Chapter 3: I Also Want Cake (3)
Jiang Zhiyan’s gaze seemed to emanate from the depths of hell. Her voice was gentle, but beneath it lay extreme malice.
Lin Shenyu didn’t even notice himself taking a step back: “No.”
“That’s good.” Jiang Zhiyan’s smile remained. “Why don’t we talk while we walk?”
Lin Shenyu had no objections. He felt that Jiang Zhiyan was acting a bit strange today, but couldn’t pinpoint what exactly was off.
Jiang Zhiyan didn’t ask him what his business was either.
“I don’t think you know Liang Xi.”
“Are you very concerned about her?” Jiang Zhiyan didn’t answer, instead asking back.
Lin Shenyu frowned: “Don’t be jealous, I’m just asking.”
“I’m just asking too.” Jiang Zhiyan looked at the stairs, her voice light. “Can’t I ask?”
“Yan Yanzhuo doesn’t like you.” Lin Shenyu reminded her. “Provoking him won’t do you any good.”
Jiang Zhiyan laughed, a playful tone in her voice: “I simply want to eat the desserts Liang Xi makes, but… will he be angry because he won’t be able to eat them anymore?”
She looked at Lin Shenyu.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Nothing, but it shouldn’t matter to him, right?”
They had reached the first floor. It was late autumn, and although it was only six o’clock, the sky was already dark. Jiang Zhiyan clutched her clothes tighter: “I have cello lessons tonight, I’m going to be late. If you have anything else to say, just message me. See you tomorrow.”
Lin Shenyu watched Jiang Zhiyan’s retreating figure, hands in his pockets.
“Dating Wei Ting’s ex-girlfriend, aren’t you disgusted?” A voice called out.
“What’s it to you?” Lin Shenyu retorted.
“She was much more enthusiastic towards Wei Ting than she is towards you.”
“Paying attention to how others date every day, aren’t you disgusted?” Lin Shenyu scoffed, then strode away from the school.
Jiang Zhiyan sat in the car, the dessert box placed on her lap, secured by both hands: “What do you think she made?”
“Open it and see if you’re curious.” The system said casually.
“I don’t want to open it in the car.”
“Then I’ll tell you! I know.”
“No need, I want to open it myself.”
System: Talking to the host is truly tiring.
Her cello teacher was already waiting at home.
After arriving home, Jiang Zhiyan greeted the teacher and went to her room first, placing the dessert box in the center of her desk against the wall to prevent it from falling.
The cello lesson lasted two hours. The teacher was very strict. Jiang Zhiyan’s mother also came in midway through the lesson, sat down, crossed her arms, and watched Jiang Zhiyan with a cold gaze.
Fortunately, Jiang Zhiyan was a veteran. Otherwise, such a look could definitely make a seventeen-year-old girl’s back drenched in sweat.
After the lesson, Jiang Zhiyan placed the cello on the stand and glanced at her mother sitting by the side. Perhaps because she hadn’t made any mistakes throughout the lesson, her mother’s expression was slightly better than at the beginning.
“Do you need anything?”
“Come here.” Her mother’s voice was cold and hard.
Jiang Zhiyan followed her mother back to her room.
“Where did this come from?” Her mother pointed at the item on Jiang Zhiyan’s desk.
The dessert box was open, tipped over, its contents spilled out.
Liang Xi had made cookies today, each decorated with a cute smiling face.
“I told you, you need to maintain your figure. Who allowed you to eat this kind of thing?” Her mother’s tone was stern. “Can’t you even control your mouth at your age? Throw it away yourself.”
Jiang Zhiyan didn’t speak. She walked to the desk, picked up a cookie, and put it in her mouth, frowning slightly.
Perhaps to cater to Yan Yanzhuo’s taste, it wasn’t very sweet, slightly bitter.
She still preferred sweet things.
“Jiang Zhiyan! Are you ignoring me?” Her mother rushed over and grabbed Jiang Zhiyan’s wrist.
“Has no one ever taught you not to touch other people’s things without permission?” Jiang Zhiyan looked at her with a blank expression.
She forcefully pulled her wrist free, put all the cookies back in the box, and closed it.
“Jiang Zhiyan!” Her mother’s eyes widened. She raised her hand, attempting to throw the cookies on the floor, but Jiang Zhiyan quickly pressed down on the box, securing it firmly on the desk.
“I’ll manage my own weight.” Jiang Zhiyan said.
“This is not about you managing your weight anymore.”
“If you want something completely obedient, why not buy a puppet or learn shadow puppetry?” Jiang Zhiyan took the box. “I don’t want things to get too ugly between us. Please leave.”
“You’re really… you’re really!” Her mother’s chest heaved. “You think you’re so clever defying me! Your wings have hardened, I can’t control you anymore! If you don’t throw this away today, don’t call me Mom!”
She was hysterical.
Jiang Zhiyan looked at her.
The housekeeper stood at the door, wanting to mediate, but after hesitating for a few seconds, she left.
“Please leave, calm down first.” Jiang Zhiyan repeated.
“You… very well, very well! You’re just as cold-blooded as your heartless father!” Her mother yelled at Jiang Zhiyan and turned to leave.
“Don’t make dinner for her tonight!” She continued to shout.
Jiang Zhiyan pulled out a chair, sat down, and opened the box. The cookies were all broken from the earlier struggle.
“The character profile you gave me is incomplete.” Jiang Zhiyan frowned.
“There’s nothing I can do. The text only had a few sentences about the supporting character’s family situation.” The system sighed. “Next time, just eat it at school. I watched the replay, she also went through your drawers and cabinets just now.”
Jiang Zhiyan frowned, but didn’t say anything more. She picked up a coffee spoon, scooped up some crumbs, put them in her mouth, then opened her phone.
[Jiang Zhiyan: I’m eating your cookies.]
[Liang Xi | X | 29 | 0: How are they? (expectant)]
[Jiang Zhiyan: Delicious, great texture, very fragrant. I finished them all! Just a bit bitter for me. Although it’s a fragrant bitterness, a sweet tooth like me still (crying face)]
[Liang Xi | X | 29 | 0: I know what you mean! I like sweet things too! Then I’ll make sweet ones for you tomorrow.]
[Jiang Zhiyan: Isn’t it tiring making desserts every day?]
[Liang Xi | X | 29 | 0: It’s alright, it’s my hobby. Anyway, our school lets out early, so it doesn’t interfere with anything.]
[Jiang Zhiyan: That’s good. Seeing you leave dejectedly every day, I’ve wanted to stop you several times (cat heartbroken).]
[Liang Xi | X | 29 | 0: It’s okay, if he doesn’t eat them, I’ll just eat them when I’m hungry.]
Jiang Zhiyan curled her lips.
[Jiang Zhiyan: Actually, I’m still a little concerned, why were you in a bad mood this morning?]
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Chapter 4: I Also Want Cake (4)
Jiang Zhiyan leaned back in her chair, looking at her phone. The other party’s reply speed had significantly slowed down.
She took out her homework, placed her phone aside, and continued to wait.
After about three minutes, the other party finally replied.
[Liang Xi: It’s nothing, just suddenly felt a little down. I’m usually in a good mood. (cute emoticon)]
Jiang Zhiyan typed several sentences on the screen, then deleted them all, replying with a single word: “Okay.”
There were indeed many things she wanted to say, but… they weren’t close yet, having only met for the first time yesterday.
“You’re much more serious when replying to her messages.” The system said faintly.
“She’s the female lead, of course I have to treat her seriously.”
If the system hadn’t reminded her, Jiang Zhiyan would have forgotten that she had other messages left unanswered.
The messages she replied to in the morning had been met with several question marks, and a few people even asked if she had been possessed.
However, the system hadn’t given her any warnings about being exposed, so these people probably just read similar novels recently.
A pretty accurate guess.
She replied to the messages again in the same detached, elegant, and indifferent tone as in the morning, informing them by the way that she was planning to change her persona recently. They all chuckled and wanted to bet with her on how long she could keep it up.
“You actually managed to smooth it over?” The system was shocked.
“What’s so difficult about that?” Jiang Zhiyan glanced at the time. “The time I spent replying to messages was enough for me to finish one subject’s homework.”
As she complained, she glanced at the chat with Liang Xi again. The other party replied with an emoticon and hadn’t said anything else since.
Jiang Zhiyan stared at Liang Xi’s name, then put her phone aside again.
If there’s no topic, it’s better not to force it, it’s annoying.
Jiang Zhiyan’s mother sat downstairs, waiting for Jiang Zhiyan to come down. But who would have thought that Jiang Zhiyan would be so stubborn this time. She waited for several hours but didn’t see Jiang Zhiyan come down to apologize. After going upstairs, she found that the lights in her room were already off.
She tried to open the door, but the room was locked.
“Jiang Zhiyan! How many times have I told you, no locking the door!”
“I’m going to sleep.” Jiang Zhiyan frowned.
“Why lock the door to sleep?”
Jiang Zhiyan stared at the ceiling, got up, and opened the door.
“Don’t look at me like that! I’m your mother!”
“I want to sleep.” Jiang Zhiyan pinched her nose. She didn’t know what was wrong with her look; she was just tired.
“Sleep, huh? You want to sleep, you don’t care about anything. You want to sleep, you just care about your own comfort.” Jiang Zhiyan’s mother stared at Jiang Zhiyan, speaking sarcastically. “You ungrateful thing!”
“What do you want me to do?” Jiang Zhiyan suddenly asked.
“I really hate you looking like this! What do I want you to do? Your good-for-nothing father is staying at that bitch’s place again today! Still lying to me, treating me like a fool.”
Jiang Zhiyan frowned. How could this family situation be so messy? But Liang Xi and the male lead’s family situations… seemed to be a mess too.
“Do you want me to kill him? I’m not an adult yet. You can write me a letter of forgiveness, and I probably won’t be inside for long. Maybe I can even make it look like an accident.”
Her mother froze for two seconds, opening and closing her mouth: “What are you talking about?”
“Permanently solving your pain.” Jiang Zhiyan looked at her, her tone calm. “You can check his financial situation recently. Do you have a prenuptial agreement? Has he made a will?”
Her mother took two steps back: “What nonsense are you talking about! Are you crazy?”
She looked at Jiang Zhiyan in disbelief.
“So you’re not planning to change any of this, just venting your dissatisfaction at me?” Jiang Zhiyan looked at her mother.
Her mother opened her mouth, suddenly finding the person in front of her strange and terrifying.
“I’m going to bed. You should go to bed early too. Goodnight.” Jiang Zhiyan smiled.
Jiang Zhiyan closed the door. Her mother stood at the door for a long time before leaving.
“Host…”
“Just a peripheral NPC, handling it won’t be a big problem.” Jiang Zhiyan pulled at the quilt. “It’s just that life might be even harder. But my days were already getting harder and harder, so it makes no difference.”
The system was speechless.
“Go to school early tomorrow, wake me up twenty minutes earlier.” She wanted to have breakfast with Liang Xi.
Liang Xi ate breakfast in the school’s small garden every morning, often encountering the male lead, creating many ambiguous situations there.
Perhaps because the thought of waking up early was too strong, Jiang Zhiyan woke up before the agreed time with the system.
She looked at herself in the mirror. Her complexion wasn’t good, her face pale. She was already thin, and now paired with this face, she looked terminally ill, without a trace of beauty.
Jiang Zhiyan leaned on the sink, touching her face.
“Host, you look like you can be directly cast as a ghost in an infinite flow novel right now.”
Jiang Zhiyan tugged at the corner of her mouth: “I can tell you’re very dissatisfied with me.”
“How could that be!” The system immediately retorted.
“Someone who cares about me would ask if I’m feeling unwell.” Jiang Zhiyan had originally planned to put on some makeup to make her complexion less frightening, but now she felt it was unnecessary. She lowered her eyelids slightly, softening her overall demeanor.
She changed into her school uniform and went downstairs: “Auntie, please pack my breakfast, I want to eat at school.”
“Oh, okay.” The housekeeper nodded, looking at her with some surprise.
The so-called breakfast was just a few slices of whole wheat bread and a small bottle of skim milk, looking rather unappetizing.
Jiang Zhiyan stuffed the things into her bag and asked the driver to take her to school.
Because it was very early, there weren’t many people at the school gate. Jiang Zhiyan looked out the window, saw a figure walking ahead, and curled her lips: “Uncle, please stop a little further ahead, I see a classmate.”
“Oh, okay.”
Going directly to the small garden would seem too deliberate, but a chance encounter on the road, going there together, would be perfectly natural.
Jiang Zhiyan opened the car door, waved to Liang Xi who was lagging behind, and jumped out of the car, smiling brightly: “Morning! What a coincidence, do you come to school this early every day?”
“Yes, I’m used to waking up early. You’re very early today too.” Liang Xi jogged a couple of steps, even her running posture looking very well-behaved.
“Because I woke up very early. Probably because I was thinking about the delicious desserts today… so I’m like an elementary school student on a field trip.” Jiang Zhiyan looked into her eyes.
Liang Xi smiled shyly, lowering her head slightly. Jiang Zhiyan, seeing a falling leaf about to land on Liang Xi’s head, quickly reached out and caught it.
“Huh? What’s wrong?” Liang Xi felt the movement above her head and subconsciously looked up, her head bumping solidly into the back of Jiang Zhiyan’s hand the next second. She instinctively ducked her head.
“A leaf.” Jiang Zhiyan lowered her hand.
The two looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh.