I'm Not Playing This Vicious Female Supporting Character Anymore! - Chapter 33

Rong Xi noticed Qin Yuzhen pause mid-sentence to check her phone. Curious, he leaned over and saw her open a forum post.

“Guess who’ll win the Six-City Joint Examination? But isn’t it still twenty days away?” Rong Xi was a bit speechless.

Qin Yuzhen scanned the list of candidates—over a hundred options—and indeed, her name wasn’t among them. Only three students from Ninth Middle School were listed, and many users had already voted.

“Thirteenth High School is really bored,” Rong Xi remarked, shaking his head.

Qin Yuzhen glanced at other posts from Thirteenth High School:

The top scorer in Ninth Middle School’s recent monthly exam got perfect scores in math and science. It’s a name I’ve never heard before—apparently, she just transferred to Ninth Middle.

[First Floor: Who’s that?]

[Second Floor: Qin Yuzhen.]

[Third Floor: I haven’t heard of her either. Lucky break, I guess.]

[Fourth Floor: I know that girl. She was apparently directly placed into the Honors Class at Ninth Middle. Are their Honors Classes that lax? Can you just buy your way in? Who knows how she even got in?]

[Fifth Floor: What if she’s actually talented?]

[Sixth Floor: My Ninth Middle classmates say she’s pretty.]

This thread was from a few days ago, but someone bumped it yesterday.

[Floor 97: Laughed so hard! I heard Qin Yuzhen was sharing study tips and claimed her IQ was higher than Big Shot Huo from our school?]

[Floor 98: That’s just plain arrogant.]

[Floor 99: If she can keep getting grades like that, being a little arrogant is fine. I just hope it’s not a one-time fluke.]

“Why are these people so annoying?” Rong Xi muttered.

“Tsk.” Qin Yuzhen smirked. “It’s actually pretty good.”

“Huh?”

“I love a good revenge plot.” Qin Yuzhen put away her phone.

Originally, Qin Yuzhen’s post had only circulated within Thirteenth High School. But when they launched a poll for “Six Cities’ Top Student,” her post spread to Ninth Middle School as well.

These passionate, spirited teenagers rushed to Ninth Middle School’s forum, demanding Qin Yuzhen’s name be added to the poll. They were promptly mocked by Thirteenth High School students.

[Floor 37: You think you can just add names? It’s not like their Honors Class is a club you can join just because you feel like it. Young Masters and Young Ladies, take a chill pill.]

Qin Yuzhen was a bit speechless about their verbal sparring. The heated exchange seemed to have intensified the study atmosphere among the senior students. Among them, Qin Yuzhen stood out as one of the few who still carried herself with a carefree, nonchalant attitude.

“Qin Yuzhen, are you confident you’ll score higher than that Huo What’s-his-name from their school?” Liang Xuzhou asked.

Qin Yuzhen shot him a glance. “Who are you looking down on?”

Liang Xuzhou: …

“Don’t get your hopes dashed.”

“Usually it’s me dishing out the humiliation,” Qin Yuzhen scoffed softly.

The simmering rivalry between students from Ninth Middle School and Thirteenth High School had reached the teachers’ ears. Though they said nothing, each teacher redoubled their efforts, practically force-feeding knowledge into their students’ minds. This was evident from how they now dragged out their classes into the next period, whereas before they’d at least leave a couple of minutes of buffer.

On Saturday morning, Qin Yuzhen deliberately gave herself a fever.

Rong Xi stood by the bed, looking at her. “How did you suddenly come down with a fever?”

“Maybe I caught a cold.” Qin Yuzhen’s face was flushed crimson. “Could you please get me an excuse?”

“Oh,” Rong Xi nodded. “If your fever’s gone by this afternoon, will you go to class?”

“No.”

Rong Xi looked at her with an exasperated expression. “Then get some rest. I’m going to school.”

“Mm,” Qin Yuzhen nodded, watching Rong Xi leave.

After lunch, Qin Yuzhen retreated to her room, locked the door, and claimed she was going to sleep, telling everyone not to disturb her. Then she slipped out onto the balcony.

It was the same large building as before. The first round of interviews had already eliminated many candidates, leaving only about a hundred people standing this time. After this round of written tests, the remaining fifty would advance to the final competition.

After registering, Qin Yuzhen received her identification badge.

“What a coincidence.”

“No coincidence.” Qin Yuzhen didn’t even look up as she pinned the badge to her chest, glancing briefly at Huo Yaoxu.

“People from our school can be a bit dull. Don’t mind them, Sister.”

Qin Yuzhen glanced at Huo Yaoxu, her smile faint and ambiguous. “If I did mind, would you help me find those nasty-tongued people and drag them to me so I could beat them up?”

Huo Yaoxu paused. “Probably not.”

“Then what do you mean?” Qin Yuzhen’s smile vanished instantly as she found her way to the written test location and walked in.

The exam covered a wide range of subjects, including literature, science, and arts. Qin Yuzhen answered the questions quickly, only pausing briefly to think on a few. Nothing truly stumped her.

Huo Yaoxu sat not far from Qin Yuzhen, closely watching her pace. When he saw her flip through the pages, he raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, not expecting her to finish writing faster than him.

Truthfully, he didn’t harbor any particular feelings toward Qin Yuzhen; he simply wanted to dampen her spirit. He was curious to see the expression on her face if she scored lower than him.

Qin Yuzhen knew someone was watching her, but she didn’t turn around. She just wanted to finish the exam quickly and go back to sleep. The exam was lengthy, with the organizers giving three hours, but Qin Yuzhen finished in just an hour and a half. She rubbed her neck, stood up, and submitted her paper.

Out of a hundred test-takers, Qin Yuzhen was the first to finish. Shortly after she left, two more girls followed suit. Huo Yaoxu took two hours to complete the exam, which wasn’t slow, but he was slightly annoyed to find he had ranked sixth in terms of submission time.

He had hoped to talk to Qin Yuzhen, but she had already left by the time he exited the exam room.

Qin Yuzhen didn’t go wandering this time; she simply wanted to go back and sleep.

“Host, are you going to pick up Rong Xi from school today?”

“Forget it,” Qin Yuzhen said. “If I go, she’ll definitely ask when I’m feeling better and why I’m not going to class.”

“Host, don’t you think you’ve been indulging Rong Xi lately?”

“Have I?” Qin Yuzhen countered.

“Tsk, yes.” The System opened its statistics. “Your frequency of teasing Rong Xi has clearly decreased.”

“Is that so?” Qin Yuzhen yawned. “Maybe I’ve just gotten lazy lately. Besides, her thick skin makes teasing her less fun.”

“Hmph.”

Qin Yuzhen ignored it and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

Truthfully, she could sense that Rong Xi was becoming increasingly bold and cheeky, even showing signs of taking advantage of her leniency. Of course, she firmly believed it was all Rong Xi’s fault, not any change in her own behavior.

Qin Yuzhen thought about Rong Xi lately and found herself unexpectedly missing the shy and timid girl she’d first met when she joined the Rong family.

The first thing Rong Xi did after school that evening was come looking for Qin Yuzhen. Seeing her still in bed, she was surprised. “Have you been lying here all day?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Did Doctor Jiang come?”

“No, I took my medicine. My fever’s gone now.”

Rong Xi touched Qin Yuzhen’s forehead. “Are you still going to Cong Mian’s birthday party tomorrow?”

“Yep,” Qin Yuzhen said. “I’ll definitely be better by tomorrow morning.”

“How can you get better so fast?” Rong Xi withdrew her hand, muttering.

“Why not?” Qin Yuzhen narrowed her eyes. “Anyway, don’t even think about stopping me from going to the party.”

“Oh. So, what time should we meet tomorrow? Where?”

“11 a.m. at K Plaza.”

“Okay.” Rong Xi nodded. “Then, Sister, you should get some more rest. I’ll head out now.”

“Mm.”

“By the way, can you even sleep like that?”

“Yep.”

“You sleep twenty hours a day! How do you manage it?” Rong Xi asked, puzzled.

“God-given talent. Don’t get jealous. Now, please get out.”

“As I was leaving, I heard a lot of people at school saying you got sick from studying too hard lately,” Rong Xi grumbled.

“Huh?”

“I find it unbelievable too.” If Qin Yuzhen hadn’t seen Rong Xi take her temperature that morning and confirm a fever of 38.9°C, she would have thought Rong Xi was pretending to be sick to avoid going to school.

Qin Yuzhen closed her eyes. “You should go now.”

“Oh, goodnight, Sister.”

“Mm.”

“Sister, why didn’t you say goodnight back?”

Qin Yuzhen: …

“Goodnight.”

“Alright then.” Rong Xi closed the door, satisfied.

“Tsk tsk tsk,” the System drawled sarcastically. “Host, you’re clearly spoiling her.”

“It was just a ‘goodnight’!” Qin Yuzhen retorted, exasperated.

“Right.”

Qin Yuzhen took a deep breath. “I’m going to sleep now. Stop bothering me.”

“Oh? Getting angry now?”

“I’m perfectly calm.”

“Then you’ve given up fighting.”

“Silence mode activated.” Qin Yuzhen gritted her teeth.

“Alright then.”

Finally free of the System’s nagging, Qin Yuzhen sighed in relief. Why must there be such an annoying System in existence?

To be honest, Qin Yuzhen really couldn’t sleep. So she got up and played games for three hours.

The next morning, Qin Yuzhen woke up early and spent a good hour getting ready in the dressing room. It took her another hour to finally leave her room.

“Sister, you look stunning today,” Rong Xi remarked, emerging from her room and noticing Qin Yuzhen’s elegant appearance.

“Am I not beautiful every day?” Qin Yuzhen raised an eyebrow.

“But today you look especially lovely. It seems you’re really putting effort into this birthday party,” Rong Xi said. “And you woke up so early! If Junior Schoolmate Mian knew you got up early for her, she’d be thrilled.”

Qin Yuzhen gave Rong Xi a pointed look. “I wake up early every day for you. Why don’t you ever mention that?”

“Huh?”

“If it weren’t for your insistence on going to school so early, I could at least sleep until noon,” Qin Yuzhen grumbled.

Rong Xi: …

“I…”

“No need to say more.” Qin Yuzhen waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t get too sentimental. This is just your Sister’s love.”

Rong Xi took a deep breath: I lost this round.

The two went downstairs, ate breakfast together, and left the house at half past ten.

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