Saving the Obsessive Villain Boss [Quick Transmigration] (GL) - Chapter 35

It was because she had no branch to lean on that Shi Qingyi pitied her, took compassion on her, allowing her to live under her protection. Once Shi Qingyi discovered that she was not at all what she appeared to be—

Jiang Zhiyi’s fingers tightened quietly. The golden-haired girl leaning against the staircase watched her with folded arms, her delicate, cold face showing no emotion.

She didn’t dare to move, only feeling as if that bucket of cold water had been poured directly over her own head. Her fingernails dug into her pale palm, outlining crescent moon marks, as she awaited that person’s judgment.

Heaven and earth were still for a moment, even the wind was silent.

“Aren’t you going to hurry up and leave? Waiting for others to come looking for us?” Shi Qingyi was simply helpless. You did something bad, why aren’t you running away quickly? Are you waiting for people to react and catch you in the act?

Shi Qingyi pulled her and ran. The hand holding hers was warm. Jiang Zhiyi followed her, stumbling and barely able to see the road.

That heart, which had already sunk to the bottom, slowly came back to life, climbing ashore from the abyss. She hooked her fingers with Shi Qingyi’s, and the heart that had been suspended in mid-air finally settled firmly.

Halfway there, Shi Qingyi suddenly stopped. Jiang Zhiyi didn’t have time to stop, and her forehead bumped right into the girl’s beautiful, slender butterfly bone. She cautiously raised her eyes: “What’s wrong?”

“There are surveillance cameras outside the academic building.” Shi Qingyi gritted her teeth. There were cameras installed outside the buildings on the third floor of each wing, but they weren’t usually checked. They had thought about installing two inside the classroom before, but the students’ strong opposition, citing invasion of privacy, finally made them drop the idea.

When Jiang Zhiyi was previously framed for stealing, they couldn’t find the surveillance footage, but now that they poured water, they were afraid of this possibility and getting caught.

She herself didn’t care, but Jiang Zhiyi was different.

Shi Qingyi held Jiang Zhiyi’s hand. The person behind her completely trusted her, seemingly ready to follow wherever she went.

There was a storage room on the second floor of the academic building, which contained damaged and unused desks and chairs from the school. Shi Qingyi was never a good student; it wasn’t difficult to open the old locks of the school.

Jiang Zhiyi followed behind her, shielding her from the sunlight and any possible prying eyes—acting as a lookout, in layman’s terms.

The lock clicked open, and light leaked in, startling the dust motes that danced in the air. Shi Qingyi coughed twice, choked, and expertly found two relatively intact chairs from the pile of broken desks and chairs. She then found a rag and wiped the chairs clean.

The academic building wasn’t too far from the sports field, and they could faintly hear the cheers coming from there. Jiang Zhiyi reached out to pull Shi Qingyi’s hand, but the latter subconsciously dodged.

The hand suspended in the air froze. The girl’s eyes darkened for a moment, but she quickly composed herself, raising her head and speaking softly: “There’s rust on my hand…”

It was probably stained when she was fiddling with the lock. A deep red mark was etched into her palm. Someone then took her hand and carefully wiped it clean. She must have touched something, as Shi Qingyi hissed slightly, wanting to pull her hand away but being held down.

“What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?” Jiang Zhiyi immediately became anxious.

“It’s nothing.” Shi Qingyi turned her head, ready to pull her hand away, but the person who was always obedient and docile was surprisingly firm and refused to let go.

The white sleeve was rolled up, revealing a patch of startling redness and swelling where the thumb and wrist intersected. The severe area was even bruised. Jiang Zhiyi’s heart twinged. She didn’t dare to touch it: “Did you hurt it playing volleyball?”

She remembered practicing a few times before the sports meet. She recalled the time it rained, and she wanted to lean on Shi Qingyi’s arm but was avoided, and her heart softened again.

So, avoiding her just now wasn’t because Shi Qingyi discovered her true nature and disliked her?

The gloomy mood instantly cleared up. She leaned over and blew on the girl’s bruised wrist: “Does it hurt? Let me massage it for you.”

“Suit yourself.” The golden-haired girl turned her face away, not looking at her. If she wasn’t allowed to pull her hand away, what could she do but let her?

The girl earnestly held her wrist and massaged it with gentle force. The small space was suddenly terrifyingly quiet, with only the sunlight shifting on the hem of the girl’s skirt, creating an inexplicable sweetness.

Shi Qingyi felt a little awkward. She took out her earphones and put one in her ear, and slipped the other into Jiang Zhiyi’s ear. The earphone cable wasn’t long, allowing Jiang Zhiyi to lean against her legitimately.

She cautiously leaned over, seeing that Shi Qingyi didn’t refuse, but just turned her face away. In the dim light, she could only see a small section of a fair, gleaming, slender neck and a slightly reddish, tender earlobe.

She then became self-assured, occupying the little space next to the girl. After a long while, she finally had the courage to hug her arm, her voice soft and sweet, sounding like she was acting spoiled.

“If you don’t like it, I won’t do this kind of thing again in the future, okay?”

I will be very obedient, so please don’t abandon me?

Shi Qingyi didn’t speak for a long time. Just as she grew more anxious, Shi Qingyi stretched out a hand and adjusted her phone. The soothing love song in the earphones changed to fluent and rapid English.

“Don’t think about these things.” Shi Qingyi stroked her soft hair. How could she not know about the bullying she endured? The system could talk for three days and three nights without repeating the evils those people had done before. It was already quite good that the little pitiable one only splashed a bucket of water now. In the future, she would start with directly causing their families to be ruined.

Shi Qingyi’s eyes darkened, but her voice softened: “If anyone bullies you again in the future, I will bully them back for you. Don’t do these kinds of things anymore.”

Ten years of hard study were being wasted. It wasn’t worth throwing away all that effort in the final year for these scumbags.

“Okay.” Finding that she wasn’t angry, Jiang Zhiyi breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her even tighter, as if afraid she would regret it and run away.

“I’ll listen to you.”

As long as you don’t leave me, I’ll listen to anything you say.

“Don’t lean any closer,” Shi Qingyi pushed away the head that was getting closer with one finger. “Scholar Jiang, listen to the question.”

“…I don’t want to listen.”

“Then what do you want to listen to?” Shi Qingyi handed the phone to her, thinking that it was inconvenient to not have a way to communicate. If she was blocked, she wouldn’t even have a way to send a message. She should buy her a phone.

“…I want to talk to you.”

“Aren’t I talking to you now?” Shi Qingyi almost burst out laughing.

Jiang Zhiyi hummed softly, thinking quietly in her heart, it’s not enough, it’s still not enough. I don’t want you to just pity me and protect me. I want your eyes to be completely and entirely focused only on me.

They nestled together in the small, abandoned corner, listening to the cheers and whistles from the distant sports field. At that moment, Jiang Zhiyi felt like she had everything.

Unexpectedly, no one came looking for them. After gym class ended, everyone rushed back to the classroom. When they slipped back with the bustling crowd, Song Zhiming and Deng Sisi were no longer in the classroom.

Their books were still in their spots, but the people were gone. Only the form teacher was at the end of the hallway, making a phone call with an ashen face.

In just half an hour, the parents of the two had arrived at the school. Song Zhiming’s father was a handsome man in a suit and leather shoes. As soon as he dragged Song Zhiming out of the office and into the hallway, he gave him a kick in the stomach. Song Zhiming, who usually carried a hint of arrogance, fell to the ground in pain and mumbled “Dad.”

“How dare you call me?!” The middle-aged man was furious and followed up with another kick. This kick landed on his calf. Song Zhiming groaned, unable to even stand, unable to utter a word.

The students in the classroom couldn’t help but peek outside. The last class in the afternoon was Politics. The teacher was a wise and easy-going old man in his forties or fifties. Hearing the commotion, he knocked on the blackboard: “Everyone, focus, stop looking, pull the curtain!”

The dark blue curtains were drawn with a swoosh. The Politics teacher walked outside, and the classroom started buzzing with discussion.

“What exactly happened? Why was the class monitor’s parent called in? Didn’t they say the class monitor had relatives in the school?”

“I heard it’s because they were caught dating by ‘Mediterranean’ [nickname for the teacher]… They were caught red-handed, without a chance to even argue. The old form teacher called the parents directly. Maybe one of them will have to withdraw.”

“Deng Sisi’s parents seem to be here too. How did ‘Mediterranean’ catch them? Haven’t they always been very careful?”

“What else could it be? Bad luck, I guess. The class before gym was covered by ‘Mediterranean.’ He apparently forgot something in the classroom and came back to see them hugging and making out…”

Someone who knew a little bit more turned their head and spoke with a conflicted expression: “Where was it just making out? Someone from the next class who came back early said their clothes weren’t even properly put back on. Our class monitor looks like such a proper person, how could he…”

Shi Qingyi had good hearing. When she couldn’t hear clearly, she had the system repeat it, and she roughly got the whole story.

The students were discussing the gossip with great enthusiasm, not knowing how much of it was exaggerated. Shi Qingyi listened to the increasingly outrageous rumors with a complicated feeling and suddenly asked the system: “Do you think this was really an accident?”

System: “…”

Don’t ask me, I don’t know anything.

No matter how heated the gossip was, no one would come over to talk to Jiang Zhiyi. She sat quietly at her desk doing her homework. The delicate and neat handwriting on the test paper was deliberately written a little sloppily, imitating Shi Qingyi’s handwriting.

“I’ll write it myself.” Shi Qingyi sighed, preparing to pull the homework back.

Whether she handed in her homework or not, the form teacher always turned a blind eye. If Jiang Zhiyi did it for her, she would still have to stay up late to write her own copy tonight.

“Don’t move,” Jiang Zhiyi hugged the entire homework book to her chest, preventing her from moving. “Your hand isn’t well yet. Just treat it as a consolidation exercise for me.”

Like a hamster protecting its food.

She had never seen anyone protect homework like this. What “consolidation exercise,” these problems were the kind that Jiang Zhiyi wouldn’t even need to use scratch paper for.

Jiang Zhiyi leaned down again to write the homework. After writing for a while, she felt Shi Qingyi’s gaze fixed on her. Her ear rim involuntarily flushed red. She paused, took out a candy from her desk, and secretly put it into Shi Qingyi’s desk: “If you’re bored, eat a candy.”

Shi Qingyi was good-looking, and the number of people who gave her gifts was countless. The fate of all those things was basically the trash can. She was actually a little nervous, and then she heard the sound of the candy wrapper tearing.

Jiang Zhiyi curved her lips imperceptibly.

—She was different towards her than she was towards others.

The Politics teacher returned not long after going out, and the sound of scolding and hitting stopped. His face was unpleasant. Everyone consciously started to study independently, and the whole classroom was eerily quiet.

The afternoon had been sunny, but the evening started to darken, carrying a hint of a coming storm. Around six o’clock, Deng Sisi’s parents also arrived. The old form teacher probably led them to the Dean’s office. Going downstairs, they could still hear the incessant talking.

“Teacher Gao, Teacher Chen, you know that our Zhiming studies hard, is usually honest, works earnestly, and is also the class monitor. He definitely wouldn’t date or violate the rules. That girl is the one who’s uncertain. Her hair is dyed, she’s definitely not good stuff. If she didn’t seduce my son, how could my son be dating?”

Song Zhiming’s parents were still talking. After a short while, Song Zhiming’s voice came: “…Yes, she pursued me first. I was just curious and couldn’t resist, I…”

“Teacher Chen, look, it’s true. Our Zhiming is such a good student, an outstanding cadre every year!”

The loud, noisy voices, talking quickly and complimenting their son, were heard as they pushed and shoved their way forward. The classroom was silent, not a sound could be heard.

Everyone thought everything was over when a man’s furious voice suddenly came from the hallway, followed by a loud slap. The man cursed: “Shameless thing, disgraceful!”

The rolling thunderclouds outside the window finally dropped with a rumble, followed by a girl’s breakdown-cry. The cry was piercing and desolate, almost penetrating the wall and stabbing into the classroom.

Then there was continued hitting. Even after people came out of the office to pull the man away, he was still cursing: “Disgraceful, shameless, loss of face…”

Deng Sisi was still crying, sobbing against the wall, being helped downstairs. The curtains were tightly drawn, and only a blurry shadow could be seen walking very slowly.

The classroom remained silent for a long time, with only the sound of rain pattering outside the window. The Politics teacher sighed: “I told you long ago, it’s the third year of high school, you should focus. Don’t date, don’t think of bad ideas. Study, considering your future is the most important thing.”

No one in the classroom dared to speak, and it was terribly quiet.

Shi Qingyi suddenly recalled the rule of the Third High School: if two people dated, one must withdraw from school and the other placed on probation. Choosing between future prospects and love was a school motto understood upon entering the school.

“So, who pursued whom first?”

The system, which had been playing dead for a long time, finally poked its head out weakly: “Song Zhiming. It took him several months to win her over.”

Shi Qingyi was silent for a moment.

The seats of the two students were empty until school ended that night. Their respective parents came to pack up their belongings and left quickly. The gossip in the class suggested they were going home for half a month of reflection.

The intensity of the third year of high school’s review time was undeniable. It was already the second round of review. Everyone knew how much they would lose by missing half a month of classes.

Moreover, this half a month was only for discussing and deciding who would withdraw from school. Third High School was mercilessly strict in some aspects. One leaving and one staying was an ironclad rule.

When school ended that night, Jiang Zhiyi had already found an umbrella and placed it nearby, just waiting for the opportunity that Shi Qingyi’s hand would hurt so they could share an umbrella. Shi Qingyi was slumped on the desk, not wanting to move. Jiang Zhiyi gently nudged her shoulder.

“The pharmacy hasn’t closed yet. Shall we go out and buy medicine for you?” Her voice was so gentle it sounded like she was coaxing her.

Shi Qingyi was lying on the desk, half her face buried in her sleeve, only revealing two dark eyes. She suddenly asked her: “Did you know the Dean of Students would come back?”

Facing her direct gaze, the girl didn’t back down. Her eyes, clear and innocent under the bright classroom lights, seemed as pure as if they had been washed by the rain outside, completely sincere. She shook her head earnestly: “It really wasn’t me.”