Chapter 14: Watch

Seeing Yan Mian’s expression grow increasingly stiff, Zhu Lexing feared she was developing a dislike for her. With her already precarious favorability on the brink of collapse, it might drop dozens more points. Just as Zhu Lexing was about to summon the System, a phone rang out abruptly, startling even her with its impeccable timing.

She glanced down, and the caller’s name was unexpected—

Lin Yang.

Zhu Lexing lifted her hand to hang up, but someone behind her had already spotted the name. “Lin Yang?”

That person clearly knew her and started egging things on. In Zhu Lexing’s peripheral vision, however, Yan Mian’s face completely froze.

Outsiders had no clue about the tangled history between the three of them, but Li Nian did. In an instant, she recovered from her daze and let out a cold snort.

The atmosphere plunged to an icy standstill, leaving everyone at a loss for words. Just as they were about to swarm Zhu Lexing with questions, Qiao Qiao spoke up. “Enough. Other people still need to perform.”

Only then did they realize the actors on stage were ready to go. The brief commotion had stalled the play right at the opening, drawing most of the auditorium’s attention straight to their little group.

Zhu Lexing shot Qiao Qiao a look, and Qiao Qiao mouthed, “Don’t mention it.”

…As if I was thanking you!

Zhu Lexing hung up on Lin Yang while thinking that.

Lin Yang called several more times, only to get hung up on each one. Finally, she grasped the fact that Zhu Lexing wasn’t going to answer and switched to texting instead: 【Lexing, I heard from Uncle Zhu that you all have a dinner gathering at xx tonight? Perfect timing—I’m heading nearby anyway…】

She copy-pasted the message ten times before following up with: 【Lexing, mind if I come find you later?】

Zhu Lexing fought the impulse to block her and fired back a curt reply: 【I don’t want to see you.】

Lin Yang proved shameless: 【But if we don’t meet now, we’ll run into each other tonight anyway.】

Zhu Lexing had no patience for banter, so she blocked her outright. Moments later, the System chimed in: 【Lin Yang is only 200m from the Host—】

Zhu Lexing had zero desire to let Lin Yang show up in front of Yan Mian, so she stood and headed outside to hear whatever Lin Yang had to say. To everyone else, though, her abrupt exit looked an awful lot like accepting a date invitation.

Yan Mian sensed the stares boring into her face. Qiao Qiao remarked offhandedly, “Now this plot’s getting juicy—”

The group’s focus shifted instantly, everyone chiming in with enthusiastic murmurs.

Outside the auditorium, the sun beat down mercilessly. It didn’t take long for Zhu Lexing to spot Lin Yang. Despite being on campus, she skipped the school uniform for a lightweight jacket over a flowing skirt—all in white. Her pure, innocent look bore an uncanny resemblance to Yan Mian.

Zhu Lexing had assumed the urgency meant something serious.

Instead, Lin Yang’s eyes drifted back toward the auditorium the moment they met, her agenda unchanged from last time. “Lexing, does your stage play really not need anyone else? I heard you’re short an actor for one role.”

Zhu Lexing said, “…You mean Zhou Yang?”

Lin Yang’s lips curved in a smile. She idly tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and murmured softly, “I don’t know his name.”

…She’s even more like her now!

Lin Yang aping Yan Mian—this was the first time Zhu Lexing had ever truly sensed someone’s scheming nature.

The original host’s “crush” on Yan Mian stemmed partly from how her personality fed that need for control, and partly from her looks. Lin Yang nailed both, making her a natural fit for the original host.

But Zhu Lexing wasn’t the same girl anymore.

“Thanks,” Zhu Lexing said coldly, “but even if we are short-staffed, you’re not acting.”

Lin Yang: “…”

Zhu Lexing had never spoken to her like that before. Stunned, Lin Yang blurted, “Why? Because of Yan Mian?”

“Yan Mian?” Worried Lin Yang might twist things to target Yan Mian again, Zhu Lexing cut straight to it. “It has nothing to do with her. I’m just not interested in you.”

“I’m not interested in either of you.”

The addendum eased Lin Yang’s expression somewhat. Still reluctant to drop it, she pressed: “…So what are you interested in? Music? Screenwriting? Stage plays? Acting—?”

Her tone suggested she’d dive into whatever caught Zhu Lexing’s eye.

Zhu Lexing paused for several seconds before settling on an answer best for both of them: “Studying.”

“It’s just study—”

Lin Yang’s smile faltered. “Studying?”

Zhu Lexing nodded. “I’ve realized lately that studying empowers people. Books help us see how narrow-minded we’ve been—”

She spouted inspirational quotes off the cuff, but Lin Yang’s stare turned weirder by the second. Zhu Lexing barely got two sentences out before Lin Yang mumbled some excuse and bolted.

Zhu Lexing felt a twinge of regret at missing her chance to drop the classic line about taking the Tsinghua University entrance exam if she liked her that much.

Still, with Lin Yang gone, Zhu Lexing let out a huge sigh of relief.

She skipped going back to the auditorium to avoid Qiao Qiao’s prying. After lunch, she lingered in the rest room quite a while before returning to class. Even then, Song Yingying cornered her right before afternoon classes and asked hesitantly, “Are you dating Lin Yang?”

Zhu Lexing blinked. ?

“…Why would you think that?”

Song Yingying chose her words carefully. “It’s not just me. Lots of people are saying it.”

Zhu Lexing realized with a jolt: Crap, another misunderstanding!

She glanced at Yan Mian, who was working on problems at her desk. Zhu Lexing wanted to explain right away, but after a few seconds of silence, the girl nodded at her. It wasn’t exactly friendly, but it beat their previous total radio silence by miles.

Zhu Lexing: ?

A quick check with the System revealed Yan Mian’s favorability had ticked up slightly a few hours back.

Slightly. By one point.

It wasn’t -1000 anymore.

It was a dignified -999!

What kind of twisted logic was this? Getting rumored with Lin Yang actually thawed Yan Mian’s attitude?

The System explained: 【Yan Mian figures that once Zhu Lexing pairs off with Lin Yang, she won’t have to worry about any more attention from her.】

This way, she could also escape unscathed, keeping their distance from each other with no further connections after graduation.

Yan Mian was someone who knew how to “act.”

Even if she couldn’t forgive him deep down inside, she could still put on a show of appropriate familiarity in front of outsiders.

In the original work, things had indeed unfolded this way.

After the original host got together with Lin Yang, Yan Mian finally enjoyed a brief period of peace.

But it didn’t last long. Perhaps out of growing bored with the new and tired of the old, or maybe because she hadn’t truly cared much for Lin Yang to begin with, the original host soon started pestering Yan Mian again.

After that incident, Lin Yang came to see Yan Mian as a true enemy. She showed no mercy in her attacks, growing even more ruthless.

The original host’s turnaround only brought even greater disaster upon Yan Mian.

One could only imagine how miserable Yan Mian’s life became. Even though the original host always showed up at critical moments to save her, the suffering clung to her like a maggot in her bones, impossible to eradicate.

Zhu Lexing fell silent for a moment before withdrawing her gaze.

For the first time, she felt that transmigrating as “Zhu Lexing” wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

At the very least, she could save Yan Mian—and everything Yan Mian held dear.

At the Zhu Family gathering, after school, Yan Mian waited for Qin Yun outside the school. It wasn’t long before she received a message from Qin Yun: Jiang Yue had given her the evening off.

Yan Mian gripped her phone tightly, her palms turning ice-cold. She turned her head, trying to let out a breath to calm herself, only to notice that the Zhu Family Driver had already rolled down the window from the nearby car. He had been sitting stiffly in the driver’s seat with a forced smile for a while, but Yan Mian hadn’t spotted him until now.

That day, Zhu Lexing and Yan Mian ended up riding in the same car for once—a rare occurrence.

To avoid giving Zhu Lexing any excuse to stir up trouble, Yan Mian didn’t do any studying that day. She simply sat quietly with her eyes downcast, gazing at the grid-patterned hem of her skirt.

Just as the car was about to pull away, she spoke up. “By the way, Uncle, I need to go back for something.”

The driver assumed she’d forgotten an item. “Did you leave a gift behind? We can buy whatever you need on the road—it’s all the same.”

Yan Mian replied, “I didn’t wear the watch that Uncle Zhu gave me last time.”

In the passenger seat, Zhu Lexing paused in the middle of playing on her phone. Her eyes flicked upward, stealing a glance at Yan Mian through the rearview mirror.

The day after Yan Xin was expelled, he’d sent over the money. But the watch wasn’t available right away, so Zhu Lexing had instructed the driver to buy one as soon as it came in.

Even now, Zhu Lexing hadn’t seen so much as a shadow of that watch.

“The car’s already moving—what watch?” Zhu Lexing said casually. “Even if you don’t mind the hassle, I do.”

But Yan Mian was insistent. “I can get out here, grab it, and then take a cab to the hotel myself—”

Zhu Lexing: “…” Why was she being so stubborn about this!

Yan Mian’s thinking was straightforward: if Zhu Lin had given her a wearable gift, she should wear it and use it to leave a good impression on him.

It was basic etiquette.

Zhu Lexing was momentarily at a loss for words. The driver witnessed the exchange and assumed they were going through an awkward phase in their relationship.

He was biased toward Zhu Lexing. Even knowing how poorly Zhu Lexing had treated Yan Mian, as long as Zhu Lexing showed any sign of softening, he believed Yan Mian should accept it.

But Yan Mian was practically half a member of the Zhu Family too.

With a smile, the driver said, “Little Mian, the watch that Mr. Zhu gave you last time was accidentally broken by one of the servants. But Miss has already ordered a new one for you. It’ll be a few days before it arrives.”

As his words trailed off, the car fell silent, with only a breeze slipping in through the window.

Yan Mian lifted her eyes. “It broke?”

She had hidden it in a discreet spot—no one would find it unless they were deliberately searching.

With her sharp intuition, she instantly connected the dots to those servants who had recently left.

No matter how bold Yan Xin was, he wouldn’t dare ransack Yan Mian’s room without putting everything back exactly as it was.

Yan Mian didn’t particularly need the watch or care about it. That morning, when she went looking for it, she thought the servants had simply moved it somewhere else. But Zhu Lexing was about to wake up, so to avoid running into her, Yan Mian had come straight to school, planning to search again that afternoon.

Now it seemed it hadn’t been misplaced or shattered.

It had been stolen.

The pieces clicked together in Yan Mian’s mind like beads on a string. She pressed her lips together, about to speak, when Zhu Lexing frowned. “Don’t overthink it. It’s just a watch—if it’s broken, we’ll buy another. No one will care.”

She spoke lightly, but Yan Mian furrowed her brow. “My things went missing… How come I didn’t know about it?”

Zhu Lexing paused for two seconds to choose her words. “When something goes missing in the Zhu Family, it’s the Zhu Family who deals with it. The fewer people who know, the better.”

The implication was clear: Yan Mian wasn’t part of the Zhu Family.

The answer aligned perfectly with Yan Mian’s long-held view of Zhu Lexing’s past behavior, chilling her heart even further.

That faint flicker of confusion was completely buried.

Before getting out of the car, she murmured, “When we see Uncle later, I know what to say.”

Zhu Lexing watched her retreating back and heard the System’s report: 【Yan Mian -1 Favorability】. “…”

Damn it!