Chapter 23

The next day, when she returned to class, everything had already gone back to normal.

Lin Mo was worried about her and took advantage of a break between lessons to come over and ask, “Class President, were you okay yesterday?”

For the third time, Chu Yunmiao replied, “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

Lin Mo had already asked twice on the communicator before, but because she knew her friend was only concerned about her, Chu Yunmiao didn’t sound the least bit impatient when she answered.

Lin Mo patted her chest. “I still need to see it with my own eyes before I can feel relieved.”

She muttered, “You have no idea how exaggerated that Omega girl from the Fang family made it sound. She said you fainted in the Administrative Building and got carried off by an instructor, hahaha, I’m dying. How could something like that ever happen to you?”

Chu Yunmiao: “……”

She turned her face away as if nothing had happened, with no intention of responding.

After confirming that Chu Yunmiao really was in good shape, Lin Mo finally let out the breath she’d been holding. “It’s over now, and we weren’t affected by that awful perfume at all. That’s a huge relief.” She flicked her hair and invited Chu Yunmiao, “Come on, Class President, let’s go do strength training in Area C together.”

Chu Yunmiao was just about to refuse when a familiar voice came from behind her.

“She’s not going.”

Chu Yunmiao and Lin Mo turned to look and saw Yu Changning walking toward them in a crisp, sharp uniform. The ever-brisk Instructor Yu gave the Imperial Crown Princess a deep look, then shifted her gaze and let it land lightly on Lin Mo. “Are you very free?”

Lin Mo even held her breath a little.

She straightened her back. “Reporting, Instructor, no. I, I was just about to go carry out my training plan.”

Yu Changning lifted her chin. “Then go. Don’t interfere with the other students’ training.”

Lin Mo looked at Chu Yunmiao, full of hope that Chu Yunmiao would help explain a few things so this difficult instructor would understand she wasn’t disrupting anyone.

Unfortunately, the lifesaving straw she was looking at didn’t receive a single plea for help.

Chu Yunmiao had her head slightly bowed, her gaze unfocused, as though she had drifted into some kind of daze.

After two seconds of silence, Lin Mo finally couldn’t hold out any longer and reluctantly answered, “Yes, Instructor.”

With that, she sighed and walked off alone toward the strength-training area.

She’d only taken two steps when Yu Changning called after her again.

“You wait.”

Lin Mo turned back, confused. “Instructor?”

Yu Changning arched a brow and looked down at her. “As a student of Huaqi University, I hope you can have stronger safety awareness. Spreading other students’ personal information not only violates the laws of the Empire, it also violates the school’s rules... mm?”

She had only gotten halfway through when an arm from the side caught hold of hers. Yu Changning had no choice but to stop her lecture and turn her head toward Chu Yunmiao.

Chu Yunmiao lowered her voice and warned through gritted teeth, in a tone only the two of them could hear, “Do——n’t——say——it——any——more——”

From Yu Changning’s angle, she could perfectly take in the Crown Princess’s embarrassed state.

The bright red on her face had spread from her cheeks all the way to her neck, and even the entire side of her neck had flushed a faint pink, like a flower bud just opening in spring; there was no need to touch it, because even the slightest breeze seemed as if it would make it tremble. Yu Changning couldn’t help imagining the soft gland hidden beneath the school uniform, and whether the scenery there was also in spring at this very moment.

Her lips curved. In a good mood, she let Lin Mo off the hook. “It’s fine. You can go.”

Lin Mo didn’t know what was going on, but her instinct told her to leave quickly. She hurriedly answered and turned to go.

The class gossip queen, Stephanie, just happened to see this scene. She was headed to the training area too, and since her route overlapped with Lin Mo’s for a while, she immediately closed in on her with great fanfare and asked, “What happened? Did you make trouble again and have the Class President clean up your mess?”

Lin Mo was deflated. She shook her head. “I didn’t...”

Stephanie rolled her eyes at her. “I saw it all.

“The instructor was going to lecture you, and the Class President stopped her. What exactly did the instructor say? Give me the scoop so I can be prepared too.”

Lin Mo ran a hand through her hair. “She told me to pay attention to... to spreading other students’ information around.” She frowned, thoroughly confused. “When did I ever spread other students’ information? I never did...”

As she said that, she suddenly remembered something and had an inspired realization. “If I’m really going to talk about it... I did send the Class President’s contact info to someone last night.”

Stephanie clicked her tongue. “Then isn’t that your own fault?”

Lin Mo looked a little wronged. “That person is the younger sister of my childhood friend, an Omega girl from the same year as us. I only gave her the contact info because I saw how worried she was about the Class President. Besides, the girl even came to complain to me later and said the Class President didn’t accept her friend request at all; that shouldn’t be dangerous, should it?” Then another question surfaced in her mind. “Even if it was my fault... how did the instructor know I sent the Class President’s contact info to someone else?”

Stephanie’s eyes lit up, as if she had suddenly grasped the key to the whole matter.

She stroked her chin. “The Class President and the instructor... have a really good relationship!”

Lin Mo found that a little odd, and answered perfunctorily, “I guess so.”

But Stephanie wasn’t letting her off so easily. “Think about it. If the instructor knew about this, then she must have been right next to the Class President at the time, or the Class President told her about it herself. Whichever it is, doesn’t that prove their relationship is far from ordinary? And also...” She dragged out the last syllable, deliberately building Lin Mo’s suspense before continuing, “The Class President is always very nice to Omegas. An Omega has even given her a love letter before; even when she rejected them, she did it in a way that never made anyone feel bad. So why would she refuse to accept your childhood friend’s little sister’s concern, to the point of not even approving the friend request? Don’t you think there’s something fishy about that?”

Lin Mo opened her mouth, but had no idea what to say. After a moment, she followed along and asked, “What kind of fishy?”

Stephanie curved her lips. “If I’m not mistaken, refusing the other party probably wasn’t the Class President’s intention. And...”

She didn’t finish the rest. Instead, she gave Lin Mo a mischievous eyebrow raise, the implication obvious.

Lin Mo: “...”

Of course she could understand Stephanie’s hint, but that only made her already muddled brain even more of a mess. The training area was already right in front of them. She took a deep breath and shoved all those bizarre thoughts out of her head, then glared at Stephanie and warned, “What nonsense are you talking about?! Stop making baseless guesses!”

Stephanie was unconvinced. “You think it’s baseless?”

“Of, of course it is!” Lin Mo stated her position immediately, but for some reason, even she felt that her own tone was oddly guilty. All those strange details she’d noticed about how Yu Changning and Chu Yunmiao interacted flashed through her mind one by one, and she silently swallowed.

Stephanie glanced at the time and had no choice but to give up on digging deeper into the juicy relationship between their instructor and Class President. “Fine, fine, I surrender. I’m leaving. Today’s training plan won’t be easy.”

With that, she patted her backside and left, leaving Lin Mo standing dazed at the entrance to the strength-training area.

Meanwhile.

After Lin Mo left, Chu Yunmiao finally calmed down. She realized her hands were still gripping Yu Changning, and belatedly understood her own loss of composure. She coughed twice, sheepishly loosened her fingers, and let her arms drop unnaturally to her sides.

She had to admit that she was becoming more and more unrestrained in front of Yu Changning. She didn’t know why, but whenever she was with Yu Changning, she often forgot she was the Imperial Crown Princess and the Class President of Class 1; it was as if she were just some little girl, blithely showing her temper at every turn and expecting the other party to lower herself to accommodate her.

At the thought of that, Chu Yunmiao’s face went red and white in turns.

She urgently wanted to escape from Yu Changning’s side. “I, I’m going to train too!”

“Wait.” Yu Changning called her back.

Chu Yunmiao turned around and bared her small canine teeth in an attempt at menace that wasn’t all that threatening. “What is it?”

Yu Changning opened her light-brain terminal and tapped a few times, looking completely businesslike. “The exclusive targeted training plan I made for you has been completed. Starting today, you’ll follow this new training plan.”

She sent the file to her. “I’ve sent the document to you. Receive it, and if you have any questions, you can discuss them with me.”

Chu Yunmiao froze for a moment. “Ah...”

Yu Changning looked at her. “Any problem?”

Chu Yunmiao came back to herself and shook her head. “No.”

She had thought Yu Changning had stopped her for a private matter, but it turned out Yu Changning was only fulfilling her duties as an instructor. That made Chu Yunmiao feel a little guilty, as if she had judged a gentleman’s heart with a petty mind.

Making a customized training plan for her counted as extra effort on Yu Changning’s part. Chu Yunmiao took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

Yu Changning took two steps closer and looked down at the crown of her head, feeling a little itchy inside. “What was that expression just now? What did you think I was stopping you to say?”

Chu Yunmiao’s face went red again.

She found that ever since Yu Changning reappeared, she’d been blushing far more often. In the past, she wouldn’t even blush once in a year; now...

And yet, five years ago, when they were still childhood friends, she hadn’t been like this either.

Chu Yunmiao couldn’t make sense of the strange feeling. She could only answer vaguely, “Nothing. I was distracted. Sorry, Instructor.”

Yu Changning traced the contours of her face with her eyes, her voice unexpectedly gentle. “It’s fine.”

She said softly, “I’d also very much like to discuss with Student Chu the things that would make you lose focus, but this is training time; I’m afraid that wouldn’t be appropriate.”

Chu Yunmiao’s breath caught.

The way that was said... made it sound as though she was the one who wanted to discuss those distracting things.

The Imperial Crown Princess’s already flushed face grew even hotter. She looked up in embarrassment and shot Yu Changning a glare, then pressed her lips together and walked off without another word.

Yu Changning stood where she was, smiling as she watched her disappear around the corner before slowly drawing her gaze back. She stretched, then unhurriedly walked over to Ling Hongqiang, who was not far away practicing combat.

“Ling Hongqiang.”

Ling Hongqiang instantly tensed up so badly he could barely speak. “I-Instructor!”

Yu Changning lifted her eyes. “The arc of your side kick isn’t good enough. Did you slack off on leg training during the holiday? Do you think you can hit an enemy’s vital point by relying on brute force alone?”

Ling Hongqiang was stunned for a moment.

He knew that when Yu Changning came looking for him, it had to be to point out problems in his training; he was used to that.

But...

This was the first time he’d ever heard their instructor point out his mistakes in such a gentle tone. It was like the old Yu Changning was strictly business, but today, because she was in such a good mood, she was three points gentler toward their troublesome students.

Ling Hongqiang was flattered beyond belief. “I understand, Instructor.”

Yu Changning narrowed her eyes slightly. “You understand, and you’re still standing there? After today’s training plan is over, add one extra hour of leg training on your own.”

Ling Hongqiang nearly burst into tears. “I-I understand, Instructor.”

Gentleness or whatever; it simply didn’t exist at all!