The next morning.
Learning from yesterday's lesson, Song Yi took an earlier bus to school. However, as she entered the school gates, she saw a familiar figure.
Twin ponytails, small dimples - it was the girl who had come to her class yesterday.
Upon seeing Song Yi, the girl immediately became nervous. She hesitated, biting her lip, "I'm sorry, classmate, I..."
Song Yi smiled at her and said, "It's okay, I know you had no choice."
As Shen Yujing's follower, Zhang Yong had considerable influence among the students at this school. He often handled matters that Shen Yujing couldn't deal with directly, and most people didn't dare to offend him lightly.
Hearing Song Yi's words, the girl's expression relaxed a bit. She extended her hand to Song Yi, "Hello, I'm Lu Qingqing from Class C. If you need any help in the future, feel free to come find me."
This name made Song Yi's smile freeze on her face.
What a coincidence, this wasn't just some nameless extra in the original plot.
Lu Qingqing, the third female lead, was a much more sinister female antagonist compared to Murong Huan.
Her family wasn't particularly wealthy. The reason she could attend Saint Slee was because her father worked for the Shen Family as Shen Yujing's father's secretary.
Lu Qingqing had harbored a secret crush on Shen Yujing since childhood, so she always saw the original host as a thorn in her side. She would use friendship to get close to the original host, but behind her back, she employed all sorts of underhanded tactics to frame and provoke her.
If Murong Huan's dislike for the original host was open and straightforward, then Lu Qingqing's methods relied on exploiting the original host's trust and dependence to hurt her so deeply.
It had to be said that Lu Qingqing's acting skills were excellent. If Song Yi hadn't known the original plot, she might have been deceived by her appearance just like the original host.
Before Song Yi could respond to Lu Qingqing, she heard someone calling her name from behind -
"Song Yi, why are you still here? Shen Yujing sent you a gift, aren't you going to check it out?"
The one speaking was a male student from Class A. Although Song Yi couldn't remember his name, she had some impression of his face.
But... Shen Yujing? Gift?
These two words put together felt odd no matter how she thought about it. Instinct told Song Yi it probably wasn't anything good.
Lu Qingqing's smile obviously became a bit unnatural, but she still said gently, "You should hurry to class then."
Song Yi felt something was off, so she asked the boy, "What did he send?"
The boy shook his head, "I don't know. It's wrapped in a pink gift box, placed on your desk."
Sensing Lu Qingqing's clearly envious gaze beside her, Song Yi turned to her and asked directly, "Do you want it?"
Lu Qingqing was taken aback and immediately declined, "This is something Shen Yujing sent to you. It wouldn't be right for me to take it."
Her mouth said it wasn't right, but her eyes were clearly filled with anticipation.
So Song Yi grabbed her hand and said enthusiastically, "It's fine, come on. I'll take responsibility if anything happens."
In the end, Lu Qingqing couldn't resist this "temptation" and went with Song Yi to Class A.
She had known Shen Yujing for so many years but had never received even a word of blessing from him, let alone a gift. And today, even if she took the gift, it was because Song Yi wanted to give it to her, so Shen Yujing wouldn't blame her.
The pink gift box looked out of place on the desk, with an exaggerated large bow tied around it. Song Yi picked it up and handed it directly to Lu Qingqing.
Quan Le looked at her with surprise, "Special student, this is a gift from Shen Yujing. So many girls would love to have it but can't. You should at least take a look."
"I don't want it," Song Yi refused without hesitation. Then she put her hands on Lu Qingqing's shoulders and pushed her out of Class A, "Class is about to start, you should head back first."
Quan Le followed right behind Song Yi and gave her a thumbs up, "You're the first person who could refuse Shen Yujing like this."
Song Yi: "..."
She remembered that in the original plot, Quan Le had said something similar -
"You're the first person who could make Shen Yujing so happy."
Don't think about it, don't think about it. It's so unlucky.
So Song Yi ignored Quan Le and the curious gazes of her classmates, opened her textbook, and started studying.
It wasn't that Song Yi loved studying, but the original host was the top student in their grade. She was afraid that if her grades dropped too much, she might be kicked out of Saint Slee after the next monthly exam.
Shen Yujing giving a gift to a girl for the first time, and to a girl who had beaten him up yesterday no less, was shocking enough. But the key point was that this girl didn't even look at it before giving it away to someone else. This naturally sparked another round of discussion on the school's forum.
1L: Tears of envy are flowing out.
2L: If Shen Yujing gave me a gift, I might faint from happiness. How can Song Yi not appreciate it at all!
19L: By the way, does anyone know who ended up with Shen Yujing's gift?
27L: I know, I know! Lu Qingqing from Class C took it. She seems to be quite familiar with Shen Yujing.
67L: Breaking news! Shen Yujing has come to Class C! He's already gone to find Lu Qingqing!
At that moment, in Class C.
Lu Qingqing placed the gift box on her desk and looked innocently at Shen Yujing, explaining, "Song Yi said she didn't want your gift and was going to throw it in the trash. I thought that wasn't right, so I took it back first, planning to return it to you after school."
Her words were quite skillful. First, she put the blame on Song Yi, then used the excuse of not wanting to embarrass Shen Yujing. Her words were full of consideration for him.
Shen Yujing's face was gloomy, looking like he might explode at any moment. But after a few seconds of silence, he still managed to contain his anger, picked up the gift box, and turned to walk back to Class A.
Watching Shen Yujing's back, the corners of Lu Qingqing's lips curved up slightly.
Immediately, classmates from Class C gathered around her, eagerly asking -
"Qingqing, was young master Shen angry just now? He looked so scary."
"Does Shen Yujing like that Song Yi? Otherwise, why would he give her a gift?"
"And how did Shen Yujing's gift end up with you? What exactly happened?"
Lu Qingqing had always been seen as approachable by her classmates. She explained, "You've all misunderstood. I don't know the details either. I was just doing Shen Yujing a favor."
Immediately, one of Lu Qingqing's friends chimed in to support her, "Don't spread rumors. How could Shen Yujing like that kind of special scholarship student? He and our Qingqing have known each other for so many years. When have you ever seen any other girls around him?"
At the center of the crowd, Lu Qingqing just smiled gently, without explaining much.
In reality, Lu Qingqing and Shen Yujing were barely acquainted. At most, they knew each other. Usually, she could get invitations to various Shen Family banquets through her father's connections.
But Lu Qingqing never denied others' speculations about her relationship with Shen Yujing. She always kept her words vague, leaving plenty of room for imagination.
After all, with her ordinary family background, having Shen Yujing as a "backer" in such a school would make her life much easier.
How could these young masters and misses born with silver spoons understand her struggles? She had to carefully maintain her status, fearing that one day she might end up in the same boat as those poor special scholarship students.
So, you see, she wasn't wrong at all.
*
In Class A.
Amidst the commotion, Shen Yujing walked in expressionlessly and went straight to Song Yi. "Come out with me for a moment."
"No time," Song Yi remembered how Shen Yujing had refused to return her hammer yesterday, forcing her to wake up early to buy a new one at the market. This made her even more impatient with Shen Yujing, so she didn't want to bother with him.
"Bang!"
A loud noise forced Song Yi to look up at Shen Yujing. "What do you want..."
Before Song Yi could finish speaking, her gaze followed Shen Yujing's hand to the desk beside her.
On Jiang Yiheng's desk now sat a pink, incredibly ugly, bizarrely shaped... huh? Was that her hammer???
Huh???
After not seeing it for one night, how had her little hammer turned into this monstrosity???
Seeing Song Yi speechless, Shen Yujing impatiently spoke up, "Didn't you ask me to return it to you?"
Song Yi: "No need, I don't need it anymore."
She felt a twinge of pain in her heart. How had her perfectly good hammer been transformed into this monstrosity by Shen Yujing? Just how much did he hate her to torment her little hammer like this?
Shen Yujing let out a cold laugh. "Song Yi, are you toying with me?"
Song Yi lowered her head and continued working on her problems, responding dismissively like a dense guy, "If that's what you want to think, I can't help it."
In the end, that little pink hammer was thrown into Class A's trash can by Shen Yujing.
It wasn't until Shen Yujing left that the entire Class A breathed a collective sigh of relief, but no one dared to discuss loudly what had just happened.
The online forum, however, was a different story—
[Shocking! Song Yi didn't accept Shen Yujing's gift, angering the young master so much he went to confront her with a hammer in hand!]
[This time the hammer hit the desk, next time will it hit Song Yi's head... I'm starting to get scared]
[What's going on? Why is Shen Yujing's temper getting worse and worse?]
[Using force is one thing, but Song Yi is still a girl. Isn't Shen Yujing going too far by bringing a weapon?]
[That's Shen Yujing for you. Nothing he does should surprise us anymore.]
[The top student sure is interesting. Want to bet on when the young master Shen will manage to drive her out of Saint Slee?]
[Bring it on! Place your bets!]
...
At the entrance of Class A.
Jiang Yiheng had heard the names "Song Yi" and "Shen Yujing" mentioned together countless times on his way here, causing his brows to furrow slightly.
Although he didn't know exactly what had happened, it wasn't any of his business anyway.
That's what Jiang Yiheng originally thought, until he returned to his own seat.
An unusual expression appeared on the young man's typically calm face. His long, pale fingers pressed against the desktop, the knuckles turning white from excessive force.
He didn't care about the relationship between Shen Yujing and Song Yi, nor did he care about what had happened between them.
Really, not at all.
But... could someone please tell him, what on earth happened to his desk?
Where did this huge dent come from???
