After Becoming the Love-Brained Female Lead’s Best Friend - Chapter 22.1

“System?” Ye Wanyin called out in her mind. However, after that segment of mechanical audio passed, her mind returned to dead silence.

Ye Wanyin could not help frowning.

She tried thinking of the mission manual in her mind, but strangely, this time, the manual did not appear.

This was something that had never happened before.

Although she had rarely used that thing before, mainly because she did not know exactly what she could look up, not using it and the manual completely disappearing were two entirely different situations.

A vague guess rose in Ye Wanyin’s heart.

She called out in her mind again, “System?”

Her mind was still empty.

Had she guessed wrong?

Ye Wanyin stood in place and waited for a while, until Fang Shu came out of her room carrying a laundry basket. Seeing her, Fang Shu paused slightly and asked strangely, “What are you doing?”

“I was just about to go back to my room,” Ye Wanyin said.

Fang Shu gave an “oh,” threw her clothes into the washing machine, and stopped paying attention to her.

On Friday night, Ye Wanyin went to hand in her manuscript. Along the way, she picked up a few new manuscripts, then bought a new set of college entrance exam question banks. Now that she had a phone, she no longer needed to exchange her wages into cash either. The other side could transfer the money directly to her WeChat.

Ye Wanyin looked at her account balance and discovered that, before she knew it, she had actually saved up a sum of money.

“Ah, I’m so bored…”

The weather in May changed in an instant. Yesterday, it had still been over thirty degrees, but today, it had dropped below ten.

The balcony window was half-open, and the cold wind carried a chill in through the window. Fang Shu had already wrapped herself in a thick coat and had also draped one over Ye Wanyin. Even so, she herself was still so cold that her toes curled up.

Because they were at home, Fang Shu had been wearing a nightdress. The nightdress was long, but unfortunately, no matter how long it was, it only barely covered her calves. So Fang Shu curled both legs up and hid them inside the nightdress.

Ye Wanyin saw her constantly changing sitting positions and said, “Do you want to put on a pair of pants?”

She looked cold just from watching.

Fang Shu imagined that scene and felt it was a little too beautiful, so she decided to endure a little longer.

She looked at Ye Wanyin, who was seriously working through questions, rested her head on the tabletop, and stared at her without blinking for a while before asking, “Don’t you get bored?”

Yesterday, the weather forecast had said it might rain today, so Fang Shu’s original plan to go out on a date over the weekend had been temporarily shelved. Now, looking at the gloomy sky outside and the rain that might suddenly fall at any moment, she sighed deeply and did not really want to do questions.

Ye Wanyin smoothly finished one question and replied, “I’m not bored.”

“If you really get into doing questions, you won’t feel bored either. You’ll only feel that time passes too quickly.”

Ye Wanyin calculated it and realized she had been in this world for almost two months. Fortunately, time in the novel world was still relative to the real world. Otherwise, her family would definitely be worried by now.

Thinking of her family, a nostalgic look could not help appearing in Ye Wanyin’s eyes. Fang Shu had been watching her the whole time. Seeing her like this, she tilted her head. “What’s wrong?”

Ye Wanyin shook her head. “Nothing.”

Fang Shu could tell that Ye Wanyin did not intend to tell her, so she did not ask further.

By noon, the dark clouds that had been piling up for a long time finally poured down a heavy rain. Ye Wanyin hurriedly closed all the doors and windows, then started using the remaining vegetables in the fridge to make lunch.

Fang Shu was still curled up on the chair, all her toes tucked into her skirt. She looked at Ye Wanyin bustling around in the kitchen. Not wanting to leave the chair she had finally warmed up, she hugged her arms and chatted with Ye Wanyin.

“After we finish eating, let’s go to my room to do homework. It’s so cold in the living room.”

Ye Wanyin thought about her own room, where the window had been open all morning. “I think the room might be cold too.”

Fang Shu felt that this was not a problem. “We can turn on the air conditioner.”

After eating, Fang Shu turned on the air conditioner in her room. This was Ye Wanyin’s second time coming into this room. Last time, she had not looked carefully. Now, Ye Wanyin realized Fang Shu’s room was arranged much more delicately than hers.

One look and it was obvious that she had lived there for a long time.

On the side near the window, there was a fluffy carpet beside the bed. A storage cabinet was placed against the wall. On the carpet was a low table with a tablet on it. This was probably the place where Fang Shu usually watched anime when she had nothing to do.

Fang Shu moved the tablet to the side and gave the low table to Ye Wanyin. Then she climbed onto the bed, wrapped her calves properly in the blanket, and pulled out the retractable desk from the side of the bed. She placed it across herself and put her homework on it.

Then she looked at Ye Wanyin, who was sitting on the cushion, rummaged beside her pillow for a back cushion, and handed it to her. “If you feel uncomfortable, lean on this for a while.”

Ye Wanyin nodded. “Thank you.”

After who knew how long, Ye Wanyin finished two sets of papers and felt that her waist was a little sore. So she prepared to rest for a while and leaned against the cushion. When she looked up, she saw that Fang Shu had fallen asleep against the headboard at some point.

The pen she had been using for homework was still pinched in her hand. Because the cap was not on, several marks had already been unconsciously drawn across the bedsheet.

Ye Wanyin put the pen away, then looked at Fang Shu’s sleeping posture. Probably because she was sleeping deeply, Fang Shu’s head had tilted to the side. Ye Wanyin supported her for a moment, then carefully put away the desk and slowly helped her lie down.

During the process, Fang Shu did not wake up at all. Even after Ye Wanyin helped her cover herself with the blanket, she burrowed into the covers, leaving only her head outside.

It seemed she really was sleeping very deeply.

Ye Wanyin stood beside her, guessing that she was probably exhausted.

After all, Fang Shu had been studying with her all this time. From knowing nothing to half-understanding, her brain had begun consciously absorbing knowledge. While her grades improved, it was normal for her to feel tired.

Ye Wanyin did not want to push her too hard.

And so, she sat back down where she had been. Yesterday, the system had notified her that low-power mode had been activated. Although she still did not know exactly what was going on, based on the timing of its activation, she felt she had more or less figured out a little.

For students, grades were the best proof. After all, effort was not always visible to others, but grades were clear at a glance.

That was why, after the results came out on Thursday, it did not take long for the system to detect energy. Ye Wanyin guessed that if Fang Shu improved again on the next exam, perhaps the system would be able to come out.

If that was really the case, then Ye Wanyin thought she might not necessarily have to rush Fang Shu into getting into university. As long as Fang Shu’s grades improved and the system could absorb enough energy, maybe she could directly go back through the complaint channel.

With progress made, Ye Wanyin’s mood suddenly improved a lot. Even the soreness in her waist did not seem quite as uncomfortable as before.

Fang Shu slept all the way until eight in the evening. By then, Ye Wanyin had already gone out to make dinner, and the homework that belonged to Ye Wanyin on the low table had also been taken away by her.

Fang Shu yawned. She did not know if it was because she had slept too long, but she only felt sleepier the more she slept. Even though her eyes were open now, she felt that as long as she lay down again, she would immediately fall asleep.

Just as Fang Shu was thinking about whether to keep sleeping, the door was gently opened. Fang Shu raised her head. Ye Wanyin poked her head in from outside. Seeing her, she smiled and said, “You’re awake.”

Fang Shu nodded, yawning as she got down from the bed. Seeing her yawning again and again, with tears almost gathering into little beads, Ye Wanyin asked, “Still sleepy?”

Fang Shu nodded, then shook her head. “I just feel very tired. Mentally tired.”

As she spoke, she walked to Ye Wanyin’s side and dropped her head onto Ye Wanyin’s shoulder with a thud. While yawning, she said, “I don’t want to study anymore.”

Ye Wanyin had often heard people say this. When she used to teach her younger brother, he would also frequently look exhausted and say this sentence.

Of course, it did not truly mean he would stop studying. It was only that when the fatigue brought by studying overwhelmed the joy it brought, the mind would protest.

Usually, at times like this, Ye Wanyin would let her younger brother rest for a while.

After he recovered, he would continue studying.

But she was not sure whether Fang Shu was in the same situation. She was worried that Fang Shu’s “I don’t want to study” meant she was completely giving up.

If that was the case, she really would not know what to do.

She couldn’t possibly act spoiled again…

Fang Shu leaned on her shoulder for a while. After hearing no reply for a long time, she instead felt the body beneath her head growing increasingly stiff. Without lifting herself up, she asked in a muffled voice, “What’s wrong?”

Thinking of the content of a comic she had recently read, Ye Wanyin suddenly said, “How about we go to the library tomorrow?”

Fang Shu hummed a single syllable through her nose, expressing confusion. Ye Wanyin said, “Isn’t the library also a sacred dating spot?”

“In the comic you recommended to me a few days ago, Female Lead One and Female Lead Two went to the library. They made plans to study together…”

Fang Shu rubbed against her shoulder. “Not going.”

Ye Wanyin suddenly trembled all over. Fang Shu had rubbed against her ticklish spot.

Ye Wanyin had rarely had physical contact with others before, so she had never known that she had so many ticklish spots on her body. Yet Fang Shu had no idea at all. She only felt that her sleepiness had eased a little, so she rubbed her forehead against Ye Wanyin’s shoulder, trying to make herself more awake.

Unexpectedly, Fang Shu’s slightly messy hair after sleeping brushed across Ye Wanyin’s neck with her movement… Ye Wanyin nearly jumped up.

Ye Wanyin tried hard to tilt her head to the side, but doing so only exposed even more of her neck to Fang Shu’s hair. Fang Shu suddenly straightened up, and her hair brushed past Ye Wanyin’s neck like waves retreating before the tide.

Ye Wanyin could not help covering her neck. The sensation of those strands of hair brushing past seemed to still linger there, making her want to scratch.

Fang Shu looked at her and asked strangely, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” Ye Wanyin was too embarrassed to say that she was ticklish.

Fang Shu looked her up and down. In the end, she could not see anything, so she had no choice but to go out with her.

After dinner, Ye Wanyin brought up the old topic again. “Are you really not going to the library tomorrow?”

Fang Shu said decisively, “Not going.”

Ye Wanyin asked strangely, “Why?”

Fang Shu collapsed on the sofa. “I don’t want to study.”

Ye Wanyin suddenly felt that her heart tonight might not be doing very well. She asked Fang Shu blankly, “Why?”

Fang Shu answered briefly, “I’m tired.”

Fang Shu took out her phone and flipped through it aimlessly, her eyelids drooping. “I feel like I’m studying every day, but I haven’t improved much. I also don’t have much time to read novels or comics anymore. The time I used to spend on entertainment is now being squeezed like crazy…”

The air suddenly became quiet.

After a long time, Fang Shu leaned fully back against the sofa and exhaled. “Forget it. You don’t need to mind me. Maybe I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

Ye Wanyin understood. This was a period of confusion in studying.

She suddenly raised her hand and pressed it to Fang Shu’s forehead. While slowly rubbing her temples, she asked, “Is there anywhere you want to go?”

Fang Shu was too tired to speak.

Ye Wanyin continued massaging her shoulders. “When you’re tired, you can go out and relax. Looking at the scenery is fine, playing games is fine too. You don’t need to put too much pressure on yourself.”

Fang Shu argued, “I’m not pressured…”

Ye Wanyin followed her words and coaxed, “All right, you’re not. But when I usually get tired from studying, I go out for a walk. Letting the wind blow on me clears my head a little.”

Fang Shu was being massaged so comfortably that she even shifted into a more comfortable position to be massaged. Hearing Ye Wanyin’s words, she raised her head in some surprise. “You get tired from studying too?”

She had thought Ye Wanyin was a study machine.

Ye Wanyin said, “I do. Sometimes I encounter especially difficult problems. If I think for a very long time and still can’t solve them, I feel very tired.”

Fang Shu became even more curious. “Then how did you solve them in the end?”

Ye Wanyin said a little embarrassedly, “In the end, I looked at the answer, then discovered the question was wrong.”

Fang Shu: “…”

Human joys and sorrows truly are not connected, thank you.

After chatting with Ye Wanyin for a while, Fang Shu felt a little better. However, her enthusiasm for studying still had not ignited. Not only had it not ignited, she was even starting to want to give up.

“Why don’t we just date and not study?”

Ye Wanyin: “…”

Ye Wanyin really wanted to shake her head. “I hope you can study.”

Fang Shu gave up on herself. “What’s good about studying? I don’t like studying, and teaching me tires you out too. If I don’t study, it’ll be easier for you.”

Ye Wanyin said, “I don’t feel tired.”

Fang Shu: “I do.”

Ye Wanyin: “…”

She regretted it. She should not have asked one more question. She should have just waited for Fang Shu to naturally get better tomorrow, then directly assigned questions to her.

Fang Shu looked at her expression and asked strangely, “Why aren’t you continuing?”

Ye Wanyin had absolutely no idea what else she could say.

Fang Shu gave her suggestions. “Why don’t you tell me, ‘Studying is your own business. You’re not studying for anyone else. You need to be responsible for your own future. No one will pay the bill for someone else’s future. If you don’t work hard now, you’ll rot in the mud later…’”

These were all old sayings. Ye Wanyin herself had heard them countless times. Sometimes, she would say them to her younger brother too.

But only the person involved knew how effective such words really were.

Clearly, their effect on Fang Shu was zero.

Ye Wanyin sighed. “You already know all of that yourself. What use would there be in me saying it to you again?”

Fang Shu suddenly smiled. Before Ye Wanyin could react, she heard Fang Shu say, “If the weather is good tomorrow, shall we go out and play for a while?”

Although they had finally circled back, Ye Wanyin’s suspended heart had not circled back with them. She was still tangled up in the problem from earlier. “After we play, you should study, right?”

Fang Shu gave a light snort and did not say it clearly. “That’ll depend on your performance.”

And so that night, for the first time, Ye Wanyin did not work on her own college entrance exam questions. Instead, she held the comics Fang Shu had marked out for her back then and read them seriously.

Unexpectedly, the next day was bright and sunny. Fang Shu prepared to take Ye Wanyin to a scenic area in the suburbs. The scenic area was not far from the city, about half an hour away by taxi. It was called Peach Blossom Village, and it was said to have very nice scenery.

However, before going, the two had a small disagreement over clothes. Ye Wanyin was not used to wearing dresses, so she planned to wear a T-shirt and pants. But Fang Shu kept holding several dresses and looking at her faintly.

Ye Wanyin felt that she saw two big words—“studying” and “performance”—in Fang Shu’s eyes. While thinking that it must surely be an illusion, she eventually shamefully gave in.

This time, the dress Fang Shu chose for Ye Wanyin was on the longer side, at least past the knees. Overall, it was an elegant dark green. The upper half was a bustier style. Because the temperature was not too high today, Fang Shu matched it with a raw-colored long-sleeved blouse underneath. There was a large area of lace ruffles across the chest, which just happened to complement the bustier. At the collar was a dark green brooch.

Holding a comb, Fang Shu stood in front of Ye Wanyin with a frown. “Wait.”

She pushed Ye Wanyin onto the sofa and made her lean against it. Then she stood behind her and braided her hair.

Fang Shu gave Ye Wanyin a French braid, loosened the surface, and finally placed it over her chest. On the left side, she pinned on a hair ornament that matched the color of the dress.

Fang Shu had her stand up, then circled her once. At last, she nodded in satisfaction. “Not bad.”

Then she looked at Ye Wanyin’s glasses, her expression turning subtle for a moment. “Let’s go to an optical shop first.”

Those black-framed glasses really did not match this outfit.

Fang Shu herself wore the same style as Ye Wanyin, just in a different color. Back then, she had liked the design and comfort of this outfit, so she bought both colors. Ye Wanyin was wearing dark green, while Fang Shu wore wine red. The elegant style looked on her like a rose that had gathered in its petals.

Her hair was shorter than Ye Wanyin’s, so like before, she only braided one side, then tucked that side of her hair behind her ear and fixed it with a slightly smaller hair clip.

She circled around Ye Wanyin once, then looked at herself, then at Ye Wanyin, and asked, “Do you think the two of us look like we’re wearing couple outfits?”

Ye Wanyin followed along. “Yes. Very much.”

Fang Shu heard the lack of sincerity in her tone and silently raised her middle finger at her.

Ye Wanyin laughed helplessly and actually felt that her elegant red dress went quite well with her middle finger.

She must be crazy.

The two first went to an optical shop and got Ye Wanyin a pair of contact lenses. Only then did they take a taxi to the suburbs.

The scenery here was very good. The air was fresh, and the trees were lush and green. Along the mountain steps was a bamboo grove. Below the grove were two small paths, one leading to a peach forest and the other leading to a farmhouse courtyard. Ye Wanyin wore low-heeled leather shoes as she followed behind Fang Shu.

Originally, Fang Shu had wanted her to wear medium heels, but Ye Wanyin said she had never worn heels before and was afraid she would fall while walking. So Fang Shu had no choice but to disdainfully change them to low heels for her.

However, after getting out of the car, Fang Shu felt the benefit of Ye Wanyin wearing low heels, because Fang Shu herself was wearing medium heels. Standing together with Ye Wanyin, those “insignificant” few centimeters in their bare heights were directly canceled out.

Fang Shu expressed that she felt comfortable.

The two walked all the way along the stone steps to the top of the mountain. In truth, the mountain peak was not very high, but because the scenic area below was situated lower, standing up there allowed one to take in the entire landscape below.

Fang Shu and Ye Wanyin sat in the little pavilion at the summit, letting the wind blow over them. Holding the railing, Fang Shu pointed to the largest peach tree in the peach forest below. “Do you see that peach tree?”

That peach tree was quite eye-catching. Not only was it the largest tree in the peach forest, but because the peach blossoms had almost all fallen by May, it had become the baldest-looking tree in the whole peach forest. There were many red cloth strips hanging from its branches, and quite a few people were gathered around it. Ye Wanyin saw it at a glance and nodded.

Fang Shu said, “That’s Peach Blossom Village’s signature attraction. It’s specially for people to make wishes for romance.”

Ye Wanyin could not help asking, “Is it effective?”

Fang Shu thought about it. “It is… probably?”

Ye Wanyin pondered.

So why was that a question?

Thinking that they would go down and stroll around later, Fang Shu decided to ask her companion’s opinion. “Do you want to go see that marriage tree?”

Ye Wanyin said, “Anything is fine with me.”

Fang Shu frowned. “Give me a definite answer.”

Ye Wanyin looked at the bare marriage tree, thought about their plastic-like romantic relationship, then… threw the question back. “Do you want to go?”

Fang Shu: “…”

She suddenly felt that she was probably, maybe, definitely a straight woman.

Fang Shu directly said, “Let’s come again next time. The peach blossoms have all fallen now. There’s nothing much to see.”

Ye Wanyin nodded along.