I Don't Want to Be the Villainess Anymore - Chapter 33

Rong Xi noticed that Qin Yuzhen had paused mid-sentence to glance at her phone, so she leaned in to take a look. She saw Qin Yuzhen opening a forum post.

“Guess Who Will Rank First in the Six-City Joint Exam? Isn’t that still twenty days away?” Rong Xi was a bit exasperated.

Qin Yuzhen skimmed through the list of candidates—over a hundred names—and sure enough, hers wasn’t there. Only three students from Ninth High were listed, and many had already cast their votes.

“Thirteenth High really has too much time on their hands,” Rong Xi muttered.

Qin Yuzhen then browsed through some other posts from Thirteenth High.

The top scorer in Ninth High’s monthly exam this time aced both math and science. It’s a name no one’s heard before—apparently, she just transferred to Ninth High.

1st comment: Who is it?
2nd comment: Qin Yuzhen.
3rd comment: Never heard of her. Probably just luck.
4th comment: I know this girl. Rumor has it she got directly placed in the advanced class. Since when did Ninth High’s advanced class become so lax? Can anyone just buy their way in? Who knows how she even got in.
5th comment: What if she’s actually talented?
6th comment: My friend at Ninth High says she’s pretty good-looking.

The post was from a few days ago but had been bumped back up yesterday.

97th comment: Lol, I heard Qin Yuzhen bragged about her high IQ during a study tips session. As if she could outshine our school’s top scorer, Big Boss Huo!
98th comment: That’s way too arrogant.
99th comment: If she can keep scoring like this, a little arrogance is fine. Hope it’s not just a one-time thing.

“Why are these people so annoying?” Rong Xi grumbled.

“Tsk.” Qin Yuzhen’s lips curled slightly. “Good.”

“Huh?”

“I love a good face-slapping moment.” Qin Yuzhen put her phone away.

Originally, the post about Qin Yuzhen had only circulated within Thirteenth High. But because of the Six-City Top Scorer poll, it eventually spread to Ninth High as well.

Full of youthful vigor, many students stormed Ninth High’s forum, demanding Qin Yuzhen’s name be added to the poll—only to be mocked by Thirteenth High students.

37th comment: Oh, you think you can just add names whenever you want? This isn’t your ‘pay-to-enter’ advanced class. Take a seat, rich kids.

Qin Yuzhen found their bickering tiresome, but the feud seemed to have intensified the competitive atmosphere among the senior students. Amidst it all, Qin Yuzhen stood out as one of the few who remained nonchalant.

“Qin Yuzhen, do you think you can outscore that ‘Huo whatever’ from their school?” Liang Xuzhou asked.

Qin Yuzhen shot him a glance. “Who do you think you’re underestimating?”

Liang Xuzhou: “…”

“Don’t end up eating your words.”

“I’m the one who slaps faces, not the other way around,” Qin Yuzhen scoffed.

The tension between Ninth High and Thirteenth High students eventually reached the teachers’ ears. Though none of them commented, they doubled down on drilling knowledge into their students’ heads. The fact that they now extended classes well into the next period—leaving barely any break—spoke volumes.

On Saturday morning, Qin Yuzhen deliberately gave herself a fever.

Rong Xi stood by her bed, frowning. “How did you suddenly get a fever?”

“Probably caught a chill.” Qin Yuzhen’s face was flushed. “Help me ask for leave.”

“Oh.” Rong Xi nodded. “Are you going to class this afternoon if your fever doesn’t come back?”

“No.”

Rong Xi wore an exasperated expression, as if disappointed by her lack of ambition. “Then rest well. I’m off to school.”

“Mm.” Qin Yuzhen nodded and watched as Rong Xi left.

After lunch, Qin Yuzhen returned to her room, locked the door, and announced she was going to sleep, instructing everyone not to disturb her. Then she slipped out through the balcony.

She headed to the same building as before. The first round of interviews had eliminated many candidates, leaving only about a hundred people standing there this time. After this written test, the remaining fifty would advance to the official competition.

After registering, Qin Yuzhen received her number tag.

“What a coincidence.”

“Not really.” Qin Yuzhen didn’t even look up as she clipped the tag to her chest, then glanced at Huo Yaoxu.

“The people at our school can be a bit annoying. Don’t take it to heart, sis.”

Qin Yuzhen shot him a sidelong glance, her lips curling into a faint smirk. “And if I do take it to heart, will you track down those who said nasty things and bring them to me so I can beat them up?”

Huo Yaoxu froze. “Probably not.”

“Then why bother saying anything?” Qin Yuzhen’s smile vanished instantly as she walked into the exam room.

The test covered a wide range of subjects, including literature, science, and the arts. Qin Yuzhen answered the questions quickly, pausing only briefly for a few that required some thought, but there was practically nothing that truly stumped her.

Huo Yaoxu sat not far from her, keeping an eye on her progress. When he saw her flip her paper over, he raised an eyebrow in surprise—he hadn’t expected her to write faster than him.

Truthfully, he didn’t have any particular feelings toward Qin Yuzhen; he just wanted to take her down a peg. He was curious what expression she’d make if she scored lower than him.

Qin Yuzhen knew someone was watching her but didn’t turn around. She just wanted to finish the test quickly and go back to sleep. The exam was lengthy, with the organizers allotting three hours for completion. Qin Yuzhen finished in just an hour and a half. Rubbing her neck, she stood up and handed in her paper.

Out of a hundred candidates, she was the first to submit. Shortly after, two other girls turned in their papers as well. Huo Yaoxu finished in two hours—not slow by any means—but the fact that he was only the sixth to submit left him irritated.

He had hoped to chat with Qin Yuzhen afterward, but by the time he stepped out, she was already gone.

This time, Qin Yuzhen didn’t wander around. She genuinely wanted to go back and sleep.

“Host, are you still picking Rong Xi up from school today?”

“Nah.” Qin Yuzhen replied. “If I go, she’ll definitely ask when I got better and why I didn’t go to class.”

“Host, don’t you think you’ve been spoiling Rong Xi lately?”

“Have I?” Qin Yuzhen countered.

“Tsk, yes.” The system pulled up its statistical data. “The frequency of you teasing Rong Xi has noticeably decreased.”

“Really?” Qin Yuzhen yawned. “Maybe I’ve just been lazier lately. Besides, she’s grown a thicker skin—it’s not as fun to mess with her anymore.”

“Hmph.”

Qin Yuzhen ignored it and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

Truth be told, she had noticed Rong Xi becoming increasingly bold lately, even bordering on taking advantage of her leniency. Of course, she refused to acknowledge any change in herself—it was clearly just Rong Xi becoming harder to handle.

Qin Yuzhen thought of Rong Xi’s recent behavior and couldn’t help but feel nostalgic for the shy, timid girl she first met when she arrived at the Rong family.

The first thing Rong Xi did after school in the evening was to look for Qin Yuzhen. Seeing her still lying in bed, she was a bit shocked: “Have you been lying in bed all day?”

“Mhm.”

“Has Dr. Jiang come by yet?”

“No, I took some medicine, and the fever’s gone down already.”

Rong Xi touched Qin Yuzhen’s forehead: “Are you still going to Cong Mian’s birthday party tomorrow then?”

“Yes,” Qin Yuzhen said. “I’ll definitely be better by tomorrow morning.”

“How could you recover that fast?” Rong Xi withdrew her hand, muttering under her breath.

“Why can’t I recover that fast?” Qin Yuzhen narrowed her eyes. “Anyway, don’t even think about stopping me from going to the party.”

“Oh, then what time are we going tomorrow? Where should we meet?” Rong Xi asked.

“Eleven in the morning, at K Square.”

“Oh.” Rong Xi nodded. “Then, sister, you should keep resting. I’ll leave now.”

“Mhm.”

“By the way, can you even sleep?”

“I can sleep.”

“Twenty hours a day—how do you even do that?” Rong Xi was puzzled.

“Natural talent, nothing to be done. Don’t be jealous. So, please leave now.”

“A lot of people at school say you got sick because you’ve been studying too hard lately.” Rong Xi couldn’t resist adding as she walked out the door.

“Huh?”

“I find it pretty unbelievable too.” If she hadn’t seen Qin Yuzhen take her temperature in front of her that morning—confirming a fever of 38.9°C—she would have thought Qin Yuzhen was just faking it to skip school.

Qin Yuzhen closed her eyes. “Just go already.”

“Oh, good night, sister.”

“Mhm.”

“Sister, why didn’t you say good night back to me?”

Qin Yuzhen: “…”

“Good night.”

“Alright then.” Satisfied, Rong Xi closed the door behind her.

“Tsk tsk tsk.” The system’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “Host, you’re clearly spoiling her.”

“It’s just saying good night.” Qin Yuzhen was speechless.

“Yeah, right.”

Qin Yuzhen took a deep breath. “I’m going to sleep now. Stop bothering me.”

“Oh, getting defensive?”

“I’m perfectly calm.”

“More like giving up.”

“Activate mute mode.” Qin Yuzhen gritted her teeth.

“Alright then.”

Finally, silence. Qin Yuzhen let out a sigh of relief. Why did the world have to have such an annoying system? To be honest, Qin Yuzhen really wasn’t that sleepy, so she got up and played video games for three hours instead.

The next morning, Qin Yuzhen woke up early and spent a good amount of time in the walk-in closet getting ready. It took her a full hour before she finally stepped out of her room.

“Sister, you look so beautiful today.” Rong Xi had just come out of her own room and couldn’t help but marvel at Qin Yuzhen’s appearance.

“Was there ever a day I didn’t look good?” Qin Yuzhen raised an eyebrow.

“But today, sister, you look especially stunning. Seems like you’re taking this birthday party very seriously.” Rong Xi said. “And you woke up so early today too. If Cong Mian knew you got up early just for her, she’d be overjoyed.”

Qin Yuzhen shot Rong Xi a look. “I wake up early for you every day. Why don’t you say anything about that?”

“Huh?”

“If it weren’t for you insisting on going to school in the morning, I wouldn’t get there until noon at the earliest.” Qin Yuzhen said irritably.

Rong Xi: “…”

“I…”

“No need to say more.” Qin Yuzhen waved her hand dismissively. “And don’t get emotional—this is just your sister’s love for you.”

Rong Xi took a deep breath: I’ve lost this round.

The two went downstairs together, shared breakfast, and left the house side by side at half past ten.