The Senior Student (female) Is Not Human - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Candy – “You, like Jiang Xiyao?”

As she walked out of the gymnasium with jelly-like legs, Xie Shiwei’s expression was still frozen in a dreamlike state.

So lucky.

Today was truly so lucky.

She not only received a candy personally fed to her by the Senior, but she was also saved by the Senior after being stood up by her roommates and nearly having to complete the test by herself!

And the testing area was separated from the boys, so there were no aggressive, terrifying pursuers watching her with jealous or angry eyes, and no one blocked her, demanding to know her relationship with Jiang Xiyao.

Nor did anyone forcibly stuff her with bribe drinks, pressuring her to reveal Jiang Xiyao’s hobbies, or force her to help them set up a date.

Thinking of the other girls who had been in contact with Senior Jiang, who were surrounded by aggressive male fans and were on the verge of tears, Xie Shiwei patted her chest in relief.

Although she still didn’t understand whether the Senior had passed by on a whim or suddenly decided to do a good deed, but in any case! At this moment, she was the happiest little girl in the world!

“Click.”

Her smiling figure as she left the gym was captured by a reverse-angle photo and sent out.

“I remember, isn’t that your roommate? Since when did she get so close to Jiang Xiyao?”

When You Jiayi saw this message, she was in a very bad mood, standing with her arms crossed, being hit by a cold wind at a mall entrance.

She had finally managed to wait for Jiang Xiyao at the restaurant entrance, but before she could even say a word, the other person, having found some new fun, drove away.

This was a person’s whereabouts that she had paid a private detective a hefty sum to track.

Upon seeing the message from her friend, she furrowed her brow and typed a reply impatiently:

“What are you saying? Her? She’s not close with Jiang Xiyao. Look at her shabby appearance; would Jiang Xiyao ever look at her? Get close to her? Is Jiang Xiyao blind?”

The other person typed for a while, and a line of text appeared.

“That’s what I’m wondering. The two of them standing together is like the evil stepmother of Snow White and Cinderella. They don’t look like they have anything to do with each other.”

“But everyone in the gym saw it just now. She had no partner for sit-ups, and Jiang Xiyao was the one holding her legs down. Isn’t that amazing? I’d call it a scene from ‘The Day Vain Jiang Decided to Help a Poor Person’.”

What a mess!

You Jiayi’s eyebrows knitted together tightly.

The words that inexplicably annoyed her were “Cinderella.”

No matter how down and out Cinderella was, her father was still a Count, and she had noble bl00d flowing through her veins… What was Xie Shiwei? Cinderella? Was she worthy?

You Jiayi paused and then made a direct phone call.

“What’s the situation? Explain it clearly. Did Jiang Xiyao eat something wrong, why would she help her?”

Her friend was even more confused than she was: “Why are you asking me? I’m asking you! You’re in the same dorm as that person, so go ask her directly. I just saw you were having a hard time chasing Jiang Xiyao and was afraid someone was going to steal your crush without you knowing.”

“Jia Jia, even if you don’t believe it, there are women who look plain, even a little ugly, who are particularly good at stealing other people’s partners. They enjoy the pleasure of pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger, you know?”

You Jiayi’s disdainful scoff had just left her mouth.

Then, the image of Xie Shiwei taking off her glasses and washing her face at the sink suddenly flashed in her mind.

Water droplets rolled down her fair, delicate cheeks. Her large, clear eyes, looking empty and out of focus, revealed a simple innocence that was strangely touching.

The ready-made, contemptuous remark about “ugly people” suddenly got stuck in her throat.

You Jiayi angrily hung up the phone and specifically went back to the dorm to wait for Xie Shiwei.

She waited all evening but didn’t see the “pig pretending to eat a tiger” roommate. She nonchalantly asked the others and then remembered: Oh, poor people have to work for a living.

She inexplicably found a bit more patience and didn’t rush over to Xie Shiwei when she finally returned to the dorm. Instead, she just quietly observed.

Until she noticed that the girl seemed particularly guilty today—

She kept holding her hand over her backpack as if it contained some precious treasure.

She hastily stuffed a few books inside and then rushed out the door again.

You Jiayi narrowed her eyes and followed her.

…

The Delivery

Xie Shiwei didn’t know she had a little tail following her. As she walked toward the crowd she had seen on her way into campus, she prayed in her heart:

[Please, God, please let me be lucky enough to find an opportunity to be alone with Senior! I beg you, please don’t let anyone else find out! Please, please don’t!]

[Even if there’s no chance to be alone! As long as no one knows that I’ve delivered this thing called “chocolate” to Senior! That’s enough!]

But it seemed her luck had all been used up during yesterday’s physical exam.

Xie Shiwei, carrying that box of chocolates, found the Senior’s whereabouts again at the entrance of their college, but the swarms of admirers around her were exceptionally exaggerated.

“Jiang Xiyao, do you like this latest model of handbag?”

She sneered: “If you don’t need your eyes, donate them. If your wallet’s too cold, go get a job. Who are you trying to buy off with this cheap, ugly thing?”

“Xiyao, do you want to try a different flavor for lunch? I’ve booked a new restaurant. Want to go together at noon?”

She replied: “This restaurant’s menu is like your face—it makes people lose their appetite. Get lost.”

The more people tried to curry favor with her, the more biting the words that came from her rosy lips.

Xie Shiwei lowered her head to look at the chocolate in her backpack, which she had put in a plastic bag to be discreet, sacrificing the fancy gift box.

[Calm down, calm down! It’s not you who’s giving this! You’re just a delivery person, a porter for Zhou Jiming’s gift to Senior! You are absolutely not joining this love triangle!]

[Ugh, but, but Senior really cares about the value and appearance of gifts. What if she sees this ugly thing and changes her mind and doesn’t want it anymore?]

Hesitantly, Xie Shiwei took the chocolate out of the ugly plastic bag.

The luxurious gold box looked expensive no matter how she looked at it.

[But, but what if someone else sees it and rumors spread that I don’t know my place and am giving chocolates to Senior? What do I do?!]

She clutched the plastic bag, her eyes heavy with worry, and tried to put this “ambiguous gift” back on again.

In the distance.

The beauty, who was already in a bad mood, heard her timid muttering, narrowed her eyes, and laughed in anger.

Since yesterday, Jiang Xiyao had been forced to listen to her babbling about how to discreetly and secretly drop off this box of chocolate and then run away.

Every thought process was centered on making sure no one saw her.

Jiang Xiyao was almost livid.

What, is having a crush on her and giving her a gift something to be ashamed of?

Is she some kind of embarrassing person to have a crush on?

You only need me for your fantasies and want to avoid me a thousand miles away at all other times, is that it?

You ungrateful custard bun, I’ll make sure you don’t get what you want.

For several hours, Jiang Xiyao deliberately stayed within Xie Shiwei’s line of sight, but she didn’t give her any opportunity to approach her alone, nor did she give her time to drop the item and run.

She watched helplessly as Xie Shiwei’s expression slowly sank into despair.

[Maybe, maybe I should try again tomorrow? Senior looks so busy today. Important people forget things easily; she must have forgotten about Senior Zhou’s chocolates, right?]

The custard bun stealthily tried to retreat.

Jiang Xiyao raised an eyebrow, her eyes accurately locking onto her in the crowd: “Xie, Shi, Wei.”

Before she could finish her sentence.

The moment Xie Shiwei heard the beautiful voice call out her name, she inexplicably felt like the King of Hell had just called her name. The expression on her face quickly changed from “sneaking away” to “oh no, something’s wrong.”

Her mind had never been so quick.

Xie Shiwei, holding the chocolate box with both hands, raised it above her head, adopting a dramatic pose as if to say, “With a mighty crash from the heavens, your humble servant has arrived!” She loudly cut Jiang Xiyao off:

“Senior Jiang!”

“This is a special chocolate brought back from abroad by Senior Zhou Jiming, the one you love to eat most! He specifically instructed me to deliver it to you personally!”

She exaggeratedly held the chocolate box and walked up to Jiang Xiyao.

As a result, Jiang Xiyao clearly noticed that the initial annoyance of the people around them toward this intruder immediately turned into hostility toward Zhou Jiming.

[That hateful Zhou Jiming! Is going abroad a big deal? He even sends a running errand boy to deliver a gift? What a show-off!]

[What is he trying to show off? But in the end, it all comes down to that dead woman, Jiang Xiyao, who’s always following trends and being a gold digger. She can’t see anyone’s true feelings; her eyes are completely filled with dirty money!]

Jiang Xiyao ignored them and simply looked at the girl in front of her.

The girl was visibly relieved, and her round, large eyes under her glasses were subtly searching for a way to retreat.

Just as Xie Shiwei’s toes pointed toward a gap in the crowd to slip away—

Jiang Xiyao suddenly curved her lips, deliberately asking: “Was the candy delicious?”

Xie Shiwei: “!”

She looked up, shocked and confused, not understanding why the Senior was suddenly asking about this.

Even though there was not a single trace of the candy’s taste left in her mouth, her salivary glands unconsciously began to produce saliva due to the candy’s frosted sour taste.

The sourness melted, and the intense fruity aroma of apple juice burst onto her tongue again, flooding her senses.

Actually, yesterday, when Xie Shiwei first ate the candy, she found the taste very familiar, especially like a box of candy her grandmother had once bought after they accidentally stumbled into a high-end imported supermarket.

But what was considered a sky-high price for the two of them back then, was now just a measly “$13.98” on a supermarket shelf, a price that would never catch Jiang Xiyao’s eye.

Xie Shiwei had thought for a long time yesterday and concluded it must just be a candy brand Jiang Xiyao liked, and the taste just happened to be similar to what she liked.

However, now was not the time to be happy about sharing tastes with her crush!

The probing glances from the people around her were like daggers in her back. Xie Shiwei felt she was about to be turned into a porcupine by the stares of these aggressive male fans!

“Candy? What candy?”

She started to talk nonsense as if she hadn’t read the message: “Ah! Senior, are you talking about the flavor you asked me to test because you suddenly wanted a snack yesterday? That candy was delicious! It was pretty good! You should buy it, Senior.”

Jiang Xiyao looked at her, half-smiling, as she talked nonsense with her eyes wide open.

Although she seemed calm and was running her mouth, her large eyes under her glasses were begging her.

It was as if she was pleading with her not to say any more—

[Wuwu, I’m so scared of dying. Please don’t talk about such dangerous things with me anymore, I beg you!]

[What candy? Never had it, don’t remember, I have amnesia!]

Begging me? Why don’t you have the proper attitude for begging? How are you planning to beg?

Jiang Xiyao looked at this custard bun, whose thoughts were so full of fear she had forgotten her true nature. She narrowed her eyes slightly.

Until the internal voice in her mind started screaming in terror.

She “tsk’ed.”

For the sake of her own mental peace, she could only reach into her desk drawer, take out the candy box, and toss it into Xie Shiwei’s arms.

Actually, she had overheard Xie Shiwei, while passing a mall, talking about how delicious that candy was and how rich the juice flavor was, in a very nostalgic tone.

This made Jiang Xiyao wonder if she had missed out on some rare delicacy.

But three seconds after throwing it into her mouth, she spit it out in disgust.

Yesterday at the gym, she had forgotten to throw the box away and just happened to use it to feed the custard bun who was wailing about “being about to have low bl00d sugar.”

Now, it was a good time to just get rid of it.

“It tastes awful. It’s a gift. Now get lost.”

Xie Shiwei blankly held the box of candy, which was exactly as she remembered it, and was pushed out of the crowd.

She had been looking for this candy for a long time.

When she got into college and took a summer job to lessen the financial burden of tuition, she had wanted to buy this box of candy to share with her grandparents, to tell them that imported goods weren’t all that expensive.

But then they had an accident, and the matter was put on hold.

By the time she remembered that she could bring this box of candy to their graves, she found that the brand had long since left the domestic market. Although it was cheap in its country of origin, it was very difficult to buy.

Unless she specifically found a purchasing agent.

She had been planning to find an agent to buy a lot of them at once for her grandparents’ death anniversary next year, to pile them high in front of their gravestone—

But the childhood memory she thought was still a year away from seeing suddenly appeared in her arms.

It was… it was Jiang Xiyao who gave it to her.

Her most, most, most favorite person suddenly gave it to her without knowing how long she had been thinking about this candy.

The round metal candy box, no bigger than her palm, was the type that could easily slip from her grasp, but Xie Shiwei held it tightly and dearly.

Until, as she walked with her head down, a stylish and exaggerated leisure shoe suddenly appeared in her path.

Xie Shiwei remembered the price of the shoe very clearly.

It was a global limited edition, rumored to be worth a six-figure sum on the secondhand market.

She instinctively looked up at her roommate, You Jiayi, who had once bragged about the price of every rare shoe she owned in their dorm.

She paused, then gave her a look of curious inquiry.

You Jiayi, however, was just staring intently at the candy box she was holding in her arms.

She had seen that candy box at the restaurant outside, through the glass. It was on Jiang Xiyao’s table. Bored while waiting for her, she had taken a picture of the box to search for it, wanting to know what kind of rare and expensive thing could capture Jiang Xiyao’s attention.

But the price she found completely shocked her.

You Jiayi was immediately convinced that it must just be a post-meal candy the restaurant gave to every customer for palate cleansing. She knew for a fact that Jiang Xiyao would never touch such cheap garbage.

But what was she seeing now?

Not only did Jiang Xiyao take that box of garbage with her, but she even gave it to Xie Shiwei?!

The words her friend had said in the voice message echoed in You Jiayi’s mind like a curse:

“There are women who look plain, even a little ugly, who are particularly good at stealing other people’s partners. They enjoy the pleasure of pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger, you know?”

Pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger, pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger…

You Jiayi’s expression turned cold, but it was a frightening coldness, like a storm brewing.

Xie Shiwei instinctively took a half-step back.

For some reason, she felt that in the next second, You Jiayi would become like those crazed admirers of Senior Jiang, with bl00d vessels of cannibalistic jealousy appearing in the whites of her eyes.

The sky had already grown dark without her noticing.

Their college, built in a relatively secluded corner of the campus to provide a better living environment for foreigners, had streetlights that were obscured by the lush, swaying willow branches, casting only a dim, flickering light.

No one else was passing by.

Xie Shiwei swallowed with a “gulp.”

But she still gathered her courage and asked, “You Jiayi, what’s… wrong?”

The girl with the silver short hair and gemstone earrings, who looked cool and stylish in the daytime, now seemed to be covered in shadows by the surrounding darkness. Even the act of her lifting her eyelids made one’s heart tremble.

“You.”

She heard You Jiayi move her lips and suddenly ask:

“Do you like Jiang Xiyao too?”