Chapter 322: Acting On One’s Own Initiative

It was the second-to-last class of the afternoon — in other words, rehearsal time for the drama.

As the nominal director, Xiao Fen stood on the lecture platform, clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention, and said:

“Alright, let’s rehearse the scene where Cinderella gets on the carriage and goes to the ball!

“Same as yesterday: first, you stand on this chair on the left, pretend it’s the carriage, and when Classmate Meng Wange walks over here, you…”

Since the custom props hadn’t been made yet, everyone had to put two rickety-looking chairs side by side to serve as the carriage.

Su Wanli sat in the familiar, already-cleaned abandoned music classroom, absentmindedly listening to Xiao Fen and the others chattering about props and scene arrangements.

Even though Xiao Fen was speaking with great enthusiasm, Su Wanli wasn’t really paying attention. Her mind was full of those numbers that had kept flickering earlier.

What was that? What was that just now?

Recalling the “68” that had flashed across the panel, Su Wanli’s thoughts gradually grew hazy.

If she remembered correctly, that number had changed when Meng Wange was fixing her hair. At the time, her fingertips had been holding her hair ends, and she had accidentally brushed her finger against her…

Click—

Before Su Wanli could think further, a slender finger snapped softly beside her ear.

The crisp sound pulled Su Wanli back from her tangled thoughts into reality.

Meng Wange smiled and waved her hand in front of Su Wanli’s eyes, chuckling softly:

“Miss Su, wake up. We need to go change clothes.”

“Huh? Clothes? What clothes?”

Su Wanli looked up blankly and blinked at the others.

“Our costumes, of course. Your evening gown, and my maid outfit.”

Meng Wange smiled as she pointed to the black-and-white hair ribbon tied behind Su Wanli’s head, then pointed to her own head.

“R-right, that!”

Yesterday, she had promised Xiao Fen that she’d bring a proper outfit from home, but she had been so caught up worrying about Meng Wange all night that she had completely forgotten!

Before Su Wanli could feel embarrassed, Meng Wange produced a gorgeous light purple dress from her backpack like a magician, smiling all the while.

The dress was adorned with delicate lace and layered tulle, its skirt tracing an elegant arc through the air as sunlight streamed through the window, scattering dreamy sparkles across it.

Meng Wange leaned close to Su Wanli’s ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

“Sorry, Miss Su, please forgive my presumption.”

“…But seeing that you seemed a bit distracted this morning, I worried you might have forgotten. So after you got in the car, I went back to your bedroom and picked something out. What do you think? Does this dress suit your taste?”

As expected of Meng Wange — she left nothing to chance.

Although she felt relieved inside, Su Wanli snatched the evening gown from Meng Wange’s hand and said stubbornly:

“Hmph. It came from my closet, after all — it’s my dress. If it doesn’t suit my taste, would it suit yours?”

“Hehe, sorry, I spoke out of turn. I hope this dress can help you.”

The moment those words left Su Wanli’s mouth, Meng Wange’s data panel changed drastically again —

(②?: 60→68)

“…Shut up!”

I mean…

Sigh…

Well, I’m not entirely sure, but maybe…

Regardless, there’s only one truth.

After eliminating all the wrong answers, the remaining answer — no matter how unbelievable — should be the truth.

In other words, setting aside all subjective factors and looking at it objectively, whether she verbally bullied Meng Wange or praised her, that number still went up.

This was quite an abnormal phenomenon.

Unless…

Ahem. Anyway, let me make a bold, even heretical hypothesis.

— Is it possible that our main heroine with the aura, in a certain sense… is a bit of an M, and likes being bullied by me in various ways?

So…

What the second data represents might be Meng Wange’s “mood”?

Even Su Wanli herself didn’t hold much hope, but…

[Ding — Congratulations, Host! You have successfully identified the true name of the second data!]

“I-it really is!?”

[That’s right. It represents the heroine’s “mood value.”]

[To be specific, it’s the heroine’s current “level of emotional excitement.”]

As the system narrated with a hint of cheerfulness, the “?” in front of the second line of data gradually disappeared, replaced by the word “Mood.”

Appetite: 13

Mood: 68

Sleepiness: 18

④?: 66.9

⑤?: 0

Su Wanli’s mouth hung open in a daze, her mind falling into a trance.

— Broken, it’s broken!

She felt as if some part of her worldview had quietly shattered!

Really?

Meng Wange acted perfectly normal toward others.

When she heard that Bai Heming had spread rumors about her, she even said something really cool, making him kneel and apologize…

As she thought this, Su Wanli mechanically walked to a makeshift changing room made of wooden boards, put on the light purple dress, and followed Xiao Fen’s instructions to stand on the “carriage,” resting her elbow on the “window” in front of her.

…No.

If Meng Wange really had that kind of disposition, she wouldn’t have this personality. Too many things don’t add up.

To be honest, it should be that — for some unknown reason — only when Su Wanli bullied her did Meng Wange’s mood value increase.

“Boss Su, be careful!”

Yes, that must be it.

Then what about the reason?

Could it be that Su Wanli herself was an ultra-beautiful girl, so Meng Wange fell for her at first sight, leading to this bizarre situation?

“Wahhh! The chair leg! One of the chair legs is about to break! Boss, jump off!”

That’s also way too ridiculous.

Could the system be malfunctioning?

It gave her the wrong answer — maybe that wasn’t the mood value at all, but something else?

Crack!

Just as Su Wanli was racking her brains, an accident happened.

With a crisp, heart-stopping sound, the long-neglected chair suddenly tilted to one side.

Su Wanli’s foot slipped, and her entire body uncontrollably fell toward the ground.

“—!?”

Her heart jolted, and she instinctively wanted to cry out.

But… the pain she expected never came.