Chapter 10

Compared to most people, Jiang Muti’s weight loss journey was much easier.

First, with professional guidance and a tailored plan, she avoided taking detours, and the support of pharmacology and medicine made the process much more effective.

However, due to her significant starting point and health considerations, achieving the body Jiang Muti aimed for was still not something that could be accomplished overnight.

In recent weeks, Jiang Muti’s meals had become bland and tasteless, but it wasn’t just about eating greens. After all, the more you lose weight, the more you need to pay attention to nutrition.

However, no matter how good the ingredients were, the bland cooking methods and the lack of various sauces made every bite a torment.

At lunch, Yun Duo placed a food container in front of Jiang Muti, which contained beef salad and various fruits.

Of course, there was no salad dressing — who would think of something so nice? That stuff has such high calories.

Jiang Muti chewed on the dry beef and said, “I never realized beef could taste so bad.”

It wasn’t just that her current body was accustomed to heavy, oily dishes — even her past self would probably have struggled to adjust.

Then, she glanced longingly at Yun Duo’s plate. She had gotten her meal from the school restaurant.

Today, the chef had made potato and braised beef.

Although it was the same beef, the one in Yun Duo’s bowl was a whole different species.

The beef was a perfect balance of fat and lean, tender and juicy, braised to a soft texture. The round potatoes, about the size of quail eggs, were coated in a thick, fragrant red-brown sauce.

After finishing the main course, the sauce could be poured over the glistening, plump rice.

Jiang Muti swallowed, smiling at Yun Duo and saying, “How does it taste? Give me a piece! You see, I can eat the potato and beef.”

Yun Duo casually popped a piece of beef into her mouth, chewing slowly. After swallowing, she replied, “Stop fooling me. You can only eat boiled lean beef, and potatoes need to be part of a workout menu. You can only eat carbs at certain times.”

Jiang Muti wiped her face in despair. Why did her brother ask Yun Duo to have lunch with her every day?

It was clear she had anticipated this day. This honest girl really left no room for escape.

But as difficult as things were, Jiang Muti’s changes over the past few weeks were still obvious.

She was still overweight, of course, but even classmates who saw her every day were suddenly noticing that she had lost a lot of weight.

Considering her starting weight, seeing noticeable changes with the naked eye already meant she had shed a considerable amount.

After the unresolved conflict with Zhou Lu last time, there were now many more people talking about her.

As for her positive transformation, some people were indifferent, others were amused, some looked down on it, but a few felt a bit uncomfortable.

That afternoon, as Jiang Muti was about to leave the classroom, three girls stood in front of her.

She raised an eyebrow. They were the original owner’s “good friends.”

They were still in the same class, but after their falling out that morning, they hadn’t spoken much.

Although Jiang Muti had played a prank on them, these girls had likely been in a dominant position in this “friendship” for a long time.

Any hint of a problem would have been met with the original’s compromise to please them. Even if it wasn’t her fault, she would still take the blame first.

So even though Jiang Muti had become increasingly different from before, after more than two years of accumulated habits and ingrained responses to such conflicts, it wasn’t possible for her to adjust the way she interacted with them just because of a temporary change.

Because most people don’t know their own limits!

After that day, they expected Jiang Muti to get over her temporary madness and return to apologize. Despite the harsh joke she made and how they had all ended up drenched in water.

However, if she apologized sincerely, they weren’t petty people, and would let things go after cooling down.

Who knew, though, that after all this time, she hadn’t reacted at all, and even revealed a family background far more shocking than they had imagined.

Now, she was even starting to lose weight, and her transformation was happening at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Sometimes they’d even hear someone say, “Actually, if you look closely, Jiang Muti has pretty good facial features and skin. If she loses weight, she should look pretty good.”

And someone would agree, “With the way she’s losing weight, it should only be a few months. By next semester, we might even see her as a big beauty.”

These words made them feel uncomfortable. Originally, they were just a group of inconspicuous girls at school, blending in with the crowd.

They had all stayed in their own little positions in the social hierarchy, coexisting without issue. But now, the people around them were rising, surpassing them to a level where they felt they needed to look up to them.

At this age, girls might not be able to accurately analyze their own emotions, but the jealousy and desperate desire to keep the other person stagnant were real.

So they couldn’t help but be the first to step forward and soften their stance.

“Fat—Muti, the store we always go to is having a promotion today. Do you want to go shopping? It’s been a while since we’ve gone together after school.”

“Oh, Crooked Teeth Zhen, Washboard Xia, and Nose Hair Ying?” If it wasn’t for the memorable nicknames they gave her back then, she would almost have forgotten their real names.

She had wondered why there were so many cheap, fast-fashion, imitation brands in her closet. When placed together with the high-end custom clothes her brother had arranged, they felt so out of place. Turns out, they were things she had bought with them in the past.

The three girls immediately looked displeased upon hearing her words: “Why are you still like this? Haven’t we changed?”

Realizing that this wasn’t the time to escalate things over a small matter, they suppressed their dissatisfaction. “So, how about it? Are we going?”

Jiang Muti heard the question in their tone, but the certainty behind it made it seem like they thought that by taking a step back, she would just go along and stop causing trouble.

Jiang Muti had no intention of entertaining them. To be blunt, people like them didn’t even deserve to be her followers in her past life, and she certainly wasn’t going to lower her standards in this life either.

She was about to turn and leave when she suddenly remembered that they had been in the same circle for so long. During that time, they often claimed they were joking but had actually made things awkward for the original self in a light yet uncomfortable way.

As long as things didn’t directly affect her, Jiang Muti hadn’t planned on bothering with them, since most of it wasn’t a big deal.

With the appetites of several ordinary high school girls, let alone the prestigious family background she had in this life, even in her past life, Jiang Muti wouldn’t have cared about such small amounts of money.

However, since the situation had already arisen, wouldn’t it be disappointing not to take care of it?

So, although she had already taken half a step forward, she turned around with a smile and said, “Alright, let’s go!”

Recently, Jiang Muti had been commuting to school with Yun Duo. Since she had other arrangements, this meant Yun Duo had to go back alone.

But Yun Duo wasn’t concerned about that, she was looking at Jiang Muti, who was greeting her before returning home, and the few girls not far behind her.

Immediately, she became upset: “Why are you still hanging out with them? Are they really well-intentioned? You’ve seemed pretty clear-headed lately, why are you being so muddled now?”

Jiang Muti really liked Yun Duo, but Yun Duo was a person who didn’t like others questioning her decisions.

So, she ruffled her head, smiling faintly, and said, “When I do something, just watch if you can’t understand, don’t ask too many questions, okay?”

This made Yun Duo quite upset: “Fine, I’ll mind my own business. You can take the car, I’ll take the bus home.”

Jiang Muti replied, “No, I actually quite like the seat in the car that picks us up now. I don’t want to switch.”

Yun Duo didn’t quite understand at first, but when she did, she was completely confused by Jiang Muti’s actions.

She couldn’t understand why, if Jiang Muti was still choosing to hang out with those old, troublesome friends, she didn’t even want them sitting in her own car.

The few girls weren’t naïve either. They had seen the luxury car picking up Jiang Muti at the school gate.

They had hoped to sit in it today, but Jiang Muti didn’t use it herself, instead prioritizing Yun Duo’s needs.

They couldn’t help but feel a little relieved that Jiang Muti still had that tendency to please others, confirming her unchanging nature.

They also added with a hint of sarcasm, “There are so many of us, yet she only cares about accommodating herself first.”

“Muti, isn’t that your family’s car? The girl who’s just staying at your house is living even better than you?”

The school didn’t know that Yun Duo was the daughter of Jiang Muti’s family’s housekeeper. Although this was true, Yun Duo didn’t mind and hadn’t thought much of it. However, in a school like this, there were always nonsensical reasons to criticize others.

Although the original self had many flaws, she wasn’t a bad person and was not entirely ignorant of the ways of the world.

So even though she got along well with these girls, when they asked about Yun Duo, the original self would only vaguely say they lived together.

As a result, people outside speculated that they were relatives or something like that.

The group arrived at a commercial street near the school, and sure enough, the store was having a sale, so they walked in.

Jiang Muti couldn’t be bothered to haggle with them. Without even looking at the clothes on the racks, she picked out a bunch and signaled to the sales assistant that she wanted those.

When the girls saw her suddenly being so generous, they couldn’t help but recall that when they used to shop, Jiang Muti often asked them to help pay because she either forgot her money or was short on funds.

But she didn’t often buy things for herself, and since her body type was difficult to fit, she didn’t find many things she could wear.

One of them spoke up, “Muti, why are you buying so much? Will these sizes even fit? I just saw several in size S.”

Jiang Muti shrugged indifferently and said casually, “I liked it, so I bought it. Why bother asking so much? Anyway, it’s cheap. If I can’t wear it, I’ll give it to the dog to make a bed—oh right, the dog doesn’t like this material, so I’ll just throw it away.”

The girls felt uneasy. The best brands they could afford at their age were being treated so dismissively, and it sounded as though this comment was specifically directed at them.

One of them sneered, “Did you bring enough money?”

“No!” Jiang Muti waved her hand. “I didn’t bring my wallet today. Recently, my family cut off all access to food to encourage me to lose weight, froze my bank card, and my phone doesn’t have a penny left.”

“Then why are you buying so much? Don’t tell me you’re asking the driver to come back and pay for you?”

Jiang Muti waved her hand again, “No need to make it so complicated. Don’t you guys still owe me money?”

She thought for a moment and added, “Let me see… with all the trips and numbers, I can’t remember exactly, but you three owe me about 100,000 in total over the past two years.”

The three girls were just high school students, and they were immediately shocked by the amount, shouting, “100,000? There’s no way! We’ve only borrowed money from you a few times!”

Ha! They must have forgotten how many times it had been. This didn’t even count the gifts, the meals, or the bills she’d paid for them. Just the money they had borrowed was certainly more than enough.

A few thousand at a time, for buying phones, clothes, concert tickets, and supporting idols. The original self had always been generous, never questioning where the money came from, and even though she may have hesitated at first, it soon became a matter of course.

Over the course of more than two years, this was just a small amount.

Jiang Muti smiled, “I remember I still haven’t thrown away the old phone from my first year of high school. It’s so convenient now, all the transfer records are clear.”

“You guys always said you didn’t have enough, but as a friend, I never complained, did I?”

“Now that I’m not giving you the same help, are you just going to stand there?”

Her expression turned cold as she looked at the three girls, whose faces had turned pale. “What’s wrong? Time to pay up!”