The Supporting Female Character Wakes Up and Gets a Happy Ending with the Female Lead (GL) - Chapter 8

As the evening self-study ended, the classroom, which had been so quiet you could hear a pin drop, seemed to flip a switch to clamor. People shouted to each other, jostled each other, and noisily exited the classroom.

Lin Ji slowly tidied her desk, which barely needed tidying. Only when there were just a few people left in the classroom did she stand up and slowly walk out.

Ji Baixing came down from the podium, packed her unfinished papers into her backpack, and noticing Lin Ji heading out of the corner of her eye, she hurried to catch up.

“Lin Ji.”

Ji Baixing naturally walked alongside Lin Ji and called out.

Lin Ji turned her head, glanced at Ji Baixing, and acknowledged her with an unemotional “M-hm.”

Ji Baixing was still wearing Lin Ji’s school uniform. Their heights were similar, and the uniforms were also similar, so it fit Ji Baixing just right.

“I’ll wash the uniform and return it to you tomorrow.”

The light on the stairwell was not very bright. Their shadows occasionally overlapped as they rounded the corners, then gradually became parallel again as they walked down the stairs.

“Okay,” Lin Ji replied.

The distance from the third floor to the first floor wasn’t far. After just a few words, they were close to the first floor.

With evening self-study over, most students were busy rushing home or running to the cafeteria for a late-night snack before hurrying back to the dorms. Not many people in the entire campus were walking as leisurely as Lin Ji and Ji Baixing, like they were taking a stroll.

“Lin Ji.”

Ji Baixing had fallen half a step behind Lin Ji at some point. Under the dim yellow light outside the teaching building, she looked at Lin Ji’s cold and solitary face and couldn’t help but call out softly.

Lin Ji also stopped at this moment. Ji Baixing’s reflection was in her deep black pupils. She asked calmly, “What is it?”

Ji Baixing blinked blankly during the eye contact, then her eyebrows relaxed. She smiled, took half a step forward, and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Lin Ji: “Nothing, just a few questions I wanted to ask you. Should we talk as we walk?”

“M-hm,” Lin Ji agreed again.

There was still some distance from the teaching building to the school gate. Ji Baixing was silent for a second or two before speaking: “What did you think of today’s exam questions?”

Lin Ji looked at Ji Baixing with slight surprise, then answered, “Not difficult.”

“What score?”

“Almost seven hundred,” Lin Ji paused before replying.

“Wow, is that what you meant by ‘not difficult’?” Ji Baixing sounded surprised, but her expression didn’t show any surprise. Instead, she seemed quite happy, with a subtle, joyful smile.

“Where do you want to study?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I might want to go north.”

After a few back and forth questions, Ji Baixing’s questions were all about the things that people their age were most curious and most confused about. Lin Ji gradually relaxed.

Ji Baixing suddenly started jumping with small movements. She stepped on the scattered weeds and fallen leaves on the ground, head down, hopping forward step by step: “The North? Why the North?”

“To see if getting caught in the snow is different from getting caught in the rain.”

“…” This time it was Ji Baixing’s turn to fall silent. She stopped hopping and stood still, looking at Lin Ji in disbelief, then suddenly burst out laughing.

“Pfft.”

Ji Baixing’s fingers curled slightly, and her hand was angled and raised, loosely covering her smiling lips as she giggled.

Lin Ji stood still, quietly watching Ji Baixing laugh.

After an unknown period, Ji Baixing stopped laughing. She tucked her hands into her pockets and walked forward again.

She spoke to herself: “Now that you mention it, I want to try and see if getting caught in the snow is different from getting caught in the rain too.”

Lin Ji did not reply.

In their sight, the school gate was visible. In a few more steps, they would walk out and say goodbye.

The two walked to the school gate and swiped their cards to exit, one after the other.

Lin Ji’s driver was already waiting at the school gate. As soon as she walked out, she saw the car. She turned back, about to say goodbye to Ji Baixing, when Ji Baixing suddenly leaned forward.

“Li Yu asked me to tutor him at the City Library this weekend. Did he tell you?”

[Whoa, whoa, whoa! What! What does that mean!]

Lin Ji frowned: “What did you say?”

Ji Baixing was startled, looking as if she had accidentally let something slip. She covered her mouth, stepped back, and shook her head vigorously: “No, no, I said it wrong. I meant to ask if you want to go to the library to study together this weekend?”

“But I suddenly remembered I have a family dinner this weekend, so I got the timing mixed up. How about next weekend, do you want to go to the library?”

Lin Ji pursed her lips, frowning, clearly unconvinced. She was about to ask again when she heard the honk of a small car. She looked up, and Ji Baixing was already waving her hand and running toward the honking car.

“My family is here to pick me up. I’m leaving now. We’ll talk tomorrow!”

—

The next day, Lin Ji arrived at the classroom early, hoping to find a time to ask Ji Baixing about last night.

Li Yu had deleted her after that day, so she couldn’t ask him. Likewise, she couldn’t get ahold of Ji Baixing to ask either.

She had checked all her social media and messaging apps last night and realized that she hadn’t even joined the class group chat. It was truly unbelievable and baffling.

However, throughout the day, except for Ji Baixing coming over during morning self-study to say she had washed the uniform but forgot to bring it, Lin Ji never found the time to seek out Ji Baixing.

To let the students know their scores as soon as possible and calm their restless minds, the teachers of all subjects had corrected the papers late into the night.

After grading and compiling the scores, they looked at that one name repeatedly, were shocked and scared for several minutes, and then, seizing the break time, they individually called Lin Ji to the office.

“Brother Octopus, didn’t you say the teachers had already finished grading? Why haven’t they posted the scores yet?”

“Normally, after grading and counting the scores overnight, Teacher Ai, the homeroom teacher, should have posted the rankings first thing this morning.”

“Today is really unusual. Not only haven’t the rankings been announced, but hey, do you guys have a count? How many teachers have called Lin Ji to the office now?”

Zhang Yu, who was catching up on his Chinese homework, looked up from his paper weakly: “It’s the second long break, and this is the fourth teacher to send someone to find Lin Ji. I bet Lin Ji won’t have to come back to the classroom this break.”

“Why? Why are they looking for Lin Ji? Did something happen?”

“I don’t know. The people who come to call Lin Ji are super tight-lipped. They won’t reveal a single word.”

“Is there a chance Lin Ji scored incredibly well?” Sheng Sheng also joined the discussion.

Everyone exchanged glances, then suddenly slapped their hands: “Oh my god, it’s really possible! Think about it, how long has it been since Lin Ji looked for Li Yu after her fever in the infirmary? How long has it been since she caused trouble for the Class President? Didn’t we see her writing papers all the time lately?”

“But that’s impossible, right? Even if she suddenly had a change of heart, she’s only been reviewing for about half a month. Not even a god could score really well, could they?”

The classroom was buzzing with discussion until the class bell rang, and it quieted down slightly.

This class was taught by the homeroom teacher, Teacher Ai. Long after the bell, Teacher Ai arrived, looking happy.

“Alright, students, put away anything not related to studying. Take out yesterday’s test papers. We’re going to review and check the answers,” Teacher Ai placed her water cup on the desk and adjusted the microphone as she spoke.

“Teacher Ai, you’re so happy today. Did we all do well?” someone teased from below.

Teacher Ai scoffed when she heard this: “Did well? Come on, let me see who’s still leaving the classical poetry and prose recitation blank at this stage?

“One after the other, are you slacking off just because the college entrance exam is near? You’re still giving me random translations for the classical Chinese text. How many times have I said to use bullet points for the reading comprehension? And some people are still writing all their answers together, making the teacher search for each answer for you?”

A collective groan of disappointment spread through the class.

“However, I am genuinely happy. This time, our class has the two highest scores. The highest scores in Chinese and English are both from our class. What’s most surprising to me is that in Math this time, one person is actually tied with Song Zhaonan from the Science class.”

“Holy cow! Teacher, who is it, who is it!” Zhang Yu, who was catching up on his Chinese homework, shot up his head.

It was known that the Liberal Arts and Science classes were already at odds, like fire and water. Previously, it was only because their Class President Ji Baixing and Song Zhaonan from the other class seemed to get along that the relationship between the two classes wasn’t so terrible.

The last time the Science class’s average Chinese score was only one point higher than theirs, they were mocked for several days. Now that their chance had come, shouldn’t they go and take them down a peg?

“Ah, that’s a secret for now,” Teacher Ai cleared her throat. “Alright, everyone has their papers out, right? Let’s start the review.”

For the last two classes of the morning, no one in Liberal Arts Class 1 saw Lin Ji return.

As lunchtime approached, the students pushed and shoved each other for a long time until they finally nominated one person to go to the office and find out what was happening.

“Class President! If the situation is bad, run away quickly!”

Ji Baixing took the paper in her hand and walked out of the classroom door, bearing the hopes of the class.

The office was on the first floor. Ji Baixing frequently went to the office to help the homeroom teacher grade papers or do other tasks, so she was completely calm about going to the office.

However, when she reached the office door, she was a bit surprised to see Song Zhaonan also peering through the doorway.

“Panicking?” Ji Baixing held her paper and stood by the office window, trying to peer inside through the gap in the thick curtains.

Song Zhaonan turned his head, his expression calm: “Probably not as much as you. After all, the person is from your Liberal Arts class, so I won’t have much to compete for.”

Inside the office, Lin Ji sat in Teacher Ai’s office chair, head down, rapidly writing on a test paper. Around her, teachers from various subjects were watching.

“I’m done,” Lin Ji breathed a sigh of relief, put down her pen, handed the last comprehensive humanities paper to the teacher next to her, and then stood up and moved to the side.

“Wait a moment. We’ll finish grading it and tell you the score right away.”

Lin Ji nodded, gave up the seat, and walked to the side, standing by the low cabinet near the window.

Her right hand was completely sore. She had spent all of yesterday taking exams and writing papers all day, and today she had been dragged to the office and had to quickly complete another full set of papers.

Lin Ji rubbed her wrist while sighing.

Although she knew this was coming, she hadn’t expected the teachers to grade the papers and find out the scores all on the same day.

“Hey, Lin Ji, pull the curtain open a little.”

Lin Ji replied with an “Okay,” grabbed one end of the curtain, and gave it a dramatic pull—

Ji Baixing, who had her hands braced on the glass window and was peeking through with one eye half-closed, suddenly appeared before her.

[Ooh oh oh oh!! Help, why did I find this scene so shippable!!]

[This destined, textbook-worthy, heart-fluttering eye contact! Ahhh, I can’t take it!]

[Although, don’t you guys think the male lead is hilarious?]

On the other side of the window, Song Zhaonan’s tall body was contorted in a half-crouch, half his face pressed against the windowpane, his expression distorted and frightening. Combined with his embarrassed look at that moment, it was indeed slightly comical.

Lin Ji: “…”

Should she not have pulled the curtain?

Although it was incredibly strange, why would the male and female leads meet in this place, in this position?