Chapter 78: The Trampled School Bully (8) Part 1

Jiang Yusheng’s luck was pretty good.

As she rushed downstairs, the front desk girl’s little sister hadn’t left yet. Her older sister had gone out to buy something, leaving the young girl alone to mind the cash register.

Hearing footsteps, the girl scrolling through X Yin looked up and saw someone standing there. She smiled lightly. “Hello, what can I get for you?”

The girl’s gentle tone landed like a heavy punch, thudding right into Jiang Yusheng’s head and jolting her awake.

What am I doing!

I haven’t forgiven that annoying jerk yet!

Hmph!

Does she think I’ll just forgive her because she came looking for me?

I’m a rabbit spirit with dignity!

I’m not that easy to sweet-talk!

Jiang Yusheng pursed her lips, rephrasing what she’d been about to say. “Can you grab me a pack of gum? Thanks.”

After scanning the code and paying, she snatched up the gum and turned to leave—only for her peripheral vision to catch the white schoolbag hanging on the back of the girl’s chair.

Her footsteps ground to a halt.

But she came all the way to the net cafe to find me.

She’s gotta be here on purpose to coax me!

It’s her first time trying to make it up to me!

What if…

Just suppose…

What if she actually succeeds?

If she catches me gaming, will she think I’m a naughty rabbit?

Even though I totally am a naughty rabbit!

But I can’t let her find out!

“Um,” Jiang Yusheng said, her eyes flickering, “Classmate, mind if I borrow your homework? And a pen too, if that’s okay? Thanks.”

The girl generously handed over her textbook along with it. She’d offered a black pen at first, but Jiang Yusheng hesitated and asked for a mechanical pencil with a built-in eraser instead.

Armed with her props, the little rabbit headed back to her seat. Xu Zhiyu had stopped gaming and opened a video app, now binge-watching a crime drama that had just wrapped up.

Jiang Yusheng tossed the gum pack casually onto the desk in front of her, but Xu Zhiyu—lost in the plot—didn’t even notice.

The little rabbit settled into her chair and solemnly flipped open the Chinese homework notebook.

One glimpse at the first line, and her head throbbed like her nerves were being chewed by bugs. She slammed it shut in a panic.

Her thoughts started spinning again.

Why should I let her sweet-talk me into forgiving her!

No rabbit spirit would act like this!

That’s right! No self-respecting rabbit spirit would be this undignified!

I won’t let her win me over!

It’s all that jerk’s fault for not petting my ears!

She started it!

Now she can deal with the awful consequences herself!

Jiang Yusheng steeled her resolve. She shoved the textbook aside and killed her LXL session—no mood for it anymore.

Her hand hovered over the mouse for a moment before she clicked open the browser. A few keystrokes later, she fired up Plants vs. Zombies, the classic every kid had played at some point.

The loading bar hit complete, and the first level kicked off just as Xu Zhiyu finished the opening episode.

Her laser focus shattered, and she finally registered that the person next to her was back.

Xu Zhiyu glanced over and spotted the notebook dumped haphazardly at the edge of the table. She watched the little rabbit idly planting sunflowers, pondered for all of two seconds, then spoke up. “Little Sister Bai should be here any minute. Sheng Jie, you wanna pull up an online lecture or something first?”

Jiang Yusheng snorted. “So what if she shows? It’s got nothing to do with me. Do I have to fake being a study bug just for her? I’m not crazy—why bother?”

Xu Zhiyu nodded sympathetically but didn’t drop it. In a casual tone, she added, “Oh, right—I heard from a friend that Little Sister Bai got confessed to last week. More than once, actually. Four or five times, I think? Can’t remember exactly. But that’s normal—she’s gorgeous, so of course guys are after her. Right, Sheng Jie?”

Right my foot!

These high school freshmen—skipping proper studying for this nonsense all day!

Jiang Yusheng seethed harder, her grip on the mouse trembling. The pea shooter she’d meant for the third row plopped down in the second—right in the zombies’ path.

Crunch crunch.

The flimsy plant got chomped by zombies, mirroring the rationality crumbling in her head.

Oblivious to the darkening scowl beside her—or pretending to be—Xu Zhiyu unwrapped the gum pack Jiang Yusheng had bought, fished out a stick, and offered it over with a light laugh. “But Little Sister Bai turned them all down flat. Sheng Jie know why?”

Jiang Yusheng’s rigid expression eased a touch. She snatched the gum, shoved it in her mouth, and slipped back into nonchalance. “None of my business. Now quit yapping and watch your show. I’m getting back to my game.”

The girl completely ignored her words and pressed on. “My friend said it’s because their grades were so bad. They barely scraped into the top two hundred on the class placement exam. But compared to Sheng Jie, that’s not actually all that terrible, right?”

Little Rabbit—who had never once put any real effort into her studies—bristled instantly. “If you’re talking about other people, then talk about them! Why drag me into it? I’m not chasing her, so what do her grades have to do with me?”

Xu Zhiyu smiled. “Of course it’s got nothing to do with Sheng Jie. I was just mentioning it in passing. Oh, right—I haven’t finished yet. My friend said that when Little Sister Bai turned them down, she was crystal clear about it: she wouldn’t date anyone whose scores were worse than hers. Sheng Jie wouldn’t go after her, obviously. But even if she did want to, Little Sister Bai wouldn’t give her the chance, would she? She turned down the guy who placed fiftieth in the grade. As for Sheng Jie, who’s always scraping the bottom… well, oh! Sheng Jie, you’re diving into your books already? Does that mean you’ll be watching online classes to cram all those missed concepts? Would it bother you if I watch TV right here beside you?”

The teasing lilt in Xu Zhiyu’s last few words turned Jiang Yusheng’s ears bright red. Her reply came out laced with embarrassed irritation. “If you know that much, then hurry up and put on your headphones. You’re being way too noisy today, Xu Zhiyu.”

Normally, Jiang Yusheng only ever used the last two syllables of her name.

Calling her by her full name like this was out of character—probably because some little demon had taken up residence in her heart.

“If Sheng Jie wants to watch study videos, X Station has tons of free ones you can just click on. But since you’re only just starting out with studying, jumping straight into lectures might make you nod off, don’t you think? Maybe wait until Little Sister Bai gets here to open it up.”

This time, Little Rabbit’s entire face flushed red. “I’m studying for myself! Not for anybody else! Don’t get the wrong idea!”

Xu Zhiyu’s lips curved in a smile, but she didn’t reply. Instead, she leisurely reached for the headphones sitting nearby and slipped them on.

Jiang Yusheng: So infuriating!

Meanwhile, Bai Qian—who was rushing over to join them—had no clue that Jiang Yusheng was desperately trying to play the part of a diligent student.

She and Lin Erxing boarded the car one after the other. The moment they settled into their seats, the younger girl couldn’t hold back. “Junior, can I just call you Qianqian?”

“Sure.”

“Qianqian, I’m dying to know—how did you and Sheng Jie even meet? Tell me everything!”

Bai Qian let out a soft laugh. After a moment’s thought, she shared a version of the truth that was about seventy percent accurate—and thirty percent fabricated.

She skipped over their actual first encounter at the mouth of that alley, recasting the school ID card handoff as their initial meeting.

Lin Erxing looked utterly stunned. “No way! Sheng Jie isn’t the type!”

“Hm?”

“If she’d found someone’s school ID card, she would’ve done exactly what Xu Zhiyu did—have me drop it off at the lost and found in the Security Office. There’s no way she’d make a special trip all the way from sophomore year down to freshman year just to deliver it personally!”

Bai Qian paused to consider. “My friend knows her. Senior Sister Jiang was actually on her way to see my friend that day.”

Lin Erxing nodded at last. “Okay, that tracks. She was heading to her friend’s and handed off the ID card while she was at it. So then what? You two hit it off?”

“Well… if you think Senior Sister Jiang and I are close now, then I guess so?”

“You’ve got Sheng Jie this worked up—how could you not be close!”

“I’m telling you, I’ve known Sheng Jie for years, and I’ve never seen her this pissed at anyone.” Lin Erxing paused, then corrected herself. “Okay, that’s not entirely true. Back in her first year of junior high, when Aunt Zhao spanked her, she was mad at Aunt Zhao too. But Sheng Jie’s temper always cools off fast. Even after Aunt Zhao whacked her on the butt, she only sulked for a little while. Nothing like this—she’s still fuming first thing in the morning. Qianqian, you must’ve set her off last night, huh? You two went at it all the way till morning? That’s seriously not normal. What on earth did you do?”

Bai Qian’s mind reeled from the sheer density of information in that spiel. She latched onto one detail. “Senior Sister Jiang got spanked by Aunt Zhao? How would you even know about that?”

With Jiang Yusheng’s personality, she’d probably rather take a secret like that to her grave than let anyone find out.

Lin Erxing blinked with wide-eyed innocence. “Because Aunt Zhao did it right in front of me and Xu Zhiyu.”

“…”

“You know how much Sheng Jie cares about her image, right? She got over that in no time flat. But you’ve got her still stewing now, so… Qianqian, what did you do? I’m seriously curious!”

They kept chatting away, and before they knew it, the car had pulled up outside the Net Cafe.

Lin Erxing had just finished speaking when the driver up front chimed in. “You two, we’re here. You can get out now.”

They both murmured their thanks and pushed open the doors to step out.

Lin Erxing had chatted with her the whole way there, her fondness steadily growing with every word. Arm in arm, she led her upstairs with intimate familiarity while pressing her to answer the question from earlier.

“Qianqian, you still haven’t told me. Come on, just spill it, or I’ll never get a good night’s sleep in my life.”

Bai Qian felt a helpless smile tugging at her lips at the exaggeration, fully aware that the girl in front of her had no idea Jiang Yusheng was a rabbit spirit.

“I really don’t know,” she said, putting on her best innocent expression. “Senior Sister knows we haven’t known each other long, right? We’ve gotten along great every time we’ve met so far, but after she stayed over at my place last night, today she just—”

“Stayed over at your place! Sheng Jie actually stayed over at your place!” Lin Erxing cut in indignantly.

Her voice dripped with jealousy. “Xu Zhiyu and I have been hanging out with Sheng Jie since junior high—years of friendship—and she never once slept over at my house! How is it that she runs off to your place after knowing you for just a few days?”

The more Lin Erxing thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt. She yanked her arm away from Bai Qian’s. “I’m jealous now.”

Bai Qian couldn’t help laughing at her childish, adorable antics, but she had no idea how to explain without giving too much away—after all, Jiang Yusheng had shown up at her door on her own the night before.

As she hesitated, the little dog star—tail practically drooping—grabbed her arm again, all pouty and reluctant.

She let out a grumpy little hum. “But I do like you a lot, so fine, I’ll forgive you this once. But next time Sheng Jie sleeps over at your place, you have to call me too—no sneaking off to sleep together without me. Um… I’ll drag Xu Zhiyu along too. We’ll all four pile in together, got it? If you secretly sleep with Sheng Jie next time, I absolutely won’t let it slide so easily!”

Bai Qian thought to herself, a rabbit and a little dog—no wonder they got along so well.

By the time their conversation wrapped up, they had reached the door to the private room.

Lin Erxing reached for the handle, then paused as something occurred to her. She turned back with a warning. “Try coaxing Sheng Jie first when we get in there. If it doesn’t work, just bail. She’s terrifying when she’s mad. Xu Zhiyu stays cool-headed through anything, and even she got spooked today—you can imagine.”

Bai Qian nodded in understanding.

A little rabbit that didn’t bite people? When she finally did snap, it had to be pretty frightening.

Satisfied, Lin Erxing pushed the door open. She called out before even glancing inside. “Sheng Jie, Qianqian’s here to see you!”

She’d been calling her “Qianqian” the whole way and saw nothing wrong with it.