Chapter 12

That morning’s exchange at the school gate had earned Yan Xiao another two points, bringing her total to seven.
She originally thought that with her fixed daily “routines”, giving and receiving cotton candy, sitting at Qiu Li’s lunch table, plus a few improvisations, she could easily rack up ten to fifteen points a week.
But now, aside from the first week when she’d earned nine points, she hadn’t made any progress in two whole weeks.
Fourteen days.
And the number had completely frozen, stuck at sixteen, not budging even a little.
After another break-time attempt to drag Qiu Li into a crowd of kids to play on the slide and seesaw, only to see no reaction from the system, Yan Xiao fell deep into thought.
What’s going on?
She hugged a carrot-shaped cushion as tall as she was, sitting in the corner of the classroom with a troubled look on her tiny face.
007.
She bit her lip and called the system in her head.
System: [Online.]
Are you broken?
After a pause, the system replied,
[I just ran a self-diagnostic. Nope, perfectly fine.]
Then did the data collection part break?
System: [We’re not some buggy green app, we never “break.”]
Yan Xiao went silent.
If the system wasn’t the problem, then what was?
Everything had been progressing normally before. So why had it suddenly stopped?
Her brows furrowed tighter and tighter. Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from outside, thud thud thud, she instantly recognized that pace. It was Xiao Tai.
Yan Xiao looked up.
Sure enough, Xiao Tai ran straight into the reading area, shoved Bruce aside with his little butt, grabbed two or three picture books, and even snatched the one Bruce was reading, then bolted out again.
Bruce stumbled, nearly falling from the shove. His book was gone, but he didn’t even seem upset. He simply got up, calm-faced, picked out another one, and started reading again.
Yan Xiao: “…”
She remembered, when she first came here, whenever Xiao Tai stole his things, Bruce would always fight back. They’d even scuffled a few times, though Bruce had always lost. But now? He didn’t even resist?
Watching that scene made something click in her mind.
She didn’t want to believe it. But the thought wouldn’t go away.
She tossed the carrot cushion aside and marched over to Bruce.
“Xiao Tai took your book,” she said. “Why didn’t you fight him for it?”
Bruce looked up at her with his round face and said matter-of-factly, “He wants it, then he can have it. There’s plenty of books. I’ll just get another one. I’m used to it anyway.”
Used to it. Used to it. Used to it…
Those three words took flight in her mind, circling endlessly, making her expression change.
If even Bruce had gotten used to Xiao Tai’s bullying did that mean Qiu Li had also gotten used to her level of annoyance?
The word tolerance popped into her head without warning.
She stood there thinking for a long moment, then it hit her.
And the realization made her face sink.
So that was it.
Her current “methods” could only push his dislike up to sixteen points. No matter how many times she repeated them, the value wouldn’t go up anymore. If she wanted more, she needed a new approach.
It was like doing nothing but basic math problems, no matter how many you solved, your overall test score would never rise.
Yan Xiao scowled. The system’s a scam!
She’d thought she could just keep doing what worked. But clearly, that wasn’t allowed.
After a long silence, the system spoke up again, trying to defend itself:
[I never said it would work forever. That was your own assumption.]
Yan Xiao: Silence!
System: [Okay.]
Barely three seconds later, it came back, as chatty as ever:
[Actually, it’s perfectly logical. Human likes and dislikes evolve with age. For example, right now, the little villain is six years old, he hates sweets. But when he’s ten or eighteen, maybe he’ll hate exams instead. As he grows and gains experience, his perspectives change, and so do the things he likes or dislikes.]
Yan Xiao: So what’s your point?
System: [My point is, it makes sense. You can’t expect to keep using the same childish tactics, slides and seesaws, when he gets older, right?]
Yan Xiao: “…”
True, she thought grimly. If I keep doing this, I’ll just look like I have brain damage.
Then what should I do now?
System: [That’s your problem, not mine. It’s outside my operational scope. But I can give you a suggestion.]
Yan Xiao, already fed up, snapped, Then hurry up and say it.
System: [Spend more time with him. Observe. You’ll find something new eventually.]
That was the most useless advice she’d ever heard.
But after shooing the system away, she thought about it some more.
As vague as it was, the system wasn’t entirely wrong.
So, she decided to act.
It had been two weeks with no progress, and she was starting to feel the pressure. Since it was break time anyway, she might as well sneak over to Building One and observe him in secret.
The senior class was in the middle of art period, currently on break. Yan Xiao tiptoed to the back windows and peeked in, no sign of Qiu Li.
She turned, gripping the railing, and looked toward the playground, still no one.
Where did he go?
After waiting a while longer with no luck, she frowned.
Bathroom, maybe?
After a brief hesitation, she started toward the restroom at the end of the hallway.
Kindergarten breaks were long, so by now the restroom area was nearly empty. Yan Xiao was about to give up when she heard shouting from inside, familiar voices, and she could’ve sworn she even heard her own name.
“The little class’s Yan Xiao gives you candy every day, and you think you’re some big shot?”
“Yeah!”
“Where’s the candy, huh? Take it out!”
“Just because Yan Xiao gives you sweets, you think you’re special? My brother says you’re just a bastard, trash! A filthy bug!”
Yan Xiao: “……”
There’s bullying…even in kindergarten?!
A furious voice roared back from inside:
“Get lost!”
“Oh? Who are you telling to get lost? Think you’re tough now, huh?!”
“Who do you think you are?”
The sounds of shoving followed, the scuffle echoing against the tiled walls.
Yan Xiao stood frozen in the doorway, completely stunned.
So that was it!
No wonder her points hadn’t been going up, she wasn’t the only one provoking him!
Someone else had been stealing her hate points from behind her back!
Everyone’s emotions and energy are limited. When someone is surrounded by multiple annoying people or unpleasant things, they’ll instinctively focus their hatred on the worst one, and naturally, the rest will fade in comparison.
Just like that time when Qiu Zhan appeared beside her, Qiu Li had hated him the most.
She was already struggling to raise her “disgust value,” and now these brats were stealing her target? No way was she letting that slide.
Yan Xiao rolled up her sleeves, revealing her pale little arms.
Qiu Li could only be bullied by her. The person he hated most had to be her. All his disgust points belonged to her!
Fine, Qiu Zhan was part of the original storyline, she couldn’t interfere with that. But these little nobodies? What gave them the right to steal from her?!
Fuming, she marched up and kicked the half-closed bathroom door wide open.
Bang!
The kids scuffling inside froze mid-swing and turned toward her in unison.
Pointing at the boys yanking Qiu Li’s sleeves, arms, and legs, Yan Xiao shouted furiously, “Let go of him right now, or I’ll tell the teacher!”
Qiu Li, who had just pinned Chen Yao to the ground and was about to throw another punch: “…”

Author’s Note:
Little Qiu Li: Fierce but so cute~ (^▽^)
Xiao-xiao: Let go of that villain, he’s mine to deal with!