“So?”
“Take the evening self-study off tonight.”
Jian Shuye glanced at Lin Yi’s phone.
“Come out with me.”
“Ha?!”
Lin Yi looked unwilling.
“I still want to roam the ocean of knowledge! Do you know how much study time I’ll waste by going out with you? Besides…”
“Unwilling?”
“Of course I’m unwilling. I’m a student!”
Lin Yi slammed her fist on the desk.
“Do you know what ‘student’ means?”
“Learning how to survive.”
Jian Shuye narrowed her eyes.
“Sur—vive.”
Lin Yi swallowed.
‘Was she threatening me just now?’
Cheers came from the basketball court outside the window. The campus under the sunset seemed even more vibrant than usual.
In the club room, a pleasant scent of young girls lingered.
Lin Yi poked her index fingers together.
“Why me…”
Jian Shuye looked indifferent.
“If you don’t want to go, that’s fine. We’ll just disband today.”
“Oh…”
“Then I won’t pay you for today. Count it as unexcused absence.”
“Wait!”
Lin Yi stood up and put her hands on the desk.
“I’ve figured it out. The first thing we learn as students is to keep our promises. Since I agreed to you, there’s no way I’m backing out!”
“How do I know you’re not just forced?”
Jian Shuye spread her hands.
“I’m a reasonable person. I told you from the beginning that you can quit anytime if you don’t want to.”
“I never said I didn’t want to…”
“Say it.”
Jian Shuye never let a grievance go overnight.
“…”
Lin Yi looked at her sideways.
Jian Shuye’s gaze was sharp.
“If you want it, say it.”
“Fine, I’m willing, I’m willing!”
Lin Yi closed her eyes and shouted.
“I’m willing, okay? I’ll agree to whatever you ask!”
Jian Shuye covered her mouth and chuckled.
“Well, I didn’t expect to get an extra bonus.”
“Huh?”
“It seems I need to put it in black and white to stop you from being so arrogant all the time. Little Lin Yi.”
Jian Shuye took out her phone and opened the voice recorder.
“What did you promise me before, and what are you promising now?”
Lin Yi stepped back two paces.
“No need for that, Shuye…”
“Hm?”
“Young Lady Shuye, Minister.”
Lin Yi said seriously.
“We’re just classmates. If we really become superior and subordinate, it’ll create distance between us when we’re together. Then I might fall into a state of social withdrawal. You know, I’m really just an otaku girl.”
“I don’t know.”
Jian Shuye tilted her head.
“What does ‘otaku girl’ mean?”
“A girl who stays at home.”
“…”
Jian Shuye slowly stood up and packed her handbag.
“Wait!”
Lin Yi gritted her teeth and stamped her foot.
“…I’ll bring my hometown’s specialty black tea, and deliver it to your desk every morning at 7:00 sharp!”
“500 milliliters.”
Jian Shuye walked past her.
“Let’s go.”
‘This is murder!’
‘Lin Yi has been squeezed dry.’
‘The Clear Mind Black Tea only produces 500 milliliters a day. If you take it all, what am I supposed to drink?’
‘And there’s Yan Jianxing, Feng Chuyue, and Su Kui waiting to be fed!’
But since she was under someone else’s roof, she had no choice but to bow her head. Lin Yi had to follow behind Jian Shuye in humiliation.
When she got rich, the first thing she would do was stand tall in front of Jian Shuye, slap bills on her face, and sneer.
‘Hey little girl, smile for your grandma.’
No wait, no matter how rich she got, she probably wouldn’t be richer than Jian Shuye.
Would Lin Yi ever be able to turn the tables and become the master over Jian Shuye in this life?
A pure black LS600hL was parked at the school gate.
The woman Lin Yi had seen that day downstairs at the Victoria Grand Hotel was indeed standing by the car.
When Lin Yi saw her, she cautiously greeted,
“Hello.”
The female bodyguard wore a sharp suit and sneakers. Her face under the sunglasses showed no change; she only nodded slightly.
She opened the back door for Jian Shuye, then walked around and opened the other back door for Lin Yi.
Lin Yi looked at the leather seat cushion, then at her own sneakers.
‘A bit worried about dirtying the car mats.’
“Come on in.”
After Jian Shuye sat down, she simply closed her eyes and rested, not reopening them.
“Sorry for the intrusion…”
After sitting down, Lin Yi adjusted her posture and fastened her seatbelt. The car started silently and drove very smoothly.
“If you’re thirsty, there’s cola in the fridge.”
“Here?”
“Yeah.”
The fridge was right next to the armrest. Lin Yi opened it and looked inside, but she didn’t feel like drinking anything, so she closed it.
In her opinion, Jian Shuye wouldn’t drink something like cola, so this car was probably her dad’s ride, temporarily loaned to his daughter.
After all, cola was something that everyone liked, from shut-in otaku to presidents.
Since it was Lin Yi’s first time riding in a black luxury sedan, she was quite reserved. Plus Jian Shuye didn’t speak the entire time, so she kept quiet too.
She turned her head to look out the window. The scenery of Suzhou passed by slowly.
There was a traffic jam along the way. Lin Yi sighed, took out her phone, and sent a message.
Lin Yi: I’m eating out tonight. Accompanying a friend.
Yan Jianxing: Huh? Ah, okay. Then I’ll go to the cafeteria by myself.
Lin Yi: I might be late for evening self-study. Sorry!
Yan Jianxing: It’s fine, it’s fine.
Yan Jianxing: [thumbs_up.jpg]
“Who are you chatting with?”
“Wah, you scared me.”
At this moment, it was still not completely dark in Suzhou, so the sunset shone through the car window onto Jian Shuye’s stunning face.
Lin Yi patted her chest.
“With my roommate. I’m telling her I won’t go to the cafeteria with her tonight.”
“What is she to you?”
“Huh?”
Jian Shuye repeated,
“What is she to you? Why do you need to report to her about whether you go to the cafeteria or not?”
Uh, does Young Lady Jian Shuye not understand certain implicit social norms in interpersonal relationships?
So she tentatively asked,
“Shuye, have you… ever gone to the bathroom with a classmate?”
Jian Shuye’s brows furrowed deeper.
“Why would I go to the bathroom with someone?”
“Never? Not even once when a girl bounced up to you, grabbed your hand and said, ‘Let’s go to the bathroom together’?”
“That would only make me feel awkward and unhygienic.”
Jian Shuye couldn’t understand.
“After all, the school faucets are the push-button type, which means you can never really wash your hands clean after using the bathroom, and then you have to hold hands there and hold hands back.”
‘Please, don’t turn female friendship into a biology problem, okay?’
Lin Yi felt that this young lady’s knowledge of interpersonal relationships might be seriously lacking.
Jian Shuye tapped her foot, which was wearing black loafers.
“And besides, the question I asked has nothing to do with going to the bathroom.”
“Sorry, I went off topic.”
Lin Yi scratched her head.
“But the logic is the same. People always have friends—eating together, going to the bathroom together, going out to play together. Over time, they form fixed partners.”
“So, she is your fixed partner?”
“Well, you could say that.”
Lin Yi thought about it. A roommate and a friend should count as a relatively fixed partner.
“You mean, if your fixed partner can’t eat or go to the bathroom with you one day, you have to report it to her?”
“Uh, you could understand it that way.”
Jian Shuye couldn’t comprehend.
“Does she pay you?”
“…No.”
“Then you have no obligation to report to her.”
Jian Shuye shook her head.
“I can pay you, so you have to report to me. But she is just a friend. You both have your own freedom. There’s no need to do this extra thing.”
‘Damn, that actually makes sense.’
Lin Yi thought for a moment, then suddenly asked,
“Wait, do you have a cleanliness obsession?”
“It’s called valuing hygiene.”
“You can’t stand the school faucets?”
“I have plans to donate money to change them to sensor taps.”
Lin Yi spread her hands.
“Then before they’re changed, how do you use the bathroom? Hold it in?”
“…”
Jian Shuye closed her eyes again and did not bother with Lin Yi anymore.