Strategy to Conquer the Vicious Female Supporting Character [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 35

Seeing that Qi Lin had already put the tiramisu into her mouth, Situ Lan couldn’t say anything more.

Qi Lin carefully savored the bite, then earnestly gave her feedback.
“Mm… With Miss’s guidance, it really tastes different. It’s so much better than the ones I used to make myself!”

Situ Lan: “…”

She felt like her face was burning.

When it was time to part, it suddenly began to rain outside. Seeing how heavy it was coming down, Qi Lin quickly went to the restroom to grab her umbrella. She then linked arms with Situ Lan and walked her under the umbrella to the car that had come to pick her up.

The umbrella’s pattern made Situ Lan glance twice, it matched the pattern on Qi Lin’s apron, cherries. But the ones on the umbrella were drawn in a more cartoonish style.

Qi Lin instinctively tilted the umbrella toward Situ Lan to make sure the young lady wouldn’t get wet.

The distance was actually very short, but by the time Situ Lan noticed that little gesture, she was already inside the car.

Looking at the damp patch on Qi Lin’s shoulder, Situ Lan’s chest tightened with a strange, sour feeling she couldn’t quite describe.

…This girl, was she an idiot?

“Goodbye, Miss!” Qi Lin waved from outside the car window, her eyes curving with her bright smile. “See you at school tomorrow!”

Situ Lan couldn’t help but smile back. “Mm, see you at school tomorrow.”

The driver, who had worked for the Situ family for many years and was quite observant, could clearly see what was going on, just as Situ Lan had noticed. He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, The young lady’s friend is truly a good one.

Whenever she was with her, the young lady’s smile appeared much more often.

When the National Day holiday ended, it was time for the monthly exam results to be announced.

Class 13 was filled with groans of despair. As the lowest-ranked liberal arts class, their grades were never particularly good. But since they were still students of No.1 High School, they weren’t the type to give up completely, they still cared about their scores.

Basically, they were the type who felt awful looking at their report cards, but before the next exam, they’d still goof off as usual. They could recognize their problems just fine, but they absolutely refused to fix them.

In this atmosphere, Qi Lin stood out like a sore thumb.

Among the 500 students in the second-year liberal arts stream, Qi Lin ranked 198th, placing her third in Class 13.

As a side note, the top student in the class was Zhao Ting, ranked 171st in the grade.

“Well, not bad,” Zhao Ting said as she held the copy of the class’s results sheet, speaking to her deskmate.

She remembered when Hua Xiyu had first joined the class, her ranking had been somewhere around the mid-300s, an average level. This progress wasn’t exactly shocking, considering Zhao Ting had seen how hard Qi Lin had been studying over the past month.

But not everyone in class saw it that way.

For example, Hu Rui, the villainous girl from the original story who always hated Hua Xiyu, wasn’t pleased at all. Her grades had always been among the top three in the class, but this time Qi Lin had pushed her down to fourth place. Naturally, she wasn’t feeling happy about it.

Before, Hu Rui had been wary of Qi Lin because of the class teacher change incident. But since Qi Lin hadn’t done anything suspicious in the past month, Hu Rui had already forgotten her fear. And once her temper flared up, there was no stopping her.

She marched right up to Qi Lin, her tone sharp and mocking.
“Some people really have no ability of their own, yet they still flaunt things that don’t even belong to them! I’d like to see how long that fake arrogance lasts!”

Oh, so she was implying Qi Lin cheated on the exam.

Qi Lin took another bite of the caramel pancake the young lady had specially made for her, her heart utterly calm, she even wanted to laugh a little.

If this girl could just behave and not look for trouble, Qi Lin wouldn’t bother arguing with such a childish brat.

But if she kept messing around… well, she’d have to be ready for what came next.

The caramel pancake gave a satisfying crunch as Qi Lin bit into it.

After all, teaching a brat a lesson was hardly something she lacked the skill for.

As time marched into November, No.1 High School’s annual sports festival was about to begin.

Qi Lin glanced at the golden ginkgo trees outside the window, then looked down at the messy ground, where the wet ginkgo leaves mixed with mud were scattered everywhere.

Hmm, it really never failed, every time there was a sports meet, it rained. This world seemed to strictly obey that mystical law.

Class 13 wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the sports meet. What they were enthusiastic about was the sudden drop in their academic workload during it.

Even Zhao Ting, the top student in the class, said happily that she could finally enjoy snacks without being interrupted as soon as class started.

Qi Lin blinked. “Don’t you eat in class anyway? Just secretly, slower, that’s all.”

Zhao Ting: “Can you not run your mouth for once?”

Still, no matter how unenthusiastic they were, the team slots had to be filled. None of the boys in the class could escape, they all had to join in so they could at least form a basketball team.

Zhao Ting shook her head. “Seriously, I knew liberal arts classes didn’t have many boys, but I didn’t think there’d be this few.”

Qi Lin nodded. “It’s a miracle we can even make up a full team…”

Although Class 13 had many girls, none of them wanted to participate. The P.E. rep had been recruiting for an entire week and still got almost no volunteers, so they resorted to drawing lots to decide the participants.

Unfortunately for Zhao Ting, she was chosen for the 1,500-meter run, the longest of all the running events.

The moment she heard the news, she froze mid-bite, her chocolate halfway to her mouth.

Qi Lin: “Pfft.”

Zhao Ting, through gritted teeth: “Hua Xiyu, do you want to get hit?”

Qi Lin coughed. “No, no, I wasn’t laughing. I just meant, desk mate, maybe you should start practicing in the afternoons. Otherwise, it’s going to feel awful on the actual day.”

Zhao Ting: “I’m not going. I’m just there to make up the numbers anyway. I’ll just walk the 1,500 meters.”

Qi Lin: “…Fine. Whatever makes you happy.”

Even so, that same afternoon, Zhao Ting went with Qi Lin to the track to run.

After all, walking the full 1,500 meters in front of the entire school without running even a little… the shame would be unbearable.

Zhao Ting said she’d just “practice a bit for form’s sake,” and when the real day came, she’d be content finishing dead last.

“You come to the track every afternoon to run?” Zhao Ting asked as she stretched.

“Mm.” Qi Lin nodded. “Sometimes a teacher keeps us too long, so I barely have time to eat, but usually I run five laps and then head to the cafeteria.”

Even back when she used to bring desserts to Miss Situ, Qi Lin would still come to run afterward. Later, when she and the young lady grew closer, delivering desserts stopped being a fixed routine.

“You still go to the cafeteria after running?” Zhao Ting sounded surprised. “I thought you ran so diligently to lose weight.”

Qi Lin looked down at herself. “With this figure… Do I need to lose weight?”

Zhao Ting sighed. “I thought beautiful girls like you were always strict about their figures…”

“Pfft.” Qi Lin covered her mouth and chuckled. “No, for me it’s just to stay healthy. My physical condition used to be pretty bad. If your body gives out, it really affects your studies.”

Zhao Ting looked at her. “Hua Xiyu, you’ve really changed a lot.”

Qi Lin rotated her wrists and ankles. “People change. That’s just how it is.”

“True. Anyway, you’re much easier on the eyes now than before,” Zhao Ting said. “You ranked in the top 100 in the whole grade for the October monthly exams, the homeroom teacher was thrilled. Honestly, if you’d come to your senses earlier, would you really have ended up stuck in Class 13? The other classes have much better teachers and study environments.”

“Where’s all that ‘if only I’d known earlier’ coming from?” Qi Lin signaled Zhao Ting that she could start running. “Studying, in the end, is still your own business, it mainly depends on how much effort you put in yourself.”

Zhao Ting didn’t last long. By the end of the first lap, she was already drenched in sweat. She waved to Qi Lin and, clutching her waist, headed back to the classroom.

After finishing five laps, Qi Lin planned to buy a red bean pastry at the cafeteria. But when she looked up, she saw someone staring straight at her.

Really staring at her, his gaze was dark and cold, making Qi Lin raise an eyebrow almost imperceptibly.

Well, well, isn’t this the male lead?

He truly matched the original novel’s description of a gloomy little prince, objectively handsome, yes, but his expression was far too brooding, almost neurotic.

Like the last world’s scumbag male lead, though that one, Gu Fei, was only emotionally rotten. This one, Murong Shuyan… was a complete piece of human trash.

Since they had only met once before, Qi Lin decided to pretend she hadn’t seen him and walk away.

“Hua Xiyu.”
Murong Shuyan called out to her directly.

His voice was magnetic, low and hoarse.

But his tone was so sinister that Qi Lin felt like a ghost from hell had just spoken to her.

“Don’t pretend. You know who I am.” Murong Shuyan shoved one hand into his pocket, his cold gaze still fixed on her. “That thing before, it was you, wasn’t it?”

Connecting with Principal Wang and getting the former homeroom teacher fired.

Murong Shuyan hadn’t shown up around Qi Lin lately, but behind the scenes, he hadn’t stopped moving.

He’d used every resource he could to investigate Hua Xiyu. His suspicious nature made him verify things over and over until he was finally convinced that the girl herself didn’t have any real backing or influence.

But the fact that she could pull something like that off already proved she wasn’t the naive, innocent girl he’d first thought she was.

“You really gave me a surprise.” Murong Shuyan tugged at the corner of his lips. What should’ve been a smile twisted into something unnervingly wicked. “Courtesy demands reciprocity. So next, wait for the surprise I’ll give you.”

Dragging a sweet, naive girl into his darkness was entertaining enough, but dragging a clever one in? That was even better.

Murong Shuyan licked the corner of his mouth.

Let’s see, when someone so bright and smart, someone standing under the sunlight, realizes she’s completely alone, what kind of despair will appear on her face?

Qi Lin smiled, a look that at first glance seemed shy, but on closer look dripped with mockery.
“Master Murong, are you planning to make another move against me?”

So, male lead, you’re planning to dig your own grave again, huh?

Murong Shuyan chuckled.
“So confident, are you? Oh, my mistake, not confidence. It’s arrogance born of having someone to rely on. Situ Lan, right? Do you really think a few little cookies and cakes are enough to win over the eldest daughter of the Situ family?”