Ci Ye snorted coldly at Lu Qunwen without any politeness and stood by Song Fu’s side. “Who said I don’t like her?” Look at those thick eyebrows and big eyes—he looked like a good student, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he spouted nonsense. Truly detestable.
Ci Ye lowered his dark, phoenix-like eyes, his tone cold enough to drop ice shards. “What you need most right now is to learn to shut up.”
Lu Qunwen was not as tall as Ci Ye, so he was already at a disadvantage in terms of presence. When he recalled the rumors about Ci Ye beating people up, he couldn’t help but take a step back. Once he realized it, his face flushed red. “You’re tracking us again. Are you a pervert?”
Ci Ye had been splashed with dirty water again, so he immediately showed off the tutoring books he had just bought. “Is this place only open to you? Did buying them make it your territory?”
Lu Qunwen was speechless.
As for the other party involved, Song Fu, she was more troubled by the current situation than anyone else and did not want bystanders to watch the fun. “I’m going home.” With that, she turned and walked away.
Ci Ye immediately set aside his conflict with Lu Qunwen and chased after her. “Together.”
Lu Qunwen stood in place, his opinion of Ci Ye unchanged. He still believed that Ci Ye, who ranked dead last, was a rotten apple through and through. So what if he really liked Song Fu?
Compared to his red hair, Ci Ye with black hair now seemed less sharp and edgy. The cautious way he glanced at her even reminded Song Fu of the little bean sprout from their childhood—they both evoked the word “obedient.”
She glanced at him a couple of times but did not ask why he had dyed his hair back or why he had bought a stack of books. Instead, she cut straight to the most crucial point. “What did you mean by that earlier?”
Ci Ye was in the middle of talking about wanting to drink porridge that evening and did not react right away. “I want to go to your place to eat.”
Song Fu: “…”
She rubbed her forehead and had to repeat Ci Ye’s words. “The part about ‘Who said I don’t like her.’ You just said it to spite Lu Qunwen, right?”
Ci Ye’s reaction arc finally kicked in. He belatedly flushed at the ears, his voice softening. “No, it was just the truth.”
Those words were no different from a confession, but Song Fu found it hard to respond with the same shyness. She was definitely surprised—after all, the System chattered in her ear every day about the male and female leads’ fated connection—but not overly so, because a little reflection showed it was not entirely out of nowhere.
Was it because she had done some unnecessary things?
“You’re not happy?” Ci Ye noticed the expression on the person in front of him.
Song Fu had said she did not like him, so he would not delude himself into thinking she would react with joy. But the fact of being liked by his fiancée could not be a bad thing, right? Ci Ye’s mouth tugged downward.
With foreseeable task failure in sight, Song Fu could hardly be happy. Her gaze fell on the books in Ci Ye’s hand, and she abruptly changed the subject. “Did anything happen when you bought the books?”
“That shopkeeper didn’t know if it was on purpose, but he overcharged me ten yuan. Does discovering it count?” Ci Ye’s voice was muffled. “He wouldn’t even give me a bag.”
Of course, that was not what Song Fu wanted to hear. She pressed, “Did you go alone?”
Ci Ye: “You didn’t come with me.”
So, he had indeed gone alone.
Reaching that conclusion gave Song Fu a massive headache. Wasn’t the plot supposed to have the female lead accompanying the male lead to pick out tutoring books during the holiday, sparking ambiguous bubbles, and then the male lead accidentally discovering the important foreshadowing of her fear of crossing the street? How had it turned into a story about the male lead nearly getting scammed by a crooked merchant? “There aren’t that many idle people left in the world. You remember I said I don’t like you, right?”
Ci Ye’s face fell. “…Do you have to say it again?”
He remembered, but it did not help.
“Alright, let’s head home first.” Song Fu sighed helplessly.
She had calmed down, but the System in her mind had not. It kept emitting “beep beep beep” alarms, as exaggerated as if the sky was about to fall the next second. [Host!!]
[The male lead said he likes you. He likes you—that means he doesn’t like the female lead, right? What happens to the plot next? Will he still bring up breaking off the engagement with you?]
Sitting in the car, Song Fu looked out the window and picked the last question to answer. ‘Probably not, right?’
[Then what do we do?] The System wailed, its demonic cry piercing her ears.
‘Is there a possibility he could shift his affections to someone else?’ Song Fu glanced at the depressed Ci Ye beside her.
The System analyzed it and thought the probability low—after all, loyalty was a must-have virtue for the male lead. Besides, [It’s actually pretty normal for him to like the Host.] The System praised Song Fu from head to toe, from her most obvious beauty to her diligent, earnest nature, her approachability, and patience.
Song Fu was starting to feel embarrassed by the praise. ‘What if I had a fatal flaw?’
[Where?]
[If there really isn’t one, I can always make one.] Song Fu already had a plan.
That evening, after Ci Ye finished the seafood porridge he wanted, it was Song Fu’s regular piano practice time. He sat nearby and listened.
It was normal to look deeply aggrieved during piano practice, but Ci Ye watched and felt that Song Fu did not like the piano… With that thought, he voiced it directly.
“It really can’t be called liking it.” Song Fu told the truth, but her dislike was not due to the tedium of practice. Rather, every time her fingers touched the piano keys, she recalled past embarrassments.
When she entered this task world, her piano skills had been very average—she could only play one full piece, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Now that she had improved somewhat, she still felt no different from before. The words from those people about how she could not compare at all—once believed as truth—now seemed ridiculous.
Being good at piano only proved she had the skill; it said nothing else.
“Do you know why I got engaged to you?” Song Fu asked flatly.
Ci Ye’s memory was decent. “Isn’t it because our families will eventually merge? If not you and me, it’d be someone else?”
“No.” Song Fu shook her head. “It’s because of Zhu Chenxi, your current desk mate. She likes you.”
“So, you’re worried she’ll steal me away.” Ci Ye suddenly understood and boldly added, though he hesitated. “I don’t feel like she likes me.”
Song Fu: “…”
System: [With the male lead’s optimism, anything you do will succeed.]
Song Fu was equally speechless and pursed her lips. “It’s because she’s the new top student in school. I don’t like seeing her, so I wanted her to feel uncomfortable like me. That’s why I ignored your opinion and became your fiancée. Got it?”
Ci Ye’s comprehension was good, and he realized he was just a tool man. “Then, if she liked someone else, you’d make that person your fiancé too?”
“Maybe.” Song Fu lowered her eyelashes, her response casual.
The curve at Ci Ye’s mouth had long vanished completely. “I get it.”
Song Fu hummed in acknowledgment.
The silence between them was broken by Mother Song, who came in later with fruit, but the subtle tension lingered.
[Host, why did you voice your own evil idea out loud?] The System was greatly surprised, its mind still not caught up.
Song Fu ate a grape. ‘This way, he can hate me, right? And it can make Ci Ye pay more attention to Zhu Chenxi.’ She saw that Ci Ye’s expression was poor—brows furrowed, mouth downturned, eyes fixed on his phone but fingers unmoving for ages. Clearly, his attention was not there.
This level should be enough.
As Song Fu expected, Ci Ye’s mood was indeed very bad—so bad that when he got home, he stared again and again at their photo together before finally sighing and flopping onto the bed.
Was this what it felt like to have no control over his own fate?
Even when school resumed, his mood had not improved. When Zhu Chenxi arrived at school, she saw her desk mate with a cold, handsome face full of that deeply aggrieved look.
Zhu Chenxi greeted him simply. “You dyed your hair black.” As she packed her bag, she asked, “Which question don’t you get?”
Looking at wrong answers a few more times would make them clear—Ci Ye’s problems were not on the test paper. He stared at Zhu Chenxi, hesitating to speak.
Zhu Chenxi’s hairs stood on end. She stopped what she was doing. “Can we just say it straight?”
Since that was the case, Ci Ye spoke up. “You know puppy love is wrong, right?”
A massive question mark nearly popped up over Zhu Chenxi’s head.
How dare a guy engaged in high school lecture her about this? Though she truly had no such thoughts. “Yeah, what’s up?”
Ci Ye asked again, “You won’t suddenly like someone, right?” Although Song Fu had said that, he had his own judgment—Zhu Chenxi did not seem to like him at all… As for why he had not firmly denied it then, well, he had not dared. What if Song Fu got convinced by him, realized this tool man was useless, and directly broke off the engagement?
Ci Ye tried to negotiate. “Even if you do like someone, keep it hidden. Don’t let people notice.” Especially don’t let Song Fu notice.
If Zhu Chenxi had not known her desk mate’s eyes were glued to Song Fu every day, she would have overthought it now—he was saying such misleading things. “Fine, but what does it have to do with you?”
Ci Ye: “…”
His reasons obviously could not be stated. “Puppy love affects studies, and this is a critical period.”
It was clearly fake rhetoric. Zhu Chenxi tugged at her mouth. “I thought you were hoping I’d get distracted from studying, so then…” Song Fu could take first place again.
“No, you absolutely cannot let your studies get affected.” Ci Ye was extremely firm.
If Zhu Chenxi’s studies got affected, she would no longer be first, meaning Song Fu would stop caring, meaning his fiancé status would become meaningless. It really was…
A headache.
Besides his top task of seducing Song Fu and making her like him, the most important thing now was to secure his pie-from-the-sky status. That included keeping Zhu Chenxi’s grades threatening to Song Fu and ensuring Song Fu’s belief that Zhu Chenxi liked him did not change.
Oh, right—one more thing to confirm. He lowered his voice. “You really don’t have a crush on me, right?”
Zhu Chenxi’s pupils shook. “Am I crazy?” She was not masochistic enough to court trouble, especially knowing full well how much Ci Ye liked Song Fu while letting her own feelings run free. “Is there some misunderstanding? Do you need me to clarify it with Song Fu?”
“Absolutely not!” Ci Ye answered instantly.