Chapter 77 Part 2

Little Rabbit was wrapped up tight in the blankets, unable to move a muscle, not even able to turn her head. Her big eyes glared unwillingly at the ceiling, as if Bai Qian were up there. “I hate you, Bai Qian! I hate you! If you dare make me drink that medicine, I’ll never talk to you again! Wuwuwu, just touch my ears, please. Why do you have to make me drink medicine? I hate medicine!”

Bai Qian heard every word Jiang Yusheng said crystal clear.

She didn’t respond. She simply closed the door, shutting out Little Rabbit’s voice.

Clearly, Jiang Yusheng hadn’t taken any of Lady Zhao Lanzhao’s other warnings to heart.

Not that it was her fault, really. She hadn’t truly experienced the agony of entering a susceptible period again after being marked, only to have the person who could help her absent. That was why she was impulsively begging Bai Qian to “mark” her.

Bai Qian was human, so she couldn’t feel that kind of suffering firsthand. But that didn’t mean she was ignorant of just how torturous it could be.

There had been a scene like that in the original plot. When susceptible period syndrome struck, the class bell rang right on cue. The female protagonist sensed her ears about to sprout and hurriedly pulled her hoodie up tight over her head. Luckily, she was alone in the back row, so no one else saw the change.

But misfortune followed hard on the heels of luck. Without the scumbag man to help her, the female protagonist had to endure the entire class period slumped over her desk, toughing it out.

When she finally regained her senses, her lips were bitten raw, and her once pristine white arms were covered in bloody teeth marks.

That was why Bai Qian absolutely refused to touch her ears.

She couldn’t guarantee she’d always be by Jiang Yusheng’s side.

If she wasn’t… Bai Qian didn’t even want to imagine that scene.

~~~

When Bai Qian returned with the sour inhibitor, Jiang Yusheng had already cursed her hoarse.

The young woman walked to the bedside and first freed Little Rabbit from the blankets. Then she pulled her into her arms, letting her lean against her chest.

Just like last time, no matter how much Jiang Yusheng resisted the sour-tasting stuff, she still had no choice but to drink it down.

The moment her plump rabbit ears vanished, Little Rabbit—having safely passed the susceptible period once more—pulled away from Bai Qian’s embrace with a face full of resentment.

She shot Bai Qian a fierce glare, but with her red-rimmed eyes, she looked so pitiful that it held no intimidation whatsoever.

Little Rabbit growled fiercely, “Why are you so hateful? I’m never talking to you again!”

Why wouldn’t she touch her ears?

Were her ears that unlikable?

This woman was just too, too detestable!

Fuming, Little Rabbit turned her back and lay down. Bai Qian called out to her once, but got no reply. She softened her voice and called twice more, only to be met with silence.

Leaning over for a look, Bai Qian saw that the girl who’d been so mad just moments ago had already fallen asleep.

Bai Qian chuckled softly, tucked the blankets around her, turned off the light, and went to sleep herself.

~~~

Bai Qian woke first. When she opened her eyes, Jiang Yusheng was still asleep in bed.

By the time she emerged from the bathroom, the other person in the room had woken up too.

Their eyes met, and Bai Qian spoke first.

“Morning, Senior Sister.”

Her warm greeting didn’t get a response in kind.

Jiang Yusheng brushed right past her and slammed the bathroom door shut with a bang.

Bai Qian stood there stunned for a couple of seconds before realizing that this time, Little Rabbit was truly in a full sulk with her.

At Shen Chenyun’s invitation, they had breakfast together.

Still fuming at Bai Qian, she said her goodbyes to the woman and headed straight home.

That detestable jerk!

She was done with her this time—absolutely, positively never speaking to her again!

So what if it was just touching her ears?

You wouldn’t do it!

Well, there were plenty of other people willing!

Next time, she’d let someone else touch them right in front of her face. That’d show her!

Jiang Yusheng’s temper had always flared up fast and burned out just as quickly, but this time, even after she stepped into the house, her foul mood hadn’t lifted a bit.

Zhao Lanzhao was still dead to the world, snoring away in her room. Jiang Yusheng headed to her own room, grabbed her phone, and called Lin Erxing and Xu Zhiyu.

Half an hour later, the three of them met up at the entrance to their usual net cafe.

Xu Zhiyu had sharp eyes and spotted the change right away.

“Sheng Jie, did you get new pants?”

Jiang Yusheng had zero interest in talking about anything related to Bai Qian. She answered flatly, “Yeah.”

With that, she strode straight upstairs on her own.

The girl’s mood was so off that even thick-skinned Lin Erxing picked up on it.

She nervously nudged the person beside her. “Hey, did Sheng Jie get into another fight with Aunt Zhao last night? Why’s she so pissed off this early? They’ve argued before, but Sheng Jie always cools down quick. What’s up with her this time?”

Xu Zhiyu’s gaze flicked over Jiang Yusheng’s new pants. “If you don’t know, how would I? If you’re that curious, just go ask her straight up.”

Lin Erxing shook her head vigorously. “I’m not tired of living yet. No thanks.”

Unable to vent her frustration on the real Zhao Lanzhao, Jiang Yusheng poured all her anger into the game.

Lin Erxing watched in trepidation as she racked up another pentakill. Far from excited, she shuddered and quietly pulled up the WeChat chat on her computer, messaging Xu Zhiyu, who was sitting to Jiang Yusheng’s right.

“What’s going on with Sheng Jie QAQ? I’m sitting right next to her, and it feels like winter’s come early—I’m freezing over here.”

Even the usually unflappable Xu Zhiyu was starting to buckle under the oppressive atmosphere in the room. After a moment, she replied.

“Do you know a freshman named Bai Qian?”

Lin Erxing knew full well that the girl next to her was too absorbed in her rage-fueled gaming to notice her covert chat with Xu Zhiyu, but she still typed as softly as she could.

“I barely know anyone at our school with the surname Bai. How would I know her? Who’s this underclassman? Did she do something to piss off Sheng Jie that bad?”

Xu Zhiyu didn’t explain. Instead, she opened her chat with Gu Wanching and sent off a message.

A few minutes later, she got a string of coordinates in reply.

Xu Zhiyu forwarded them to Lin Erxing with a note: “If you want Sheng Jie back to normal, head to this address, drag her over here, and find some excuse to head out now.”

Bewildered, Lin Erxing left the net cafe and followed the navigation for a bit before it finally clicked. She fired off a message, brimming with grievance.

“Why me? Can’t you go get her?”

Two seconds later, Xu Zhiyu’s single line smoothed over all her complaints.

“Fine, you come back and I’ll go—if you wanna keep enjoying the free AC in here.”

…

Unlike Jiang Yusheng, who procrastinated her homework until Monday morning and then copied it straight from her classmates in the classroom, Bai Qian finished the week’s assignments the moment she got home from school on Friday.

Saturdays were never idle for her either; she spent them working through the extra practice books she’d bought.

That was exactly what she was doing—hunched over her desk with a workbook—when Lin Erxing showed up.

It was Shen Chenyun who knocked on her door to say she had a friend visiting.

Bai Qian’s first thought was Jiang Yusheng, but then she reconsidered. If it had been that girl, she probably wouldn’t have needed Shen Chenyun to announce it; she’d have barged right in and knocked herself.

Stepping out of her room, she spotted Lin Erxing sitting primly on the sofa. Her heart skipped a beat—was something wrong with Jiang Yusheng?

Lin Erxing saw her and introduced herself with a smile. “Hey, underclassman. You probably don’t know me, but you must know Sheng Jie—Jiang Yusheng? I’m her friend.”

“Yeah, I know Senior Sister Jiang. Senior Sister, why’d you come find me all of a sudden? Has something happened to her?”

Lin Erxing cut straight to the chase. “Yeah, something big. If you’re free, underclassman, could you come with me real quick?”

Bai Qian’s eyes went wide with alarm. She nodded at once. “Sure. Just give me a sec to change, and I’ll go with you.”

“Perfect. Thanks for the trouble.”

Bai Qian followed her out of the complex and saw that she planned to walk. “Senior Sister, why don’t we just take a cab? You said it was serious, right?”

“Good point. Let’s cab it.”

She reached for her phone, but Bai Qian stopped her. “I’ll get it. Which hospital?”

“Huh?” The question caught the girl off guard, making her forget what she’d come for. She furrowed her brow, her voice laced with worry. “Did Xu Zhiyu just message you? She said Sheng Jie was so mad she ended up in the hospital!”

Bai Qian: ?

She had a feeling their conversation was on completely different wavelengths. Calming herself, she asked, “Senior Sister, when you said something huge had happened, weren’t you talking about Senior Sister Jiang being hospitalized?”

“No way! Sheng Jie’s full of energy, bouncing around like always. She just carried me up several ranks a minute ago—how could she be sick?”

“Carried you up ranks?”

Lin Erxing blinked with wide-eyed innocence. “Yeah. I came to find you so we could head to the internet café together.”

…

Xu Zhiyu’s phone buzzed with a message from Lin Erxing: she and the junior sister were on their way, stuck at the very last traffic light before they arrived.

She closed the game window and glanced at the girl beside her. After a moment’s thought, she asked, “Sheng Jie, what exactly did you tell Junior Sister Bai Qian about how you spend your weekends?”

Jiang Yusheng’s fingers froze over the keyboard at the mention of that name. She stared blankly at the screen, her voice flat. “Who? Never heard of her.”

Xu Zhiyu pressed on. “Sheng Jie, I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”

The other girl didn’t bat an eye. “Neither.”

“Fine, bad news it is, then. Junior Sister Bai Qian’s on her way to find you right now. If you ever spun her some bullshit about being a studious good girl, I’d suggest pausing your game. Don’t worry, though—if you go AFK, I’ll carry the team.”

“…”

Xu Zhiyu continued, “The good news? She’s only one traffic light away. The girl at the front desk has a little sister our age who’s always doing homework here. Go borrow her assignments—you’ve still got time.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the girl, who’d seemed utterly indifferent just a second before, bolted from the private booth like a gust of wind.