Chapter 6: 06 ◎Zhu Lin◎ Part 1

As the final syllable faded into the hush, the driver let out an awkward chuckle. “Lexing and Yan Mian sure have a good relationship.”

He said as much, but he noticed Yan Mian’s face drain of color. He knew full well this was one of Zhu Lexing’s signature moves to put someone in an awkward spot.

In private, Yan Mian would likely have given in. After all, compared to her past demands, Zhu Lexing’s request today wasn’t all that unreasonable.

But this was in public.

Zhu Lexing wasn’t blind. She naturally spotted Yan Mian’s retreating footsteps. The more Yan Mian reacted this way, the more deflated she felt—not even the system chime announcing incoming points could lift her spirits.

In the heavy silence between them, Li Nian approached carrying breakfast. The instant she laid eyes on Zhu Lexing, her pupils dilated in shock, and she bolted forward, smoothly positioning herself in front of Yan Mian like a shield.

Zhu Lexing instantly understood why Yan Mian was out here so early.

In the original work, Yan Mian held no official role, but Li Nian—the meddlesome type with great people skills—was different. Senior Sister had dragged her into the Student Council bright and early.

Without the original host’s interference, Li Nian’s future should have been bright.

Li Nian eyed her warily. “If you’re fine, why aren’t you heading inside? Deliberately showing up late deducts points too.”

Zhu Lexing, already nursing a heavy sense of disappointment, seized the out she needed and prepared to back off gracefully.

Before leaving, though, she didn’t forget to channel the original host with a cold snort.

Zhu Lexing departed briskly, leaving Li Nian feeling strangely off-kilter.

On any other day, the girl would have hurled a few barbs her way before calling it quits. What was with her today?

Li Nian glanced instinctively at Yan Mian, finally noticing the school badge clutched in the girl’s hand. “This…”

Yan Mian tucked it away discreetly and spoke in a gentle tone. “It was just a badge check earlier. Nothing to it. Class is starting soon—you go on ahead.”

Li Nian opened her mouth to protest, but Yan Mian curved her eyes into a smile. “I said I’d cover one class for you, and I mean one class. Off you go.”

Her voice was soft as a breeze across the skin. Li Nian knew there was no shaking her stubborn streak, so she trudged away in a few reluctant steps.

The driver chimed in at just the right moment. “Then I’ll be off too—”

In the past, Yan Mian would have simply watched him go. But not today.

After a few seconds of hesitation, she spoke up. “Could you get in touch with Uncle Zhu? There’s something I’d like to tell him.”

~~~

Being hated was a novel sensation—embarrassing, aggrieved, and oddly fresh.

But dwelling on it now would only breed more frustration. Zhu Lexing shifted gears in her mind. Everything she was doing was for Yan Mian’s sake, to make her better.

If Yan Mian thrived, she’d thrive too!

A bit of dislike? No big deal!

With her mood restored, Zhu Lexing pressed the system on why it had suddenly issued the task.

From her limited experience, the system always preached steady, grounded progress—no freebies from the sky.

【When a comment in the comment section racks up over a thousand likes, it has a chance to convert into a limited-time task.】

【…Don’t they all hate Zhu Lexing? Why would they want to see Yan Mian pinning a school badge on me?】

The system seemed just as puzzled as she was, so they let the topic drop.

The morning light glowed faintly, the murmur of reading voices lazy and subdued. Zhu Lexing slipped into Class 2 just as the bell rang. Most students were heads-down in their books, with only a few catching sight of her and staring in unanimous astonishment.

In the original work, as the quintessential delinquent young miss, skipping classes was hardcoded into the original host’s DNA. She’d never sat through a full day.

Zhu Lexing flicked a glance over her shoulder, then dragged her chair with deliberate screeching fanfare. Disdainful stares slid her way, but she ignored them entirely and settled into her seat.

She’d barely set her bag down when a timid voice piped up beside her. “The chemistry homework from yesterday—”

Zhu Lexing turned to see Song Yingying, the girl she’d crossed paths with before.

The original work hadn’t fleshed out Song Yingying much, so Zhu Lexing—operating on slacker assumptions—figured she was in the same boat. “You didn’t do it either?”

Song Yingying blinked. “…No, I’m the chemistry class rep. You’re the only one who didn’t turn it in.”

Zhu Lexing: “…”

Awkward, but bearable.

Besides, given the original host’s arrogant streak, a stunned silence would just read as irritation. Sure enough, after a brief pause, Song Yingying’s gaze shifted subtly, tinged with involuntary wariness. “Even if you don’t hand it in…”

“No,” Zhu Lexing said. “I will.”

“But I didn’t write it,” she admitted bluntly. “Mind if I copy yours?”

Song Yingying: “…”

It was a knee-jerk coaxing line from Zhu Lexing.

She braced for the system to flag it as taboo and shut it down, but to her surprise, it stayed silent— tacitly greenlighting the cheat.

Fine by her. She snatched the homework from Song Yingying’s stunned hands and copied at breakneck speed.

Corporate drone before transmigration, early-riser student after—life really was going backwards, word for word.

Once finished, Song Yingying stood to deliver the assignments. Zhu Lexing thunked her face onto the desk and had just squeezed her eyes shut for all of two seconds when the system pinged: 【Yan Mian will return to the classroom in one minute.】

Desperate to salvage her already shaky image in Yan Mian’s eyes, Zhu Lexing pried her eyes open with effort.

The bell rang for the end of class right then. As she lifted her head, her gaze locked with Yan Mian’s, who was stepping in from the doorway. Yan Mian froze for a few seconds before breaking into a reflexive smile. But from her vantage, Zhu Lexing looked disheveled, like she’d been roused from sleep mid-nap—face full of annoyance. That abrupt grin carried a mocking edge.

Recalling the earlier incident, Yan Mian frowned ever so slightly and made her way back to her seat.

Zhu Lexing was convinced her smile had been genuine, but the system chimed in with malicious glee: 【Yan Mian Favorability -1. Current favorability…】

Deduct a point? Zhu Lexing fumed inwardly. If not for the damn system task, she’d have glued herself to Yan Mian’s thigh as a luxury-card keychain ages ago.

But she didn’t dare say these words directly to the System, afraid it would mess with her again. She could only swallow her anger and channel her resentment into motivation for studying.

This was a rare peaceful day in Class 2.

The biggest troublemaker didn’t bully anyone weaker than her, and for once, she stayed uncharacteristically quiet all day long. Even more shocking was that she managed to stay awake through every class, her face set in a sullen scowl the entire time.

After school, Zhu Xing stood at the front entrance, listening to the feedback from the teachers. His gaze fell on Zhu Lexing. The girl was dressed impeccably in her school uniform, one hand propping up her chin while the other twirled a pen. Her attitude might have left something to be desired, but her eyes were genuinely fixed on the homework spread out on her desk, as if she were seriously pondering it.

A few seconds later, she slowly scribbled down a single letter.

The System broadcasted everyone’s psychological reactions to Zhu Lexing in real time. Having been battered by schoolwork all day, Zhu Lexing’s mind was already foggy. The moment she learned that everyone else had left, she flopped limply in her seat like a salted fish: 【You have the energy to observe other people, so can’t Little System search up the answer and tell me how to solve this problem?】

The System had its own principles on that front and refused to offer any such convenience.

The homework wasn’t finished until the dismissal bell finally rang, and Zhu Lexing had muddled through it half by guesswork. Before leaving, she made a point of glancing at Yan Mian. The girl sat ramrod straight, diligently working on her problems—but unlike Zhu Lexing, she wrote with utter confidence, her movements steady and calm.

What a perfect female protagonist. Zhu Lexing sighed inwardly once more.

Yan Mian noticed Zhu Lexing leaving right on the dot, and her eyelashes fluttered faintly as she relaxed her posture.

“I knew it was all an act,” came a dissatisfied voice from nearby. Yan Mian acted as if she hadn’t heard a thing and simply turned the page.

At the school gate, Zhu Lexing took a quick look around. The nanny car from yesterday was still there, but it was parked much more discreetly this time—clearly, Yan Mian had given someone a heads-up.

The driver had been waiting for a while. Once Zhu Lexing was in the car, she didn’t ask him to lower the partition. Instead, she propped her chin on her hand, spread her preview homework across her lap, and began studying it intently.

All along the drive, the driver kept stealing glances in the rearview mirror.

The old miss wouldn’t have touched a book or even her schoolbag all day. This “previewing” version of her was nothing short of a medical miracle.

He recalled her flirtatious antics that morning, and his thoughts grew even more convoluted.

Studying hard for love? The script was clichéd, sure, but not impossible. Still, how on earth had Yan Mian tamed the miss in such a short time?

The driver couldn’t puzzle it out, and Zhu Lexing had no way of guessing his suspicions.

She only managed two pages before the reading lulled her into drowsiness. Turning her attention to the System instead, she struck up a conversation.

The Zhu Family servants’ rudeness toward Yan Mian stemmed partly from the original host’s own flaws and partly from certain people fishing in troubled waters—bullying the weak to boost their own standing.

Zhu Lexing had obtained a suspect list from the System. Flipping through a few pages, she discovered that these people actually formed a small clique, led by Yan Xin—the one who loved picking on Yan Mian the most.

The deeper she delved into Yan Xin’s record, the more determined Zhu Lexing became to write him out of the story.

Off the stage with all of them!

The car ride passed with Zhu Lexing glued to her book the whole way. It wasn’t until they were pulling up that the driver finally ventured a quiet reminder: “Miss, we’re here.”

Zhu Lexing gave a casual acknowledgment, then added abruptly, “Contact the housekeeping agency in a bit and have them send over some new hires.”

The driver blinked in confusion. “Does the Zhu Family still need more staff right now?”

“Not yet,” Zhu Lexing replied. “But we will soon.”

A few minutes later, the driver understood exactly what she meant.