When Song Yi returned to the classroom, she saw Lu Qingqing waiting for her at the door.
Song Yi asked with some surprise, "Why are you here?"
Lu Qingqing immediately grabbed her hand, her eyes full of concern. "You didn't reply to my messages. I was worried about you."
"Don't worry, everything's fine," Song Yi said as she walked into the classroom.
But Lu Qingqing followed her, saying softly, "Yi-yi, I believe there's nothing between you and Jiang Yiheng, but Murong Huan likes him so much. With her personality, she won't let you off easily. If she bullies you, please don't keep it to yourself. You must tell me."
Lu Qingqing seemed to genuinely care about her. If Song Yi didn't know the original plot, she would surely have been deceived by this facade of kindness.
At this moment, Song Yi sat down at her desk, took a sip from her water bottle, and said in a flat tone, "I've already said it's fine. Why don't you believe me? What exactly do you want to hear from me?"
Lu Qingqing seemed taken aback by Song Yi's direct confrontation of her intentions and was momentarily stunned.
Some girls around them looked at Song Yi mockingly and chimed in.
"Lu Qingqing, don't bother worrying. Although Murong Huan can be a bit temperamental, some people aren't even worthy of being considered competition."
"Yeah, what kind of relationship could Song Yi possibly have with Jiang Yiheng? Someone as perfect as Jiang Yiheng would never be with a scholarship student."
At school, Jiang Yiheng appeared as the image of a perfect academic god. Although many girls liked him, everyone had tacitly accepted his relationship with Murong Huan.
Many people dared to be angry but not speak out against Murong Huan, but now that the target had changed to Song Yi, there was nothing to hold them back.
Lu Qingqing lowered her head to comfort Song Yi, "Don't take their words to heart."
Before Song Yi could respond, a card fell to the ground.
The sharp-eyed girls around them saw the card and let out a gasp of surprise.
Lu Qingqing's gentle smile froze on her face, but she tried to keep her voice calm as she asked, "Where did you get this invitation?"
Song Yi: "?"
What? Invitation? This piece of paper?
Song Yi bent down to pick up the card, confused, and looked at Lu Qingqing. "What did you say this is?"
Lu Qingqing didn't answer, but a girl nearby quickly replied—
"It's an invitation to Shen Yujing's weekend birthday party!"
Song Yi: "..."
Help, help me.
This was what Murong Huan had slipped to her when they parted earlier. She suddenly understood the meaning behind Murong Huan's thoughtful smile.
The forum was instantly flooded with posts about this incident.
[Holy crap! I'm shocked! That top student received an invitation to Shen Yujing's birthday party!]
1L: ???
27L: ??????????
35: Wuwuwu my heart is broken. Didn't Shen Yujing say he was only inviting friends this time? So envious!
44: I heard that apart from Shen Yujing's few friends, only those from top-tier families got invitations. What qualifies this scholarship student?
51: No, no, no! New information! It wasn't Shen Yujing who gave it to Song Yi, it was Murong Huan!
53: ?? I don't understand this turn of events. So Murong Huan went to find Song Yi early in the morning, not because of Jiang Yiheng, but to give her an invitation to Shen Yujing's birthday party?
57: The post about Jiang Yiheng and Song Yi has been deleted! Murong Huan made a post! She said if anyone wants to smear Song Yi, they can come to her directly instead of hiding behind the internet and playing these underhanded tricks.
66: Wow, what is Murong Huan doing? Giving a scholarship student an invitation to Shen Yujing's birthday party, and publicly defending her. Has the young lady had a change of heart???
74: This isn't Murong Huan's usual style. I don't understand.
91: Don't understand +1!
...
Not only were others confused, but even Song Yi herself didn't understand what was going on.
In the original plot, the protagonist never received this invitation, but another important event happened on this day.
Shen Yujing's birthday was on the weekend. At that time, the original protagonist was studying in the school library when she was locked in the bathroom and bullied. This incident was accidentally discovered by Jiang Yiheng, who was attending Shen Yujing's birthday party.
So Jiang Yiheng left the party to look for the protagonist, which made Murong Huan even more resentful and jealous.
Meanwhile, Shen Yujing also learned about this incident. Because he had the male lead's halo, he managed to rescue the protagonist before Jiang Yiheng.
It was because of this incident that the first real spark of ambiguity and attraction occurred between the original protagonist and Shen Yujing. It could be said that this was a key moment in the development of their relationship.
Thinking about this, Song Yi felt a chill run down her spine.
It seemed that she would have to attend this birthday party after all, not only to deviate from the original plot but also to put Murong Huan at "ease".
At this moment, in Class C.
Hearing the girls around her discussing and envying Song Yi for getting an invitation to Shen Yujing's birthday party, the hypocritical mask on Lu Qingqing's face was on the verge of cracking.
Her left hand, resting on her leg, was tightly clenched, while her right hand gripping the pen had already bled ink through the paper.
Why? Why was all this happening?
Murong Huan was supposed to be so stupid, so why hadn't she fallen into her trap this time? How could she tolerate another woman appearing by Jiang Yiheng's side?
And that Song Yi, nothing but a scholarship student, exuding an aura of lowliness that made people feel sick and disgusted just by being near her, let alone having to pretend to be close to her.
Suddenly, a girl in front turned around and asked expectantly, "Qingqing, do you have an invitation to Shen Yujing's birthday party?"
At this moment, many curious gazes were also fixed on Lu Qingqing.
It was well known that for Shen Yujing's birthday parties in the past two years, including old Mr. Shen's birthday banquet and some charity events, Lu Qingqing had basically attended all the parties held by the Shen Family. This had made everyone present envious.
Suddenly being asked this question, Lu Qingqing quickly adjusted her expression. "Of course, Dad mentioned it to me a couple of days ago. I haven't seen Uncle Shen in a while, so it's a good opportunity to pay a visit."
"Wow! For Shen Yujing, Qingqing is indeed the most special. It's so good to be family friends with the Shen Family."
"Are Qingqing and Shen Yujing childhood sweethearts, as the legend goes?"
"I'm so envious. I don't ask for much, just to be able to attend the Shen Family's parties in the future would be great."
On the surface, Lu Qingqing continued to respond to others' questions with a faint smile, but inside, she felt somewhat uncertain.
Her father had made a mistake at work last week, so Lu Qingqing wasn't confident about getting an invitation to this Shen Family party.
But since she had already said it, she would achieve her goal no matter what.
*
The last class of the morning was Physical Education.
After a morning of studying, the students had already exhausted their energy. The PE teacher simply led them through some warm-up exercises before letting everyone engage in free activities.
Song Yi bought a piece of bread from the convenience store to fill her stomach and sat on the steps of the playground reading a book.
Suddenly, a basketball came flying from afar, hitting the steps next to her and then bouncing off her leg before slowly rolling to the side.
The pain made Song Yi frown slightly.
A male voice called out—
"Hey! Scholarship student! Help throw it back!"
Song Yi looked up to see Quan Le waving at her from the basketball court not far away.
Song Yi stood up expressionlessly, hugged the basketball, and walked towards Quan Le.
Quan Le shouted, "Just throw it over! Hurry up! Don't dawdle!"
Song Yi stopped, faced Quan Le's direction, raised the basketball, and adjusted her angle.
The next second, she lifted her hand high and forcefully threw towards Quan Le—
"Bang—"
The surrounding people's exclamations accompanied the sound of Quan Le falling to the ground.
The system slowly spoke.
[Host, what are you doing?]
Song Yi shrugged, answering innocently, "He insisted that I throw it over."
[...]
He wanted you to throw the ball over, not headshot him!
*
In the infirmary.
Quan Le sat in the infirmary with a grim expression, holding an ice pack to the area under his eye.
Actually, the basketball had hit his shoulder, but unfortunately, when he was knocked down, he flipped over and his face hit a nearby rock.
Shen Yujing asked with a mischievous grin, "Isn't Young Master Quan famous for his vengeful nature? How come you just let her walk away like that?"
Quan Le: "..."
This scene felt annoyingly familiar.
Facing Shen Yujing, Quan Le saw no point in hiding the truth and admitted, "I couldn't beat her. I really couldn't."
The direction and force of that basketball throw was enough for Quan Le to determine that whether it came to fists or basketballs, he was no match for Song Yi.
If Song Yi hadn't held back and aimed for his shoulder instead, he might have been lying in a hospital bed with a concussion right now.
Shen Yujing looked at him and suddenly broke into a wide grin.
The next second, Quan Le heard something even more exasperating.
Shen Yujing said with a straight face, "No way! How can a girl have that much strength? If even you can't beat her, it would be a shame for her not to compete in the Olympics and bring glory to our country."
Quan Le: "..."
He was certain now. Shen Yujing was doing this on purpose.
Who was spreading rumors and tarnishing his reputation out there?
Come and see for yourselves, who's really the vengeful one here!
