T/N: Hello everybody! I have to emphasise that even if you don’t read T/Ns normally, you really should read [1], [2] and [6] to fully understand some parts of this chapter!
– After class –
Xu Yuan stood up from her seat and gently patted Liu Luo Yang’s shoulder. Smiling at her, Liu Luo Yang got up to let her walk past.
Liu Luo Yang’s smile was warm and mesmerising, but at this moment, Song Yu Meng felt like it was a thorn in her heart.
How could her Liu Luo Yang gege smile at another girl! Especially when it was the white lotus she hated the most!
Thus, Song Yu Meng stormed over to settle the debt with Xu Yuan.
“Hey! I’m warning you, stay away from Liu Luo Yang gege in the future, or don’t blame this lady for being merciless!” Song Yu Meng raged, the threat thinly veiled in every word.
Liu Luo Yang frowned in disgust, his good mood dissipating as he saw Song Yu Meng coming to cause trouble again, but he chose not to interfere between Song Yu Meng and Yu Xuan.
It’s not because he didn’t want to, but because there wasn’t a need to. The Song family is rich and powerful, Song Yu Meng is still madly in love with him and because of that, he had plenty of influence at school. Liu Luo Yang definitely didn’t want to kill off his backup plan[1].
The only downside is that Song Yu Meng’s possessiveness was too strong. It was also the point about her that Liu Luo Yang hated the most. Because of this, he couldn’t raise fish properly[2] since not many girls would be willing to speak to him.
Seeing that the three of them were going to put on another good show, plenty of students started turning their attention to them.
Feeling more and more eyes on her, Xu Yuan felt especially wronged. She bit her bottom lip and looked at the silent Liu Luo Yang with teary eyes.
Song Yu Meng’s temper got even worse after witnessing this scene. She stomped up and shoved Xu Yuan’s shoulder, shouting: “I’m talking to you, did you hear me?!”
Even though it wasn’t a strong shove, Xu Yuan stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. She didn’t get up, opting instead to sit on the floor, hug her knees and cry.
“How could you do this…..” Xu Yuan buried her face in her knees and sobbed.
All the guys who had a crush on Xu Yuan were stirred up by this scene, but they didn’t dare to openly oppose the powerful Song Yu Meng. All they could do was to hate this wicked woman in their hearts!
A few girls sympathised with Xu Yuan, but majority of the crowd were still gossiping behind her back.
“Look at this conniving woman, she’s clearly making herself look like the victim on purpose.”
“Exactly, that push was so light, she had to act as if she was badly injured[3] and cry on the floor. Really shameless.”
“What do you guys know? Don’t you see these guys are all concerned about her? Her seduction skills are top-notch, better watch and pick up some tips.”
Xu Yuan cried even louder and Song Yu Meng really wanted to give her another kick.
“What are you crying for? Stop overreacting, I merely pushed you lightly. Did you think I didn’t see you falling over by yourself? You really can act!” Song Yu Meng folded her arms and rolled her eyes, not feeling like she was in the wrong at all.
“It’s not like that……” Xu Yuan finally stood up and tugged on Liu Luo Yang’s right arm, shaking her head vehemently with tears flowing freely. “I didn’t act…… I really got pushed over by her, it’s not an act… Wuwu[4]……”
Seeing Xu Yuan crying so heartbrokenly, Liu Luo Yang’s heart felt like it was about to shatter.
“I didn’t even use strength! That white lotus is doing this on purpose! Liu Luo Yang gege you must believe me!” Song Yu Meng pulled on Liu Luo Yang’s left arm, trying to explain the situation, afraid that Liu Luo Yang would fall for Xu Yuan’s lies.
Amidst all that, Yi Ran had just returned to the classroom and saw what happened.
She already read this scene in the book and she knew that Liu Luo Yang would bring the whole class along while sending Xu Yuan to the infirmary while the aggrieved Song Yu Meng would find a spot to cry in secret.
“Ah… She’s really an idiot.” Knowing how things would play out, Yi Ran sighed and walked out to find Su Xiao Xiao to tell her, “Song Yu Meng is arguing with Xu Yuan again in the classroom. The situation is very disadvantageous to her, you better go pull her away now.”
Su Xiao Xiao was stunned: “Ah? Xiao-Yu is fighting with Xu Yuan again? I got it, student Yi Ran, thank you for letting me know, I’ll go now.”
The ending was exactly as Yi Ran remembered. Liu Luo Yang snatched his hand away from Song Yu Meng and said disgustedly: “You’ve gone too far.”He turned to Xu Yuan with a concerned look and said, “I’ll bring you to the infirmary.”
Liu Luo Yang held Xu Yuan’s hand to bring her out of the classroom, and when Xu Yuan walked past Song Yu Meng, she smiled mockingly.
Angered and embarrassed yet unable to let out the bitterness in her heart, Song Yu Meng’s eyes shined with unshed tears.
How could her Liu Luo Yang gege not believe her?! She clearly didn’t use force in the push!
By the time Su Xiao Xiao rushed to the classroom, only the dumbstruck Song Yu Meng and a bunch of people who had gathered to watch the drama were left, gossiping about what had just happened.
Su Xiao Xiao quickly pulled the teary Song Yu Meng into the empty classroom next door.
Yi Ran came late to the classroom and couldn’t see any sign of Song Yu Meng, so she asked a random classmate, who just so happened to be the English class rep, He Xiao Meng.
“Classmate, do you know where Song Yu Meng went?” Yi Ran bent over and asked.
“I think she went to the classroom next door.”
“Thanks.”
Without waiting for a reply, Yi Ran ran off.
He Xiao Meng’s face was flushed. “No… No problem…”
– The classroom next door –
“Xiao Xiao, why did you come……” Song Yu Meng sat on a chair, wiping her tears away as she cried.
“Student Yi Ran told me you were fighting with Xu Yuan again.”
“What…… Even Crazy Yi saw it……” Song Yu Meng cried even harder, “Wu, she’s going to laugh at me for sure this time……”
Su Xiao Xiao patted her back consolingly: “She won’t, student Yi Ran is very nice, she was the one who asked me to look for you.”
“As if I’ll believe Crazy Yi is so kind-hearted…… Wu, she must want to see me make a fool out of myself……”
“I’m not that despicable.” Yi Ran called out helplessly, walking towards the pair.
Hearing that, Song Yu Meng raised her tear-stained face, looking much gentler than she normally did with not a single trace of arrogance or haughtiness.
Seeing that it was the exact person that she didn’t want to see the most, Song Yu Meng hastily wiped away her tears, not wanting Yi Ran to see her in such a state.
But the more she wiped, the more her tears smudged over her face, resulting in her pale face being completely damp with tears and pitiful looking.
“Then why are you here, if not to laugh at me?”
Maybe it was because she just cried, but her tone and expressions were soft and without hostility, merely retaining a trace of arrogance. Yi Ran actually found it kind of… cute???
Yi Ran chucked, “Would you believe me if I said I came here to give you a paper napkin?” She pulled out a new pack of tissues and held it out to Song Yu Meng.
Song Yu Meng looked at Yi Ran smiling mildly, then at the pack of tissues in her hand. Finally, she decided to snatch it and take a piece out to wipe away the tears on her face.
Seeing that Yi Ran was still gazing at her, Song Yu Meng stammered with some embarrassment: “Don’t think that just because of this, I’ll… I’ll stop hating you.”
Yi Ran smiled and stayed silent.
Su Xiao Xiao, who was sitting on the sidelines, hurriedly walked over to smooth things out, “Don’t take it to heart, student Yi Ran, Xiao-Yu doesn’t mean anything by it. She’s just thanking you.”
With an exaggerated wave of her hand, Song Yu Meng dismissed it, “what, this lady has no intention of thanking her!”
Su Xiao Xiao fell silent and looked over at Yi Ran hesitantly, not knowing how to explain.
At that moment, the preparation bell rang and Yi Ran turned to Su Xiao Xiao: “It’s fine, class is starting soon. Go head back in first.”
Su Xiao Xiao took a look at them and said: “What about you two? Aren’t you going back? It’s Teacher Jiang’s chemistry lesson next.”
Once Song Yu Meng heard chemistry was up next, she “ah”-ed. “Old Lady Jiang’s chemistry lesson? Then I won’t be heading back. Boring, you can go ahead.”
“Alright then.” After Su Xiao Xiao left, it was just the two of them in the empty classroom, Song Yu Meng sitting in a chair and Yi Ran standing in front of her.
Seeing Yi Ran still staying, Song Yu Meng said nastily: “Hey, Crazy Yi, why are you still standing here instead of going away?”
Yi Ran laughed, “oh please, if you can stay then why should I go?” She dropped into the seat next to Song Yu Meng and propped her elbows on the table. “Besides, last lesson we had to write English words. Maybe in this lesson, we’ll need to write chemical reactions from memory. I’m not doing that!”
Song Yu Meng let out an “oh” and silence enveloped them for a few seconds before she continued: “Hey, why were you staring at this lady during English class?”
Yi Ran tilted her head towards her and saw that to her amusement that on that fair face, there were still traces of dried-up tears.
Irritated, Song Yu Meng pressed on: “I’m talking to you, what are you smiling for? Are you sick in the head?”
Yi Ran stopped smiling and said half-seriously: “If I said I was looking at you because you’re pretty, would you believe it?”
Red immediately started spreading on Song Yu Meng’s face and she looked away, “as if, you’re full of nonsense!”
“Well, forget it if you don’t believe me.” Yi Ran shrugged.
Looking at Yi Ran again, Song Yu Meng asked doubtfully: “Oh. Then who’s prettier? Me or that damned white lotus?”
“Ha, do you even need to ask? Of course it’s our school beauty[5]!” Yi Ran didn’t even have to consider her answer before she said it.
“You!” Song Yu Meng was speechless.
“What about me? Scaredy-cat.” Yi Ran felt incredibly smug, having had successfully provoked her.
Song Yu Meng “hmph”-ed and angrily pinched Yi Ran’s thigh.
“Ouch— that hurts!” Yi Ran wailed. “Let go! Let go!”
“Who’s the scaredy-cat?” Song Yu Meng said victoriously.
“I’m the scaredy-cat! I’m the scaredy-cat, okay!”
Satisfied, Song Yu Meng let go and scoffed: “Hmph! Let’s see if you dare to speak ill of this lady again!”
Yi Ran rubbed her poor thigh that had been pinched, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. Looking at this insanely arrogant person, she thought: This woman is too vicious! No wonder she’s the wicked villainess in the book!
Song Yu Meng held up a finger in front of Yi Ran, “Crazy Yi, I’m giving you another chance. Between this lady and that white lotus, who’s prettier?”
Yi Ran held her thigh and tried to appease her: “You’re prettier, okay?”
Song Yu Meng patted her shoulder, “I want you to tell the truth.”
Yi Ran looked at her seriously and said: “It’s the truth, I think you’re prettier than Xu Yuan, I’m not lying.”
It truly was what Yi Ran thought. Although she admitted that Xu Yuan was indeed very pretty and pure, as befitting the title of school beauty, maybe it was simply because she didn’t like Xu Yuan’s character, so she was more partial towards Song Yu Meng.
She rather liked Song Yu Meng’s contradictory character, outwardly cold and aloof but turning into a blushing scaredy-cat once she was praised.
Coincidentally, that same blush was spreading across Song Yu Meng’s face. “Hmph, then this lady shall believe you just this one.”
After a lesson and bickering with Yi Ran, the embarrassment that Song Yu Meng suffered in class was pretty much forgotten about and she turned back into her old, vicious self.
“Eh, how’s it? Pretty good to stay with me during this class period isn’t it?” Yi Ran laughed.
Song Yu Meng said haughtily: “Is that so? Maybe just a bit.” She raised her hand and put her thumb and index finger together, leaving just a sliver of space between the two.
Yi Ran smirked: “A bit or a lot[6]?”
“Hey! A bit!” Song Yu Meng stomped her foot in anger.
“I know it’s a lot, don’t need to explain.” Yi Ran continued provoking her, “I also know you really want to spend time with me, you don’t need to be so agitated, scaredy-cat.”
Song Yu Meng stood up, intending to punch her but Yi Ran was quick enough to retreat a few steps and maintain a safe distance.
She grabbed the packet of tissues on the table and threw it at Yi Ran’s face, but Yi Ran dodged it and teased her: “You want to fool me? Not a chance!”
“Crazy Yi, stop right there!”
“Ha! Catch me if you can!”
After class, the walkways got rowdy again with students chasing and hitting each other, this time, including Yi Ran and Song Yu Meng.
[1] 这条大鱼 – Literally this big fish. You’ll need to read [2] for it to make sense, but a big fish is essentially someone who’s rich or powerful or has some sort of benefit to the person. Like, you’d think “what a catch!” when you hook a big fish right? Yeah, basically that.
[2] 养鱼 – Literally raising fish. So this is necessary background. In China, people who lead multiple partners on as backup plans for possible relationships are said to be “raising fish”. These people are then called 海王 or “ruler of the sea”. It’s gender-neutral and can be used for both females and males, although most of the time, it’s used for men. So with this reference, we can see the character of Liu Luo Yang, he’s a playboy who’s trying to lead multiple girls on while trying to chase his main interest Xu Yuan, but he still wants Song Yu Meng to continue liking him because she’s rich and powerful and her crush on him makes him popular in school. I didn’t really want to translate it to something else in English, because I thought it’d ruin the meaning, but yeah, basically he’s just trying to keep girls on the back burner while he’s chasing Xu Yuan.
[3] This is the second time we see 碰瓷 or “touch porcelain” and I can explain it better thanks to the story providing an example: it’s essentially pretending you’re badly hurt in order to get something out of someone (sympathy in this case, money in scam situations).
[4] 呜呜 – Basically a sound to indicate the person’s crying.
[5] 校花 – Literally school flower. It’s a pretty common term used in reference to mean the most beautiful girl in school. Usually ranked through student votes on school boards/forums.
[6] This is the first sentence in this story that is impossible to translate exactly into English. 是一点点，还是亿点点啊？- Literally means, is it a bit or is it a hundred million bits? This only makes sense in Chinese because 一 or one is pronounced Yī, while 亿 or 100 million is pronounced Yì. There are four sounds in Chinese, and while these two words aren’t pronounced the same way, it’s close enough that it’s able to be used as a pun. To avoid confusion (because not everybody reads T/Ns), I had to simplify it. Because of this, I had to cut away sentences such as “Yi Ran placed special emphasis when saying the word ‘亿’ ” and “Song Yu Meng held up one finger to signify ‘1’ ” because it wouldn’t make any sense. I apologise!