes had a faint feeling that Gu Ximian was hinting or guiding her to get closer to that door.
…But whether this was her illusion or not, Zhuang Chi had no intention of actively approaching Gu Ximian right now. To put it simply, her policy for dealing with Gu Ximian was “wait and see what happens,” a completely passive stance.
There was no other way. She didn’t plan to move forward, nor could she retreat, so this was all she could do. Zhuang Chi sighed silently, feeling that she herself was quite a troublesome person.
“…Alright, let’s talk about something else.”
Temporarily interrupting her thoughts, Zhuang Chi said this, and Lu Man chimed in at the right moment, “Okay, let’s talk about that Alpha you mentioned earlier… Ling Jing, have you run into him again? If he still remembers, he must be pretty scared of you.”
“Ha? I’m the one who’s scared of him, okay?” Ling Jing’s eyes widened, seeming to have temporarily forgotten about Gu Ximian and An Chen. She huffed, “You guys have no idea how pungent his pheromones were… It was like… like throwing braised fish into a pile of firewood. I smelled a lot of it up close back then, and I feel like I can still smell it when I think about it now…”
She rubbed her nose in disgust and looked at Zhuang Chi with envy. “You really dodged a bullet by not having differentiated and being unable to smell it—You’re not eating the purple cabbage? Why are you still a picky eater at your age?”
“…” Not expecting to be criticized by Ling Jing one day, Zhuang Chi pursed her lips, feeling she was in the wrong. “…I just don’t really like it.”
“Can’t be helped. Give it to me then. We can’t waste food.”
Ling Jing generously took all the purple cabbage from her bowl and ate it with relish. Lu Man watched them complete the transaction and laughed, “If you wrote ‘helped Zhuang Chi eat her purple cabbage’ in your report, would it pass?” Ling Jing mumbled while chewing, “If that could pass, I would’ve stopped being Zhuang Chi’s servant long ago”—what can you say, despite her attitude, she hadn’t forgotten her role.
Her relationship with Ling Jing had indeed improved quite a bit, Zhuang Chi thought. Maybe it would be better to try and recall more of the plot related to Ling Jing… It felt like the probability of getting dragged into it was higher. She decided to make an effort after getting back, and for now, finished her meal in this friendly atmosphere.
But mishaps often happen unexpectedly at times like these.
“…Ugh…”
They were currently walking back from the cafeteria. Having just eaten, the three of them were walking very slowly and had even detoured to the convenience store to buy some fruits and snacks. As a result, just as they came out of the store, Ling Jing hesitated and stopped.
Zhuang Chi and Lu Man also stopped with her. Seeing Ling Jing’s somewhat strange expression, she raised a hand to touch her own face. “…Why do I feel a little hot?”
“Hot?” The weather today was very cool. Lu Man blinked in confusion. “…Your face does look a bit red. What’s going on? Don’t tell me you’ve suddenly come down with a fever?”
“Huh? No way, so suddenly?” Ling Jing got a little nervous and touched her neck again. “Now that you mention it, I think my whole body is getting hot. I also feel a bit like throwing up, and my breathing is…”
“Isn’t this developing too quickly for complications of a fever?!”
Despite saying this, Zhuang Chi and Lu Man both grew tense and discussed going to the infirmary. At first, Ling Jing insisted she didn’t need to go, but after walking a few steps, she seemed to remember something and let out an “ah,” then looked at Zhuang Chi. “The sa-salad…”
Lu Man gasped. “Poison?!”
“No, I didn’t poison it, okay?!” Zhuang Chi waved her hands frantically to prove her innocence. “I ate more of it myself, but I don’t feel anything wrong right now…”
“…Salad…” But Ling Jing insisted on continuing. In a short time, it seemed even speaking had become difficult for her. She struggled to continue, “Could—could there have been peanuts in it?”
“Peanuts…?” Zhuang Chi tried to recall, looking blank. “I don’t remember…”
“No,” Lu Man thought carefully for a moment, then interjected hesitantly, “…I think the cafeteria’s salad dressing does have peanut butter in it…?”
The two looked at each other, then slowly turned to Ling Jing.
“I…” Ling Jing’s face turned even redder. She took a deep breath. “I’m… allergic… to peanuts…”
““…””
The three of them froze for two seconds, then Zhuang Chi shot up. “The in-infirmary! Quick, to the infirmary!”
“This is… this is awful. I feel like I can smell that choking scent again…”
“Can allergies induce hallucinations?! I can’t smell anything… Ah, strange, it smells a bit like cream cake… Zhuang Chi, do you smell anything—”
“Uggghhhh…”
“Whoa! Hang in there, Ling Jing!!”
It was complete chaos. Fortunately, Lu Man managed to borrow a bicycle from a kind person on the road. Zhuang Chi had Ling Jing sit on the back and sped all the way to the infirmary. By then, Ling Jing’s entire face was bright red—it was the first time Zhuang Chi knew an allergic reaction could make someone’s face so red. While her eyes were watery and her breathing was faint, she could still talk. Just before being pushed in for treatment, she grabbed Zhuang Chi’s hand and laboriously instructed, “I… have work in the sports warehouse this afternoon…”
For her to be talking about such things in this situation, it must be important. Zhuang Chi listened intently as she explained with great difficulty, “The punishment from the Xiao Ying incident… I have to go help out at various student clubs when I have time…”
…So she was still receiving that punishment. Come to think of it, she probably went to the library because she was helping out too… But that wasn’t important right now! Zhuang Chi figured Ling Jing was probably worried that this would be misunderstood as her deliberately skipping out. Out of a sense of obligation and a bit of guilt that the incident was caused by her salad, she reassured her, “I-I understand. I’ll go over there and explain for you, don’t worry!”
Ling Jing’s expression indeed looked a little more relieved, but then a look of sad melancholy appeared on her face. She said, as if very unwillingly, “This afternoon—this afternoon is—”
Before she could finish, the medical staff beside her had already started to wheel her away. Zhuang Chi silently watched Ling Jing go, letting out a temporary sigh of relief and wiping the sweat from her forehead.
…So, all I have to do is go to the sports department and ask for leave on Ling Jing’s behalf, right? Zhuang Chi thought. That sounds pretty simple. Nothing should go wrong, right?
—Now, there were less than three hours until Zhuang Chi would be plunged into the most dangerous incident since the start of school.
