Chapter 29.1

Qin Youran was angry for real this time. There was also a hint of sadness mixed within that anger.

Right now, Qin Youran wished that the lipstick in her hand was Jun Zishu. That way, she could squeeze and stomp on Jun Zishu to vent her anger.

Fuck! Fuck!! Fuck!!!

“Okay, fine. We’re not friends,” Qin Youran said, squeezing out a smile. At the same time, she also told herself to maintain her haughtiness.

Fuck! Fuck you and your “Are we friends?”!! Fuck!!!

Is a superficial friend not a friend?

We’re deskmates and roommates! We eat and study together every day! Yet this isn’t enough for you to consider us as friends?!

Even plastic friends are considered friends!

Qin Youran was fully aware that she didn’t occupy an important place in Jun Zishu’s heart. She knew that she was nothing but an acquaintance to the bookworm. However, never did she think that the bookworm didn’t even consider her as a friend.

Qin Youran was infuriated. The more she thought about it, the more furious she became.

Qin Youran wanted to sever her ties with Jun Zishu. However, when she thought about how she hadn’t even formed any ties with Jun Zishu, she became even more saddened.

How are we not friends? Do you know how many people are trying to befriend me? There are droves, I tell you! Droves!

I don’t need a friend like you! You neither know how to speak nor make any expressions!

Qin Youran had always been the one to give others the cold shoulder. Never had she thought there would come a day where she was on the receiving end instead.

Qin Youran originally intended to turn her away indifferently. However, her body refused to move even after a long time had passed. She recalled that the new life goal she had set recently was to make Jun Zishu shiver under her might, and she still did not wish to give up on this goal.

The most despairing situation a person could face wasn’t a powerful opponent that couldn’t be defeated. Instead, it was when the person you deemed powerful didn’t even think of you as their opponent.

Fighting against such an opponent was no different from punching a cotton wall—a useless and frustrating endeavor. One wouldn’t be able to vent one’s frustration against such an opponent at all. On the contrary, fighting against such an opponent would only make one look like a clown performing antics.

“Is that so… I thought…”

Jun Zishu lowered her head in disappointment, looking to be in a bad mood.

“Thought what?”

“I thought you were willing to become friends with me. It seems I was getting ahead of myself.”

Jun Zishu lowered her head even further to hide the disappointment on her face.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

In one moment, Qin Youran’s mood had gone from hitting rock bottom to flying sky high.

She suddenly realized that the bookworm’s words contained a lot of information!

“Nobody is willing to become friends with me,” Jun Zishu said with a somewhat dull look. Then, she pushed her glasses as a perplexed expression appeared on her face.

“What… Don’t tell me… Whatever. Your personality is indeed infuriating,” Qin Youran said as she shook her head and sighed. For some reason, when she looked at Jun Zishu now, she couldn’t help but find the latter pitiful.

In Qin Youran’s opinion, the bookworm’s personality was indeed terrible. Apart from studying, Jun Zishu knew of nothing else. Her interpersonal skills were especially terrible. Combined with her deadpan face, probably few people were willing to approach and befriend her.

“So, you’ve always believed that we weren’t friends because you thought that I wouldn’t be friends with you?”

“Mhm.”

Jun Zishu nodded.

“Have you always been sitting by yourself? You must’ve had deskmates in grade school and middle school, right?”

“I did, but I heard them speak ill of me with others.”

“Huh? What did you do?”

“They say they hate me.”

“Although your personality is a little infuriating, it shouldn’t be at the level of causing others to hate you.”

“They wanted me to lend them my homework or give them answers during exams. I refused and told them that such behavior is wrong.”

“Okay, fair enough.”

Based on the bits of information Jun Zishu revealed, Qin Youran could already guess what had happened.

The bookworm’s classmates must’ve wanted her to let them copy their homework or help them cheat in their exams. However, with how dull the bookworm was, she had flatly refused these people, and some of these people must’ve started badmouthing her and spreading rumors of her out of spite. With the bookworm’s personality, there was no way she would stand out to clear her name, either. Thus, as time went by, fewer and fewer people were willing to befriend the bookworm.

Qin Youran wasn’t trying to brag, but if not for her being deskmates and roommates with Jun Zishu, Jun Zishu might not be making any friends even during her three years in high school.

“Seriously… If you learned to become more flexible, livelier, and cuter, I’m sure you would’ve made a lot of friends.”

“Become cuter?”

Jun Zishu tilted her head, confusion coloring her face.

“Anyway, I am your friend starting from today. Also, if you want to make friends, you need to start by changing your appearance, so come, come, come! Take off those glasses, and let me try some makeup on you!”

Qin Youran walked a big circle around Jun Zishu, scrutinizing every inch of the bookworm’s body.

Meanwhile, Jun Zishu hesitantly nodded.

“Your skin condition looks quite good, honestly,” Qin Youran commented as she felt up Jun Zishu’s face with her hands.

Jun Zishu fell silent.

“Your skin is so delicate! It’s also very white! With such a good foundation, you won’t need much cumbersome makeup. I’ll start by trimming your eyebrows.”

Qin Youran pinched Jun Zishu’s cheeks and closed the distance between them.

Jun Zishu remained silent.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“What should I say?”

“Hmm… Forget it; just keep your mouth shut.”

“Oh.”

“Can you use another word? Stop answering me with ‘oh.’”

“Mhm.”

After taking a short break, Qin Youran, like a caring mother, began touching up Jun Zishu’s face.

As it turned out, a person would indeed look different after putting on makeup.

When Jun Zishu looked at her radiant and beautiful self in the mirror, she couldn’t help but blink her eyes in discomfort.

“See? You look much prettier than before. Also, your glasses are a huge hindrance,” Qin Youran said before removing Jun Zishu’s glasses. “There, you look much more approachable without your glasses on.”

Jun Zishu kept a stiff expression, offering no responses to Qin Youran’s comments at all.

“Say, bookworm, can you give me a smile?” Qin Youran asked as she squeezed and pulled Jun Zishu’s cheeks. The more she kneaded Jun Zishu’s face, the more addicted she got to the wonderful experience.

“Why should I smile? Is there anything to be happy about?”

“I don’t care. Just smile for me now.”

Jun Zishu looked at Qin Youran as if the latter were a mentally disabled child. However, without her glasses on, she looked much less hostile than before.

Then, complying with Qin Youran’s command, Jun Zishu stiffly raised the corners of her mouth, her smile looking very mechanical.

“Your smile is wrong; do it again. This time, think about something that makes you very happy.”

“Very happy?”

Jun Zishu closed her eyes. Then, after a while, her lips curved into a faint smile, the smile making her look exceptionally cute.

[Clap, clap, clap! I applaud you for your amazing acting, Host!]

Jun Zishu’s acting skills thoroughly subdued Little Fairy.

Qin Youran, who was also captivated by Jun Zishu’s acting, felt her mind wandering for a moment.

“See? I told you you should smile more often; I’m talking about heartfelt smiles like this one instead of that ugly smirk from before. Of course, your smiles don’t need to be sincere. You just need to avoid making your smiles look too perfunctory. You look so cute when you smile. You even have two shallow dimples,” Qin Youran said as she removed her hands from Jun Zishu’s cheeks. She dared not knead Jun Zishu’s face too much since she didn’t want to waste the work she had put into touching up Jun Zishu’s face.

Meanwhile, after Qin Youran’s demonic claws disappeared, Jun Zishu returned to her usual expressionless state. Then, she grabbed the glasses Qin Youran had set aside and put them on again.

Probably because the original Jun Jiayao rarely smiled, Jun Zishu also found it awkward to smile just now.

“Keep this style for the time being. I’ll put makeup on you every day from now on. I can’t wake up in the morning, though, so we’ll have to do it at noon.”

“There’s no need to go through such trouble.”

“Oh, come on. I don’t find it troublesome at all. Also, since you’re so smart, how about learning how to put on makeup as well?”

“If that is what you want, I can learn it.”

“Wow, really? You’re willing to learn it for me?”

Qin Youran was a little surprised. A hint of joy had also appeared in her heart. Judging by this response, the day where Jun Zishu became her underling should be just around the corner.

“Isn’t it a matter of course to put in effort for a friend?” Jun Zishu earnestly said as she looked at Qin Youran. Her eyes behind the lenses were clear, only reflecting the silhouette of a person.

Qin Youran felt her heart inexplicably shudder. Then, a bright smile formed on her face.

“That’s right. That is indeed the case. However, friendship is a mutual effort. People who only seek to gain but contribute nothing to a friendship cannot be considered friends at all. Apart from putting some makeup on for you, it doesn’t seem like I’ve done anything else for you thus far. So, if you don’t like to do makeup, you don’t need to go out of your way to learn it for me,” Young Miss Qin said sensibly, a pleasant feeling enveloping her heart.

“You’ve treated me quite well. You’ve…helped me put on makeup…and…”

“Hmm?”

Expectation colored Qin Youran’s face as she waited for Jun Zishu’s subsequent words.

Then, unable to think of anything else, Jun Zishu timidly said, “And…you’ve treated me quite well.”

Qin Youran’s complexion darkened. Then, she realized that she hadn’t treated Jun Zishu particularly well after all. Jun Zishu was the one who woke her up every morning. Jun Zishu was also the one to bring her breakfast. Meanwhile, the only thing she had done for Jun Zishu thus far was applying some makeup.

Qin Youran started reflecting on herself. How could she treat Jun Zishu so poorly if she wanted to turn Jun Zishu into her underling?

“Anyway, I’ll treat you better from now on.”

What a joke. How could she, Qin Youran, treat her friend poorly?

“Oh.”

“How many times have I told you not to respond to me using this word?”

“Then… Mhm?”

Jun Zishu struggled for a moment before switching to a different word.

“Can’t you say more than one word?”

“Mhm…mhm…”

Qin Youran grew sullen. She felt that she would frequently be falling into a state of madness and anger for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, under Qin Youran’s guidance, Jun Zishu started working hard to change herself.

For example, she began giving longer replies to seem less aloof.

Another example was that she had stopped wearing her glasses whenever they were unnecessary.

Jun Zishu had achieved visible results simply by enacting the two aforementioned points. In only a matter of days, she had already surrounded herself with quite a few people.

While Jun Zishu grew flustered and struggled to deal with these people, Qin Youran watched her bewildered state nearby.

However, this transformation was seemingly too effective as it had also put Jun Zishu into a situation that even she had not expected.

A week after Jun Zishu’s transformation, someone had cornered Jun Zishu against the wall and confessed to her.

When subjected to the “kabedon,” the only thought that came to Jun Zishu’s mind was: What the hell????