After Transmigrating, I Lived with the Charismatic/Beloved Female Lead - Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Seeing that Lan Shangui absolutely refused to let go, Wei Yue was on the verge of exploding. Even worse, the system was maniacally reminding her of her rising OOC level. She hardened her resolve and blurted out, “Can’t I call my mom to have the posts deleted!”
The ward suddenly fell silent.
Lan Shangui was momentarily stunned, and the force gripping her wrist lessened. Wei Yue seized the opportunity to quickly yank her hand back, and the feeling of discomfort disappeared.
“You’d be that kind?” Lan Shangui quickly resumed his interrogation, pressing her.
“Hmph, believe it or not!” Wei Yue said angrily, preparing to leave. But this time, another person grabbed her wrist. She groaned inwardly, Why is it so hard for me to call someone to delete a post!
It turned out to be Jiang Yun-juan.
The girl spoke with a serious expression: “Student Wei, I think… you shouldn’t just find someone to delete the posts.”
“The more the controversy is suppressed, the easier it is to ignite people’s curiosity, especially since this news spread on the school BBS. The post has already been viewed tens of thousands of times. If you delete it directly, students will spread the rumor offline, and we will completely lose control over the public narrative.”
Wei Yue considered this carefully. Jiang Yun-juan’s reasoning was sound.
The post explicitly mentioned their deep family backgrounds. Deleting the post now would stop the spread of rumors online, but she and Lu Yuanqiu would likely be the subject of discussion for all four years of university.
So, is there a better way?
“What… happened?”
As the ward fell silent, a slightly hoarse voice sounded.
Wei Yue immediately turned around and saw that Lu Yuanqiu had woken up.
“Yuanqiu! Are you okay!”
Before she could react, Lan Shangui was much faster. He even pushed her aside, rushed to Lu Yuanqiu’s bedside, and asked with an excited look.
Wei Yue: “…”
Brother, you really have issues!
Seeing Lan Shangui rush over, Lu Yuanqiu’s heart tightened. Fortunately, he still had enough sense not to get too close.
The female lead was still unconscious, but she was just woken up by your noise. The system chimed in.
“That’s all the fault of Stock No. 1!” Wei Yue complained fiercely in her mind. She looked at Lan Shangui’s persona again, described as a passionate, cheerful ‘little wolf dog.’
Pfft! He’s clearly a thoughtless idiot!
He knew the female lead was unconscious yet came straight to the ward to make a huge fuss. The rumor was already out, and instead of addressing it first, he chose to relentlessly accuse the villainess. Controlling the rumor mill for the female lead’s sake should have been his priority!
The more Wei Yue looked at Lan Shangui, the more displeased she became.
“Student Lu, are you awake? Something happened. We don’t know how you’re feeling right now. Maybe you should rest a bit more, and we’ll tell you later?”
Jiang Yun-juan found it hard to get close with Lan Shangui blocking the way, so she stood aside and spoke to Lu Yuanqiu.
Since something had happened, Lu Yuanqiu forced her slightly hazy mind to clear up. She ignored the noisy Lan Shangui, looked at the unfamiliar girl, and asked, “It’s fine, tell me. I’m awake now.”
Seeing Lu Yuanqiu say this, Jiang Yun-juan didn’t hesitate and recounted the BBS incident.
After listening, Lu Yuanqiu blinked, then said softly: “The number of people who could know so clearly about the things between Wei Yue and me… is very small.”
“Someone who knows us inside and out, who has a grudge against us, and more importantly, has an account on K University’s BBS—that narrows the field down to perhaps just one person, right?”
Wei Yue naturally took the cue. She turned her head and met Lu Yuanqiu’s eyes.
Amber-colored eyes were rare.
Lu Yuanqiu was lying down, and the sun shone through the light-colored curtains onto her. Her long, delicate eyelashes cast faint shadows in her pupils. One of her eyes, facing the light, seemed to merge with it.
And those warm eyes were currently looking at her.
Wei Yue felt her heart stop for a moment. She quickly looked away, but instantly realized this didn’t fit the villainess’s persona, and forced her gaze back: “In my opinion, it must be Zhou Ling!”
“Zhou Ling? So it really wasn’t Wei Yue intentionally targeting Yuanqiu?”
Lan Shangui immediately rejoined the conversation, still looking at Wei Yue with suspicion.
Wei Yue completely ignored Lan Shangui, but seeing the OOC level already at 70%, she had to pinch her nose and swallow her resentment: “It-it really wasn’t! Shangui Ge, why don’t you believe me!”
After saying this, Wei Yue felt goosebumps erupt all over her body. She subconsciously rubbed her arm and even heard a small gasp from Jiang Yun-juan beside her.
However, hearing the system’s voice say OOC level has dropped to 50%, she decided it was barely worth it.
Lu Yuanqiu caught Wei Yue’s actions out of the corner of her eye. She contemplated for a moment, then interrupted Lan Shangui before he could reply: “Without evidence, we are very passive.”
“Perhaps… we should still contact the school administration?” Jiang Yun-juan pushed up her glasses on her nose. “I’m the chief editor for the military training reporters. I have the contact information for the teacher in charge of the school forum and promotional accounts. After explaining the situation to her, she will definitely arrange for the post deletion and punishment.”
So Jiang Yun-juan has a direct contact for the forum teacher! This would save many intermediate steps.
“That would be perfect!” Wei Yue immediately agreed. Suppressing the spread of those gossip posts on the forum was the most urgent matter. “However, many people will still assume we’re using the school administration to suppress the news.”
“That kind of speculation is unavoidable. We can only try to reduce the proportion of people who believe it.”
Wei Yue hadn’t expected Lu Yuanqiu to pick up on her words again. It seemed the other party already had a plan.
The female lead doesn’t seem to have much of an issue with the original owner after all, Wei Yue thought, finally easing her concern that Lu Yuanqiu was holding a grudge for being knocked unconscious.
Lu Yuanqiu looked at Jiang Yun-juan and the camera in her hand, smiling gently: “Student… you just said you were a military training reporter. I remember the announcement said you have to produce promotional articles every day, right?”
“Ah, yes! Yes, we do! Also, my name is Jiang Yun-juan, and I’m classmates with you and Wei Yue, all in Finance Class 01!” Jiang Yun-juan replied quickly to Lu Yuanqiu. Wei Yue even thought her eyes were shining.
Is Jiang Yun-juan really that excited?
Wei Yue silently wondered, Is the female lead appealing to both men and women?
“Alright, Student Jiang,” Lu Yuanqiu continued. “To completely resolve the public opinion, besides deleting the post and punishing the rumormonger, a clarification must be made, right? The teacher in charge of the forum won’t write the clarification for us, so…”
“I get it! You mean to include your clarification of the incident in today’s promotional article, right!” Jiang Yun-juan said excitedly. “Okay! I guarantee I’ll exceed expectations!”
“Uh, yes. Then… thank you in advance…” Lu Yuanqiu clearly hadn’t expected Jiang Yun-juan to be so enthusiastic, and her speech was unusually hesitant.
“It’s nothing! We’re classmates! Besides, I was there. I don’t know about the other content in the main post, but you and Student Wei definitely didn’t fight over some romantic rivalry!” Jiang Yun-juan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, speaking with righteous indignation.
The system had not provided Jiang Yun-juan’s identity, meaning she was an NPC unrelated to the plot in the novel Night Whispers. Yet, she was playing an important role in what could be considered a “key event” encountered by the female lead.
“System, you previously told me that the female lead fainting was part of the original plot. What’s the deal with Jiang Yun-juan?” Although Wei Yue was grateful for Jiang Yun-juan’s help, she still had questions.
This content involves the main plot. This side mission was only triggerable because you unlocked the Lu Family Story Background yesterday. Content related to the plot, aside from unlocking via a Plot Key or special triggers, cannot be disclosed to the host by this system.
So, her choices can also affect the triggering of side missions?
And after triggering these special side missions, the plot’s trajectory also seemed to have changed. If that was the case, then was the plot unlocked by the Plot Key still reliable?
“Student Wei, Student Wei!”
While Wei Yue was deep in thought, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
Snapping out of it, she saw Jiang Yun-juan shaking her camera at her, saying: “Why were you spaced out? We think a text clarification might not be effective enough, so we decided to take a few photos to increase credibility!”
“Ph-photos?!” Wei Yue was shocked. Does the female lead want to take some harmonious, friendly promotional photos with the villainess?!
“Yes, Student Lu has already agreed!” Jiang Yun-juan said naturally.
Wei Yue looked incredulously at Lu Yuanqiu on the hospital bed, who also appeared accepting: “I think Student Jiang has a point. Wei Yue, is there any reason you are unwilling to take photos?”
“Why would I be unwilling!” Wei Yue immediately retorted. She truly disliked taking photos, but since the female lead had asked, this was a great opportunity to salvage her OOC level. “I’m just worried, seeing how frail you look, that my beauty will overshadow yours, making it an unfair victory!”
OOC level has dropped to 30%.
“Wei Yue! What nonsense are you spouting here!” Lan Shangui was clearly unable to tolerate anyone treating Lu Yuanqiu with such an attitude.
“Hey, hey, stop it!” Jiang Yun-juan quickly interrupted him. “Let’s hurry up, after all, writing the article takes time! I’ll go write the draft right after taking the pictures!”
“Student Wei, move your chair closer to Student Lu’s bed, and just continue applying medicine to your knee.”
Knee?
Hearing Jiang Yun-juan’s words, Lu Yuanqiu looked down and saw Wei Yue’s bloody, severely scraped knee.
A flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.
“Student Lu, just close your eyes and rest. I’ll be done very soon!”
Jiang Yun-juan’s voice came through. Lu Yuanqiu pulled her wandering thoughts back, replied “Okay,” and obediently closed her eyes, her expression relaxed.
However, the hand hidden under the covers subtly tightened into a fist.
Jiang Yun-juan was very fast. Wei Yue had only applied the medicine twice when she announced she had enough photos.
“Don’t worry, my photography skills definitely won’t disappoint you!” After exchanging contact information with Wei Yue and Lu Yuanqiu, Jiang Yun-juan winked and said cheekily.
Watching the girl jog away, Wei Yue subtly sighed in relief. It seemed this matter could be considered smoothly resolved.
“Wei! Yue! What have you done!”
Before she could fully exhale, another angry voice was heard. Wei Yue looked up and saw Xu Mengning, wearing a military training uniform and carrying a lunchbox, rush into the ward.
Oh no?! Am I going to be wrongly accused to my face again?!
“So, it really was just an accident?”
Xu Mengning handed the congee she got from the cafeteria to Lu Yuanqiu. Although she had listened to Lu Yuanqiu’s explanation and exchanged a few sarcastic remarks with Wei Yue, after the latter left, she still asked her friend again, somewhat disbelievingly.
“I saw her about to step down from the stairs, but she missed her step and fell, just happening to collide with me,” Lu Yuanqiu took the lunch from her friend and added.
“Couldn’t she have deliberately missed her step, aiming to fall on you?” Xu Mengning still didn’t trust Wei Yue’s character.
“Not likely. She…”
Lu Yuanqiu paused, frowning as she spoke. She recalled the large, scraped patch on Wei Yue’s knee she had seen earlier. After a moment, she changed the subject instead: “A-Ning, do you remember when Wei Yue let your hamster out and claimed it was because they bit her hand?”
“Of course, I remember!” Xu Mengning gnashed her teeth, thinking of her hamster. “I saw it! There was just a small bite mark on her hand, not serious at all! But she kept crying and screaming that it hurt. How could it have been that serious!”
“And I felt guilty and comforted her for a long time, only to find out she was so malicious! Throwing my baby away!”
“That’s why I’m saying, she might have deliberately tried to fall on you this time! A self-inflicted injury trick!” Xu Mengning said furiously.
But Lu Yuanqiu shook her head. Her tone was more certain this time: “Let’s not discuss whether it was an accident or intentional for now. The more important thing is the identity of that anonymous poster.”