After Differentiation, My Arch-nemesis Thinks I’m Fragrant - Chapter 35

“Have you reviewed yet?”

“Not yet…” Shu Youzhan answered subconsciously, twirling the pen in her hand before lifting her head again. “Reviewed for what?”

Pei Yi: “…”

She stood helplessly beside the empty desk belonging to Zhao Qinglan, hands on her hips. “Finals are coming! The teachers have been talking about it all day in class. Did you seriously not listen at all?”

Shu Youzhan flipped through the pile of test papers beneath her notebook and casually pulled out the chair next to her. “Take a seat… Weren’t they just going over homework today? I didn’t really listen because I didn’t get any questions wrong. Doing practice problems is more useful anyway.”

Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly realized the weight of Pei Yi’s words. She glanced out the window at the brilliant, almost scorching sunlight. Had the end of the term really arrived so quickly?

Pei Yi looked down at the seat Shu Youzhan offered, her lips twitching. “Forget it, I’ll stand.”

Shu Youzhan: “?”

She looked up in confusion, the corners of her eyes naturally drooping, her lashes curving like tucked-in feathers. “She’s not coming back this semester. Leaving the seat empty is just a waste.”

“How can that be the same?” Pei Yi gestured with exaggerated emphasis. “She’s not back this semester, but it’s not like she’s gone for all three years. I’m just a Beta; how would I dare arrogantly invade her territory? I’m not tired of living yet.”

Shu Youzhan raised her hand to brush her long hair behind her collar, her slender white fingers winding through the pure black strands. Then, she moved herself, sliding directly into Zhao Qinglan’s seat and gestured to Pei Yi. “See? Nothing happens.”

“There aren’t nails on her chair. A seat is just a seat. What does this have to do with ‘territory’?”

Pei Yi: “…”

She stared flatly at Shu Youzhan for a few seconds before letting out a short snort. “That’s because you… sigh, we are not the same.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Do you really need me to say it out loud? That wouldn’t be appropriate, would it?”

After several back-and-forth exchanges, Shu Youzhan still didn’t understand what Pei Yi meant. She was still living under the delusion that her “story” with Zhao Qinglan was well-hidden. Consequently, she didn’t grasp the various implications behind Pei Yi’s loaded words.

However, the sound of their constant chattering during the break reached Ping Hui, who was wearing headphones in the front row. Tired of the meaningless gossip being funneled into his ears, Ping Hui rolled his eyes, impatiently ripped off his headphones, and shouted back at Shu Youzhan: “Are you an idiot?”

“You are Zhao Qinglan’s woman, so of course you can touch her things whenever you want. But others can’t. Understand?”

In an instant, the entire classroom fell silent.

The students of Class 1—those playing on their phones, discussing problems, or fooling around—all turned to look in their direction. Everyone’s eyes were filled with disbelief. Some even perked up their ears, wishing Ping Hui would explain in detail how “Shu Youzhan became Zhao Qinglan’s woman.”

Regardless, they didn’t mind sacrificing a bit of their break time for this.

Shu Youzhan: “…”

She knew the best reaction at this moment would be to kick Ping Hui’s chair to shut him up. However, faster than any physical movement was the sudden surge of heat rushing up her neck. Even without a mirror, Shu Youzhan realized she must have turned red as a giant tomato.

Ahhh, why is this happening?!

“Thud—”

Belatedly, under the gaze of the entire class, Shu Youzhan’s right foot kicked Ping Hui’s chair. She squeezed out a threat through gritted teeth: “What nonsense are you talking about?”

After a moment’s thought, she added another menacing line: “Did you not get beaten enough by her last time? Do you want me to give you a round as well?”

The atmosphere in Class 1 was deathly silent. Yet, every pair of wide, lightbulb-bright eyes silently expressed their inner thoughts: More, more! Is there any other tea to spill?

Just then, Pei Yi asked weakly, in a voice that could be heard by everyone in the back: “Excuse me… what ‘last time’ are you referring to? When did you guys have a conflict?”

Shu Youzhan: “…”

She was suddenly stumped.

What was even more terrifying was that Ping Hui, who was on the verge of exploding after being kicked, had wanted to see if her strength was truly as exaggerated as the students in sports training claimed. But upon hearing Pei Yi’s question, he also began to reminisce—

The only time he had a conflict with Zhao Qinglan was at the swimming pool, right?

But there were no other students around then, only an Omega. How did Shu Youzhan know about it? Unless… she was that person?

Thinking of this, Ping Hui looked back at Shu Youzhan with a look of disdain, as if saying silently, “Oh, so you two were already hooked up back then.” Seeing him break into a crooked smile and slowly nodding his head, he was just about to speak when Shu Youzhan interrupted him with an even louder voice: “It wasn’t me!”

Ping Hui raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t even asked yet. How do you know what I was going to say?”

Shu Youzhan was unreasonable but stood her ground firmly. “No matter what you were going to say, it wasn’t me. It has nothing to do with me. I wasn’t at the scene. It’s all hearsay. What about it?”

Well, that was truly… nothing he could do about it.

Ping Hui nodded, threw a “You win” at her, and turned back to sleep on his desk. On the surface, it looked like Shu Youzhan had suppressed him with her unparalleled momentum, but in reality, the person with the loudest voice was the most guilty.

Shu Youzhan couldn’t imagine how much Ping Hui had actually figured out. She was panicking…

She pretended to be calm, pulling a test paper from her desk to study it. She furrowed her brows as if she were very serious, but Pei Yi noticed she was looking at one of her previous assignments that had already received a perfect score.

No. 1 Middle School Forum…

Thread: SHOCKING! Huge Gossip in Class 1! The person you thought was a nemesis is actually…

1L: I heard it with my own ears just now. An Alpha sitting in front of those two “Great Buddhas” bravely spoke the truth. He clearly stated that the two most powerful and incompatible people in our class are actually a couple in private!

2L: Can’t you just say Zhao Qinglan and Shu Youzhan? Why are you being so vague? Are you trying to earn money by writing more words on this forum?

3L: Damn! Wait! What am I seeing? Zhao Qinglan and Shu Youzhan are a couple? At the start of the term, wasn’t there a post betting on who would win if they fought? Didn’t they say Shu Youzhan provoked Zhao Qinglan on the first day, and they even had a private fight that alarmed all the other middle schools on this street? Have I traveled through time?

4L: It’s so good to be in Class 1; the gossip is firsthand. I wouldn’t even dare to dream of shipping this CP, but I didn’t expect… Matching family backgrounds, “water and fire” incompatibility, an Omega who can crush Alphas, and an Alpha with no pheromones… Hey, I’m suddenly shipping it?

5L: Give us details. How are they a couple? What’s the process? Do you think I’m short on data?

The school forum was buzzing with inquiries about Zhao Qinglan and Shu Youzhan. Even the paparazzi who usually lurked in the No. 1 Middle School forum didn’t miss this opportunity, desperately trying to get information from the Class 1 students, competing to write the first headline.

Whoa! Imagine! Whether this matter was true or false, as long as you put the two most interesting national families—Shu and Zhao—together, whether it was a marriage alliance or a fight, who would worry about not getting views?

Class 2…

Sun Yue patted Sun Jue’s shoulder and handed the phone over, her expression full of conflict. “This… should we delete it?”

Ever since she watched the drama without intervening at the birthday party last time, she had received quite a few glares from Zhao Qinglan. Now, on the issue regarding Shu Youzhan, she was truly a bit confused.

According to common sense, a post involving the “Boss” definitely couldn’t stay. However, her dull sensory antenna told her that the Boss seemed to really want to be linked with that person named Shu. Maybe she would even smile instead of being angry upon seeing this arrangement?

However, the usually assertive Sun Jue fell silent. The salt-baked chicken wing she just bit into didn’t taste as good anymore. The further she read, the more ridiculous it felt. By the end, even she was a bit unsure. “This…”

Under her sister’s expectant gaze, she looked up at the ceiling, chewed on the bone for a while, and then mumbled: “I don’t know…”

Sun Yue: “Huh??”

Sun Jue lowered her eyelids and tossed the phone back to her expressionlessly. “Boss only said that comments unfavorable to Shu Youzhan should be deleted. This isn’t unfavorable.”

Not to mention unfavorable. It had inexplicably boosted Shu Youzhan’s reputation; the process was just a bit bizarre.

That night…

Shu Youzhan was physically and mentally exhausted, covered in sweat. She didn’t even have the strength to move a finger, lying like a dead fish in her family’s training hall.

Shu Yu, however, looked as if she hadn’t even finished warming up. She squatted down with her legs together, tilted her head to look at her, and for some reason, suddenly said: “Looking at you now—”

“Aren’t you still a bit far from being able to pin little Zhao down?”

Shu Youzhan: “…”

Her breathing hitched, and she slowly opened her eyes, doubting her ears. A muffled sound came from her throat: “Hmm?”

Shu Yu enthusiastically shared the afternoon’s news with her: “The word outside right now is that you and Zhao Qinglan are childhood sweethearts, a perfect match. She’s an Alpha with no pheromones, the bottom of the Alpha hierarchy, and no one knew what kind of Omega she could be paired with. Who knew you would take a fancy to her? They even say she might become the first Alpha to be ‘married off’—”

“So, do you want to marry little Zhao?”

Shu Youzhan: “Huh??”

She was completely confused, having no idea what was going on. She thought about Zhao Qinglan’s pheromones, and then thought about the first time she went to the Zhao family’s training hall, where she couldn’t even crawl under the pressure of those pheromones.

The people spreading these rumors must be insane. She said expressionlessly, “If anyone thinks Zhao Qinglan is weak, they should go pick a fight with her. Then they’ll know.”

However, after squeezing out those words. Her heartbeat quickened slightly.

As if… she felt a strange flicker of excitement toward Shu Yu’s unreliable suggestion.