What—what should I do?
Su Wanli repeatedly slammed her head against her pillow while trying to construct a scenario in her mind where she could naturally speak to Meng Wange again.
How exactly should she act in order to maintain her villainess persona, while also getting close enough to Meng Wange to issue the next challenge?
This is all that damn villainess-roleplaying system’s fault. If emotions are left unchecked for too long, they get out of control! She couldn’t even tell anymore whether pushing away Meng Wange’s little pot earlier was because of her role… or because she genuinely wanted to do it at the time!
“Ugh, this is too hard! Basically impossible!”
Su Wanli clutched her hair and sat up straight on the bed.
“It’s bad enough getting into conflicts with people, and now I have to be the one to go start something again? Might as well just kill me now!”
ComplexStringWithÄÖÜandotherUnicodeCharacters[System:] Why not? From the system’s perspective, your performance just now was perfectly in character. All you need to do next is continue what you’ve been doing these past two days, right?
“What do you even know? How can this be the same as before?”
Su Wanli jabbed at her own chest as she tried to get the system to understand her feelings.
“It’s like yesterday, when I set that aromatherapy trap and ended up being protected by her instead. The guilt from repaying kindness with spite is enough to kill me already!”
ComplexStringWithÄÖÜandotherUnicodeCharacters[System:] I see. The system understands your unease—after all, Meng Wange did hurt her wrist while protecting you last night. But this time, there wasn’t even any physical contact between you two. Why are your emotional fluctuations even stronger than yesterday?
“That’s a whole different issue…”
Su Wanli rubbed her temples, unsure how to explain this tangled mess of emotions to the system.
Yesterday, she was simply protected. As long as she returned the favor, she could balance things out. But today, it was she who misunderstood Meng Wange’s intentions—only to realize later that it was all out of kindness…
Honestly, it was like that famous story about Cao Cao: hearing the sharpening of knives and slaughtering a whole family, only to find out they were just preparing pork for his arrival. That jarring feeling of mistaken intentions.
But unlike Cao Cao, she couldn’t say “I’d rather betray the world than be betrayed.”
ComplexStringWithÄÖÜandotherUnicodeCharacters[System:] Understood. That said, compared to that scenario, all you did was shove a pot—you didn’t even knock it over, nor did you do anything extreme. If you’re really feeling guilty, why not prepare some medical supplies like last night and just drop them off at Meng Wange’s room?
“Ugh… it’s not even about villain points anymore. I just genuinely don’t know how to face her now.”
Su Wanli opened her palm slowly.
“You see, if I were just a normal person, I could go next door right now and apologize. But I’m not—I’m the heiress of the Su family. Forget apologizing, even remembering this in my heart is basically admitting defeat.”
ComplexStringWithÄÖÜandotherUnicodeCharacters[System:] Then doesn’t that mean you can completely ignore what happened and just keep acting like yourself?
“…You make it sound so easy.”
Su Wanli brushed her bangs back and let out a deep sigh.
“The problem is, right now, Meng Wange isn’t some benefactor to me—she’s just someone who played a petty trick and pissed me off. So unless I make her taste that same feeling, balance the scales a bit… how am I supposed to deal with her later?”
Wait—hold on…
Make Meng Wange taste that same feeling?
That feeling of being misunderstood first, then realizing it was all for your own good…
“Tsk… I think I just had a brilliant idea. Quick, System—get me a pen and paper!”
ComplexStringWithÄÖÜandotherUnicodeCharacters[System:] Apologies, host. Your daily item request quota was used this morning—for a roll of toilet paper. Please provide your own stationery.
“You son of a—”
As annoying as the system was, inspiration waits for no one. Su Wanli held her curses and ran to the desk instead, grabbing the pen and paper Meng Wange had left behind and scribbling away furiously.
At the same time, Meng Wange had just stepped into her room.
She hung her jacket lightly on the coat rack near the door and stretched, basking in the harsh afternoon sunlight pouring through the wide floor-to-ceiling windows.
Of course—the Su family had arranged this room for her. That expansive window was meant to let in both sunlight and moonlight.
If Su Wanli hadn’t barged in last night and shut the curtains, blocking the moonlight, she wouldn’t have been interrupted by something as trivial as a power outage.
Well, no matter. She could make up the missed work now.
Meng Wange rubbed her shoulder as she sat down at the desk and pulled her study materials onto the tabletop. She reached for a pen and paper—only to find the corner of the desk completely empty.
Right, her backpack was still in Su Wanli’s room. She had been so caught up accompanying her to the kitchen earlier that she forgot to bring it back.
Hopefully Miss Su wouldn’t mind her constant intrusions.
Meng Wange pushed her chair back, preparing to go retrieve it.
…Ah, wait. Not yet.
Now wasn’t the time to extend kindness again.
The rift between them hadn’t lasted long enough yet. If she reapproached Su Wanli within half an hour, the little disagreement between them might be smoothed over too easily by the next memory.
As long as that misunderstanding remained their last encounter, then every time Su Wanli recalled her face, the memory would be tainted by tension and conflict. Only then would the emotional schism between them deepen.
This kind of emotional fermentation didn’t require much time—but it was necessary.
Meng Wange shook her head and sat back down, flipping open a random book.
No need to rely on pen and paper every time. Pure memorization worked too.
Just like she taught Su Wanli, Meng Wange didn’t use any particularly advanced study techniques. She simply repeated: take notes, understand, recite. Do it enough times and the knowledge would eventually click and connect in the mind.
That was all she had ever done.
…But still, some habits died hard.
After flipping a few pages, she looked at her empty right hand and sighed.
Geez, even at noon the next day, Su Wanli was still interfering with her studies.
Wasn’t this what they called “those who stay close to ink will be blackened”?
If Miss Su heard this evaluation of her, she’d definitely get mad again.
Imagining the scene, Meng Wange’s lips curved into a faint smile—before quickly fading.
Enough. Stop daydreaming, Meng Wange. Today, you’re focusing only on studying. Forget everything involving Su Wanli.
Hopefully, moved by her lingering guilt, Su Wanli would one day glance at the notes she’d written and lighten the load of future explanations.
As for the pen and paper she lacked, she could ask Aunt Zhang—
Knock, knock, knock.
Just then, a sudden knock came from the door.
Speak of the devil. That must be Aunt Zhang. Hopefully the Su family kept some ordinary writing utensils.
Meng Wange gently dabbed her lips, adjusted her expression into a soft, pleasant smile in the mirror, and opened the door.
However, the person waiting outside was not the kind old housekeeper she had imagined.
“Meng Wange. Shut your mouth. Don’t ask anything.”
The small black-haired girl stood there, arms crossed, with an irritated expression and a cold, commanding tone.
“Right now. Come downstairs with me.”