After Losing My Memory, I Went After My Archenemy - Chapter 17

The school anniversary was fast approaching.

Xia Rou, as one of the performers, began preparing early. The school had allocated activity funds to each department, but the amount left for individual classes was minimal.

Xia Rou simply chose to pay for everything herself. Given her living conditions, her material demands were high, and the class’s budget probably wasn’t enough for just one piece of jewelry for her performance.

Getting up early on the weekend, Xia Rou invited Shen Miao to come out and offer her opinion.

With heavy eyelids, Shen Miao complained, yawning, “I say, my dear miss, there’s no need to get up this early for shopping. The mall isn’t even open yet.”

“I took some notes last night. Help me figure out what style to choose for this year’s anniversary performance. I’ll treat you to dim sum!”

Shen Miao: “…”

As expected, this young lady never slacked when it came to beauty. For the sake of the dim sum, she wouldn’t dwell on it.

At Linlu’s largest and most expensive dim sum restaurant, Xia Rou booked a private room on the third floor. Looking out the window, one could glimpse most of Linlu City’s ancient streets.

Opening her tablet, Xia Rou displayed a PowerPoint presentation featuring three costume styles she had designed for the school anniversary performance.

“Can I eat while I look?” Shen Miao smiled, squeezing her eyes.

Right next door to their private room, Bai Chuchu was having dim sum with her loyal follower, Hu Yudie.

She was never stingy about bringing the other girl along to eat, drink, and have fun, as long as she had someone constantly following her, even if the flattery was deliberate.

“Does Xia Rou have any recent movements? She seems odd lately,” Bai Chuchu ate a small piece of pastry without lifting her head, her tone as arrogant as if she were questioning her maid.

“She’s been going to find Lin Xi a lot recently,” Hu Yudie reported faithfully.

Bai Chuchu’s hand paused. She looked up in surprise. “Lin Xi?”

Soon, she laughed dismissively. “She was so hostile towards Lin Xi before, and now she’s scrambling to find her. It’s a bit unpredictable. Forget it, I don’t care, as long as she doesn’t get involved with the person I like.”

After she spoke, Hu Yudie carefully added, “Li Luoyi came to the school to find Xia Rou last Friday.”

“What?!” Bai Chuchu was so angry she slammed her cutlery onto the table. The huge, jarring sound startled the Beta girl in front of her.

“Why are you only telling me such an important thing now?” Bai Chuchu’s eyes were wide with fury, and she couldn’t help but pinch the other girl’s arm.

Hu Yudie bit her lip in pain, trying hard not to make a sound.

“Say what you want to say!” Bai Chuchu leaned back in her chair and glared sideways at the girl.

“Xia Rou clearly doesn’t like Li Luoyi but keeps stringing her along. She’s such a terrible person!”

Hu Yudie thought that, as usual, Bai Chuchu would quickly calm down after she said a few bad things about Xia Rou.

However, this time she didn’t.

“You don’t need to come with me to the equestrian club activity this afternoon.” Bai Chuchu picked up her bag and walked out of the room.

The annual school anniversary day arrived.

Shen Xuan’s student union was hosting this year’s event. Early in the morning, she dragged Lin Xi along to help decorate the venue for the evening.

Of course, calling Lin Xi over wasn’t just about helping with work; Shen Xuan had her own selfish reasons.

It was well known that the few Omega and Beta members in the student union were Lin Xi’s fans. Bringing her over was a benefit for the younger students.

As a result, Lin Xi was quickly surrounded by everyone. Because of her height, she could still peek out with her head, looking towards Shen Xuan in the distance with a look of “not again” resignation.

As the time approached evening, Linlu University’s campus lit up with anniversary-themed colored lights. Around the evening party stage, there were countless small stalls where students sold small items for charity, played various small games, and even several food stalls permitted by the school, making the event unprecedentedly grand.

Xia Rou, who had been locked in the rehearsal room practicing all day, finally got a moment to relax before the performance began. Hearing that Lin Xi’s photography club was in charge of documenting the anniversary, Xia Rou looked around for her, but only saw a few students setting up tripods, with no sign of Lin Xi.

As the president, Lin Xi’s task today was to record various behind-the-scenes footage of the anniversary activities. While she was moving around recording material, her lens accidentally captured a person. She was wearing a pink and purple floral print long dress with a pure white knit cardigan over it. Her long hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her innocent face had clear, bright eyes.

Lin Xi’s lens lingered on her for a moment. Right at that time, an unexpected guest also entered the frame.

She didn’t notice that her brow furrowed slightly in that instant.

The distance was too far for Lin Xi to hear what they were discussing, and she didn’t want to be a eavesdropper, so she simply lowered her camera and turned to walk away.

“Why are you here?” Xia Rou was a little surprised to see the newcomer.

“Just came to join the fun at your school’s anniversary. It’s boring at home,” Li Luoyi said with a smile. “By the way, what time is your performance?”

Xia Rou glanced at the time. “At least another hour.”

“Okay, I got it.”

Just as Li Luoyi was about to say something more, a Beta female student ran over and urgently called Xia Rou away, saying they needed to check the personnel backstage.

Watching Xia Rou’s hurried departure, Li Luoyi reluctantly withdrew her gaze, the smile still on her lips.

Bai Chuchu, who had been watching this scene from a distance, immediately took the opportunity to approach after Xia Rou left.

“Sister Luoyi?” She greeted her with the sweetest voice, striving to appear refined, gentle, and virtuous from head to toe.

“…Bai Chuchu.” Li Luoyi paused before recognizing the person.

Bai Chuchu was offended that she wasn’t recognized immediately, but quickly pretended everything was fine and started a conversation: “Sister Luoyi, are you also here for our school anniversary?”

Li Luoyi nodded, politely but distantly, having little to say to her. The next second, her gaze began searching in the direction Xia Rou had left, trying to find something.

Bai Chuchu quickly added another sentence, only to realize the other person wasn’t listening at all, feeling extremely awkward.

Suddenly thinking of something, Li Luoyi turned and asked, “I remember Xia Rou is in your class, right?”

Bai Chuchu was momentarily stunned, then quickly smiled: “Yes, and not only that, she and I were in the same class in high school and middle school. I also graduated from the Montreux Noble School. Don’t you remember, Sister Luoyi?”

Li Luoyi hadn’t answered when her phone rang, and she walked away quickly, leaving Bai Chuchu stranded.

“Sister Luoyi?!”

Bai Chuchu chased a couple of steps before being forced to stop. Was she really so much less important than Xia Rou? You weren’t this perfunctory and dismissive when you were talking to Xia Rou just now.

Thinking of this, Bai Chuchu clenched her fists in anger.

“…Chuchu.”

“What do you want?!” Hearing the call from behind, Bai Chuchu turned back with great impatience and shouted.

Hu Yudie had brought back the mocha she had been asked to get after running a long distance, only daring to approach after Li Luoyi left.

“I don’t want it anymore. I’m not in the mood. You deal with it,” Bai Chuchu said, walking away in a huff.

For Hu Yudie, she only gained benefits when the other person was happy. If she continued to be treated like this, she would eventually reach her limit. Fortunately, she had a backup plan. Tonight, she was going to make sure Xia Rou paid the price.

She looked at the cup of brand-name mocha she had gone to great lengths to buy and confidently took a sip.

With five minutes left until the school anniversary performance began, all the personnel in charge of the site were busy with final preparations and checks.

After gathering a round of footage, Lin Xi, carrying her camera, prepared to return to the area below the stage. Passing by a nearby grove, she accidentally overheard two Beta students, a male and a female, whispering. She had never been interested in prying into other people’s privacy and was about to quickly leave, but she unexpectedly heard a familiar name from their conversation, forcing her to stop.

“No, I have to make Xia Rou look bad in front of the whole school this time!”

“Yudie, she has no beef with you. Why would you do something against your conscience just to please Bai Chuchu, that delicate, temperamental rich girl? What if you get caught? What will you do?”

“Just one question: Are you going to help me or not?”

The male Beta was in a dilemma and remained silent for a long time.

To avoid being discovered, Lin Xi didn’t stay too long and hurried away.

“Hey, where have you been? The performance is about to start!” Shen Xuan found Lin Xi returning.

“…Walked around and gathered some footage,” Lin Xi answered, staring thoughtfully in a certain direction in the grove, her brow unconsciously furrowed.

“You look preoccupied. Didn’t you run into any trouble?” Shen Xuan asked.

“No,” Lin Xi replied, coming back to her senses, clenching her hand lightly.

“That’s good. I’m practically exhausted. It seems I can only relax after tonight’s performance goes smoothly.”

Shen Xuan put her hands on her hips, just catching her breath, when someone called her name again, and she had to go check.

Lin Xi occasionally looked in the direction she had come from. As more people gathered towards the stage, she couldn’t distinguish or recognize the two people who had been plotting mischief in the grove.

The audience seating below the stage was already packed. Li Luoyi had arrived early and specially occupied the center seat. This spot offered an excellent view for enjoying the performance on stage later, or more accurately, a particular person’s performance.

Given their years of acquaintance, Shen Miao couldn’t bear to leave an outsider sitting alone, so she sat next to her.

Bai Chuchu sat behind Li Luoyi. She was a step slow and couldn’t get a seat next to her, and also, she and Shen Miao had always been at odds, so she didn’t bother to compete with her.

Noticing the high-end camera in Li Luoyi’s hand, Shen Miao joked, “You didn’t prepare this specifically to take pictures of Xia Rou, did you?”

Li Luoyi smiled and didn’t deny it, continuing to focus on adjusting the settings. She said, “I missed Xia Rou’s performance at your school’s anniversary last year because I was busy. Thankfully, she has a performance this year. Today makes up for that regret.”

“Xia Rou is our school’s face, after all. She’s not called the school beauty for nothing. The school naturally wouldn’t let go of any opportunity for a performance or similar event,” Shen Miao paused, then added, “Only… if she could understand your intentions.”

“She will understand one day.”

Shen Miao didn’t know if the other person was shy or too confident, so she kindly reminded her, “When it comes to feelings, the early bird gets the worm.”

As an observer, she had seen Li Luoyi’s feelings for Xia Rou since childhood. Yet, Xia Rou seemed to be oblivious, or perhaps pretending not to know.

Especially now that she knew Xia Rou had a crush on someone who wasn’t Li Luoyi, Shen Miao felt even more pity for the person in front of her.

During their casual chat, the performance officially began.

After ensuring all club members knew their tasks for the night, Lin Xi quietly retreated to the back of the audience seating.

Meanwhile, backstage at the moment, a large group of people was busy in a frenzy. Someone had temporarily lost their performance earrings and was anxious, and another was delayed in their makeup due to a stomach ache.

Xia Rou’s performance number was 5. She had already finished her makeup and costume change. She was performing a solo dance, and the dress she wore was specially selected at the mall for the theme of her dance.

Having considerable performance experience since childhood, she wasn’t nervous about the upcoming performance; rather, she was excited.

Because she knew Lin Xi was in the audience and would see her dance.

Soon, it was her turn. Xia Rou heard the host’s voice from the stage.

The Omega rose from her chair, carefully held up her skirt with both hands, raised her neck confidently, and walked forward.

Upon hearing that the next performance was from the school beauty, Xia Rou, the audience became incredibly lively. Some genuinely anticipated it, while others had a “wait-and-see” attitude.

The lights dimmed. As the music started, the girl in the misty blue tulle dress stepped onto the stage with light steps, her posture graceful, like a butterfly fluttering in the night.

While dancing, Xia Rou searched for that person’s figure in the audience but couldn’t find her, feeling a sense of loss.

Lin Xi’s photography club was in charge of all the photography for this year’s anniversary. She couldn’t possibly be absent.

The dance entered its climax. Xia Rou was supposed to use a prop to lift herself up from the stage. However, the reality was different from her rehearsal. After completing the designated movement, not only did she not lift up, but her skirt seemed to be pulled from all directions.

The seamless dance was forced to stop there. In a panic, Xia Rou turned to look for the person in charge of the stage props tonight, only to find that the student wearing the work badge who was supposed to be standing there was gone.

The audience below didn’t know what was going on, whispering to each other.

Just then, Xia Rou heard the sound of fabric tearing—it was her skirt—

The next second, the entire venue went dark, sparing her from being exposed naked in front of everyone.

In the darkness, Xia Rou sensed someone rushing towards her and wrapping her body in a blanket.

Just as she was about to ask who it was in fear, a familiar voice reached her ear: “Don’t move. It’s me.”

It was Lin Xi.

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