Chapter 10

“Eh?”

The topic was too abrupt, and Yan Ning, who had skipped straight from childhood to her teenage years, couldn’t understand the meaning of the sentence. Was it because they wore matching outfits for an important competition that made the other person uncomfortable?

Yan Ning tried to analyze the situation. At this moment, she missed 007 terribly. If 007 were here, with its artificial intelligence and big data analysis, it would easily make sense of various problems and even discern people’s hidden intentions. She wouldn’t be so flustered and confused.

“Ah, sorry, did I make you uncomfortable? I’ll change right away,” Yan Ning said politely, following the first conclusion her brain quickly came up with.

“…” This was the first time Lu Fengfeng was at a loss for words in front of a girl. How on earth did her little brain come up with such a cute conclusion?

Generally speaking, whenever he spoke to a girl, that girl would usually lose her ability to think normally.

But this was the first time someone had been so clear-headed in front of him that he couldn’t understand. He felt both frustrated and excited at the same time, so he simply sat down next to her. “Why would you change? I think it looks good like this. Don’t you like it?”

“……Well, because it’s a competition, I think matching outfits might affect the result.” Yan Ning wasn’t quite used to the way he spoke. He looked like a senior, but his tone had a… younger, perhaps even cute, vibe.

At this point, Yan Ning still didn’t know that there was a specific term for this speaking style—“coquettish.”

It was a very subtle feeling, but Lu Fengfeng noticed it right away. Yan Ning didn’t seem to be fond of the “cute” approach.

The next moment, he spoke in a more neutral tone, “By the way, what’s your number?”

“216.”

“Ah, that would indeed make a difference.” The young man pulled out his own number tag—215.

If two contestants with similar styles performed one after the other, the one who went second would definitely be at a disadvantage.

And Yan Ning figured she couldn’t beat this naturally lazy young man.

So, there was no chance of winning.

“Did you bring a change of clothes?” Lu Fengfeng asked.

“Mm… considering there might be unexpected situations, I made some extra preparations,” Yan Ning answered honestly.

Lu Fengfeng glanced at her and softly said, “Lu Fengfeng.”

“Uh… Yan Ning,” Yan Ning was momentarily stunned before realizing he was introducing himself. Being around this person made her feel like her thinking slowed down a little.

“I’m in Class 9 of the first year. What year are you in?”

“Seventh grade, Class 5,” Yan Ning paused for a moment before replying.

“Ah, that one, right? The rumored beautiful girl transfer student.” Lu Fengfeng crossed his legs, resting his right hand on his chin, gazing at Yan Ning.

Yan Ning lowered her head, a little embarrassed. “Yes, I’m a transfer student.”

“Also a beautiful girl,” Lu Fengfeng said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Can I take a picture of you? It’s rare that we wore matching outfits, and you look great. You said you’d change later, so I want to record it now.”

“Huh? Together?” Yan Ning thought she must have misheard.

“Of course! Although both you and I are individually stunning, together our beauty would double!” The young man said narcissistically, but strangely, it wasn’t annoying or funny. “Look here.”

The young man raised his phone. The distance between them wasn’t intimate, and Yan Ning didn’t even have time to pose properly. “Click,” the picture was taken.

“Hey, that’s not bad,” he said, handing her the phone. In the photo, the young man with the symmetrical tear marks on his face wore a gentle smile, and the person next to him also looked youthful. In contrast, Yan Ning’s expression was serious, with a hint of awkwardness mixed in.

The contrasting expressions of the two created an unexpected narrative, a mysterious allure that invited further exploration.

But as he had said, it really did match well.

“Really nice. I’ve been thinking about using this as my wallpaper. By the way, could you give me your phone?”

“Huh?”

“I’ll send you this picture as a memento of your first competition. Don’t you want it?”

“Ah, okay.” Yan Ning quickly fumbled for her phone and handed it to him. “Thank you.”

Lu Fengfeng took the pink phone and looked at her with a bit of surprise. He had thought she wouldn’t like such a pink color. It seemed he still didn’t understand women.

Even if she was stiff and boring, she was still a girl, and couldn’t resist cute, pink things, could she?

There were several pairs of eyes watching them from a distance, hidden, but both Yan Ning and Lu Fengfeng noticed and pretended they didn’t see anything.

“Numbers 211 to 220, prepare yourselves.” Meng Qing, a student council officer, was assisting with the event.

Normally, the student council president would handle such tasks, but since Qin Li was also participating in the competition, all these responsibilities fell to Meng Qing. If Qin Li successfully entered the next round, the duties he was handling would be transferred entirely to Meng Qing.

Meng Qing’s job today was to take care of the participants waiting in the rest area, handling any unexpected situations.

Upon hearing the announcement, Yan Ning quickly got up. “Sorry, I’ll go change my clothes first.”

Lu Fengfeng nodded, signaling for her to go, not needing to worry about him. Yan Ning grabbed her bag and walked toward the bathroom.

They were the last group, and there were only a few people left in the rest area. The bathroom was empty.

Yan Ning cautiously lifted her head and scanned the area, not spotting any suspicious surveillance equipment before taking out a black vest from her bag and pulling out a pair of brand-new knee-high boots.

The leather bag that Shi Lei had matched for her was casual in style, with both shoulder and single-shoulder carrying options. The most important thing was that the bag looked medium-sized but could hold a lot, enough to fit a full set of cosmetics and other miscellaneous items that girls often need.

However, Yan Ning’s shoes and clothes weren’t actually inside the bag, she was just pretending to take them out.

For situations like this, she had placed these items inside her spatial ring, which could store goods.

In the galaxy, storage rings were no longer a new or rare piece of equipment. Although expensive, Yan Ning had several of them.

She put on the vest, then sat on the toilet to roll up her pants before slipping on the boots. It was just a simple adjustment, but her demeanor already felt different from before.

But it still wasn’t enough. Yan Ning took out an antique and delicate three-tier jewelry box from the spatial ring, gently opening it. The folding design of the box revealed several layers, each adorned with sparkling, rare gemstones in a dazzling array.

Her fingers hovered in mid-air, her gaze drifting between the different styles of jewelry, finally stopping on a black metal chain with a blood-red, irregular multifaceted gemstone. She then pulled out a black leather choker from the bottom layer of the box.

The choker had a row of circular rings in the middle, allowing a chain-style necklace to pass through. Pairing the contrasting materials with the blood-red gemstone gave the piece a dark, mysterious aura.

Yan Ning also pulled out a small drawer from the side of the jewelry box, inside which were various earrings. She selected one earring that matched the gemstone necklace. The earring was made of black metal, with a large, perfectly cut blood-red gemstone in the center—bold and eye-catching in design.

Yan Ning tucked her short hair behind her left ear, tried the earring on, and then put it on. Wearing a pair of such extravagant earrings would be too stiff, so she opted to wear a single ^[1]“Lan Xing” (蓝星) translates to “Blue Star” in English. It could refer to a fictional brand, a type of gemstone, or a planetary reference.“Lan Xing” black diamond ear stud on the other side. Small, yet dazzling.

She looked down at her hands, rolled up her right sleeve to reveal a 1 cm-wide silver restraint cuff around her wrist. Normally, she made sure to keep this hidden, but today, since it had to show, she decided to make it part of her accessory.

She pulled out another small drawer from the other side of the jewelry box, which contained a box of bracelets, and a small section in the corner with a dozen different rings. 

There was a style of matching called “chaotic harmony,” where seemingly mismatched items were put together to form a unique, quirky style.

At this moment, Yan Ning couldn’t help but smile, thinking of Shi Lei’s teachings.

From the box, she picked out a circular bracelet with small, delicate gemstones and slipped it onto her left wrist. Then, she chose three bracelets made of different materials.

One was a leather bracelet similar to the choker, another was a thin silver bracelet, and the last one was a chain-style bracelet with various gemstone scraps. She piled them all on her right wrist, with the silver wide bracelet squeezing in among them, yet it didn’t look messy.

Shaking her wrist, she heard a soft, melodic ringing sound from the small pieces of jewelry.

Her eyes moved across the ring drawer, and she spotted two rings in the corner. One was a black, adjustable semi-circle ring with an eye-catching silver gemstone in the center, and a fine chain hung between the two sides. She put this on her right index finger. The other was a simple, unembellished silver ring, which she wore on her middle finger.

Feeling satisfied, Yan Ning pushed both side drawers back in, opened the smallest drawer at the bottom of the box, and took out an exquisite silver-and-red gemstone brooch with a long chain, pinning it on her collar. Only then did she feel her combat-ready outfit was complete.

Standing in front of the mirror, Yan Ning tilted her head and took out the full set of cosmetics that Qiao Yingxue had prepared for her.

She had only applied light makeup today, with a bit of foundation and lip balm, because Teacher Shi Lei had told her to appear pure and not wear heavy makeup.

But now, she needed to make her makeup more dramatic, otherwise, the outfit wouldn’t be able to carry itself.

After a week of hands-on teaching from Teacher Qiao, along with the foundation she already had, Yan Ning’s makeup skills weren’t bad at all.

A few minutes later, Yan Ning packed everything up, grabbed her bag, and left the restroom.

When she returned to the lounge, only a few people were left inside.

“Contestant 216.”

“Here.”

Meng Qing looked up, his eyes widening slightly. For a moment, his face showed an unmistakable surprise, and he was stunned for several seconds before regaining his composure. “Please come this way.”

“My God, did you see that?” The few people left in the lounge were also in shock, and those who had snapped back to their senses immediately started tapping their friends beside them.

“Yeah, was she just here?”

“She was with that 215 earlier, right? They were dressed similarly, but how did she end up like this?”

“Hahaha—” One person laughed, but as they kept laughing, they started to cry. “I used to think I looked okay… what gave me the courage to think that?”

“Who would have thought there’s someone like her, besides the school beauty and 215…”

“I just want to know, is all that gear real?”

“…It can’t be, right? If it were real, how crazy would that be? Does she have more money than the school beauty’s family?”

“I thought this was just a school sports event, why was I so careless…”

“I’m withdrawing.” An excited voice came from one of the remaining people.

Three of the four people in the lounge turned to look at the speaker, a refreshing-looking young man with bright eyes. “Just now, at 11:46:46 AM on April 27, 20××, I met my one true love. I’ve decided to give up everything and follow her forever.”

The other three: “Classic case of second-hand syndrome, alright, forget it.”