Healing the Black Lotus Female Supporting Character (Transmigration into a Book - ABO) - Chapter 2

The spring air in the office was mild. The central ventilation stirred slightly, blowing a few strands of Hua You’s bangs across her forehead.

She sat at the small desk next to Ms. Xu’s larger one, her eyes quickly scanning the blank math test in front of her. After a long moment of thought, she could come up with only one explanation: Bian Chengyi had sold her out.

The system’s voice echoed in her mind:
“Well? Isn’t the Black Lotus reputation well-deserved?”

Hua You had a headache.

And not because of the math test.

The original Hua You was academically hopeless — or more accurately, someone who had never really cared about studying. But the real Hua You was a top student in every world she’d ever lived in. As long as the scientific foundation was the same — in simpler terms, if the subjects taught were more or less alike — she feared nothing.

Back in the real world, she had skipped the college entrance exam altogether, securing a spot in a top university through competitions. While her peers were buried in exam prep, she was lounging at home, AC on full blast, devouring web novels instead of practice papers.

From a young age, she hadn’t liked interacting with others. People called her “eccentric,” “hard to get along with,” and truthfully, her close friends could be counted on one hand. It wasn’t that she looked down on others — she just felt that most conversations couldn’t reach the depth she wanted, which drained her. Naturally, she became someone who avoided socializing.

And yet, the system had bound her to a “Classmate Care System,” with a mission to redeem the one person she didn’t get along with: the Black Lotus supporting character, Bian Chengyi.

So far, this Black Lotus didn’t seem crazy, or cruel. She was beautiful, soft-spoken — but also not above setting traps for her enemies. Like today, when she’d oh-so-honestly told the teacher that Hua You hadn’t done her homework.

Hua You sighed quietly.

The redemption goal was to get Bian Chengyi to let go of her obsessions — specifically, her fixation on the college entrance exam. Progress was measured with a percentage bar, and occasionally, the system issued temporary missions to help boost it. The problem was, no matter how smart Hua You was, she still couldn’t figure out how getting Bian Chengyi to bite her had anything to do with helping her move on from academic obsession!

The system had promised that if she completed the mission, she’d be allowed to choose freely between returning to her original world or staying in this one. It also offered her one wish: to see her deceased parents again.

After all, in her original life, Hua You had lost both parents in a car crash at a young age, growing up with help from various relatives. That wish alone made the mission worth it.

Just as Hua You zoned out, Bian Chengyi knocked her knuckles gently against the desk.

Hua You looked up. Bian Chengyi forcibly smoothed out her frown — Why is it always that same wide-eyed, innocent, clueless look? She let out a quiet sigh. Maybe she was losing it too. This was someone she clearly couldn’t stand, someone who had done a lot to hurt her in the past. And yet, just a few expressions had given her the illusion that — Maybe we could get along? Maybe she’s kind of cute?

It had to be the temporary mark messing with her head.

In their class, someone had once jokingly said:
“In Class 3, blossoms bloom everywhere — but one flower must wither.”

The “Bian” in Bian Chengyi sounded like “blossom,” and “Hua” was literally Hua You’s surname, meaning “flower.” It was a poetic way to say: they were the two most beautiful girls in Class 3, but they couldn’t stand each other.

Fang Jinyu had once comforted Bian Chengyi by saying,

“Liberal arts students just memorize too much classical poetry. Their brains get scrambled and they start quoting everything like its literature.”

It seemed watching beautiful girls feud was an irresistible form of entertainment for most people.

There was no reason Bian Chengyi should ever enjoy being compared to Hua You.
No — to be precise, there was no reason she should like anything associated with Hua You.

That strange feeling earlier… it had to be the mark playing tricks on her.

“If you don’t finish by the end of self-study, you’re on your own.” Bian Chengyi said coolly.
“You’ve got half an hour. At your level, I’d suggest starting with the fill-in-the-blanks.”

Hua You gave her a lopsided grin. There were no new tasks from the system, so her interactions with Bian Chengyi now were up to her own improvisation. Still, it never hurt to show a bit of kindness.

Without bothering to guess what Bian Chengyi was thinking, she lowered her head again and focused on the test paper.

Before she could think for more than two minutes, Bian Chengyi’s voice suddenly broke the silence:
“Are you… alright now?”

Hua You raised her signature smile and, in the most innocent tone, spoke the most ambiguous words:
“Smells really good.” Then, in a slightly wronged voice, she added,
“Thanks for the concern, Class Rep… but why did you report my name to the teacher?”

Bian Chengyi lowered her head, flipping a page of her vocabulary book, her tone indifferent:
“Don’t you already know why? You skip homework every other day — you’ve been on the teacher’s radar for a while now.”

“Oh.” Hua You replied glumly, with a nasal hint of disappointment.

Something about that “oh” irked Bian Chengyi. Her lashes lowered slightly as she fell silent and returned her focus to her vocabulary list.

Five minutes before class resumed, Ms. Xu — their homeroom teacher and math instructor — returned from her meeting. Bian Chengyi closed her vocabulary book and stood politely to give up the seat next to the teacher’s desk.

Ms. Xu was a woman in her thirties who had already become an assistant director in the grade. Her teaching skills were top-notch. Although Bian Chengyi wasn’t the smartest student, she was diligent and disciplined — a quality Ms. Xu deeply appreciated. More than that, Bian was her right-hand student.

Her tone toward her was warm and kind:
“Thanks for your help, Chengyi.”

Bian Chengyi had lost nearly all memories of her past life. It was like she had come back to live it all over again with a blank slate. The only thing she remembered — faintly — was what happened after her death.

She remembered clearly how Ms. Xu had sobbed bitterly at her funeral. She’d even resigned from her post afterward, blaming herself:
“I focused too much on grades and forgot to care for her mental health.”

Back then, in spirit form, Bian Chengyi had floated behind her, trying to embrace her. She wanted to say: It wasn’t your fault. I was already rotting inside. Her soul had been broken long before anything could be saved.

Even her own mother, usually the first to blame others, had said nothing harsh to Ms. Xu.
“Chengyi was too stubborn. She kept everything bottled up. Neither of us could’ve saved her — maybe it was just her fate.”

Cold and composed to the end. In one breath, her mother shifted all the responsibility back onto Bian Chengyi, leaving everyone else spotless.

Compared to her mother, Ms. Xu had always felt more like family.

For the first time in a while, a genuine smile reached Bian Chengyi’s eyes.
“It’s nothing. I came here to find a quiet place to study — and check on her while I was at it.”

“Is that so?” Ms. Xu playfully tapped Hua You on the forehead, making her pause mid-writing to smile.
“You, skipping homework every few days — I’ve asked the class rep to keep an eye on you. Hopefully you’ll behave a little better now.”

Hua You squinted playfully, like a little fox pretending to be good:
“I’m already at the second-to-last question! Almost done!”

Still two full problems left with less than half an hour remaining. Bian Chengyi, distracted for just a second, noticed that Hua You had jumped straight to the final fill-in-the-blank question. It was incredible. Subconsciously, her eyes drifted to the math paper Ms. Xu had pulled from Hua You’s desk.

Even though Hua You had taken over the original body, her handwriting matched the original owner’s muscle memory — nothing suspicious. Ms. Xu gave it a few casual glances before asking calmly:
“Did you solve this yourself, or copy the answers?”

Hua You didn’t take offense. She just smiled, eyes clear and open:
“I did it myself. Of course, words are just words. If you don’t believe me, you can ask me to explain a few problems.”

Ms. Xu said,
“I won’t quiz you on the ones from your test — let’s try something similar. Here.”
She pulled out a worksheet from another class and pointed to a final fill-in-the-blank question.
“Just talk me through the approach. No need to calculate.”

Hua You glanced at it.
“Draw a diagram. It’s obvious.”

Ms. Xu chuckled.
“Oh? You make it sound easy. But doesn’t every question need a diagram?”

“This one’s about two circles — just find the tangent line. Set up the equations and it’s done.”
Hua You blinked.
“Actually, I built a coordinate system on the one from my test. These two questions are a bit different. With circles, you can’t really use vectors.”

“Alright, alright, you passed. Go on, seeing you gives me a headache.”
Though Ms. Xu said this with feigned exasperation, she was actually quite pleased. She’d long known Hua You simply didn’t care about studying, but now it seemed — once she actually tried — she wasn’t bad at all.

Of course, what she didn’t know was that Hua You had completed that test in under half an hour. Otherwise, her surprise would have been even greater.

She glanced over at Bian Chengyi, who looked as calm as ever, showing no reaction to Hua You’s unexpected performance. That reassured her even more.
“Chengyi, you head back too. Get ready for this afternoon’s lessons.”

“Yes, ma’am.”
Bian Chengyi gave a light bow and politely said goodbye. Without waiting for Hua You — who was still scrambling to stuff her pens back into her pencil case — she turned and pushed the door open, stepping out first.

Hua You exited shortly after, following behind Bian Chengyi, always staying just a step behind.
Then, Bian Chengyi suddenly stopped and turned to look at her — nearly making Hua You jump in surprise.

At that exact moment, the shrill chime of the class bell rang out — but neither of them moved.

“Did you really do that test just now?”
Bian Chengyi’s expression was calm as she asked.

Hua You didn’t like pretending to be bad at studying — for someone like her, it felt like torture. So she nodded frankly and replied,
“Yeah, I did. I know I’ve been a mess, but I’ve actually been secretly studying late at night the past few days.”

She paused for a moment, remembering to stay in character just enough to keep the persona consistent.
“Well, it’s all to catch up with a certain class rep, of course.”

Sure enough, Bian Chengyi interpreted it as Hua You trying to compete with her, not as some soul swap nonsense.
She pressed her lips together and murmured,
“I see.”

“Next time I’ll be even faster,” Hua You said with a bright, cheeky smile.
“I’ll beat you soon enough.”

“You won’t provoke me that way,” Bian Chengyi shook her head slightly.
“I hate slackers far more than I mind hard workers.”

“Then… do you like geniuses more than hard workers?”
Hua You blinked, as if she’d stumbled on a key insight.
“Like Fang Jinyu — a genius in the humanities?”

“Even though my scores in liberal arts are about the same as hers,” Bian Chengyi said, almost absentmindedly,
“She has a natural feel for it. I just memorize things by force. It’s different.”

A glimmer of something flickered in her eyes.
“So, by that logic, yes — I prefer geniuses.”

Of course you do, Hua You thought. I’ve read the book. You like Fang Jinyu, so obviously you like academic prodigies.

Something lit up in her mind like a lightbulb flicking on.
If she falls for me… then maybe she’ll stop caring so much about the college entrance exam. If she cares about me instead — and it’s not like I’m the heroine with a destined pairing — I can even pretend to like her back. Perfect!

This is just textbook redemption arc material!

She grinned to herself and muttered under her breath,
“Then you’ll definitely like me.”

Bian Chengyi, just starting to walk away — and with very sharp hearing — paused mid-step:
“…?”