Novel Turned Yuri – Chapter 33

The difference in liking

Cong Ye’s smile was as warming as the spring breeze melting the ice, while Qiao Yu’s face was cold as the frost of harsh winter.

This was all because the person next to her greeted everyone with a goofy smile, creating an ominous atmosphere for Qiao Yu. The looks from the crowd had shifted from curiosity to blessings. Qiao Yu even saw someone plucking up the courage in the hallway to whip out a cellphone, brazenly attempting to capture a photo of them.

Qiao Yu cracked a faint smile at the camera lens, marched over, snatched the phone, and handed it off to a teacher in the office.

She entered the classroom fuming, with Cong Ye incessantly babbling by her side, “Why snatch someone’s phone, Qiao Yu? That’s not nice”—’Not nice my foot!’ It’ll really be ‘not nice’ when a photo of them together spreads across the school!

As they walked through the door, the classroom’s noise abruptly halted. Qiao Yu, with a face like thunder, took her seat, inwardly declaring, ‘Oh, so it’s like this even in class, huh? Seems I’ve got to make an example, to ‘kill the chicken to warn the monkey’, she thought, rolling up her sleeves with an air of menace, wondering which lucky little clever ghost would test her ‘blade’—

“Qiao Yu, have you put on the bracelet?”

“Oh, I did, I did! It was too pretty, I couldn’t resist.”

Qiao Yu obediently sat down in her seat, stretching out her wrist towards Lin Qing as if offering a treasure.

Lin Qing smiled shyly, touching the bracelet gingerly and whispered, “I’m glad you like it.”

The previously dangerous atmosphere now became warm and harmonious. Qiao Yu withdrew her hand, giggling foolishly, saying she would wear it every day. Lin Qing averted her gaze and awkwardly changed the subject, asking how Qiao Yu’s holiday homework was going, only to receive a timid and tentative reply that it was all filled out.

“What do we do, Cong Ye’s laugh is so nauseating.”

Lu Yao looked at his friend next to him, whose face was so relaxed from laughter it seemed about to unravel, and silently shifted his chair away.

“Let him be, managing to laugh so heartily on the first day back from a long holiday is quite the feat in itself.”

Mi Yi slouched over Lu Yao’s desk, yawned, and urged him to hurry up and copy her homework so he could give it back to her.

Soon, the big break arrived, and everyone listlessly went out for the exercises, performing even more lackadaisically than before the vacation.

Qiao Yu was always half-hearted about the exercises—given her old arms and legs, it was impressive that she managed to learn their break-time routine on the spot. The exercises at Yao Hua, her previous world’s high school, were different after all; it was neither the ‘Eagle’s Flight’ nor the ‘Rising Sun’ she was used to.

Each time, she followed the movements of the exercise leader on the stage, trying to imitate. The girls carried themselves with precision, but Qiao Yu looked awkward, like a patient in the midst of rehabilitation.

Speaking of which, she always felt the exercise leader’s silhouette seemed oddly familiar, but as soon as the routine ended, everyone would disperse, lively as ever, and the leader would blend into the crowd before Qiao Yu could ever see her face clearly.

Today seemed different, though. After the session, the girl didn’t step down from the stage immediately but slowly turned around—

“…Watching Qiao Yu do the exercises always brings up the suspicion, ‘Are our break-time exercises some kind of monkey performance?'”

Cong Ye walked over at this moment, blocking Qiao Yu’s line of sight. Her attention was instantly captured by his words, and anger flared up within her.

“Hah? Who let you keep an eye on me??”

“Can’t help it, you stand out too much…”

After the break-time exercises, the group of five would naturally gather to head back to class. As soon as Qiao Yu and Cong Ye met up, they would start bickering, leaving Lu Yao no choice but to step in and mediate.

“Alright, alright, I was watching from behind, and even Cong Ye’s moves were all over the place, not quite in sync. Let’s not pick on each other, elder brother shouldn’t fuss over what the second brother did—oh, speaking of which, I brought some potato chips today. I’ll share them with you guys, Cong Ye and Lin Qing, when we get back.”

“Who are you calling clumsy?”

“Potato chips? Don’t I and Mi Yi get any?”

Qiao Yu pressed down on the ruffled Cong Ye and turned her head towards Lu Yao, her gaze full of the accusation ‘how can you be so biased?’

She was still in the dark about the bet. The others exchanged glances, and Lin Qing grabbed the sleeve of her clothing, shaking it to comfort her, saying, “I’ll share mine with you.”

Qiao Yu’s demeanor softened immediately, murmuring that Lin Qing was the best, then turning to Mi Yi, who also hadn’t been mentioned, to stoke the fire.

“Mi Yi, look at him! He’s blatantly ostracizing us now!”

…Although it was unfair to Qiao Yu, if one were to speak of being ostracized, among those present, only she, oblivious to the truth, could be considered a target of exclusion.

This thought occurred tacitly to everyone. Mi Yi, nonchalantly flicking her hair, confidently stated, “It’s okay.”

“After all, there will come a day when I’ll get to eat it.”

Qiao Yu naturally misunderstood her meaning, still muttering about how the taste of something she bought herself wouldn’t be the same as something given by a friend, completely oblivious to the others’ peculiar looks and the strange atmosphere.

In the betting game, only Mi Yi’s wager had yet to have its outcome determined. To those in the know, her words doubtlessly served as a proclamation of her eventual victory.

What Mi Yi bet on was that Song Wanwan harbored feelings for Qiao Yu.

Lu Yao, for his part, didn’t say much. After all, he had always assumed that Song Wanwan and Qiao Yu’s affection was mutual. He had now come to silently recognize that it was actually an unrequited love from Song Wanwan towards an oblivious Qiao Yu, effectively aligning him with Mi Yi’s stance on the matter.

However, the remaining two were not in the best of spirits.

Cong Ye’s expression darkened, his face taking on a grim mien as he crossed his arms.

Speaking of which, he had gotten Song Wanwan’s WeChat but hadn’t chatted with her at all.

Actually, he was freaking out inside. The day he had asked for her contact information was purely to interrupt her private time with someone else. Then came the National Day holiday immediately after, and the King’s Game that dished out big rewards made him forget the whole thing completely. It was only now that he remembered such a major risk still looming.

Even though he was still somewhat skeptical of Mi Yi’s words—why would Song Wanwan take a liking to Qiao Yu? Because of her awkward limbs?—that strange sense of duty was clamoring inside him, cautioning him to nip any problems in the bud. At this moment, he began to strategize how to approach Song Wanwan later to subtly find out what she was really thinking.

As for Lin Qing on the other side.

The mere thought that Song Wanwan might like Qiao Yu was enough to make her heart tighten.

Although she could see that Qiao Yu had no such feelings for Song Wanwan, and she was confident that Qiao Yu felt something truly unique for her, but still—

Lin Qing’s pupils shrank suddenly, and she stopped in her tracks.

She silently observed a figure in front as they jogged over and stopped in front of Qiao Yu.

“Do you have time right now?”

Without even a greeting, the girl raised her head arrogantly, staring straight at Qiao Yu.

“Now, right now…”

Qiao Yu felt a twinge of hesitation in her heart, and suddenly, with a hiss, it slipped out.

“Song Wanwan, are you… are you that exercise leader?”

Song Wanwan’s composed expression collapsed in an instant; despite her efforts, she couldn’t keep the corners of her mouth from turning up, her voice much lighter: “You… you saw me?”

…This is not good.

Cong Ye stood to the side, glaring helplessly, filled with angst. He was torn over whether to intervene and become the bad guy. But if this was merely Qiao Yu engaging in normal social interaction, then he’d be stepping way out of line. At that moment, he heard Qiao Yu’s artless voice ring out.

“Mm, I’ve still got some time before class starts.”

Ah… It was unstoppable now. Hopefully they wouldn’t touch on any weird topics, oh Qiao Yu…!

Cong Ye was inwardly writhing with worry, pouring all his silent prayers into his intense gaze. Qiao Yu, who was about to leave after explaining something to a few people, gave him an odd look, clearly puzzled by his contorted expression at the moment.

Curses! She didn’t grasp his meaning at all!

Cong Ye was seething with a frustration he couldn’t voice, a feeling of internal injury gnawing at him as he watched Qiao Yu’s figure recede from his view. Carefully, he turned to gauge Lin Qing’s mood.

Ah, all seemed well, thankfully—nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, ignoring the smug ‘I told you so’ look that Mi Yi was shooting his way as the group continued on towards the classroom.

Lin Qing’s expression remained unchanged as she returned to the classroom and settled back into her seat, beginning to review the content for the next lesson.

She quietly finished reading a page of her book and then looked up at the clock hanging at the front of the classroom.

Has it really only been two minutes?

Lin Qing licked her lips, took a big gulp from her water bottle, then tried to continue reading her book, but no matter how hard she forced herself to focus on the text, she couldn’t absorb any of it anymore.

Her gaze idly rested on the blank space in the book, counting her heartbeat as a way to banish the whirlwind of thoughts.

…It’s terrible; she really cared too much about what Qiao Yu was discussing over there.

Qiao Yu was also feeling nervous now. Song Wanwan had led her to a secluded spot by the edge of the playground, where there was no one around, and Song Wanwan had been silent for quite a while.

The reason she had agreed to come so readily was also that she felt what she did on the day of her birthday party was too abrupt—leaving Song Wanwan behind like that was not right. Now that Song Wanwan had taken the initiative to come to her, Qiao Yu felt that it would be too excessive to feign ignorance and run away again.

Moreover, although what Song Wanwan said sounded a bit off, perhaps she was just overthinking it. Maybe Song Wanwan was simply expressing friendship, and it wasn’t what she—Qiao Yu—suspected…

“I haven’t received an answer from you about what I said that day.”

Song Wanwan finally spoke, her surrounding aura heavy like a courtroom interrogation, which made Qiao Yu’s heart pound with fear.

“Um… It was my fault I didn’t remember you before, but I guess… I do care about you…”

Indeed, she was constantly worried whether Song Wanwan and Cong Ye might be making progress behind her back, complicating the emotional and relational threads of this novel.

Upon hearing her words, Song Wanwan’s face brightened instantly.

“I knew you cared about me! You even noticed that I was leading the exercise! I thought nobody was watching!”

This was because she couldn’t do the exercises—but even Qiao Yu knew this wasn’t the moment to point that out, so she silently nodded.

“Well, well then…”

Song Wanwan’s lighthearted words came to an abrupt halt, her face suspiciously flushed with color.

“…Then why won’t you let me like Cong Ye? You said before that you don’t like him.”

You might not believe it if I told you, but he’s this world’s male lead, already destined to be with the female lead.

Qiao Yu couldn’t say this, racking her brain for an excuse that would convince Song Wanwan. Speaking ill of Cong Ye here was definitely not an option…

“You’ve been keeping me company lately, talking to me, and you’ve been really nice. I trust you, Qiao Yu.”

Song Wanwan seemed unconcerned with the silence, her voice lowering, her cheeks growing redder by the second.

“If you tell me to like someone else, then what if, what if I started to like you instead—”

“Wait, wait, wait!”

Qiao Yu was so startled she felt like leaping three feet into the air on the spot. Panic-stricken, she cut off Song Wanwan’s bashful words.

Even she couldn’t be oblivious to what was unfolding now. No time to settle the storm of shock in her heart, Qiao Yu grabbed Song Wanwan by the shoulders, steadying her own spirit.

“…Song Wanwan.”

For the first time, Qiao Yu found herself confronted with such a scenario and felt dizzy with confusion.

But even inexperienced as she was, she sensed something amiss in Song Wanwan’s words just now.

“…Think it over carefully.”

“Could it be that you just feel—because I’ve been good to you, that’s all?”

Qiao Yu softened her voice, speaking at a pace that wouldn’t alarm Song Wanwan.

“Just like before, how you were with Cong Ye—”

“I feel you are good to me, and so I like you. What’s wrong with that?”

The young lady interrupted her, the usually imperious fox eyes now devoid of their authority, just stubbornly staring at her. Qiao Yu’s heart was in turmoil, but she still insisted on voicing her thoughts.

“…If it’s just because I’ve been nice to you, then that might only count as the kind of liking you have for a friend.”

“Why? Liking is liking, what’s the difference?”

So hard to explain! This question was tough even in Qiao Yu’s original world, where she had remained single from birth!

But there definitely was a problem with this!

“It’s just that, if it’s the liking for a lover, it ought to be more… complex…”

“How would you know? Have you been in love before?”

“No, I haven’t had that experience.”

Darn it! There’s no persuasiveness in this at all!

Qiao Yu frantically searched her mind for any usable information, but cursed her impoverished social life back in her original world. All her friends were single—loners, really—and now over here as well—ah.

In a flash, she thought of the manuscript she had just written yesterday and suddenly had a brilliant idea. With a very serious expression, she said,

“I know someone, and she probably has someone she likes in the romantic sense.”

“How about this: let me ask her and then come back to explain it to you properly.”