Yi Ran transmigrated.
She’s now living in a book called 《Deep First Love【Campus】》. Even though it’s a book, the general setting is completely aligned with the real world; even the year it’s set in matches reality.
After having transmigrated for a month, Yi Ran has also accepted her fate.
It’s not too bad; the person she transmigrated to has good looks, her body’s not bad, her parents treat her well, her family’s well-off and the school she’s enrolled in is the best middle school in the book.
Su Cheng First Middle School[1].
But in the book, this character was originally cannon fodder with no interactions with the male and female leads. The character’s only purpose was to argue with Song Yu Meng, to solidify her depiction as a wicked villainess.
It’s now 30th August and summer vacation was about to end. The next day was the day for class registration, with plenty of students hoping that time would pass slower since they didn’t want to start school at all.
But Yi Ran hoped school would start quicker because she had been lazing in her family’s villa for a month. She could only rely on her phone to alleviate her boredom, but she was sick of it after playing games for so long.
Lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling, Yi Ran thought that compared to playing mobile games, it would be even more interesting to quarrel with that wicked villainess.
Despite not finishing 《Deep First Love【Campus】》, Yi Ran thought that as opposed to the scum male lead and scheming female lead, Yi Ran would rather choose the wicked villainess who seemed more interesting to her.
This is how the book described her.
She was beautiful, but not in the pure sense that men liked. She was beautiful in an arrogant, coquettish manner with long, light brown hair that curled at the ends, thin eyebrows and lips, a high nose bridge and eyes that lifted up at the ends[2]. She would raise her chin and look at people with slightly narrowed eyes, completely giving off the impression of an arrogant lady.
Song Yu Meng completely fit the description of a wicked villainess in the book; as long as a female would say a single sentence to the male lead, Liu Luo Yang, that girl would definitely be subject to all sorts of threats and warnings from Song Yu Meng.
Therefore, most of the characters in the book hated her, including the male and female leads. But because the Song family had power and authority, along with that temper that Song Yu Meng had, nobody would dare to say anything to her face.
In the past, there was a girl who angered Song Yu Meng. To this day, she’s still missing, and the prevailing rumour was that the girl had been quietly taken care of[3].
She’s that type of arrogant lady, but her ending was quite tragic.
Liu Luo Yang fell in love with the female lead, Xu Yuan, and the lovesick Song Yu Meng eventually couldn’t take it any longer, falling into severe depression and killing herself.
Because she didn’t finish reading the book, to this day, Yi Ran still didn’t know why this arrogant girl would fall in love so hopelessly with the male lead, to the point of killing herself over him.
Isn’t that just craziness?!
“Ding—”
The phone placed on the bedside chimed. It was the teacher in charge of her class, Tang Xiang Ping, sending a notification in the class group chat.
【Since school is starting tomorrow at 9AM, the students who placed in the last five spots during the last exam should be more self-aware and come in to clean up the classroom. 】
【@Yi Ran @Song Yu Meng @a @b @c, right now, come over quickly, I’ll be waiting for you guys in the office (?-ω-`)】
After seeing her name mentioned, Yi Ran immediately got up from her bed.
This Tang Seng[4], what’s she doing mentioning me with an @, doesn’t it mean the whole class now knows I’m one of the last?
Yi Ran felt it was shameful, but once she saw Song Yu Meng’s name also appearing in the mentions, she immediately rejoiced[5].
Thankfully there’s still this wicked villainess at the bottom with her, she would also need to go clean up the classroom. Now things are becoming interesting!
Yi Ran left her house in a good mood, riding her white electric scooter to school.
The students in the school were only divided into humanities and science after the second half of the first school year, but this year coincidentally was when the government of Su Cheng planned to change the syllabus to remove the original system, changing it instead to the 3+1+2 system[6].
In the whole cohort, there were a total of 650 people who registered for physics, while the students in Class Eight all chose physics, chemistry and geography, a total of exactly fifty people.
Since it wasn’t yet time for registration, there weren’t many students on campus, just the few who came to clean up classrooms.
Yi Ran went up to the second storey and walked to the classroom in the middle on the left side. She entered from the backdoor of Year One’s Class Eight classroom, but in a couple of days, the plaque would be changed to Year Two.
Immediately after walking in, Yi Ran hadn’t even walked to her seat when a sharp and bitter voice entered her ear.
“Yo! Who’s this? Isn’t it our Mathematics rep? Why would you be here to clean up the classroom?”
Without even needing to turn around to see who it was, Yi Ran knew immediately from the tone that it was that wicked villainess. Aside from her, who else could love picking trouble with others?
Indeed, turning around revealed it was this bitter lady.
Wearing an exquisite and expensive-looking outfit, with fiery red lipstick applied and eyeliner drawn on, chin lifted high and looking down, she looked the epitome of arrogance.
The only part that didn’t seem quite right with this picture was probably the broom she held in her hands.
The contrast was really quite big.
Yi Ran chuckled and calmly refuted: “Then why are you here to clean as well? Our mighty Miss Song shouldn’t be doing this sort of coarse work~”
“You!!!” Song Yu Meng’s eyes were filled with rage, staring at Yi Ran. She threw the broom on the floor angrily, and warned her in a haughty tone, “Hey! You’re the first person who dares to speak to this lady[7] in such a way, aren’t you scared of offending me?”
Despite seeing her temper flare up, Yi Ran didn’t feel even a shred of fear, instead feeling that it was now more interesting and exciting.
She sat on an empty chair, leaning back and folding her arms to look at Song Yu Meng.
What a coincidence. In the real world, Yi Ran also loved picking fights since she was secretly evil inside[8]. Now that she had transmigrated to this cannon fodder body with a destined rival, it would be letting herself down not to fight with her for some fun.
Thus, Yi Ran deliberately taunted Song Yu Meng: “Eh, tell me, what’s the point of being all cocky in front of me? If you’re so capable, why not show your arrogance in front of Liu Luo Yang as well?”
“Are you crazy? Why should I be arrogant in front of Luo Yang gege[9]?” Once her crush was mentioned, Song Yu Meng’s anger was immediately reduced by half and her irritated tone held traces of shyness.
“Ha, more like you don’t dare to be?” Yi Ran stood up from the chair and walked to Song Yu Meng, intentionally aggravating her, “I almost forgot, you’ve liked him for five years, but never confessed before, right? Can it be that you’re really a coward?”
Having read the original book, Yi Ran clearly knew that the reason Song Yu Meng didn’t confess was that she was scared.
Who would have thought that the lady who acted incredibly arrogant in school was actually even more bashful than a little girl in front of the person she liked?
“Turns out such an arrogant lady can also be such a coward, hahaha!”
Yi Ran covered her mouth while laughing exaggeratedly. The arrogant lady was angered till her eyes were wide and she scolded: “Hey! I’m warning you, you crazy person, stop fabricating lies or this lady will definitely not let you off!”
“Oh, then don’t let me off.”
“You! I knew from the moment I saw you that you were crazy! Crazy Yi!”
Yi Ran scrunched up her eyes in amusement and replied calmly as always: “You don’t even dare to confess, how useless can you be? You shouldn’t be called Song Yu Meng, you should be called scaredy cat[10].”
Song Yu Meng gritted her teeth in anger, how could she be so unlucky as to meet a crazy person!!!
The other students who came to the classroom to clean up saw the two of them arguing instead of cleaning and sighed in resignation.
Everybody knew the two of them argued daily; every teacher who taught Year One knew that they got along like oil and water. Arguing was the least of it, there was even an occasion where they physically fought.
However, the one who fought with Song Yu Meng was the original body. It had nothing to do with Yi Ran; she only liked arguing with others, not physical altercations.
It was at this exact moment that Tang Xiang Ping came in; seeing the two of them arguing again the moment she stepped into the classroom, she got frustrated.
“Aiya! I told you guys to come in to clean, how did it end up in an argument!” Tang Xiang Ping hurriedly pulled the two of them apart.
The two of them saw the teacher-in-charge had arrived, so they stayed quiet, but stared at each either angrily.
Tang Xiang Ping saw both of them staring at each other hatefully and immediately started trying to mediate in her accented Chinese.
“Aiya what’s going on? Look at your expressions, is that how classmates should normally look at each other? Are you guys looking at each other or killing each other?”
Song Yu Meng “hmph”-ed once she heard that and turned her head away.
“You guys are classmates, and classmates should get along, not fight every day like you guys. Don’t you agree? Our Class Eight should be like a loving and close-knit family. I asked you all to come today to clean up to prepare for tomorrow’s registration. Instead of cleaning up properly, you guys start fighting…”
Tang Xiang Ping continued nagging, and Yi Ran felt as if her ear was being talked off. She thought to herself: This teacher-in-charge is too talkative. Nagging so much, no wonder she’s called Tang Seng.
“Okay Teacher Tang, I won’t hold it against Song Yu Meng.” Yi Ran hurriedly ran to the back to grab a piece of cleaning cloth to wipe the blackboard.
She thought to herself, if she stood there any longer, who knows when Tang Seng would nag until.
“Hey! You think this lady wants to be calculative with you?” Song Yu Meng pointed to Yi Ran, who was cleaning the blackboard, and shouted defiantly.
“That’s enough, student Song Yu Meng.” Tang Xiang Ping picked up the broom on the floor and handed it to Song Yu Meng, “Go sweep the floor, but don’t quarrel with Yi Ran again. If you guys put the same amount of effort that you put into quarrelling into your studies, you wouldn’t be at the bottom of the rankings.”
Song Yu Meng pressed her lips together and took the broom unwillingly. “Understood, this lady won’t quarrel with her.”
After Tang Xiang Ping left, the two of them really didn’t argue again, handling their own duties. There were a few times when they had to cross paths and Song Yu Meng always held her chin high and walked past with a “hmph”.
Yi Ran rolled her eyes at her and smiled helplessly, thinking to herself, this girl really can’t take any sort of insult.
After they were done with their cleaning duties, the three other classmates left, leaving Yi Ran and Song Yu Meng in the classroom alone.
Song Yu Meng was left with one last area to sweep and when she was sweeping, her eyes drifted towards Yi Ran who was cleaning the blackboard with her back turned to her.
Even though she hated Yi Ran, but truthfully speaking, Yi Ran was tall and good looking with short hair that was cut to neck-length. Her smooth forehead was still faintly visible under her fringe, with two shallow dimples appearing when she smiled. She was youthful and energetic, and many classmates were very happy to interact with her.
Except Song Yu Meng.
She was just that different, just hated Crazy Yi that much! Aside from her most hated Xu Yuan, her second most hated person would be Yi Ran!
Song Yu Meng looked at the Crazy Yi on the platform, then angrily hmph-ed and continued sweeping the floor with her head lowered.
Yi Ran still had half the blackboard to clean, but her hand was aching and she didn’t want to wipe the board anymore.
Yi Ran swung her aching arm back and forth and her eyes fell on Song Yu Meng who was still sweeping the floor. She smiled cunningly, having thought of a good idea.
“Hey, Song Yu Meng, come here.” Yi Ran held onto the cloth with one hand and beckoned Song Yu Meng with the other.
Song Yu Meng raised her head, “what are you calling this lady for? Can’t you see this lady’s busy?”
Yi Ran smiled mysteriously: “Come over, I suddenly thought of something I need to tell you.”
“Spit it out, stop beating around the bush.” Song Yu Meng stood resolutely in her original spot.
“I’ll tell you once you come over. It’s a secret about Liu Luo Yang, don’t you want to hear it?”
Hesitating, Song Yu Meng walked over, still somewhat doubtful. She swore to herself, if it had nothing to do with Luo Yang gege, she absolutely would not have gone over!
Song Yu Meng folded her arms and stood in front of Yi Ran, arrogantly saying: “Say what you have to say, don’t think of fooling this lady.”
“This secret, it’s……”
Song Yu Meng had just leaned in to listen more closely when Yi Ran suddenly let out a high-pitched “eh”. Song Yu Meng turned to look at her when she suddenly saw a piece of cloth flying over. Her body acted reflexively and she caught the cloth.
Song Yu Meng looked at the cloth in her hand and knew she had been pranked. She angrily said: “Crazy Yi, are you nuts? Do you think you’re funny?!”
Yi Ran grinned widely. “Yeah, I do think so.”
“Sorry, miss, my hand’s sore and I don’t want to clean anymore. Please help me clean the rest of the blackboard, I’m leaving first!” Yi Ran clapped her hands together and ran speedily out of the classroom.
When Song Yu Meng came back to her senses, there was nobody left in front of her.
She threw the cloth in the direction Yi Ran ran off to angrily and shouted loudly enough that the whole building could hear:
“Crazy Yi, wait and see—!!!”
[1] Even though it’s translated as “First Middle School”, it doesn’t always mean first = best.
[2] I had to take some liberty with this, it definitely isn’t 100% accurate, sorry for the clunky description..
[3] Not quite exactly “taken care of” in the nice way, more sinister.
[4] It’s a play on words, using the teacher’s last name Tang and calling her Tang Seng, which is the name of the monk in Journey To The West. Basically saying she nags like a monk chants, repetitively and for a long time.
[5] 幸灾乐祸 – essentially means rejoicing at someone else’s misfortune.
[6] The 3+1+2 system is a new system for students in China to choose which subjects they want to study in middle school. 3 represents Chinese, Maths and English and they’re all compulsory, while 1 means to pick one of either physics or history and 2 means to pick two out of politics/governance, geography, chemistry, biology.
[7] 本小姐 – This is pretty hard to translate and use for a modern setting, but it basically means calling herself “this lady” in a more arrogant manner. In historical settings, princes and lords would call themselves 本王 or 本大爷 meaning “this prince” or “this lord”. I thought it’d look a bit odd here, but considering that she switches between 我 and 本小姐, I’ve used the appropriate term whenever.
[8] 腹黑 – So my girlfriend had a look at my translation and said it’s not quite accurate but it’s not easy to translate it properly either. This basically means that someone acts kind and nice, but they’re secretly not that nice inside. Calling it evil might have been a stretch, but yeah.
[9] 哥哥 – I’ll be leaving the usual terms like gege (older brother), jiejie (older sister), didi (younger brother) and meimei (younger sister) in.
[10] 怂包蛋 – generally used to describe someone timid, cowardly.