After Becoming the Love-Brained Female Lead’s Best Friend - Chapter 7

That evening, when Ye Wanyin returned from evening self-study, she discovered Fang Shu was making something in the kitchen. She stood at a distance and glanced over, just about to return to her room, when Fang Shu suddenly waved her over.

“Come taste this. How’s the flavor?”

Ye Wanyin put down her bag and walked over. Fang Shu took a sandwich out of the microwave.

“How is it?”

Ye Wanyin took a bite and tasted it carefully. “It feels pretty good.”

Fang Shu let out a breath of relief. She placed the remaining sandwiches neatly into a lunch box, then added a few pieces of fruit. With that, the bento was complete.

Watching her movements, Ye Wanyin guessed, “Is this for your boyfriend?”

Fang Shu nodded and put the lunch box into the schoolbag she had prepared nearby. “A loving breakfast for him.”

If Ye Wanyin’s hearing had not been quite good, she would have suspected that she had heard wrong. How had Fang Shu managed to say such a sickly sweet phrase in the same tone as “the weather is nice today”?

Ye Wanyin bit into the rest of the sandwich. “I really didn’t expect you to know how to cook.”

Fang Shu tidied up the kitchen. “I just learned today.”

Ye Wanyin swallowed the last bite of sandwich. “Then you’re pretty talented.”

Fang Shu did not comment.

After Fang Shu finished tidying up the kitchen, Ye Wanyin struggled for a moment before saying to her, “Are you really not considering studying a little? There are lots of handsome guys in university too.”

Fang Shu: “Not considering it, thank you.”

Ye Wanyin sighed and returned to her room.

On Wednesday, the first class was Chinese. Fang Shu was called on.

“I forgot yesterday. Today, let me see how well you’ve memorized Epang Palace Ode.”

Just like last time, Fang Shu recited the opening and then immediately began reciting the ending, as if all the content in the middle had been swallowed by a monster. The Chinese teacher did not look too angry. She only said a few words to her, then made her stand for two classes.

After Fang Shu finished standing, the Chinese teacher even said something to the teacher for the third class and made her stand for one more class.

Ye Wanyin looked at Fang Shu, who was standing without any proper posture, and spread her wings wide on the edge between sympathy and lack of sympathy.

At noon, Fang Shu delivered her bento. Her current boyfriend was clearly very satisfied and almost kissed Fang Shu on the cheek.

But Fang Shu dodged away in disgust.

On one side, the two of them were “sweet as honey.” On the other side, Ye Wanyin’s mission had made no progress whatsoever.

There was no way. Absolutely no way.

When Ye Wanyin tried to make Fang Shu listen in class, Fang Shu would take her phone out of the drawer. “Sorry, I have to text my boyfriend.”

When Ye Wanyin tried to make Fang Shu do homework after class, Fang Shu would walk out of the classroom without looking back. “Sorry, I’m going on a date with my boyfriend.”

When Ye Wanyin tried to make Fang Shu attend self-study with her after school, Fang Shu walked even more cheerfully. “Sorry, I still have to go home and make my boyfriend a loving breakfast~”

…

Well, although Fang Shu had not listened before either, back then, at most, she simply ignored Ye Wanyin. Now, she did respond to her, but she had begun to torture her mentally.

Ye Wanyin had even thought about going to Fang Shu’s boyfriend and asking him to help persuade her. However, when Fang Shu was in class, Ye Wanyin was also in class. When Fang Shu went to find her boyfriend after class, it was also not convenient for Ye Wanyin to go over. And so, the matter kept dragging on.

Several times, Ye Wanyin wanted to simply give up, but she did not know whether it was because she had already signed the contract and bound herself to the system. Whenever she saw Fang Shu, she felt an uncontrollable urge to make her study.

Amid this tug-of-war, Friday soon arrived. Fang Shu told Ye Wanyin in advance that she was going to watch a movie with her boyfriend that night and would probably come home very late, so Ye Wanyin did not need to wait for her.

When Ye Wanyin came back from evening self-study and saw the empty living room, she suddenly felt somewhat unused to it.

With nothing else to do, Ye Wanyin thought of her dwindling savings and decided to first see what kind of work she could do.

She put on a jacket and went out. Probably because it was Friday, the plaza across the street was unusually lively. Aside from those who had already gone home, almost all the day students and boarding students had run out that night. Ye Wanyin encountered quite a few familiar faces just by walking around.

“Ye Wanyin!”

Ye Wanyin looked around but did not see who had called her. Only when someone patted her shoulder did she finally see the person.

“You are?” Ye Wanyin had not been in the class for long and could not completely remember everyone.

A flash of hurt appeared in the boy’s eyes, but he quickly pulled himself together. “My name is Yan Shu. I sit behind and to the left of your deskmate. Do you remember?”

Ye Wanyin thought about it, but still had no impression. These past few days, all her attention had been focused on Fang Shu, and she had not paid much attention to anyone else.

A hurt expression appeared in the boy’s eyes again. After a while, he pulled himself together once more.

“It’s okay. Getting to know each other now is the same.”

Ye Wanyin nodded without thinking too much.

“Do you need something?” Ye Wanyin asked him.

“Are you going back?” Yan Shu asked.

“I’m going to look for a part-time job,” Ye Wanyin said.

Hearing her answer, Yan Shu widened his eyes. “Aren’t you a student right now?”

Ye Wanyin already wanted to leave a little, but hearing this, she still politely replied, “Mm. But I have to pay rent.”

“You… can’t you live at school? The school dorms let students stay for free,” Yan Shu suggested.

“I don’t have that plan for now.”

Ye Wanyin still wanted to take advantage of proximity. If she moved into the school, then Fang Shu would truly be far away, beyond the emperor’s reach. Trying to manage her then would be even harder.

Worried that the other person would keep asking, Ye Wanyin decided to retreat for the night.

“It’s getting a little late. I’ll go back first.”

After saying goodbye to him, Ye Wanyin left. When she was almost downstairs at the building where she lived, her sharp eyes suddenly spotted someone sitting on the bluestone steps beside the small path downstairs.

Ye Wanyin lightened and slowed her steps. Out of the corner of her eye, she kept watching that person to prevent them from suddenly jumping up.

“Why are you so slow?”

Ye Wanyin’s heartbeat skipped. Her first reaction was, How did this criminal target me? Only afterward did she slowly realize that the other person was Fang Shu.

“Why are you sitting outside?” Ye Wanyin asked her.

“I forgot my keys. And standing at the door looks stupid,” Fang Shu said.

As long as she did not stand at the door, no one would know which household had been locked outside for forgetting their keys.

It was the first time Ye Wanyin had heard such a fresh and refined reason, and she could not help choking slightly.

“I brought this for you.”

Fang Shu handed the thing in her hand to Ye Wanyin, then went upstairs ahead of her.

After entering the entryway, the two changed shoes one after the other. Ye Wanyin walked inside, then suddenly remembered something and asked her, “Weren’t you watching a movie with your boyfriend? Why did you come back so early?”

“The movie ended.”

As soon as Fang Shu entered, she collapsed onto the sofa. Her head rested against the back of the sofa, and she stretched lazily. Then she stretched out her slightly sore arm and placed it on the coffee table beside the sofa.

“We broke up.”

Ye Wanyin: “???”

There were so many things to complain about in that sentence that she did not know which one to start with.

“If I remember correctly, didn’t you only start dating a few days ago?” Ye Wanyin asked uncertainly.

Fang Shu said, “Because he wanted a girl he could kiss while watching a movie.”

Ye Wanyin: “…”

Ah, this…

There seemed to be even more to complain about in this sentence than in the previous one. Ye Wanyin did not know what to say for a moment.

Thinking that Fang Shu was currently in a state of heartbreak, Ye Wanyin felt that she should still comfort her. But after finally preparing a speech, she looked over and saw that Fang Shu, who had originally been slumped on the sofa as if depressed over a breakup, was now holding her phone with both hands. Her fingertips tapped rapidly across the screen, as if she were playing a game. There was not the slightest sign of heartbreak or sadness.

Ye Wanyin choked for a moment and nearly turned around and left.

But after watching for a while, she suddenly remembered that the original book seemed to have said Fang Shu appeared indifferent to everything on the surface, as if she could date anyone, but in reality, she took every relationship very seriously.

After every relationship ended, she also looked as if nothing had happened and could quickly rush toward the next one, but in truth, her heart had long since been riddled with wounds.

Although Ye Wanyin could not understand this strange plot where someone fell in love quickly, broke up quickly, and still made herself depressed inside, she thought that this was, after all, a world inside a book. Nothing could be explained by common sense.

Thinking of this, Ye Wanyin could not help looking at Fang Shu helplessly and saying clumsily, “Don’t be sad.”

Fang Shu’s movements in playing the matching game paused. “?”

Ye Wanyin had never encountered this kind of person in her previous life. Then again, perhaps everyone simply had not shown it.

Actually, Fang Shu was hiding it quite well too. Looking at her now, she was still lazily lowering her eyelashes as usual. When she heard Ye Wanyin’s words, she looked over with an expression that was both blank and full of the familiar feeling of, What nonsense are you saying?

Ye Wanyin gave her a look that said, I understand.

“When you can’t move on from a relationship, you can actually try doing practice questions.”

The expression on Fang Shu’s face instantly became even more familiar. Her eyes, which looked unfocused because of their slightly light color, immediately turned toward Ye Wanyin. Her originally half-narrowed eyes now seemed to carry a sharp gaze. It was probably the kind of gaze that, if looks could kill, Ye Wanyin would now be the one riddled with wounds.

Fang Shu sat up from the sofa. Seeing Ye Wanyin’s waist, she paused, then stood up and looked Ye Wanyin in the eye. Only then did she look at her with an expression that said, So this was your true goal.

“I’ll welcome my next spring right away.”

Forget moving on from this relationship—she could run all the way to her next, next, next, next relationship.

However, in Ye Wanyin’s ears, this became another meaning. Compared with studying, Fang Shu wanted to use love to drown her sorrows.

Ye Wanyin thought that with the speed at which Fang Shu dated and broke up every time, wouldn’t that only make her more sorrowful the more she tried to drown it?

So she said to Fang Shu, “How do you know studying isn’t good if you don’t try it?”

Fang Shu rubbed her temples, not wanting to discuss this topic with her. Losing the mood to continue staying in the living room, Fang Shu snatched back the milk tea she had brought for Ye Wanyin.

“You’re not drinking it anymore. People who can kill a conversation don’t deserve milk tea.”

Ye Wanyin froze for a moment. She watched Fang Shu carry the milk tea away, her movements slow but every step radiating that she was very angry right now, as she returned to her room and shut the door with a bang.

Although Ye Wanyin was not standing in front of the other girl’s door, she was still somehow shaken.

Why was she suddenly angry?

The next two days were the weekend. Ye Wanyin took some time to go to the plaza across the street again. After looking through all kinds of recruitment information, she finally chose a job in an office building close to the residential compound, doing copywriting translation for someone.

During the interview, they originally wanted her to provide a foreign language transcript. But how long had Ye Wanyin been in this world? How could she produce such a thing? So she told the interviewer that she could translate two pieces on-site for them to evaluate.

Naturally, the final interview result was that she passed.

The greatest advantage of this part-time job was that she did not need to sit in the office every day. It only required that she live in the city and could be contacted at any time.

This was clearly not a problem for Ye Wanyin. At least judging from the current situation, she would have to be tied up with this world for the next half a year, or possibly even longer.

Thinking of this, Ye Wanyin could not help sighing softly.

She had never seen a student who disliked studying this much.

When she returned home, Fang Shu was ordering takeout. Judging from the look of it, she had already finished ordering. When she saw Ye Wanyin, she seemed to hesitate for a moment, then handed over her phone. Her tone was a little awkward, yet she pretended to be natural.

“Order whatever you want.”

It looked like she was still somewhat angry.

Ye Wanyin did not provoke her sore spot. She obediently ordered one serving, then handed the phone back.

Because they were at home, Fang Shu was not wearing regular clothes. She only wore a loose white nightdress. Her hair was somewhat messily draped over her shoulders, and the bangs on her forehead were clipped up with a small hair clip.

“What are you planning to do these two days?” Ye Wanyin sat opposite Fang Shu, clearly not having completely given up yet.

Fang Shu guessed her little scheme and did not give her a chance. “Fishing.”

Ye Wanyin: “…”

For a moment, Ye Wanyin almost suspected that the original book was tricking her. Fang Shu’s current state not only had nothing to do with heartbreak, it was as if she had completely forgotten her old love.

But based on the small amount of trust she still had in the system—although it had tricked her, at least their final goal was the same—Ye Wanyin still planned to earnestly persuade Fang Shu a little.

However, Fang Shu predicted her prediction.

“If you say anything that ruins the mood again, I’ll move out tomorrow.”

Ye Wanyin closed her mouth in grievance.

The two waited in the living room for a while. Seeing that Fang Shu had been scrolling on her phone the whole time, Ye Wanyin took her own question bank out from her room.

Fang Shu glanced at her when she sat down. Seeing the thick question bank in her hand, she looked at Ye Wanyin as if wanting to say something but stopping. In the end, she said nothing and continued playing on her phone.

She even turned the volume down a little.

This was the last bit of respect she had for this nominal “best friend.”

Before she hooked a new fish, Fang Shu usually played by herself and rarely chatted much.

After clearing the game stage, she began scrolling through videos. Probably because the video volume was not satisfying enough, she even went back to her room and dug out earphones she had not used for many years.

Once that faint bit of sound disappeared too, the living room suddenly became quiet.

In such an environment, Ye Wanyin’s concentration became even sharper. She worked through several pages of questions in a row and did not even hear the knock when the takeout arrived.

Fang Shu opened the door and picked up the takeout, placing one of the orders beside Ye Wanyin. Then she had already opened her own packaging and was preparing to eat, yet the person opposite her was still focused on solving problems.

Fang Shu took a bite of food, scrolled her phone for a short while, and glanced at Ye Wanyin. By the time she had almost finished half a bowl, the other girl was still solving questions.

Fang Shu reached out and knocked on the tabletop a few times. Fortunately, Ye Wanyin was very sensitive to that kind of sound. She immediately woke from her problem-solving state. Seeing Fang Shu, she looked a little dazed. Only when Fang Shu motioned for her to look beside her did she realize the takeout had arrived.

Ye Wanyin pushed the question bank to the side and began opening the takeout packaging.

Fang Shu did not really understand. “Are questions that attractive?”

Ye Wanyin immediately raised her head and said, “Of course they are. Think about it. You learn knowledge, then use the knowledge you’ve learned to conquer one problem after another. Don’t you feel a sense of accomplishment? Especially with difficult questions—the harder they are, the more attractive they become, and the stronger your desire to conquer them gets.”

There was no doubt that Ye Wanyin was good-looking. Her facial lines were soft, her eyes were not small, and the tip of her nose was also very straight. However, because she had worn glasses for years, her gaze was a little unfocused. It was different from Fang Shu’s kind of unfocused look, which came from her light eye color and her laziness to care while spacing out. Ye Wanyin’s eyes looked as if they had no light.

As if endless homework had worn away the light inside them.

Usually, when people looked at her, they would immediately feel that she was a beautiful top student.

But now, when she spoke about something she liked, the eyes behind her black-framed glasses suddenly lit up. Although the light was very faint, one could feel that she truly had great interest in studying.

Fang Shu propped up her chin. She really did not think there was anything good about that bulky thing. Not only did it make one’s head hurt, one still might not be able to solve it.

And so, after listening to Ye Wanyin say a few lines, Fang Shu lost interest and went back to playing on her phone. Although she was also a bit tired of scrolling through videos, at least it was more interesting than homework.

Ye Wanyin had finally seen Fang Shu show a little interest in studying and was unwilling to give up just like that.

“Just try it. Maybe you’ll open the door to a whole new world.”

Fang Shu had only asked casually earlier. Now, she had returned to her usual dismissive attitude toward studying.

“What’s so good about the door to a new world?”

Ye Wanyin tried hard to persuade her. “You’ll have more choices in the future. Not just schools, but romance and career too.”

Fang Shu looked at her and wanted to slip away again.

Ye Wanyin wanted to stop her.

Fang Shu’s phone suddenly vibrated. Fang Shu took a moment to glance at it. Very quickly, her eyes narrowed, and her tone carried a hint of pleasure.

“Ah, a fish has taken the bait.”

Ye Wanyin thought of how, when Fang Shu was dating, she spent all five school days of the week either addicted to her phone in class or disappearing entirely. Her heart clogged up, and she leaned closer.

“You don’t even like them, so why do you date them?”

Fang Shu typed while casually saying, “Why can’t I date them?”

Ye Wanyin thought of the original book. “Dating people you don’t like, taking it so seriously, and then making yourself sad and heartbroken in the end—is that kind of romance really good?”

Fang Shu paused, then suddenly raised her head and stared at Ye Wanyin somewhat strangely. Ye Wanyin’s scalp went a little numb under her gaze.

“What’s wrong?”

Fang Shu withdrew her gaze and said as if she did not care, “Nothing. I just didn’t expect you to actually like reading that kind of novel.”

When she said “that kind,” Fang Shu’s tone paused subtly.

Ye Wanyin: “???”

Ye Wanyin had preconceived notions and felt that Fang Shu was putting on a brave front.

“You don’t have to be nervous. It’s not embarrassing to say this kind of thing out loud. Anyway, aren’t we still… um… that kind of relationship…”

Ye Wanyin was also a little embarrassed to say the word “best friends.” After all, given their current relationship, let alone best friends, even plastic had a stronger bond than them.

But when she was nearly finished speaking and looked at Fang Shu, her voice involuntarily lowered, because she felt that she seemed to have misunderstood something.

Fang Shu’s gaze had completely moved from her phone to Ye Wanyin. With a little bit of probing and a very, very large amount of looking at an idiot, she said to her, “If you want to read novels, I have a lot in my room. I guarantee every single one of them is more normal than what you’re reading now.”

Ye Wanyin suddenly had a bad feeling. Trembling slightly, she asked, “Every time you date someone, isn’t it that you don’t like them?”

Fang Shu admitted it very calmly. “Yeah.”

Ye Wanyin asked again, “When you date each time, aren’t you very serious?”

Fang Shu blinked. “I guess so.”

Ye Wanyin: “So, every time you break up, don’t you become sad and heartbroken?”

Fang Shu looked at her in confusion. “Why would I be sad and heartbroken? Everyone gets together and parts on good terms. We can still be friends later.”

However, to avoid suspicion, Fang Shu generally deleted her exes after breaking up. For the few who still pestered her after the breakup, she would delete and block them.

This was also why most of the people she dated were from other classes or even other grades. After all, if they were in the same class, they would see each other all the time. If someone really wanted to pester her, deleting and blocking might not be enough to solve the problem.

Ye Wanyin carefully examined Fang Shu’s expression, trying to see whether her words matched her true feelings.

Fang Shu let her look. At the same time, she also saw something from Ye Wanyin’s expression and pretended to understand.

“Oh—don’t tell me you thought I would cry and make a scene after breaking up?”

“If that were true, and I dated ten people in a year, feeling sad for every single one of them, wouldn’t I die of depression?”

Fang Shu said it naturally. Her eyes even opened a little wider than usual. She seemed suddenly enlightened, but in Ye Wanyin’s eyes, the mockery value was maxed out.

Ye Wanyin’s face instantly turned bright red. The redness spread awkwardly from her face all the way down to her neck. She forced herself to stay calm.

“S-so that’s how it is…”

“That’s pretty good.”

After saying this, Ye Wanyin did not even take her question bank and slipped back to her room before Fang Shu could.

Fang Shu sat in the living room, typing in a very good mood.

Inside the room, Ye Wanyin, for the first time, threw herself onto the bed without changing clothes or showering. In her mind, she thought about the original work.

Probably because the manual had been created by the system world, the explanations that appeared were also related to the instance’s content.

[Original Work: The normal plot direction of a world when there is no interference from external factors. Note: The original plot must be purchased with points from a designated shop. If you’re greedy for cheap deals, you may end up buying a pirated version~]

Looking at the tilde after the note, Ye Wanyin deeply, deeply, deeply suspected that she had been tricked by the system again.