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Chapter 33 Hao Xin Apologizes

“Sis, I still don’t know your name,” Lu Li asked after they exchanged friend requests.

“Qin Lan, Qin as in ‘The Legend of Qin’, Lan as in mountain breeze.”

“Qin Lan?” Lu Li saved the female doctor’s name in his notes.

It sounded rather pleasant.

Qin Lan glanced at Lu Li’s screen name and let out a snicker.

“Bright Lu Li’s Lu Li…” Qin Lan laughed until her shoulders shook. “Don’t tell me your real name is Lu Li; how could your parents give you such a patsy’s name?”

Lu Li frowned. “What do you mean?”

Inwardly he muttered, “Lu Li clearly refers to fine jade… how did it become a sucker?”

Qin Lan cleared her throat and said gravely, “When you play Werewolf, even if you’re not a wolf you still get voted out, because when no wolf is confirmed everyone will ‘blame Lu Li’.”

Lu Li was speechless.

That joke was painfully cold.

Lu Li did not wrangle with Qin Lan any further; after a brief discussion they reached consensus on her daily meals and the cost.

On school days Party B, Lu Li, would prepare breakfast and lunch for Party A, Qin Lan.

Breakfast had to be nutritious, lunch had to include at least three dishes and one soup, the taste must match today’s standard with no cutting corners, and within a week no dish could be repeated.

The price was set at ¥12 for breakfast and ¥28 for lunch.

With roughly 22 school days a month, Qin Lan ignored the small decimals and fixed the monthly meal fee at ¥1,000.

In her words, the extra part could go to buying tonics for her little brother so that he wouldn’t be lovable only in spring.

Her silver tongue made Lu Li roll his eyes.

The board would be settled twice a month, with Party A paying ¥500 at the beginning and another ¥500 in the middle.

Because it happened to be mid-February, once the deal was struck Qin Lan immediately transferred ¥500 to Lu Li as though afraid he might regret it.

Qin Lan was a foodie who spent at least ¥2,000 a month on food, and even so she might not eat well every meal because every unfamiliar restaurant was an unknown.

By eating Lu Li’s cooking she no longer had to worry about quality, and even without including dinner ¥1,000 was an absolute bargain.

Besides, if Lu Li ever tried to slack off she could simply refuse to pay the other half.

What she did not know was that Lu Li was equally afraid that Qin Lan might back out.

Since he cooked every day anyway, an extra serving only meant buying a bit more ingredients; everything came out of the same pot and took almost no extra effort.

In return he not only recouped the cost of ingredients but also earned at least another ¥600 each month.

He had practically struck gold.

“Happy cooperation!”

“Happy cooperation!”

It was obviously a win-win, yet both felt they had scored a huge bargain.

When Chu Zining returned with the washed lunchboxes, under the noon sun she saw Lu Li and Qin Lan sitting on opposite chairs, shadows draped across them as they clasped hands and smiled at each other.

She looked down and froze, for the silhouettes beneath them no longer seemed human but rather a sly jackal and a crafty fox.

She rubbed her eyes hard, and the jackal and fox vanished, turning back into their respective shadows.

…

After the lunch break Chu Zining went back to the classroom and began reviewing the flexible-thinking math problems.

She had spent a full hour on the last set Dai Ming gave, whereas Lu Li had reportedly needed less than 40 minutes.

Chu Zining did not want to surpass Lu Li or prove anything; it was simply etched in her bones to take first place since childhood.

She wanted to become even better and did not wish to be left behind by Lu Li.

Yet just as she calmed down, the classroom suddenly grew noisy, classmates chirping and faintly mentioning her name.

When she looked up, the always domineering Hao Xin was striding toward her with an imposing air.

“Look, look, Hao Xin is going to get revenge on Chu Zining.”

“Revenge?”

“Heh-heh, I heard that during the fitness test Hao Xin knocked Chu Zining over, and her boyfriend slapped Hao Xin.”

“Really? With a withdrawn girl like Chu Zining, she has a boyfriend?”

“It’s true, super handsome, supposedly from Class 4!”

“Never mind the boyfriend… Hao Xin is petty and unreasonable; this won’t end well, Chu Zining is doomed!”

The classmates jabbered away, yet none tried to stop Hao Xin, since Hao Xin’s boyfriend was the school bully and they did not want his resentment.

Watching Hao Xin approach step by step, Chu Zining felt a surge of anxiety; her heart pounded as though it would leap out of her throat.

She had never fought anyone and had no idea how to resist.

Is it still time to run…

She’s already standing right in front of me…

If only the second personality were here, Chu Zining thought timidly.

Just as she closed her eyes to accept her fate, she heard Hao Xin say loudly, “I’m sorry, it was my fault for knocking you over before, please forgive me!”

Huh? Huh? Huh? Chu Zining stared blankly at Hao Xin, who was bowing deeply in a sincere apology.

The always aggressive Hao Xin who argued even when she was wrong was actually apologizing.

The entire class was stunned, jaws hanging open, unable to fathom what power Chu Zining possessed to make Hao Xin say sorry.

“Ah, I-I didn’t blame you, d-don’t do this,” Chu Zining said awkwardly.

Hao Xin slowly raised her head and asked cautiously, “You really don’t blame me?”

“Really, really!” Chu Zining nodded again and again; so she was apologizing out of goodwill.

Delighted, Hao Xin grabbed her hand. “Then could you get your boyfriend to forgive me and Zhang Cheng?”

Zhang Cheng was the name of the big-headed boy.

“My boyfriend? I don’t have a boyfriend…” Chu Zining froze, as though guessing the truth.

“That Lu Li from Class 4!” Hao Xin said.

So it was him… Chu Zining’s heart skipped a beat; so he had stayed so late at the infirmary to remove hidden trouble for me.

She pressed her lips together, complex emotions flickering in her eyes.

Hao Xin clutched her hand. “Your boyfriend is so handsome and awesome; he surely won’t hold a grudge, right? Ning Ning, please put in a good word for us.”

Hao Xin’s fawning and warm manner left the classmates staring in disbelief.

Why is she being so familiar with me… Feeling even more embarrassed, Chu Zining could only whisper, “Th-this sort of thing, I’ll have to ask him.”

“Come on, you don’t understand… when you fainted he was so worried about his sweetheart, he’ll definitely listen to you! Ningning, help me, I really don’t want…” another slap.

So, when I fainted, he really was that worried about me… Chu Zining felt light-headed; this was already the second time she had heard it.

So, in this world, besides my second personality, there really is someone who would help me.

“Th-then I’ll talk to him after school…” Chu Zining bit her lip; she needed to find Lu Li and thank him.

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