Forced into a Secret Marriage with the Villain, We Now Have a Child - Chapter 27

The English lesson continued with a review of the mock exam. Ms. Feng went through the multiple-choice questions—if many students struggled with one, she explained it; otherwise, she glossed over it.

Jian Chun’s pen flew across the page as she took notes. Her neighbor watched her out of the corner of their eye. Strange. Too strange. Jian Chun, who had spent years as a school delinquent, was actually taking notes—and looking serious about it.

They had all ignored her month of hard work. Usually, weekly quiz scores weren’t recorded on official transcripts, so this mock exam was the first time the class realized Jian Chun was changing. Notes were passed, and whispers filled the air.

As soon as the bell rang, the class erupted into a frenzy of gossip. Jian Chun, still confused by a specific grammar point, followed Ms. Feng to her office.

“Impossible,” someone whispered in the classroom. “Unless her brain got caught in a door, there’s no way she got that score.” “Even I didn’t score that high, and I don’t slack off…” “Is she actually trying now? If she wanted to work hard, what was she doing for the last two years?”

To get into Hanhai High, most students had to have talent or money. Jian Chun had entered as the follower of a senior “big sister.” Back then, she had someone backing her and her family was wealthy, so she spent her days skipping class when she was happy and ignoring lessons when she wasn’t. After her stepmother, Yan Shan, was called to school once, Yan Shan had secretly been delighted by Jian Chun’s failure, hoping she’d just drop out and marry someone so the family inheritance could go to her son.

But Jian Chun had managed to scrape into the experimental class during the track split—mostly, she now realized, due to the “power of the plot” needing her to be near Yu Siyi to cause conflict.

Suddenly, a voice cut through the chatter: “Has it occurred to anyone that this isn’t her real score?”

The room went silent. The implication was clear: Cheating.

Just then, Jian Chun walked back in, clutching her corrected exam. She brushed her long hair over her shoulder and spared a cold, indifferent glance toward the group whose excited whispers had suddenly frozen.

In that moment, despite her “bad girl” reputation, she looked strikingly beautiful. Her classmates swallowed hard. They were “good students”; they weren’t supposed to get involved with a “troublemaker” like her.

“If you have something to say, say it to her face,” Jing Ge sneered, standing up for Jian Chun. “Instead of stabbing her in the back. Pah.”

“Your IQ has been affected”

Jian Chun rubbed her temples. The sun was finally peeking through the clouds. Jing Ge leaned over, still curious. “Chun-jie, how did you do it? Were you studying behind my back?”

“Behind your back? I told you to come to the office with me every day. Did you go?” Jian Chun asked.

“Chun-jie… you didn’t really cheat, did you?” Jing Ge whispered.

Jian Chun’s gaze turned icy. “Jing Ge, you’re thinking too much.”

“I was just asking! It’s just… you improved so much so fast, it’s scary.” Jing Ge laughed it off, trying to hide her slip of the tongue.

Jian Chun ignored her and pulled out her Math textbook. Today was Saturday, but they were making up classes for the National Day holiday. She began outlining the key points of the next chapter. She briefly thought that borrowing Yu Siyi’s notes would make this ten times easier, but she dismissed the idea.

In the front row, Zhu Feifei—who had officially labeled Jian Chun as Enemy Number One—whispered to a friend, “It’s impossible to be that lucky. I checked the answers; even if you guessed ‘C’ for everything, you’d only get 40 points. She definitely cheated.”

Zhu Feifei huffed, still salty about Jian Chun’s teasing from the day before. However, she noticed Yu Siyi was looking at her strangely.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Zhu Feifei touched her face.

“I think your IQ has been affected by her,” Yu Siyi said calmly.

“…” Zhu Feifei was stunned. Was Yu Siyi making a joke? Or was she saying that by focusing so much on Jian Chun, Zhu Feifei was becoming just as “stupid”?

“Wait,” Zhu Feifei whispered, “When did she hook up with you? Why did you return her umbrella? You didn’t tell me!”

Yu Siyi looked at her, one eyebrow arched. “And?”

“I feel betrayed!” Zhu Feifei pouted.

“Stop imagining things,” Yu Siyi said, turning back to her work.

The Cafeteria Standoff

By lunchtime, Math and Biology scores had been released, and the shock only deepened. Jian Chun had performed well across the board. The rumor mill shifted: Who was the poor soul in Jian Chun’s exam room that she must have copied from?

In the cafeteria, Jian Chun sat with Jing Ge and Li Ying. Jing Ge was back to her usual self, teasing Jian Chun about the umbrella incident.

“Chun-jie, you aren’t actually scared of her, are you?” Jing Ge asked, nodding toward Yu Siyi’s table.

“Scared of her? You forgot I used to corner her—” Jian Chun stopped herself and rolled her eyes. Better not to bring up the past.

Jing Ge didn’t let it go. “You forgot that every time we cornered her, we got caught and warned by the teachers…”

Jian Chun glared at her, but before she could speak, Jing Ge marched over to Yu Siyi’s table and slammed her lunchbox down. Zhu Feifei jumped, and Yu Siyi slowed her eating pace.

Jian Chun was annoyed by Jing Ge’s provocation, but she didn’t want to look weak. She pushed Jing Ge aside and sat down right next to Yu Siyi.

Yu Siyi turned her head. “…” Jian Chun looked back. “…”

Jian Chun’s expression said: I’m sitting here. Deal with it.

Zhu Feifei, sitting across from them, looked like she wanted to scream but forced herself to stay quiet, sliding her chair a few inches away from Jian Chun as if she were contagious.

Jian Chun started eating, feeling a strange sense of peace. Why avoid her? Avoiding someone means you care. If you’re indifferent, you can sit anywhere.

She pulled out her phone and saw a text from her father. She stood up, needing to take the call away from the noise. “My dad’s calling. Help me wash my lunchbox, I’ll see you in class,” she told her friends.

She walked out of the crowded cafeteria toward the quiet edge of the playground to answer Jian Fanghua’s call.