After cleaning up the event site, Song Zhiqing leaned against Ye Yuhuan’s shoulder like a deflated balloon. Their first period was PE, so they were in no rush to leave. Not far from them, Shen Wei and Shangguan Xianxian were also in no hurry. They were exhausted too, especially Shen Wei. To maintain her persona as a delicate girl from a small town, she had been handling logistics. After a whole afternoon of work, her back was drenched in sweat, and she was now draped over Shangguan Xianxian, begging for a massage.
Song Zhiqing glanced in their direction before quickly looking away in disgust.
Hmph, how sappy.
Seeing Song Zhiqing remain silent for so long, Ye Yuhuan thought she was upset by Shen Wei and the others, not realizing this was simply the natural allergic reaction a single person has to public displays of affection.
To distract her, Ye Yuhuan lowered her head and asked, “Are you still going to work out during PE class later?”
Song Zhiqing instantly shook her head. Over the afternoon, she was practically doing the work of three people—coordinating, organizing, and promoting. She swore she had never talked so much in her entire life.
Because the response had been so positive, Song Zhiqing had lost herself in the hustle and bustle, only realizing how utterly exhausted she was once it was all over.
“Then let’s find a place to lie down,” Ye Yuhuan suggested, seeing her state.
Song Zhiqing’s eyes lit up, and her energy returned in a flash. “Where?” she asked excitedly.
“Your dorm? But that seems a bit far, and the dorms are closed during class time. We could go to my nap dorm, otherwise.”
Song Zhiqing mulled it over for a moment. She felt that if Ye Yuhuan was suggesting it, she must have a plan. She looked at her with piercing eyes. “Or do you have some kind of secret base!”
Ye Yuhuan looked helpless. If only Song Zhiqing could apply that quick thinking to her studies.
“What secret base could I have that you don’t know about?”
“I was thinking of the yoga rooms. Not many people choose yoga for PE, so one of the three classrooms is always empty. There are plenty of yoga mats inside we can use to lie down.”
Song Zhiqing threw her arms around Ye Yuhuan. “That’s brilliant! Let’s go right now!” she exclaimed.
Just then, Shen Wei’s voice drifted over. “Where are you going? We want to go too.”
Song Zhiqing spun around and glared at her. “What’s it to you? Are you my shadow?”
Shen Wei ignored her and looked straight at Ye Yuhuan, feigning a delicate demeanor. “My friend, Ye Yuhuan, do you think we could come along?”
Shen Wei drew out the words “my friend” with particular emphasis.
Seeing Song Zhiqing bristle like an angry cat, Shen Wei felt a surge of satisfaction. For the past few days, Song Zhiqing had been flaunting her authority, constantly calling her “Xiao Shen.” To maintain the bigger picture, Shen Wei couldn’t retort on the spot. But now, she would let these two know what it meant to be hoist by one’s own petard.
Hmph, Auntie Shen still knows a thing or two.
Ye Yuhuan looked left, then right.
After a pause, she cursed inwardly. It seemed she had created a battlefield for herself!
Ultimately, Ye Yuhuan’s intellect saved her from her emotional intelligence blunder. She turned to Shangguan Xianxian, her voice incredibly gentle. “Miss Shangguan, what are your thoughts?”
The only way to resolve a battlefield is with another battlefield.
Shangguan Xianxian, of course, prioritized Shen Wei’s opinion. Although she knew Shen Wei was deliberately trying to annoy Song Zhiqing, Shen Wei did look genuinely exhausted. Shangguan Xianxian was afraid she might have another episode like last time, where she struggled to breathe.
So… if there’s a comfortable, quiet place to rest, that would be for the best, Shangguan Xianxian thought apologetically.
Besides, any place Miss Ye finds is bound to be reliable. Weiwei would probably be happy to spend time with her friends, too.
Meanwhile, Song Zhiqing was so angry she wanted to march over and scratch Shen Wei. She couldn’t possibly refuse Shangguan Xianxian’s opinion, but that didn’t give Shen Wei the right to manipulate her!
As they walked, Song Zhiqing was practically a little steam engine, letting out a huff every now and then.
But she didn’t dare make it loud enough for Shangguan Xianxian to hear, so only Ye Yuhuan, walking beside her, had to endure it.
Not that it was really enduring. Ye Yuhuan rubbed the tip of her ear and thought to herself that it was actually quite cute.
The group soon arrived at the yoga rooms. Just as Ye Yuhuan had said, the place was empty. Since they didn’t know which classroom the teacher would use, the doors weren’t locked. They pushed one open and walked straight in. A row of clean, new yoga mats was stacked against the opposite wall.
Apparently, no one liked yoga class.
They took several mats and arranged them like a makeshift bed. Out of some sense of social etiquette, they didn’t place their spots too far apart.
The moment they sat down, all four of them felt an awkward silence descend.
The main issue was that the space was too open. It was just a large, square classroom with no partitions. To make matters worse, the wall in front of them was covered in mirrors, reflecting every expression and posture with perfect clarity.
The original plan was to lie down and rest for a while, but now everyone was sitting rigidly upright, with better posture than they had in class.
Honestly, they really didn’t know each other that well.
Shen Wei was already starting to regret it. Had her soul become a teenager’s along with her body? Why did she have to resort to such a childish trick?
This was a moment that desperately needed a social butterfly to announce, “Let’s all take a nap.”
Then everyone could lie down without awkwardness and get through the class.
Normally, Song Zhiqing could have easily filled that role, but the presence of Shangguan Xianxian and Shen Wei had debuffed her social skills. She was now practically wilting.
As the stalemate grew so tense that one might want to flee, Ye Yuhuan braced herself, took out her phone, and said, “Since it looks like no one can sleep, why don’t we play a game?”
Shen Wei, who was regretting dragging herself and Shangguan Xianxian into this situation out of spite, was the first to respond. “Okay!”
Song Zhiqing and Shangguan Xianxian also agreed. After all, the awkwardness was mutual.
“So, what should we play?”
“…” Three silent faces turned to look at Ye Yuhuan.
Playing games with people you barely know was just so awkward at every turn!
“King of Glory?” Ye Yuhuan suggested, since it was one of the most popular games in the country.
But Shen Wei raised her hand. “I don’t know how to play.”
In the era before Shen Wei’s rebirth, King of Glory was no longer in vogue. That was the age of full-dive virtual reality, and mobile games had become a niche hobby. Shen Wei was no hardcore mobile gamer; she had long forgotten how to play such games. With so much to deal with after her rebirth, she had even less inclination to familiarize herself with the current gaming scene.
At the end of the day, her gaming skills wouldn’t affect her ability to crush the Shangguan family.
Ye Yuhuan glanced at Shen Wei and understood. Class was only forty minutes long, not even enough time to learn a new game.
In the end, they settled on the classic, all-ages game of poker.
The four of them split into two teams. The first team to get rid of all their cards would win.
At this, Song Zhiqing finally regained some of her spirit. She pulled a half-used pack of tissues from her pocket and said with the air of a seasoned pro, “Can’t have a game without a punishment. The losers have to stick paper strips on their faces.”
Shangguan Xianxian, a bit of a germaphobe, was momentarily taken aback. “You don’t mean with saliva, do you?”
Ye Yuhuan silently produced a bottle of water from behind her. “We can use this.”
She had brought it just in case. It seemed being prepared was a good habit.
With everything ready, Song Zhiqing immediately entered battle mode, determined to crush Shen Wei completely. However, she was pitted against two masterminds whose schemes were so numerous it was dizzying. In the first round, Ye Yuhuan was the first to finish, but Song Zhiqing was left for last, suffering a regrettable defeat.
But now, a problem arose: who would apply the paper strip?
Logically, the winning side should do it. But the thought of Shangguan Xianxian touching Song Zhiqing’s face made Shen Wei realize that Song Zhiqing would be over the moon. She wasn’t about to give her that satisfaction.
As for doing it herself, she found the idea distasteful.
So, with masterful self-interest, she declared, “You two can just stick them on yourselves.”
Song Zhiqing could see right through Shen Wei’s intentions and ground her teeth in frustration. How dare that vixen be so disgusted by her! Today, if she didn’t cover Shen Wei’s face in paper, her surname wasn’t Song.
After quickly sticking the paper strip on her own face, Song Zhiqing started the next round with fierce determination.
Second round, she lost.
Third round, she didn’t win.
Fourth round, she was defeated.
Song Zhiqing now had two strips of paper on each cheek. They fluttered with her heavy breathing like white flags in the wind.
Worried she might get sick from anger, Ye Yuhuan leaned closer and whispered, “Do you really want to win that badly?”
“More than I want to beat up Shen Wei,” Song Zhiqing replied grimly.
She, Song Zhiqing, had never lost so miserably.
Very well. Ye Yuhuan understood completely.
In the following rounds, Song Zhiqing’s luck turned around, and she was the first to finish every single time. As for Ye Yuhuan, she occasionally came in fourth but mostly managed to finish early.
Now, Shen Wei and Shangguan Xianxian’s faces were also covered in paper strips. They had both figured out that Ye Yuhuan was counting cards. Being proud individuals, they refused to admit they were outmatched, so eventually, all three of them started counting cards. Only Song Zhiqing, who was bad at math, couldn’t understand how her luck kept swinging from terrible to amazing. She was like an oblivious bystander out buying groceries during the duel at the Forbidden City.
Song Zhiqing didn’t have the scheming mind of the three foxes around her. She was happy when she won and angry when she lost, her competitive spirit written all over her face.
For instance, right now—
“A pair of twos. Anyone want it?”
“Pass.”
“Big joker!”
“Pass.”
“Hehe, a pair of threes. I’m out.”
In Ye Yuhuan’s eyes, the girl was acting a little, perhaps, a tiny bit straight at the moment.
Her crush was right in front of her, yet all she could think about was winning, practically doing backflips to show how much she wanted to win. And when her opponent got a paper strip, she laughed like she’d hit the jackpot.
At this point, Ye Yuhuan could finally make peace with her own skills as a love guru. With Song Zhiqing’s approach to courtship, even if the god of marriage himself descended, she’d probably chase him away.
By the end, both sides had their wins and losses, which meant everyone’s face was basically covered. Under these circumstances, it had become difficult to stick the paper strips on one’s own face by feel alone.
The protagonist duo on the other side had long started helping each other, but on their side, for some reason, they were still struggling to find space on their own faces.
Seeing this, Shen Wei’s frustration from being constantly outplayed by Ye Yuhuan finally found an outlet. She let out a taunt, “Is this hard for you two? I really don’t get it. It’s just sticking on a piece of paper. Why make it so complicated?”
Then, her eyes darted around as an idea struck her. “Don’t tell me you’re shy!” she said, a hint of excitement in her voice. “Come on, it’s just a paper strip.”
Clearly, with no outsiders around, Shen Wei had dropped her act.
At her words, the two girls across from her instantly looked at each other, then quickly averted their gazes.
What… what kind of thing was that to say!
Did she think everyone was as thick-skinned as her? You had to get so close to stick on a paper strip. Why would anyone get that close for no reason?
Song Zhiqing refuted it endlessly in her mind but didn’t say a word out loud.
She was feeling a little, perhaps, a tiny bit shy.
It was all that lollipop’s fault!
Perhaps playing cards really did bring people closer. Qinglin’s famous ice queen, Shangguan Xianxian, also commented, “You two really do look shy.”
That did it for Song Zhiqing. While she hadn’t yet figured out her feelings for Shangguan Xianxian, she couldn’t let her get the wrong idea.
Ah, it’s a misunderstanding, right?
Probably… maybe… no, it’s definitely a misunderstanding!
Song Zhiqing immediately tore off a strip of paper, lunged toward Ye Yuhuan, and raised her hand. But the moment her eyes met that pair of peach-blossom eyes, her resolve softened.
Don’t… look at me like that.
It’s making me embarrassed.
The only part of Ye Yuhuan’s face still fully visible was her eyes. As Song Zhiqing searched for a spot, her gaze accidentally fell upon the mole she had seen last time, resting quietly on her jaw. It stood out starkly against the white of the paper and the white of her skin.
On some strange impulse, Song Zhiqing moved to stick the paper there. Her fingertips accidentally brushed against the skin, trembling imperceptibly, as if she’d been struck by a tiny jolt of electricity.
After placing the strip, Song Zhiqing’s face turned inexplicably red. Fortunately, it was covered in paper, so no one could tell. Only Ye Yuhuan, who felt the slightly elevated temperature of her face upon contact, paused in confusion, which only made it grow hotter.
Could Song Zhiqing be any more innocent?
Ye Yuhuan silently mused.
Given that Song Zhiqing could blush for half an hour over a single lollipop, she had figured that sticking paper on someone’s face would undoubtedly be on her list of embarrassing things.
That’s why she had been considerate and hadn’t suggested it like Shen Wei and the others, to avoid turning Song Zhiqing into a tomato again.
Although, it seemed the paper-covered dumpling in front of her was already a tomato underneath.
Ye Yuhuan rubbed her fingers together, her expression shifting slightly.
After that one instance of sticking on a paper strip, Song Zhiqing’s fiery demeanor had vanished. She suddenly became quiet and well-behaved, even playing her cards with a certain diligence.
Song Zhiqing couldn’t quite figure out her own state of mind. She still wanted to win, but if she lost… it wasn’t as annoying anymore… right?
The three geniuses continued playing with Song Zhiqing until the end of class. When the bell rang, they all felt a bit dazed.
Ah, is it over already?
I haven’t won enough yet.
However, more important than class right now was getting the paper off their faces. If they walked out of this room like this, given the four of them were some of the most well-known students at Qinglin, the entire school would be buzzing with all sorts of rumors within half an hour, and they would be left with cringeworthy photos that would lead to repeated social death.
At that thought, a spark of mischief lit up in Song Zhiqing’s mind. She had finally found an elegant way to get her revenge on Shen Wei.
With lightning speed, Song Zhiqing exited the card game app, opened her camera, and unleashed a flurry of snapshots at Shen Wei.
As expected of me—the cosmic beauty herself from the Cosmic Beauty Garden, Qinglin’s school tyrant, and captain of the paparazzi squad with countless achievements!
Song Zhiqing’s action naturally infuriated Shen Wei. Deciding to go all in, she also pulled out her phone to take pictures, but Song Zhiqing was one step ahead and had already torn off many of the paper strips.
Though it might have been better if she hadn’t. At least with Shen Wei’s face, you couldn’t see it clearly.
But with Song Zhiqing, not only was her face visible, but so were her ferocious movements and expressions.
Ye Yuhuan looked at Song Zhiqing with fond pity. The thought that such a silly little girl was supposed to be the villainess supporting female character made her feel as if blades had rained down upon the author’s desk.
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