Chapter 98: A Stolen Item, a Missed Seasoning, and a Strategic Game

After much contemplation, faced with the choice between borrowing money from Zhong Tian and keeping the stolen item, Yu Yinlian ultimately decided to retain the latter.

She dreaded the thought of Zhong Tian growing annoyed with her over a loan, even though she knew his disposition was genuinely kind; a ‘what if’ fear lingered stubbornly.

In this current world, Zhong Tian was the sole person who still remembered her existence, and her only friend.

To lose anything else was bearable, but to lose this one irreplaceable friend was not.

Such were Yu Yinlian’s thoughts.

‘First, I’ll calculate the price of what I stole, then earn the money and return it later…’

‘Yes, that’s what I’ll do.’

Sss-rip—

Having convinced herself, she forcefully tore open a packet of instant noodles, and as if to prevent any change of heart, swiftly stuffed the noodle block into her old rice bowl before heading out of the dorm to fetch hot water.

After filling it with hot water and covering the bowl, she slumped onto her desk, remaining motionless for a long while.

Instead of her usual habit of mulling over novel outlines or the themes for new chapters, her mind was blank for the first time in ages, her gaze unfocused on her dorm room door.

Feeling as though three minutes had passed, Yu Yinlian rose from the desk, checked the time on her phone, and prepared to eat her breakfast.

****

‘At this hour, after eating breakfast, I probably won’t need lunch.’

She set down her phone and lifted the bowl’s lid.

As she picked up the pale yellow noodles with her chopsticks, her gaze fell upon the broth, and only then did she realize the subtle incongruity that had been bothering her.

“Ah… I didn’t put in the seasoning packet…”

****

“Great block!”

“Hey! You substitute on the sidelines, don’t cheer for the other team!”

“Who was it that blocked me so gleefully just now?!”

Standing on the sidelines, loudly cheering for the neighboring Class Four, was none other than Li Jianren, who, looking as if he wished for nothing more than chaos, shouted with all his might, “Go Class Four!”

Long Tao, holding the basketball, laughed and cursed, “You traitor! Old Rui, sub him in!”

“Alright!”

“Hey, hey, hey! Wu Rui, you can run and jump! Why are you subbing me in? Take some responsibility for the class and the team, come on!”

“You also need to fulfill—” Wu Rui stepped off the court and shoved Li Jianren onto it, “—your responsibility as a substitute player!”

“What the—!” Li Jianren stumbled a couple of steps onto the court, casting a glance back at Bai Ruijin, who remained standing in her spot, as if he wanted to say something.

Before he could even open his mouth, Long Tao hurled a basketball at him; he quickly turned, barely catching it with a yelp, narrowly avoiding a hit to the face.

“That was really dangerous, bro!”

“If you don’t play, it’ll be even more dangerous later, I’m telling you.”

“You’re threatening me, aren’t you? Threatening me!” Li Jianren, feigning anger, entered the court with the basketball. “Fine, today I’ll show you the Taisugi High School branch of Kuroko Tetsuya!”

****

Bai Ruijin watched as Li Jianren entered the court, positioned himself at the center, raked his hair into a middle part, and immediately performed several skilled between-the-legs dribbles for everyone to see.

His movements and hairstyle were so uncannily similar that the boys on the court experienced a collective hallucination, erupting in laughter.

“What an opening for a ‘Jiyin’!” [TL Note: ‘Jiyin’ (只因) is a popular meme that sounds like ‘chicken’ and is often used to make fun of or mock someone’s actions.]

Capitalizing on everyone’s laughter, Li Jianren executed a three-step layup, scoring a beautiful basket.

“Hahahaha, you motherfucker, you scored in your own hoop, hahahaha—”

Long Tao clapped Li Jianren’s shoulder, still laughing.

“My bad, I wondered why you were all here.”

“Hahaha—”

Bai Ruijin, familiar with Li Jianren’s joke, couldn’t help but crack a smile.

However, her smile did not last long.

Bai Ruijin was deeply troubled by Zhong Tian’s earlier words; if Li Jianren was indeed a lonely person as he claimed, then his current smiles and his amusing antics might not be genuine expressions of his inner self.

This realization caused a pang of sympathy within her.

‘Why had classmate Li Jianren become so lonely inside…?’

‘She wanted to understand, and then—just as Zhong Tian had suggested—share his burden.’

‘I should have asked classmate Zhong Tian for the detailed reasons earlier…’

‘But perhaps even he doesn’t know the full story.’

Beep—

Amidst the lingering laughter, the physical education teacher blew his whistle, signaling that only five minutes remained until class ended and it was time to gather, change, and return to their classrooms.

Everyone moved quickly, heading into the locker rooms in small groups.

Zhong Tian, however, had already changed into his school uniform long before the whistle blew, and by now had returned to the gymnasium, found Su Linxi, and was heading back to class with her.

Despite having attended a PE class, Zhong Tian, who had barely exerted himself, felt completely refreshed, as if he had merely taken a leisurely stroll—which, in reality, was not far from the truth.

‘This PE class turned out to be quite fruitful today.’

‘Having instantly grasped the most crucial aspect of the “LJR Strategy,” things were bound to proceed smoothly from now on.’

Zhong Tian seemed to already envision a future where Li Jianren and Bai Ruijin were together.

Walking beside Zhong Tian, Su Linxi remained silent, yet she constantly glanced up, observing his expression.

She had been secretly observing when Zhong Tian and Bai Ruijin were talking earlier.

Although she had barely overheard their conversation, Su Linxi could still guess that it concerned Bai Ruijin and Li Jianren.

She recalled that in their previous life, the true catalyst for their mutual affection had been a weekend date.

On that particular date, she, Zhong Tian, and Zheng Qiao had secretly followed them.

They had conversed for a long time in a cafe, and through his mind-reading ability, Zhong Tian had concluded that Li Jianren was beginning to harbor feelings for Bai Ruijin.

Subsequently, their relationship slowly warmed over the following days, culminating in Bai Ruijin’s confession after the school sports meet, Li Jianren’s acceptance, and the perfect conclusion of the “LJR Strategy.”

However, in this life…

The situation was quite different from their previous lives.

‘Perhaps it’s because I didn’t enroll, and the “LJR Strategy Meeting” was missing a participant.’

Yet, she found it difficult to intervene in their affairs now; her current disposition was far more mature and rational than it had been back then, and she doubted she could offer any useful advice regarding such youthful romances, even if she were to go.

‘…I hope these two can still end up together, just like in the previous life.’

Lost in thought, she entered the academic building with Zhong Tian.

Upon entering the academic building, the teachers’ office was immediately visible; she peered through the window, searching for their homeroom teacher, Wang Changgeng.

This time, she didn’t find him.

As it was still class time, with perhaps only a minute or two left until dismissal, there weren’t many teachers in the office.

Su Linxi pondered for a moment before turning to Zhong Tian and saying,

“You should head back first.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to see the homeroom teacher about something.”

“Oh, alright.”

Zhong Tian nodded, waved goodbye to Su Linxi, and returned to class ahead of her.

Su Linxi entered the office, sat down at the homeroom teacher’s desk, and turned on his computer.

She intended to look up Yu Naixi’s address.

She gently typed on the keyboard, searching the system’s memory for the keyword “student address.”

Moments later, the results appeared, revealing no relevant documents.

“…”

She considered trying a different keyword for another search, but just then, the dismissal bell rang, and several teachers in the office noticed her actions.

Without a trace of emotion, she quietly shut down the computer, returned the mouse to its original position, and left the office.

‘Next time, I’ll find a better opportunity to search properly…’