Strategy to Conquer the Vicious Female Supporting Character [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 33

Being able to visit her wife’s home for meals during the National Day holiday and even bring her wife back to her own home, made Qi Lin feel very satisfied.

However, before the break, there was something called a monthly exam that had to be taken care of first.

Since she had transmigrated into this world, Qi Lin had strictly followed the eight big red-and-yellow words on the banner at the front of the classroom, “Study well, improve every day.”

Although high school knowledge covered a wide range of topics, it wasn’t actually that difficult. At first, Qi Lin had a hard time getting used to studying again, after all, she had been a science student back in her original world, and now she had to return to high school to learn politics, history, and geography.

But Qi Lin had always been a top student back in her school days. Now, as an adult with a mature way of thinking and years of experience since graduating from university, she felt no pressure when facing these textbooks.

Geography didn’t even need mentioning, Qi Lin had traveled all over the country and even abroad, with broad horizons and solid general knowledge. Her strong logical thinking and reasoning skills made geography the easiest of the three liberal arts subjects for her to handle.

History mainly tested how much one remembered, and her teacher back home, Teacher Ji, specialized in Chinese language and literature. Having been influenced by her for years, Qi Lin wasn’t far behind in that area. As for the typical economic, political, and cultural analysis patterns in history questions, she could grasp them after practicing just a few problems. As for the multiple-choice section, which often depended on the test maker’s mood, Qi Lin’s guessing ability wasn’t bad either.

Politics required a lot of memorization and comprehension, so Qi Lin put the most effort into that subject. But the general approach was still the same, stay positive, connect essay answers as much as possible to the given materials, and that would be enough.

In the liberal arts, neat handwriting could greatly affect the overall score. Fortunately, the original host’s handwriting wasn’t bad to begin with, and Qi Lin herself had practiced hard to improve her writing back when she was chasing after Ji Huaixu. Her handwriting, once neat and bold, could already be considered a work of art. With the two styles combined, the grading teacher was bound to be pleased.

The original host’s weak point was mathematics, though her Chinese, English, and subjects like politics, history, geography, and biology scores were decent. Out of around 500 liberal arts students in the second year at No.1 High School, she ranked in the 300s, slightly below average. Qi Lin’s goal for this monthly exam was to make it into the top 200.

To Qi Lin, high school math was no harder than doing double-digit addition and subtraction. Still, to avoid raising suspicion, she had to improve gradually. So for the past month, she’d been diligently attending the math teacher’s somewhat mediocre classes and even built up the image of a student who actively answered questions, sometimes right, sometimes wrong, but enough to make the previously exasperated, balding math teacher feel very relieved.

Sitting in the exam hall for the monthly test, Qi Lin calculated her scores as she wrote. She filled up the entire front page of the answer sheet and only briefly answered the first sub-question on the back.

Of course, not all of her answers were correct, she was aiming for around 90 to 100 points.

On a 150-point test, that was just barely passing, exactly what she wanted. The final score would depend on how generous the grading teacher was with partial credit.

Both the Chinese and English exams were also out of 150 points. Based on the original host’s ability, she usually scored 100–120 in Chinese, depending on how well she did on the nine multiple-choice questions. English, on the other hand, was her strongest subject, consistently scoring above 120. Qi Lin didn’t rush to improve those; she answered at about the same level as usual.

No.1 High School was among the top schools in the province, boasting a very high university acceptance rate, partly due to its strict student management. During the monthly exams, all Grade 10 and 11 students were randomly reassigned to test rooms, with no separation between liberal arts and science students, and even the test rooms changed every half day.

On the last half-day of exams, Qi Lin happened to see Situ Lan again.

Situ Lan’s assigned seat was directly behind Qi Lin’s.

Qi Lin was pleasantly surprised. “Young Lady!”

At the moment Situ Lan saw Qi Lin, her lips curved up ever so slightly. “Hua Xiyu.”

But the young lady’s smile quickly faded. “Hua Xiyu, about inviting you to my house before… that might not be possible anymore. My family has other plans during the National Day holiday…”

The more she spoke, the more awkward she looked, as if she were doing something terribly wrong to Qi Lin.

Breaking a promise was indeed something hard for a young lady like her to accept.

Who would’ve thought the Murong family would be visiting at that time, even inviting her on an overseas vacation? As future in-laws, their relationship with her family far outweighed anything related to Hua Xiyu, and Situ Lan knew she had no choice but to yield.

Ever since she was a child, this was the first time Situ Lan had ever felt even the slightest bit dissatisfied with her fiancé, Murong Shuyan.

“Hey,” Qi Lin blinked, “this year’s National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays are connected. The young lady can’t spare even one day in all eight days off?”

“I… have some free time on the afternoon of October 8,” Situ Lan said awkwardly, “but I don’t have time to prepare…”

It was her best friend’s first time visiting her home, of course she wanted to prepare properly to host her.

Qi Lin, however, didn’t look disappointed or embarrassed in the slightest. Instead, she naturally suggested, “Then, if the young lady doesn’t mind, why don’t you come to my place on the afternoon of the 8th? I recently learned how to make tiramisu, and I was hoping you could come and give me some tips!”

Situ Lan was stunned for a moment.

Oh, right… She had completely forgotten that their plan wasn’t just to go to her house, but also to visit Hua Xiyu’s apartment.

Ever since hearing her parents talk about the holiday schedule last night, she had been in a sour mood, but now, for some reason, that gloom suddenly lifted.

The corners of Situ Lan’s lips curved upward slightly as she nodded. “Alright then, I’ll be in your care.”

Qi Lin returned her smile, equally bright.

Since her wife wouldn’t be coming for the first seven days of the break, she might as well focus on studying.

No matter how many practice questions one did, it still felt different from sitting in an actual exam room. This recent monthly exam in the humanities subjects had made Qi Lin realize several issues she hadn’t noticed before, now she could review with better focus.

[403: Ding――]

[403: Congratulations to the host for placing within the top 200 in the first monthly exam! Your grades have improved. Current career-line progress: 8%.]

Qi Lin: “……”

She was in the middle of reading when the notification startled her.

[Qi Lin: I thought the progress notice would only appear once the results were officially released?]

[403: The grading and data entry for No. 1 High School’s monthly exams have already been completed OWO]

[403: And since you’ve been asking me to gather information lately, I just happened to detect your exam results along the way OWO]

[403: B-but I still have to remind you! This feature can’t be used for cheating on exams or anything like that! You still have to complete the mission line through your own effort!]

[Qi Lin: Mm, I know. Thanks for your hard work.]

403 covered its nonexistent face with its nonexistent hands.

As expected, its host was still as reliable and gentle as ever!

When October 8 finally arrived, the moment their agreed time came, Qi Lin hurried downstairs to greet Situ Lan.

But before she even saw her wife, she ran into the second male lead.

That was the childhood friend who hid his love deep in his heart, the gentle and affectionate archetype, Chu Ruoyuan.

Qi Lin: “……”

She had almost forgotten this guy even existed.

After all, Chu Ruoyuan was the quiet, reserved type, and since he didn’t attend the same school as the heroine, both were usually too busy with studies to meet, maybe once every month or two at most.

It wasn’t strange for him to visit during the National Day holidays when the heroine wasn’t going home either.

In person, Chu Ruoyuan looked exactly as the original novel described, a refined, courteous young man with black-rimmed glasses. Even in that bulky blue-and-white school uniform that usually made people look like walking sacks, he somehow managed to make it look pleasing to the eye.

He looked straight at Qi Lin as she walked toward him, his gaze unwavering, filled with a deep affection that anyone except the original Hua Xiyu could clearly see.
“Xiyu.”

Even his voice sounded charming.

Qi Lin, who in the last world mostly interacted with named male side characters through things like eating hotpot and playing mahjong, found herself meeting, for the first time, a true romantic drama type male lead. Instinctively, she glanced at him a few more times.

Hmm, girls who like straight guys probably find this type quite attractive.

Imitating the original host’s manner, she politely replied,
“Brother Ruoyuan.”

It wasn’t particularly intimate, more like the natural warmth one shows toward a family member.

But to Chu Ruoyuan, those few extra glances made his heart skip a beat.

The detail-oriented second male lead quickly calculated that the number of times Hua Xiyu looked at him today had increased by 63.5% compared to her previous average.

That was far too unusual. Someone as insecure and overcautious as Chu Ruoyuan definitely wouldn’t think the heroine suddenly started caring about him.

He grew a little nervous, wondering if there was something on his face or if his clothes were messy.

But that nervousness didn’t last long, because his attention was soon caught by the cotton mask on Qi Lin’s face.

“Xiyu, are you… are you sick?” Chu Ruoyuan asked, looking genuinely worried.

“Huh?” Qi Lin was momentarily stunned, then realized the second male lead had no idea she’d been beaten. “Oh, no, I’m not sick. I just have a small cut on my face—”

“A cut?!” Chu Ruoyuan completely lost his composure. “Where did you get hurt? When did it happen?”

…Brother, that’s kind of a hard question to answer.

Qi Lin sighed inwardly.

To tell the truth, if she explained honestly, the second male lead would worry himself sick. Unlike Hua Xiyu, he wasn’t naive, he’d realized this wasn’t just a case of an immoral teacher hitting a student. He’d figure out there was something more behind it and probably go digging on his own, just like how in the original story, after saving the nearly suicidal heroine, he secretly investigated everything behind the scenes.

But he was only one person. Against someone with Murong Shuyan’s power, all he could do was get hurt, and he wouldn’t even tell the heroine about it. Qi Lin didn’t want to drag such an honest kid into trouble over something like this.

Still, if she didn’t tell the truth and just made up an excuse, that would be a problem too. With someone as perceptive as him, one lie would just lead to more, and Qi Lin had no interest in that kind of headache.

So she simply took off her mask. The wounds on her face had mostly healed, with only the worst one still covered by a bandage.
“It’s almost all healed now, Brother Ruoyuan. Don’t worry. It was just a little accident before, nothing serious.”

Qi Lin chose to conceal the truth.

Chu Ruoyuan was about to ask further, but Qi Lin cut him off,
“In the end, this is my personal matter. It has nothing to do with you, Brother Ruoyuan.”

She had to reject his feelings, when it comes to emotions, the sooner the better.

Chu Ruoyuan felt as if a bucket of cold water had just been poured over his head.

At that moment, Situ Lan stepped out of the Bentley that had brought her.

Looking up, she saw Qi Lin standing at the foot of the building, her head slightly lowered, clearly avoiding the gaze of the person in front of her.

And opposite her stood a strikingly handsome young man, staring straight at Qi Lin, his eyes overflowing with emotion.

Situ Lan: “…”

Why did this scene look so much like a boy confessing to Hua Xiyu, while Hua Xiyu shyly avoided his gaze and the boy anxiously awaited her reply?