When the Tsundere Rival Turns Into a Cat - Chapter 2

“School lets out this afternoon—could you please stop causing trouble for once, Li Xingcan?” Yang Liusong concluded his nagging with this final remark before storming off, fuming.

Li Xingcan gave a half-hearted nod. With the break approaching, teachers were the busiest ones anyway.

Slouching back into her seat, she kicked Jiang Qingyue’s chair. “Don’t you think tattling is childish?”

“I don’t. Don’t you think your behavior is what’s truly childish?” Jiang Qingyue coldly retorted, shifting her chair away.

“We’re childish? Oh, you’re so mature—sneaking around doing shady things. Don’t you have any shame?” Li Xingcan scoffed in disbelief. How could someone say such things with a straight face?

“You should be asking yourself that.” Jiang Qingyue ignored her, focused on organizing notes from last class. She still had a test to finish—she was busy.

Li Xingcan was genuinely impressed by the girl’s audacity. She looked meek, but appearances were deceiving.

The bell rang again—third period.

Every time Li Xingcan dozed off, Jiang Qingyue would report her. So Li Xingcan gave up sleeping, propping a book between them as a barrier while she doodled in her notebook to kill time.

Jiang Qingyue couldn’t see what Li Xingcan was doing, but as long as she wasn’t being disturbed, she could focus on the lecture.

But Li Xingcan wasn’t one to take things lying down.

Watching Jiang Qingyue engrossed in the lesson, Li Xingcan slid her sketch across. Jiang Qingyue tried to ignore it, but her peripheral vision caught the drawing—a crude yet unmistakable caricature of herself kowtowing repeatedly to Li Xingcan.

How could she be this shameless?!

Jiang Qingyue lunged for the notebook, but Li Xingcan anticipated it, flipping to the next page—another outrageous sketch of herself serving tea, begging for forgiveness.

Her face flushed with anger. “Are you five years old?” she hissed, keeping her voice low to avoid the teacher’s notice.

“Got something even better.” Grinning, Li Xingcan turned to the next page: a crude “Jiang Qingyue = Stinky Dog Poop” doodle.

Enough was enough. Jiang Qingyue snatched at the notebook, trying to tear it up. A tussle broke out, and within a minute, both were ejected from class for disrupting the lecture.

Li Xingcan strolled out casually, textbook in hand. Minor punishments like this meant nothing to her—she might even chat with other troublemakers from neighboring classes. Breathing in the fresh air, she felt right at home.

In stark contrast, Jiang Qingyue stood stiffly in the hallway, clutching her textbook and notes, head bowed. This was her first time being punished, and the humiliation burned.

While Li Xingcan leaned against the railing, gazing at the sky, Jiang Qingyue moved closer to the window, straining to hear the teacher’s voice as she quietly jotted down notes.

Li Xingcan withdrew her gaze from the sky and looked at Jiang Qingyue’s retreating figure, confusion flickering in her eyes. What was so great about that class? And if she wanted to be a model student, why was she stealing things?

Unable to make sense of it, she decided to stop thinking about it. Leaning back against the railing with her arms draped over it, she stretched her stiff limbs.

The class passed without major incident. When the bell rang, Li Xingcan chatted with students from the neighboring class in the hallway, failing to notice Jiang Qingyue returning to the classroom first.

After finishing her conversation and returning to class, she discovered several pages torn from her sketchbook—all the drawings she’d made during class had been shredded and thrown in the trash.

“You tore up my notebook?” Li Xingcan laughed in disbelief. Did this person have no boundaries? How could she just take and destroy someone else’s belongings?

“You violated my portrait rights first,” Jiang Qingyue replied without even looking at her.

“What portrait rights? I wrote ‘smelly dog sh1t’ on those drawings! What, are you admitting you’re dog sh1t then?”

The moment the words left Li Xingcan’s mouth, Jiang Qingyue’s glare snapped toward her. The usually expressionless face actually showed some life when angry, no longer resembling a wooden board.

Li Xingcan deliberately raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Why glare? Unless you admit you’re the dog sh1t I drew—then I’ll concede the portrait rights violation. You can keep the torn pages. So? Do you admit it—”

Before she could finish her taunt, Jiang Qingyue suddenly stood up, making Li Xingcan instinctively recoil. “What are you doing?”

The next second, Li Xingcan watched in shock as her desk performed a complete midair flip, her jaw nearly hitting the floor.

“CRASH!”

The deafening sound of the desk and books hitting the ground silenced the entire classroom.

“My desk!” Li Xingcan stared at the overturned furniture and scattered books, then at Jiang Qingyue who had already sat back down to continue her test as if nothing happened. “Are you insane? You’re absolutely deranged!”

Jiang Qingyue ignored her. Fu Duosui quickly rushed over to restrain Li Xingcan. “Let it go, just let it go…”

Judging by the effortless strength behind that desk flip, Fu Duosui suspected even their combined strength wouldn’t stand a chance against Jiang Qingyue. Better to back down.

Dragging Li Xingcan outside, Fu Duosui signaled to Ou Jin and others to help right the desk and gather the scattered items to prevent further conflict.

“Who even acts like this?” Li Xingcan fumed, glaring at the unshakable Jiang Qingyue through the window before kicking the corridor wall in frustration.

Fu Duosui glanced at her foot. “Why bother with her? I asked Ou Jin—she’s just a temporary transfer student. At most she’ll be here six months. We’ve only got a few classes left before break anyway. When we return, they’ll rearrange seats. Why care about her? She might actually be crazy.”

“I hope I never see her again!”

Li Xingcan discreetly flexed her throbbing toes while scowling.

Fu Duosui nodded. “Forget about her. Let’s get something good for lunch—I’m sick of this school’s terrible cafeteria.”

“Whatever. I’m too angry to eat.”

“Then I’ll order delivery. There’s one class left—perfect timing for it to arrive.”

Lowering her voice, Fu Duosui added, “I’ll have the dorm supervisor hold it for us. We’ll eat in our room. How about that private kitchen from last time? Their food was decent.”

The school strictly prohibited bringing phones and ordering takeout, but where there are policies, there are countermeasures.

“I won’t pay her any attention next class,” Li Xingcan said through gritted teeth, watching Jiang Qingyue’s retreating back while Fu Duosui rummaged through the back cabinet for their phones to order food.

When the class bell rang, Ou Jin and others had already tidied Li Xingcan’s desk. She sat against the wall, stacking books between herself and Jiang Qingyue to create a clear divide, with another pile in front leaving just enough space against the wall for a book. She casually grabbed a textbook to hide her phone inside.

The math teacher entered. “Take out the homework assigned last class. Did everyone finish the worksheets?”

“Yeeeesss…” The scattered responses made the teacher slam her lesson plan down, scanning the room sharply. “Pass them forward from the back row. Collect them all!”

Immediately, rustling sounds filled the room as anxious students scrambled to find their worksheets, some hastily filling in random answers to bluff their way through.

Li Xingcan glanced around—her worksheet had probably vanished into some rat hole. Where was she supposed to find it? When the student in front turned to her, she waved them off. “Just pass yours. I don’t have one.”

The person in front of Jiang Qingyue looked back, but since Jiang hadn’t been in class last time, it obviously wasn’t her concern.

As the worksheets were collected, the teacher eyed the stack. “Who hasn’t turned theirs in?”

“Teacher, I just transferred here, so I don’t have the worksheet,” Jiang Qingyue raised her hand to explain. The teacher nodded, but then Jiang added, “Li Xingcan didn’t turn hers in either.”

Li Xingcan, who had just started to lower her head, clenched her teeth and glared. “Are you trying to die?”

“Li Xingcan! Stand outside!” The teacher didn’t hesitate for a second.

Grabbing her textbook, Li Xingcan stood up, shot a glance at the composed Jiang Qingyue, then swiftly rolled her book into a tube and smacked it against Jiang’s head before darting out of the classroom.

Rubbing her head, Jiang Qingyue stared wide-eyed at Li Xingcan’s fleeing figure. This girl was utterly childish!

Having exacted a small revenge, Li Xingcan felt much better—though it was a shame she couldn’t use her phone while standing outside, wasting another class period. Otherwise, she could’ve squeezed in a couple of game rounds.

At least there was one perk: she’d be the first to leave when class ended. Her mood lifted again, and even the sky outside seemed bluer, brimming with the scent of freedom.

A class spent doing nothing always flew by. Before she knew it, the bell rang. Li Xingcan signaled to Fu Duosui, and the two dashed downstairs before anyone else could exit.

Once outside, they grinned at each other, watching the crowded swarm behind them—until Li Xingcan’s expression fell. “Crap, I forgot my phone.”

They turned to the packed stairwell. Fighting against the tide now would be impossible.

Squatting in despair, they watched the crowd, their earlier joy now replaced with misery.

“Maybe just leave it?” Fu Duosui suggested, her stomach already growling.

“No way, I left it on the desk. That sneaky Old Yang has totally checked our phones during lunch break before—he’d absolutely do it again.”

Li Xingcan shook her head in refusal.

There was nothing they could do but wait.

Finally, when most people had left, Li Xingcan and Fu Duosui seized their chance.

Climbing back up to the fourth floor, they found the classrooms nearly empty.

Pushing open the back door, Li Xingcan spotted Jiang Qingyue still sitting there, working on problems—now the only one left in the entire class.

Out of habit, Li Xingcan almost blurted out why she hadn’t gone to lunch yet, but then remembered—this was Jiang Qingyue. Why bother asking?

Grabbing her phone from the desk, Li Xingcan turned to leave without another word.

Fu Duosui hesitated, glancing at Jiang Qingyue before catching up to Li Xingcan in the hallway. She tugged at her sleeve. “She just transferred today. Maybe she hasn’t been assigned a dorm or a meal card yet? How’s she supposed to eat?”

Li Xingcan paused mid-step, then gritted her teeth. “Why do you care? Starving would be doing me a favor—less noise.”

“Starving? That’s kinda harsh…” Fu Duosui scratched her head. She was already starving after skipping one meal.

“Then what do you want to do?” Li Xingcan stopped walking.

“I’ve got bread and milk in my locker…” Fu Duosui said, watching Li Xingcan’s reaction.

“Don’t forget she flipped my desk earlier. Whose side are you on?” Li Xingcan reminded her to stay firm.

“Fine, forget it. Let’s go.” Of course, Fu Duosui stood firmly with Li Xingcan.

After a few steps, Li Xingcan halted again. “Whatever, I need to use the bathroom. Do what you want—just don’t tell me.”

With that, she strode off toward the restroom. Fu Duosui immediately grinned. Ah, so that’s what she meant.

Sure, the dislike was real, but withholding food? That was too much.

Fu Duosui hurried back to the classroom, where Jiang Qingyue was still solving problems. She dug out the bread and milk from her locker—but made sure to stay firm. Slamming them onto Jiang Qingyue’s desk, she barked, “Break’s coming up. This stuff can’t rot in my locker. Eat it all.”

Without waiting for a response, Fu Duosui turned and left to find Li Xingcan.

Jiang Qingyue stared at the bread and milk, then at Fu Duosui’s retreating figure. What was this about? Were their bullying tactics really this childish?

Frowning, she placed the items back on Fu Duosui’s desk, ignoring the order. After finishing her test paper, she pulled out the lunch she’d brought from her bag.

The school hadn’t assigned her a dorm yet—they’d arrange it after the National Day break. For now, staying in the classroom at noon wasn’t so bad. The quiet was actually nice.