CH 29

“All of the students who are sitting in this classroom today can consider themselves lucky. I am no different. Yet, one shouldn’t become complacent merely because we were given an advantage that ordinary people don’t have. This is especially so for those extremely lucky ones who were able to awaken with high ranks. Genetic talent endows you with an upper limit that others cannot reach, but the lower limit is not written in your genes. Gemstones are certainly more precious than ordinary stones, but if you don’t work hard to dig them out, even rare gemstones will still get buried. A seemingly ordinary stone that was originally a diamond can thus be buried into the ground and into obscurity.

Having said all this, I wish to, as your senior, give a piece of heartfelt advice to each of you. That is, one shouldn’t be blinded by their high ranks. Although the world may be unfair, hard work is always useful. Rather than sitting around, please continue to exercise and improve your abilities so that next year you may gain admission into the university of your choice.” 

After Qin Ziqing finished speaking, a burst of warm applause sounded from below. 

However, just now when she was giving her speech up on the stage, her eyes were staring directly at the corner of the last row. Her eyes were as cold as ice, causing Jin Siming, who was clutching Yao Jin’s wrist, to feel a chill go down her back and she subconsciously turned around to look. 

The last row of the amphitheater is located relatively high with no cover around it. In addition, this amphitheater/classroom wasn’t big in the first place and so the last row was not far from the stage. Wo when Jin Siming turned her head and noticed the standing Qin Ziqing glaring at her from the stage.

Her heart jumped. She quickly took back her hand that was holding onto Yao Jin just now due to a moment of annoyance. 

This is….the first time she’s seen Yao Jin’s rumored number one admirer. What the heck is with this person’s gaze, this person couldn’t be thinking of something strange, right? 

Jin Siming glanced at Yao Jin who was sitting next to her. Yao Jin had placed the candy in her hand back to its original position. 

“I was just curious, and wanted to take a look. What did you get so agitated, here,  I’ll return it you~”

There was a hint of a smile on the corners of Yao Jin’s lips, as if she hadn’t noticed the person standing on stage at all. 

Jin Siming felt puzzled, and couldn’t help but ask, “Did you listen to a word of our senior’s speech just now?” 

She had returned the candy, but Jin Siming skipped directly over this topic and changed it to the speech instead. Yao Jin froze and then said with a pair of big beautiful eyes as she pretended innocence, “Could it be that classmate Jin still wants to compete with me at this time, and even wants to compete over who’s listening more closely to the lecture? If that’s so, then this time it’s your win for once.” 

Not getting the answer she wanted, Jin Siming wanted to push for an actual answer from Yao Jin, but the words reached her lips only to die. She remembered what her current relationship with Yao Jin is and stopped in order to prevent anymore gossip flying around. 

It didn’t take long for the special lecture to end and everyone started getting up to leave. 

Jin Siming took her time to stand, waiting for the students from the front to get out first so it wouldn’t be too crowded when she went down. 

She put on her earphones, placed her phone in her pocket, and walked slowly to the front door. 

As she approached the door, she glanced over to see Yao Jin and Qin Ziqing in the aisle next to the first row. They were standing face to face with each other and they seemed to be talking. 

Jin Siming’s eyes lit up. She could smell the gossip all the way from here. 

She has never really been interested in gossip before, but when it came to Yao Jin and her Qin-jie, she thought it was necessary to sniff around. Maybe she’ll even be able to dig up some of Yao Jin’s secrets. 

So she made her way out of the classroom, then stood outside the door, quietly poking her head inside to watch the situation. 

Yao Jin’s back was facing Jin Siming’s position, so she could only vaguely see Qin Ziqing’s facial expression.

From her perspective, she could see the soft smile on Qin Ziqing’s lips as she looked at Yao Jin with eyes so tender that water threatened to drip out. She even reached out to touch Yao Jin’s hair, but Yao Jin was able to doge backwards by dropping her shoulders lightly. 

Qin Ziqing opened and closed her mouth, apparently talking with Yao Jin about something. Meanwhile, Yao Jin, who was standing in front of her, just lowered her head and silently stared at the ground. Her slender back looked stiff even from a distance. Even Jin Siming could feel that the atmosphere around Yao Jin wasn’t good.

Jin Siming paused as she reached into her pocket for her phone. She had originally wanted to take a picture of this scene, but felt that the atmosphere was not right, so she dropped her original idea. 

“Are the rumors Su Xiaohang talked about really just rumors after all? Yao Jin seems to be rejecting her, but could it be that she’s playing hard to get? No, that doesn’t seem like the case either.” 

Jin Siming muttered under her breath to herself, as she continued to stand by the door and watch them. Suddenly, someone slapped her on the back, and she quickly snapped her head around, her frightened heart beating wildly. 

“Who are you?” 

Seeing a girl standing behind her, Jin Siming glowered in annoyance.

“Ah, it’s you! You…don’t you remember me? It’s me, Chen Ci, we met in the restrooms before.” 

Chen Ci was sitting in the front row for the lecture. She was among the first group to leave, but later she found that she had left something behind so she turned back to retrieve it. 

However, she saw a person leaning against the door and blocking it from a strange angle so she patted the other person on the back to get them to move out of the way. However, she didn’t expect to recognize the face of this strange person. 

And she recognized Jin Siming almost immediately. 

“….” 

Jin Siming frowned in thought for a while. Then she suddenly remembered that this was that stupid Alpha she met in the restrooms who called her pheromones stinky. 

Although she was surprised by the other party, she didn’t actually have a good impression of her so Jin Siming’s face turned cold, “Oh, it’s you. What do you want? If you don’t need anything then don’t bother me.” 

Chen Ci’s eyes widened and then asked in a dumbfounded manner, “What are you looking at anyway?” 

“None of your business.” 

Seeing Chen Ci stare at her dumbly, Jin Siming impatiently ignored her and turned her head to look into the lecture hall again. 

A few minutes later, she heard Chen Ci whisper behind her, “Hey, isn’t that the captain? Our senior sister, Qin Ziqing. Are you secretly spying on her?” 

Jin Siming glanced back at Chen Ci, “You know her?” 

“Of course. I’m also on the school’s fencing team, even if I’m not an official member yet.” Chen Ci rubbed her head sheepishly and then glanced at the classroom from the side of her eyes, “Ah, Senior Sister Qin is coming out.” 

Jin Siming froze, and then hurriedly dragged Chen Ci to the back of some nearby stairs, effectively hiding them from view. 

A few moments later, the sound of hurried footsteps rushed past them and they watched as Yao Jin quickly moved past them, with Qin Ziqing following after her. 

Although they were only able to get a quick glance and couldn’t clearly see Yao Jin’s expression, from the hurried footsteps of the tightened corners of her mouth, anyone could tell she wasn’t in a good mood. 

There must be something going on between them.

Jin Siming felt that she had spied on them from the door for so long so if she didn’t follow up to see what happened, her hard work would all be in vain.

So she lifted her foot and followed. 

Once they reached the small garden behind the library, Qin Ziqing overtook Yao Jin with a few steps and then stopped in front of her, effectively stopping both of them. 

Jin Siming, who was following behind, quickly turned around and hid behind a tree in the nearby woods. From this angle, she could clearly see both of their profiles. 

She had just settled down when she felt a little tail following behind her. 

Jin Siming stared at the person tailing her, “Why did you follow me?” 

Chen Ci blinked innocently: “Ah? Aren’t we together? Seeing you rush over, I’ll rush over too.” 

“Tsk…just who is with whom!” 

This Chen Ci seemed to have a strange ability. That is, everytime Jin Siming sees her, she can make Jin Siming angry with only a few words. Just as Jin Siming was about to explode in anger, she heard movements form Yao Jin and immediately fell silent and turned around instead. 

“Qin  jie-jie, must we keep doing this? Can we really not go back to how we were before?” 

Yao Jin’s beautiful eyes were half-closed, full of struggle and bitterness and her long eyelashes trembled slightly as she spoke. Not only that, her slender body was also trembling from head to toe, as if she was being forced into a difficult situation. 

“Of course we can be like how we used to be.” Regardless of the other person’s clear resistance against her, Qin Ziqing still stretched out a hand to gently stroke Yao Jin’s hair, “And just like before, will you let me walk you home after school? I can always be your jie-jie, but I want you to promise me that the most special place in your heart will always be reserved just for me.” 

Yao Jin took two steps back and broke free from Qin Ziqing’s grasp. Her lower lip was caught tightly beneath her teeth, so tightly that it might bleed the next second, “….No, I can’t promise you this.” 

Qin Ziqing frowned, her eyes turning dark as she asked hoarsely, “Is it because of her?” 

Yao Jin raised her head, the struggle in her eyes taking on an even more defiant look, “It’s not because of anyone. Qin jie-jie, I really cherish every good memory you spent with me when I was at my lowest. I never thought of giving up because of you, but…I really can only treat you like a sister. So, please don’t keep doing this and please stop interfering with my personal matters.” 

After speaking, she didn’t dare to look at the other person’s expression. So she turned and left.

Qin Ziqing stared at Yao Jin’s distant back, the dark look in her eyes condensing into something uglier, and the air around her grew heavier. 

Even Jin Siming, who was farther away from her, could feel the oppressive pheromones in the air and frowned in displeasure. 

Yao Jin’s eyes were red just now, and she even staggered away so inelegantly. This was the first time she’s seen Yao Jin in such a sorry state. 

For so long, Yao Jin has always looked impeccable in front of her. Even when she argued with her it was with a fake smile. She would always talk with sarcasm laced in her every word and win the upper hand every time. Yao Jin was so unshakeable that Jin Siming has gotten used to seeing Yao Jin wear that condescending and smug look on her face. 

Seeing her in distress, however, strangely didn’t make her feel any pleasure at all. On the contrary, she even felt a little anger in her heart. 

Yes, that’s right, anger. She’s been fighting with Yao Jin for so long, and was beaten by the other party every time. Now Yao Jin is defeated, but it was not her who defeated Yao Jin, but someone else. It was an unexplainable feeling that seemed to pop out of nowhere. 

When she fights with Yao Jin, she always loses quite miserably. Now there is actually someone who can make Yao Jin run away with just a few words….wouldn’t that make her weaker than that person? 

In addition, Qin Ziqing is an Alpha, and so she felt a wave of disgust just from her pheromones that were swirling around in the distance. 

But…what is the relationship between Qin Ziqing and Yao Jin to be able to make Yao Jin so distressed? 

It couldn’t possibly be a couples’ relationship, could it? It…didn’t feel like one. 

Chen Ci, who was standing next to her, watched as Jin Siming’s brows furrowed so much that she could probably pinch a fly to death with her brows. She asked with concern, “Are you okay?” 

Jin Siming came back to her senses as her thoughts were interrupted by her, “Of course I’m fine, why do you think I’m not?” 

Chen Ci shrank back her neck. She didn’t know why the other party was so angry, it was as if Jin Siming had eaten drugs or something. 

“Your senior sister Qin, does she have a lover?” 

Jin Siming asked Chen Ci. 

“Ah? I’m not too sure about this, I don’t know her very well after all…” 

Jin Siming pursed her lips. Since she couldn’t get any useful information from Chen Ci, she didn’t stay any longer and instead turned around to head back to class. 

T/N: 

The author changed Qin Ziqing’s name from the original Qin Keqing to the Qin Ziqing you see now. I’ve already made the changes in my translations so you don’t see it, but if you read this in the raws you might see the original name and then the latter author’s note about this change from this chapter. So this is just here to let anyone who is using mtl or reading it raw know.