Miss Cousin is Always Busy - Chapter 36

Jun Zishu inwardly sighed at Qin Youran's behavior. She couldn't help but lament the tragic fate of her mission targets as yet another one had fallen in love with her.

[Isn't this great? With this, we can have an easier time completing our mission now. Your mission target can also acquire herself a partner who will never betray her.]

I might've treated them with sincerity, but I don't like them the way they like me. In a certain sense, this can be considered a tragic fate for them.

[It's fine so long as you treat them well. Also, you only have yourself to blame for being so charming and attractive. Just go with the flow.]

When Little Fairy recalled the evaluation Jun Zishu received in the previous mission and the division chief's instructions, she became even firmer in her stance and persevered in persuading Jun Zishu.

In response, Jun Zishu raised her eyebrow in silent acquiescence.

[It is a good thing that they like you. They will only grow sad if you refuse their love. Moreover, unlike other fate changers who only focus on acting out their roles, you have invested real feelings into your work. Every person has a different way of completing their missions. Take one of the top-performing fate changers, for example. He never makes any direct contact with his mission targets, let alone forming relationships with them.]

Hm? How can he change his mission targets' fates if he doesn't interact with them?

[Apart from his first mission, he would always start his missions from infancy. Then, he will make use of various ways to improve his standing in his mission worlds, become a bigshot there, and secretly manipulate or influence his mission targets from behind the scenes.]

Tsk. What a troublesome process. Doesn't he find it tiresome to do that all the time?

[Probably not? Maybe he enjoys the feeling of slowly leveling up in different worlds.]

Fate changes are allowed to determine the ages they begin their missions at?

[Yes, but it is extremely harmful to a person's spirit. A child's body isn't meant to hold an adult's soul, after all. This is also why that person always has to endure severe headaches for at least three years whenever he starts a new mission.]

What a masochist.

[Thus far, I have always set your entry date one day before the original body's death. This is also the safest entry method.]

Keep it that way.

Unlike the masochistic fate changer who prioritized himself over his mission targets, Jun Zishu placed her priority on her mission targets instead.

[So, do you approve of being together with the mission target now, Host?]

Perhaps.

After Qin Youran washed her face and sorted out her emotions, she calmly walked out of the bathroom.

"I don't think I have any clothes I can wear for today," Qin Youran said as she pulled on her shirt and looked at the panda print on it.

"You can wear the one you wore yesterday. I think it should have been cleaned and dried already. I'll go ask about it after I wash up."

"Okay."

Qin Youran inwardly grew excited when she heard Jun Zishu's suggestion. Although the matching blouses they bought yesterday were meant for close friends, there would be no flaw in calling them couple outfits, either.

After seeing Jun Zishu walk into the bathroom and close the door, Qin Youran sat on the bed and started making plans for the future.

Qin Youran felt that she shouldn't rush things. The bookworm had originally been a late bloomer in social interactions, and it didn't seem like she had developed any ideas for romance yet. If she eagerly confessed now, the bookworm would probably reject her.

Since they would be spending the next three years of high school together, Qin Youran felt that she could take her time influencing and changing Jun Zishu's thoughts. Specifically, she could manipulate Jun Zishu's social circle, ensuring that she would always be by Jun Zishu's side while keeping potential love rivals away from the bookworm. She could even extend this project of hers all the way to university so long as she got into the same university as Jun Zishu.

Qin Youran also decided to treat Jun Zishu well and slowly escalate the level of intimacy she shared with the bookworm. She would make Jun Zishu get used to her presence and ambiguous actions.

Moreover, she could also purchase some items for couples in the name of best friends, preventing anyone from noticing her ulterior motives.

Qin Youran silently smiled. She found that she was a very naughty girl.

However, she couldn't help it. She had to take such measures if she wanted to have her little rabbit jump into her bowl.

…

The birthday present Qin Youran got for Jun Zishu was a jade necklace.

On the day after Jun Zishu's birthday, Qin Youran had left Jun Zishu's home early in the morning and specifically visited a temple to buy the necklace.

Although Qin Youran had never believed in the existence of gods before, she decided to believe in them this time.

Jun Zishu was relatively surprised when she received the necklace. She thought that this was a gift only elders would give.

Also, Jun Zishu couldn't help but wonder if every mission target liked giving gifts meant to go around the neck.

In the previous world, Jun Zishu had also received a jade necklace from Ning Qinghuan.

The three-day holiday quickly passed. After Qin Youran and Jun Zishu returned to school, they began their daily routine of studying once more.

Qin Youran focused even more on her studies compared to the previous month. No longer did she harbor any thoughts of complaining. Since the person she liked was an academic goddess, she decided that she, too, needed to work hard on her studies. Moreover, because Jun Zishu liked studying, Qin Youran also started liking it gradually.

Qin Youran had to admit that working hard to improve oneself for the sake of the person one liked was a pleasant experience.

"Hey, explain this question to me."

Qin Youran pushed her workbook to Jun Zishu and asked the latter for help.

"From this picture, we can see that Point A's coordinates are negative 150 degrees longitude and negative 63 degrees latitude. So, Point A is northeast of Point B..."

"Okay, I got it. Thanks."

Qin Youran nodded to express her understanding and kissed Jun Zishu on the cheek as if it were a matter of course. Then, she retracted her workbook and continued doing her homework.

Meanwhile, Jun Zishu indifferently wiped her cheek and resumed reading her book.

Qin Youran's ambushes had been going on for the past few days already, so Jun Zishu was no longer surprised by the girl's antics.

However, even though Jun Zishu knew that Qin Youran was blatantly taking liberties with her, she had to feign ignorance on the surface and play along with Qin Youran's so-called "interaction between close friends."

…

When the lunchtime bell rang, the sound of chairs and tables scraping against the floor immediately filled the room.

"Let's go have lunch," Qin Youran said as she tidied up her desk and stood up.

"Mhm."

Jun Zishu stored her belongings in her desk drawer and followed Qin Youran out of the classroom.

Yunying High had a massive campus. The cafeteria, an integral part of the school, naturally occupied a wide area as well. The cafeteria was divided into three floors, and the higher one went up the building, the higher the prices of the food sold. Naturally, the quality of the food and interior decorations also increased as one went up the building.

Of course, that wasn't to say that the food sold on the first floor was unpalatable. Yunying High wouldn't mistreat its students like that. Instead, the school had only divided its cafeteria into three levels with different specifications for the sake of satisfying certain students' psychological needs,

Qin Youran naturally chose to dine on the third floor, and Jun Zishu naturally chose to follow her.

When the two arrived, quite many people had already arrived before them. However, as the place was large, there were still many open seats. So, after buying their lunch, they sat around a table by the window and started eating.

Shortly after they started eating, Qin Youran saw someone she did not wish to see the most.

"It's rare that I see you two eat in the cafeteria. Why don't we eat together?" Cheng Chaoyang asked as he approached Jun Zishu and Qin Youran with his food. However, before even getting an answer, he had already placed his food on the table and sat beside Jun Zishu.

"I refuse. There are many other seats available around us," Qin Youran said, gnashing her teeth in anger.

"We have always been eating in the cafeteria," Jun Zishu said. Then, she shifted aside slightly, putting more distance between herself and Cheng Chaoyang.

"That's a pity. I've never come across you two here before. But we can eat together more often from now on."

In reality, Cheng Chaoyang had long since known that Qin Youran and Jun Zishu would have their lunch in the third-floor cafeteria. He had even seen the two here many times before. It was just that he never dared to approach them.

"We politely refuse your offer," Qin Youran coldly said, her patience running low.

"We're friends, so what's wrong with eating together?"

"Who's friends with you?"

"I might not be friends with you, but I am friends with Jiayao."

Cheng Chaoyang ignored Qin Youran's cold glare and smiled brightly at Jun Zishu. He felt that his Little Cutie had become even cuter after not seeing her for some time.

"It's fine. We can eat together," Jun Zishu said.

Hearing this, Qin Youran let out a snort and resumed eating. Had she known something like this would happen, she would've sat beside Jun Zishu instead. Although there was a huge gap between Jun Zishu and Cheng Chaoyang, she still found it infuriating that someone else was sitting next to her beloved.

"Yinglan, you came to eat in the cafeteria as well? Come sit with us!"

At this time, Cheng Chaoyang noticed his good friend Li Yinglan walking nearby with a tray of food in his hands, so he decided to call out to him.

Meanwhile, Li Yinglan was momentarily stunned when he turned toward Cheng Chaoyang and saw Qin Youran sitting at the same table.

"Why don't you two sit at another table, then? Wouldn't that be better?"

Qin Youran did not expect to meet her ex-boyfriend here, so she quickly spoke up to avoid letting Li Yinglan sit with them.

Cheng Chaoyang hesitated when he heard Qin Youran's words. However, after reluctantly glancing at Jun Zishu, he eventually chose to stand up from his seat.

He would've never opened his mouth had he known this would happen. Now, though, he had lost a good opportunity to get closer to Jun Zishu. Although he very much wished to prioritize his potential mate over his friend, it evidently wasn't appropriate for him to do so in the current situation.

"Is it convenient for us to eat together? We're still friends anyway, right?" Li Yinglan asked, his eyes fixated on Qin Youran.

Qin Youran felt her head aching when she heard Li Yinglan's words. She really did not wish to interact with her ex-boyfriend while she was interacting with her beloved. Not to mention, there was also her love rival present in the mix. This was an incredibly awkward situation for her.

However, even though they were no longer dating, Qin Youran still treated Li Yinglan as a friend, so she couldn't just brush him off like a stranger. Thus…

"You two sit together, then. We'll switch to another table," Qin Youran said to Cheng Chaoyang before going to another table with Li Yinglan.

Seeing this, Cheng Chaoyang happily switched seats and sat across from Jun Zishu.

Subsequently, an awkward situation ensued where Jun Zishu expressionlessly ate her food while Cheng Chaoyang ate his food with a wide smile on his face. In the meantime, Qin Youran and Li Yinglan faced each other silently.

After this incident, Qin Youran decided that she would start eating her lunch in the dormitory instead.