Jiang Ling considered this to be the third friend she had made since arriving in this world.
In class, Jiang Ling would occasionally greet Ji Qingyan, but Ji Qingyan only ever responded with a slight nod.
Because of this, Jiang Ling felt that she wasn’t really the type who enjoyed talking to people.
A simple greeting every now and then was enough.
Fang Chenxi, however, noticed that the two seemed to have become acquainted without her knowing and tentatively questioned Jiang Ling about it.
“Yeah, we met last time while we were doing cleaning duties.”
That was indeed how they met.
Jiang Ling twitched her lips, not really wanting to recall the things Ji Qingyan had said.
How could such a delicate little mouth utter words that made someone want to die just by hearing them!
Jiang Ling was unwilling to provide more information, and Fang Chenxi couldn’t pry it out of her.
Ji Qingyan.
In her past life, Fang Chenxi didn’t have a deep impression of her.
She only knew she was a girl in the same class, a person who existed and had excellent grades.
In the class rankings, Fang Chenxi was always second, and Ji Qingyan was always first.
By the way.
This wasn’t just in their class, but in the entire High School Grade 2.
However, in her previous life, she had no interest in studying and only maintained an attitude of not falling behind.
Therefore, she had never noticed this “competitor” who had been suppressing her for a long time.
Thinking of this, Fang Chenxi looked toward the corner where Ji Qingyan sat seriously reading a book, her eyes darkening slightly.
Over the past two days, Jiang Ling began to ponder her own way of survival.
Being a gaming companion wasn’t a long-term solution.
She needed a more stable side hustle to support herself, ensuring that after high school ended and she moved away from Lu Yuyao’s family’s financial aid, she could still live a life where she was well-fed and warmly clothed.
But after thinking it over, it wasn’t that Jiang Ling couldn’t think of good options, but rather that they would take up too much of her time after school.
She had to do this secretly; she couldn’t let Lu Yuyao know.
Based on that alone, many, many options were filtered out.
What else would be suitable?
“Jiang Ling!”
A lighthearted voice came from behind her.
Lu Yuyao ran over and hopped onto Jiang Ling’s small electric scooter.
Jiang Ling turned to look at her; her small face was flushed, likely from being scorched by the sun.
The sun was still very intense today.
Fortunately, after tomorrow’s drill, Military Training would finally be over.
Lu Yuyao’s hard days were almost at an end.
The girl’s happiness was visible to the naked eye.
Her deer-like eyes crinkled as she smiled, suddenly hugging Jiang Ling’s waist.
“Finally, I’m going to be liberated.”
“Congratulations, congratulations. Should I make something delicious to celebrate tonight?”
Jiang Ling said with a smile.
“Then, I want to eat Stir-fried Pork, Braised Shrimp, and Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs.”
“No problem. I’ll satisfy whatever the Eldest Young Lady wants to eat.”
The stock of vegetables, meat, and eggs at home was almost depleted.
On the way back, Jiang Ling took Lu Yuyao to a fresh food supermarket near the Villa to purchase some ingredients, enough for the coming week, and gathered everything Lu Yuyao wanted to eat tonight.
After returning home.
Going back to the bedroom, Jiang Ling skillfully changed into the Maid Outfit required by Lu Yuyao before heading downstairs to start preparing dinner.
After the official start of school, the afternoon dismissal time had been changed to 7:30 PM.
It wasn’t dark yet, but after a day of studying, Jiang Ling was already a bit hungry.
Lu Yuyao was even more starving.
After getting home, while Jiang Ling was cooking, she went to take a shower before appearing in the living room.
Jiang Ling was very charming when she cooked.
In Lu Yuyao’s eyes, Jiang Ling’s cooking skills could even be compared to a chef in a restaurant.
Every time she cooked, Jiang Ling acted as if she were carving a work of art—serious, meticulous, and occasionally curling her eyes in a smile because she had made a good dish.
Very cute.
Lu Yuyao also frequently went to the kitchen to help.
Jiang Ling was unwilling.
She was eating Lu Yuyao’s food and living in Lu Yuyao’s house; how could she let Lu Yuyao cook?
But since she insisted, Jiang Ling could only let her help with minor tasks.
Things like washing vegetables, which were hard to mess up and gave a certain sense of accomplishment upon completion.
“Jiang Ling, you’re getting more and more used to your Maid duties now. Look at you, putting on your work uniform immediately after coming home,” Lu Yuyao said with a smile, peeling a potato in her hand.
The hand Jiang Ling was using to cut meat paused.
Her small ears grew inexplicably hot as she responded stubbornly, “This is my job, of course I have to take it seriously.”
“Besides, it’s not like I wasn’t used to it before.”
Lu Yuyao narrowed her eyes as she laughed, seemingly remembering a funny memory.
“I remember when you first wore the Maid Outfit, your whole face was as red as a monkey’s butt. You walked with stiff pauses, just like a robot.”
“Hahaha, and you still say you weren’t uncomfortable.”
“Keep talking, and there will be no Braised Shrimp.”
“You’re shy, you’re shy. Are you blushing, little Maid~?”
“The Stir-fried Pork and Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs are gone too. Just eat plain white rice.”
“No, don’t do that.”
Was there a version of Fenjue that taught how to get the upper hand when chatting with girls?
Jiang Ling wanted to buy ten copies.
***
The next day.
During the lunch break, Jiang Ling and Fang Chenxi appeared at the School Library.
Jiang Ling had come voluntarily, while Fang Chenxi had stubbornly followed her after seeing her leave.
Students were not allowed to leave the classroom during the lunch break, except, of course, to use the restroom.
But for a veteran like Jiang Ling, this rule was as good as non-existent.
Fang Chenxi was also a person who had experienced Rebirth, so naturally, she wasn’t afraid of this either.
Fang Chenxi sat bored on a chair in the library, legs crossed and arms folded, watching Jiang Ling rummage through the bookshelves, not understanding what she was doing.
“What, are you trying to become a literary girl lately and started looking for books to read?”
“Forget about that,” Jiang Ling turned her head to roll her eyes at her.
“Fine.”
Fang Chenxi was obviously happy to tease her.
Too lazy to bicker with her, Jiang Ling continued to search the shelves for books she could use.
To be precise, she was looking for novels.
The educational content of this book world was the same as her previous one, so there was no pressure regarding her studies.
Jiang Ling just wanted to borrow a few novels to read occasionally; otherwise, it would be boring to zone out during class all the time.
Seeing that Jiang Ling was ignoring her, Fang Chenxi stood up and stood beside her, curiously poking her head out to see what books she had picked up.
“I and the Senior’s Love, Secrets Between Us… why are they all romance novels? And they all have two female leads.”
Fang Chenxi’s phoenix eyes widened as she read out the titles of the two novels Jiang Ling was picking.
“Don’t say it out loud.”
Although leaving the classroom was forbidden during the lunch break, there were many students who snuck out.
Some students hid in the library to read because it was invested in and operated by people from outside the school, so teachers generally didn’t interfere here.
Jiang Ling wasn’t afraid of Fang Chenxi finding out her sexual orientation because of the books she read.
What was wrong with reading stories with two female leads?
It didn’t necessarily mean she liked men; couldn’t she just be interested!
But with people standing around, it was very embarrassing to be heard by others.
“I’m bored usually, can’t I look at some novels? Besides, what’s wrong with two female leads? Just because I like reading them doesn’t mean anything. Why are you so surprised?”
Jiang Ling said stubbornly.
However, Fang Chenxi felt that this explanation was a bit of a “guilty party protests too much” situation.
She hadn’t even said anything, yet Jiang Ling went on a whole rant.
I won’t say who’s getting worked up.
“I’m just curious, read whatever you want,” Fang Chenxi said with a smile, but then her tone became serious.
“It’s just that I see you don’t really listen in class. If you read novels on top of that, will you be able to keep up with your studies?”
Seeing that Fang Chenxi was genuinely concerned about her, Jiang Ling’s tone softened slightly.
“Don’t worry. I actually have a superpower—photographic memory. Everything I see is already memorized.”
Jiang Ling tapped her forehead with her finger.
The cute action made Fang Chenxi unable to help laughing, only to be glared at by Jiang Ling.
“Believe it or not. As for you, hanging around with me all day, don’t go failing to beat my score when the results come out.”
In the eyes of their classmates, Jiang Ling and Fang Chenxi were like best friends.
These past few days, whether it was after class or during extracurricular activities, Fang Chenxi’s shadow could basically be seen next to Jiang Ling.
Only Jiang Ling knew how annoying this person truly was.
“Oh? You’re quite confident. Do you want to have a competition?”
“A competition it is, who’s afraid of who?”
Provoked by Fang Chenxi, Jiang Ling responded without backing down.
Was this a joke?
She was a woman with the memories of two lifetimes.
Furthermore, Jiang Ling’s studies were quite good to begin with; in her previous life, she had managed to get into a decent university after all.
Could she really be afraid of a yellow-haired brat in high school?
“Then how about this Freshman Monthly Exam? Let’s get this straight—since it’s a competition, there must be a punishment. Don’t let it be a case where someone loses, refuses to admit it, and cries while begging me not to punish them. That would be very difficult to handle.”
Fang Chenxi spoke slowly, seemingly intentionally provoking Jiang Ling’s emotions to make her lose her cool.
Obviously, she succeeded.