High school students only had one day off every two weeks. On Monday, when classes officially resumed, Ning Yue put on the school uniform that Ning's mother had personally washed and ironed. She was just about to leave when Mr. Ning, still worried about her, insisted on seeing her off. Ning Yue turned him down.
"Dad, it's only a ten-minute subway ride to school, and First High School is right outside the station exit," she said. "It's not worth your time to take me there. Besides, you have to go to work today. Dropping me off will definitely make you late."
Mr. Ning thought for a moment before saying reluctantly, "How about I go to your school today and arrange for you to board? You can come home once every two weeks. It'll save you from wasting time on the commute. Traveling back and forth every day is too exhausting."
"Living at home is fine," Ning Yue declined. "I'm not used to living in a dorm."
It just meant getting up a little earlier in the morning. The subway station was only three or four hundred meters from their house, which was the perfect distance for a morning workout.
Seeing that she had made up her mind, Mr. Ning didn't push the matter further. However, he still personally walked her to the subway entrance before riding his electric scooter to take his wife to work.
Just moments before the morning bell rang, Ning Yue finally hurried into her classroom.
"Thank goodness I'm not late," Ning Yue thought. She hadn't expected her terrible sense of direction to strike again—she had actually taken the subway in the wrong direction. Fortunately, the system had alerted her after just one stop. She had quickly gotten off, transferred to the opposite platform to ride back, and finally found the school.
First High School had two advanced experimental classes, but of course, that had nothing to do with Ning Yue. Her Class 13 was just a regular class. Yet, even in a regular class, the academic atmosphere was quite intense. When she entered the classroom, the students who had arrived early were already burying their heads in their studies.
Finding her seat, Ning Yue opened the original host's notes. She had flipped through all the textbooks at home the night before. It was impossible for the textbooks in the two worlds to be exactly the same, but the general content was roughly similar. She had also been a high school senior in her original world, and her grades had been passable. As long as she reviewed the key concepts of the various subjects, keeping up with the coursework shouldn't be too difficult.
The seniors had just finished taking their exams last week, so the homeroom teacher spent the first period reviewing the math test. Ning Yue dug out her test paper. The original host hadn't done too well in math, scoring only a 92. She glanced at her deskmate's paper: 136 points. Her deskmate had missed a fill-in-the-blank question on the first page, losing two points, and lost twelve points on the final essay question on the back. The gap in their grades was quite severe.
Once he finished going over the paper, the homeroom teacher gathered his things and left.
As soon as he was gone, the round-faced girl next to her started gossiping. "Yan Ningyue, the whole school is saying that you were the wrong child brought home by the Yan family, and that they've kicked you out. Is it true?"
"Just one morning and the news is already out," Ning Yue thought. "Yan Qingqing really couldn't wait, could she?"
"My name is Ning Yue," she replied.
The round-faced girl gasped. "Ah! You even changed your name? So the rumors are true? You really went back to your biological parents' home? Then doesn't that mean you're in a miserable spot right now?"
It turned out that plots usually reserved for TV dramas and novels could actually happen in real life. Babies really could be switched at birth!
In her shock, the round-faced girl didn't know whether to sympathize with Ning Yue, the adopted daughter abandoned by a wealthy family, or to feel sorry for the true Miss Yan who had grown up in the slums.
Her dramatic reactions immediately drew the attention of their classmates, but Ning Yue ignored her.
"I'm busy!" Ning Yue thought. "I have to read!"
At this, the classmates who already disliked Ning Yue began to make snide remarks. "Look at her. She just got kicked out by the Yan family, so I don't know what she has to be so arrogant about."
Hearing this, the round-faced girl suddenly regretted her outburst. She shouldn't have asked Ning Yue about it in the middle of the classroom. "Bai Yiyi, watch your mouth! What did Ning Yue ever do to you to make you speak about her like that? We're all classmates. Do you have any sympathy at all?"
"If I'm going to sympathize with anyone, it's the real Miss Yan," Bai Yiyi retorted. "Ning Yue stole her identity for seventeen years, and now she wants my sympathy? Keep dreaming!"
"Bai Yiyi, is your moral compass completely warped?" the round-faced girl argued. "The babies were switched at the hospital! Ning Yue knew nothing about it back then. She was forced to be separated from her biological parents for seventeen years! Who would ever want that?"
Bai Yiyi sneered. "Who knows? Maybe the person you're defending wanted exactly that! After all, it's the Yan family. After playing the little Princess of the Yan family for seventeen years, who knows how much she's regretting losing it now!"
"You—"
The round-faced girl was red in the face, furious at Bai Yiyi. When she turned her head, she realized her deskmate was completely oblivious to the argument and had already completed half a page of practice problems.
"Hey, aren't you mad?" she asked. "Are you just going to let Bai Yiyi talk about you like that?"
"Why should I be mad?" Ning Yue thought. "She's just a petty clown. I'm better off doing a few more practice problems with that time!"
"It's pointless," Ning Yue replied aloud.
The round-faced girl's expression instantly brightened. "You're right, you're right! Arguing with someone with such warped values is completely pointless. Getting angry over it is even less worth it."
Ning Yue went back to flipping through her test papers. She had tried doing some of the math problems and found them manageable. Next, she needed to focus on language arts. There was too much to memorize, including poems and classical Chinese texts she had never even heard of before. They would all be on the exams, so she had no choice but to memorize them.
Ignored, Bai Yiyi fumed silently. "Ning Yue, Li Danting, just you two wait!" she thought.
At ten past ten, during the morning exercise break, Ning Yue headed down to the first floor, where she spotted Yan Qingqing surrounded by a crowd of admirers.
Yan Qingqing noticed her as well. Stopping in her tracks, she smiled brightly and called out, "Ning Yue, we'll be attending the same school from now on! I'm so happy!"
Ning Yue gave her an indifferent glance. "Oh. I hope you stay happy, then."
With that, she walked off toward the athletic field with brisk strides.
Yan Qingqing's smile froze for a fraction of a second. The female students beside her muttered, "What is wrong with her? She stole someone else's life for all these years, and now she's acting all high and mighty in front of you. Who does she think she is?"
"Qingqing, if you ask me, you're just too nice for taking the initiative to talk to her. Aren't you afraid she'll cling to you? After all, your family is wealthy, while her adoptive family is dirt poor. What if she can't handle the hardship and wants to go back?"
Yan Qingqing bit her lower lip. "Ning Yue isn't like that. You've misunderstood her. Besides, my adoptive parents' family is actually doing alright, even if their living conditions aren't as good as my biological parents'. If... if she really wants to come back, my parents would be more than happy to continue raising her."
"In her dreams!" Yan Qingqing thought viciously. "As long as I'm here, that woman can forget about coming back! She was smart to leave on her own that day, otherwise I would have taught her a harsh lesson! If it weren't for the fact that I wanted her to realize the sheer gap between us, Ning Yue wouldn't even have the chance to attend this school anymore! Hmph. Ning Yue, in the coming days, I'll make sure you understand that without the Yan family, you are absolutely nothing!"
Watching its Host, who was already lined up and looking around with an idle expression, 009 couldn't help but speak up again. "Host, I think Miss Yan is definitely going to target you. You need to be careful."