Maintaining the Dignity of the Female Supporting Character

A chorus of "Wooo—" erupted from the classroom.

Zhou Quan smiled and tapped the desk to quiet everyone down: "This placement exam included many questions beyond the syllabus. The main purpose was to make everyone realize that simply relying on classroom knowledge is far from enough to score high. You all need to consciously catch up with the spring semester's teaching progress over the past six months. For the ultimate effect, you can refer to Wen Shuangmu, who just gave her perfect score speech—"

"Studying advanced mathematics can help you look down from above and effortlessly conquer all difficult problems encountered in high school math."

Zhou Quan enthusiastically concluded with this golden sentence of life wisdom, then led the vigorous applause himself.

Wu Xiaoqi offered timely congratulations: "Congratulations, host. Your halo is probably higher than the male lead's now."

The classroom resounded with stomping feet and whistles, but Wen Shuangmu's eyes were fixed straight on Xia Zhili, sitting in the fourth row of the first column.

Her black pen made several deep ink marks on the draft paper as she quietly withdrew her gaze, saying in a very low voice: "The person I want to compete with isn't him..."

Wu Xiaoqi guessed her thoughts: "Isn't competing with the female lead the same? Xia Zhili scored 132 in math, originally achieving a terrifyingly high score in this placement exam. Now you've stolen all her thunder. What else are you unsatisfied with?"

Wen Shuangmu: "This isn't her main stage."

Wu Xiaoqi didn't quite follow: "?"

Wen Shuangmu: "In less than a month, she'll become the person the Chinese and English teachers constantly talk about."

Wu Xiaoqi instantly understood. The novel indeed mentioned that while in middle school, when everyone was only reading Keigo Higashino and Sherlock Holmes, Xia Zhili had already started reading Kafka and Gabriel García Márquez. By high school, she had directly advanced to reading English translations, and even Liang Jie, as the Chinese teacher, praised that her own reading volume couldn't compare.

Xia Zhili's literary knowledge was too hardcore. Wu Xiaoqi couldn't think of anything comforting to say, so he could only say: "Each to their own specialty. Host, my condolences."

Wen Shuangmu: "..."

The second afternoon period was P.E., a large class combining five classes.

Zhou Quan saw several boys in the class already shifting their feet outside their seats, eager to run out. He didn't drag out the class and cheerfully let them go.

The boys from Class 1 walked towards Class 2's corridor carrying basketballs. Seeing familiar middle school classmates coming out, they couldn't help but ask: "What were you guys doing last class? The shouting was like you all went crazy. Even we could hear it next door."

A boy from Class 2 sighed in admiration: "It was a genius showcase, you know? Anyone who heard it would want to cheer."

Though no names were mentioned in the answer, the Class 1 boys immediately understood: "Oh— you mean that Wen Shuangmu in your class, right? Teacher Zhou talked about her in our class this morning too."

The spring semester class and various subject teachers had been working together for nearly half a year since early admission, so they were unusually familiar in their way of addressing each other.

As the crowd walked away, Wen Shuangmu, at the center of the rumor vortex, acted as if nothing had happened, unhurriedly organizing her books into her desk.

Wang Chengshuo tapped and clicked on his phone screen, then turned to Lu Jing and said: "Class 7's P.E. class happens to be at a different time from ours. Liu Yiheng asked me if we want to play ball together after school this afternoon."

"Sure."

Lu Jing took a sip of water to moisten his throat, his fingertips lightly resting on the thermos, showing a tendency to be even whiter than the porcelain bottle.

"We agreed on 5:30." Wang Chengshuo tossed his phone into the desk drawer, stood up and tapped Lu Jing's desk, saying, "Let's go, class is about to start."

Wang Chengshuo went to the cabinet at the back to get a basketball. He had just taken two steps when he heard a loud "bang" from behind.

Looking back, he saw Lu Jing stumble out of nowhere and fall flat on Wen Shuangmu's desk.

Lu Jing: "?"

Wen Shuangmu: "?"

Lu Jing met her gaze for two seconds, then straightened up without thinking and looked at Wang Chengshuo in front, saying: "Did you just trip me?"

"?"

Wang Chengshuo was made to doubt himself by Lu Jing's direct tone: "I don't think so, but... maybe I accidentally..."

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Lu Jing seemed satisfied with this response. He apologized to Wen Shuangmu and quickly hooked his arm around Wang Chengshuo's shoulder as they walked out.

Once the two were out the back door, Lu Jing said with a hint of annoyance: "I'm not going this afternoon. Something else came up."

Wang Chengshuo was puzzled: "What's wrong? Didn't you just say you were going?"

"My mom called and told me to go home early to do homework." Lu Jing made up an excuse, and before he finished speaking, he mysteriously performed another fall on flat ground.

Fortunately, this time he was holding onto Wang Chengshuo's shoulder, so it wasn't too embarrassing.

Wang Chengshuo laughed at this display: "What's wrong with you? Can't you watch where you're going? To be honest, you tripped by yourself just now too, right? I thought you were kowtowing to Wen Shuangmu. Seriously, there's no need. If you think Lagrange is impressive, I can learn it too."

Lu Jing's expression looked constipated: "Get lost."

There was a custom of running laps during the Ethics class break.

The first twenty minutes of P.E. class were used by the teacher for formation training and trial runs.

By the time everyone was sweating profusely, they were dismissed in place for free activities.

The boys rushed straight to the indoor gymnasium. Wen Shuangmu and Ji Jiahui continued their middle school tradition, sitting in the first row of the spectator stands.

Wen Shuangmu didn't understand basketball, but Su Qiyan liked it. Whether it was a fun game or an official match, as long as he was in the gymnasium, Wen Shuangmu would appear.

From middle school to university, she had unknowingly sat in the spectator stands behind him for ten years.

Even though she had just had a one-sided unpleasant encounter with someone at noon, habits formed over a long time weren't so easy to change.

Xia Zhili was alone. Seeing an empty seat at the edge of the first row in the spectator stands, she didn't look further back and walked directly over.

It was only after she sat down that she realized the two girls next to her were Wen Shuangmu and Ji Jiahui.

Wen Shuangmu's back was very straight. Even in a casual and relaxed environment, she gave off an air of pride and arrogance, staring intently at the basketball court.

Xia Zhili followed her line of sight and scanned the court. She saw a boy shoot and score, with the surrounding crowd cheering excitedly and chaotically.

Xia Zhili found it uninteresting and looked away, only to see Wen Shuangmu suddenly stand up excitedly and applaud.

"Host, stop clapping. Xia Zhili is here."

Wu Xiaoqi's sudden reminder startled Wen Shuangmu.

She turned her head, her gaze meeting Xia Zhili's.

Their eyes met subtly for a moment before quickly looking away.

That three-pointer just now was Su Qiyan's highlight.

Judging by Xia Zhili's flat reaction, she probably hadn't noticed.

Not bad.

Wen Shuangmu nodded in satisfaction. Her hands still in a clapping position, she calmly patted her skirt a couple of times and sat down gracefully.

Having been rebuffed twice when trying to talk to Wen Shuangmu at noon, Xia Zhili knew to some extent that Wen Shuangmu had no intention of getting to know her. So this time, she was tactful enough not to greet her again and just lowered her head to read her book.

Wen Shuangmu wasn't as indifferent as she appeared on the surface. After a few seconds, her eyes involuntarily glanced at the book on Xia Zhili's knee.

The English words on the pages were abstruse and difficult to understand. After seeing them clearly, Wen Shuangmu was silent for a moment.

After a while, she clicked her tongue softly, took out her phone, and typed Nietzsche, Maugham, and Margaret into the Taobao shopping interface, adding them to her cart one by one... When it came time to pay, she felt like something was off.

She could read English translations, but without some mental preparation, she really didn't want to.

She thought for a moment, then deleted them all and instead searched for recent bestselling quick transmigration novels on the romance rankings.

After placing her order, Wen Shuangmu's gaze returned to the basketball court.

In her previous life, Wen Shuangmu hadn't taken Xia Zhili seriously. Even though Xia Zhili frequently appeared by Su Qiyan's side, she confidently believed that the other girl was just a suitor like herself, secretly trying to win his favor, and that Su Qiyan would definitely not like such a taciturn, silent, and uninteresting girl.

But Su Qiyan's untimely concern at lunch precisely proved that there exists some kind of unreasonable attraction between men and women.

The two didn't even know each other—

Yet one of them had already started to care about how the other was eating lunch alone.

Even people living by the sea might not be able to care so broadly from the beginning.

"Jiahui!"

A new batch of boys came down from the basketball court, and a boy standing by the rest bench drinking water suddenly waved at the spectator stands.

Ji Jiahui was doing her homework. She looked up and saw it was her middle school classmate Lin Sizhe, and said impatiently: "What?"

"Come down for a bit," the boy said.

Ji Jiahui didn't want to move: "Can't you just say it from there?"

The boy still repeatedly called for her to come down. Ji Jiahui was annoyed and had to put her homework on the chair and go down the stairs to find Lin Sizhe.

Lin Sizhe seemed a bit excited and restless. As people approached, he slightly raised his eyebrows, gesturing towards the audience seats: "Hey, who's that girl with bangs sitting next to Shuangmu? Is she in your class?"

Ji Jiahui heard this and felt exasperated, thinking to herself that no wonder he refused to speak earlier when asked in the audience seats - he was trying to get information about a girl.

Although Ji Jiahui was impatient, she answered in detail: "Xia Zhili. 'Xia' as in summer, 'Zhi' as in cheese, 'Li' as in inside and outside."

Lin Sizhe raised his hand to interrupt: "Wait, what's the name of that girl who ranked first in your class placement test?"

"That's her. Why, interested in the top student?"

Lin Sizhe chuckled and scratched his head: "Nah, just asking for a friend."

Ji Jiahui didn't call him out on it and casually waved her hand as she headed back to the audience seats.

Lin Sizhe circled back to the court, exchanging information with his resting teammates.

As they talked, he stole several glances at the audience seats.

There was a hint of youthful restlessness in his behavior.

Wen Shuangmu found it interesting and asked Ji Jiahui, "What did Lin Sizhe come down to talk to you about?"

Ji Jiahui first glanced at Xia Zhili over Wen Shuangmu's shoulder, then whispered in her ear: "He was asking about Xia Zhili. I bet he wants to pursue her..."

Wen Shuangmu raised her eyebrows slightly, tilting the phone screen resting on her knee at an angle that perfectly captured Xia Zhili's silhouette.

It had to be said that Xia Zhili had a face that could kill without a trace.

Whether it was the height of her nose bridge, the curve of her lips, or the line from her chin to her neck, everything about her was elegantly beautiful.

However, it was only the first day of school, and already two groups of people were interested in Xia Zhili. Even for a female protagonist's halo, this seemed a bit exaggerated.

Wen Shuangmu tapped her fingertip on the side of her phone twice, adjusting the screen to show herself.

Wu Xiaoqi, in a sycophantic tone learned from who knows where: "That's right! Our host is super pretty too!"

Wen Shuangmu felt touched: "Your little mouth is quite pleasing today."

Wu Xiaoqi: "Of course, I'm saying what's in your heart."

Wen Shuangmu: "...Too much talk becomes uninteresting."

On the playground, the group of boys burst into meaningful laughter, apparently discussing some subtle topic.

A basketball suddenly slammed onto the floor in front of them with a dull "thud".

Lin Sizhe was startled and looked up to see Su Qiyan standing lazily three meters away: "What are you chatting about? Let's play another round."

"Oh, oh, coming!" Lin Sizhe didn't think much of it.

The group of boys dispersed and re-entered the court to play ball.

Ji Jiahui, taking a break from her studies, watched the game for a while and commented, "I have to say, that Lu Jing from our class is quite handsome."

"Him?"

Wen Shuangmu shifted her gaze, which had been focused on Su Qiyan, slightly to the side.

Su Qiyan and Lu Jing were on the same team.

Perhaps others couldn't tell, but Wen Shuangmu knew that compared to the first half, Su Qiyan's attacks had become more aggressive in the second half. However, the newly joined boys from Class 1 and Class 2, probably all graduates from Bowen School, kept calling "Brother Jing, Brother Jing, shoot a three-pointer!" habitually passing the ball to Lu Jing, completely ruining the advantage Su Qiyan had created.

Wen Shuangmu shook her head and gave a neutral evaluation: "All bark and no bite."

Ji Jiahui laughed: "He's alright, but he seems to be quite popular."

The class bell rang.

Su Qiyan's team suffered a crushing defeat against Lin Sizhe's.

Wang Chengshuo and Lin Sen, who also graduated from Bowen School with Class 1, started bickering.

"You suck."

"You suck."

"You suck."

"No way, let's play again after school. We didn't even let Brother Jing show his true skills."

"Get lost." Lu Jing laughed as he tossed the ball into Lin Sen's arms, not really upset by their constant teasing.

Su Qiyan didn't participate in their jokes and walked alone towards the rest chairs.

He drank half a bottle of mineral water in one go, then twisted the bottle into a ball and threw it into a nearby trash can.

Wen Shuangmu rarely detected a hint of anger in Su Qiyan's usually calm face.

She told Ji Jiahui to go ahead and stood at the side of the gymnasium, observing Lu Jing with a bit more scrutiny.

It was rare to see someone who could irritate Su Qiyan. He had some skill.

Wu Xiaoqi excitedly asked: "So, host, have you decided to bind Lu Jing as your cultivation target?"

Wen Shuangmu didn't respond, but she caught sight of Lin Sizhe walking by and raised her hand to stop him.

Lin Sizhe looked quite surprised. He asked his companions to wait a moment and walked over to her.

"Sister Shuangmu, you're looking for me?"

"You like Xia Zhili?"

Lin Sizhe was taken aback: "Ah, I was just asking for a friend."

"Is that so."

Wen Shuangmu's gaze still followed Su Qiyan's movements. When he disappeared at the exit, she finally withdrew her gaze. Her eyes crinkled slightly as she looked at Lin Sizhe and said:

"Then why didn't your friend ask about me? Am I not worthy?"

The ceiling lights cast uneven shadows on Wen Shuangmu, making her black pupils seem to dance with light in the sunlight.

Lin Sizhe's heart skipped a beat at the sight.

Wu Xiaoqi: "..."

Host, haven't you misplaced your focus again?