After Biting the Female Lead, the Vicious Female Supporting Character Turned Alpha [Transmigration] - Chapter 16: 016
“Guess,” Jiang Xuenian teased, “If you can guess correctly, I’ll give you a gift.”
Shi Qingfan thought for a while, completely at a loss.
Jiang Xuenian looked at the earnest confusion in her light-brown eyes and couldn’t help but chuckle. “The bet is valid long-term.”
St. Lyceum’s twelfth-grade had a total of 509 students. The city-wide league preliminaries selected fifty people, with no scores announced. The semi-finals would select the top three students.
Originally, Jiang Xuenian making it to the semi-finals would have been big news, but Qiu Fanrou’s news was even more explosive, overshadowing all the city-wide league headlines.
Even in the days leading up to and after the semi-finals, the students at school were all discussing Qiu Fanrou.
Qiu Fanrou stayed in Bin City for about ten days, then left for her next performance city.
Before she left, the family had a meal together. Jiang Yue said at the dinner table, “I heard Niannian made it to the semi-finals of the city-wide league. My sister is truly amazing. What gift do you want? Brother will get it for you.”
Jiang Kai was surprised. “Why didn’t you tell Dad about such a big thing?”
The father and son’s reactions made it seem as if Jiang Xuenian hadn’t just made it to the semi-finals, but had already won first place.
Jiang Xuenian was embarrassed by their exaggerated reactions. “No need. It’s just the semi-finals. It won’t be too late to praise me when I represent the school and achieve something.”
Qiu Fanrou suddenly said gently, “Niannian, learning cannot take shortcuts. You must be down-to-earth.”
Jiang Xuenian: “…” *What does that mean? When did she ever not ‘be down-to-earth?’*
Jiang Kai looked at Qiu Fanrou disapprovingly. “Fanrou, Niannian is a good child.”
“Mom, Niannian is studying very seriously now. She even copied notes when she came home for the holiday,” Jiang Yue said.
Qiu Fanrou slowly said, “The school leaders know that Niannian is your daughter and mine. Last week, the principal invited me to St. Lyceum, and I happened to encounter Niannian participating in the semi-finals. Niannian answered very quickly, almost without thinking. I was wondering at the time if the principal might have deliberately leaked questions to Niannian to curry favor with me.”
“Mom, that’s purely speculation,” Jiang Yue said, meeting Qiu Fanrou’s eyes. Seeing that Qiu Fanrou seemed to have already convinced herself that her thoughts were reality, he said somewhat angrily.
“Jiang Xuenian” and Jiang Yue’s dark eyes were inherited from Qiu Fanrou. Jiang Yue’s eye shape was more similar to hers, while “Jiang Xuenian’s” eye shape resembled Jiang Kai’s.
Those dark eyes, seemingly holding clear autumn water, coldly glanced at Jiang Xuenian. “Would someone who hasn’t studied for over a decade suddenly become passionate about learning?”
Qiu Fanrou’s indifference towards Jiang Xuenian was astonishing.
Jiang Kai frowned. “Fanrou, don’t be prejudiced against Niannian. It’s never too late to change.”
Qiu Fanrou said, “It’s best if Niannian has truly changed.”
Then she looked at Jiang Xuenian. “If you’re caught cheating, don’t say you’re my daughter. The Jiang family needs its reputation.”
Jiang Xuenian had no particular feelings for Qiu Fanrou, but she felt a bit strange. After all, it was her own daughter. When they first met, Qiu Fanrou could at least pretend to care, so why had she suddenly shown such open hostility?
Jiang Kai’s face grew serious. “Fanrou, that’s not something you should say to your own daughter.”
Qiu Fanrou didn’t back down at all. “I’m warning her. Before, Niannian could cause whatever trouble she wanted at home; it wouldn’t spread and wouldn’t harm your or my reputation. But you haven’t forgotten that incident three years ago, when she caused trouble in front of guests, have you? Niannian has already been cast aside by high society because of that. No family in high society will be willing to accept her in the future. She won’t be able to marry, and she’ll be a Jiang family member her whole life. You’re still competing for president; no one in the family can mess up.”
As “Jiang Xuenian’s” mother, Qiu Fanrou, even if not often home, understood “Jiang Xuenian’s” true nature better than the two men, Jiang Kai and Jiang Yue.
*She was just a puddle of mud unwilling to accept her fate, with no ability of her own, only jealous of her brother.*
Jiang Xuenian’s existence brought no benefit to the Jiang family.
Jiang Yue had a reputation as a genius since childhood, and both his intellect and physique were far superior to ordinary people. In the future, he had a high probability of differentiating into an Alpha, and even some possibility of differentiating into a higher-tier S-class Alpha.
Jiang Xuenian was the complete opposite of Jiang Yue: low intelligence, poor physique, and even her appearance and personality were far inferior to Jiang Yue’s. She had a ninety-nine percent chance of differentiating into the most common Beta.
Her external conditions were already not excellent. If only Jiang Xuenian had a good personality and could form a marriage alliance in the future to help the Jiang family advance, Qiu Fanrou wouldn’t have been so cold to her.
Jiang Xuenian met Qiu Fanrou’s gaze for a moment, then lowered her eyes and said, “Don’t worry. No matter what I become in the future, I won’t reveal to the outside world that I’m a Jiang family daughter. You don’t have to fear me dragging you down.”
“Fanrou, you…”
“I’m doing this for the Jiang family’s sake,” Qiu Fanrou said. “Jiang Kai, the Jiang family isn’t just your Jiang family alone.”
Qiu Fanrou stood up. “I’ve called a car to wait for me outside. You all eat. I still have to rush to the airport.” She then left the private room.
The private room was silent for a few seconds. Jiang Kai said, “Niannian, your mother…”
“Dad, no need to explain. I’m fine. Mom’s always been like this; I know.”
The dinner ended unhappily. Jiang Kai and Jiang Yue both felt guilty towards Jiang Xuenian.
Jiang Kai gave Jiang Xuenian a card, telling her to buy whatever she liked.
Jiang Yue drove Jiang Xuenian back to school, saying nothing on the way. At the school gate, Jiang Xuenian unbuckled her seatbelt, preparing to get out. Jiang Yue suddenly said, “Niannian, no matter what others think, Brother always believes in you.”
Jiang Xuenian was surprised for a moment. She sighed inwardly. If it had been “Jiang Xuenian” hearing this, she might have thought Jiang Yue was mocking her.
“Mm, I know.” Jiang Xuenian directly reached out and rubbed Jiang Yue’s stern face. “Don’t be so serious, Brother. Be cheerful and flashy like usual. Come on, get out and show off.”
The tense muscles in Jiang Yue’s eyebrows relaxed, and he chuckled, amused by her. “You’re the one who’s flashy. When have I ever shown off? I’m naturally handsome.”
••••
The results of the city-wide league semi-finals came out three days later.
Students in Class Three were discussing who would make it into the top three after class.
“I’m guessing the first place is definitely the class monitor.”
“Do you even need to guess that?”
“There’s no point guessing first place. Let’s guess second and third,” Yin Yan said. Although he was a poor student, he greatly yearned for the world of top students and paid close attention to such competitions.
He took out a list of semi-finalists and placed it on the desk, then took a red pen and circled Shi Qingfan’s name. “Alright, who do you think are the possibilities for the remaining two spots?”
The person to Yin Yan’s right said, “Zhang Chenyi, Bai Lian.”
“They’re good at science, but not necessarily at humanities.”
“I guess it’s Meng Baichun and Luo Yue; they both have good humanities grades.”
“Hey, Jiang Xuenian, you guess too,” Yin Yan nudged Jiang Xuenian, who was sprawled on her desk.
“Me,” Jiang Xuenian had only gone to bed at midnight after studying. She raised her hand and yawned, lazily saying, “I don’t know about the last one.”
“You’re supposed to guess two, and you say you don’t know the last one without even guessing one. Jiang Xuenian, are you dizzy from sleep?”
“Sleepy, yes, but not dizzy,” Jiang Xuenian yawned again, tears falling from the corners of her eyes. She opened them, her dark eyes like clear, washed skies. “I’ve already guessed one. Me.”
“You? You’re saying you’re one of the top three?” Everyone looked at her incredulously. “I know you signed up, but didn’t you even make it past the preliminaries?”
“I did,” Jiang Xuenian pointed to a name in the middle-to-lower section of the list. “Look, Jiang Xuenian.”
“Eh? Your name is really there!” Yin Yan said in surprise, but he quickly reacted. “The preliminaries were all multiple-choice questions; you must have just gotten lucky to make it to the semi-finals. There are so many essay questions in the semi-finals. You’d be lucky to write two sentences. Top three? Impossible!”
The few people gathered around Yin Yan felt that Jiang Xuenian was not thinking clearly to say such a thing. The group continued their own guessing, simply ignoring her.
Shi Qingfan was leaving and passed by Yin Yan, who called out to her. “Class monitor, do you want to guess?”
Everyone clamored to tell Shi Qingfan what had just happened. “The funniest part is Jiang Xuenian saying she’ll be in the top three, hahaha, how is that possible!”
“It’s possible.” Shi Qingfan picked up the red pen and circled two names. One was “Meng Baichun,” and the other was… “Jiang Xuenian”???