Dating Myself - Chapter 7

An Mu put away her icy stare toward Lu Yuexin and turned to look at Xie Maomao, smiling gently and reservedly.

“It’s not one-sided; it’s mutual.”

Xie Maomao tilted her head and cupped her cheeks, so pleased that she looked like she could blow bubbles from her nose ring.

“Look, Jian Yixi, I’ve got a new bestie! She’s my best friend now!”

This was the first time Jian Yihu had ever met someone who was so unreservedly forward. People like her could easily become annoying, but if they handled it well, they could be a lot of fun and quickly bring strangers together.

Jian Yixi couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, congratulations.”

Xie Maomao pulled Jian Yixi over and, just like before, looped her arms through both of theirs. She was bubbling with happiness.

For simple people, happiness is often found in simple things.

“From now on, the three of us will always be together!”

Jian Yixi laughed. “What are you talking about?”

Xie Maomao glanced at her and said with a mischievous smile, “Don’t get any ideas. The ‘couple’ here is definitely me and the beautiful An Mu.”

Jian Yixi was a little surprised. She was from a small town, and while her classmates would tease each other, they usually paired up boys and girls. She had never seen girls paired up with girls.

Although she hadn’t seen it, Jian Yixi knew it was just a joke, just like when her old female deskmate used to call her “Wifey.”

After spending the morning together, Jian Yixi had a better understanding of Xie Maomao. She didn’t respond to the joke and instead turned to the quiet An Mu.

“Did you call the reporters here?”

An Mu nodded slightly. “I did.”

“Is it that easy to get the provincial TV station to come? I never knew.”

Of course, the provincial TV station wasn’t easy to get a hold of, and even if you could, they wouldn’t have arrived so quickly. The provincial capital was still a good distance from Weicheng.

An Mu had contacted her aunt, who had a wide network of connections and held an important position. She didn’t engage in bribery or corruption, so it was easy for her to help with a small, trivial matter like this.

The provincial TV station had received the call and immediately sent a car over. An Mu had originally thought they wouldn’t arrive until after the opening ceremony, but they arrived surprisingly quickly.

An Mu said, “This is an education matter, and the government takes it very seriously, so they came quickly.”

The two girls believed her, nodding along.

Jian Yixi remembered Lu Yuexin and asked, “Don’t people usually call the police for something like this? Why did you think to contact the provincial TV station?”

Xie Maomao also said, “Yeah, if it were me, I’d have called the police and let them rot in jail. Wouldn’t that be great?”

An Mu explained, “It’s not that I didn’t want to call the police; it’s that it wouldn’t have worked. First, there’s no direct evidence to prove their malicious intent. Second, even though it was secret filming, they didn’t actually get anything incriminating, and it hasn’t caused any serious social impact yet. Third, they’re all minors, so they wouldn’t get a heavy punishment. They’d just get a slap on the wrist.”

She paused, then looked at Jian Yixi over Xie Maomao’s head. Jian Yixi was looking back at her. Her beautiful eyes were as clean and pure as a mountain spring in the early morning, without a hint of impurity. They were transparent, a treasure she had to protect at all costs.

An Mu’s voice unconsciously softened. “And there’s one more important point. If we called the police, they would definitely want to take a statement from you. I didn’t want to cause you any trouble. And the video would also have to be submitted as evidence. Even though they didn’t film much, your stomach was still exposed. I didn’t want a bunch of people looking at your video.”

An Mu’s words were so sincere that Jian Yixi looked away, her heart a tangled mess of emotions.

Not only had she helped her catch the filmer, but she had also considered her feelings so much. She, on the other hand, had joined Xie Maomao in gossiping and doubting her. That was… so wrong of her. Just buying her lunch probably wasn’t enough to thank her.

The school was locked down during lunch, and no student was allowed to leave. If you wanted better food, you had to go to the second floor. The second floor had a better environment, and the dishes were made to order. There was even hotpot. Although it wasn’t as varied as what you’d find outside, the taste was good.

Jian Yixi had already asked Xie Maomao about it, and she went straight to the second floor as soon as they entered the cafeteria.

An Mu didn’t want to go to the second floor. The second floor was for the students who paid tuition, and Jian Yihu was there. She didn’t want to eat her lunch while looking at an annoying face.

“I think the first floor is fine. Let’s eat here.”

“No way! It’s the first meal of the school year. We have to have something good. Besides, we’ll need our energy for the big cleaning this afternoon!”

Xie Maomao squeezed her arms together, not letting An Mu escape.

Jian Yixi also said, “Look, there are no seats downstairs. We’d have to wait. Aren’t you guys hungry? I’m starving.”

Xie Maomao said, “Who says I’m not hungry? I’m so hungry my stomach is touching my back. Come on, come on! No dilly-dallying! Let’s go upstairs!”

An Mu had no choice but to let them drag her upstairs.

The second floor was mostly four-person square tables, with a few ten-person round tables along the wall. The floor was only about half full, and there were plenty of empty seats.

They found a table by the window. There were menus and pens on the table. They just had to fill out the menu and hand it to a server.

This meal was mainly to thank An Mu, so of course, An Mu had to order.

An Mu didn’t decline. She glanced at Jian Yihu’s back in the distance and lowered her head to look at the menu.

“Mushrooms with greens, sweet and sour fish, duck with glutinous rice. And for soup… spicy and sour soup. Do you two want anything else?”

Jian Yixi’s eyes widened slightly.

—That’s almost everything I like. How did An Mu know? Or… is it just a coincidence?

Jian Yixi shook her head. Xie Maomao also shook her head.

“Okay, then add three portions of rice.”

Jian Yixi watched as An Mu wrote down the dishes one by one. Her delicate handwriting looked vaguely familiar and was much prettier than hers.

After An Mu finished writing, she waved a server over to take the order. Xie Maomao exclaimed beside her.

“You’re my soulmate! You ordered almost everything I like!”

Jian Yixi looked at Xie Maomao.

“You like to eat these, too?”

“Besides the fish, I like everything else!”

Besides the duck, she also liked everything else.

So it was just a coincidence.

Jian Yixi felt that she was too sensitive. It must have been the way An Mu had been looking at her sister ever since they sat down, which gave her the illusion that An Mu had done all of this for her sister.

Even if it was for her sister, it was okay. She was the beneficiary, and she had no right to question someone else’s motives. Besides, her sister was so outstanding, who wouldn’t like her? She was proud of her sister.

Jian Yixi suddenly thought of a way to thank An Mu!

But, to avoid a misunderstanding, it was better to confirm first.

“An Mu, are you… my sister’s fan?”

An Mu’s answer was so direct that Jian Yixi’s next words got stuck in her throat.

“You… you’re not?”

An Mu was lowering her head to clean the utensils. She looked up at her, a helpless smile in her eyes.

“Why would you think that?”

“Well… it’s just… there were so many girls changing, but you instantly recognized me as Jian Yihu’s sister and helped shield me. It’s only normal for anyone to guess that you’re my sister’s fan, right?”

“I’m not.”

Three consecutive denials.

Alright, she’s not.

She had overthought it.

An Mu lowered her head and continued cleaning the utensils, including those for Jian Yixi and Xie Maomao.

It had started drizzling again outside. The raindrops hit the windowpane, and the light that came through was cold and gloomy. An Mu’s skin looked even paler, like snow, and her lips were a faint, beautiful color. Her lowered eyelids and long lashes showed her complete focus, as if she wasn’t just cleaning utensils but participating in a tea ceremony competition.

Jian Yixi couldn’t help but sigh. Who said God was fair? Look at An Mu. She was beautiful and fierce, and she even dared to stand up to the school leaders. If it were her, she probably wouldn’t even have the courage to tell on someone.

An Mu’s hair was slightly wavy and very long. It kept slipping, and the ends would brush against the table. It would probably fall into her bowl when she ate. An Mu took a napkin to dry her wet hands, then reached up to put her hair in a bun. She looked at Jian Yixi and Xie Maomao.

“Do you guys have any extra hair ties?”

They both shook their heads.

Maomao reached for her own hair tie. “Besties share. I’ll cut my hair tie with my nail clippers. We’ll each take half. It’ll work if we just tie a knot.”

“No need.”

An Mu casually took a clean chopstick. With a few twists, she secured her bun. Then, she tucked the stray hairs from the side of her face behind her ears. The dark brown chopstick rested horizontally at the back of her head, complementing her honey-brown hair and giving her an almost Japanese aesthetic.

Xie Maomao: So beautiful, so tempting. I want to ravage her. I want to hear her moan and say, ‘Don’t, big sister!’

Jian Yixi: Why does just putting a chopstick in her hair make her look so different? It’s magical.

Maomao shook the dirty thoughts from her head, pointed at An Mu’s hair, and said with a straight face, “Can you do that again so I can watch? I want to learn. Hair ties are bad; they pull your hair. If I can learn that, how many hairs will I save?”

Isn’t putting a chopstick in your hair a normal thing?

An Mu suddenly remembered that apps like Kuaishou and Douyin would become popular later, and Hanfu cosplay hadn’t become mainstream yet. No wonder they didn’t know.

Xie Maomao was so curious that she stood up and walked behind her, insisting that she take it out and do it again.

Before An Mu could reach for it, Xie Maomao’s hands suddenly grabbed her shoulders.

“Oh my god! My Prince Charming!!”

Maomao covered her mouth and lowered her voice, taking small, excited steps on the spot.

“Look! The guy at Jian Yihu’s table, it’s my Prince Charming, Qin Yige!”

An Mu looked over. Jian Yihu was sitting with her back to them and hadn’t seen them. Diagonal to Jian Yihu was a boy with clean-cut features. He wore his white shirt and dark blue tie uniform with a sense of style befitting the school heartthrob.

—He’s not your Prince Charming. He’s a scumbag!

Maomao’s boyfriend was someone she met in college. This one was her first love and the scumbag who had hurt her the most!

This scumbag liked Jian Yihu but was too afraid to confess. He purposely used Maomao to get a reaction out of Jian Yihu. Jian Yihu didn’t like him, but she also didn’t like her “backup” liking someone else. She said a few ambiguous things that made the scumbag think he had a chance. He immediately dumped Maomao and then repeatedly humiliated her, calling her a shameless loser who was so desperate he wouldn’t even want her if she threw herself at him. This led to Maomao being bullied by the whole school and almost dropping out due to depression.

Thinking about it, the reason Maomao had held on was because of her. She was in an even more miserable situation than Maomao. Maomao seemed childish, but she was incredibly protective of those she cared about. She could be depressed, but she wouldn’t let others bully her friends.

To protect her and cheer her on, Maomao had endured until graduation and had even gone to a third-rate university in the capital with her.

Maomao was so excited to see her crush that she stopped caring about the chopstick in her hair. She had been sitting on the same side as Jian Yixi, but now she moved to sit with An Mu, her eyes fixed on her crush.

Maomao said with a dreamy look, “I want to…”

An Mu cut her off. “Don’t.”

Maomao looked at her with a hurt expression. “But I really want to…”

An Mu was relentless. “I’m telling you, don’t.”

Maomao turned to look at An Mu, pouting. “How do you know what I was going to say?”

—Of course I know. In our last life, you and I were eating on the first floor. When we were done, we ran into Qin Yige coming down the stairs. You excitedly dragged me over to ask for his WeChat. He immediately rejected you, and you were completely humiliated.

—If it had just been that, it wouldn’t have been so bad. It’s not wrong to reject someone you don’t like. But Jian Yihu had to get involved. She told Qin Yige to add you out of courtesy to her sister. Qin Yige added you, but the look of annoyance on his face was obvious to any fool. He hated both you and me. You were the only one who was happy, while everyone else was laughing at you.

Maomao looked at her with teary eyes, then turned to Jian Yixi.

“You won’t be as heartless as she is, right?”

Jian Yixi didn’t understand what they were talking about.

Maomao immediately leaned over the table and grabbed her hand. “I knew you wouldn’t be so heartless! You’ll go with me, right?!”

Jian Yixi looked bewildered. She took the plates from the server and set them down.

“Go where with you?”

Maomao held her hand vertically in front of her mouth and whispered, “I want to ask my Prince Charming for his WeChat. You can be my support.”

“Huh?” Jian Yixi was not good at talking to strangers either. She tried to squirm out of it. “Why didn’t you ask last semester?”

Maomao said, embarrassed, “I was in the regular class last semester, remember? I thought if I worked hard and got into Class 3 this semester, I’d be in the same class as him. I wanted to wait until then. Who knew… I’d end up in the undecided class?”

Regular class? Undecided class? What’s the difference between them and Class 3?

Jian Yixi had heard these terms several times this morning, but she still hadn’t figured out the school’s class system.

Before Jian Yixi could ask, Maomao grabbed her and stood up.

“As the saying goes, ‘Strike while the iron is hot.’ Let’s go! Let’s just do it!”

“Is that a saying? Isn’t that from the Zuo Zhuan?”

“Who cares what it’s from? Let’s go!”

Maomao was a woman of action. She grabbed her phone and pulled Jian Yixi toward the table. An Mu knew that Maomao wouldn’t back down until she hit a wall, so she couldn’t stop her. She sighed and resigned herself to following them.

Maomao’s face was flushed, and the hand clutching her phone was white.

When she stood by the table, all four people at the table turned to look at them.

Maomao had talked a big game, but her legs went weak in front of her crush. Even so, her eyes were determined. She didn’t have a shred of shyness and just stared at Qin Yige with a dazed look.

“I… I want… I… can I… I…”

Jian Yixi saw that Maomao couldn’t even get a full sentence out. Qin Yige was already getting impatient, so she had no choice but to speak for her. “Qin Yige, this is Xie Maomao from Class 11. Would you be willing to add her on WeChat?”

The exact same scene from her last life was unfolding again. Qin Yige sneered. The school heartthrob’s handsome face was indeed very attractive to naive girls.

“No.”

The cold rejection was indeed very discouraging. Xie Maomao immediately deflated.

“I’m sorry… I, I’m sorry to bother you.”

The second floor wasn’t as crowded as the first, and the tables were more spread out, but this scene didn’t escape the keen eyes of the gossipy students. Many of them looked over with curiosity.

Jian Yihu was very satisfied with Qin Yige’s reaction. Rejection was the right move. Even if she didn’t want him, he still wasn’t for a “trash” student from Class 11.

Jian Yihu saw them about to leave and reached out with a smile to stop them.

From a genetic standpoint, she and Jian Yixi looked very alike, which was what Jian Yihu disliked most about her sister.

One beautiful face was enough. She didn’t need a replica, much less a fake!

Before she found Jian Yixi, she loved it when people talked about her and her sister in the comments. But after finding her, she didn’t like any mention of Jian Yixi.

Especially comments like…

[“You two look so alike! The little sister looks so young.”]

[“The little sister is so cute! I want to pinch her cheeks!”]

[“Are they really twins? The little sister looks like she’s in middle school?”]

What did these comments mean? Were they saying she looked older than Jian Yixi?

There was only a half-hour age difference! How much older could she look?!

Jian Yihu had her true fans brutally attack those who left such comments. It didn’t matter if they were haters or just random people. Even her true fans weren’t allowed to leave such disgusting comments.

Jian Yihu grabbed Jian Yixi’s hand, smiling gently.

“Xixi, is this your classmate?”

“Yeah, my deskmate.”

Qin Yige said in surprise, “Your sister is in the trash class?”

Jian Yihu frowned and glared at Qin Yige, looking genuinely angry.

“My sister is from a small town. It’s a bit poor there, and the teaching is not as good. She hasn’t even seen a foreign teacher. It’s normal for her grades not to be good. How can you call her trash? I’m sure she’ll be able to get into Class 10 next semester.”

Her words were full of holy righteousness. She seemed to be helping Jian Yixi, but she was actually subtly insulting her, calling her a country bumpkin from a small town with no experience and trash grades. She was saying that at best, she would be able to get into Class 10, the worst of the regular classes.

Jian Yixi and Xie Maomao, the two clueless friends, didn’t hear the sarcasm at all. They looked at her with gratitude.

Xie Maomao: My goddess is so kind! She even stands up for us poor students! I’m so touched, I could cry.

Jian Yixi: It’s true that blood is thicker than water. Even though my sister and I aren’t close, she still has my back. So touching.

An Mu glanced at Jian Yixi. She knew exactly what she was thinking at this moment. The more naive she was now, the more miserably she would be hurt later.

An Mu stood calmly behind them, with her arms around their shoulders. She smirked at Jian Yihu, her lips curled into a half-smile.

“I’m actually a little curious. Jian Yixi is a tuition-paying student, and her grades are pretty good. So why is she in Class 11? According to the school’s past practices, new transfer students are usually put in the regular classes. If they have exceptionally good grades and proof of them, they’re put in the elite classes. A student like your sister going directly into Class 11 has never happened before. Unless… someone intentionally asked the school to put her in Class 11?”