As usual, Yin City's temperature during the night is cold enough to freeze anyone wearing thin clothes. The cold gust of wind from the west made the two shiver.
"We've been walking for almost an hour by now." Li Yue said. "In this kind of weather, we'll freeze if we stay outside for another hour or two."
He stared at his watch for a few seconds before he nodded. "I agree. I should get going now." He let go of her hand before walking in the opposite direction.
"Eh?" Surprised, she stared at the man's back for a few minutes before she decided to walk towards her apartment building too. As expected of a villain, they are very difficult to understand, she thought as she started humming a tune.
When she arrived at her apartment, she immediately reviewed the emails she received and replied to those who wanted to interview her. This immediately made her feel elated. At last— wait… did she just forget to ask that Mo Li for her payment? She let out an irritated grunt before smiling, now she has a reason to approach the man again, she thought before she started honing her skills.
For the next few days, she spent all of her vacant time practicing her painting skills while avoiding the calls from Li Yue's previous friends. She also started taking on some small drawing projects and earned a small amount of money of which she saved and invested in the stock market. To Li Yue, trying to do something against the villain or the leads in this world requires a lot of preparation, effort and of course, money. She could not just blindly reveal herself while being destitute and poor.
…
The holidays passed.
"Have you heard? Mo Li is going to start school today!"
"Really?" the girl's squeal immediately made her frown. Was that the reason why Mo Li toured around this place? Li Yue continued walking towards her lecture room. If her guess was right, then Li Weiwei would also start going to this school and become her schoolmate. Since it was already the middle of the year, she could not just transfer into the pilot section and will be forced to stay in the second section. Of course, the male lead is going to be Li Weiwei's seatmate.
However, she couldn't help but wonder if Mo Li would be in the same class as the female lead. Rationally speaking, that would be the most likely case; after all, they enrolled at almost the same time.
"Hey, Yue!" Li Yue turned her head towards the male lead. "How are you?" As usual, his smile is brilliant, his eyes gentle. "I— I didn't have the chance to visit you because— "
"I'm fine, Jin." She smiled. Judging from the way he avoided meeting her eyes, this man must have met Li Weiwei and probably even interacted with her. Based on the plot her robot told her, the male and female lead will fall for each other in high school just a while after the original Li Yue began stalking the male lead.
Since Li Yue had already broken up with Xia Jin, then it may be possible that her actions had affected the timeline as well.
"I have something to tell you. Are you— Maybe we can go to the canteen?"
"I don't have the time Jin, my class is about to start."
"Then how about lunch?"
"Are you really going to have lunch with me?" she lifted an eyebrow. Seeing his troubled eyes, she smiled. "It's alright Jin, I understand. There's no need to worry." She then continued walking and ignored him calling out her name. Contrary to the personalities of male leads in the other worlds she visited, the protagonist in this world is a genuinely nice man. He is kind and respectful. If her guess was right, the guilt he felt must have been eating him from the inside. She snorted and proceeded to walk into the lecture room.
The tense atmosphere accompanied by the thick silence that welcomed her when she walked inside was enough to intimidate anyone to the point of crying. Of course, it was not enough to dampen Li Yue's mood. Her eyes roamed around the class, looking at the familiar faces in her line of sight before walking towards her desk. By now, everyone in the room were already aware that she is not the real heiress of the Li Family.
"So arrogant." She heard someone say.
"I heard the Li Family kicked her out?"
"Rightfully so. After all, she is nothing but a fake phoenix."
"She used to be so arrogant. Hmph! Look at her now!"
"Actually, the name fake phoenix suits her quite well."
Laughter and ridicule echoed inside the room as everyone started mocking her. Li Yue could only shake her head inwardly. Back then, she was a rude and cruel person, using her family name whenever she bullied someone. Now, that she no longer has it, the people whom she once considered friends immediately turned on her. Even the one who usually sat next her, someone whom she considered her best friend dared not look at her as she sat on the last vacant seat at the back of the class; she would rather stay at the back than sit next to her. 'Poor Li Yue,' she thought inwardly as the mockeries continued unabated.
This humiliating scene only ceased when their professor went inside the room.
"Oh! Is that Mo Li?"
"Why is he here? I thought he would be in the section next to us?" a boy behind Li Yue said.
"His father is loaded. He must have paid someone to let his son in."
"You're just jealous you're not as good looking as he is." Another chimed in.
Li Yue, on the other hand breathed a sigh of relief. The fact that the villain is here put her mind at ease. Now that she carefully thought about it, in the original plot, Li Yue insisted on transferring from the pilot class to the second section so she could stay beside her fiancée. She felt so insecure that her whole attention was glued on monitoring Li Weiwei and Xia Jin. In the end, her efforts were in vain as the two still fell in love.
"From now on, Mo Li will join us." The professor said. "For those who think he only got in because of his money, you're dead wrong. Mo Li took the same entrance exam just as everyone did to be admitted in the pilot class. That's not all; he actually got the highest score in the school, even higher than the top student, Li Yue."
"Eh?" Li Yue stared at the teacher, confused. "Highest?"
'Do use your brain, dear host' she heard the robot utter emotionlessly. 'You are the second female lead for a reason.'