A Happy Ending with my Fiancée's Arch-enemy - Chapter 34

“Why is she asking others for help? Is she really that weak?” Zhang Xiaoqian, holding a small shovel and resting by the roadside after walking for a while, spotted Yu Ning chatting and laughing with Su Yien. She squeezed her plastic water bottle so hard it nearly crumpled.

“I’m so mad. Why does she have to provoke everyone? It was bad enough when she used to like Lin Yanqing, but now that she’s differentiated into an Alpha, why is she bothering Su Yien again?”

Her friend Shen Yun, sitting beside her, nodded in agreement. “Exactly, exactly!”

“Does she have some kind of grudge against me?” Zhang Xiaoqian fumed, giving the water bottle another vicious squeeze. “When I liked Lin Yanqing, she clung to him. Now that I like Su Yien, she’s clinging to Su Yien?”

“Exactly, exactly.” Shen Yun took a sip of water, echoing Zhang Xiaoqian’s sentiments as expected.

“You think so too.” Zhang Xiaoqian angrily tossed the badly crumpled water bottle onto the ground.

The bottle hit the ground with a thud, landing right in front of Yu Ning and the other two. If she had thrown it any harder, it would have hit Yu Ning’s foot.

Yu Ning looked up and met Zhang Xiaoqian’s furious glare.

“?”

She hadn’t even gone looking for trouble with Zhang Xiaoqian, and here Zhang Xiaoqian was, showing up to annoy her on her own?

Zhang Xiaoqian shot Yu Ning a glare, then grabbed Shen Yun’s arm and turned to leave.

But just as she turned around, something suddenly struck her calf.

The pain made Zhang Xiaoqian cry out, bending forward slightly. Luckily, Shen Yun caught her in time, or she might have ended up flat on the ground.

Zhang Xiaoqian turned back, but before she could speak, Yu Ning’s accusatory voice rang out:

“We’re supposed to protect the environment up here in the mountains. What were you doing just now?”

Before setting off, Wu Juan had reminded the students not to litter or damage the environment once they reached the mountain. She had even told them to bring trash bags and take their garbage with them.

Otherwise, they would have to go back down alone.

“Zhang Xiaoqian, what are you doing?”

Wu Juan had already noticed the commotion. Hearing Yu Ning’s words and spotting the water bottle near Zhang Xiaoqian’s feet, she spoke up.

Afraid that the homeroom teacher might get angry and exclude her from the picnic, Zhang Xiaoqian swallowed her resentment toward Yu Ning and bent down to pick up the bottle.

“I just dropped it.”

Satisfied, Wu Juan turned to the other students nearby. “Anyone who litters will have to go back down and miss the activity.”

Class Two was right behind Class One. Seeing that Wu Juan had spoken up, Class Two’s homeroom teacher felt obliged to reiterate the warning, repeating Wu Juan’s words.

The classes behind followed suit.

After Wu Juan walked away, Zhang Xiaoqian was fuming. She turned to glare at Yu Ning, but Yu Ning wasn’t even looking at her instead, she was happily chatting with Su Yien.

Infuriating.

Zhang Xiaoqian stamped her foot in frustration, wanting to confront Yu Ning. But she had just been warned by Wu Juan, and what if Yu Ning pulled another underhanded trick?

In the end, Zhang Xiaoqian had no choice but to swallow her anger, deciding to deal with Yu Ning after the picnic was over.

After walking a bit further and rounding a bend, Zhang Xiaoqian spotted Jiang Shuangshuang standing beside a large rock.

Zhang Xiaoqian had no fondness for Jiang Shuangshuang either and had no intention of speaking to her.

Jiang Shuangshuang could see what she was thinking and walked over to block her path. Zhang Xiaoqian looked at Jiang Shuangshuang impatiently, only to hear her ask:

“Sister Xiaoqian, do you really hate Yu Ning that much?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Sister Xiaoqian, maybe the enemy of my enemy can be my friend.”

Yu Ning hadn’t expected Su Yien to know so much. Along the way, they chatted about everything from domestic news to international affairs, as if she had traveled to many places.

After walking for a while, Yu Ning grew tired and wanted to rest. Su Yien, as if performing a magic trick, pulled a few candies from her pocket and held them out in her palm for Yu Ning to choose from.

Yu Ning picked two from Su Yien’s palm and gave one to Sun Yiyi.

The three of them sat on a roadside rock to rest for a bit before continuing to follow the group up the mountain.

Thanks to the frequent stops along the way and the occasional snacks Su Yien seemed to conjure out of nowhere, Yu Ning didn’t feel tired at all when they reached their destination.

Once they arrived, the class teachers began organizing the students for a picnic.

This time, Yu Ning was assigned a relatively easy task she and Sun Yiyi were responsible for gathering firewood.

The weather had been warm lately, with several sunny days, so there was bound to be plenty of dry wood in the forest.

Just as Yu Ning was about to head into the woods with Sun Yiyi to gather firewood, she overheard a classmate telling Jiang Shuangshuang to take charge of the cooking.

Yu Ning knew the story was unfolding again. But it had nothing to do with her, so she took Sun Yiyi’s hand and walked into the woods without looking back.

Once inside the forest, the temperature felt noticeably warmer than outside. The dense trees blocked much of the cold wind.

Yu Ning and Sun Yiyi gathered quite a bit of dry wood. They planned to collect as much as they could before carrying it back to their class’s gathering spot.

When they had gathered enough, they prepared to move the firewood to their class’s location, only to realize they had collected too much to carry in one trip.

“How about this? I’ll take some first, and you stay here to watch the rest. I’ll come back right away.”

With students from other classes also searching for firewood nearby, Sun Yiyi worried that if they both left, their gathered wood might be taken by others. So she made this suggestion.

Yu Ning nodded in agreement.

Yu Ning noticed students from other classes rummaging around for firewood nearby. One even suggested breaking branches off trees to use as firewood, only to be scolded by a companion for being foolish.

The two seemed to have a close relationship it didn’t look simple at all. Were they flirting?

Yu Ning heard rustling sounds coming from behind a large tree not far away and curiously took a couple of steps in that direction.

But remembering that if she left, the firewood might be taken by someone else, she suppressed her curiosity.

A little later, the rustling sounds grew louder.

She wondered at this time of year, it couldn’t be… that thing, could it?

Yu Ning was terrified of snakes and didn’t dare move any closer. Not only did she not approach, but she even took a step back, trying to stay near the other students.

But to her surprise, the other students finished gathering their firewood and left, and Sun Yiyi still hadn’t returned after all this time.

“Damn!”

A sudden voice startled Yu Ning. From the direction of the earlier rustling, a person suddenly emerged.

“Are you crazy? What were you hiding there for?”

Seeing that it was Cheng Ling, Yu Ning couldn’t help but curse.

“I,I was just hiding here to play cards. Who knew.”

After saying this, Cheng Ling looked somewhat annoyed.

“What do you know?” Yu Ning moved a bit closer to her, seemingly trying to see what had made Cheng Ling shout.

“Don’t come over,” Cheng Ling suddenly spoke up.

“Why?” Yu Ning insisted on leaning in to look and suddenly noticed that Cheng Ling’s expression seemed off. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

“I, I was bitten by a snake,” Cheng Ling managed to say with difficulty.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Yu Ning grew anxious for her. Seeing Cheng Ling’s condition worsening, she quickly supported her. Just then, Sun Yiyi walked in.

Yu Ning immediately called out, “Yiyi, go find Class Three’s homeroom teacher. Cheng Ling was bitten by a snake.”

As soon as the words were spoken, Sun Yiyi dashed out again.

“Are you okay?” Cheng Ling’s face had already started to turn pale. She wanted to shake her head in response to Yu Ning’s question but lacked the strength and felt dizzy.

In the middle of winter, shouldn’t snakes be hibernating?

Yu Ning felt anxious. In the story, it was only briefly mentioned as a minor accident that didn’t affect the picnic.

She had assumed it was something like damaged cooking utensils, never expecting something like this.

And this doesn’t affect the picnic? The principal had come along too. With such an accident happening, the picnic could have been canceled outright.

Fortunately, the principal had brought a school doctor along, and the doctor, out of habit, had brought some emergency supplies.

Yu Ning watched as Cheng Ling was taken to the emergency area and breathed a sigh of relief when the doctor said it wasn’t a venomous snake.

She had disliked Cheng Ling before because Cheng Ling often embarrassed her, but she hadn’t expected Cheng Ling to be one of the few people who would help her later.

Cheng Ling’s sharp tongue earlier was because she couldn’t stand how Yu Ning had changed because of Lin Yanqing.

And Cheng Ling didn’t actually dislike her as much as she seemed.

The principal was furious and announced the cancellation of the picnic. He then reprimanded the teachers for their negligence.

The picnic had been proposed by the teachers, and the principal had given the final approval both sides shared responsibility.

After scolding the teachers, the principal reflected on his own actions and ordered all students to return home.

Although many students had been looking forward to the picnic, witnessing a classmate get injured had dampened their enthusiasm.

Cheng Ling had already been carried down the mountain by the school doctor.

They had only been on the mountain for less than half an hour and hadn’t even had time to rest before having to descend again. Many students were unhappy about it.

Wu Juan noticed their disappointment and patted their backs, saying, “There will be another chance.”

Wu Juan was just trying to comfort the students. After this incident, it was unlikely the school would approve such outings in the future.

Class field activities required prior reporting and the principal’s approval, as the school was responsible for the students’ safety.

“It’s fine. Our spatula is broken anyway, so it’s really not suitable for a picnic,” Cheng Leyao chimed in, following the homeroom teacher’s lead.

“We’ll come again next time,” even Lin Yanqing, who rarely spoke, added.

Seeing everyone’s reactions, the other students in Class One couldn’t stay upset and began organizing themselves to walk down the mountain.

Yu Ning was puzzled by Cheng Leyao’s words. Was this the so-called minor accident?

It seemed the story had changed quite a bit.

It didn’t affect her, but Jiang Shuangshuang had missed an opportunity to show off.

“Will the school investigate what happened today.” Zhang Xiaoqian hadn’t expected that just poking at the grass in the woods, as Jiang Shuangshuang had suggested, would lead to such an incident.

“Investigate? Investigate what? Who stirred up the hornet’s nest?” Jiang Shuangshuang laughed.

“I…”

“We’re all here at Phoenix Perch Mountain for the first time, aren’t we?” Jiang Shuangshuang smiled at her as if stating a fact.

Zhang Xiaoqian was taken aback for a moment, and by the time she processed it, Jiang Shuangshuang had already run over to Lin Yanqing.

Jiang Shuangshuang was beaming at Lin Yanqing, but Zhang Xiaoqian felt a chill run down her spine this person was far worse than Yu Ning.

Just then, Shen Yun walked over and patted her shoulder. “Hey, I didn’t get to ask earlier, what did Jiang Shuangshuang whisper to you when we were heading up the mountain? And why only to you?”

Shen Yun pursed her lips.

“Nothing much. Just stay away from Jiang Shuangshuang from now on.”

On the way down, the tasks were rotated, and Yu Ning only carried a few packs of seasoning.

However, Su Yien, claiming she was bored walking alone, joined Yu Ning and Sun Yiyi’s casual conversation.

It was then that Sun Yiyi remembered she had forgotten to remind Yu Ning to make her move soon.

She hadn’t found a chance to be alone with her maybe next time, Sun Yiyi thought.

The meeting point was still the school. After returning the items she had carried down, Yu Ning prepared to head home.

Coincidentally, Su Yien was also about to leave.

“Want me to walk you home?”

“No need. I moved, I live right behind the school, just a five-minute walk.”

Behind the school?

The neighborhood she used to live in?

“Mingyuan?”

“Yeah.”

Yu Ning wasn’t surprised that Su Yien knew the name of the complex most students at Jiaoyang Girls’ School were familiar with it.

“It’s fine, I’ll walk you.”

Seeing Su Yien insist, Yu Ning didn’t refuse.

They walked together for a while before Yu Ning suddenly stopped in front of Building 3. Turning to Su Yien, she said, “This is it. Bye.”

Su Yien frowned slightly, a strange feeling suddenly washing over her.

Just as she was about to ask Yu Ning which unit she lived in, Yu Ning had already turned and entered the stairwell.

If she had known Yu Ning would move here, she should have stubbornly resisted and fought tooth and nail to keep her own place.

Su Yien sighed.

Taking a couple of steps back, Su Yien glanced at the building. A strong, inexplicable premonition compelled her to walk into the stairwell.