Su Mi knew she was a clod who didn’t read romance novels, so she had no idea what to do in this situation.
If she wanted to touch the female lead’s heart… maybe… write a letter?
She had heard that many people expressed their feelings by writing letters.
Alright, writing a letter was a good choice.
With that decided, Su Mi began rummaging through boxes and cabinets.
Sure enough, she dug out two greeting cards from Shen Han from some dusty corner of the bookshelf.
The handwriting on them was sharp and forceful, flowing like clouds and water. They contained some words of blessing, signed at the end with Shen Han’s name.
Su Mi studied the structure of Shen Han’s strokes for half an hour, then began with full confidence.
She was very confident in her ability to imitate handwriting, and now she carefully put pen to paper.
[Nanqiao,]
Su Mi had originally wanted to write something like “Dear Nanqiao,” but since she had never seen Shen Han’s English handwriting, she didn’t dare make it up casually.
She bit the end of the pen, pondered the wording for a moment, and continued writing:
[I heard you were triggered into a susceptible period. I feel so sorry for you. I’m currently sending people to investigate. If we catch the mastermind behind it, I will definitely… (crossed out)
I heard from Su Mi about what happened yesterday. Don’t worry. I will handle this matter and give you a proper response. That hospital from yesterday is under Shen Corporation. Enclosed with this letter is a VIP gold card for the hospital… (crossed out)]
Su Mi tossed this sheet of paper into the trash can.
She started over with a new one.
This was so hard. Why did people have to fall in love?
The System watched the host’s series of actions with wide eyes: “…”
The System asked hesitantly, “Host, are you sure you want to write a letter?”
Su Mi: “Yes, imitating handwriting is no problem for me.”
System: “…It’s not about the handwriting.”
It watched as Su Mi, on a fresh sheet of letter paper, thought for a moment and wrote another old-fashioned opening. It couldn’t help saying, “Host, are you sure it’s useful to give Xu Nanqiao a forged letter like this?”
This “useful” included whether Xu Nanqiao would believe it was written by Shen Han, accept it, and whether the two of them wouldn’t notice the discrepancy later when comparing notes.
Su Mi said, “First, my handwriting imitation is absolutely flawless. Second, whether Xu Nanqiao accepts it or not, this conveys sincerity. Finally, this letter is entirely based on Shen Han’s will conveyed to me—asking me to write it for Xu Nanqiao.”
System: ?
It puzzledly returned to its database and flipped through Su Mi’s profile from before she transmigrated.
It seemed to make some sense, yet it was all twisted logic…
After crumpling up seven or eight sheets of letter paper in a row like this, Su Mi finally settled on a concise and to the point version.
It was written in what was probably Shen Han’s tone, simply offering condolences for Xu Nanqiao’s attack and giving assurance that the matter would be resolved.
Su Mi satisfactorily put away her handiwork, then opened her schoolbag and light brain.
She began checking the answers to today’s practice papers one by one against the knowledge points in the current textbooks, confirming roughly how many she didn’t understand.
She continued until late into the night.
The next day, when Secretary Zhuang arrived at Su Mi’s home, they were eating breakfast.
Su Mi yawned as she went to open the door for Secretary Zhuang. Seeing him made her yawn again inexplicably.
Secretary Zhuang still had the same cold and stern face, expressionless behind his gold-rimmed glasses.
But somehow, she felt like the secretary had the same irritability from sleep deprivation that she did.
Su Mi said, “Good morning, Secretary Zhuang.”
Secretary Zhuang politely greeted her in return, then handed her a small envelope.
“Miss Su, this is what President Shen instructed me to give you.”
Su Mi thanked him and pinched the envelope. Something hard was inside—probably the VIP gold card Shen Han had mentioned.
Su Mi asked, “Secretary Zhuang, have you had breakfast? Would you like to come in for some? The fresh coffee is great for perking you up.”
Secretary Zhuang said, “Thank you, Miss Su. It’s exactly my breakfast time right now, but I still need to pick up President Shen later, so I won’t disturb you.”
Su Mi: ?
She watched Secretary Zhuang’s retreating back, hesitating. “System, was he mocking me?”
The System floated out a question mark bubble.
Su Mi admired the VIP gold card’s beauty in the morning sunlight for a while, then carefully put it away.
“I’m doing this for President Shen’s lifelong happiness and the safety of our world. He’ll understand my good intentions later.” Su Mi sighed.
Back at the dining table, Su Mi briefly explained to Wen Zisu that Secretary Zhuang had come to deliver something from Shen Han.
After chugging a large cup of coffee, Su Mi pinched her little brother’s cheek and whispered, “Xiao Yi, your big sister is going off to work hard on tasks to earn toys for you.”
Su Yi only heard the word “toys” and clapped his little hands. “Toys! Xiao Yi likes toys!”
Su Ciyu had just come downstairs and said upon hearing this, “Xiao Yi has enough toys already, Ya Ya. Don’t buy more randomly.”
Su Mi smiled sweetly. “Mm-hmm, I know.”
At school, after morning self-study ended, Su Mi handed the forged letter and VIP gold card to Xu Nanqiao together.
“Nanqiao, Big Sis asked me to give these to you. She said it’s to soothe things from yesterday… you know.”
Xu Nanqiao took them in bewilderment. She opened the letter first and read the handwriting on it with a face full of confusion and doubt.
Then she opened the VIP gold card and looked it over front and back.
She thought for a moment, frowned, and handed both items back to Su Mi.
Xu Nanqiao said softly, “Su Mi, please tell President Shen I can’t accept this.”
Su Mi said, “Not even the VIP gold card? That hospital has pretty good facilities.”
Xu Nanqiao said, “I’ve made an agreement with her. The money she paid for my schooling is already more than enough. These things… I don’t know…”
She rubbed the letter paper in her hand and opened it again to examine it for a while.
“It just feels a bit off. Shen Han wouldn’t write me a letter like this, would she?”
Su Mi blinked and said, “I think it sounds just like her. Yesterday, I told her what happened, and she was furious. She said even if she had to turn over every inch of Prime City’s land, she’d drag the mastermind out for you!”
Xu Nanqiao: “…”
She showed an indescribably complicated expression.
“Su Mi, why does the tone sound a bit like you?”
Su Mi: !
But Xu Nanqiao didn’t dwell on it. She firmly gave the VIP gold card and letter back to Su Mi to return to Shen Han when she had the chance.
Su Mi suddenly felt a bit dejected.
But she persisted.
She put the two items on the desk, took a photo, and began editing her Moments post.
Su Mi: Witnessed a touching moment of emotion [teary] [picture]
This time, she remembered to block Shen Han.
During the break after second period, Xu Nanqiao, who had seen the Moments post, came to Su Mi’s seat and “fiercely” pinched Su Mi’s ear.
Xu Nanqiao: “What kind of rumor-mongering crap are you posting on Moments? Delete it now!”
“Got it, got it.” Su Mi opened Moments, where there was already a long string of likes and comments as usual—mostly question marks, just like the last one.
Some people had already guessed it was related to Xu Nanqiao.
Su Mi couldn’t help muttering softly, “This isn’t really rumor-mongering… I posted it to make others wary of you so they won’t dare bully you anymore.”
Xu Nanqiao: “…”
Su Mi looked up at her and figured Xu Nanqiao’s lip-biting expression must mean she was moved.
Then her poor ear got pinched again.
But the letter and VIP gold card on the desk were taken away.
Xu Nanqiao: “Instead of messing around with this stuff, give me the practice paper I told you to do yesterday. The midterm exam is next month. If you want to get into Prime City University, you need to study properly, got it?”
Su Mi: “…Oh.”
While pulling the practice paper out of her bag to hand to Xu Nanqiao, she happily said to the System, “See, System? It was still useful.”
System: “…”
System: “Host, are you an idiot?”
Su Mi was a bit puzzled. “Huh? Of course not.”
She took out the textbook for the next class from her bag and said very seriously to the System, “From elementary school to high school, my exam scores never left the top three in my grade. My college entrance exam score was 668, my university GPA was 3.98/4, and before I died, I worked at the industry’s number two company, with evaluation scores as department first for both years after joining.”
System: “No… I mean, there’s something wrong with your assisting method… Let me send you some novel materials to study.”
“Sure,” Su Mi said. “Thanks. My knowledge in this area might indeed be limited. Sorry about that.”
After a moment, the System sent over a smiley face: “Let’s work hard on the task together ^^.”
Su Mi couldn’t send an emoji back to the System like that. She opened a scrap paper and drew a similar smiley face in the blank space.
Over the next two days, Su Mi diligently studied with Xu Nanqiao every day.
By the time school let out on Friday, one of the girls from the sister group came looking for Su Mi.
It was friend Y from the group chat, named Yang Er—a gentle girl who spoke softly.
She stood in front of Su Mi, hesitant and stammering. “Su Su… TIFI is holding a dessert and jewelry exhibition this weekend. Want to go together? We said last time we’d celebrate the end of your differentiation period for you.”
After differentiating, Su Mi had only been enthusiastic in pretending to communicate with them on the first day back. Starting the second day, she had hardly spoken to them proactively.
After a few days of being cold-shouldered by Su Mi, aside from the one with a guilty conscience, the other two were worried sick. After discussing it, they decided to come make amends.
Su Mi said oh and replied, “Probably not this week. After differentiating into a Beta, I feel like Holy Cross Academy isn’t right for me anymore, so to get into Prime City University, I’ve been cramming lately.”
Yang Er was stunned. “Prime City University?”
Su Mi said considerately and gently, “Yes. Also, our school’s security hasn’t been great lately. Last time outside school, Nanqiao and I got surrounded. I heard they’re specifically targeting Lolan Academy students to bully. I’ve already asked Big Sis to look into these thug gangs, but you all should be careful when going out on weekends too.”
Su Mi had initially considered maintaining the original host’s plastic sister relationships seriously, since that was part of the original host’s persona.
But the mastermind among those girls had already done something as bad as trying to get an Alpha to bully and mark Xu Nanqiao, which exceeded Su Mi’s tolerance. Plus, since she had asked the antagonist to investigate, Su Mi felt it was better to play it safe for a while.
Moreover, she had tested it out. Even though she hadn’t paid attention to the sister group these past few days, she hadn’t received any System warnings about deviating from the persona.
It was reasonable for a petty person like the original cannon fodder to snap after discovering those around her had ulterior motives and were scheming behind her back.
After saying that, Su Mi slowly and meaningfully glanced at the three of them, shouldered her bag, and walked off leisurely.
However, just as she stepped out of the classroom, she saw a familiar figure at the end of the hallway.
Crisp suit, gold-rimmed glasses, short black elite haircut, poker face.
Su Mi whipped her head back around.
Xu Nanqiao had a part-time job that evening and had already left.
So… was she… here… for… me…?
Su Mi: Doesn’t want to face the antagonist (eyes closed)
