The Heartthrob Halo Doesn't Work on the Villain - Chapter 15

Xia Qiyu, her head bowed, struggled to carry her bags. After much dragging and tugging, she finally managed to get them out of the dormitory. Before she could even lift her head, she heard that familiar voice.

Lou Yubing had returned.

Normally, Lin Yan would have been with her for tutoring at this hour. For some reason, Lin Yan was absent today. Xia Qiyu had known this in advance because Lin Yan had specifically explained that she would have helped with the move if not for an urgent matter. At the time, Xia Qiyu had felt a sense of relief.

It wasn’t for any particular reason; Xia Qiyu simply had an instinctive feeling that running into Lou Yubing during this move would be awkward. After all, just a few days ago, she had warned Lou Yubing against getting too close to Lin Yan, yet now she herself was moving in with Lin Yan.

What was she like? Probably like those scheming “green tea” characters in dramas who constantly sow discord among the main characters while desperately trying to wedge themselves into the group. Xia Qiyu never imagined she would one day find herself compared to such a person, but the resemblance was undeniable. The only difference was that she genuinely hadn’t intended any of this.

Xia Qiyu had no intention of keeping the truth hidden forever. She planned to explain everything to Lou Yubing and apologize to Lin Yan, but not now. She was currently stuck on the way to her new dorm, and the day had been too rushed. After all, as soon as the money arrived yesterday, her mother’s surgery was scheduled. She needed to rush to the hospital as soon as possible, and she simply couldn’t handle everything at once. Seeing Lou Yubing’s dazed expression, coupled with the dorm’s gossipy atmosphere, Xia Qiyu knew this wasn’t the right time for a serious conversation.

So, she merely pursed her lips slightly and smiled. “Yes, it’s for personal reasons.”

Lou Yubing didn’t press further, showing little interest. She nodded, stepped aside to let them pass, and only entered the dorm after everyone had left.

Earlier, the dormmates had bombarded Xia Qiyu with questions, but she hadn’t revealed any details. Now, they were all gathered around the long table in the center of the room. When Lou Yubing returned, a girl whose name she’d forgotten suddenly leaned in.

“Hey, do you know where Xia Qiyu moved to?”

Lou Yubing, puzzled by the question, glanced at the girl without any emotion, set down her backpack, and began working on her exam paper.

“I don’t know.”

She thought her tone was sufficiently cold, but the girl didn’t back down as she usually would, determined to get to the bottom of it.

“Didn’t you ask her earlier? Aren’t you two pretty close?”

Lou Yubing had been feeling inexplicably irritable all day, and the constant chatter around her was grating on her nerves. She couldn’t help but frown, raising her gaze to meet the girl’s eyes, her voice louder than usual.

“I said I don’t know. Didn’t you hear me?”

The atmosphere in the dorm instantly became awkward. The girl who had asked the question lost face, but was pulled aside by another girl standing beside her, who soothed her until her expression softened slightly.

“What’s with the attitude? With a temper like that, no wonder Lin Yan didn’t come today. She deserves to have no friends.”

Something in that remark struck a nerve. Lou Yubing’s hand, which had been holding down her exam paper, suddenly clenched, crumpling the paper beneath her. Her beautiful eyes glared angrily at the speaker.

“What did you say? Say it again!”

“Fine, I will! You think I’m scared?”

Seeing the situation escalating, the dorm leader quickly grabbed the person about to throw a punch and signaled the others to help restrain her.

“Alright, Jiajia, stop it. We’re all roommates here.”

As she spoke, she glanced at Lou Yubing, her tone conciliatory despite her helplessness. “Jiajia’s just saying things in anger. Don’t take it too seriously.”

Lou Yubing shot another glare at the still-glaring girl before lowering her head to retrieve her pen. Everything returned to its initial calm, though no one noticed the knuckles of her clenched hand turning white.

Meanwhile, Lin Yan, having just finished resting, checked her phone and saw Jiang Jingfei’s reply accepting her invitation. After happily arranging the meeting time and place, she was humming a tune when a series of notifications suddenly flooded her mind, each signaling a drop in Lou Yubing’s favorability. The relentless notifications pounded in her head until the favorability plummeted to nearly -50 before finally slowing. Terrified, Lin Yan frantically cried out, “555!”

“What’s going on?”

What did I do to upset this ancestor again? We barely spoke after noon yesterday, I attended all my classes diligently, so how could I lose so many points?

Lin Yan felt like a spinning top, constantly in motion. She was juggling earning money, studying hard, and trying to decipher people’s intentions. Today alone, she had helped Xia Qiyu move dorms, arranged a meeting with Jiang Jingfei, and spent the afternoon at the Old Mansion. She hadn’t even made it back to school yet, hadn’t even had a sip of water, and her favorability points were plummeting.

Suddenly summoned, 555 was equally bewildered. Having not monitored Lou Yubing, it had no idea what had triggered this. It could only access her physiological data, noting her wildly fluctuating heart rate, and whispered,

Maybe she’s remembering something you did before? Her emotional state is all over the place.

Hearing this, Lin Yan felt a pang of heartache. For the first time, she wondered if she had taken the wrong path. Though it wasn’t too late to turn back, it would have been better if she had never shown kindness in the first place. Now, after offering a sweet date only to slap her with rejection, she genuinely feared that once the villain boss rose to power, she would be the first target of her revenge.

Moreover, Lou Yubing was currently at her most vulnerable and approachable state. This was a golden opportunity—once this chance passed, it would never come again. To prevent Lou Yubing from staging a comeback, Lin Yan convinced herself to persevere a little longer.

Unbeknownst to herself, Lin Yan harbored another hidden motive. The school bullies had intensified their harassment of Lou Yubing because of Lin Yan’s cold treatment. Now that she had eased up slightly, reverting to her previous behavior would only subject Lou Yubing to even worse torment.

Although the plot dictated that Lou Yubing would eventually become a ruthless and formidable threat to the Female Lead, from a purely rational, mission-oriented perspective, Lin Yan should have been suppressing her growth during this period. However, she hesitated for two reasons: first, she feared that adversity would only sharpen Lou Yubing’s resentment, and second, she simply couldn’t bring herself to do it.

To all appearances, Lou Yubing was still an ordinary high school student. Though her face was cold and her words harsh, Lin Yan knew this was merely a protective facade. Otherwise, she would have ignored Lin Yan’s feigned stomachache that day, instead of rushing to carry her to the School Infirmary and staying by her side to care for her.

Still, receiving such sudden news inevitably stirred resentment in Lin Yan’s heart.

The car came to a stop. Lin Yan glanced out the window. It was the weekend, and with the day students absent, the campus was unusually quiet. Instead of getting out immediately, she opened a chat window and asked for recommendations for good date spots.

Though she didn’t know why Lou Yubing was upset, she was determined to apologize even if she was in the right. She would try every trick in the book to coax her, as long as it worked.

While waiting for a reply, Lin Yan even tapped her head in frustration. She hadn’t yet found an opportunity to give Lou Yubing a phone, forcing them to communicate face-to-face—a real hassle. She didn’t even know if Lou Yubing was in her dorm right now.

The car window slowly lowered. Lin Yan glanced up at the old dormitory building, which lacked an elevator. She bit her lip but had no choice but to push open the car door and climb all the way to the top floor, sighing with each step.

Isn’t it mandatory for buildings over six stories to have elevators? Why do I have to climb eight flights of stairs?

Grumbling inwardly, Lin Yan’s cheeks flushed pink and fine beads of sweat dotted her forehead by the time she reached the top. Panting slightly, she knew this flushed, breathless appearance would make Lou Yubing easier to coax, no matter how angry she was.

With this thought, Lin Yan quickened her pace. The dormitory door wasn’t locked as usual; instead, it stood wide open, revealing Lou Yubing sitting at the central table, frowning as she worked on a test paper.

She’s studying? Then why is she angry? Is the test too hard?

Even as the thought crossed her mind, Lin Yan’s hand moved instinctively.

Three knocks echoed through the room. The unusually quiet occupants finally turned their heads, their eyes meeting Lin Yan’s smiling face.

Lou Yubing, seated closest to the door, was the first to look up. Lin Yan, as if having rushed up the stairs, met her clear, bright gaze. For a fleeting moment, Lou Yubing felt her heart skip a beat, and the hand she had been clenching finally relaxed.

Their eyes met for only a few seconds before Lou Yubing looked away, forcing herself to focus on the math problem in front of her. Yet inwardly, she yearned for Lin Yan to come closer and explain why she hadn’t come to find her earlier that day.

The other girls in the dorm wore strange expressions, especially Jiajia, who had been the loudest just now. She had thought Lin Yan had finally seen through Lou Yubing, but the reality check came swiftly.

The situation was completely different from usual. No one welcomed Lin Yan inside, and though she felt a bit awkward, her skin had grown thicker since arriving in this world. This minor inconvenience was nothing to her.

Before Lou Yubing could react, she felt her hand being taken. Looking down, she saw slender, pale fingers interlaced with hers, their hands clasped tightly. She instinctively tried to pull away, but when she looked up, she realized their faces were far too close.

The faint rose fragrance she had noticed days ago now enveloped her like a sea of flowers. Only then did Lou Yubing realize something was amiss, but her cheek already felt as if it had been brushed by a feather.

A mere light kiss sent Lou Yubing into a daze, and the knot in her heart suddenly eased. Her small, flushed lips parted and closed, murmuring something unintelligible. Only when her vision refocused did she catch the latter half of Lin Yan’s sentence:

“Are you angry?”

Lin Yan pondered this, trying to make sense of the sudden shift in Lou Yubing’s mood. The only explanation she could think of was her unannounced outing earlier that day. But she hadn’t imagined Lou Yubing would care about that, and with the suddenness of the situation and her own busy schedule, she hadn’t bothered to mention it.

Before entering the room, Lin Yan hadn’t even considered this possibility. After all, she wasn’t that narcissistic. The affection meter was right there—Lou Yubing was already avoiding her; why would she be angry about her absence for a single day? Yet after these repeated probing questions and seeing Lou Yubing’s evasive gaze, Lin Yan began to doubt her own assumptions.

“If you really care, I’ll tell you everything I plan to do beforehand from now on, okay?”