Chi Qingyao had already figured it out.
She could use the pretext of building a good relationship with Su Li to ask Chi Qingya for money.
She was sure that her elder sister, who wanted to mend things with Su Li, would support her plan.
Once Su Li became her good friend, she could slowly find a way to ease the tension between Su Li and her sister.
Hearing Chi Qingyao’s words, Su Li didn’t say anything more.
Based on her estimate of Chi Qingya’s living expenses, Su Li figured that Chi Qingya’s allowance was quite generous.
After all, renting an apartment in S City as a college student was a heavy financial burden.
Yet Chi Qingya not only rented a place but also maintained a decent standard of living.
If Chi Qingyao were her younger sister, having a higher allowance would be perfectly normal.
Feeling Chi Qingyao rest her head on her shoulder, Su Li’s face remained expressionless.
Not long after, the two returned to the classroom.
Su Li checked the time; there was still a while before lunch.
Zhuzhu hadn’t arrived at school by car yet either.
As soon as she stepped into the classroom, Su Li noticed many eyes fixed on her.
She paid no attention to the stares.
With one more class to go, she sat back down in her usual spot in the front corner.
Chi Qingyao clung to her and sat beside her. Su Li still didn’t react.
The transaction was over. Chi Qingyao had no further requests, so Su Li continued to use her free time to study and fill her mind with knowledge.
Chi Qingyao glanced toward the back of the classroom and spotted her elder sister secretly watching her. She blinked at her sister.
Chi Qingya watched her sister’s close rapport with Su Li with a hint of envy.
Just as her sister had said, repairing a broken bowl was much harder than buying a new one.
To her younger sister, Su Li was a new bowl. But to her, Su Li was a broken bowl.
Of course, “bowl” referred to their relationship.
If it were anyone else, becoming friends with Su Li might have been easy.
But it had to be Chi Qingya. If it was Chi Qingya, Su Li didn’t want to be friends at all.
All she could do was use her younger sister’s alt account to secretly play games with Su Li.
Even if the identity of “Chi Qingya” could never become Su Li’s friend… other identities would have to do.
She lowered her head.
Her younger sister was better than her. If it were her, she wouldn’t be able to sit next to Su Li like her sister could.
She hadn’t dared before. Now, she had no chance.
[Yao Yao]
Chi Qingya looked at the chat history with her younger sister, still hesitating whether to ask what they’d done when they went out.
[Image.jpg]
Hearing her phone vibrate, Chi Qingya glanced at the screen and saw a photo her sister sent: a selfie of the two of them sitting on a bench by the artificial lake.
Her fingers gently traced the image. Because her sister wasn’t much younger than her, they looked somewhat alike.
Seeing her sister’s photo with Su Li felt almost like she was taking a picture with Su Li herself.
Had her sister and Su Li become good friends in just the short time they’d been out? Was it because of her? Was Su Li unwilling to forgive her, but willing to give her sister a chance for the sake of their past connection? Or did Su Li simply become friends with anyone except her?
She wondered if her sister’s friendship with Su Li had anything to do with her.
If it did, maybe there was still hope for her own relationship with Su Li.
Her heart filled with anticipation.
Su Li…
Chi Qingya remembered the time she had taken a photo with Su Li.
It was after they’d known each other for a long time—she’d suddenly leaned in and forced Su Li into a picture together.
Yet her younger sister had achieved in such a short time what had taken her ages.
Chi Qingya felt a pang of sorrow. She had always felt that only she could take photos with Su Li, but now, Su Li was being photographed by someone else as well.
Still, if her younger sister got along with Su Li, it would be much easier for her to learn about Su Li’s life.
Chi Qingya gripped her phone tightly. With her sister around, it seemed that a connection between her and Su Li had been reestablished.
That alone was enough for her.
Her younger sister was amazing…
She had lost her only “friend,” yet her sister had become good friends with her in no time.
Hiding in a corner, Chi Qingya watched the two of them chatting about something and thought to herself.
Chi Qingyao found that communicating with Su Li wasn’t easy.
Su Li focused intensely on her studies, as if she could tune out all of Chi Qingyao’s pointless chatter.
Yet Su Li was still willing to go course-selecting with her and show her around campus.
‘So she really is an NPC, centered around the player? Interesting.’
‘So the secret of this world is just to keep working hard to earn money and meet all kinds of people?’
Chi Qingyao had suspected this since she was very young.
Meeting different people led to different experiences. Being grounded at home meant nothing fun ever happened.
From then on, she made an effort to befriend many people.
Her elder sister was different. She was naturally dull—though she was the only one in the family with a college education, and their parents thought she was smart.
Chi Qingyao, however, felt she was smarter than her sister.
Otherwise, why couldn’t her sister discover such a simple secret? No wonder people online said many college students have a naive, almost foolish air.
That was exactly her sister.
If she had met Su Li, she would never have let her go.
Only her stupid sister could do something like that.
If it were her, she would have realized Su Li was an NPC right away.
But her sister, who was closest to Su Li, had wasted that golden opportunity—utterly foolish.
Throughout the entire class, Chi Qingyao didn’t absorb a single thing.
Of course, she wouldn’t have understood the college material anyway; even if she did, it wouldn’t be useful.
Better to spend that time observing Su Li and figuring out what kind of NPC she was.
It turned out that Su Li listened attentively for the whole class, not paying attention to anything else.
If it hadn’t been for skipping class with her for two hundred yuan last time, Chi Qingyao would never have associated her with a delinquent student.
‘So, without interference from other players, NPCs like Su Li just live their lives on autopilot?’
Even her departure from her sister’s house had only happened because her sister brought it up first!
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.