Chapter 31.1

Because Jun Zishu had scored full marks for all subjects, none of her teachers cared that she did not pay attention in class. Though, they would still call up Jun Zishu to answer some questions from time to time, especially when nobody in class was volunteering to answer their questions.

None of Jun Zishu’s classmates had any opinions about such an arrangement, either. They had long since gotten used to being crushed under Jun Zishu’s abnormal IQ.

Qin Youran’s attitude had also changed significantly during the past month. Previously, she still wasn’t convinced that she was inferior to Jun Zishu. Now, she had accepted reality and even felt proud of Jun Zishu’s achievements.

In Qin Youran’s own words: “Tsk, there’s no helping it. My bookworm is just too excellent.”

There was a three-day holiday after the monthly exam.

Everyone packed up their belongings and readied themselves to go home, and even Qin Youran was no exception.

Before leaving for home, Qin Youran had already left a message to her circle of friends saying that she would be returning home for the holidays. Meanwhile, the others in the group chat quickly replied and said they would also be returning home for the holidays.

They had already attended class for a month, so it was about time they loosened up a little.

Qin Youran: It’s holiday time.

Bai Lu: Oh yeah! Time for some fun! Let’s go karaoke!

Songzi: Can’t you come up with something else? It’s boring doing the same thing all the time.

Lin Cang: What else can we do?

Qin Youran: Is there anything more interesting to do?

Bai Lu: I heard that Prosperity Pub hired a few handsome guys and that they’re quite interesting. Let’s make an appointment for Saturday. We can party all night since we don’t have classes on Sunday.

Songzi: OKOK, I’m in. What do you say, Big Sis Ran?

Qin Youran: No comment. See you guys there.

Bai Lu: It’s settled! Oh, remember to invite Li Yinglan as well.

Qin Youran: Whatever. I already broke up with him.

Bai Lu: Wow, are you serious? I thought Li Yinglan was crazy for you. He actually agreed to break up?

“Youran.”

“Hm?”

While Qin Youran was about to type a reply to Bai Lu, Jun Zishu suddenly called out to her, so she stopped her fingers and looked up at Jun Zishu.

“Are you free tomorrow?”

“Hm? What’s the matter?”

It was Saturday tomorrow, so Qin Youran originally planned to say that she was busy. However, she held back her words out of curiosity. After all, Jun Zishu would rarely take the initiative to strike up a conversation with her.

[The mission target has just agreed to go out with her friends on Saturday, Host.]

Thanks to Little Fairy’s reminder, Jun Zishu understood the general gist of the situation.

OK.

“It’s my birthday tomorrow, so I want to invite you to my house. You might find it boring though, so if you are busy that day, it doesn’t matter even if you don’t come,” Jun Zishu said, her indifferent behavior making it seem like she wasn’t particularly excited about her birthday.

Meanwhile, Qin Youran knew that the bookworm meant it when she said it didn’t matter even if she didn’t visit. Jun Zishu definitely wasn’t trying to arouse her pity.

“Of course I’m free. Visiting your house, is it?” Qin Youran said without hesitation. At the same time, she also inwardly apologized to her group of friends.

For now, Qin Youran felt that it’d be best if she prioritized the bookworm over an outing with her friends. Even if she missed the outing this time, her friends wouldn’t be going anywhere. However, if she were to miss this opportunity to learn more about Jun Zishu, she wouldn’t know when she would receive another chance like this in the future.

Qin Youran was over the moon. Since Jun Zishu was willing to invite her to her house, Jun Zishu must now consider her a close friend.

“Mhm. You can come at any time.”

“I can head over in the morning.”

“Okay. I need to go out and do something in the morning, so I’ll give you a call once I’m done. Then, we can meet up at someplace and head to my house together.”

Jun Zishu cleverly avoided revealing her house’s location to Qin Youran. Otherwise, if Qin Youran found out that Qin Xiaoman was her mother, wouldn’t the surprise disappear?

Jun Zishu inwardly smirked as she imagined the expression Qin Youran would make tomorrow.

“You’re going outside? What are you going to do?”

Qin Youran was curious. She thought that Jun Zishu was a shut-in through and through. Yet, the bookworm was now saying that she would be leaving home for something?

“To borrow some books from the bookstore.”

Jun Zishu used to head out once a week to borrow and return books from the local bookstore when living with her parents. After moving into the school dormitory, she also visited the school library once a week. However, as Yunying High was only a high school, its library didn’t contain many specialized subjects. If Jun Zishu wanted to find such books, she’d have to borrow them from large bookstores outside of school.

“I knew it.”

The corners of Qin Youran’s mouth twitched. She knew that Jun Zishu wouldn’t go out for entertainment. The only thing the bookworm would do during her free time was reading books.

“Give me a call when you reach the bookstore tomorrow. We’ll meet up there and head to your house afterward.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”

…

In the evening, when Jun Zishu told Qin Xiaoman that she would be inviting a new friend over to celebrate her birthday tomorrow, Qin Xiaoman grew ecstatic. Her reaction was so over the top that even Jun Qi, who sat beside her, was shocked.

“You made a new friend, Yaoyao?! This is wonderful! Mommy is very happy for you!”

Qin Xiaoman had always worried for her daughter. Even though her daughter was smart, the girl was too pessimistic. If she remained in such a state, she would suffer once she entered society as an adult. And although she could continue protecting her daughter even after the girl became an adult, she still hoped that her daughter could be more optimistic and make more friends.

“Mhm.”

Jun Zishu nodded, reaffirming her previous words.

Mom, if you’re already this excited, you’ll probably go crazy from excitement once you find out who’s visiting tomorrow.

“What kind of person is this new friend of yours? Are they a boy or a girl? How is their personality?” Qin Xiaoman eagerly asked as she dragged Jun Zishu to the sofa.

“Don’t scare the kid,” Jun Qi jokingly said when he saw his wife’s excited behavior.

“What do you know? I’m showing concern,” Qin Xiaoman said as she glared at her husband.

“Yes, yes, yes.”

“She’s a girl. She’s a good person, and her results are only second to mine in class,” Jun Zishu answered.

“Oh, that’s wonderful!”

Qin Xiaoman grew even more elated. Although she was happy that her daughter had made a new friend, she was also worried that her daughter’s friend would be a bad influence. To Qin Xiaoman, a person’s test scores were only secondary. What mattered the most was the other party’s character. Her daughter was inherently naive, so it’d be bad if she got led astray.

Yunying High was filled with children from wealthy families, and these children more or less had frivolous behaviors. So, Qin Xiaoman hoped that Jun Zishu wouldn’t get corrupted by these children.

“She’s also my deskmate and roommate,” Jun Zishu added after giving the matter some more thought.

“Oh my, that’s even better! I’ll have the cook prepare a feast for you two tomorrow! By the way, does that classmate of yours have any food preferences?” Qin Xiaoman hurriedly asked. She was afraid that she might mess things up and sour the relationship between Jun Zishu and her new friend.

“She’s alright with anything,” Jun Zishu answered after quickly asking Little Fairy about Qin Youran’s preferences in her mind.

“That’s great, then! Oh, Yaoyao, Mommy is so happy for you!” Qin Xiaoman exclaimed, embracing Jun Zishu.

“Will your other friend come as well?” Jun Qi asked.

“She will.”

“You never invited any friends home before, so what made you invite two all of a sudden?”

“My new friend told me that I have to change myself if I want more people to like me.”

Upon hearing Jun Zishu’s words, Qin Xiaoman patted Jun Zishu’s head and said, “Don’t worry, Yaoyao. You just need to do what you like. It’s fine so long as you live an upright life.”

In reality, Qin Xiaoman had long since wanted to give such advice to Jun Zishu. However, she had always refrained from doing so out of worry that Jun Zishu would meet with failure and be saddened.

Qin Xiaoman and Jun Qi had always taken a cautious attitude when it came to Jun Zishu. Although their daughter was a lovable little creature, and they were more than willing to spoil her, their daughter would always behave in a restrained manner. Moreover, by the time they adopted Jun Zishu, the girl could no longer be considered a clueless child. Although she couldn’t be considered an adult either, she remembered everything that she should remember.

Actually, Qin Xiaoman and Jun Qi had many more options to choose from. They could’ve adopted a much younger child and tame them into their own. If they wanted to, even adopting an infant wasn’t out of the question. However, when they visited the orphanage, they instantly took a liking to their current precious daughter.

Of course, they had also learned of Jun Zishu’s history through the orphanage’s dean. So, they knew that Jun Zishu had watched her birth parents get killed right before her eyes and that the scene had become a nightmare that constantly plagued her mind.

It was also because of this repeating nightmare that even after they pampered Jun Zishu like there was no tomorrow, the girl constantly kept her guard up against strangers. This, in turn, made it difficult for her to make friends.

Although Qin Xiaoman and Jun Qi wanted to advise their daughter to open up to others numerous times, they never dared to do so for fear of triggering her trauma. Fortunately, their daughter had a good friend with whom she maintained contact. Otherwise, they would be worried sick about their daughter.

Now that their child had made a new friend shortly after entering high school, they were naturally gratified by the news.

“Mhm.”

The other friend Qin Xiaoman mentioned was naturally He Bailing.

Qin Xiaoman had met with He Bailing once before, so she knew that the girl was her daughter’s close friend. The girl also treated her daughter well, so she strongly encouraged the two to interact more.

[Isn’t tomorrow the perfect chance to improve your relationship with the mission target, Host? Why are you involving someone else in tomorrow’s event?]

Little Fairy couldn’t help but be confused by Jun Zishu’s decision to invite He Bailing as well.

You’ll find out once tomorrow comes.

The reason why Jun Zishu had invited Qin Youran to her house this time was that Qin Youran had already started to realize how important she was in her heart. Qin Youran was also ignorant that there existed another good friend in Jun Zishu’s life. Meanwhile, Jun Zishu’s idea was simple. If she made Qin Youran aware of He Bailing’s existence and let the two of them meet, Qin Youran would probably take some very interesting actions.

In addition, by letting Qin Youran and He Bailing meet, Jun Zishu could erase any possibilities of the scumbag male lead two-timing them. After all, if the scumbag wanted to pursue Qin Youran, there was a high chance that Qin Youran would catch the scumbag and He Bailing together. At that time, both Qin Youran and He Bailing would be made aware of the scumbag’s philandering actions.

Meanwhile, once He Bailing found out about the scumbag’s behavior, she would most likely sever all ties with the scumbag. If He Bailing did not do so, then Jun Zishu could only consider it as her misjudging He Bailing’s character. At that time, He Bailing could do whatever she wanted; Jun Zishu wouldn’t meddle in the girl’s affairs anymore.

As for Qin Youran, if she found out about the scumbag’s philandering, Jun Zishu was certain that the girl would stop interacting with him. There wouldn’t be any engagement to speak of in that case, and Jun Zishu would’ve successfully removed any possibilities of marriage between them, thereby completing most of her mission.