What should I carve? What should I carve? What on earth would be the best thing to carve?
Just a moment ago, Su Wanli finally made up her mind. She prepared to carve a relatively neutral sentence on Meng Wange’s desk to leave herself some room for retreat in the future.
… It couldn’t be helped. That was just her personality, or perhaps a sort of instinct. Even if her thoughts always wavered from one extreme to another, they would eventually return to the most ordinary choice.
Su Wanli sighed softly and tapped her forehead with her knuckles.
Since the System wanted her to write words that insulted Meng Wange and reminded her of her status as a personal maid, she would follow the instructions literally. She wouldn’t do too much or too little; she would stop right at the perfect point. Her choice of words also had to be elegant to fit her status as the Eldest Miss.
For example…
“The lowly, disqualified maid who committed the sins of indifference and arrogance—Meng Wange.”
“You have broken your past vows, ignored your only master, and placed yourself in a situation of injustice.”
“If you do not repent in time, I will strip you of your status as a personal maid and let you sink into painful remorse.”
… Hiss, were there too many words? Besides, this was supposed to be an anonymous act, but these words were way too specific!
In this entire classroom, she was likely the only person who would carve such things on Meng Wange’s desk.
Su Wanli hesitated for a moment and re-examined her task.
Since she had to emphasize Meng Wange’s duties as a maid, there was no point in hiding her identity. Besides, as Meng Wange’s nominal master, it was only natural for her to have complaints about the girl’s behavior this morning, right?
Fine, she would carve that passage. Looking at it now, there weren’t really any insulting terms; she was being very restrained. If it had been her earlier self who hadn’t cooled down yet, she definitely would have written something as vicious as possible…
After memorizing the lines, Su Wanli gently rubbed her temples and began to wait quietly for the class bell to ring.
The moment Meng Wange got up to leave the classroom, she would immediately pull out tools like a compass or a triangle ruler. Then, she would sit in the girl’s seat and carve those words into the desktop. The first task would be completed easily.
The ideal was beautiful, but reality differed slightly from Su Wanli’s imagination.
*Ring—*
This time, when the bell rang, Meng Wange did not immediately get up to leave the classroom. Instead, she sat in her seat and yawned softly, slowly and methodically tidying up the school supplies on her desk.
Noticing Su Wanli’s unblinking gaze, Meng Wange turned her head and curled the corners of her mouth at her.
“Miss Su, class is over. Is there anywhere you’d like to go? Or would you like to rest at your desk for a while?”
“… None of your business. Go do whatever you want. It’s not your place to worry about my affairs.”
Su Wanli responded coldly, then leaned back down on her desk, pretending she didn’t care.
‘Wait, what’s going on? Is Meng Wange done with whatever she had to do? Is she finally planning to accompany me for a bit? I can be with Meng Wange…’
‘No, why does it have to be at a time like this? I was planning to carve the desk while she was gone! If she stays in the classroom, won’t my task go unfinished?’
Su Wanli hurriedly suppressed her stray thoughts and peeked sideways toward Meng Wange.
This girl was behaving completely differently from the previous two classes. She showed no intention of leaving the classroom at all. Moreover, she was pressing her lips together, looking at Su Wanli with an expression that suggested she wanted to say something but was hesitating.
‘Could it be that she already realized her mistake before I even started carving?’
Su Wanli raised an eyebrow slightly and sat up. She gave a symbolic yawn and waved her hand at Meng Wange.
“What? Didn’t I tell you to go do whatever you want? Stop being an eyesore around me. It irritates me just looking at you!”
Hearing this, Meng Wange shrugged helplessly and smiled at Su Wanli.
“I understand, Miss Su. Since seeing me makes you feel irritated, I won’t stay here to be an eyesore.”
After saying that, she stood up, gave Su Wanli a slight bow, and turned to walk toward the back door of the classroom.
“Hey, wait…”
Su Wanli wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt that Meng Wange’s back looked a bit lonely as she left…
‘Heh, how is that possible? Trying to make me happy is just a duty she imposed on herself. Maybe this girl actually feels relieved now that I’ve said I don’t need her.’
‘Stop overthinking. Now that Meng Wange is gone, I need to hurry up and carve all the lines I thought of onto her desk!’
Su Wanli patted her head, then pulled a triangle ruler out of her stationery bag, attempting to carve the first sentence into Meng Wange’s desk.
“—The lowly…”
*Snap.*
Before she could even finish three words, a corner of the triangle ruler snapped off, yet not a single mark was left on the desk.
Su Wanli fell silent for a moment and tossed the broken ruler back to her own seat.
… She had forgotten that Baiying Academy was a noble academy; the quality of the teaching equipment here was truly excellent.
Of course, it was also possible that the equipment was specifically made sturdier to prevent a certain unreasonable, villainous Eldest Miss from wanton destruction.
In that case, she needed to find some sharp metal…
“Boss, what are you doing?”
Hearing the voice from behind her, a flash of inspiration hit Su Wanli.
“Carving.”
She replied impatiently while turning around to rummage through the stationery bags of her three followers.
She didn’t find any useful tools in Wen Manman or Du Xinxin’s bags. Instead, it was Zhang Shiyu, the art student, who had a uniquely shaped utility knife in hers.
“Good, lend me this. I’m going to deliver the punishment Meng Wange deserves.”
After giving the casual order, Su Wanli took the utility knife and began carving on Meng Wange’s desk.
“Indifferent, arrogant, and lowly disqualified maid, Meng Wange. You broke your vow and ignored your master, showing total injustice. If you don’t repent soon, I’ll make you regret it.”
… *Cough.* Although the knife could indeed leave marks on the desk, it required quite a lot of strength. Su Wanli put in a great deal of effort to finish carving a slightly simplified version of the lines just in time.
‘This should count as completing the task, right? The System shouldn’t give me trouble over such a small detail. Although the aggression is a bit weaker, it’s concise and clear. On one hand, it belittles Meng Wange’s character with a string of adjectives, and on the other, it uses a threat to force her to re-examine her duties as a maid…’
‘Hmph, come to think of it, what right does the System have to find fault with me? I’ve been working for one week already, and it hasn’t given me any decent rewards. Being willing to do tasks according to its demands is already giving it plenty of face!’
‘But speaking of which, since these words are so targeted, being anonymous seems a bit meaningless. Should I add my name at the end? That would make it look more upright and honorable.’
‘But writing the three words “Su Wanli” is too boring. Let me think…’
‘Phantom Thieves of Hearts—Miss.S arrives?’
… That was a bit too chuunibyou. She should think of a more normal, concise code name.
“For example, something like ‘Miss.S’?”
“Ah, that’s not bad. ‘Miss.S’ it is then…”
Su Wanli’s eyes lit up, and she prepared to carve that signature onto the desk.
However, why did the voice she just heard in her ear sound so familiar?
Before she could even turn her head, a slender, white finger gently brushed away the wood shavings on the desk, revealing everything she had just carved.
“Hmm, I see. This ‘lowly, disqualified maid’ broke her vow and neglected her master. If she doesn’t repent in time, she’ll make her master regret it?”
The brown-haired girl read those words aloud with a light chuckle, her eyes squinting into thin slits.
“I understand, Miss Su. I’m sorry for making you feel lonely.”
“However, if you feel this way again in the future, you can just tell me directly, okay?”