A Happy Ending with my Fiancée's Arch-enemy - Chapter 5

At noon after school, Lin Yanqing only opened her phone and saw the friend request after stepping out of the classroom. After a moment’s thought, she remembered it was from the new classmate who had arrived that day and accepted it.

The other person replied almost instantly:

【Thank you for the bread this morning.】

【The other party has transferred 10 yuan to you】

Lin Yanqing initially wanted to decline, but then recalled the hesitant and timid look the girl had that morning. Her fingers paused over the keyboard before she confirmed the payment.

Yu Ning, pulling Sun Yiyi along, had just walked out of the classroom when she saw Lin Yanqing standing alone in the corridor, seemingly texting someone with an expressionless face. Could she be texting her?

Was she waiting for her?

At this thought, Yu Ning couldn’t help but grin happily. She circled around behind Lin Yanqing, gently tapped her right shoulder, and as Lin Yanqing turned to look, Yu Ning popped her head out from the left side with a playful smile. “Are you waiting for me?”

Lin Yanqing had just confirmed the payment. Turning around and seeing it was Yu Ning, she put her phone away in her pocket and looked at her. “I’m waiting for Cheng Ling.”

Cheng Ling, Lin Yanqing’s good friend.

If there was anyone Yu Ning disliked the most at this school, it was definitely Cheng Ling. Yu Ning firmly believed that a large part of Lin Yanqing’s current attitude toward her was because of Cheng Ling this gossipy friend who loved to talk about her behind her back and to her face.

Cheng Ling was in Class Three upstairs. As she came downstairs with the flow of students, she spotted Lin Yanqing standing in the corridor outside Class Two, accompanied by Yu Ning, who was glaring fiercely at her.

“Oh, who do we have here? It’s that clingy Yu Ning,” Cheng Ling said, not greeting Lin Yanqing first but addressing Yu Ning instead.

If Lin Yanqing had been waiting for someone else, Yu Ning might have tried to join them, but since it was Cheng Ling, she decided against it. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to resist dumping a bowl of soup and rice over Cheng Ling’s head during the meal.

Yu Ning was about to retort when she saw Lin Yanqing get bumped into by someone, accompanied by a taunt: “Don’t block the way.”

“The corridor is so wide. Did you have to walk right here?” Yu Ning, seeing Lin Yanqing take an involuntary step back from the bump, felt annoyed, her voice tinged with anger.

It was lunchtime, and students were coming and going on the stairs. Hearing Yu Ning’s shout, they all stopped and turned to look.

Yu Ning had assumed that under the gaze of so many people, Su Yi’en wouldn’t dare to talk nonsense. But then she heard Su Yi’en’s mocking laugh: “Didn’t you know? Food tastes better when you go to the cafeteria from here.”

After saying this, Su Yi’en and her friends walked away, leaving Yu Ning speechless.

Yu Ning: “…”

She declared that Su Yi’en was now the person she disliked the most.

However, just as she was thinking this, she heard Cheng Ling’s mocking voice: “Tsk, serves you right for getting talked back to.”

Yu Ning: “…”

She took back her earlier thought. Cheng Ling was still the person she disliked the most.

After sending the transfer, Jiang Shuangshuang noticed that Lin Yanqing hadn’t replied. Just as she was considering whether to send another message, she saw the notification on the chat interface that the other party had confirmed the payment.

Jiang Shuangshuang breathed a sigh of relief and sent another “thank you” emoji. This time, she didn’t receive a reply from Lin Yanqing for a while, so she put her phone away and went to the window to get a serving of vegetarian dishes and rice.

To get into Proud Sun Girls’ School, one either needed to come from a wealthy family with excellent grades, or be a specially admitted student someone exceptionally outstanding in academics or other areas, with full tuition waivers for the entire year. Jiang Shuangshuang was admitted as a special student due to her dual excellence in both academics and dance.

Yu Ning was still fuming over Cheng Ling’s words. From the classroom building to the cafeteria, she kept venting to Sun Yiyi.

“What did I even do to Cheng Ling? It’s not like I’ve offended her, so why does she love badmouthing me to Lin Yanqing?”

Yu Ning had long heard the saying that to win someone over, you must also win over their friends. So, she had tried to get close to Cheng Ling before. However, she found that Cheng Ling seemed to have a natural grudge against her! No matter how nicely Yu Ning treated her, whether through overt gestures or subtle hints of friendship, Cheng Ling rejected them all. Eventually, at one of Cheng Ling’s birthday parties, Yu Ning couldn’t take it anymore and smashed her own birthday cake in Cheng Ling’s face. She even overheard Cheng Ling complaining to Lin Yanqing: “See? This is her true nature. All the gentleness she shows you is just an act.”

That was the most miserable birthday Yu Ning had ever had, and it was also the day she officially placed Cheng Ling at the top of her list of most disliked people.

“I remember you two used to get along fine, didn’t you?” Sun Yiyi thought carefully before asking.

Yu Ning seemed to fall into deep thought as well. She also remembered that when she first met Cheng Ling, their relationship had seemed quite good. It was only after… her engagement to Lin Yanqing?

At this thought, Yu Ning couldn’t help but groan. “It was after the engagement! She probably genuinely thinks I’m not good enough for Lin Yanqing!”

Sun Yiyi: “…”

“What a tear-jerking answer.”

In truth, Sun Yiyi felt that Yu Ning had already tried hard enough. Ever since her engagement to Lin Yanqing, Yu Ning had changed a lot, as if she truly meant to live up to Lin Yanqing’s standards.

Sun Yiyi didn’t deny that Lin Yanqing was indeed outstanding, but not to the point of driving someone crazy. Besides, in her opinion, a person’s worth wasn’t solely defined by grades or looks. If she had to say, if Lin Yanqing didn’t like Yu Ning, why agree to the engagement? From what she’d heard, both Yu Ning and Lin Yanqing had consented willingly. She had even asked Yu Ning earlier if Lin Yanqing’s family had pressured her, but Yu Ning said no they had both agreed on the spot. Sun Yiyi knew Yu Ning never lied, which was why she had always secretly looked down on Lin Yanqing.

“Don’t you think Su Yi’en is actually not bad?”

Yu Ning gave her a strange look. “Yiyi, let’s go to the hospital together after school this afternoon.”

“Huh? Are you sick?” Sun Yiyi was immediately sidetracked, thinking Yu Ning might be unwell and needed to see a doctor. But then she heard Yu Ning say:

“I’m taking you to get your eyes checked.”

“…”

“Didn’t you see how she treated our Yanqing?” And here she was praising her.

“No, you don’t understand. The other day, I saw her feeding stray cats, and I also saw her at the nursing home entrance. It seemed like she was volunteering.”

“Fine.”

“Really… Wait, what did you say?” Sun Yiyi hadn’t expected her to say that.

Yu Ning bared her teeth. “My best friend has taken a liking to my fiancée’s archrival.”

Sun Yiyi: “…”

Such a familiar phrasing it took Sun Yiyi a moment to realize it was the exact format of a novel title she had read a few days ago.

The cafeteria was still quite crowded. The two of them casually lined up at a window they often visited, continuing their conversation while waiting in line.

“That childish one is better off forgotten. All she does every day is pick fights with Yanqing. Is she even an adult? Oh, wait, she’s already differentiated. So why is she still so immature?”

Speaking of this, Sun Yiyi couldn’t help but share a bit of news she had just heard, and she didn’t plan on hiding it from Yu Ning.

“Apparently, Lin Yanqing’s current stepmother is Su Yien’s biological mother, who abandoned Su Yien back then.”

Yu Ning naturally knew about Lin Yanqing’s stepmother. She had married into the Lin family a few years ago and gave birth to a girl when they were still in elementary school. Lin Yanqing had been warned by outsiders to be wary of this girl, as she might one day claim a share of the family fortune. Fortunately, Lin Yanqing was broad-minded and never intended to hold it against them, so they had coexisted peacefully all these years.

“But what does that have to do with Lin Yanqing? And after all these years, did Su Yien only just find out that her biological mother is Lin Yanqing’s stepmother?”

“Exactly. It seems like it was during a parent-teacher meeting near the end of last semester when they ran into each other. The mother probably tried to avoid her on purpose.”

“I see… But she still shouldn’t treat our Yanqing like that!”

“…”

In the end, Sun Yiyi could only force a smile. “You’re right.”

Just then, it was their turn in line. Sun Yiyi quickly told the cafeteria lady what dishes she wanted.

The cafeteria was packed, with few empty seats. Yu Ning scanned the dining area, her gaze finally settling on a corner table not because there was an empty seat, but because the new student was surrounded by three people at the table. One girl was tilting her head, squinting as she said something to Jiang Shuangshuang, while the other two giggled beside her. Jiang Shuangshuang herself kept her head lowered.

“Not them again,” Sun Yiyi muttered, following Yu Ning’s gaze to the corner table where Jiang Shuangshuang was trapped in a dead end.

Like many schools, Blazing Sun Girls’ School had its gray areas. Here, groups of students would band together to bully the weak, and there was an unwritten rule that newcomers had to pay “protection fees.”

This scene wasn’t hard to understand the three girls were bullying the new student. Yu Ning had only heard about such things before but had never actually witnessed it until today.

“How dare they bully someone from our Class One?” Yu Ning occasionally had minor conflicts with her classmates, but she had never ganged up on anyone. When it came to outsiders, since they were classmates, it was only natural not to stand by and watch her get bullied.

However, before Yu Ning could reach them, she saw a familiar figure step in front of the group ahead of her, accompanied by the loud clatter of a tray hitting the table.

The leader of the group, Zhang Xian, was startled by Lin Yanqing’s sudden appearance and the loud noise of the tray. Then, she heard Lin Yanqing’s cold voice: “Move.”

People like Lin Yanqing usually only existed in campus legends. Coupled with her aloof personality, being able to speak with her had become a dream for many students at the school, which directly led to a lot of jealousy toward Yu Ning.

Zhang Xian stood up in a daze.

“Don’t bully the new students anymore,” Lin Yanqing said calmly.

“Uh-huh, uh-huh…”

Opposing Lin Yanqing meant opposing nearly half of the school’s Omegas, not to mention the troublesome Yu Ning.

Zhang Xian had just thought of Yu Ning when she spotted her not far away. She glanced back at Lin Yanqing, who had already taken a seat and started eating, and Jiang Shuangshuang, who still had her head lowered. Then she turned a mocking gaze toward Yu Ning and silently mouthed the word “pitiful.”

Yu Ning: “…”

Wait, wasn’t she the one who got chased away? Who exactly was pitiful here?

Well, though Yu Ning herself was also puzzled, why would Lin Yanqing, who usually didn’t bother with others’ affairs, suddenly step in to help? Was it because they were desk mates? But back when she and Lin Yanqing had shared a desk, she never received such treatment.

Seeing that the situation had settled and worried that Yu Ning might suddenly rush over to confront someone, Sun Yiyi tugged at her and found them a seat.

“Are you okay?” Sun Yiyi asked cautiously after a moment.

“I’m fine. Did you see that? Our warm-hearted and caring Yanqing.”

Then she picked a vegetable from her bowl and popped it into her mouth.

Sun Yiyi: “…”

After the group left, the cafeteria gradually returned to its lively atmosphere. It was only then that Jiang Shuangshuang lifted her head and looked at Lin Yanqing. “Thank you.”

Lin Yanqing hadn’t intended to respond, but she happened to glance up and noticed Jiang Shuangshuang’s red-rimmed eyes and the tears shimmering in them. She must have been badly frightened. So Lin Yanqing replied reassuringly:

“Don’t be afraid. No one will bully you from now on.”