Chapter 3

This book’s style is probably like those early romance novels, where the male protagonist type was popular at the time. To Jiang Muti, they mostly resembled glorified troublemakers.

Anyone with a normal mind and a sense of timing knows when to take a step back and avoid confrontation.

But Jiang Muti just appeared dignified and proper on the outside, in reality, she was a quirky individual who found joy in making enemies.

After living a peaceful life for too long, even the calmest person might get restless. What’s more, when an undeserved disaster is dumped on you, there’s no reason to just endure it silently.

Yun Duo, on the other hand, almost had a heart attack from the shock. She quickly went to grab her.

She thought, someone who couldn’t even refuse when asked to do other people’s work usually—what’s going on today? Why would she provoke Zhou Lu, that little tyrant?

Could it be that after holding it in for so long, she finally reached her breaking point?

But while she wanted to calm things down, the person involved had no such intention.

Zhou Lu had already stood up and walked over in just a few steps.

This guy was very tall and well-built. Not to mention his character, all the physical traits that a male lead would typically have, he had them all without compromise.

Having someone like that, standing aggressively in front of you, looking down at you with an imposing presence, was hard to withstand—not just because of the height difference, but also the pressure emanating from the sharp, rebellious gleam in his eyes.

He spoke with a cold voice: “Fatty, repeat what you just said!”

Jiang Muti, however, wasn’t intimidated. Even though she was the one looking up, his gaze only made her more infuriated.

It was like seeing a mad dog barking randomly at a passerby.

She sneered, “Are those two holes on your face meant for letting off steam? You’re deaf enough, yet you’re worrying about others? Take a break! There will be plenty of times for you to mind others’ business, no need to rush it now.”

This was a harsh truth, as the timeline of the book was quite long. Not long into the story, the male lead’s pride was hurt by a loss in a competition, which the female lead had unintentionally encouraged. Unable to accept his wounded self-esteem, they soon developed mutual feelings and began a romantic relationship.

At this point, the word count was still relatively short, with the rest of the story filled with various love triangles.

During this period, the female lead also realized that her feelings for the male supporting character, who had grown up with her, were more than just friendship, and for a long time, her attitude wavered.

So Jiang Muti told this guy not to rush. There would be time later to deal with such matters.

But to others, her words sounded like pure malice, completely baseless.

Zhou Lu came from a prestigious family, was outstanding in every way, and had ruled the school for so long that he’d never encountered such a situation.

If this were a guy, he would’ve punched the other guy in the face by now. But since it was a girl, he couldn’t stoop so low as to hit a woman over a petty argument.

But the young master was not the type to swallow his pride. Seeing the fat girl confidently stand her ground, as if she couldn’t be bothered by his glare, only made him angrier.

Zhou Lu sneered, “I won’t even ask for your name. There’s probably no second person in the whole school like you.”

“Transfer to another school yourself. The deadline is before next Monday. If I still see a fatty hanging around in front of me by then, don’t say I didn’t warn you when things get ugly.”

He wasn’t exaggerating. In reality, with his status at the school, he didn’t even need to get involved personally to force a student out.

There were plenty of people who were used to reading the room and would take the lead in executing his wishes.

If Qiao Yuqi controlled those girls with his fake persona and feigned gentleness, then Zhou Lu truly relied on his powerful background to crush others.

Don’t think schools are any more innocent than society, sucking up to the powerful and trampling on the weak is human nature.

Jiang Muti wasn’t unaware of this system. In fact, she had once occupied the same position as Zhou Lu.

It wasn’t as absurd and blunt as in novels, but essentially, it was the same.

People in positions of power have their commands followed without question, it’s not just an exaggeration.

Jiang Muti knew this in advance, so she wasn’t surprised when Zhou Lu said those words.

Just as Zhou Lu was about to turn and leave, no longer wanting to deal with the “fatty,” he saw the other person slowly stretch out a hand.

The process was incredibly clear as she gave him the middle finger. Her large round face smiled, narrowing her eyes into a slit, and she said, “I won’t ask your name either, but I’m sure there’s no second person in the whole school who can bark like you.”

“As for your words, I’ve got one reply for you—go choke on it!”

The air, which had just started to come back to life after the earlier silence, fell into stillness again.

At this moment, everyone, except for silently mourning for the “fatty,” had only one thought:

Is it true that being fat also means having a bigger, and bolder attitude?

Jiang Muti, however, didn’t want to keep standing around, arguing. She pulled Yun Duo, who was still dazed from her words, and walked off confidently.

But before she left, she glanced at the female lead’s cold expression and the male supporting character’s thoughtful gaze.

Jiang Muti sneered lightly. Actually, it wasn’t such a big deal. It was all something that could’ve been resolved with a small step back.

But this simple principle didn’t work for her. She had grown accustomed to a self-centered arrogance, and now she was just cannon fodder in someone else’s love story.

And she wasn’t afraid of the lingering embers that might still be burning within the cannon fodder.

Yun Duo didn’t react until they were out of the school, and then she realized Jiang Muti had really lost her mind.

Normally, not even Zhou Lu, let alone her usual friends who always took advantage of her, would dare to speak so bluntly.

She sighed and said, “You’ve got a sharp tongue today, but don’t regret it when you wake up tomorrow. Stirring things up like this is still going to cause trouble for the young master in the end.”

This was quite a remark worth pondering. Yun Duo was only concerned with the trouble of cleaning up the mess, not worried about Jiang Muti actually being expelled.

Obviously, in her eyes, this wasn’t something Zhou Lu could unilaterally decide. It also showed that the original owner’s family background was likely no worse than the male lead’s.

Of course, even if it’s a novel, this is still a logically consistent world. The entire world doesn’t revolve around the male and female leads, and nobody goes around destroying someone’s family business just because they dislike them—that would be an absurd plot.

The two of them took the bus home, and once they got off, they still had a long way to walk before reaching the house.

Jiang Muti asked Yun Duo, “Why don’t we take a private car?”

Yun Duo shrugged. “You’re asking me? Isn’t it you who was annoyed by those friends of yours making snide remarks about you taking a luxury car to school? Unlike them, you didn’t want your family to send a car because you wanted to stay on the same level as them, right?”

Fine! There’s no need to analyze the thought process of someone who can’t even play their cards right.

She could only comfort herself by thinking of it as starting her weight loss journey.

By the time they stepped through the large arched door of the house, Jiang Muti felt like she had been pulled out of the water—completely drenched.

Butler Old Yun saw they were home earlier than usual and hurried to ask what had happened at school.

Yun Duo, concerned about her face, only explained to her father, “She wasn’t feeling well, but wouldn’t say anything, so I had to drag her back.”

“Oh, and Dad! My brother’s got a competition today, he’ll be back later.”

Old Yun didn’t care about that brat’s life or death. He waved his hand at his daughter. “Alright, just pretend you don’t know him. The gatekeeper will open the door for him when the time comes.”

Yun Duo paused, rolled her eyes, and was about to leave the main house to go to the dorm building.

But Jiang Muti called her back. “Let’s have dinner together. The exams are coming up, and there are some questions I want to ask you.”

Yun Duo was usually carefree and thick-skinned. Thinking about her usually mediocre grades, she didn’t suspect anything and agreed.

Jiang Muti mainly wanted to learn more about the original owner’s situation. Although her memories would slowly unlock based on triggers—like when she stepped into this house and many living scenes flashed in her mind—this method alone might miss out on some urgent information. And, fortunately, this girl was a bit too carefree to be a good candidate for evasive answers, right?

Jiang Muti couldn’t stand feeling sticky all over, so she decided to take a shower first, avoiding looking in the bathroom mirror the entire time.

She was afraid that just one glance might make her smash the mirror, and after a long period of mental preparation, she finally managed to look at her reflection.

Her features were already distorted, but it was still possible to vaguely tell that they were well-shaped. Her skin was surprisingly delicate, smooth, and fair.

This made her breathe a huge sigh of relief. They say that fat people are potential stocks, and it seemed that wasn’t a lie after all.

But losing the weight—around a hundred pounds—wasn’t something that could be done with just a little willpower.

When she went downstairs, she found out that dinner was ready.

As soon as Jiang Muti sat down, she almost felt nauseous from the greasy, heavy meat spread out before her.

In her past life, she had a good metabolism and didn’t easily gain weight. She maintained her figure through fitness and shaping exercises, and could eat pretty much anything without restrictions.

But she had never seen a meal so full of heavy meat like this. Normally, a few large dishes would be appetizing, but when a whole table was filled with this…

Jiang Muti looked up and already saw the regretful expression on Yun Duo’s face.

This girl was straightforward: “I forgot, the young master isn’t coming back today. You’re dining alone.”

Of course, the kitchen had prepared everything according to her preferences, making it hard to know where to start.

Jiang Muti’s head throbbed, and she was about to tell someone to clear the dishes and order something lighter.

Then she heard Old Yun’s voice: “Young master, didn’t you say the meeting would last late today?”

“It was canceled last minute,” a calm, cold voice answered. “Has Xiao Ti returned?”

“She wasn’t feeling well at school and came back early. She’s eating now.”

As they were speaking, the two entered the dining room. Jiang Muti turned around and saw a man in a suit with glasses, a cold and imposing aura, walking toward them.

The man was handsome, but wherever he passed, even the air seemed to become heavier.

Jiang Muti already knew the original owner had an older brother, but before her memories fully unlocked, she didn’t expect someone like him.

The air of a superior, the visibly powerful aura—compared to him, even the male lead and his group seemed immature.

No wonder Yun Duo didn’t take Zhou Lu’s words seriously, and the original owner probably cared too much about those so-called friends’ opinions, never revealing anything about her family’s background or her excellent relatives.

Given Jiang Muti’s age and taste, she truly found the man in front of her quite pleasing to the eye.

But as soon as he looked over, his sharp eyebrows furrowed, causing the servant, who was responsible for serving the meal, to lower his head and not dare to look directly.

Jiang Muti thought he would get angry, but instead, he sighed deeply.

“I won’t mention the weight loss issue anymore, but why is it so difficult to start with adjusting your diet? These dishes, even a normal person couldn’t handle them, not to mention you have fatty liver.”

Upon hearing this, Yun Duo truly regretted agreeing to have dinner here. As soon as this topic came up, it became an insurmountable hurdle.

The young master, Jiang Yunjuan, was always merciless, while Jiang Muti was particularly sensitive and insecure about this subject, yet couldn’t stop herself from speaking.

Whenever this came up, the usually insecure and weak person would end up throwing a tantrum, tossing her chopsticks, running back to her room, and crying.

This situation was incredibly awkward for an outsider like her, and she was silently counting down to when that person would explode.

Then everyone saw the young lady slam her chopsticks heavily onto the table—

It was over!

“Fine! I also feel like my eyes are sore. Get rid of it, get rid of it, hurry up.”

Then she turned to Jiang Yunjuan: “Weight loss, right? I agree, I absolutely agree! Arrange for a nutritionist and a personal trainer for me tomorrow.”

“Mm, if necessary, medical assistance wouldn’t be out of the question either.”

“Oh, right! How about I just take a year off from school? I’ll focus on losing weight for the whole year, not thinking about anything else.”

Really, as someone who’s vain about her appearance and used to being the center of attention, walking around like this every day felt like public execution.

Compared to this, the petty conflict with the male lead and supporting male lead didn’t even matter.

She thought that with her weight, the original owner’s family probably pampered her without limits, but it was rare to have such a sensible brother. She had to get this plan sorted out first.

Jiang Muti looked at him eagerly, but he simply stared at her in silence for a while.

Then he turned to the butler, Old Yun: “Go check who the young lady has been in contact with recently and what new ‘friends’ she’s made that gave her the idea to take a break from school.”

Eh! Wait—

Jiang Muti was a bit confused. This kind of “Our child is perfect, and if anything’s wrong, it’s definitely because of bad influences from the outside” line of thinking…

It didn’t match your cool and distant persona, brother!