After Transmigrating, I Became the Most Cowardly Kid (GL) - Chapter 7

Compared to “charismatic attraction” and other such nonsense, this was the most reliable answer she could think of.

Chi Zhihuai, of course, did not voice her theory. She just said perfunctorily, “I don’t know, maybe she was bored and just picked someone to pay attention to.”

Her former deskmate’s eyes widened. “She’s not planning to hurt you, is she?”

“No way… I’ve already asked someone, and Shang Han holds no malice toward me.” Chi Zhihuai said, quietly speeding up, then waved to the slower girls, “I’ll go ahead.”

She really didn’t like hearing others talk badly about Shang Han.

Chi Zhihuai sighed softly and continued walking with Chen Qin.

When they reached Dad Chi’s car, she waved goodbye to Chen Qin. Just as she opened the car door, her peripheral vision caught a flash of glossy black.

It was Shang Han’s motorcycle.

She didn’t look again, got into the car, and greeted Dad Chi while holding her backpack: “Dad.”

“How was your day?”

“Very good.”

A simple conversation, which felt both meaningless and strangely meaningful.

After watching the news broadcast that evening, Chi Zhihuai rested her arms on the balcony railing, reviewing the day’s events.

The life of a good student was much more fulfilling than she had imagined; it wasn’t just dull and boring.

And the joy of correctly solving a major math problem was no less than winning a game.

Chi Zhihuai suddenly didn’t want to play her match-three game anymore. How about… she did her math workbook first tonight?

Returning to her bedroom, she pulled out the workbook, then looked at the phone resting beside it.

The green message notification light was blinking. She picked up the phone and almost cheered out loud.

“ZZZ” had messaged her first!

ZZZ: The bubble tea was good. Thanks.

Chi Zhihuai: The ice cream was good, too. Thank you.

ZZZ: I heard you got sick this afternoon.

Chi Zhihuai: Thanks for the concern [cute emoji]. I’m fine now.

ZZZ: That’s good.

Chi Zhihuai quickly typed to prevent the conversation from ending.

Chi Zhihuai: Right, I heard Shang Han came to the classroom looking for me again today…

ZZZ: Are you that scared of her?

Chi Zhihuai: Not exactly… it’s just that I don’t know her, so the attention feels a bit strange.

The other side was silent for a moment, then sent, I’ll pass on your concern.

Chi Zhihuai scratched her head, then remembered something else.

Chi Zhihuai: Do you know if Yixin Supermarket is open on weekends?

It was safer to get her student ID back sooner. If it was truly lost, getting a replacement from the homeroom teacher would be a hassle.

ZZZ: I think so. Why?

Chi Zhihuai: Nothing! The ice cream I had today was really delicious, but the supermarkets here don’t have that flavor, and I want to go buy another one [cute emoji].

Chi Zhihuai, for whom lies came naturally, was constantly vigilant for the system’s appearance, afraid it would classify lying as breaking the persona.

She waited two seconds. The system didn’t pop up. She patted her chest, relieved.

ZZZ: Is it that good?

Chi Zhihuai: Mhm! [cute emoji]

ZZZ: Oh.

The conversation-ending “Oh” appeared. Chi Zhihuai couldn’t think of anything else to say and silently put down her phone.

However, there was still one way to handle this situation: leave the awkward “Oh” unreplied and send a “Good night” message before going to sleep. This would make it seem very natural.

If the other party replied with “Good night,” she could pretend not to have seen it, reply with “Good morning” the next day, and after the other party replied, casually chat for a couple of messages to increase familiarity.

Chi Zhihuai realized she was incredibly scheming.

But when survival was on the line, what did a little scheming matter!

She could be even more calculating!

Chi Zhihuai formulated her “battle plan,” then happily opened her workbook and challenged the Absolute Value Inequalities.

She had planned to study for half an hour and then play a game, but she ended up studying for over two hours.

When she looked up again, it was already ten o’clock.

Chi Zhihuai glanced at the clock in surprise, unable to believe she had focused for so long.

But the satisfaction of correctly solving problems and checking the answers was truly comparable to beating a level in a game!

The first two days were spent catching up, and she often got problems wrong. If the system hadn’t been pressuring her, she definitely would have given up. However, today, after catching up on all the material, doing the problems felt completely different.

She was practically soaring with happiness!

Chi Zhihuai stood up, swung her arms, rotated her waist, and went to take a shower.

She was in a great mood and even softly hummed a tune while washing.

Speaking of which, she really liked singing. Unfortunately, her current persona restricted her to secretly listening to music with headphones for a little while at night. Singing out loud? Unthinkable.

Chi Zhihuai’s recently soaring mood suddenly plummeted.

She felt like she couldn’t be herself anymore.

Although living this way was feasible, still…

Chi Zhihuai paused for two seconds under the showerhead, then continued applying shower gel.

Forget it. No one had ever cared about her dreams anyway, so she didn’t need to care too much herself.

When he received the boss’s call, Tang Chen was wailing inside a KTV room.

He happened to be singing the final line of “Love Until Death“—”Not afraid to let the passion burn, the more intense the love, the more brilliant”—screaming so hard his voice cracked wildly, leaving his throat sore.

Coughing, he rushed out of the room and answered the phone: “Boss?”

Shang Han’s voice had been fine that afternoon. She wondered, “What happened to your throat?”

Tang Chen laughed “Heh heh” twice: “I cracked my voice singing just now, it’s nothing. Did you need something?”

“The ice cream you bought today, what brand was it?”

The smile on Tang Chen’s face froze for two seconds. He had been reminded of his ex-girlfriend because of that ice cream today, which was why he was venting by singing at the KTV.

He weakly named the brand, hung up the phone, and returned to the room.

One of his junior high classmates was with him. Tang Chen elbowed him and asked, “Do you still remember that girl in our class named Chi Zhihuai?”

Gao Lei nodded, taking a bite of a puffed snack: “I remember, why?”

Tang Chen knew he shouldn’t pry, so he didn’t mention Shang Han. He just asked, “What kind of person do you think she is?”

“A good girl, a bookworm,” Gao Lei glanced at him. “What’s up, little brother? Going back to chew on the grass from junior high?”

Tang Chen kicked his leg: “Bullsh*t. You’re the little brother.”

“Then why are you asking?”

Tang Chen didn’t know why he asked. He just felt the relationship between the boss and this Chi Zhihuai was very subtle.

The day Chi Zhihuai added him, he happened to be having skewers with the boss. Midway through eating, he received the friend request, thinking it was someone who had a change of heart, but it was just a junior high classmate he barely knew.

He frowned and exchanged a couple of messages with her. Seeing she wanted to ask about Shang Han, he casually mentioned it to the boss.

At that time, the boss was slowly eating grilled squid. Hearing his words, she put down her chopsticks and beckoned to him.

Tang Chen presented his phone, suddenly feeling a little regretful.

The junior high classmate was weak and small in his memory. If his boss got angry, could she handle it?

He was thinking about saying a few good words for his former classmate—regardless of how Chi Zhihuai might have provoked the boss, she was a frail girl after all.

Who knew the boss would take his phone and directly message Chi Zhihuai, telling her to add her as a friend?

And she didn’t even tell the girl it was her, saying instead it was “Shang Han’s friend.”

After they finished eating, the boss asked him to help pick up something tomorrow—the item Chi Zhihuai would deliver.

Tang Chen was stunned. They were both at No. 1 High School, neighbors even. They could see each other by walking two meters out of their classroom door. Yet they insisted on going all the way to his vocational high school for a delivery???

Were they sick???

If it weren’t his boss doing this, he would definitely curse them out as “idiots.”

The things that happened afterward were even stranger. The boss asked him to buy ice cream for Chi Zhihuai during the day and then asked him the brand of the ice cream at night.

The boss had always been a carefree person, but this time she was acting secretively, making him very anxious.

Tang Chen looked at the call record again and scratched his head.

He really… couldn’t understand how these two interacted.

On Saturday morning, Chi Zhihuai dared not sleep in. She crawled out of bed at 7:30 AM and picked up her phone to check messages.

However, she only saw one news push notification.

Miscalculation. Sister Z hadn’t replied to her “Good night” yesterday.

Chi Zhihuai put down her phone, yawned, and went out to wash up and eat breakfast.

Today, her parents were going to attend a colleague’s daughter’s wedding, which gave her the perfect opportunity to go out and find her student ID.

After breakfast, she returned to her room to pack her bag, then went to the main bedroom door and said, “Dad, Mom, I’m going to the library.”

“Who are you going with?”

“I’m going alone.”

Mom Chi said while putting on a necklace, “It’s not safe to go alone. Find someone to go with you.”

“It’s okay, Mom…”

Chi Zhihuai tried to refuse, but the next second, the piercing system alarm sounded in her ears!

She immediately changed her words: “I’ll find a classmate to go with me right away!”

Mom Chi gave her a satisfied look: “Mhm, have your dad pick you up tonight. I saw news online recently about missing female college students. High school girls like you have to be careful too.”

Chi Zhihuai knew her mother was just concerned, but she still sighed deeply inside.

Returning to her bedroom, she scrolled through her contacts, unsure who to ask to go out with.

She wasn’t very close with her old friends. Spending a day with them would probably drain her Oscar-level acting skills.

Suddenly, she saw Chen Qin’s nickname, “Don’t Eat Celery,” and her eyes lit up.

You’re the one, girl!

Chi Zhihuai quickly messaged Chen Qin, arranging to meet her at the library an hour later.

A few minutes later, the reply came.

Don’t Eat Celery: Can I bring my little sister?

Chi Zhihuai searched her memory, not recalling that Chen Qin had a sister.

Chi Zhihuai: Wow, you have a sister? How old is she?

Don’t Eat Celery: She’s my cousin, also in the second year of high school. But her grades aren’t great, and my mom asked me to tutor her this weekend…

Chi Zhihuai: Of course, you can both come. See you later [cute emoji].

Don’t Eat Celery: Okay!

Chi Zhihuai put down her phone, changed into a T-shirt and jeans, and cautiously looked outside.

Her parents were about to leave. Five minutes after they left, she could set off for Yixin Supermarket to find her student ID.

Soon, Mom Chi called out from the entryway: “Huaihuai, we’re leaving now. Be careful on the road, and remember to bolt the door.”

“Got it, Mom!”

After saying that, she made a “Yay” gesture on the spot.

Step one of the student ID retrieval plan: Success!