Chapter 26.2

After staying at home for almost an entire month, Jun Zishu finally went outside for a reason other than to visit the bookshop.

—The female lead had called and invited Jun Zishu out.

…

“Jiayao, over here.”

He Bailing stood by the bus stop and waved at Jun Zishu.

Jun Zishu got out of the taxi and walked toward He Bailing.

As the female lead of this world’s story, He Bailing naturally had the hardware that came with being the female lead. One example of that was her beautiful face. Moreover, her beauty was the type that made others smile when she smiled.

“Let me guess; you must’ve been cooped up at home for the past month, right? If I hadn’t invited you out, were you planning on staying at home until school starts?”

He Bailing let out a helpless sigh when she looked at her good friend’s exceptionally pale skin. She was very much aware that her friend was an introvert.

“Mhm.”

Jun Zishu nodded, showing no intention of saying anything else.

“Haven’t I told you many times already? If you have nothing better to do, then come out and take a stroll. What’s so fun about staying at home all the time?”

“Reading books is fun.”

“Fine, fine, fine. Let’s not talk about what book you’ve been reading today. I know you don’t like shopping, so we’ll just find someplace to sit and chat,” He Bailing said as she held Jun Zishu’s hand and led the way. While walking, she continued, “By the way, you still haven’t told me which high school you’re going to. Though, I’m guessing that you’ll be going to First High, right? That is the best school in the city, after all. You also have such good grades.”

He Bailing had never stopped keeping in touch with her good friend. In her opinion, they were good friends that had lived together for several years. Such a friendship wasn’t something that would disappear because of time and distance. It would only disappear if both of them kept quiet and alienated each other.

Meanwhile, in He Bailing’s eyes, Jun Jiayao had always been outstanding in school. Thus, it was only normal for her friend to attend the best school in the city.

“No, I’m going to Yunying,” Jun Zishu said.

“Huh? Me too! Though, I don’t know if I will get accepted.”

Yunying High rarely extended its arms to students from poor or average households. For such students, they needed to pass the school’s requirements to get in.

“I’ve already planned it out. If I can’t get into Yunying, I’ll go to Second High instead. First High’s school fees are more expensive than Second High’s, so I don’t think I’ll have enough money for it.”

He Bailing was a very independent person. No family had ever adopted her, so she was still staying at the orphanage even until this day. When she started middle school, she had already started working part-time to earn pocket money.

“Haven’t I told you that you can borrow from me if you don’t have enough money?” Jun Zishu reminded.

“You know me. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I won’t ask from you.” He Bailing shrugged. She wasn’t trying to act aloof or stubborn. She simply found it unnecessary to borrow money from her friend.

“But you’re going to Yunying, huh? Why? With your personality, shouldn’t you go for First High instead?” He Bailing curiously asked as she led Jun Zishu across the road.

“I guessed that you would go there. I also feel that you have a high chance of getting in. For me, it doesn’t matter where I go. Everywhere is the same,” Jun Zishu calmly stated as she pushed up her glasses.

“I will think that you are doing it for me if you put it that way! I’m super happy! Regardless, I’ll accept your blessing and hope that we can go to the same high school. But even if we do get into the same school, I doubt we’ll get into the same dormitory,” He Bailing said, feeling a little depressed.

Yunying High had a hierarchical system that He Bailing detested a lot. Simply put, children of humble origins would never be assigned to stay with children of wealthy origins. However, despite her hatred for the school’s system, she still chose to go there because the school had very capable teachers. Moreover, Yunying High had many more recommendation slots[1] compared to other schools. If she did well at school, the future she could acquire for herself would be much better than if she attended other high schools.

“That’s not necessarily true. I didn’t ask my mother for help this time, so the school might not know about me.”

“Well, whatever the result may be, let’s go have some milk tea first! My treat! I just got last month’s salary yesterday.”

“You don’t need to spend money on me.”

“Oh, it’s just one cup of milk tea. It’s nothing expensive.”

After ordering Jun Zishu’s favorite milk tea, He Bailing also ordered one for herself.

Jun Zishu quietly stared at He Bailing as she drank her milk tea.

At this point, Hei Bailing only had one face-to-face encounter with the male lead thus far, so the two had yet to get close to each other.

While sipping her milk tea, He Bailing talked nonstop while Jun Zishu quietly listened and occasionally responded with a few sentences.

To Jun Jiayao, she considered He Bailing as a true friend. He Bailing did not mind her dull and quiet personality, and she sincerely treated her well. Even after Jun Jiayao got adopted into a wealthy family, He Bailing’s attitude toward her was no different from before.

However, while Jun Jiayao might not know what was going on, Jun Zishu could see everything clearly.

In reality, He Bailing possessed a maturity that far exceeded that of girls her age. Moreover, because of her life experiences, she was much more sensitive and had a much stronger inferiority complex than others. Yet, He Bailing would never directly express these flaws of hers. Instead, she would use a different attitude to cover them up.

Whenever He Bailing met with Jun Jiayao, the inner pain she suffered would lighten up slightly. This was because the two of them knew each other’s history, so she didn’t need to hide her true self in front of Jun Jiayao. Even if Jun Jiayao was now living a much better life than her, she didn’t mind it. She was satisfied so long as she knew that there existed someone who wouldn’t change their thoughts simply because they found out about her pain.

Essentially, He Bailing was a very kind person.

However, it was precisely because of this kindness that He Bailing had fallen for the scumbag male lead’s trickery one time after another.

“Go shopping with me later. You have more knowledge about these things, so help me see which one is better.”

After both of them had finished their drink, He Bailing brought up the final goal of her outing today. Then, she dragged Jun Zishu out of the milk tea shop, knowing that Jun Zishu wouldn’t refuse her request.

“What are you buying?”

“A phone. It doesn’t need to be exceptional; just an average one will do. I’ll only be using it to make calls and send messages. That way, we can contact each other at any time in the future.”

He Bailing did not own a mobile phone. Out of all the times she had contacted Jun Jiayao thus far, she had always done so using the orphanage’s landline phone.

“Okay, but I don’t understand much about phones, either.”

“No matter. We can ask when we reach the shop. I just want someone to accompany me.”

Afterward, Jun Zishu and He Bailing visited a mobile phone shop and bought a phone that cost a little over 900 yuan. Although it was a relatively cheap and outdated phone, it was the most expensive phone He Bailing could afford with her budget. Even so, He Bailing didn’t mind that the phone was outdated so long as it suited her purposes.

After the two finished shopping, He Bailing took the bus back to the orphanage while Jun Zishu took a taxi home.

Overall, Jun Zishu found her first meeting with the female lead to be rather pleasant.

…

Subsequently, Jun Zishu continued hiding at home until it was time to go to school.

When the High School Entrance Examination results came out, Jun Zishu’s social media exploded. Many of her classmates in middle school had tried to add her QQ account, though she ignored every one of them without exception. In her opinion, there was no need to interact with people who were of no importance to her mission.

When Qin Xiaoman and Jun Qi found out about Jun Zishu’s results, they were so elated that they halted their trip abroad and returned home to celebrate with their daughter.

Even the newspaper and local news channels had reported on Jun Zishu’s results. After all, scoring full marks in the High School Entrance Examination was an amazing achievement.

Apart from interview requests from news outlets, Jun Zishu had also received invitations from the principals of the various top schools in the city. Meanwhile, when Yunying High’s principal found out that Jun Jizshu had applied for his school, he was so happy that he immediately assigned Jun Zishu to the elite class.

Although Yunying High’s dormitory separated students based on social status, the school still followed the standard practice of assigning classes based on academic performance.

Jun Zishu didn’t bring much luggage to school. Apart from some clothes, she only chose to bring three books with her. With just a schoolbag on her back, she went to report to school by herself.

Qin Xiaoman and Jun Qi had originally offered to send Jun Zishu to school. However, Jun Zishu curtly refused their offer. After all, if she let her parents go with her, they would meet Qin Youran at the dormitory. At that time, her identity would be exposed, and her surprise revelation would be no more.

Yes, thanks to Little Fairy’s interference, Jun Zishu would be staying in the same dormitory as Qin Youran. Though, whether Qin Youran would be staying in the school’s dormitory or somewhere else remained unknown.

As for their class assignment, Little Fairy didn’t have to do any hacking for that. Because of Jun Zishu’s exam results, the school had assigned her to the same class as Qin Youran.

Although Qin Youran was the young lady of a wealthy family, she wasn’t the type who only knew how to have fun and nothing else. On the contrary, she had received an elite education since she was a child and possessed a very competitive personality. She also had an outstanding IQ.

While Qin Youran wasn’t particularly interested in studying, her competitive spirit compelled her to do well academically. As evidence, she always placed first in the middle school she previously attended, and she was akin to an academic god among the clique of nouveau riche.

The accommodations Yunying High prepared for its students were excellent. This was especially true for the dormitories meant for wealthy students. Jun Zishu could move in straight away with only a bag of clothes and books. She didn’t even need to prepare her own blanket or anything else.

The dormitory rooms were meant to house two students each. The room Jun Zishu stayed in was considerably spacious, and there was plenty of room for activity between the two beds in the room.

There were even small hooks set up along the ceiling in the middle of the room. Students could use these hooks to set up a curtain and create two isolated spaces.

After Jun Zishu dropped off her things in the dormitory, she made her way to class to report in.

TL Notes:

[1]recommendation slot: This is like a free pass for students to get into specific universities/colleges without taking these universities/colleges’ admission exams. This free pass is generally only given out to top-scoring students. It might sound silly to give top-scorers a recommendation slot since they can probably get into their desired universities by themselves, but no university worth its two cents would want to accept a flunkie, either. So, the free pass is mainly there to save the recommended students some time and effort.