After Zhao Youyue snapped out of her thoughts, she helplessly realized she still had a mountain of homework left. The desk lamp cast a pool of yellowish light over the open pages of her workbooks, and the room was quiet except for the faint hum of the air conditioner. She was only in her first year of high school. Why was there already so much homework? She felt a little depressed just looking at the daunting stack of paper waiting for her.
Her first instinct was to just grab her phone and search for the answers, saving her from the tedious mental effort. But then she suddenly thought of herself studying so diligently inside the Dimension Gate. How could she let herself be outdone by her own avatar, "Xu Jing"?
She quietly put her phone on the bedside table to charge, the cable clicking into place with a small beep, and obediently started on the math problems. That made her feel a bit more at ease with herself. Otherwise, if one day she could no longer enter the Dimension Gate, wouldn't she completely turn into a useless person?
So Zhao Youyue decided that in real life, she still had to work a bit harder. Even if that effort came in short, impulsive bursts. For example, today she was consciously not relying on her phone to do the work. But maybe during some upcoming holiday, she would play too hard, leaving the last day with not a single word of homework finished. At that point, she would definitely toss all that self discipline out the window and scramble for answers.
That was just the kind of girl she was. If you insisted on calling her lazy and slack, sometimes she would still fight hard just to prove you wrong. But if you said she was the super hardworking, highly motivated type, that was complete nonsense. When she got lazy, even she found her own lack of drive frightening.
Still, she did have a heart that loved stirring things up and gaining a sense of presence. What she wanted, though, was a positive image, not the kind of clown who did embarrassing things and made a fool of herself in the hallways. Even if people remembered that kind of presence, it would probably only bring a moment of mockery before being quickly forgotten.
She didn't just want to become a classic character in novels, anime, or games. She also wanted to become a perfect female lead in her real life. Wherever she went, she wanted to draw the eyes of others and earn their genuine respect.
Just as her fighting spirit flared up, she suddenly remembered something, and her expression immediately collapsed. She still had to write a three thousand word self criticism for the phone incident. What rotten luck.
Although several days had already passed and Lao Qiu hadn't asked her for it yet, she couldn't count on him having forgotten. But that possibility wasn't very high. The confiscated Fruit Seven phone had been expensive. If it had been some trashy book, forgetting to return it might have been fine. A phone, something that valuable, was definitely not going to be ignored forever.
So she had to hurry up and get that three thousand word self criticism done, just in case. Still, she also decided that as long as Lao Qiu didn't actively ask her for it, she would pretend the whole thing never happened and try to muddle through.
She eventually finished her homework, though for the problems she really couldn't solve, she had no choice but to use her phone to look up the correct answers. The process left her feeling mentally exhausted, her eyes dry from the light, but it also made her treasure her study time inside the Dimension Gate even more.
At the same time, she made up her mind that if anyone dared to disturb her studying while she was in a work, whether it was the male lead or one of the "other girls," she would definitely make them pay. Right now, she just hoped she could study longer inside the Dimension Gate and solidify her shaky academic foundations. She didn't know how long Pure Love would keep serializing, but for her, the longer it stayed active, the better.
Since writing homework had already used up all her motivation, there was no way she wanted to write the self criticism herself. She began thinking about who she could ask for help.
Over the past few days at school, she had gradually become familiar with her classmates. She was closest with her deskmate, Zhou Fang, and they occasionally chatted about random girl topics like snacks or skincare. But there was no way Zhou Fang would be willing to help her write a self criticism.
Leaving aside the fact that Zhou Fang's best friend was her roommate Zheng Wen, just based on her personality alone, she wasn't the helpful type. Not to mention that this matter carried risks. If Lao Qiu found out, it would be disastrous and would probably completely ruin their relationship as deskmates.
It had to be said that some girls could be rather petty. Sometimes a small grievance would sit in their hearts and slowly ferment into something uncontrollable. Boys were better in that regard. Even if they fought once, as long as they didn't take it to heart, they might even become good friends afterward.
Aside from Zhou Fang, Zhao Youyue had also gotten familiar with the two boys sitting in front of her. Their names were Wang Yang and Jiang Chao. The former liked web novels, while the latter preferred manga. They had plenty of common ground and often recommended their favorite works to each other in low whispers during breaks.
By coincidence, Pure Love was one of Jiang Chao's favorite manga. When he was enthusiastically recommending this slightly lewd manga to Wang Yang, he noticed Zhao Youyue listening attentively from behind. He immediately reined in that sleazy energy, his face flushing slightly as he quickly changed the topic and started talking about another battle manga instead.
Discussing a slightly lewd manga in front of a girl was indeed embarrassing. What he didn't know was that Zhao Youyue, a seasoned driver herself, had already finished reading the latest chapters of Pure Love. She was even playing a background passerby in that very manga.
Probably because they noticed that she seemed interested in their discussions, and because they also felt she wasn't the kind of dull girl who only knew how to study—after all, she had her phone confiscated right at the start of term, making her truly one of their own—they naturally turned around to chat with her after class. They sensed that she didn't look down on their hobbies.
The two of them even liked to mock each other in front of her, delivering deadpan jokes on purpose to make her laugh, because her smile made the atmosphere feel much brighter.
Looks were secondary. What they really felt was that Zhao Youyue was easygoing and easy to get along with. As for her deskmate Zhou Fang, they saw her as the representative of boring girls. Zhou Fang, for her part, practically wore the word 'disdain' on her face. She had no interest at all in web novels or manga, treating them as monstrous distractions that harmed her studies.
That said, Zhou Fang's grades were indeed good. She ranked eighth in the class on the placement exam, which showed her junior high foundations were very solid, unlike Zhao Youyue, who had muddled through those years as a half baked student.
Chatting casually with those two boys was fine, but asking them to help write a self criticism would be asking too much of their new friendship.
The next people she was fairly familiar with were the class representatives of each subject who came to collect homework every morning. Among them, the math representative Chen Haoran always liked to chat a bit more with her while he waited for her worksheets. Unfortunately, he was heavily skewed toward science and struggled badly with liberal arts, making him a poor choice for a three thousand word essay.
Then someone suddenly came to mind. He was also her classmate, named Han Leng. His essays were very good. During the recent Chinese test review, Lao Qiu had even called him up to read his essay aloud as a model example for the whole class.
Most importantly, Zhao Youyue remembered that he had been her classmate back in junior high as well. Back then, he seemed to already have the title of 'talented scholar' in class. He was very good at writing. She had even heard that he ran a ghostwriting love letters side business.
She felt that she might be able to ask him for help. After all, they were old classmates.