Chapter 6

She brought him breakfast and scolded him, and just like that she earned seventy affection points. Qiao Zhenzhen used fifty of them to extend Chi Shen's life by five months, keeping twenty in reserve.
"In just two days I've extended his life by half a year, by the time he graduates he'll probably live to a hundred," Qiao Zhenzhen said, satisfied.
Xiao Ba was excited too: "Host, you're amazing, you're the most incredible person I've ever met!"
"It's not me who's impressive, it's Chi Shen," Qiao Zhenzhen said, lifting the mirror to glance at him. When he met her eyes his arm tensed, and she couldn't help sighing. "I need to have a proper talk with him. He can't keep being so scared of me."
She had thought that after years of him pursuing her, when she finally turned back to him he'd happily welcome her. Now it was clear that wasn't the case, he was guarded and nervous and even resisted her closeness. It felt like the old fable about someone who loved dragons in name only: obsessed in words, terrified in practice.
Exactly, like that fable. He seemed to want to shadow her twenty-four hours a day, obsessed with her, but the moment she appeared he'd be ready to bolt. If she hadn't blocked him those few times, who knew how often he'd have gotten away.
"…What on earth is he thinking?" Qiao Zhenzhen muttered, earning a glare from the teacher. She immediately sat up straight and solemnly stared at the inscrutable writing on the board.
The morning passed quickly. When the dismissal bell rang, students from the whole school building surged toward the cafeteria; the corridors filled with gleeful shouts, the classroom gloom entirely gone.
Zhao Lianqiao sat at her desk, deliberately taking her time packing up, listening intently to the commotion behind her. After the whole morning she had calmed down; she didn't know what had come over Qiao Zhenzhen, humiliating her in front of everyone, but if she offered a sincere apology she would forgive her.
After all, Qiao Jian hadn't divorced yet and she wasn't legally his stepdaughter, so she had to swallow it for the sake of appearances. One day, when she replaced Qiao Zhenzhen as the heroine, she wouldn't have to endure being pushed around anymore.
Zhao Lianqiao exhaled and set her things down, waiting patiently. Even as classmates trickled out and the hallway quieted, she remained confident.
Because of the signals she'd given off, everyone thought Qiao Zhenzhen was difficult to get along with. Qiao Zhenzhen didn't care and never defended herself, so since starting high school no one wanted to be around her, and Zhao Lianqiao was Qiao Zhenzhen's only friend.
When the two of them fought, Qiao Zhenzhen ended up eating alone, attending class alone, and facing Chi Shen alone. Zhao Lianqiao was different, she was always surrounded by people, and even a cold war with Qiao Zhenzhen wouldn't affect her life. So after every quarrel it was always Qiao Zhenzhen who would make the first move to reconcile.
She was sure today would be no different.
A triumphant smile tugged at Zhao Lianqiao's lips as she waited in her seat. A minute passed, then five, but no sign of Qiao Zhenzhen coming over to apologize. She couldn't sit still any longer; frowning, she looked back, only to find the huge classroom empty.
She went green with anger.
Meanwhile, Qiao Zhenzhen had completely forgotten the morning's break with Zhao Lianqiao and didn't realize she was waiting for an apology. The moment school ended she flowed with the crowd to the cafeteria, glancing back every now and then and only moving on once she was sure Chi Shen was still following her.
Soon she reached the cafeteria; the long-missed, familiar scent of food stirred a flash of nostalgia in her eyes.
At seventeen or eighteen she liked company; the worst part was coming to the cafeteria alone. Back then, whenever Zhao Lianqiao ditched her she'd rather skip a meal than eat by herself, thinking back now felt ridiculous.
Eating alone was bliss, it was much more pleasant than eating with someone else. In a good mood, Qiao Zhenzhen swiped her meal card for chicken wings, potato noodles, and a small cake. Plate full, she scanned for an empty seat and sat down at the first spot she found.
Chengde High's cafeteria was contracted out to various chain restaurants; every window served tasty food, it wasn't the old communal stew setup.
As soon as she sat, Qiao Zhenzhen couldn't help grabbing the small cake and biting off two-thirds in one go.
[Affection +10, current total 30]
Hm?
With cake at the corner of her mouth she looked up in surprise and saw Chi Shen still standing in the middle of the cafeteria. He hadn't expected her to look up; his eyes flickered and he turned toward the food counter.
Qiao Zhenzhen quietly followed his figure. After he'd finished getting his food, he craned his neck to look around, making her frown immediately.
The free soup and the five-yuan meal of three vegetables and rice were practically monk-like, no wonder he looked so thin. How had she forgotten that Chengde High’s food was decent but expensive? With Chi Shen’s parents the way they were, they probably wouldn’t begrudge him much pocket money.
Seeing Chi Shen sit in an inconspicuous corner, she immediately carried her tray over. His gaze stayed fixed on her; when he saw her approach he pressed his thin lips together and the hand holding his chopsticks gradually tightened.
Just as he was about to stand, Qiao Zhenzhen was already there in three quick strides. “If you try to run, I’ll tie you up with a rope.”
“...Host, we still need to rely on him to gain affection points, could you not be so rough?” Xiao Ba weakly reminded.
Qiao Zhenzhen raised an eyebrow, set down her tray, and sat directly opposite Chi Shen.
Chi Shen tensed, his dark pupils quietly fixed on her.
Qiao Zhenzhen glanced at him, plucked a chicken wing from her tray and slid it toward him. “Eat.”
Chi Shen’s Adam’s apple moved; he lowered his eyes and looked at the wing without saying a word.
“It’s not poisoned.” Qiao Zhenzhen explained helplessly. When he still didn’t move, she simply took the wing back, bit into it herself, and then returned it to his plate.
Seeing the wing with a bite taken out of it, Chi Shen finally moved his chopsticks.
[Affinity +10, now 40 points]
“He likes eating leftovers!” Xiao Ba exclaimed.
Qiao Zhenzhen was speechless. “What’s wrong with you? That’s not him liking leftovers, he’s happy because he thinks I didn’t poison him.”
Xiao Ba found that convincing.
Chi Shen ate slowly, but his movements were elegant and polite, as if he’d received formal etiquette training, completely unlike his parents. Qiao Zhenzhen stared for a moment and a fresh sense of incongruity rose up again.
Once she got to know Chi Shen a little better, she decided she had to look into his family situation.
A smile lingered at the corner of Qiao Zhenzhen’s mouth. When Chi Shen finished the chicken wing, she immediately split her braised pork in half and gave him hers.
“I made too much; I can’t finish it, help me out.” She softened her tone.
Chi Shen no longer resisted and obediently began to eat. Qiao Zhenzhen was in a good mood and picked up her chopsticks, but after two pieces of pork she felt a bit sick of it. She glanced at the zucchini on Chi Shen’s plate and didn’t hesitate to take a bite.
Chi Shen paused; his chopsticks aimed for the zucchini but veered and landed on the stir-fried celery instead. The two ate in silence. A load-bearing column beside the table cut this spot off from the rest of the hall, creating a small, semi-enclosed space.
When Zhao Lianqiao arrived at the canteen she didn’t notice them in the corner either, but the girl beside her cried out, “Lianqiao, look! Am I hallucinating? Qiao Zhenzhen is actually eating with Chi Shen!”
“Impossible...” Zhao Lianqiao reflexively denied, but the next second she saw the two sitting opposite each other and her eyes widened in shock.
“Doesn’t Qiao Zhenzhen usually avoid him? What’s gotten into her today, sitting at the same table as him,” the girl gossiped excitedly, covering her mouth. “Could she be into this pervert?”
Zhao Lianqiao’s expression soured. She frowned at the pair in the corner, feeling inexplicably rotten. Qiao Zhenzhen must be crazy to sit that close to Chi Shen, did she not want to eat alone, or was she doing it to spite her?
“Who knows what’s wrong with her. Don’t bother with her.” Zhao Lianqiao’s tone was sharp. After two years of friendship, she knew Qiao Zhenzhen all too well, she feared and loathed Chi Shen enough to want to transfer. If Zhao Lianqiao hadn’t persuaded her to stay, she’d probably have run off abroad.
Someone like that could never suddenly accept Chi Shen. She must be doing it on purpose to prove she wasn’t afraid of him at all and didn’t need her protection.
Childish.
Zhao Lianqiao snorted. “Let’s go, straight to the supermarket. I’ll buy you snacks.”
“Wow, Lianqiao, you’re so generous! I’m so lucky to have a friend like you.” The girl beamed.
Zhao Lianqiao thrived on that kind of flattery; hearing it brightened her mood, and she left the canteen with her chin high.
In the corner, Chi Shen watched them go in silence, no emotion showing in the dim depths of his eyes.
“What are you staring at?” Qiao Zhenzhen snapped her fingers in front of him, curious.
Chi Shen came back to himself; his gaze returned to her.
Qiao Zhenzhen blinked, finished the last mouthful of rice in her tray, and was about to put down her chopsticks when she noticed Chi Shen’s tray was nearly empty, only the section with the zucchini looked untouched.
“You’re picky?” she asked. “If you’re picky, why pick that?”
There were a dozen or so vegetable options in the set, why choose something you didn’t like? She couldn’t figure out his thinking, so she tried to help finish it, but she was full and only took a few bites before setting down her chopsticks.
“No, I can’t eat anymore.” She sighed.
Before she finished speaking, Chi Shen picked up his chopsticks again and finished the remaining zucchini.
Qiao Zhenzhen blinked in surprise. “But you said you don’t like it?”
Chi Shen said nothing, silently staring at her.
A flicker went through Qiao Zhenzhen; she vaguely felt she might have misunderstood him. Just as she was about to piece it together, the canteen suddenly erupted in noise and her attention was drawn away.
People were abandoning half-eaten meals and rushing out as if eager for a spectacle. The newcomers were buzzing with excitement, and a few of them happened to sit on the other side of the load-bearing column, Qiao Zhenzhen tilted her head and could hear their conversation,
“That Qian You has it so rough, no idea who he offended; someone locked him in the bathroom and he wasn’t found until this noon.”
Chi Shen’s eyes flickered and his back straightened a fraction. All of Qiao Zhenzhen’s attention was on the other side of the column; she didn’t notice the dark shadow in his eyes.
The gossip kept going.
“They say he’s had a breakdown, just slept in the toilet for a night; is it really that serious?”
“They say he broke his leg. Whether that’s true or not, he kind of had it coming. The school stopped using that restroom ages ago, but he kept going there. When he got locked in nobody came to help, if the janitor hadn’t gone to fetch something, he’d probably have died in there and no one would’ve known.”
"The school has already called the police. I don’t know when they’ll have any results."
Qiao Zhenzhen tugged at the corner of her mouth. She wanted to point out that there were no cameras in the bathroom, probably the same as in her previous life: even with a report, nothing would come of it. Whoever had done this had been meticulous, left no trace, no clue at all. The thought of such a person walking the same school made her skin crawl.
Remembering how Qian You had been carried onto the ambulance in her last life made the hairs on her arms stand up. Chi Shen’s gaze stayed fixed on her; he hadn’t missed the flicker of fear in her eyes.
He lowered his eyes. His handsome face had drained of color, devoid of any warmth.