After Transmigrating into a Novel, I Am in a Relationship with My Scummy Ex-Girlfriend’s Mother - Chapter 7.1

“These things are easy to say, I can promise you.” As a not-very-firm atheist, Huo Qingzhuo’s previous convictions were now completely shattered. Regardless of the outcome, she certainly couldn’t afford to confront the other party head-on right now.

“I will be watching you constantly, watching how you help me take revenge. If you are lying to me, then let us die together!”

The pitch-black world convulsed violently once more, though the shaking didn’t last long this time. Huo Qingzhuo was still caught in the dizziness of weightlessness when she opened her eyes and found herself still sitting in the classroom.

[007, was everything that just happened real?]

Huo Qingzhuo still felt a lingering fear about what had just occurred, even wondering if she had simply had a nightmare in class.

[Regrettably, it was real. Previously, we didn’t detect any residual resentment energy from the original host, so we didn’t perform a secondary check. Now, we are truly powerless; after all, she doesn’t exist in a literal sense, and we have no way to control her.]

007 heartlessly shattered Huo Qingzhuo’s illusions.

Propping her chin on one hand, Huo Qingzhuo sighed, feeling exhausted. This Time and Space Management Bureau was truly careless; these loopholes were appearing one after another, making the system look like a sieve.

Mentally drained, Huo Qingzhuo closed her eyes to rest, but the moment she did, she “saw” the original host from just now. Startled, she immediately snapped her eyes open.

Originally, Huo Qingzhuo had held some lingering hope despite the original host’s threat to monitor her, but that hope was instantly crushed. If she saw the other person every time she closed her eyes, who could possibly endure that?

“Huo Qingzhuo, what’s wrong?” Shen Junfu, Huo Qingzhuo’s desk mate, also noticed something was off and asked with some concern.

“Nothing.” Looking at Shen Junfu now, Huo Qingzhuo didn’t dare to be overly close. Otherwise, if the original host misunderstood and decided to take Huo Qingzhuo with her to the afterlife, what then?

Leaning on the desk, Huo Qingzhuo idly tapped the tabletop with her pen.

In truth, she could understand the original host’s feelings. If someone had borrowed your body to be reborn, only to then laugh and talk with the person who betrayed you and caused your tragedy—becoming friends with them—that kind of suffocating frustration would be enough to drive anyone mad.

The reason Huo Qingzhuo had been able to get so close to Shen Junfu initially was that everything had just begun. Nothing had happened yet, so naturally, there were no issues of debt or betrayal between anyone. Furthermore, the other party was a bit more likable than she had imagined, so being friends wasn’t out of the question.

But now it seemed that might not be the case. Since the original host had become like that, it proved that the plot of the original novel might have already played out once.

Then what did this count as?

Huo Qingzhuo fell back into deep thought.

Because her state of mind was wrong, she spent the entire day in a daze. She didn’t even eat lunch with Shen Junfu and the other, which led to much speculation from those around them about what had happened. It wasn’t until school let out in the afternoon that Huo Qingzhuo still hadn’t figured anything out.

“It’s the first week of school. It seems we can leave campus for two hours this afternoon. Where do you guys plan to go?”

“Let’s just go to the food street over there; it seems we can’t go anywhere further.”

“That works. It’s decided then, we’ll go together.”

As dismissal time approached, everyone’s enthusiasm surged. This was mainly because they had two hours of free activity time on Friday afternoons, as long as they returned to school within those two hours.

“Huo Qingzhuo, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I have things to do this afternoon, so I’m leaving first. You go eat with Wei Qingqing. If there’s a problem, say it so we can solve it together. Don’t keep it bottled up inside.”

Shen Junfu had asked once before but hadn’t gotten an answer. Now, with no time to ask further, she could only leave a hurried instruction, saying they could talk more when she returned.

Huo Qingzhuo watched Shen Junfu, who was already poised for a hundred-meter dash out of the classroom, and felt more irritable. She simply didn’t respond.

She could only pretend she hadn’t heard Shen Junfu’s advice. Just by getting a little closer to Shen Junfu, the original host was already threatening to die; if she also got close to Wei Qingqing—the person the original host hated and resisted most in the original story—she might explode on the spot.

As soon as the bell rang, it was as if a valve had been opened. All the students rushed out at once, fearing they wouldn’t make it in time.

Huo Qingzhuo looked back at Wei Qingqing, whispered an apology in her heart, and followed the crowd. They merged into a sea of students at the base of the teaching building, all surging toward the school gates.

Stopping at a relatively quiet spot near the gate, Huo Qingzhuo had no intention of running far to buy food. She only wanted to stagger her time to avoid meeting Wei Qingqing at the cafeteria.

Waiting idly at the gate, Huo Qingzhuo’s gaze wandered until, by chance, she spotted Shen Junfu standing out among the crowd like a crane among chickens.

Following Shen Junfu’s movement with her eyes, Huo Qingzhuo noticed a particularly eye-catching car parked not far away. Once the car found a relatively empty space to stop, the driver got out to open the back door, which happened to be facing Huo Qingzhuo.

Huo Qingzhuo stood on her tiptoes to peek into the car and caught a glimpse of a familiar figure.

“007, help me see who is in that car. Why does that person look familiar?”

Completely using 007 as a pair of binoculars, Huo Qingzhuo used the tool very skillfully.

007 was secretly angry but didn’t dare speak up, dutifully acting as binoculars.

“Is this even human eyesight? You can actually tell someone looks familiar from this far away? But you’re right; the person inside is indeed Shu Yueqing.”

007 was diligent and fulfilled its duty as a pair of binoculars.

Hearing this answer, Huo Qingzhuo felt completely unwell. What was going on? Why were Shen Junfu and Shu Yueqing getting into the same car? What was their relationship?

Thinking of Shen Junfu’s flirtatious and beauty-loving personality, and then of Shu Yueqing’s worryingly beautiful face, Huo Qingzhuo felt even worse.

“Did the original book ever mention if Shen Junfu had girlfriends outside of school?” Huo Qingzhuo asked this through gritted teeth.

“Uh…” 007 was somewhat worried looking at its host but didn’t dare delay and answered truthfully. “There were, but they were just background characters mentioned in passing, without detailed descriptions.”

Taking a deep breath, Huo Qingzhuo’s eyes looked almost murderous.

“Host, please calm down. Our current mission is to stay alive. It’s better not to create unnecessary complications, especially now that the plot has deviated significantly. The plot correction system might automatically go online; let’s not invite that trouble.”

In fact, 007 was also puzzled. Given its host’s excellent professional skills, playing a high school student should have been effortless. How did such a simple start turn into today’s situation? Thinking about it, 007 was practically in tears.

“I just hope your plot correction can fix things soon.” Leaving the remark hanging, Huo Qingzhuo started walking out.

“Eh? Host, weren’t you planning not to leave the school? Why are you going out now?” 007 found humans increasingly difficult to understand.

“I wasn’t planning to, but if I don’t start making plans now, there will be nothing left to play with.” Huo Qingzhuo realized she had been getting too addicted to being a student lately, spending her days on useless things and wasting time.

Huo Qingzhuo ran around outside for a full two hours, leaving 007 completely confused and unable to understand what its host was doing.

When the time was almost up, she returned to the classroom right on schedule, casually buying a piece of bread from the supermarket to munch on.

After getting through the first round of inspection by the evening self-study teacher, Huo Qingzhuo quietly left the classroom on the pretext of using the bathroom. However, she went straight up to the rooftop through the staircase between the floors.

Pinching the business card in her pocket, she had long since memorized the phone number on it, though she hadn’t had the chance to call. Now, it seemed the opportunity had arrived.

Huo Qingzhuo couldn’t even distinguish what kind of mood she was in when she dialed the number. But after the call went through, every ring sounded like a heavy hammer striking her heart.

The waiting time felt infinitely stretched. Huo Qingzhuo stood at the edge of the rooftop, looking at the city’s prosperous night view, and realized she seemed to have lost something.

“Hello?”

The call was finally picked up, and from the other end came a voice familiar to Huo Qingzhuo. She knew Shu Yueqing had her contact information saved, so she should know who was calling.

“Sister Shu, I have a question I’d like to ask you. I wonder if it’s convenient for you right now?” Suppressing the strangeness in her throat, Huo Qingzhuo tried to keep her voice sounding as normal as possible.

“Now? It’s convenient. What’s the question?”

On the other side, Shu Yueqing was sitting in the back seat of the car, rubbing her brow tiredly. Shen Junfu, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned her head. “Who is on the phone? Can this call wait a bit?”

Shu Yueqing glanced at Shen Junfu and then at her phone. “Just a few words. Wait a moment.”

When Shu Yueqing spoke to Shen Junfu, she didn’t move the phone away. Huo Qingzhuo heard it clearly on the other end.

It was the voices of Shu Yueqing and Shen Junfu.

Huo Qingzhuo’s nails almost dug into her flesh. She didn’t understand how there could be such a coincidence in the world.

“Hello? Little Huo? Qingzhuo? Strange, why did she suddenly stop talking?” Over there, Shu Yueqing waited for a while but heard nothing from Huo Qingzhuo, so she called out a few more times.

Shen Junfu, who had originally turned back to wait patiently, suddenly stiffened when she heard the name Shu Yueqing used for the person on the phone. A blurred line flashed through her brain, and her accurate sixth sense told her that the “Little Huo” Shu Yueqing mentioned was Huo Qingzhuo, and the person Huo Qingzhuo liked was Shu Yueqing.

Shen Junfu turned around from the front seat and looked at the confused Shu Yueqing. “What did you just call the person on the phone?”

“Little Huo. Why?” Shu Yueqing felt that everyone was being a bit strange tonight.

“Is her full name Huo Qingzhuo? Seventeen years old, about the same height as me, and quite thin?” Holding onto the last bit of illusion, Shen Junfu asked in detail.

Shu Yueqing was also surprised. Was the world really this small? “You’re right. She should be the same age as you. Do you know her?”

“Yeah.”