The Price of Becoming a Normie 01

Seeing that Chen Zhi still hadn't made a move, Lin Wanwan's expression stiffened.

This wasn't how the script was supposed to go!

According to Chen Xinyu, shouldn't Chen Zhi be rushing over with a heartbroken look right now, scooping her up in a princess carry and gently asking, "Does it hurt?"

"It really hurts~"

Lin Wanwan decided to dial it up. Pouting, she made her voice even more sickeningly sweet, "My legs are like jelly from the fall, I can't get up~"

Chen Zhi sighed.

He walked over and crouched down under Lin Wanwan's expectant gaze.

Then.

He reached out a hand and felt her forehead.

"Strange, you don't have a fever."

Chen Zhi looked at her like he was caring for the mentally challenged. "Or have you been watching some weird TV shows lately?"

Lin Wanwan's act instantly crumbled.

She swatted his hand away, dropping the weak and helpless act, and jumped up from the ground, puffing her cheeks in anger.

"Chen Zhi! You have no heart!"

Lin Wanwan patted the dust off her pants, returning to her usual feisty self. "I fell down, and you didn't even feel bad for me!"

"I feel bad, of course I do."

Chen Zhi stood up, holding back a laugh. "I feel bad for the floor. It's a miracle it didn't crack after being smashed by a massive lead weight like you."

"You're a lead weight! Your whole family is a lead weight!"

Furious enough to bite, Lin Wanwan raised her foot to kick his shin.

Chen Zhi dodged nimbly, casually grabbing her wrist. With a slight pull, he drew his bristling childhood friend in front of him.

"Alright, stop messing around."

Chen Zhi dropped his smile and looked down at her. "Why on earth are you acting like a fake innocent damsel out of nowhere?"

Lin Wanwan struggled a couple of times but couldn't break free. A wave of grievance suddenly welled up inside her.

This time, her eyes genuinely turned red.

"Who asked you to transfer to Class One..."

She sniffled. "Pei Ningxue is in Class One, and Li Zhiyi is in Class One too. They're both so amazing, and they get to be with you every day. I'm all the way down on the second floor, so far away from you..."

"Chen Xinyu said boys all like weak, delicate girls, so I wanted to try..."

The more she spoke, the more embarrassed she felt. She buried her face in Chen Zhi's chest, her tears dampening a small patch of his school uniform.

Chen Zhi froze for a moment.

He hadn't expected that behind this little farce lay the insecurities of this silly girl.

"You're so silly."

Chen Zhi sighed helplessly. He raised a hand and rubbed her head, messing up her already untidy hair even more.

"Are you going to believe whatever nonsense that idiot Chen Xinyu says?"

Wrapping his other arm around her shoulders, he led her toward the bike shed. "Besides, do you think I'm the type of guy who likes that fake innocent act?"

Lin Wanwan looked up, her eyes red as she stared at him. "Then what kind do you like?"

"Me? Well..."

Chen Zhi dragged out his words as he walked over to his electric scooter. He threw a leg over it and patted the back seat.

"Hop on."

Lin Wanwan obediently sat on the back, familiarly wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I have rather hardcore tastes."

Chen Zhi twisted the throttle, and the scooter zipped forward. His laughing voice carried back on the wind.

"I like the fierce ones, the idiots who kick people at the drop of a hat, have low IQs, and get jealous easily."

Lin Wanwan blanked for two seconds.

Then she gave Chen Zhi's back a vicious pinch.

"Chen Zhi! Who are you calling an idiot!"

"Ow, ow, ow! Let go! We're gonna crash!"

As the sun set, the boy's miserable wails and the girl's angry scoldings intertwined in the air.

At the fifth-floor stairwell, a slender figure slowly walked down.

Li Zhiyi tightly clutched her phone. The screen was still lit, displaying a message Chen Zhi had just sent, offering to treat her to dinner.

She looked at the empty corridor, then in the direction where Chen Zhi and Lin Wanwan had disappeared.

The setting sun fell upon her, stretching her shadow out long and lonely.

"It's... it's okay,"

Li Zhiyi whispered to herself. She tucked her phone into her uniform pocket, lowered her head, and silently walked in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the teaching building.

Chen Xinyu held a copy of "The Bossy School Prince's Delicate Little Wife" in her hands. Watching the two of them ride off, she sank into deep thought.

"Weird, the book clearly says this move works every time..."

She scratched her head. "Could it be because Wanwan didn't fall gracefully enough? Next time, I should have her try a flat-ground trip into a triple-and-a-half twist followed by a Thomas flair?"

By now, the sun had completely sunk below the horizon, leaving only a smear of burning embers in the sky.

Chen Zhi stopped his scooter at the bottom of the apartment building, propping it up with one foot.

"We're here, get off."

Lin Wanwan dawdled as she got off the back seat. Gripping her backpack straps, she looked back at him with every step.

"So you're coming to pick me up for evening self-study later?"

"Yes, yes, yes. Hurry up and go home to eat."

Chen Zhi waved his hand as if shooing a fly.

Watching Lin Wanwan's figure disappear into the stairwell, the lazy expression on Chen Zhi's face instantly vanished.

He raised his wrist and checked his watch.

6:05 PM.

Evening self-study started at 7:00 PM.

Subtracting the travel time and the time needed to pick her back up, he had an operational window of less than forty minutes.

Chen Zhi whipped out his phone, his fingers flying across the screen as he tapped on Li Zhiyi's profile picture.

[Longjiang Pork Trotter Rice, come quick.]

The next second, Chen Zhi twisted the throttle.

The electric scooter shot off like a wild stallion, weaving left and right through the evening rush hour traffic.

For the sake of this pork trotter rice, he was busting out a lifetime's worth of driving skills.

Ten minutes later.

The scooter came to a steady halt in front of the "Longjiang Pork Trotter Rice" restaurant on the street behind the school.

Chen Zhi wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a long breath.

Perfect.

Two minutes faster than expected.

He strode into the shop and skillfully found a window seat.

"Boss, two orders of pork trotter rice! Extra meat on one, extra veggies on the other, both large portions!"

"Coming right up!"

Just as Chen Zhi snapped a pair of disposable chopsticks apart, the wind chime at the door rang.

He casually looked up.

But his movements froze mid-air.

A young girl was standing at the doorway.

Li Zhiyi wasn't wearing her baggy blue-and-white school uniform.

She had changed into an emerald green dress. The hem fell just past her knees, revealing her fair, slender calves.

It was a fresh, botanical green that made her already pale skin seem to glow.

Her hair wasn't tied up in its usual ponytail; instead, it fell smoothly over her shoulders, the ends slightly curled.

Standing at the entrance of the noisy, greasy little diner, she looked like a delicate daffodil that had accidentally wandered into the mortal realm.

The chopsticks of several boys eating nearby stopped moving, every one of them staring in dumbfounded awe.