Did I Succeed in Redeeming the Villain Today? - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: “Someone Is Going To Confess To Qiuyu.”

“You have no idea, Shi Jin’s face just completely crumbled at that moment.”

“But let me tell you, haha, afterward even our physics teacher was stuck in an awkward spot.”

“It’s truly strange. He always arrives right at the bell, but for once he came early, only to see his prize pupil get slapped in the face.”

Steam rose from the table, and the aroma of rice noodles drifted through the evening air. The roadside snack stalls after school were bustling. Amidst the rising and falling laughter, Li Xiang recounted the day’s events to Pei Yinyue.

Li Xiang was a natural storyteller—vivid and expressive—and Pei Yinyue listened intently. At the end of the story, Li Xiang leaned in and whispered regretfully, “I just wish I knew what Qiuyu said to Shi Jin at the very end. It’s such a shame I missed it.”

“I hope one day I can be like Qiuyu, completely finishing the opponent off after a cool comeback.”

Hearing this, Pei Yinyue smiled warmly. She glanced at Mu Qiuyu, who was quietly eating noodles across from them, and said to Li Xiang, “I think people in your class underestimate Qiuyu too much.”

“Although our international class doesn’t take midterms with you, the top students always take the same exams as the regular classes. Qiuyu takes first place every single time. None of us can beat her.”

A look of surprise flashed across Li Xiang’s face. Lu Ning felt the same.

“Host, were you always this amazing? Is what Pei Yinyue said true?”

The gluttonous cat was currently invisible, hiding under the table and immersing herself in a delicious starch sausage. Her voice was muffled and slurred. Mu Qiuyu heard the strange pronunciation and cast a downward glance at Lu Ning. She swallowed her food unhurriedly before replying, “Not quite.”

“?” The kitten tilted its head.

This answer was unexpected. Was Pei Yinyue exaggerating?

“In the international class, the only one who can compete with me… Pei Yinyue barely counts as half a person.”

A piece of yogurt bark clicked onto the small tray. Mu Qiuyu spoke with a hint of arrogance as she secretly pushed the stir-fried yogurt toward Lu Ning. Her movements were effortless, her cold eyes leaving Lu Ning with the image of a defiant and untamed figure. Indeed, Mu Qiuyu earned this. She had the capital to be arrogant. Lu Ning had been witnessing it every day lately.

Li Xiang’s voice continued to ring in Mu Qiuyu’s ears, making the silence in her mind even more pronounced. Lu Ning’s unusual quietness made Mu Qiuyu feel a bit out of place. She lowered her eyes and asked, “Do you have nothing to say to me?”

Lu Ning snapped out of her thoughts instantly. She followed Mu Qiuyu’s lead smoothly: “I admit I was shallow before the self-study period today. From now on, I will firmly believe in the Host!”

“So you didn’t trust me before?” Mu Qiuyu arched an eyebrow slightly.

“Before…” Lu Ning paused, then skillfully deployed her brown-nosing skills. “Before this, I always firmly believed that the Host could complete the task and lead everyone to let me stay!”

Even though Mu Qiuyu had experienced the meaning of “teamwork” by helping the class during the break, she still couldn’t quite grasp Lu Ning’s words. She was, from beginning to end, a person with a strong sense of territory. The word “everyone” was inconsistent with her worldview and style of action. Especially now, when she was facing the issue of Lu Ning’s ownership.

“Don’t you belong only to me?” Mu Qiuyu asked flatly.

“Yes, I will always belong only to you.”

As Lu Ning spoke, she actively and submissively rubbed against Mu Qiuyu’s lowered hand. The kitten’s blue eyes were bright, like stars embedded in Mu Qiuyu’s vision. Fluffy black fur threaded through the girl’s slender fingers; every movement seemed to signal the system’s loyalty.

After flattering Mu Qiuyu for a while, Lu Ning continued, “But don’t you want more people to love you? I can be the medium through which you touch that love.”

The kitten’s warm, damp breath brushed against her palm, making Mu Qiuyu pause. She looked at the kitten staring up at her and asked in a restrained, extremely calm voice, “Lu Ling, why do you think that the more people you have around you, the more people will love you?”

Mu Qiuyu’s voice was incredibly steady, like a question aimed directly at the heart. Lu Ning froze. She didn’t know the answer. She had simply grown up believing this, so it came out naturally.

The air grew quiet as a customer pushed open the door. A cold draft crept along the floor, ruffling Lu Ning’s fur. The kitten lowered its head and thought for a long time before answering, “Because… being alone is very lonely.”

“The more people there are, the more love there is. The little kitten wants everyone in the world to love her!”

By the end, Lu Ning was essentially playing the rogue, using her current status as a cat to act spoiled. She couldn’t figure out her own question, so she decided to just gloss over it. After all, that was how her previous life had gone.

A shadow passed over the kitten’s head, like the Five-Finger Mountain pressing down on the Monkey King. Mu Qiuyu gazed at the kitten and reached out to pick her up, placing her on her lap. The movement was effortless; Lu Ning was used to it.

But then, something unexpected happened. Mu Qiuyu didn’t withdraw her hand. Instead, she reached over to brush away some seasoning crumbs from Lu Ning’s whiskers. Her cool fingers brushed the kitten’s damp mouth as she warned softly, “Lu Ling, do you know? You will eventually die because of this way of thinking.”

Mu Qiuyu’s eyes were lowered, speaking words that were both gentle and cruel. She remembered the person who, the other night, said she liked drinking at bars. She had been hazy then, and it was hard to tell how much of what she said was true. Yet Mu Qiuyu had given her all the little empathy she possessed.

Under the shadow of the palm, the kitten blinked. Lu Ning understood the warning; she could feel the undisguised cruelty in the words, but she felt the rare tenderness even more.

“Meow~ (Host, you’re scaring me again.)”

Lu Ning took the opportunity to lie down in Mu Qiuyu’s palm, skillfully acting spoiled. The small golden lock Mu Qiuyu had placed around her neck gave a crisp ding between them. Lu Ning didn’t think much of it, assuming Mu Qiuyu’s “incorrect” thoughts were just a result of her tragic backstory.

She didn’t know that one day soon, she would truly pay the price for her own philosophy.

A new day dawned with bright spring light. The teaching building was as noisy as ever after class, but the front of Grade 11, Class 13 was strangely deserted.

It turned out the children weren’t just acting on a whim. A week had passed, and the “Cat Defense War” continued, with the class becoming increasingly united. Because of the recent events, Mu Qiuyu had become the most consulted person in the class.

The back of the classroom had transformed from a cat-lover’s gathering spot into “Teacher Mu’s Mini-Classroom.” As soon as the bell rang, people flocked to ask Mu Qiuyu questions. Over time, to save Mu Qiuyu’s time and increase efficiency, Li Xiang proposed that everyone organize their unsolved problems first. Simple problems would be solved among the students, while the difficult ones would be tackled in a group session with Mu Qiuyu.

Li Xiang, thanks to her prime seating next to the teacher, didn’t have to squeeze into the group sessions and took over the task of cat hygiene. Before the last self-study period, Li Xiang hummed a tune as she finished emptying the litter box. Just as she stepped into the back door, she saw a very familiar figure on the outskirts of Teacher Mu’s classroom.

“Yo!” Li Xiang walked up quietly and slapped the person’s shoulder. “If it isn’t our physics number one and second in the class, the Great Miss Shi Jin! To what do we owe the honor of your presence in our humble abode today?”

Shi Jin jumped at the sudden touch. The pen she was using to record formulas dragged a long, jagged black line across her notebook. Being caught eavesdropping made Shi Jin’s heart race, but she wasn’t one to back down easily. She feigned composure against Li Xiang’s teasing: “Wh-what! Am I not allowed to be here?!”

“I never said you couldn’t.” Li Xiang smiled, her words sounding particularly “unique.” “In fact, I think your spirit of asking those ‘below’ you and being brave enough to learn from shame is truly worthy of our study.”

Shi Jin was furious at the sarcasm, but then she heard Mu Qiuyu explaining a key point she hadn’t understood, so she ignored Li Xiang and craned her neck to listen. This wasn’t the first time Li Xiang had caught Shi Jin listening; she had seen her hiding in the corner several times. Li Xiang wasn’t petty; since Mu Qiuyu didn’t kick her out, she tacitly allowed her to listen from the outside. Besides, who wouldn’t fall for Mu Qiuyu’s cold yet powerful charisma?

Thinking this, Li Xiang smiled and teased Lu Ning in her bed. “Cat-cat, don’t you think my sister Qiuyu is amazing?”

“Meow~ (Of course! My Host is the smartest human in the world! No one can beat her!)” Lu Ning nodded, her voice only understandable to Mu Qiuyu.

A warm breeze blew down the corridor, ruffling the girl’s long hair. Mu Qiuyu, who was currently explaining a problem, let the corners of her mouth twitch upward, a hidden smile flashing in her deep eyes. She didn’t know if Lu Ning’s words were sincere. Her “exceptionally smart” self had somehow been pushed into the center of the class collective by Lu Ning’s sweet-talking offensive.

From the beginning, integrating into the class was never Mu Qiuyu’s intention. It hadn’t even been an option after her rebirth. In her view, there was no need to change the trivial things she had experienced in her previous life. After all, the more things changed now, the bigger the impact on the future.

But this little kitten had done it. She had cleverly achieved her goal in a way Mu Qiuyu hadn’t even realized. By the time Mu Qiuyu snapped back to reality, she was surrounded by classmates, unable to easily retreat. Should she blame Lu Ling for knowing how to manipulate hearts? Or blame her own sudden sense of responsibility? Or perhaps… she too was becoming fond of the warmth she felt when surrounded by people.

Shadows fell over Mu Qiuyu’s eyebrows, making her gaze pause. Compared to the somewhat suffocating crowd, she still preferred the feeling of holding the kitten alone at night.

“That’s it. If you don’t understand, explain it to each other.” Mu Qiuyu marked a dot on the scratch paper, ending her Q&A for the day.

“Thanks, Qiuyu! Love you!”

“My mom said she made nougat at noon; I’ll bring some for you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Sister Qiu, for saving my life. I knew this step was wrong; I just had the wrong logic.”

“Qiu-qiu, drink some water. Your voice sounds a bit raspy.”

After she finished, voices of concern came from all directions. Mu Qiuyu didn’t react much, taking a sip from the flower tea Lu Ning had prepared for her. She usually looked straight ahead, so she didn’t notice a girl lingering nervously in the corner.

But Lu Ning noticed. She recognized her—the Chinese class representative, Wen Ningning. Li Xiang’s eyes were also surprisingly sharp today. She rubbed Lu Ning’s fur and whispered with a smile, “Cat-cat, do you know what’s about to happen?”

“Meow?” Lu Ning tilted her head, chirping back.

“Someone is going to confess to Qiuyu.” Li Xiang’s voice was full of irrepressible excitement, as if she were the one about to receive a confession.

The classroom was bustling after the mini-lesson, but Lu Ning clearly heard the sound of her own heart skipping a beat. The kitten stared with wide, round eyes at the girl about to step out from the corner. Her crystal-blue pupils dilated suddenly, as if filled with a wordless reluctance.

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