How did it come to this
How did it come to this.
Qiao Yu sat in her seat, her hands covering her face in silence.
The person behind her kicked her chair twice, mocking her. “What’s wrong, Qiao Yu? Do you only realize now that falling and embarrassing yourself earlier was shameful?”
…Can you just shut up? If it weren’t for you, the useless male lead, I would have impulsively taken action earlier. I shouldn’t have grabbed your bag; I should have grabbed your pants.
“That, That’s not how it’s supposed to play out in a campus romance novel…”
“…I was just thinking.”
The weak retort from the system made Qiao Yu calm down a bit. She sighed, put her hands down, and fiercely bumped the table a few times in retaliation. She stopped when she heard Cong Ye’s sharp intake of breath.
The girl sitting in front of her was attracted by her actions and turned her head to look back. Qiao Yu looked at her with a puzzled and beautiful gaze, forced a smile, and waved at her.
Lin Qing blinked in confusion and turned back, her movements cute like a little rabbit.
Qiao Yu felt a pain in her stomach.
How did it come to this?
Yes, Qiao Yu sat in the second-to-last seat by the window, with the male lead Cong Ye sitting behind her and the female lead Lin Qing sitting in front of her.
What a load of crap arrangement!
If the male and female leads weren’t sitting next to each other, it would have been acceptable for them to be a little farther apart. But now, she’s uncomfortably sandwiched in the middle! How innocent she is! How innocent!
She angrily turned around to glare at the male student sitting next to Cong Ye. He was taken aback by her intense gaze and leaned back, his baby face filled with panic and innocence.
Why does Cong Ye even have a desk mate in the first place? It’s totally unreasonable for a romance novel!
“This person is one of your ‘friends,’ and you are also familiar with him as the host—”
“Ah, I know, I know, you’re annoying me to death! Can’t I complain if I want to?”
Ignoring Cong Ye’s provocation, Qiao Yu muttered to herself, “What are you doing, picking a fight? Are you looking for trouble?” Her voice was tearful, but she had a bold and daring spirit. Qiao Yu wearily closed her eyes, turned her head to look out the window, feeling that the gloomy weather outside matched her mood.
She had originally planned to be an extra who just watched from the sidelines, but she had shattered that plan within a day. Qiao Yu remembered the intense tension between Cong Ye and Lin Qing, which escalated faster than her own thoughts. Before she knew it, she and Cong Ye had both fallen to the ground.
“Host, you acted too suddenly, I couldn’t stop you in time.”
Faced with the system’s stern reproach, Qiao Yu had no way to defend herself and hung her head in acceptance.
“…But I guess even if you had tried to stop me, you wouldn’t have been able to.”
The muttering in her mind couldn’t escape the system’s ears. The system asked in confusion, “Why? Didn’t you say you wanted to be a good supporting character and not interfere with the plot?”
“I was wrong. I was too naive.”
“…”
She admitted her mistake cleanly, leaving the system speechless.
“Ah… how should I put it?” Qiao Yu uncomfortably touched her hair. “Indeed, from the perspective of my author identity, letting things develop naturally would have been the best choice.”
“But, you know, this isn’t watching a drama from behind a screen. I was right there, witnessing everything.”
“…”
The system wanted to ask her, “So what if it was like that?” but for some reason, it couldn’t bring itself to say it.
“From my standpoint as Qiao Yu, what just happened was nothing more than Cong Ye bullying Lin Qing on campus,” Qiao Yu recalled and became angry again. “That man is so clueless, acting like a grade-schooler even though he’s grown up. Lin Qing is so beautiful, and his attitude is as if he’s blind or something.”
…Alright, the host’s worries from earlier have completely come true. She’s really biased.
The system, seeing through her thoughts like a clear mirror, couldn’t help but worry about the future.
“Anyway, if something like this happens again, I really can’t pretend I didn’t see it…” Qiao Yu said in a dilemma, then her eyes suddenly brightened. “Or maybe, if you could get me out and let me observe from a god’s perspective—”
“That’s not possible.”
“Well, then there’s nothing I can do.”
Qiao Yu slumped back in her chair like a dead fish, decisively changing her acting strategy.
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“…At this point, being a supporting character is no longer possible.” Qiao Yu looked listlessly at the white ceiling, feeling that the future path ahead had become much more difficult, sighing in resignation.
“I can only be an assistant.”
Ready to take action, Qiao Yu, with strong initiative, swept away the gloom and regrouped. She turned around, straddling her chair and cheekily leaned over Cong Ye’s desk, flashing him a friendly smile.
Cong Ye: “…”
Despite being stared at by Cong Ye with a look as if he were examining the residue at the bottom of a coffee cup, Qiao Yu had no intention of backing down. She leaned closer and whispered, “Cong Ye, I’ll give you a huge benefit.”
…What the f*** can you possibly give me as a huge benefit? It would be good enough if you don’t cause me big troubles.
Cong Ye remained completely calm, his expression unaffected, as he coldly observed Qiao Yu presenting her “benefit.”
“You can switch seats with me. Trust me, it’s a truly enormous benefit!”
She had originally wanted to say that in the future, he would be grateful to her for this, but she felt that it sounded like a swindler’s persuasion, so she abandoned the idea.
After listening to her, Cong Ye shifted his gaze and a sly smile appeared on his indifferent face. “Indeed, it is a tremendous benefit.”
Qiao Yu felt a glimmer of hope, sensing that there might be a chance. Then, she heard him sneer and say, “It’s a tremendous benefit for you.”
Before Qiao Yu could react, Cong Ye continued, “I fought hard to get this seat before. Qiao Yu, why are you suddenly changing your mind?”
Qiao Yu, completely clueless about what he was saying, looked at him in confusion. The system quickly informed her, “It seems there was such a thing. When they moved up a grade, both the original host and Cong Ye wanted to sit in the back row. In the end, they decided it through a game of rock-paper-scissors. Cong Ye won.”
“…”
So, fighting hard for a seat means deciding it through a game of rock-paper-scissors. What a guy.
Cong Ye’s image in Qiao Yu’s eyes suddenly transformed from a cold and aloof romantic male lead to an immature and childish boy.
Cong Ye became inexplicably annoyed by the way she looked at him, and he impatiently pushed Qiao Yu’s head off his desk, firmly stating, “You’re daydreaming. I’m not switching.”
…Didn’t expect this seat to still be a hot commodity. Qiao Yu secretly lamented but refused to give up her final attempt. “Cong Ye, think about it again. There are real benefits—”
Crack.
Before she could finish her sentence, a crisp sound of shattering reached her ears. Qiao Yu’s desk mate calmly turned towards her, the sound of her biting a lollipop echoing in her mouth.
“What’s wrong, Qiao Yu? Don’t you want to be my desk mate?”
Also a member of the “friend” group, the girl named Mi Yi looked over with an expressionless face. Her lazy tone made Qiao Yu too afraid to reply.
“Host, this won’t do. Not only can’t you switch seats, but you’re also offending people.”
“…Thanks for pointing that out. I couldn’t tell on my own.”
Ignoring the system’s completely unhelpful assistance, Qiao Yu broke out in a sweat, racking her brain for how to explain. Lu Yao, who had been watching the drama unfold with wide eyes, suddenly let out an “Ah” and quickly covered his mouth, his face turning red with excitement.
“Qiao Yu, are you trying to play matchmaker between Cong Ye and—”
Oh, damn it, there’s actually someone who figured out my intentions!
Qiao Yu was taken aback, her expression twisted in shock. She stood up abruptly and rushed to cover Lu Yao’s mouth. This was something that absolutely must not be spoken out loud—at least not now!
But her actions were still slower than Lu Yao’s mouth. The young boy’s expression was a mix of shyness and excitement as he trembled and pointed forward.
“—and Mi Yi!”
…This day was truly exhausting.
Qiao Yu lay flat on the soft bed in an “大” shape, feeling like a withered little cabbage.
Lu Yao was not a smart person at all. It would be more accurate to say that he was a fool—but luckily, he was a fool. His perfectly wrong answer subjected Qiao Yu to all-around ridicule from Cong Ye and Mi Yi until the teacher began distributing course materials. Lu Yao, still clueless about the situation, even kindly volunteered to switch seats with Mi Yi, but Qiao Yu, tormented internally and unable to speak, stopped him.
…What’s the use of switching anyway? The two main characters remained unmoved, one in front and one behind!
It was a good thing her true intentions weren’t exposed, but when Qiao Yu recalled the expressions on the faces of Cong Ye and Mi Yi the moment they heard Lu Yao’s words, she couldn’t help but feel like she had preserved her secret at the cost of losing their (if there was any) friendship.
Fortunately, today was just about collecting course materials, and the students were dismissed after half a day. She had completely forgotten about this matter in the morning, and she wasn’t even that late—otherwise, who knows what kind of trouble would have ensued.
Setting aside her worries, Qiao Yu struggled to climb out of bed and spoke to the system.
“Can I start writing today?”
“Yes,” the system replied, summoning a holographic screen and opening the update interface. “Today is an important milestone in your enrollment and can be written as a separate chapter. Does the host want to start writing now?”
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Since she had nothing else to do, Qiao Yu sat down at her desk and familiarly touched the keyboard projected on the holographic screen.
“…By the way, what should I do about the parts I don’t know the specific details of?”
Qiao Yu planned to start writing from the moment Lin Qing woke up in the morning, but she immediately encountered a bottleneck. She didn’t even know if Lin Qing came to school by private car or public transportation, so she could only inquire with the system.
“Just let your imagination run wild,” the system reassured her. “As long as it doesn’t deviate too far from the actual circumstances, it won’t be considered OOC.”
“For example, you can write that the female lead walked or took a car to school in the morning, but writing that she flew wouldn’t work.”
Qiao Yu nodded thoughtfully and asked again, “What about her internal thoughts?”
“Since those can only be speculated, as long as they don’t conflict with her actual actions, it’s completely fine.”
The criteria sounded quite lenient to Qiao Yu, and she felt relieved. She began to resume writing with a sense of peace.
【…
In the morning, from waking up until leaving the house, Lin Qing didn’t get to see Cong Ye. She had assumed they would go to school together, and an imperceptible tinge of disappointment flickered in her heart.】
…Writing a story about people I know in real life feels a bit strange, Qiao Yu thought as she struggled to speculate about Lin Qing’s mindset, continuing to type on the keyboard with some difficulty.
【…
After the teacher finished speaking, gesturing for her to come forward and introduce herself, Lin Qing took a step forward and heard some commotion from outside the door. The others in the classroom also heard it, and the teacher furrowed his brow, walked to the door, and opened it to look outside.
Lin Qing glanced at the empty seat in the back row of the classroom. Cong Ye hadn’t arrived yet. Could it be him?】
Qiao Yu stopped typing, her expression serious, carefully considering the subsequent plot.
【…
The commotion at the door reached Cong Ye’s angry gaze. After being interrupted, he seemed to lose interest in causing her trouble and shot her a disgusted look before returning straight to his seat.
Lin Qing lowered her eyelashes and sighed inwardly.
How could she make him understand that she had no ill intentions? It was truly a difficult problem.】
Alright!
Qiao Yu cautiously erased any traces of her own presence in the whole matter, letting out a sigh of relief.
The incident in the morning was too conspicuous. If written, it would definitely steal the spotlight. She could only pass over it with a casual mention of the commotion.
In the following scenes, she briefly described how the teacher assigned a seat to Lin Qing, mentioning that she felt both relieved and regretful to be separated from Cong Ye by one person, without mentioning the unfortunate fellow who became the buffer. As for the seating dispute between her and Cong Ye, not a word was mentioned.
Her story wasn’t important! What mattered was the story of the male and female leads!
Qiao Yu felt that this omission approach had great potential and continued writing with great delight. However, her hands, placed on the keyboard, suddenly froze after a short while.
…Wait a minute.
Sweat started to bead on her forehead.
There was a very serious question that hadn’t been resolved yet.
“Um,” Qiao Yu trembled as she spoke up, “this book is supposed to focus on cohabitation + school life, right?”
“Yes.”
“…Then, how should I write the cohabitation part?”
…She couldn’t just make it all up, could she? If that were the case, she might end up dying from OOC on the second day of posting.
The system replied in a calm tone, “Ask the male and female leads, of course.”
Qiao Yu: “…”
Even if you say it as if it’s as natural as fetching water from a tap, you’re just talking nonsense.
Qiao Yu daringly imagined herself asking Cong Ye about how he and Lin Qing got along at home, but no matter how she thought about it, the outcome was always her being angrily kicked out by Cong Ye.
As for asking Lin Qing… that would be too strange! She could at least consider herself half-friends with Cong Ye and ask him, but she hadn’t even exchanged a word with Lin Qing yet!
Oh, maybe if she counted the self-introduction that Lin Qing had deliberately made for her, that would count as one sentence spoken… but that wasn’t important!
Qiao Yu shook her head vigorously and anxiously defended her rights to the system: “It’s impossible! I can’t ask them!”
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“Is that so?” The system was puzzled by her strong reaction and responded in confusion, “But in the morning, the host asked the male lead and found out that he didn’t want to see the female lead at home, which is why he left late.”
Qiao Yu blankly recalled the situation and found herself unable to refute the words.
“But that’s because I’m more familiar with Cong Ye—”
She stopped halfway through her sentence as a flash of inspiration struck her. While the system was still struggling, saying that it could prepare a voice recorder and a camera for her… there was no need for that. It would make her seem like a pervert.
Qiao Yu quickly stopped the enthusiastic system, feeling a sense of being ambushed and calculated.
In order to extract some information from the male and female leads, she had to establish a good relationship with them no matter what.
It seemed that she couldn’t do without her role, despite her earlier efforts to erase herself from the story.
Sighing, Qiao Yu flopped onto her bed. In less than half a day, her plan of being an assistant had upgraded to being a friend’s assistant. She couldn’t help but marvel at the unpredictability of life, with surprises lurking everywhere.
Contrary to most people’s first impression, Cong Ye, the arrogant teenager, was actually relatively easy to deal with. It was the seemingly gentle and approachable Lin Qing who was more difficult to get close to.
Qiao Yu recalled her experiences from the first twenty chapters and knew that Lin Qing had faced difficulties before, causing her to mature mentally early on and maintain a safe distance in her interactions with others.
Such a person was easy to be friends with, but becoming her close friend was a difficult task.
Qiao Yu remembered the delicate and pure face of the slender girl, with a beautifully crafted profile that held a perfect balance of curiosity and detachment in her eyes.
Feeling weary, Qiao Yu closed her eyes and made a decision in her half-dreaming state.
Regardless of whether she mentioned that she was writing a story or not, she actually wanted to establish a good relationship with Lin Qing.
