Chapter 87: First Impressions and New Routines

Gazing at Su Linxi, who appeared no older than a middle schooler, she found herself quite disbelieving.

She was so incredibly young…

In her mind, a bestselling author was typically an older youth, perhaps wearing glasses, a stark contrast to Su Linxi’s youthful image.

Originally, she had intended to urge Su Linxi to read more quickly, but then the thought struck her: would it not be impolite to interrupt a bestselling author, who was generously offering their feedback, simply to hasten their reading?

Thus, she silently counted the seconds, hoping Su Linxi would pick up the pace.

Su Linxi did not disappoint her; in just five minutes, she had finished reading the first three chapters, a total of nine thousand characters.

“‘If this is meant to be a web novel for a living, then these first three chapters are simply too bland. They lack any exciting points that would compel readers to continue. You should introduce some interesting settings or plot elements within the first three chapters; only then will your readers have the motivation to keep reading.'”

Yu Yinlian listened intently, yet Su Linxi’s halting words and slow pace left Yu Yinlian, with only five minutes remaining, feeling increasingly anxious.

“‘Your writing style is quite good. Keep up the good work.'”

Having delivered her critique, Su Linxi returned the phone to Yu Yinlian.

Yu Yinlian glanced at her phone’s timer, realizing her time was nearly up, and hastily bid the two farewell before departing from the Senior Two teaching building.

As Yu Yinlian receded into that unobservable world, Su Linxi and Zhong Tian instantly lost all memory pertaining to her.

They returned to their seats, preparing for the first class of the morning.

While preparing, a sudden realization struck Zhong Tian.

With Su Linxi present, he would no longer be able to eat and rest at Li Jianren’s dorm.

He would have to, like other students, either rest in the classroom or cycle home for ten minutes…

And then there was Zhong Jing; without Su Linxi, she would once again be relegated to instant noodles or takeout for dinner.

Though Zhong Tian found it somewhat troublesome, he did not, however, attribute any blame to Su Linxi.

After all, attending school was not inherently a bad thing, and any ensuing inconveniences could simply be resolved as they arose.

As the class bell rang, Zhong Tian cleared his mind, ceasing all other thoughts, and settled into the rhythm of the lesson.

****

The first class of the morning was English, and Chu Lenghu, like the rest of her classmates, was reciting the English vocabulary words that were to be dictated in five minutes.

These English words had been assigned for dictation the previous night, so she had already memorized them all during last night’s self-study session.

Now, she was merely solidifying her memory.

Five minutes passed, and the English teacher clapped their hands.

The students in the class instinctively took out their notebooks.

The English teacher turned on the projector, displaying the Chinese portion of the dictation content on the screen.

Chu Lenghu wrote quickly, demonstrating the effortless competence of a top student.

However, Zheng Qiao and Bai Ruijin found themselves in a predicament.

“‘Were these words even part of what we memorized last night…?'”

Zheng Qiao remained silent, merely biting the tip of her pen, gazing at the Chinese characters on the screen, as if a galaxy of stars and seas flashed through her mind.

‘It seems I memorized the wrong content…’

Both girls instantly found themselves in the same awkward situation.

They pieced together what they could from memory, managing to conjure a few seemingly plausible words, but before they could finish writing all of them, their notebooks were mercilessly collected by the group leader at the English teacher’s signal to stop writing.

‘We’re doomed!’

Zheng Qiao and Bai Ruijin knew they were likely finished.

“‘Wasn’t it supposed to be Unit Two, Part One…?'”

“‘I remembered that too…'”

“‘Ah… we’ll have to copy it as punishment…’

“‘Mm-hmm…'”

****

When the first Chinese class concluded, Homeroom Teacher Wang Changgeng’s lesson proved, as always, both engaging and easy to grasp.

Su Linxi had some recollection of this particular lesson taught by Homeroom Teacher Wang Changgeng, allowing her to absorb the knowledge quickly.

Although Su Linxi’s primary reason for enrolling was to assist Yu Naixi, she felt it was still necessary to attend classes as a sign of respect for her teachers.

“‘Hello, new classmate.'”

A person approached, someone Su Linxi recognized—a familiar acquaintance from her previous life: Class Monitor Qin Dong.

“‘I’m the vice class monitor for this class, my name is Qin Dong. If you encounter any problems at school, you can come to me for help, or find the other vice class monitor, that boy over there, Chen Chenchen.'”

‘Both of them are vice class monitors?’

In her previous life, Qin Dong was the class monitor and Chen Chenchen was the vice class monitor, but now both had become vice class monitors?

“‘Alright…'” Su Linxi paused for a moment before asking, “‘May I ask, who is the current class monitor?'”

“‘Oh, the class monitor,'”

Qin Dong smiled, pointing behind Su Linxi. “‘The class monitor’s seat is over there.'”

Behind Su Linxi was a chair covered with a cushion.

“‘Meow—'”

As she pondered, the Cat Class Monitor strutted into the classroom and swiftly leaped onto its seat.

‘The class monitor… is a cat?’

In Su Linxi’s memory, there had been no such cat at Taisugi High School.

This cat was likely a British Shorthair, probably left to roam freely on campus by someone.

Just as it was about to settle down for a nap, the Cat Class Monitor noticed Su Linxi’s presence.

It rose, its large cat eyes staring intently at Su Linxi for a long moment… then it sprang from the chair, pouncing towards Su Linxi’s face.

Su Linxi reacted swiftly, immediately rising from her chair to evade the Cat Class Monitor’s ‘flesh-bomb’ attack.

Missing its target, the Cat Class Monitor soared through the air in a peculiar arc, crashing directly into Su Linxi’s desk drawer with a resounding thud.

But in the next second, the Cat Class Monitor sprang out of the drawer, and with two nimble leaps, it darted into Su Linxi’s arms.

Su Linxi did not dodge this time, as the wall was behind her, and she feared the Cat Class Monitor would hit it directly.

So, she held it close.

The Cat Class Monitor preened in Su Linxi’s embrace, seemingly anticipating a stroke.

“‘Meow—'”

‘What’s wrong with this cat…’

The Cat Class Monitor was quite heavy and not small in size; she needed both hands to hold it, making it impossible to spare a hand to pet its head.

She could only silently place it back on its designated seat.

“‘Meow—'”

“‘Stay in your seat.'”

The Cat Class Monitor seemed to understand, letting out a ‘meow’ and curling into a ball.

“‘The class monitor seems to really like you.'”

“‘…Mm.'”

Qin Dong watched Su Linxi sit back down, her expression unruffled, and felt a touch of emotion.

Even Zhong Tian would show some emotional fluctuations when interacting with the Cat Class Monitor, but this girl remained completely impassive throughout.

Qin Dong simply could not discern whether she was pleased or angered.

In a way, that was quite impressive…

“‘Excuse me…'” Su Linxi raised her gaze. “‘Has my deskmate taken leave?'”

“‘Yes, I’m not entirely sure about the specific reason for her absence, but she often takes leave. In her first year of high school, she barely came to school a few times all year.'”

This detail was exactly the same as in her previous life.

During her first year of high school in her previous life, Su Linxi had only seen her return for exams.

At those times, she was silent and seemed somewhat dazed, yet she consistently achieved incredibly high scores.

Consequently, she was dubbed the ‘Genius Girl’ by many.

Reflecting now, she must have been suffering severe side effects from her abilities back then, with those high scores achieved solely through their use.

Perhaps, too, her dissociative identity disorder had slowly begun to form around that time.

“‘…Well, I’ll head back then. If you have any more questions, remember to come find us.'”

“‘Alright.'”

Su Linxi glanced at the class schedule written above the blackboard and took out the textbook for the next lesson.

Next, she needed to find an opportunity to ascertain Yu Naixi’s home address.

Once Butler Li’s investigation yielded results, she would make thorough preparations and then pay a visit…

Hopefully, before then, Yu Naixi could maintain her consciousness…

****

Soon, the morning classes concluded.

Zhong Tian had already informed Li Jianren a class earlier that he might no longer be eating at his dorm in the future.

Li Jianren expressed his understanding, then returned Zhong Tian’s bowl.

The moment the dismissal bell rang, the Senior Two speed-eaters, as was their custom, burst from the classroom and surged towards the canteen.

Zhong Tian, meanwhile, walked over to Su Linxi. “‘Linxi, would you like to go home for a rest at noon?'”

Su Linxi shook her head. “‘Resting in the classroom at noon will be fine.'”

“‘Good,'” Zhong Tian said, lowering his voice. “‘…After I have lunch with you, I’m going to Li Jianren’s—the one who came to our house for dinner before—I’m going to his dorm for a nap…’

“‘Alright.'” Su Linxi knew Zhong Tian had a habit of taking a midday nap. “‘You don’t need to be too concerned about me; just follow your usual routine.'”

“‘Okay, then I’ll take you to the canteen.'”

“‘Mm.'”

—-

Zheng Qiao and Bai Ruijin were queuing in the canteen.

Not being among the speed-eaters, they invariably found themselves waiting in a rather long line whenever they arrived at the canteen.

At that moment, many latecomers, upon seeing the extensive queue, either turned away to grab lunch at the convenience store or opted for the comparatively less crowded ‘nutritious meal window,’ willing to spend a little more to save considerable waiting time.

Among those queuing at the ‘nutritious meal window,’ Zheng Qiao and Bai Ruijin spotted Zhong Tian and Su Linxi.

Both Zheng Qiao and Bai Ruijin were somewhat surprised.

In their recollection, this was only the second time they had seen Zhong Tian in the canteen—the first being during the LJR strategy meeting.

They had always assumed Zhong Tian went home for lunch and a rest, as he was never seen in the canteen, nor had Zheng Qiao ever encountered him in Class Three during her usual lunchtime naps.

But today, he had suddenly appeared in the canteen.

‘Could it be because of that girl?’

Despite Zheng Qiao and Bai Ruijin having interacted with the girl twice already, they still did not know her name…

Zheng Qiao also noticed that the adorable girl beside Zhong Tian was now wearing the Taisugi High School uniform—though she still looked like a middle schooler.

She asked, her voice laced with curiosity, “‘Have you seen that girl at school before?'”

“‘You mean the one next to Zhong Tian?'”

“‘Mm-hmm.'”

“‘No… She might be a new first-year student.'”

“‘Now that you mention it, that’s entirely possible.'”

Zhong Tian and Su Linxi obtained their meals before them and settled into a window-side table in the canteen.

****