Chapter 38: The Submissive, Obsessive Top Student

Shi Qingyi appeared cold and unapproachable from the outside, but in reality, her personality was extremely laid-back. In the mere two months that Jiang Zhiyi had lived at her house, she had silently taken over her life.

The books on the balcony were neatly organized, the nearly dead plants had been revived, the cluttered home had become tidy and clean, and the untouched kitchenware now carried the scent of home-cooked meals.

She was like some harmless vine, gently and weakly extending its branches and leaves. By the time you realized it, you were already tightly bound, unable to escape.

Shi Qingyi discovered this when she was eating noodles outside school. When the steaming bowl arrived, she surprisingly lost her appetite.

It wasn’t as good as what Jiang Zhiyi made. The vegetables weren’t fresh, the seasonings were heavy, and it was a bit salty.

Jiang Zhiyi always remembered all her preferences. She had spoiled her rotten.

She sipped her silver ear soup absentmindedly, looking out the shop window. The weather was overcast, and the forecast said the first snow of the year would fall that afternoon.

In the distance, a small figure stood under a still-lush camphor tree, facing off against a girl in a pink down jacket.

When Jiang Zhiqing had blocked her at the school gate, Jiang Zhiyi was momentarily stunned. She instinctively knew Jiang Zhiqing wouldn’t say anything nice, so she quickly shoved Shi Qingyi into the shop first.

The girl in the pink down jacket looked like she had cried all night; her eyes were red and swollen. Those eyes, glistening like they had been fished out of water, inevitably softened people’s hearts. Not far away, a boy in a black down jacket leaned against a tree, revealing a particularly slender neck.

“Sis, you’ve been living outside for so long now. Come back home with me, okay?” She tugged at Jiang Zhiyi’s clothes, her attitude extremely humble.

If she really wanted her back, she wouldn’t have waited until now. Jiang Zhiyi suppressed the coldness in her eyes and looked at her quietly. “Aren’t you going abroad?”

After she left for abroad, the family house and land were sold off, Great-Uncle returned to his hometown, and she was sent to the factory. Why would she go back? Was she really willing to ruin her life just like that?

“I…” Jiang Zhiqing bit her lip. Studying abroad was her dream—she hoped one day to play the violin in the world’s top concert halls. But now, she couldn’t leave at all.

“If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving.” It might snow soon, and she wanted to watch the first snow of the year with Qingyi. Was she getting impatient?

She couldn’t help glancing back. The girl leaned against the window, bored, sipping her silver ear soup. Her golden short hair had grown quickly and was almost shoulder-length, still shining brightly even in the dull winter day.

“Wait, Sis—” Jiang Zhiqing paled when she saw her leaving, gripping her hand tighter, tears nearly falling from her eyes. “C-can you ask Shi Qingyi to let our family off?”

Jiang Zhiyi paused, turning back after a long moment. Under the winter sun, there was a sense of relief mixed with mockery.

Here it came. As expected, it couldn’t be just a simple visit.

When Shi Qingyi had drunk only a third of her silver ear soup, Jiang Zhiyi returned. She tentatively touched the cup and asked if it was cold.

With the air conditioning on inside, how cold could it be? Shi Qingyi shook her head. Jiang Zhiyi noticed that she had only eaten half her noodles, and her eyes lit up.

“Don’t like it? Then let’s go home, and I’ll make some for you, okay?”

Senior year time was tight, but Jiang Zhiyi still insisted on feeding her all the time, determined to handle all three meals a day. Shi Qingyi sighed and stood up, pulling her hand to leave.

“It’s not far from home. Let’s walk back.”

Jiang Zhiyi quietly slipped her arm into Shi Qingyi’s. Perhaps because she’d been well-fed lately, she seemed to have grown a bit taller, almost 1.6 meters now. She still anxiously measured her height in front of the mirror every day.

—Afraid that after senior year graduation, she wouldn’t grow anymore and would have to tiptoe to kiss Qingyi.

Of course, Shi Qingyi had no idea about these inexplicable worries. This winter seemed particularly cold; even with her hands in her pockets, she felt no warmth. Shi Qingyi went to buy milk tea, insisting that the little pitiful one wait on the side so she wouldn’t rush to pay.

She obediently stood by the roadside, watching the girl in the white down jacket seriously choose her toppings.

Jiang Zhiqing had told her that after she left, Uncle suddenly had a high school classmate who wanted to take him into a big business deal. The man, who had been drunk and wasted half his life, followed blindly.

Unexpectedly, it was gambling. He won a couple of rounds at first and boasted about letting Jiang Zhiqing eat well, dress well, and study abroad without worries. But in just a few days, he lost everything and owed over a hundred thousand in gambling debts. Now, debt collectors came daily, sometimes banging on the door in the middle of the night, scaring Jiang Zhiqing so much she couldn’t sleep.

Later, Gu Chuanjing couldn’t stand it and wanted to step in for Jiang Zhiqing, only to find these people weren’t random. All roads led back to one woman, who was closely connected to Shi Qingyi.

So she came to beg her to plead with Shi Qingyi to show mercy and let them off.

But why should she help beg for that favor?

The girl under the tree looked obedient and well-behaved, even with a faint smile at the corner of her mouth.

Jiang Zhiqing had cried so pitifully, yet she felt nothing. She watched for a long time before slowly, slowly prying Jiang Zhiqing’s hand away.

As long as Qingyi was happy, that was enough. Since Qingyi hadn’t mentioned it, she probably didn’t want her to know, so she’d pretend she knew nothing.

The girl ahead twisted her head from the crowd with effort, asking what she wanted. She leaned close and said obediently, “Same as you.” In the end, she got her favorite blueberry flavor.

Halfway there, it started snowing—the first snow of this winter began as scattered flurries, then grew heavier, blanketing the world in white, with a layer already on the ground.

Jiang Zhiyi hugged Shi Qingyi’s arm and looked up. The streets along the way were adorned with big red lanterns; school was about to let out for vacation, and New Year’s was coming soon.

Her heart felt warm and peaceful, as if happiness was truly within reach.

Passing the movie theater, Shi Qingyi stopped and checked movie tickets on her phone. “When winter break starts, I’ll take you to a movie.”

“Sure.” Jiang Zhiyi agreed quickly, then stuffed her hand into her pocket, her voice soft. “We can watch at home. It’s so cold outside.”

Shi Qingyi wiggled her fingers and realized it wasn’t her own pocket. She put her hand into Jiang Zhiyi’s pocket.

Jiang Zhiyi continued walking as if nothing was wrong. Shi Qingyi poked her palm, only for her pinky to be caught, then she tried to interlace their fingers. Shi Qingyi quickly made a fist.

Jiang Zhiyi enveloped her fist and couldn’t help letting out a laugh.

Final exams were approaching, and the limited recommendation spots had reached peak competition. Their class had only one spot, and the rivalry between Jiang Zhiyi and Song Zhiming was out in the open.

No one knew Song Zhiming had approached Jiang Zhiyi before, asking to talk during the gap while handing in assignments in the office.

During the inter-class exercises, Shi Qingyi was still napping at her desk. Jiang Zhiyi glanced over, confirmed she wouldn’t wake and notice her absence, then followed him out.

He said nothing, just showed her the photo.

His photography was good; the candid shot was beautiful. There were two: in the first, the girl with long brown hair kissed the golden-haired girl’s temple cherishingly and nervously, her earlobe slightly red. In the second, she covered the golden-haired girl’s eyes while lifting her own head to gaze coldly out the window.

That gaze was utterly emotionless and chilling, completely different from her usual timidness. Even Song Zhiming felt a chill under that look.

“It’s senior year already, only half a semester left. You know what happens if I report this.” If he exposed it, there were still others to compete with without Jiang Zhiyi. Better if she quit voluntarily.

—One leaves, one stays.

Jiang Zhiyi’s eyes darkened for a moment. It wasn’t unacceptable; her grades were top-tier, and if expelled, other schools would take her. But that would mean separating from Qingyi.

Or Qingyi might drop out for her, ruining her future.

She could endure anything before tasting sweetness, but now, after having it, how could she bear bitterness again? She didn’t want to leave Qingyi, not even for a moment.

It was just one recommendation spot. She thought for a bit and nodded. “But I have one condition.”

Song Zhiming narrowed his eyes warily. “What condition?”

She rubbed the photo on her phone, a trace of warmth unconsciously in her eyes. “Send me the photos.”

It was their first photo together besides the class picture.

The golden-haired girl in the photo slept hazily, showing half her face in complete trust. She gently touched it with her fingertip, stroking her hair ends—Shi Qingyi never let her touch them.

Song Zhiming scoffed lightly. “You have a phone?”

That disdainful tone didn’t anger Jiang Zhiyi. The phone was from Shi Qingyi, who stubbornly called it her unusable old one, but it was a new fall model, deliberately scuffed on the ground to look used.

She was always like this, telling obvious lies, awkwardly roundabout even in showing affection. Jiang Zhiyi almost pitied her lying skills.

She got what she wanted contentedly, then one afternoon approached Gu Chuanjing—Jiang Zhiqing’s boyfriend, or almost-boyfriend.

Though not official, he was willing to go through fire for Jiang Zhiqing. To give his beloved peace, fulfill her dreams, and let her father live well, destroying some photos shouldn’t be hard.

Gu Chuanjing looked at her with utter disgust, finally saying, “I never thought a pure-hearted girl like Zhiqing would have a sister like you.”

This was indirectly calling her vicious. Jiang Zhiyi smiled gently, showing no hint of her dark heart. She let him vent fully, without a trace of conflict or pain, until Shi Qingyi arrived.

In an instant, her eyes reddened, tears trembling. Shi Qingyi’s heart skipped; she immediately shielded her.

Tool-man Gu Chuanjing: “…”

The triumphant one nestled behind her protector, tears still in her eyes, but her gaze at him was chillingly cold.

Thanks to Gu Chuanjing’s varied cold mocks, that night she smoothly climbed into Shi Qingyi’s bed and got comforting head pats.

Recommendations considered awards and major exam scores. In the semester-end exams, Jiang Zhiyi intentionally slipped per agreement, but Song Zhiming seemed cursed with bad luck.

His desk and chair broke; while getting a replacement from the equipment room, he got locked in. Phones weren’t allowed in exams, so no SOS. He was found after skipping, math exam just 30 minutes past, normally not allowed back. Somehow, he got in, but his mentality collapsed; he didn’t finish.

Reportedly, when papers were collected, he was still scribbling desperately, eyes red, clinging to the paper. Classmates watched scared. He begged the teacher not to take it; finally, under stern warning of cheating and zero if he wrote more, he let go.

He reportedly crouched head-in-hands at the classroom door; no one dared check, just whispered outside. Later, his uncle (academic affairs teacher) dragged him by the collar to the office.

His uncle’s face was awful; when he couldn’t drag, he kicked, cursing him for causing trouble, not studying, dating, playing phone, and wasting another one days ago…

Shi Qingyi leaned at the classroom door, listening to classmates gossip. A girl close to Deng Sisi cursed his back, saying he deserved it, all karma.

“His character sucks; this is karma…” Jiang Jun, close to Deng Sisi, cursed the harshest.

Someone patted her shoulder. Jiang Zhiyi had packed her bag—hers on her back, Shi Qingyi’s in her arms—wearing a fluffy down jacket, looking like an overburdened hamster.

“Qingyi, let’s go.”

“Don’t listen to these, don’t look at these. Just look at me.”