I Am More Paranoid Than the Villain – Chapter 17

Deliberate Teasing

Shushu, you smell so good

There were only two classes in the morning.

Shen Man’s schoolbag was about half-dry, but the magazines inside were still soaking wet.

Shen Man carried her schoolbag, held Lin Shu’s books, and walked out through the front door.

Watching Shen Man’s figure disappear, the taut string in Lin Shu’s mind finally relaxed.

Her shoulders slumped, and she lay prone on the desk, her eyes half-closed.

Seeing this, Tan Kai asked with a smile, “Aren’t you going back?”

“I don’t want to go back.” Lin Shu said while lying on her desk, her voice weak and feeble. In her heart, she didn’t want to see Shen Man at all.

“Alright then, I’ll take Shen Man back first.” After saying that, Tan Kai picked up his schoolbag and left.

Lin Shu lay prone on her seat, her chin resting on the desk, holding her phone with both hands and scrolling through some boring news.

A message popped up on her phone; it was from Yan Jie.

“Lin Shu-jie, was the plan successful? Was Shen Man angered to the point of tears?” Yan Jie asked excitedly.

Lin Shu didn’t want to answer and quickly typed, “I don’t want to mention her.”

“Okay, okay, okay, we won’t. A new coffee shop opened nearby, let’s go get some coffee.” Yan Jie said.

“En.” After typing, Lin Shu turned off her phone, picked up her schoolbag, and left.

Shen Man stood at the school gate. Seeing only Tan Kai, she got in the car and asked, “Where’s Shushu?”

“She seems to be in a bad mood. I guess she’s going out to play with her little sisters again.” Tan Kai said.

Shen Man’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. She contemplated for a moment, then said with a smile, “Shushu and those two girls have such a good relationship. They aren’t in the same class, but they still play together often.”

“Oh, you mean those two.” Tan Kai smiled and immediately shared what he knew. “The one named Yan Jie, her dad is a manager at Lin Shu’s dad’s company. Uncle Lin put in a lot of effort for her to be able to attend this school.”

“As for the one named Ding Xian, she was our classmate in high school. She usually had no presence. I don’t know how she started hanging out with Lin Shu in university, but she often runs errands for her.”

Having gotten information on the two, and connecting it to their respective personalities, Shen Man roughly understood who had come up with the idea to target her this time.

A vicious female supporting character always needs a dog-head strategist¹ by her side to scheme and plot. Clearly, Yan Jie had taken on such a role.

Shen Man didn’t take Yan Jie to heart.

The schemes used by these little girls with no social experience could only serve to disgust similarly naive classmates.

To someone like her, who had witnessed all sorts of complex and cruel aspects of human nature, it was like a childish game.

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Shen Man returned to the house, changed out of her slippers, and walked toward the living room.

She immediately saw that the living room table was filled with fruit. In the very center sat a large, yellow durian, which was extremely conspicuous.

“Auntie He, why did you buy so much fruit?” Shen Man asked.

“Didn’t you put all the fruit in your schoolbag yesterday? You also asked me if I had any durian, so I thought I’d buy a bit more today so you two could have more to eat.” Auntie He said with a smile.

“…” The corner of Shen Man’s mouth twitched. It wouldn’t be good to tell her the truth, so she smiled and said, “Shushu and I can’t eat that much. In the future, please just buy the normal amount.”

“Okay.” Auntie He nodded immediately and asked, “Do you want to eat some durian now?”

“No, thanks. This thing has a strong smell. Please give it to someone else, and don’t eat it in the house.” Shen Man shook her head, a trace of resistance on her face.

“Alright then.” Auntie He gave a puzzled smile and began to clear the table.

Shen Man carried her schoolbag to the balcony and took out the magazines to spread them out.

When Auntie He saw this, she immediately walked over and said, “You go back to your room and rest. I’ll take care of this.”

“Thank you for the trouble.” Shen Man nodded, hung her schoolbag to the side, and turned to go back to her room.

She closed the door.

Shen Man took her own textbooks from a cabinet in the room and began to organize her notes, looking at Lin Shu’s books.

Just as she finished copying, Auntie He had also finished making lunch.

“Manman, could you call Miss Lin and ask if she’s coming back for lunch?” Auntie He said.

Shen Man nodded and picked up her phone to call Lin Shu.

The phone had just started ringing when the call was hung up.

Shen Man put down her phone and said, “Shushu is probably busy. She won’t be back for lunch.”

“Okay, then I’ll go serve the dishes.” Auntie He said and turned to go to the kitchen.

Shen Man ate lunch by herself, then sat on the sofa, leisurely watching TV.

From outside came the sound of knocking, DONG DONG.

Auntie He immediately said, “That must be Miss Lin. I’ll go get the door.”

“No need, I’ll get it. Could you check if the magazines on the balcony are dry?” Shen Man said, getting up and walking toward the entryway.

Auntie He nodded and walked toward the balcony.

Shen Man opened the door, and smelling the coffee fragrance coming from Lin Shu, she smiled, turned sideways, and said, “Shushu, you smell so good. Did you treat your good friends to a meal again?”

She deliberately emphasized the tone of the words ‘good friends’.

Lin Shu froze, then replied aggressively, “What business is it of yours? I’ll treat whoever I want to.”

After speaking, she gave an arrogant hmph and entered the door to change her shoes.

Auntie He walked over, her face full of regret, and said, “Manman, those magazines are ruined from being soaked in water.”

“What magazines are you talking about?” Lin Shu raised her head, frowned, and asked quickly.

Auntie He was startled by her fierce attitude and subconsciously looked toward Shen Man.

Shen Man gave a light smile, staring at Lin Shu with a burning gaze. “The magazines that I put in my schoolbag this morning, which were gotten wet by some person who can’t see².”

Lin Shu felt her skin crawl from the stare.

Her bellyful of anger, upon meeting Shen Man’s pair of eyes that held a hidden meaning, was instantly doused as if by a basin of cold water, completely extinguished.

She stammered for a moment, then turned her head away and said loudly to Auntie He, “It’s just some magazines! If they’re useless, then throw them away.”

Auntie He didn’t dare to make a sound. She nodded meekly and went to the balcony to clear away the magazines.

Only the two of them were left in the entryway.

Lin Shu shot Shen Man a sideways glance, then walked forward carrying her schoolbag, her slippers stomping loudly, DONG DONG, as if venting the unwillingness in her heart.

Shen Man watched from behind, smiling without speaking.

Lin Shu returned to her room.

Hmphing angrily, she threw her schoolbag onto the desk and took out her phone to call Yan Jie. “I’m so pissed off! That stinky girl Shen Man actually knew our plan beforehand! What she put in her schoolbag today wasn’t her books, but my magazines!”

“What?” Yan Jie shouted in surprise. A flash of nervousness went through her heart, afraid that Lin Shu would blame her for ruining the magazines. She hurriedly changed the subject, saying in a puzzled tone, “How did Shen Man know our plan?”

“Someone must have snitched.” She said this sentence with great certainty.

Lin Shu immediately thought of Ding Xian. She frowned, thought for a moment, and said, “Ding Xian wouldn’t dare to snitch. It must be that Shen Man overheard our plan.”

“That must be it. She’s truly so deep and scheming.” Yan Jie loudly agreed.

Lin Shu complained on the phone for a while, and her mood finally improved considerably.

She hung up the phone, and just then, there was a knock on her door.

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