Chapter 16
Chi Lin woke up with minimal pain in her hand. Lou Mi’s ointment seemed to be working.
She had a long, lonely dream, the details hazy.
Only the final scene remained vivid.
The Empress stood in the distance. Chi Lin ran towards her, but the distance never closed.
The Empress kept asking, “Why don’t you come find me?”
“I am looking for you, Your Majesty! I’ve been searching for you!” Chi Lin cried out in the dream.
Suddenly, the Empress sank into the ground, swallowed by mud.
She reached out a hand. “You promised we would face life and death together. Why don’t you come find me?”
The dream ended abruptly as her phone alarm rang.
Chi Lin woke up with a damp back and an aching heart.
She longed to follow the Empress, even to the underworld. She would gladly remain her loyal wife and subject for eternity.
But she carried the last hope for Dayuan’s restoration.
She stood before the mirror, gazing at her reflection. The Empress’s question echoed in her mind, a question she herself couldn’t answer.
Once she pulled Dayuan from the mire, she would…
“Rough night?”
Lou Mi’s sudden appearance startled Chi Lin, who had been lost in thought.
It was worse than the time Wei Zhuoning had scared her.
Why did people in this era appear out of nowhere?
Lou Mi, surprised by Chi Lin’s visible flinch, noticed her hunched shoulders, like a frightened rabbit.
Did this delinquent have a soft side?
She picked up her toothpaste tube. “I’m out. Mind if I borrow yours? Are you… okay?”
“I’m fine,” Chi Lin replied.
“Those are some serious dark circles. Is this house cursed? Everyone who lives here is sleep-deprived.”
Lou Mi tried to lighten the mood with a joke.
Chi Lin’s expression remained unchanged, the humor lost on her.
Not funny, huh…
“Cursed?” Chi Lin said seriously. “If you’re telling the truth, I might have a solution.”
She had taken the joke literally.
Lou Mi had found someone even less humorous than herself.
“…Forget I said anything,” she muttered, retreating to her own bathroom.
Chi Lin: “?”
As Lou Mi brushed her teeth, she wondered why Chi Lin wasn’t practicing her martial arts in the courtyard. A moment later, she saw a figure moving outside the window.
There she is!
She opened the window a crack and peered outside.
The courtyard was empty.
Where did she go?
As she scanned the yard, a mass of dark hair suddenly appeared above her, followed by a face.
Before she could scream, her esports instincts kicked in. She punched the descending object.
Instantly, she regretted it.
It was Chi Lin’s head.
Chi Lin was hanging upside down from a tree branch.
Just as Lou Mi’s fist was about to connect, Chi Lin effortlessly caught it.
Lou Mi’s heart pounded.
Relieved the situation hadn’t escalated, she yelled, “Are you a monkey?! What are you doing hanging upside down from a tree?!”
“I’m concentrating,” Chi Lin replied, performing a few upside-down crunches. “And exercising.”
“…Right,” Lou Mi muttered, closing the window. She had swallowed a mouthful of toothpaste in shock.
Her throat felt strangely minty.
They were even for the morning scares.
That little brat is getting her revenge.
But…
Lou Mi looked at her fist.
Her instinctive punch was a result of years of training.
In esports, quick reflexes were essential.
Professional gamers needed exceptional reaction time and physical coordination.
She had even taken advanced boxing and combat classes to improve her skills.
Her speed and power were unmatched.
That punch, even her boxing coach might have struggled to block.
And Chi Lin had caught it, effortlessly…
Lou Mi was puzzled.
Was Chi Lin secretly training?
It would explain her morning exercises.
Was she that naturally talented?
As Lou Mi prepared to eat breakfast, she found a warm meal on the dining table.
And a handwritten note.
“Sister, I’ve gone to school. Sorry for scaring you earlier.”
It looked like calligraphy… with wet ink.
She had never seen Chi Lin’s handwriting before, but she could tell it was well-executed.
The strokes were elegant and fluid.
Lou Mi sat down, eating slowly, lost in thought.
What in the world… is that little hellion actually talented?
…
The elevator doors on the 8th floor opened, and a flood of tenth-graders poured out.
Wei Zhuoning, engrossed in her phone, typing furiously as she walked, didn’t notice the closing doors.
The doors caught her, and her phone slipped from her grasp, about to fall into the gap.
“Shit!”
A hand, pale and slender, caught the phone.
“Thank you!” Wei Zhuoning said, grabbing her phone and realizing it was Lin Xiaozhi, her deskmate.
She scowled and pushed past Lin Xiaozhi.
“Is that how you treat your savior?” Lin Xiaozhi asked, smiling.
“I said thank you! Stop following me!”
“I’m going to my seat. If you walk any faster, you’ll be following me.” Lin Xiaozhi, unfazed, walked with her hands clasped behind her back, swinging her backpack.
Wei Zhuoning smelled perfume and turned, noticing Lin Xiaozhi’s long, flowing hair, styled with loose curls and shimmering with a subtle, iridescent effect.
It was the latest “Wishing Star” hair dye.
Lin Xiaozhi was dressed impeccably, her makeup flawless.
This girl, who flagrantly disregarded the school’s dress code, was becoming increasingly skilled with makeup. Already strikingly beautiful, the makeup enhanced her features, making her the most glamorous girl in the entire tenth grade.
Wei Zhuoning hated being compared to Lin Xiaozhi. Next to her radiant beauty, Wei Zhuoning felt like a plain potato.
“Aren’t you afraid Ms. Qi will see you dressed like that?”
Wei Zhuoning’s initial annoyance faded as she looked at Lin Xiaozhi’s beautiful face. She couldn’t maintain her anger.
“As long as I get the highest score, Ms. Qi turns a blind eye. Haven’t you noticed? I do whatever I want.”
Wei Zhuoning rolled her eyes.
Class 6 was the worst-performing class, yet Lin Xiaozhi consistently ranked in the top 5 in the entire grade. The teachers treated her like a precious gem, showering her with praise and turning a blind eye to her rule-breaking. They saved their reprimands for the underachievers.
Wei Zhuoning entered the classroom, not wanting to continue the conversation.
Lin Xiaozhi followed, unhurried. No matter how fast Wei Zhuoning walked, they would end up sitting next to each other anyway.
But… had she seen the name “A Lin” on Wei Zhuoning’s phone?
Liu Huixin was furious.
Teng Jiang, blinded by some unknown force, had given Chi Lin a “Bewildered Universe.” Liu Huixin had promptly decided she no longer liked him.
And as if that wasn’t enough, two idiots from Class 3 had approached her that morning, asking for Chi Lin’s WeChat ID.
“Ask her yourself!” she had snapped, resisting the urge to throw them over her shoulder.
“Aren’t you her deskmate?” they persisted. “If you won’t give us her ID, can you at least deliver this gift?”
Liu Huixin stared at the gift box, her anger finally snapping. “Why would I do that? What’s in it for me? Get lost!”
As she tried to escape, someone grabbed her collar, lifting her off her feet.
Two tall boys cornered her, and her legs turned to jelly.
“Will you deliver it or not?”
…
“Here,” Liu Huixin said, tossing the gift box onto Chi Lin’s desk.
“What is it?” Chi Lin asked.
“Open it and see,” Liu Huixin replied, annoyed.
Chi Lin placed the box in her drawer without opening it and continued reading her history textbook.
Before class, a few senior girls, including the school’s renowned “ice queen,” visited Class 6, inquiring about the new beauty.
The boys of Class 6 quickly drove them away.
“There’s no new beauty. They must be talking about Chi Lin!”
“Don’t tell them about Chi Lin!” They huddled together. “If the ice queen sets her sights on her, we’re doomed! Remember what happened to Lin Xiaozhi? She turned our school flower into a lesbian. Chi Lin is our only hope! We have to protect her!”
Lin Xiaozhi, appearing behind them, threw her backpack at them, scattering them.
Chi Lin’s transformation had indeed caused a stir.
Initially limited to her classmates, the attention had now spread to other classes and even other grades.
“That idiot Teng Jiang saved her a front-row seat at the inter-school basketball game, and she didn’t even show up!”
“Even A Teng isn’t good enough for her. Where does she get her confidence?”
During break time, Liu Huixin and a few other girls gossiped and complained while drinking soda by the school store.
“So what if she’s slightly prettier now? She’s still a loser. Bad grades, poor family, no skills whatsoever,” Liu Huixin scoffed. “If I hadn’t been feeding her all these years, she would have starved to death.”
“And now she’s giving you the cold shoulder? How ungrateful.”
“Exactly! I hate people like that. Just because she’s slightly less ugly now, she thinks she’s better than us?”
“She’s not even that much prettier. What’s the big deal?”
Despite her harsh words, Liu Huixin felt a deep sense of resentment.
Chi Lin was supposed to be her foil, her inferior. How dare she steal her spotlight?
A promotional video for the Cultural Festival played on the school’s announcement screen. A smile crept across Liu Huixin’s face.
…
Ms. Qi dreaded the Cultural Festival every year.
Class 6 was usually the most disruptive class, but when it came to participating in school events, they vanished.
They were eager to watch the performances but reluctant to perform themselves.
Ms. Qi always had to coerce them into participating.
She had expected the same this year, but to her surprise, someone had volunteered!
She praised Chi Lin in front of the entire class.
“You should all learn from Chi Lin. She volunteered to perform a dance. Anyone else want to follow her example?”
The class was stunned. Chi Lin, volunteering to dance? Wasn’t the last time embarrassing enough?
Chi Lin knew she hadn’t signed up for anything. Ms. Qi must have made a mistake.
As the class murmured, Liu Huixin shouted, “Chi Lin is the best dancer in the entire school!”
The class jeered.
Liu Huixin linked arms with Chi Lin. “It’s true! Chi Lin told me herself. Right?”
Chi Lin, looking into Liu Huixin’s eyes, understood.
Liu Huixin’s smile was a clear sign of malicious intent.
Chi Lin patted her hand and said, “Right.”
Liu Huixin, expecting a triumphant reaction, felt a flicker of unease at Chi Lin’s confident demeanor.
What did that mean? Was she bluffing?
Participating in the Cultural Festival would be a disaster.
Chi Lin couldn’t dance. She definitely couldn’t dance.
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