Earlier in Chinese class, there were a total of twenty-one people called out.
Just now, two more were checked off at the Qing Tong Teaching Building.
Then, after arriving at the Shili Building, another nineteen were crossed out.
Now altogether that’s forty-one… or is it forty-two people?
Su Wanli scrolled through Meng Huange’s phone screen, checking the photos inside, while mentally calculating how many people were still left to complete the Task.
Before handing the photos to the head instructor, that idiotic System Guo wouldn’t tally the numbers itself, so she had to point with her finger and count one by one.
… One plus two plus nine, the units digit is two, so it really should be forty-two.
“Damn, got it.”
Just as Su Wanli finally managed to count everyone, a silver-bell-like laughter suddenly rang by her ear.
Huh? Who’s that giggling by my ear?
What’s wrong with being a high schooler, can’t a high schooler count on their fingers?
“Heh, Meng Huange, are you getting more and more immature lately, or am I spoiling you too much…”
Su Wanli gritted her teeth, exasperated, raising her head, ready to lecture the girl beside her who didn’t know the meaning of restraint.
But Meng Huange seemed to have been hit with some kind of low debuff laughter curse; just mocking her out loud wasn’t enough—she actually burst into laughter, turned around and leaned over the corridor railing, slapping her quivering waist.
“Ha, ahem, ahem…”
Wait, what, what’s going on? Was Meng Huange’s character always like this?
Did the System suddenly decide it was about to escape, or that the world was going to collapse?
Watching Meng Huange’s mint-green hair bouncing up and down, all the scolding words Su Wanli had prepared stuck in her throat.
She walked over, not quite sure, and patted Meng Huange gently on the back, hesitating as she asked—
“Um, Meng Huange, are you okay? What happened?”
[Warning: Female Value has dropped to 84.]
Damn it, is now really the time to care about your stupid Female Value? You idiotic System, can’t you see the current situation! Meng Huange is laughing madly for some unknown reason!
That main heroine, who from day one was all ice-cold temperament and only ever gave a rare smile, the legendary iceberg queen Meng Huange—
Just as Su Wanli was hesitating whether she should hand Meng Huange a bottle of Calm Girl Potion to dispel the debuff, Meng Huange finally calmed down a bit.
“Haha, sorry, Miss Wanli, I’m fine.”
Meng Huange straightened up from the railing, wiped the moisture from the corner of her eye, then adjusted her expression so the corners of her mouth returned to that subtle curve from earlier.
“It’s just, I never expected Miss Wanli to be so aggressive when the time came—you really went that far.”
…Huh? What do you mean by that?
I was just counting on my fingers, right?
Wait, could it be… is Meng Huange talking about when I told that Male Classmate in Class 1 to report to Li Zhengqi? Was that supposed to be aggressive?
It was just asking him to report to Li Zhengqi, nothing really aggressive about it, and not even funny, was it?
Or could it be that I accidentally let my Female Value drop below 80 just now, and the System applied the debuff to the wrong person?
[Of course not. In fact, this System cannot directly influence the main heroine in any way; all corrections are carried out via Missions assigned to the host.]
So my Task is really that hard, huh!? Can’t you give your only hard-working employee a few more cheats for once?
But, if the System didn’t assign the debuff wrong, then what exactly made Meng Huange laugh so hard?
Su Wanli pointed to her own face in the phone’s screen reflection, her gaze unconsciously falling on Meng Huange’s eyes.
“…Aggressive? Was I? I didn’t do anything special, did I?”
“…So that’s how it is. I suppose I finally understand why your reputation outside has always been so much worse than it should be.”
Facing Su Wanli’s clueless stare, Meng Huange smiled gently and shook her head.
“The things you just said to that boy may have left him with the same level of psychological trauma as he got from you at the dinner party.”
“…Ah?”
“But you’re right, none of this is anything special. We’re just doing what’s expected of us.”
Meng Huange calmly adjusted her clothes, bowed slightly toward Su Wanli.
“Sorry, Miss Wanli, I lost my composure. Let’s keep going, we have ten minutes left. The math test requires much more time than the Chinese test, so we’ll need to be as efficient as possible from here on out.”
Su Wanli stood dazed where she was, watching as Meng Huange walked step by step toward the stairwell of the experimental building.
For a moment, she wondered to herself…
…Who was it again?
At the same time, in the City Center of South City, on the top floor of a massive Commercial Building—
Inside a simple but efficient room, a tall, dignified middle-aged man sat at his desk with a stern expression.
On his left lay a stack of neatly organized documents; on his right, a smartphone.
This legendary business tycoon, Su Family Head Su Heng, was frowning as he stared at his phone’s screen, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk.
“…Troublesome. Very troublesome.”
The Assistant standing beside him quietly swallowed.
Troublesome, really?
Even when Su Heng was handling the development of that massive plot in Guangdong District, he’d never said something like this. What kind of storm could make him utter such a discouraging phrase this time?
The Assistant quietly stood by, then took a cup of coffee from the machine and set it on Su Heng’s desk, speaking in a soft voice.
“President Su, have you been working too hard lately? Do you want to take a break?”
Usually, Su Heng would just coldly nod and down the coffee in one gulp, but this time, he let out a wry chuckle and rubbed his temples.
“Heh, maybe I have. I’m getting old, and my mind just can’t keep up with the times.”
“How could that be? Your insight has always been razor sharp. Because you never made a wrong decision, Su Group has always stood strong.”
“…Is that so? Actually, at the moment I make a decision, I never know if the outcome will be good or bad.”
Su Heng sighed softly, then stood and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out at the South City skyline.
“Right now, something is unfolding that’s heading far beyond what I ever anticipated.”
So that’s it—President Su must be experiencing a bout of self-doubt, something people of their age often go through.
At a time like this, my presence becomes important.
The Assistant stepped up beside Su Heng, speaking in a low voice.
“President Su, nothing can ever be completely controlled by one’s own hands. Even if things spiral beyond our expectations, who can say whether the outcome will be good or bad? Besides, judging by your past successes, you should trust your initial judgment all the more.”
Watching the silent President Su, the Assistant felt his heart beat faster in his chest.
Crap, this isn’t my job, I shouldn’t be playing psychologist. What if I make President Su angry?
However, after a few seconds of silence, Su Heng actually smiled a little, turned around, and nodded at the Assistant.
“…You’re right. The affairs of the young should be left to the young. Trying to hold everything in my own hands—what’s the point?”
He patted the Assistant on the shoulder and walked toward the Sunroom set up in the office.
“President Su, your phone…”
Watching Su Heng’s retreating back, the Assistant picked up his phone from the desk and hurried to catch up with him toward the Sunroom.
Wait, could it be that what’s been troubling President Su just now is something on his phone?
What kind of issue could trouble him this much?
Is it a new national strategy? A commercial reform in South City? Or a direct threat from a rival?
His gaze slid quickly to the screen for a second, then he rushed to hand it back to Su Heng, closing the Sunroom door behind him.
In his mind, that…
“Miss Wanli and Meng Huange behaving so intimately, holding hands as they go to the test room—what could that mean?”