Qi opened her eyes to find the dormitory already quite dim, with only the faint glow of Su Xiaoqie’s computer screen still shining.
‘What time is it now?’
She rubbed her eyes as she sat up and asked her roommate below.
‘Qiqi, you’re awake. It’s already six o’clock. Do you want something to eat?’
Su Xiaoqie, hearing the noise, took off her headphones and asked.
‘Yeah, I’m going to get something to eat.’
Still a little groggy from just waking up, the black-haired girl felt her stomach growl when her roommate asked.
She climbed down from the bed with half-closed eyes, put on her shoes, and pushed the door open to leave.
‘Ah, this…’
Su Xiaoqie held a piece of bread in her hand.
She had planned to give it to Qi, but the other girl had walked out without even looking back, so she could only put it away again.
Since Qi was going out to eat by herself, Su Xiaoqie turned her attention back to the game that was still going on.
Outside the dormitory building, Qi shivered slightly as the cold wind blew against her neck.
The afternoon nap had not gotten rid of much of her sleepiness, and her eyes still refused to open fully.
Although this body looked no different from an ordinary person’s on the surface, many small details had been quietly designed by Luo Qing.
For example, the automatic drowsiness at ten o’clock.
It was still early, but because of the earlier nap, the mechanism seemed to have been triggered ahead of time.
The hair salon job had already gotten Qi used to feeling sleepy.
She could even enter a state where her brain rested while her body kept moving.
It sounded a bit like sleepwalking, but she could still sense what was happening around her; her brain simply stopped thinking.
It actually felt quite comfortable at times, no different from sleeping.
She arrived at the canteen, ordered a regular healthy set meal for herself, and sat quietly in a corner to wait.
Only when her phone made a notification sound did she come back to her senses.
Turning her head, she discovered someone had appeared beside her.
‘Jiang… Sister Xiaoli, what are you doing here?’
The black-haired girl instantly became much more awake.
‘I came to eat dinner, of course.’
Jiang Wanli answered matter-of-factly.
‘Qiqi, have you been working too hard these past few days? You look like you didn’t sleep well.’
The girl’s tone carried a hint of concern as she pushed her own food tray toward Qi.
‘You can have mine first.’
The black-haired girl looked at the meal that was far more luxurious than a standard healthy set, especially since the main dishes were shrimp and fish—items she didn’t particularly dislike.
The tempting aroma really made her mouth water.
But she still held back the urge and looked up at Jiang Wanli.
‘I already ordered my own food, Sister Xiaoli…’
‘Perfect!’
Jiang Wanli smiled and took the meal ticket from Qi’s hand.
‘I’ll go get it.’
She stood up right away and went to fetch Qi’s healthy set meal.
When she returned, however, she found the black-haired girl still sitting obediently without having touched any of the food.
‘Why aren’t you eating? Don’t you like it?’
Jiang Wanli sat down beside her and naturally placed the healthy set meal in front of herself.
‘No, my appetite is really small. Half is enough for me.’
Qi divided a little of each dish from her tray onto Jiang Wanli’s and then shyly touched her own face.
‘Thank you, Sister Xiaoli. This meal must be quite expensive. You don’t have to keep taking care of me like this.’
‘It’s fine. My scholarship was deposited yesterday, so this kind of spending doesn’t mean much to me.’
‘The scholarship from the Learning Committee? That must be a lot, right?’
Qi speared a piece of shrimp with her fork, put it in her mouth, and asked casually.
‘It really is. A full one hundred and fifty thousand dollars~’
The black-haired girl’s hand holding the fork paused.
She turned her head to look at Jiang Wanli’s profile.
The other girl was smiling as usual, speaking as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
Noticing Qi’s gaze, she turned her eyes over as well.
‘What’s wrong, Qiqi?’
‘N-nothing. I was just a little surprised to hear one hundred and fifty thousand.’
Qi quickly looked away and made up an excuse to cover it.
Was it her imagination?
Just now, she had sensed a strong sense of deliberate direction in Jiang Wanli’s words, as if she had said it on purpose for Qi to hear.
One hundred and fifty thousand was indeed a very special number in Qi’s mind.
But that shouldn’t be possible.
Bai Qiaoyu hadn’t publicized her debt, and Jiang Wanli was just a special admissions student with no background.
Even after joining the Learning Committee, there was no way she could know about this.
Yet when she thought about it more carefully, that sense of direction disappeared again.
The feeling had only lasted for a brief moment.
From both her tone and her attitude, Jiang Wanli had simply been talking about something very normal, and Qi still couldn’t sense any malice from her.
It was probably really just her imagination.
She had been staying up late these past few days, which had left her mentally drained and overly sensitive to everything.
Still, the matter left a small thorn in Qi’s heart.
For the rest of dinner, she didn’t bring up any more topics, and Jiang Wanli did the same.
The two of them quietly finished the remaining food, said goodbye, and parted ways.
Back at the dormitory, the black-haired girl found Su Xiaoqie lying face-down on the computer desk with a look of utter despair.
Getting closer, she saw that her rank had dropped out of Legend again.
‘Qiqi… wuuu~ Those teammates aren’t even human!’
The roommate immediately hugged the approaching little one and complained tearfully.
Qi pushed at her shoulder with some distaste.
After failing to free herself, she could only reluctantly pat the other girl’s back to comfort her.
‘It’s okay. You’re already amazing. It’s good to return to your rightful place.’
‘What do you mean “return to my rightful place”!’
Su Xiaoqie pulled her face out of Qi’s chest in dissatisfaction.
‘Last night when you came back from work, I had just reached Legend. Today I already dropped.’
The black-haired girl shrugged.
‘You didn’t even stay there as long as my job lasted.’
‘That’s not how you count it! I was dragged down by them! If it weren’t for those pig teammates, I could have at least gone up another ten stars!’
‘Anyway, I don’t understand games, so whatever you say.’
Qi waved her hand casually.
‘Also, I don’t like excessive physical contact. If you suddenly come over and hug me again, be careful—I might hit you.’
‘Will you really hit me?’
Su Xiaoqie suddenly looked a little expectant.
‘?’
‘Qiqi’s fists look so small and weak. Getting hit by them would probably feel really nice.’
‘I’ll go buy a baseball bat later.’
‘Never mind then.’
Su Xiaoqie shrank her neck.
Qi gave her unreliable roommate a speechless glance, pulled over a chair, sat down, and looked at her phone.
Calculating the time, tomorrow was when the monthly exam results would be announced.
Perfect—she could use this chance to go see Luo Qing.
Qi planned to tell her about Bai Qiaoyu.
As for whether Luo Qing would help, she wasn’t sure in her heart.
This time it wasn’t her actively attracting trouble; she had simply been tricked while looking for a job.
That god claimed to be her mom, so she should at least take care of something like this, right?
The only thing making her feel a little guilty right now was that her monthly exam score this time would definitely be a failing grade.
It felt quite strange.
After all, no one had ever cared about her test scores before.”