Chapter 74: Ning Wanciu, Do Your Best

“An Yu?!”

Ning Wanciu let out a startled cry. 

Her hand had already been placed on An Yu’s uniform, right beside the corner of her white… underwear.

An Yu’s… white…

Ning Wanciu’s face flushed even deeper. Her fingers curled slightly, unsure where to go.

“Ning Wanciu?”  

An Yu’s voice, rare as it was, carried a faint ripple of emotion.

She looked at Ning Wanciu in confusion, not understanding what the taller girl was doing.

“Are you okay?”

An Yu’s uniform was snagged on a thread. 

She just wanted Ning Wanciu to help pull it down, but Ning Wanciu was acting strangely, her face growing redder by the second.

“I…”

Looking at An Yu’s pure, flawless face, Ning Wanciu didn’t know what to say.

She couldn’t tell: was An Yu simply incapable of feeling embarrassed, or did she genuinely not realize anything was wrong with this situation?

Or… did An Yu really trust her that much?

“Ning Wanciu, help me… pull the clothes… down.”  

An Yu repeated herself, because Ning Wanciu was still frozen.

“Nn…”

Ning Wanciu hesitated, but seeing An Yu’s completely unfazed expression, she knew she had no choice.

There was no helping it…

“An Yu… got it.”

Ning Wanciu reached out, gently tugging at the snagged fabric, but it barely budged.

“Ning Wanciu.”

“Mm, mm?”

“Do your best.”

An Yu stared at her expressionlessly, tone flat as ever. 

It seemed like encouragement; she softly cheered her on.

“Mm, mm…”

Ning Wanciu didn’t know what exactly she was supposed to “do her best” at, but she nodded with difficulty anyway.

The thread was tangled pretty tightly. 

She couldn’t just yank it, or she might rip the uniform.

But if she didn’t use some force, it wouldn’t come loose.

To free the cloth successfully, Ning Wanciu brought her other hand around, encircling An Yu on both sides so she could work with both hands.

“Nn.”

What she didn’t expect was that the small distance remaining between them would completely disappear.

An Yu’s head was now buried in her chest, and that bare little tummy was pressed fully against her.

Ning Wanciu’s hands trembled involuntarily; her face burned hotter.

But she didn’t stop. 

Only by fixing An Yu’s clothes could she be freed from this situation.

Otherwise, if someone walked in and saw them like this… it really wouldn’t be explainable!

“Ning Wanciu…”

Buried in Ning Wanciu’s embrace, An Yu struggled to lift her head from that soft valley.

She had almost been smothered by the bears.

It smelled nice and was very soft, but… she couldn’t breathe.

For the first time, An Yu felt that having a big pillow wasn’t entirely a good thing.

“Just… a little longer, almost done!”

Ning Wanciu’s face was red, tiny beads of sweat rolling down her forehead.

It was just untangling a thread; how come her hands wouldn’t stop shaking and her heart kept racing faster?

Don’t panic, don’t panic!

This is force majeure!

“Nn… Ning Wanciu…”

Completely enveloped, nose filled with the scent An Yu loved, she should have been happy, but for some reason she felt dizzy.

“Done!”

Just before An Yu’s eyes turned glassy, Ning Wanciu finally freed the uniform and pulled it back into place.

“Phew…” 

Ning Wanciu let out a huge sigh of relief. 

“You can get up now, An Yu.”

It was over… but An Yu didn’t react.

“An Yu?”  

Ning Wanciu called her name uncertainly. 

Only after a long pause did she finally reply.

“Mm…”

Being in Ning Wanciu’s arms really was comfortable. 

Even if something felt a little odd, An Yu didn’t want to get up.

Warm, soft, smelled nice.

“What’s wrong…?”

Ning Wanciu’s complexion gradually returned to normal. 

She gently stroked the small head buried in her chest.

An Yu stayed silent for a while, but eventually forced herself to leave that embrace.

There was no helping it; duty wasn’t finished yet.

But it was fine. 

Next time, when they had more time, she could hug to her heart’s content.

Taking a nap like that would be nice too.

An Yu thought expressionlessly.

Ning Wanciu stood up once An Yu did, then lightly brushed the dust off herself.

“I-I’ll help you with the rest of cleaning.”

To prevent any more accidents, Ning Wanciu decided to split the remaining tasks with An Yu.

“Mm?”  

An Yu tilted her head, looking at Ning Wanciu in slight confusion.

Wasn’t Ning Wanciu already helping?

Lifting her to wipe the blackboard didn’t count?

But Ning Wanciu no longer had the mental capacity to notice An Yu’s puzzlement. If something like that happened again, she really wouldn’t be able to handle it.

“An Yu, could you tidy the podium?”

Ning Wanciu pointed at the slightly messy podium, indicating that An Yu could organize it.

An Yu glanced at the podium, then back at Ning Wanciu, nodded lightly, said nothing, and went straight to work.

“Phew…”  

Seeing An Yu obediently start on the podium, Ning Wanciu instantly relaxed.

She never imagined that simply helping with cleaning duty would cause so many chaotic incidents.

Unconsciously raising her arm, Ning Wanciu lightly clenched her fist in the air.

In that single instant, she recalled the sensation from earlier.

“Nn…”  

Her cheeks flushed again. 

Why did she keep thinking such improper thoughts lately?

Ever since she started spending more time with An Yu, she’d become strange. 

Just why was that?

Ning Wanciu shook her head, tossing those random thoughts away. 

She picked up the cleaning tools and began sweeping the classroom.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t just her who had changed; her little sister Ning Dongli had too.

Ning Dongli seemed overly concerned about An Yu lately. 

Though that was just her personality, Ning Wanciu still felt something was off.

She actually suspected that her sister and An Yu had some interaction she didn’t know about; otherwise Dongli wouldn’t care so much.

Dongli had severe social anxiety and refused to interact with anyone else.

Fortunately, the person she cared about this much was An Yu. 

If it were anyone else, Ning Wanciu would be frantic with worry.

Aside from occasionally doing things that were hard to understand, An Yu was a cute, good child.

She hoped An Yu could really help her little sister step out from her psychological shadows.

Ning Wanciu shook her head again, carrying that small wish as she earnestly continued cleaning.

On the side, An Yu quickly walked up to Ning Wanciu and reported seriously, like a soldier giving a status update:  

“Podium, finished. What’s next?”

She even pointed at the podium, as if wanting Ning Wanciu to check.

Ning Wanciu followed her finger. 

The once-messy podium was now perfectly organized.

“Mm!”  

Ning Wanciu smiled and nodded. 

For some reason, she felt like An Yu’s eyes were sparkling, as if waiting to be praised.  

“Good job. Next, could you open the windows to air out the classroom?”

Receiving Ning Wanciu’s approval, An Yu nodded in satisfaction. “Mm!”

Watching An Yu’s retreating back, Ning Wanciu couldn’t help but smile.

So cute, as always.

Chapter 75: Candy Won’t Work Either

Cleaning duty ultimately finished smoothly. With Ning Wanciu’s help, An Yu didn’t have to expend much effort.

However, because of all the time wasted earlier, it was already almost time for class when they finished, so An Yu didn’t get much chance to talk with Ning Wanciu.

Now An Yu sat at her desk, staring boredly at the blackboard.

Mm, wiped very clean. Worthy of her.

Ding-ling—

Classmates trickled in. 

As the bell for class rang, the teacher walked in as well.

The first period today was taught by a relatively young teacher, not one of the old ones.

But that made no difference to An Yu. 

Every lesson was equally boring.

She put on an icy facade of listening while actually thinking about what game she’d play with Ning Dongli tonight.

Speaking of Ning Dongli, yesterday she had acted a little strange and even asked for An Yu’s home address.

An Yu couldn’t figure it out. Why would Ning Dongli want her address? 

To come play offline games together?

Mm…

But Ning Dongli wasn’t the only strange one. 

An Yu also felt Ning Wanciu was acting weird.

The past two days she kept blushing even though the weather was clearly getting cooler. 

Why…

…An Yu didn’t understand.

Yep, still didn’t understand.

Just as An Yu was lost in thought, a small voice suddenly sounded beside her.

“An Yu~ An Yu classmate~”

The voice was tiny and sounded guilty.

An Yu remembered this voice. 

It belonged to the girl who gave her candy yesterday.

If that were all, An Yu might have acknowledged her, but things were different now. 

An Yu directly ignored her.

This was the enemy, a righteous character who had been won over by the reborn heroine…

…Oh, right, An Yu herself was the villainess.

Then this girl was a righteous character corrupted by the reborn heroine.

Too evil. Pretending to be nice by giving her candy. An Yu had actually trusted her!

Mm…

An Yu’s trust was reserved only for Ning Wanciu and her friends.

Shen Huahua didn’t know Ning Wanciu, so she wasn’t worthy of full trust. 

That’s what An Yu decided.

And she was right!

“Sigh~ Talk to me, An Yu classmate~”

Shen Huahua whispered to An Yu, but An Yu turned her head away and didn’t even glance at her.

What to do? Yesterday the loli had been quite approachable; today she completely ignored her.

Well, it seemed Shen Huahua hadn’t gained much trust anyway, so no big deal.

Originally she had noticed An Qing kept staring at An Yu, so she wanted to introduce them. 

Who would’ve thought it would turn out like this?

From their reactions, the two clearly knew each other.

And both had the surname An. 

Probably, maybe definitely not a coincidence…

Remembering what she’d said yesterday, Shen Huahua wanted to slap herself.

What did she mean “you both have the surname An”?!

She had walked right into the line of fire!

Today when she arrived at school, she noticed An Qing’s mood had worsened considerably. 

The girl was radiating a terrifying aura.

What on earth happened? 

Yesterday after school everything had still been fine.

Based on Shen Huahua’s judgment, neither An Qing nor An Yu seemed like bad people, so there must be some misunderstanding causing all this.

Therefore, Shen Huahua decided she would become the bridge between them and secretly help the two communicate!

But… she was stuck at step one.

An Yu was completely ignoring her!

What to do!

Shen Huahua fell into thought. How had she started talking to An Yu yesterday?

Oh, right! Her eyes lit up as if remembering something. 

She reached into her bag and rummaged around.

She had brought more candy today, plus other snacks. 

Surely something would satisfy An Yu!

To get An Yu to talk to her, Shen Huahua was going all in.

An Yu propped her chin on her hand, staring boredly at the teacher droning on.

She was looking, but not listening, of course she wasn’t listening to the teacher or Shen Huahua.

Better to stay away from people connected to the heroine.

Just as she thought that, a crisp clink sounded. Something had landed on her desk.

An Yu instinctively looked down. 

A piece of candy, same as the one she ate yesterday.

She tilted her head slightly in curiosity but didn’t pick it up, just stared.

Seeing no reaction, Shen Huahua tossed another one, this time a different flavor.

An Yu remained unmoved.

She wasn’t some small-fry villainess who could be bought with a single piece of candy. 

Besides, who knew if the heroine’s lackey had poisoned it?

An Yu still remembered the original owner’s ending, locked in a little dark room, never seeing daylight again.

How had that happened? Maybe drugged and kidnapped!

So unless it came from a good person, she wouldn’t eat it.

Smart An Yu concluded.

Meanwhile, Shen Huahua, seeing no response, directly pulled out an entire bag of candy.

And if An Yu didn’t like candy, she had chocolate too.

“An Yu classmate, An Yu classmate, talk to me and it’s all yours!”

Unfortunately, An Yu didn’t even glance at it. Yesterday one piece had worked; today an entire bag wouldn’t make her react.

This was the price of siding with An Qing!

“Wuu…”

Still unwilling to give up, Shen Huahua pulled out chocolate and tossed it onto An Yu’s desk the same way.

Then she looked at An Yu expectantly, hoping for a miracle this time.

But An Yu continued to ignore her.

However, though An Yu ignored her, someone else noticed.

“Shen Huahua, what are you doing?!”

The young teacher had at some point appeared right in front of Shen Huahua.

“W-Waaah!”  

Shen Huahua yelped, looking like she’d seen a ghost. “N-Nothing, teacher!”

“Heh, is that so?”

The young teacher frowned slightly, narrowing his bespectacled eyes until Shen Huahua started panicking.

“Teacher… I really didn’t…”

Pa—

Perhaps seeing she was still trying to argue, the teacher slammed his book onto her desk. “Still denying it?

Honestly, as a teacher he was almost laughing from anger.

Did Shen Huahua really think her little actions could escape a teacher’s eyes?

“Throwing snacks around to disturb your classmate during leon. Have you already mastered everything I’m teaching?”

“Uh… no…” Shen Huahua shook her head.

“Then hurry up and pay attention!” The teacher suddenly raised his voice.

“Eek! I-I was wrong, teacher!”

Shen Huahua hurriedly admitted her mistake, but it was too late.

“Go stand at the front for the rest of this period. Stay away from her!”

“Ah…”

Shen Huahua gave the teacher a pitiful look but ultimately left her seat helplessly.

Being punished to stand two days in a row was one thing, but the important part was that An Yu still wasn’t talking to her!