Chapter 5

Qiao Zhenzhen even dreamed about it, wondering why Chi Shen could stare at his hand and somehow raise his affection for her by twenty points. She thought about it so hard that she woke up before her alarm the next morning.
She didn’t linger in bed; after a quick wash she headed downstairs. Near the living room on the first floor she heard the driver complaining. She snorted softly and kept going. When the driver saw her he fell silent at once and looked pleadingly toward the suited middle-aged man on the sofa, her biological father, Qiao Jian.
Qiao Jian frowned; when he saw her he didn’t look pleased. “Come here.”
Qiao Zhenzhen walked over with a cool expression.
“I heard you want to change drivers?” Qiao Jian said in a sour tone. “Xiao Wu has always been conscientious. He’s driven you for two years through rain or shine. Maybe he hasn’t done anything heroic, but he’s put in his share of work. You can be willful, but there are limits. How can you refuse his service without giving a single reason?”
Qiao Zhenzhen watched him silently, her fingertips digging into her palm. In her previous life, after Qiao Jian’s divorce she had left the Qiao household with her mother and hadn’t spoken to him for years. They only met again ten years later in a hospital. When they did meet, Qiao Jian was accompanied by Zhao Lianqiao and her mother Zhao Ying, a picture of family intimacy so brazen it hurt, while his own biological daughter felt like a stranger.
Seeing him again today felt just like that chance encounter, she felt little emotion, only a growing sense of distaste.
“Say something, mute?” Qiao Jian frowned. He’d always been busy with his career and rarely concerned himself with her life. By the time he remembered he had a daughter, their relationship had already faded to the point of strangers. He’d thought about mending things but lacked the patience to parent properly, and with each attempt they drifted further apart.
Even though she was his flesh and blood, she seemed less familiar to him than that Zhao Lianqiao girl, who knew just when to give warmth, making him feel more like a father to her than to his own daughter.
“Yes, miss, say something,” the driver eagerly chimed in. “If I really did something wrong, you don’t have to say it, I’ll resign of my own accord.”
He said it with confidence and a faint smugness; he clearly didn’t think Qiao Zhenzhen could catch him out.
Qiao Zhenzhen regarded him coldly, as if staring at a buffoon.
“Alright, I know why you’re angry,” Qiao Jian said in a low voice. “It’s just that he made a couple of extra remarks yesterday and mentioned Zhao Lianqiao. What’s the point of dragging Xiao Wu into a squabble between you two ‘sisters’? It’s childish!”
Sisters? As if the two of them were sisters. A flicker of irony crossed Qiao Zhenzhen’s eyes as she cut straight to the driver: “Yesterday I asked you to bring my mother a milk tea. Did you bring it?”
“I did! Madam knows!” the driver hurriedly replied.
“But it was cold.” Qiao Zhenzhen raised her eyes.
The driver looked momentarily stunned, not quite understanding what she meant.
“It’s only a ten-odd minute drive from the school to home, and there was no traffic. The milk tea shouldn’t have gone cold unless you didn’t come straight back after buying it and went elsewhere,” she said, looking at him.
A flicker of unease crossed the driver’s face. “I, I stopped at a gas station…”
“There’s surveillance at the school gate. Do you want me to pull the footage now?” Qiao Zhenzhen’s voice turned cold. “Let’s see whether you went to a gas station or went back to pick someone up.”
The driver hesitated, glanced at Qiao Jian and then at Qiao Zhenzhen, and steeled himself before admitting, “Yes. After Miss got out yesterday, I went back to the school gate and drove Miss Zhao home.”
Qiao Jian’s expression remained calm; it was clear the driver had already told him.
“I, I just thought that Miss Zhao is the young lady’s good friend, and I’ve been driving her for two years. It would look bad to suddenly leave her behind. Since Miss wasn’t taking the car, I called Miss Zhao and, hearing she was still at school, I went to pick her up,” the driver explained to Qiao Jian.
Qiao Jian put on a stern face and scolded Qiao Zhenzhen: “Xiao Wu did the right thing. He was helping you maintain a friendship.”
“Maintain my friendship?” Qiao Zhenzhen raised an eyebrow. “He set aside the tasks I assigned him to go pick up someone unrelated. That’s maintaining my friendship?”
Qiao Jian frowned. “Zhenzhen, you…”
“Besides, if he genuinely wanted to help me keep a friendship, why did he lie about going to a gas station? Why the furtiveness about picking someone up, as if he and Zhao Lianqiao had some secret? Dad, don’t you find that odd?” Qiao Zhenzhen pressed.
A hint of awkwardness flickered across Qiao Jian’s face. “What’s so strange about that? Don’t read too much into it.”
“I hope I’m not overthinking it,” Qiao Zhenzhen said, glancing at the driver with loaded implication. “With the way he acts, I almost thought Zhao Lianqiao was the daughter.”
“Nonsense, you are my only daughter!” Qiao Jian stiffened his expression.
“So don’t defend him, would you? Otherwise I’d really start to think Zhao Lianqiao matters more to you than I do.” Qiao Zhenzhen said, a mocking smile tugging at her lips.
For a moment Qiao Jian looked thrown; he frowned and snapped, “What nonsense. Aren’t you afraid of making a spectacle of yourself if you say such things? She’s just your classmate, how could she be more important than you?”
“Mr. Qiao…” The driver felt unease prickling.
Qiao Jian cleared his throat and softened his tone. “Zhenzhen, Xiao Wu didn’t mean any harm. I think he realizes his mistake. Why don’t you forgive him this once? If there’s a next time, I’ll fire him, he won’t even be allowed near the Qiao household again.”
“Yes, yes, I promise it won’t happen again,” the driver quickly said.
“I don’t have the final say; I still need to ask my mother’s opinion,” Qiao Zhenzhen said, glancing around. “Is she still in the room? Call her out. Let’s have the three of us hold a little meeting to discuss whether a driver who cares so much about an outsider, so much that he can delay his employer’s milk tea, is fit to drive me.”
“…It’s just a small thing. No need to involve your mother. If you don’t want him to drive you, then don’t let him,” Qiao Jian immediately dismissed. Although his relationship with Zhao Ying had lasted two years, he had no plans to take it further, so he didn’t want to make a scene in front of Qin Jing.
“Mr. Qiao, how can that be?!” the driver instantly panicked. Driving Qiao Zhenzhen to school wasn’t just easy work, he also often received bonuses from Qin Jing; it was a rare, lucrative gig.
Qiao Jian's face grew stern: "Fine. From now on you can drive at the company ,no need to come to our house."
Seeing Qiao Jian was resolute, the driver dared not say another word. He pulled a sour face and shot a furtive glance at Qiao Zhenzhen, then recoiled when their eyes met.
Qiao Zhenzhen snorted softly, ran to the kitchen for two sandwiches, then took a taxi to school. She ate one herself and tucked the other into a paper bag, carrying it all the way to the school gates.
She'd gotten up early; when she arrived it was barely dawn and the road opposite the school was still almost empty. But Chi Shen was already standing in a corner. Qiao Zhenzhen walked straight up to him and held the paper bag out.
"Breakfast," she said.
Chi Shen stared at the paper bag in her hand, then pursed his thin lips for a long moment.
"Stop staring and eat, I know you didn't have breakfast," Qiao Zhenzhen urged. In her last life she knew him for three years and had seen him with low blood sugar several times. Later she'd heard from classmates that he came an hour early every day to wait for her and often skipped breakfast.
But after what happened yesterday, she couldn't rule out the possibility that his irresponsible parents simply didn't feed him.
The sun hadn't risen yet; the dim morning air was cool and fresh. Chi Shen and Qiao Zhenzhen stood together ,their builds were as mismatched as a big dog and a rabbit, yet their presence suggested exactly the opposite.
When he still didn't take it, Qiao Zhenzhen narrowed her eyes. "Hurry up, don't force me to stuff it into your mouth." She could compromise on other things, but not this; skipping breakfast was a bad habit.
At her threat, Chi Shen finally reached out and took the bag. He pulled out a sandwich and inspected it for a while, then began to eat slowly in front of her, each bite deliberate and his expression growing heavier.
…They had the same kind of sandwich, right? Why did his look so unappetizing? Qiao Zhenzhen watched him speechlessly.
The sandwich was palm-sized, yet Chi Shen spent nearly five minutes on it, only finishing as more and more people gathered at the school gates. Watching him take the final bite, Qiao Zhenzhen finally relaxed and turned toward the classroom building.
Chi Shen watched her retreating figure in silence; only after she put some distance between them did his tense muscles slowly loosen.
After walking a bit Qiao Zhenzhen suddenly turned back to make sure Chi Shen was still following, then kept going while asking Xiao Ba, "I bought him breakfast, why didn't my favorability increase?"
"…You're practically shoving his breakfast into his mouth, how is that supposed to generate new favorability?" Xiao Ba replied. Chi Shen was now their biggest source of goodwill; threatening a major client in this way left even the system speechless.
Qiao Zhenzhen tugged at the corner of her mouth. "I don't want to either, but if I don't say it like that he definitely won't cooperate."
As she spoke she reached the fourth floor; before she could step into the classroom she heard voices inside,
"She's perfectly capable, so why does she need you to do duty for her? That's just too much," one girl said angrily.
"It's fine, we're friends, so it's only right I help her," Zhao Lianqiao explained with a smile, sounding magnanimous.
"You call her a friend, does she consider you a friend?" the girl continued defending herself. "I think she's just taking advantage, and you too, you can't be too nice, you know?"
"She just has a bit of a princess temperament; otherwise she's fine," Zhao Lianqiao 'defended' her.
Qiao Zhenzhen tutted and walked in. "She's the one who offered to do the duty with me, how does that make me the one taking advantage?"
Caught red-handed gossiping behind her back, the girl flushed with embarrassment. Seeing the dozen or so classmates who had just entered the room looking over, she bit her lip and retorted, "Even if she wanted to help, you can't make her do it all yourself. She's your friend, not your maid."
"Did I say she was my maid?" Qiao Zhenzhen glanced at Zhao Lianqiao. "Besides, she's not the one at a loss, after finishing duty she called my driver and it was my driver who took her home."
The moment she said that, the rest of the class turned to look at Zhao Lianqiao. Even the girl who'd been backing Zhao seemed suddenly at a loss for words.
No matter what, even the best friendships need boundaries. Bossing someone else's employee around sounded off. Chengde High was a private school; most students came from well-off families and being driven to school was common. Hearing Qiao Zhenzhen's remark put people in an awkward mood.
Zhao Lianqiao hadn't expected Qiao Zhenzhen to know about her being driven home and froze for a moment before quickly explaining, "It was Uncle Wu who insisted on driving me home, not something I asked for." She meant to imply she and the driver were close and being chauffeured was normal.
"Mm, it's my family's car, refueled with my family's card, and my driver gave you a ride," Qiao Zhenzhen said calmly.
Zhao Lianqiao hadn't expected her to be so publicly shamed today; torn between humiliation and anger but unable to show it, she pursed her lips and tried to appear meek. "I'm sorry. I'll give you the money for the gas later, please don't be mad, okay?"
"Gas money is only a few yuan, since you helped her with duty it should even out," the girl who had been silent until now finally said.
Zhao Lianqiao forced a wry smile and was about to play the victim in front of everyone, when Qiao Zhenzhen said coolly, "You're right, let's call it even. And stay away from each other from now on."
She paused, then tilted the corner of her mouth up at Zhao Lianqiao. "After all, I do have a princess temperament, I'm not suited to be your friend."
Hearing her emphasize "princess temperament" made Zhao Lianqiao lose face. After all, she was a transmigrator who knew the original plot and felt a certain superiority over the locals. Now that Qiao Zhenzhen had so publicly demeaned her, she lost the urge to placate her and sat down with a stiff expression.
Compared to her agitation, Qiao Zhenzhen was in high spirits; she only returned to her seat after making sure Chi Shen had sat down.
"Was I too harsh just now? Will Chi Shen be more afraid of me?" she suddenly worried.
Xiao Ba was silent for a moment. "…You're only thinking of this now? Isn't it a bit late?"
Qiao Zhenzhen sighed helplessly. "I don't want to either." She had thought about going along with Zhao Lianqiao for appearances, but every time she saw that face it irritated her; she didn't want to force herself into a false peace, so she cut ties outright.
The class bell rang; the air turned muggy and she sank back into another tedious stretch of studying.
She hadn't slept well the night before and spent the whole morning half-asleep. Near noon, a notification suddenly popped into her head,
[Affection +20, current total 40]
She was instantly wide awake. "…Could it be because I look good when I sleep?" With such a big boost, she couldn't think of anyone but Chi Shen.
"No," Xiao Ba denied at first, then fell silent for a moment before concluding, "The affection points appeared because of breakfast."
"Didn't it say the delay could be at most a minute? Breakfast was three hours ago." Qiao Zhenzhen frowned.
Xiao Ba was puzzled too: "It didn't show a delay; it was generated instantly."
Qiao Zhenzhen grew even more confused. After thinking for a long time a lightbulb went off and she let out a bigger, speechless sigh: "…He thought the sandwich was bad before, so he didn't gain affection then. But after a whole morning passed and he was fine, he realized my breakfast wasn't a problem, and only then did twenty points of affection appear."
Was he an idiot? He was convinced she meant to harm him, yet still dared to eat what she gave him, really courting death. A sudden image flashed through her mind of him lying in her arms, covered in blood, and her mood instantly soured.
Qiao Zhenzhen pressed her lips together, took out a mirror and angled it behind her. Sure enough, Chi Shen's face appeared in the reflection.
"You big dummy!" she mouthed fiercely.
[Affection +30, current total 70]
Qiao Zhenzhen: "?"