“Your little sister has quite the presence,” Guang Yu said, plopping down unceremoniously onto a chair in the spectator seats.
No one could see her up there—she was being downright brazen!
It formed a stark contrast with Ye Zhibai’s cautious movements and those of the Head Maid.
She looked up, blinking her big, watery eyes at Ye Zhibai.
The voice she sent directly into Ye Zhibai’s mind still carried a lingering trace of fear.
“The vibe she gives off… ugh, it’s just like when those old fogeys from the Heavenly Realm are lecturing us! Er… no, actually, it’s not quite the same? Those old fogeys would smite us with Heavenly Punishment the moment they caught us zoning out, but to be fair, your sister wouldn’t.”
Of course she wouldn’t!
Yun’er wasn’t some thunder god—she was just a high school student!
Though this high schooler was anything but ordinary.
What normal high school student could deliver an impromptu speech without any preparation?
And all the school leaders were standing respectfully by the podium, waiting on her. Even as Student Council President, that level of treatment was way over the top.
Was she some investor in the school? Oh, then that explained it.
Ye Zhibai was dumbfounded. Though they were far away, she could clearly see that Ye Zhiyun hadn’t glanced at her notes once since starting.
Or rather, there might not even be any notes on her table.
Yun’er handles things on the fly just like me, huh?
Nice habit!
Ye Zhibai settled into her seat in the spectator area.
At the Head Maid’s prompting, she tugged her baseball cap down low, bowed her head, and did her best to conceal her face.
There had to be at least a thousand people listening to the speech on the ground floor of the gymnasium. Every now and then, a few puzzled students would glance up toward the second-floor spectator seats.
After all, it was pretty unusual to see people suddenly sitting in the otherwise empty upper level.
But with Ye Zhibai’s cap pulled low and her body hunched down, and the Head Maid’s distinctive maid outfit hidden once she sat, plus the distance, there wasn’t much to catch the eye at first glance.
No one paid them any mind and went back to focusing on the speech.
The Gaokao was just days away, after all.
They weren’t in the mood to play the curious kid.
Maybe it was school leaders or teachers quietly observing how attentively everyone was listening—like your homeroom teacher, who might pop up at the classroom’s back door window now and then to give you that heavy, piercing stare.
Catch you slacking, and you’d get a good smack.
The Head Maid checked her watch and explained the situation to Ye Zhibai in a light tone.
“It’s ten forty-five in the morning now. The speech was scheduled to start at ten and end at eleven. Barring any surprises, the Second Miss should be done in another fifteen minutes. Then you can have her show you around the school.”
No more touring, no more! Any longer, and she’d overheat!
Ye Zhibai draped her arms over the railing in front, revealing only a pair of calm, pale purple eyes beneath her baseball cap as she continued watching Yun’er’s speech.
Covert observation mode.
The Head Maid was right; the speech was indeed winding down.
That much was clear from the content of Yun’er’s talk.
The voice booming from the speakers was steady and resounding, packed with solid advice—no wonder everyone was listening so intently.
“High school seniors, at this final stage, changing your study methods isn’t all that important anymore. Even if you tweak them now, you’ve only got a few days left, so it won’t make much difference.
It might even backfire. Instead of scrambling for last-minute cramming tricks, it’s better to steady your nerves, step out of the classroom, gaze at the sky, take a deep breath, or chat with someone you trust. Relaxing like that will yield better results.”
Oh ho, that makes sense.
Ye Zhibai, the covert observer, found herself listening with keen interest.
She’d been way too nervous during her own Gaokao!
Otherwise… otherwise she definitely could’ve squeezed out those extra one or two points!
Talent limited—forgive me, forgive me.
Guang Yu mirrored Ye Zhibai’s posture, draping herself over the railing in unison. But in addition to her eyes, she also had a pair of fox ears peeking out.
Even the Scummy Fox was listening to a speech.
She twitched her ears and nudged Ye Zhibai’s arm with her elbow, grinning mischievously.
“Hey… Ye Zhibai, did you catch what your sister said about ‘chatting with the person you trust most’?”
“I heard it. So what?”
“I just poured every bit of my divine power into sensing her vibes! When she said that, her mind was full of you~”
“Can’t you use that divine power for something useful…”
She’d barely gathered a little divine power, and you just blow it like that. Don’t you know the value of conserving resources?
Ten thousand years as a goddess, and all you learned was how to watch the drama and be the audience?
Speeches were old hat for Ye Zhiyun—nothing worth mentioning.
No prep needed.
The things worth saying, the experiences worth sharing—they all boiled down to those key points. Just wing it on the spot.
Ye Zhiyun sat poised at the podium, her mind barely needing to engage before another gem slipped from her lips.
“The greatest inner demon in all things comes from your own fears. For many matters, as long as you don’t give up and keep waiting, there will be rewards in the end. The Gaokao is scary, but it’s ultimately just a paper tiger. Get tough with it, and it’ll back off.”
Back off!
May the illness plaguing her sister retreat!
Heh heh heh… the Gaokao doesn’t matter anyway.
When I say paper tiger, I really mean that illness. I just know Sis is definitely going to wake up.
Wait and wait, and sure enough, dreams come true.
The students below probably never imagined that their revered Student Council President, while sharing Gaokao wisdom, wasn’t thinking about the exam at all.
Guang Yu likely never suspected it either. She’d used up her scant divine power probing, thinking she’d caught Ye Zhiyun musing about Ye Zhibai right then. But the truth was,
She was always thinking about her—hadn’t stopped once!
Ye Zhiyun’s drive for this speech was simply to live up to her sister’s expectations and get some praise when she got home.
Ah, speeches are such a drag… Why’s there still fifteen minutes left on the schedule? Hurry up and end so I can go home. I wanna nap with Sis, eat with Sis, bathe with Sis, and then kiss—
Ahem, getting ahead of myself.
Save that last one for later. Without Sis’s okay, it’d just be a unilateral night raid at best.
That said…
Ye Zhiyun’s sharp eyes caught the students below occasionally glancing up or turning toward the second floor.
These kids seemed pretty serious earlier—why were they so easily distracted today?
With attitudes like that, your Gaokao scores…
are gonna keep you company all summer long.
~~~
And the next year’s rematch summer too.
Or maybe… something’s up on the second floor?
In a brief lull, Ye Zhiyun sneaked a peek upstairs.
But from her angle… all she could see was a baseball cap bobbing around up there.
That’s weird.
Ye Zhibai was just listening to Yun’er share Gaokao tips, but somehow every sentence made her feel an inexplicable chill!
She glanced at the Head Maid’s watch—only five minutes left till the end.
Phew… good, good. Actually, with all those people downstairs, Ye Zhibai up here still felt pretty tense.
It was like being a student who’d snuck out of a meeting, always on edge about getting caught by the teacher.
A close call, but it was finally ending.
But suddenly—
She seemed to hear a gust of wind.
Wind?
Wasn’t this gymnasium fully enclosed?
Ye Zhibai turned in surprise, only to see the vent at the far end of the spectator seats slowly whirring to life!
Oh snap, she knew about this.
High-end gymnasiums like this had vents that activated on a timer, using the Venturi effect to channel airflow and speed up circulation, freshening the air inside.
Impressive! As expected of Qihai No.1 Middle School—top-notch equipment keeping up with the trends!
“Oh no!” The Head Maid suddenly realized something. “Eldest Miss! Press down your cap!”
“Huh?!”
Too late.
The vent’s fan blades were already spinning.
Whoooosh————
The Head Maid couldn’t react in time.
Human movements could never match wind speed.
Outside air rushed in through the narrow vent, flooding the second-floor spectator seats.
Bringing the natural, wholesome breeze of the world—far healthier than AC.
But this breeze was anything but friendly to Ye Zhibai!
“Urk…!”
The wind yanked her baseball cap right off her head!
“My hat…!”
Weirdly enough,
Ye Zhibai’s first instinct was to reach out and grab the flying cap!
It was pure reflex, etched into her DNA.
Don’t underestimate it—it was just a baseball cap!
But the maids had bought it on the fly; they hadn’t even removed the price tag.
Look closely: it cost a full eighty bucks!!
No way was she letting it get blown away!!
“Eldest Miss! Danger!”
The Head Maid jumped in fright. She hadn’t expected the Eldest Miss to lean out for some cheap hat!
The well-trained Head Maid reacted swiftly, grabbing Ye Zhibai’s arm to keep her from tumbling down the stairs between the seating rows!
Guang Yu reacted too. This fox was lightning-quick, wrapping her arms tightly around Ye Zhibai’s slender waist at top speed.
Steady!
Whew.
In the end,
Everything worked out fine.
The Head Maid, Ye Zhibai, Guang Yu, and even the hat—all had bright futures ahead.
The Head Maid and Guang Yu had pulled Ye Zhibai back.
Ye Zhibai reached out and grabbed the brim of the hat as well.
But there was one problem.
Guang Yu was breaking out in a cold sweat. She blinked her big, starry-blue eyes—now in their upgraded plus version.
She glanced around at the gymnasium below before giving Ye Zhibai a wry smile and stating the obvious, something anyone with eyes could see.
“Ahaha… Ye Zhibai, talk about thrilling! Everyone’s staring right at you!”
“……”
Far from it.
More than a thousand people lifted their heads in perfect unison, staring over like it was a military salute.
No need to dwell on that. Dwelling on it would only bring tears.
Then there was Yun’er up on the rostrum.
Her expression remained as cool and detached as ever.
But the microphone in her hand—
Clang!
It dropped straight to the floor.
~~~
Screeeeech!
That was the piercing feedback screech after the microphone hit the ground.
Ye Zhibai, however, didn’t find the noise grating at that moment.
The voice screaming inside her head was far more piercing.
Silently, Ye Zhibai shrank back behind the railing. She tugged her baseball cap firmly into place and tried to block out reality.
She had just one thing to say.
“Guang Yu, do you know what I’m thinking right now?”
“What?”
“If the hat flies off in the future, just let it go. We can always earn more money if it’s gone. But if a person’s gone… that’s gone for good.”
“That makes sense.”
