Seven.
Li Xingya woke to the sound of her phone alarm.
The first thing she did upon opening her eyes was lie in bed, take a deep breath, and rub her tired eyes with her hands.
‘My head hurts a little.’
‘I don’t feel like I slept enough.’
‘Ugh… being forced awake feels really awful.’
‘I don’t want to go to school. Maybe I’ll pretend to be sick and take the day off?’
Li Xingya: “…”
Now she really suspected that her current body might actually be Sleeping Beauty.
Her demand for sleep had reached an almost absurd level.
Li Xingya yawned, stretched with effort, then sat up in bed, pursed her lips, and shook her head.
After this familiar routine, she finally regained some clarity.
‘Alright… time to wash up.’
Dragging her heavy steps, Li Xingya made her way to the bathroom.
Once there, she stared at herself in the mirror for half a minute, dazed.
“Really pretty,” Li Xingya muttered to herself.
“It’s such a waste to wear a scowl with such a nice face. How about a smile?”
A moment later.
Li Xingya sighed.
“No good. Can’t smile.”
Acting and pretending to be happy was exhausting.
Her body, still not fully rested, seemed to instinctively resist, unwilling to waste precious energy on such things.
‘Hopefully eating something will improve my mood.’
‘Showing up on the first day of school with a scowl isn’t good for making friends.’
‘No… I don’t necessarily need to make friends. At least I need to avoid being isolated or bullied.’
The moment those two words crossed her mind, Li Xingya’s heart skipped a beat for no reason.
At the same time, she felt a chill run down her back.
What was that about?
Her previous life had been tiring enough, but she’d never experienced anything like that—she shouldn’t have had such a reaction.
Li Xingya thought for a moment, then suddenly realized she’d been in the bathroom too long.
She quickly resumed washing up.
As for the earlier question, with warm water splashing on her face, she completely forgot about it.
‘After all, it wasn’t really a big deal.’
After washing up, Li Xingya took off the oversized shirt that belonged to Jiang Chiyue.
She changed into an outfit similar to yesterday’s.
Still simple and sharp, still androgynous in style.
Li Xingya went downstairs.
She didn’t see Jiang Chiyue in the living room, and when she checked the kitchen, she was still nowhere to be seen.
‘Still asleep?’
Li Xingya thought to herself as she grabbed two prepackaged sandwiches from the fridge.
With an extremely clumsy technique, she managed to open the built-in microwave.
After eating her share, Li Xingya took the remaining sandwich and went back up to the second floor.
She stopped before a door not far from her own room.
This was Jiang Chiyue’s room.
As soon as she pushed the door open, Li Xingya caught a scent that was uniquely “Jiang Chiyue.”
To describe it, it was probably something like a mix of lilac and mint.
Of course, there was also the milky fragrance of body wash.
Most of the time, the scent on Jiang Chiyue was very faint.
Unless Li Xingya deliberately focused on it, she wouldn’t notice it.
But here, Jiang Chiyue’s scent seemed to fill every corner of the room.
Smelling it, Li Xingya subconsciously recalled something.
It was on the sofa.
It was the scene where Jiang Chiyue had pinned her down on the sofa and scared her into crying.
Back then, Li Xingya had vaguely smelled that fragrance.
‘Tch.’
‘Why did I have to remember that?’
Li Xingya frowned.
Taking advantage of the dim light from the open door, she quietly approached Jiang Chiyue’s bed.
‘There’s a smell of alcohol.’
Li Xingya turned her head toward the source.
On the bedside table sat a half-empty glass of wine.
‘Did Jiang Chiyue secretly drink?’
‘When?’
Li Xingya had no memory of it.
She figured it must have been after she fell asleep.
Li Xingya crouched down and gently shook Jiang Chiyue.
“Wake up.”
“…Mm.”
“Sister, it’s time to take me to school.”
“Sister Li Xingya?”
Jiang Chiyue half-opened her eyes, deep exhaustion in them.
Clearly, Jiang Chiyue hadn’t slept well last night.
If Li Xingya was Sleeping Beauty, then Jiang Chiyue was definitely the Princess and the Pea—the slightest thing off could ruin her sleep quality.
Looking at the drowsy Jiang Chiyue, Li Xingya sighed.
“Sister Jiang Chiyue, it’s my first day of school today. Are you really not going to take me?”
Jiang Chiyue blinked, then rolled over and mumbled in a fuzzy voice, “The driver is already waiting downstairs. You go on your own… I need to sleep a bit more.”
Li Xingya nodded.
“I left your breakfast on the bedside table.”
She dropped the sandwich and left the room without a trace of reluctance.
‘Good. That means I don’t have to fake a smile at my creditor this morning. That’s good news.’
‘I hope Jiang Chiyue never sleeps well.’
‘At least in the mornings, I won’t have to think about how to deal with her.’
Li Xingya smiled, looking in a good mood.
***
When the car stopped in front of the entrance to Starseeing Academy, Li Xingya stepped out, having adjusted her mood.
As she approached the school gate, a figure blocked her path.
“You’re Li Xingya, right?”
The speaker was a girl.
She looked about sixteen or seventeen, but she was half a head taller than Li Xingya.
‘This must be the person Lu Wanting mentioned, the one who’d look out for me…’
‘But she doesn’t seem easy to get along with.’
Her voice was cold, and the expression on her face was equally cold.
Even in the still-hot September, she felt like a walking block of ice.
Her appearance, however, was quite beautiful.
Her long hair, with blue highlights, fell to her shoulders.
Her eyes matched the hair color—upon closer inspection, she was probably wearing colored contacts.
Her skin was very fair, but not an unhealthy pale.
She had a straight, delicate nose and thin, rosy lips.
A faint black mole just below the left corner of her mouth became a visual focal point.
As for her outfit—a white top with a brown round-neck blouse underneath, an exquisite silver bow at the collar, and a white pleated skirt—it seemed to be the Starseeing Academy uniform, since all the girls around her were dressed the same.
‘She looks good even in the uniform.’
‘As expected of a student at an idol academy.’
Li Xingya marveled inwardly, then mustered her energy and flashed a professional fake smile at the girl.
“I’m Li Xingya. And you are?”
“Meng Yiqiao.”
Meng Yiqiao stated her name coldly.
“From now on, I’m your desk mate. Let’s go. First period is about to start. I’ll take you to the classroom first.”
Without waiting for an answer, Meng Yiqiao turned and walked away, not caring whether Li Xingya could keep up.
Watching Meng Yiqiao’s back, Li Xingya quickly quickened her pace to catch up.
She took back what she said earlier.
This girl wasn’t just hard to get along with—she was extremely hard to get along with!
‘But that’s fine too.’
‘You leave me alone, and I don’t have to deal with you.’
‘Mutual non-interference is the best way to coexist.’
From a student or friend’s perspective, Meng Yiqiao was clearly not a suitable candidate for friendship.
But from an office worker’s mindset, Meng Yiqiao was practically a perfect desk mate for Li Xingya.
Right now, Li Xingya had only one thought.
‘I hope Meng Yiqiao, as my desk mate and fellow trainee, stays cold toward me forever.’
‘Please don’t be a tsundere who ends up clinging to me like a needy puppy.’
‘That… would be a real pain.’