Chapter 5: I Also Want Cake (5)
As Jiang Zhiyan expected, after seeing the breakfast bag in her hand, Liang Xi enthusiastically invited her to the small garden together. She readily accepted the suggestion.
“Why is Liang Xi so easy to hook? Your reputation at school is terrible.” The system didn’t understand.
“She’s the female lead, how can she believe rumors like therabble?”
System: ?
Perhaps because it was late autumn, the small garden seemed a bit desolate.
Liang Xi wiped the stone table and bench with a wet wipe.
“Will you still be here when it gets cold?”
“When it gets cold, we’ll go to the activity room. The scenery there is also nice.” Liang Xi looked at what Jiang Zhiyan brought, frowning. “Is this all you’re eating?”
“Yes.”
“Is that enough?”
“My family wants me to maintain my figure.” Jiang Zhiyan curled her lips bitterly.
“Why? You’re still in high school! Besides, being healthy is enough, why maintain your figure? No wonder you look so pale.” Liang Xi frowned, then opened her bag and took out two beautiful small boxes. “Eat with me. I made rice balls this morning.”
“The breakfast at school actually tastes pretty good. If you find it too dry, we can go to the cafeteria together, they have noodles and porridge.” Liang Xi looked at Jiang Zhiyan. “Don’t worry, eating normally won’t make you gain weight. You burn it off quickly with all the studying every day.”
Jiang Zhiyan’s fingertips traced the milk bottle in her hand.
Liang Xi’s eyes were bright and clear, like a vibrant spring.
“I’ll just have one small rice ball.” Jiang Zhiyan said, catching sight of Yan Yanzhuo standing at the entrance of the small garden from the corner of her eye.
She pretended not to see him and looked away.
“Host, the male lead is here.” The system reminded her.
“Oh.” Jiang Zhiyan picked up a rice ball and carefully took a bite. After waiting for more than ten seconds, she continued, “Where?”
The system was silent for three seconds: “He left.”
“Are you really not doing this on purpose?” After a while, the system couldn’t help but ask.
“How could I?”
“But you really seem like someone who would do this kind of thing…” The system said honestly.
Jiang Zhiyan didn’t bother with it and took another bite of the rice ball.
Liang Xi was very quiet while eating, completely spaced out.
After finishing the rice ball, Jiang Zhiyan started gnawing on the whole wheat bread. It was indeed very difficult to eat.
“Here, if you don’t want to eat rice balls, eat this.” Liang Xi took out another box. “It’s sweeter than yesterday’s, might be a bit too rich for breakfast.”
“I’ll save it for the afternoon. It smells so good, thank you.” Jiang Zhiyan took the box, opened it, and the aroma of cake wafted out. She took a deep breath and then closed it again. “Suddenly this bread doesn’t seem so bad.”
“Have another rice ball then.”
“No, you eat it. It’s not good to waste food, I’ll just finish the bread.” Jiang Zhiyan stuffed the remaining bread into her mouth.
“Let’s share.” Liang Xi frowned.
“No need.” Jiang Zhiyan smiled and waved her hand.
Liang Xi looked at Jiang Zhiyan. Although her expression wasn’t exaggerated, from the occasional frown, she could tell the bread must not taste good.
“Liang Xi!” A girl ran over with a smile on her face. Seeing Jiang Zhiyan, she stopped, her smile instantly disappearing, her eyes widening noticeably. Her running speed slowed considerably.
The scene became a bit awkward for a moment.
“Yang Xiao.”
“Didn’t you run into Yan Yanzhuo? I saw him heading towards the small garden when I entered the school.” Yang Xiao leaned closer to Liang Xi, lowering her voice, glancing at Jiang Zhiyan several times.
Liang Xi blinked: “No, you must have seen wrong.”
Jiang Zhiyan stuffed the last piece of bread into her mouth.
“But I really saw him coming this way.” Yang Xiao sighed. “Why hang yourself on one tree? Find someone else, some people have already dated eight hundred times.”
Liang Xi’s eyes widened: “That’s ridiculous. Stop it.”
“Usually you’re fine, why do you suddenly have a love brain?” Yang Xiao complained.
“I don’t…”
Jiang Zhiyan forced down the dry bread and took a sip of milk: “You guys chat, I’ll go back to the classroom first.”
“Oh, okay, bye.” Liang Xi waved obediently.
“Thank you for the cake.” Jiang Zhiyan smiled at her. As she passed Yang Xiao, Yang Xiao took a very exaggerated step back.
Jiang Zhiyan looked at her with a slightly hurt expression, then lowered her head slightly and quickly left.
Liang Xi frowned and tugged at Yang Xiao, watching Jiang Zhiyan walk away before asking, “What are you doing?”
“What am I doing! Why are you with her?” Yang Xiao frowned anxiously. “As soon as I mentioned Yan Yanzhuo, she left, she must be going back to find him.”
“She’s in the same class as Yan Yanzhuo, she can find him anytime she wants. Don’t make random assumptions about others.” Liang Xi finished her last rice ball. “Besides, if she wants to find him, she can find him. What does it have to do with me?”
“Then why are you with her? She! I’m embarrassed to even repeat the things she’s done.”
Liang Xi wiped her fingers: “What did she do? She dated eight hundred times but she doesn’t have a love brain.”
Yang Xiao blinked, stunned for three seconds, then widened her eyes: “Damn! But, but she, she…”
“It’s not illegal, and as long as she doesn’t bother us, it’s fine. Anyway, so far, I think she’s quite nice.” Liang Xi threw the trash into the trash can. “Let’s go, we’re late today.”
“Be careful not to be deceived by her.” Yang Xiao followed behind Liang Xi.
“Why would she bother deceiving me? I have nothing.” Liang Xi said casually.
…
By the time Jiang Zhiyan arrived in class, it was already quite late. Most of the students had already arrived. She glanced at Yan Yanzhuo, who was also looking at her, his expression not exactly friendly.
She calmly sat down, paying him no mind.
The male lead’s character setting wasn’t exactly gentle. He was grumpy 360 days out of 365, and only Liang Xi had the patience to “reform” him. Anyone with even a slightly developed love brain would have run away.
Fortunately, Liang Xi’s love brain hadn’t fully developed yet.
Compared to the male lead, Yang Xiao, the best friend who was always with Liang Xi, was more troublesome. After all, she was quite “notorious” at school… Although judging from Liang Xi’s current behavior, she wouldn’t be swayed by rumors, the power of constant whispers was endless.
“What did Yang Xiao say to Liang Xi?” Jiang Zhiyan twirled her pen, writing the character “Xie” (Thanks) on the paper. “I don’t need specifics, just the gist.”
“One hundred points.” The system said.
Jiang Zhiyan pressed the tip of her pen down on the paper: “Why don’t you go rob a bank?”
****
Chapter 6: I Also Want Cake (6)
In the end, Jiang Zhiyan didn’t pay the points, firmly putting a stop to all the system’s blatant attempts at extortion.
The system was very depressed. Yesterday, while looking at the data, it discovered that Liang Xi’s favorability towards Jiang Zhiyan had increased significantly during their first meeting. It watched the clips of Liang Xi and Jiang Zhiyan interacting dozens of times, analyzing them until its circuits nearly fried, but still couldn’t figure it out.
The female lead falling for the vicious female supporting character at first sight? Impossible! Moreover, although the story started from this point, the preconditions were already set. Even if the female lead didn’t dislike Jiang Zhiyan, those events would make it difficult for her to develop favorable feelings towards Jiang Zhiyan because the two had different values.
This plot had problems, very serious problems.
Yang Xiao also couldn’t understand it, spending the entire morning pondering this question.
“Why?” Yang Xiao stared at Liang Xi.
“Why what?” Liang Xi found it a bit baffling.
“Because it feels like you didn’t have a particularly good impression of her before.”
“Yeah, but after interacting with her, I think she’s pretty good. So, whether a person is good or bad, you still have to interact with them to find out.” Liang Xi flipped open her test paper.
Yang Xiao leaned against Liang Xi’s desk, wanting to say something more, but finally sighed: “Forget it, I can’t persuade you. If she dares to bully you, I…”
She shook her fist.
Liang Xi laughed: “Then thank you.”
“But I might not be able to beat her. Her new boyfriend seems to be good at fighting.” Yang Xiao sighed. “But I can run fast.”
Liang Xi’s eyes crinkled with laughter, looking at her helplessly.
The vicious female supporting character was born to bully the female lead. The main plot revolved around the female lead. When there were no plot points, Jiang Zhiyan’s life was as calm as water, just like any ordinary high school life.
However, this high school life was quite comfortable. There were no evening self-study sessions, and school ended relatively early. It was just that there was a troublesome person at home.
If it weren’t for the cello lessons, she would want to live on campus.
For the afternoon activity class, Jiang Zhiyan joined the basketball club. However, her job was to distribute water and take photos for others, occasionally running into the group of boys to act cute and shoot a basket. Usually, she could just sit in the stands and do her own thing.
The vicious female supporting character had no female friends. When she changed clothes in the locker room, everyone cleared out.
This was normal, considering the female supporting character’s green tea and white lotus persona.
[Lin Shenyu | Boyfriend | 26 | 13: Want a Coke.]
[Zhi Zhi Knows: The club has mineral water.]
The other side sent a question mark.
Jiang Zhiyan didn’t reply. Being able to drink something was good enough, he was still being picky.
When she strolled onto the court, the activity class had already started for five minutes.
Jiang Zhiyan stood to the side, watching, casually grabbing a bottle of water.
“There’s less water today.” A girl walked over and said angrily. “If you’re not exercising, don’t drink it.”
“I want to play, but I’m afraid you guys won’t let me.” Jiang Zhiyan twisted open the bottle and took a sip, looking at her.
Hearing Jiang Zhiyan’s soft voice, the girl rolled her eyes, understanding her implied meaning. Her tone became even more aggressive: “If you want to play, then play. Who dares not let you?”
Jiang Zhiyan put down the water: “Then let’s go.”
The girl froze for two seconds. She didn’t expect Jiang Zhiyan to not be joking or throwing a tantrum. Her tone softened slightly: “Aren’t you going to find Lin Shenyu?”
“No.”
“Alright.”
When Jiang Zhiyan went over, everyone’s expressions weren’t very welcoming, but they couldn’t directly prevent her from joining.
“Do you know the rules? Or do you want a ball to play with on the side? We’re playing a match, there might be collisions. If you get hurt…” Another person trailed off.
Everyone knew how delicate Jiang Zhiyan acted. Normally, a light touch would make her cry as if she needed an amputation. If they accidentally bumped into her… disaster would strike.
“Okay.” Jiang Zhiyan obediently accepted.
Jiang Zhiyan agreed too readily. The other person had wanted to say more, but hearing her words, swallowed them back down. They exchanged glances, warily watching Jiang Zhiyan, guarding against her causing trouble.
However, Jiang Zhiyan didn’t do anything, just took a basketball and went to an empty court nearby.
“Host, why aren’t you playing?”
“Just casually attracting some hate, solidifying my vicious female supporting character persona.” Jiang Zhiyan bounced the ball twice, raised her hand, and shot the basketball into the hoop. “I’ve always been very dedicated.”
A perfect three-pointer.
The people not far away narrowed their eyes in surprise.
“Host, persona, persona! Someone is watching you!” The system said anxiously. “You just said you were dedicated.”
The next second, Jiang Zhiyan clutched her wrist, cried out in pain, and said to the onlookers: “Can you please get the ball for me? Thanks.”
Onlookers: It really was a coincidence. We should have known better than to watch, now we have to get the ball.
Jiang Zhiyan clutched her wrist and returned to the stands, purposefully moving towards Liang Xi. Liang Xi was sitting in the stands of the tennis court with a dessert box beside her. Yan Yanzhuo was playing tennis with someone, surrounded by many people.
“Liang Xi.”
“Huh? What’s wrong with your hand?” Liang Xi gathered her things and made room for Jiang Zhiyan to sit.
“I just shot a three-pointer and sprained my wrist.” Jiang Zhiyan sighed, looking pitiful. “No one saw the three-pointer, and I got injured.”
“I saw it, it was amazing!” Liang Xi said immediately. “Do you need to go to the infirmary?”
“No, it should be fine after a while. You know, I’m rather delicate, it might not be that serious, just a little painful.” Jiang Zhiyan glanced at Yan Yanzhuo below, narrowing her eyes slightly. The next second, her stomach growled twice. She immediately covered her stomach embarrassedly, looking at Liang Xi, then lowering her eyes.
Liang Xi looked at Jiang Zhiyan: “Don’t tell me you skipped lunch again to maintain your figure?”
“I ate.” Jiang Zhiyan smiled slightly.
“Then why aren’t you looking at me?” Liang Xi took the box beside her and took out the small cake inside. “Eat this to cushion your stomach for now.”
“Aren’t you giving it to him?”
“It’s okay, eat it.” Seeing Jiang Zhiyan’s hesitation, Liang Xi scooped up a piece and brought it to Jiang Zhiyan’s lips. “Eat it, I can’t give it to him now anyway.”
Jiang Zhiyan didn’t take the spoon, but looked at Liang Xi and ate the cake.
It was as sweet as the cake she had eaten after lunch break.
She curled her lip.
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