Novel Turned Yuri – Chapter 4
by Little PandaLin Qing Is Really Beautiful.
The first day of school dawned bright and sunny. Qiao Yu had prepared well this time, going to bed early and arriving at school right on time.
To her surprise, when she got to the classroom, Cong Ye was already sitting in the back, while Lin Qing hadn’t arrived yet.
After everything that happened yesterday, the male and female leads still weren’t coming to school together?
Qiao Yu was sure Cong Ye was up to his usual tricks. She tossed her bag onto the back of her chair and greeted him with fake friendliness. “You’re here early.”
Cong Ye was reading a novel. He barely lifted his eyelids in acknowledgment.
“You were late yesterday,” Qiao Yu continued, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “How come you have time to read today?”
Cong Ye slapped his book down on the desk and looked up at her with obvious irritation. “You were late yesterday too. How come you haven’t gone mute yet?”
Could this guy not talk like a normal person?
Silently chanting he’s the male lead three times, Qiao Yu swallowed her anger and sat down, trying to fish more information out of him.
“Hey, about you and Lin Qing yesterday, what—”
“Host, wait! The male lead hasn’t told you the female lead is living at his house yet!”
…There was a trap here of all places!
Qiao Yu barely managed to steer the conversation. “—what, what happened?”
Ignoring the look on Cong Ye’s face that screamed none of your business, she pressed on, pretending to dig for information she already knew. “Why are you picking on the new transfer student? She seems pretty and nice, not like a bad person.”
Her deskmate, Mi Yi, had just arrived. She joined the conversation before even putting her bag down. “Yeah, you’re all fierce and scary, like she stole your…” She paused thoughtfully, then added in a dreamy voice, “boyfriend.”
“Stole your mom.”
…Well, you couldn’t really blame Cong Ye for swearing. Qiao Yu gave a dry laugh and glanced at Mi Yi, who was saying with a straight face that Lin Qing hadn’t stolen her mom. This girl was no pushover either.
“So what’s the real story?” Mi Yi slid into her seat and propped her elbows on Lu Yao’s empty desk. “Give us the rundown before she gets here so we know how to treat her. Ex-girlfriend?”
“Ex your m—Mi Yi, is there anything else in your head besides this kind of drama?”
Cong Ye was furious, the veins on his temples bulging. Qiao Yu wisely kept her mouth shut, mentally cheering for this unexpected ally.
She didn’t even have to stir things up herself—someone else was asking for her. What a deal! Cong Ye, you’ve got good friends!
“That girl…” Remembering they were at school with people around, and maybe unable to stay mad at Mi Yi’s expressionless face, Cong Ye gave up on hiding it with a tired sigh. “She and her mom are living at my place now. My mom picked them up.”
“Illegitimate child?”
“Illegitimate your mom.”
Qiao Yu was starting to see that Mi Yi might be a fan of melodramatic plots.
“I heard her mom was my mom’s college classmate.” Cong Ye flipped a page irritably. “I don’t know why they couldn’t put them in another empty house. Had to bring them into ours, like picking up stray cats or dogs.”
…That was probably just the mysterious power of romance novels at work. What could you do? They were the male and female leads.
Qiao Yu cut in at the right moment. “Well, since you’re living together, shouldn’t you try to get along? What was that crazy act yesterday?”
“Who wants to get along with her?” Cong Ye rolled his eyes. “She’s my mom’s college classmate’s daughter. To me, she’s a stranger.”
“And she was talking nonsense earlier, saying we played together as kids. What kind of dream is that? I think there’s something wrong with her. Whatever, as long as she doesn’t get in my way, I couldn’t care less.”
So the implication was that Lin Qing had gotten in his way, which was why he’d blown up… Qiao Yu let out a disdainful snort. She knew perfectly well they had played together as kids. Cong Ye had forgotten all about it and now thought she was making up stories to get close to him. Typical romance male lead, way too full of himself.
Just as she was thinking this, she saw Lin Qing walk through the door. She had her hair in a neat ponytail, and even the shapeless school uniform looked striking on her.
Qiao Yu immediately shut her mouth, grabbed Mi Yi—who still wanted to ask more questions—and turned around, giving Lin Qing a goofy smile as she approached.
Lin Qing returned a polite smile. As she sat down, a breeze carried a sweet scent to Qiao Yu’s nose.
She couldn’t help taking a couple of deep breaths, then suddenly realized she was acting like a creep and slammed her face onto the desk.
Lin Qing smells so nice.
System: …
The host really has a completely different attitude toward the male and female leads.
The morning classes finally ended. The fake high schooler Qiao Yu was dead tired, slumped in her seat, not wanting to talk.
“What rotten luck,” Lu Yao whined from behind, his arms stretched out on the desk, looking as dejected as an abandoned puppy. “Getting punished with standing on the first day. So embarrassing.”
“The person who got punished with writing a self-criticism on the first day hasn’t said anything yet. What are you complaining about?”
Mi Yi pushed away his outstretched hand with disgust, then looked at the lifeless Qiao Yu beside her. A rare smile appeared on her expressionless face.
“One who forgot her summer homework and one who was late. Isn’t the idiot concentration in this corner a bit too high?”
Cong Ye let out a cold, sarcastic laugh as he stood up, looking down at Qiao Yu. “Coming with an empty backpack. I don’t know what you were thinking. If I hadn’t seen you copying Mi Yi’s homework a couple of days ago, I wouldn’t have believed you really forgot.”
…So that was it. The “hanging out with friends” the male lead mentioned in the first eighteen chapters was actually everyone doing homework together.
Qiao Yu thought numbly and let out a muffled groan.
She had completely forgotten that high schoolers had summer homework. When the class representative came looking for it, she was dumbfounded and could only honestly say she hadn’t brought it. But that excuse sounded so flimsy the teacher didn’t buy it at all, and immediately slapped Qiao Yu with an 800-character self-criticism.
Good thing the original body had actually done the summer homework, or Qiao Yu wouldn’t have been able to sleep tonight.
Cong Ye didn’t miss the chance to kick her while she was down. He laughed at her for a full five minutes before finally striding out the door, satisfied. Qiao Yu, dejected, still managed to ask him dutifully, “Where are you going?”
“To eat.”
She got another look like she was an idiot. Qiao Yu was getting used to it by now—he was just a bit of a jerk, no real malice. She stood up too, and despite Cong Ye’s strong protests, the four of them ended up going to the cafeteria together.
Their high school was called Yaohua. The name sounded modest, but it was a genuine elite private school for the children of the rich. Unlike elite private schools in other novels, though, it didn’t just let students run wild. On the contrary, the teachers here all had solid backgrounds and weren’t afraid to discipline students. Yaohua’s founding philosophy seemed to be about giving rich kids proper education and guidance, and the whole school had a pretty upright academic atmosphere.
Even the cafeteria was way better than the high school cafeterias Qiao Yu remembered. She ate heartily, marveling at how great it was to be rich, and during this time, she realized again that Cong Ye was someone special even in this elite private school.
The four of them walked together, and passing students would sneak glances at them, thinking they weren’t noticed. They had a clear path into the cafeteria, with students ahead making way for them. While Qiao Yu felt awkward following behind, the other three were completely used to it, clearly not their first time.
“Yes, Host. The male lead’s family is very wealthy and is an investor in this school. Your family and the other two’s families are also very powerful. You could do as you please at Yaohua High School.”
“…Impressive.”
Qiao Yu, who had only ever lived an ordinary person’s life, was deeply uncomfortable with this treatment. She still hadn’t recovered by the time she got back to the classroom.
She saw that the seat in front was still empty. Lin Qing hadn’t been there when they left, and they hadn’t seen her in the cafeteria. Had they missed her?
“Qiao Yu, why do you look so stupid? Like a brainless quail1.”
Cong Ye was always especially fired up when talking to her, like he’d eaten gunpowder. Qiao Yu sighed helplessly and played along half-heartedly. “Yeah, yeah, I can’t compare to the great Young Master Cong, the flower peacock2.”
She shot that off and bolted out the door before Cong Ye could react. As long as she ran fast enough, his roar of anger couldn’t catch her.
Qiao Yu made two turns before stopping. She really did need to find a place to catch her breath and calm down, to shift her mindset from being the center of attention.
She looked up and found herself in front of the restroom on this floor, so she headed inside.
“…I’m just saying, that Lin Qing, she…”
She stopped after one step, drawn by the faint voices coming from inside. The mention of Lin Qing’s name made her pay attention. She held her breath and leaned against the wall outside the door to listen.
“She seems to have something to do with Cong Ye.”
“That, that Cong Ye? No way…”
“Really, really. I heard from my friend in Class 1 that Cong Ye’s face was awful the moment he saw her. They had a fight.”
Great. Bad news travels fast. This kind of thing was the best gossip for curious high schoolers. It had spread already.
Qiao Yu sighed at Cong Ye’s mess, listening to the girls inside vividly reenact yesterday’s scene.
“Could it be… an ex-girlfriend?”
This was exactly the same line of thinking as Mi Yi. Did high school girls have anything else in their heads?
“Then that girl is so fake. They broke up, and she still transfers here to cause trouble.”
You guys are the best at jumping to conclusions, you know that?
“Yeah, yeah. The guys in class all say she’s pretty, but I think she’s just so-so…”
What did you say!
Qiao Yu was both angry and curious. If they thought Lin Qing, who looked like a fairy, was just so-so, what did the girl saying this look like?
…No, no, that’s not important! Qiao Yu quickly shook her head and refocused.
This was clearly the standard plot in school romance: the female lead being isolated by other girls because the male lead is a big shot.
And the best way to handle this situation was, of course—
Qiao Yu spun around and rushed out, planning to bring Cong Ye here before the girls inside finished talking!
“Wait, Host. This is the women’s restroom. Cong Ye can’t come in.”
“…”
Right. Qiao Yu silently walked back.
Huh, Cong Ye couldn’t come into the women’s restroom. So this wasn’t an important plot point?
A sudden realization dawned on Qiao Yu. The anger that had been building since she heard them talking slowly rose. She sneered inwardly and slowly rolled her wrists as she walked in.
Gossiping, huh? Like adding backstories to people, huh?
Even if Cong Ye couldn’t come, she wasn’t about to let them walk away like nothing happened.
Qiao Yu was determined. She crept to the door, blocking the exit, then suddenly slammed her fist hard against the solid wooden door. The loud bang made the three girls gathered at the sink jump.
“You’ve got a lot to—”
Almost at the same time as her punch, a stall door opened without warning. Lin Qing, who hadn’t been seen all lunch, walked out slowly. Startled by Qiao Yu’s commotion, she stared at her with wide eyes, like a startled fawn.
Qiao Yu’s raised voice died in her throat. The scene fell into dead silence.
Avoiding reality, she mechanically turned her neck to look at the three huddled, trembling girls, and blurted out without thinking.
“If you ask me, Lin Qing is really beautiful.”
System: …Is this really the time to say that!
Qiao Yu snapped back to reality, wanting to slap herself twice and crawl into a hole.
But words, once spoken, couldn’t be taken back. Her comment had made the atmosphere even more awkward.
Even the System was speechless at this embarrassing situation. Qiao Yu didn’t dare look at Lin Qing’s expression. Her mind was blank. After a long moment, one thought finally formed.
…Was she still going to throw down or not? Cong Ye, you useless, why can’t you come into the women’s restroom? Huh?
Qiao Yu is smitten. 🤣
Lmao this novel is funny!! Thanks for the chap
Lmao this novel is funny!! Thanks for the chap