Striving for Harmony After Transmigrating as an Alpha Female Supporting Character - Chapter 16

“Three years ago, it was right here.”

Jing Nianxun pointed to the path in front of them. This was a spot in the park that wasn’t very crowded, filled with maple trees. Back then, there had only been a few saplings; now, they had grown into a dense woods.

The golden and orange-red maple leaves stretched out in vast patches. Every so often, a breeze would blow, sending a shower of leaves drifting down. The ground was blanketed in a brilliant, soft carpet that rustled beneath their feet.

“My idea,” Jing Nianxun explained softly, “is to paint a series. The transformation and growth of a naive girl from three years ago, and the person who was always outside the frame, watching her.”

As she spoke, she grew a bit embarrassed, her cheeks appearing exceptionally red against the backdrop of the maple leaves.

“So, I’m the model?” Ai Xiaoyu asked with a half-smile.

Ever since being pulled here, she had been in a daze, feeling a profound sense of shock. According to the original novel, she had always assumed Jing Nianxun harbored nothing but intense hatred for the original Ai Xiaoyu. She hadn’t expected that Jing Nianxun once had a good impression of her, even making her the protagonist of her paintings.

Perhaps that was exactly why the later resentment became so intense.

“Yes.”

Jing Nianxun took out her drawing board, set it up on the leaf-strewn ground, and said earnestly, “Xiao Yu, when you apologized to me earlier, what I actually thought was that you looked just like you did three years ago. When I first saw that cute girl, I felt that if she grew up, she would look exactly like you do now.”

Standing on the path, Ai Xiaoyu laughed to herself. If this were truly the original Ai Xiaoyu, she wouldn’t be standing here with such a stiff body. The original host had studied dance since childhood, while the current Ai Xiaoyu only knew how to solve math problems and tap on a keyboard.

Watching Ai Xiaoyu clumsily manipulate her limbs, eventually even walking with her same-side arm and leg moving together, Jing Nianxun couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Ai Xiaoyu gave her a reluctant glare.

“Just walk normally like you usually do, don’t overthink it,” Jing Nianxun said.

Since she was painting a series and needed to recreate the pose from the previous drawing, Ai Xiaoyu needed to walk forward down the path. The perspective of the painting was from behind.

Suddenly, Jing Nianxun said, “Look back for a second.”

“Huh?”

Ai Xiaoyu didn’t hear her clearly. When she turned her head, her mouth was still half-open.

“Perfect.”

Jing Nianxun quickly lowered her head and began sketching on the board.

Ai Xiaoyu’s entire understanding of painting came from class trips to art museums in elementary school. When Jing Nianxun told her they were done, she was stunned for a long time. “That’s it? I thought it would take hours of drawing every stroke while staring at a live body.”

“The important thing is the feeling. I see you every day, so I already know the details quite clearly.”

Ai Xiaoyu leaned down to look at the drawing board. One of her dress straps slipped down slightly, revealing a graceful collarbone and a smooth shoulder. She asked, “What kind of feeling?”

Jing Nianxun glanced at the fallen strap and said, “Like a peach.”

“What?”

Jing Nianxun cleared her throat. “I mean, that unique innocence and cuteness of a young girl, and…”

That tempting, alluring feeling like a honey peach.

Jing Nianxun didn’t know why she suddenly had such a thought. Perhaps she had caught a whiff of someone’s poorly concealed pheromones again. But since Ai Xiaoyu didn’t know that she could smell them—thinking that Jing Nianxun was still undifferentiated and insensitive—Jing Nianxun acted as if nothing had happened and packed away her drawing board.

Jing Nianxun’s painting was finished quickly, titled The Girl and the Fallen Leaves. It had become a law of nature that whenever the female lead participated in an event, she would win. True to form, her painting was soon hung on the school’s display wall.

“Who is this? So pretty!” “The painting is beautiful, and the model is too.” “Wait, haven’t I seen her before?”

“Ai Xiaoyu!” Ning Xi pointed at the painting on the wall in horror, then looked back at Ai Xiaoyu as if she were a monster. She rushed over, dragged Ai Xiaoyu aside, and whispered, “Quick, tell me what happened! Is Jing Nianxun trying to curse you? Did she cast a spell on the painting and hang you on the wall?”

Ai Xiaoyu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “No, it’s just a regular painting. I volunteered.”

Ning Xi grew even more terrified. “Xiao Yu, have you been possessed? Is your soul trapped inside the painting?”

In Ning Xi’s mind, Ai Xiaoyu and Jing Nianxun were eternal enemies. If one did something, it must be to the detriment of the other. Knowing she couldn’t change Ning Xi’s mind for now, Ai Xiaoyu didn’t bother explaining much. She simply said, “We had some misunderstandings before, but they’re resolved now.”

During art class, the teacher brought the paintings out for a critique.

When it came to this piece, the teacher said, “The theme of this work is The Girl and the Fallen Leaves. Against a backdrop of late autumn leaves, the girl is placed in the center. At first glance, there is only one character, but in reality, there is another person: the one who painted it. The artist is also changing—their technique is evolving, their mood is shifting, and their attitude toward the girl is transforming.”

“In the first sketch, the girl walks forward without looking back, showing no lingering attachment to the person behind her. But in the second painting, she turns her head, her eyes looking at the artist and the audience, her mouth half-open as if she’s about to say something. There is an interaction between the painting and the artist. The subject has formed a connection with the artist, giving us viewers a very distinct feeling as we appreciate it today.”

Ai Xiaoyu sat in her seat, feeling completely lost. Did turning her head really have that many layers of meaning? Had Jing Nianxun thought of all that when she asked her to look back?

Ai Xiaoyu looked at Jing Nianxun beside her. The latter was sitting upright, staring intently at the painting displayed on the whiteboard, her eyes shimmering as if she were deep in thought.

Ai Xiaoyu scratched her head. She felt like she could less and less understand the female lead. When she read the original novel, she just enjoyed the drama and thought the characters were stereotypes. She hadn’t paid this much attention. Now, she couldn’t even guess what the female lead was thinking!

That evening, her father, Ai Guohua, returned home and brought even more pink princess dresses.

Now that she was no longer restricted by the OOC function, Ai Xiaoyu said, “Dad, you don’t have to bring me so many clothes anymore. I actually wear my school uniform every day. I don’t need much for weekends and holidays.”

Ai Guohua was stunned. “You’re actually willing to wear your school uniform now? When I asked you to wear it before, you threw a fit for the longest time.”

Ai Xiaoyu replied, “The teachers require us to wear them now.”

She glanced at Jing Nianxun. Jing Nianxun was still wearing clothes bought several years ago, many of which had faded from washing. Though they were neat, they looked quite pitiful.

So, Ai Xiaoyu suggested, “Dad, our group won the art festival competition because of the painting Nianxun did. As a reward, let us go shopping tomorrow!”

Ai Guohua looked at his daughter and then at Jing Nianxun. He wasn’t particularly interested in the art festival. “I have to talk business with your uncle tomorrow. You girls go ahead and have fun yourselves.”

“Great!”

Ai Xiaoyu definitely didn’t want Ai Guohua to go. If he did, he might say something nasty to Jing Nianxun again. She just wanted some pocket money to go out with Jing Nianxun.

Because Jing Nianxun won the competition, the entropy increased by another 100, jumping to 660. Though 10,000 was still a long way off, this was the largest increase since she transmigrated. Perhaps it would increase even faster later! Since she wasn’t in any immediate danger, she planned to enjoy the life of a rich person.

And a rich person’s life meant shopping, eating, and having fun!

Watching Ai Xiaoyu emerge from a milk tea shop only to head straight into another snack shop, Jing Nianxun couldn’t help but remind her, “Xiao Yu, you’ll gain weight if you eat like this.”

Without realizing it, her way of addressing Ai Xiaoyu had changed to “Xiao Yu,” a shift she hadn’t even noticed herself.

“Oh, if I get fat, I can always lose it later.” Ai Xiaoyu pouted. In her past life, her family’s financial situation was very average, and she would always hesitate before buying anything even slightly expensive. Now, being able to buy things without a second thought made her truly feel the joy of being wealthy.

And there was no one to control how much she ate! She was still young, not like her past life where she was 26 and told she’d never find a boyfriend if she just kept eating and drinking. She was a full ten years younger now, with plenty of youth to squander.

Ai Xiaoyu noticed Jing Nianxun’s gaze lingering on a display window, so she dragged her inside. “Try this one! You’ll definitely look good in it!”

Jing Nianxun shyly put on a wine-red dress, her fingers twisting the black silk ribbon at the hem. She didn’t dare look at herself in the mirror. She took a step back. “Maybe not, this is too formal.”

Ai Xiaoyu didn’t care about “formal.” She looked at the person in the mirror with satisfaction. The wine-red color complemented her skin perfectly. The design of the dress was pure yet sexy, and combined with that innocent face, it was exactly what people nowadays called the “Pure Desire” style.

Ai Xiaoyu swallowed and waved her hand. “This is the one. We’re buying it!”

A shop assistant walked over with a smile. “You have great taste, little miss. This is our best seller; it might not even be here if you came back tomorrow. We also have a matching blue one that I think would suit you perfectly. You could wear them together as a ‘sisters’ set—with your sister here.”

Ai Xiaoyu tried on the indigo blue one, looking at herself in the mirror. Then she joked, “Actually, it looks a lot like a ‘couple’ outfit, haha. Since ancient times, red and blue—”

She was about to say “since ancient times, red and blue make a CP,” but seeing Jing Nianxun’s increasingly strange look, she decisively shut up.

The shop assistant chuckled. “If you want couple outfits, we have plenty more in the store. You can take a look.”

“No, no, this is fine.” Ai Xiaoyu decided not to lead little Jing Nianxun astray.

A moment later, the assistant came back from the back of the store. “Our boss just said they’d like to take a photo of you two to post at the entrance for promotion. In return, we can give you half off the price.”

“Oh, sure!” Ai Xiaoyu rubbed her hands together. Of course, she’d take a discount, and she’d never experienced being a promotional model in her past life.

With a click, their photo was fixed at the entrance. The one in the wine-red dress was slightly taller, her long ink-black hair flowing down, her hands crossed somewhat awkwardly but smiling at the person beside her. The one in the indigo dress made a hand gesture, leaning slightly forward with one arm around the girl in the red dress.

Below the promotional poster was a line of text:

“Today’s Special: Customized Couple Set.”

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