Chapter 18: Handwriting

Chapter 18: Handwriting

Unless something unexpected happened, this rain was going to last for three whole days.

At least, that’s what the weather forecast had said.

The hallways of the school building were already slick with water, wind-scattered leaves and twigs clinging everywhere. Even the classroom itself felt damp and heavy, making almost everyone complain about the downpour.

Umbrellas hung neatly at the back wall of the room, dripping in steady tick-tick-ticks.

Chen Shiyu sat at her desk, chin propped up by one hand as she stared at the curtain of rain outside. Every now and then she tugged at her collar—her clothes clung to her skin, damp and clammy, unbearably uncomfortable.

Her gaze drifted to the back row, where Chen Jing was sitting. Today, she’d worn nothing but the short-sleeved school uniform. The thin fabric, soaked through by the rain, had turned half-transparent, revealing glimpses of her pale skin and the outline of her white underwear underneath.

Shiyu’s eyes snapped away almost immediately, her “little virgin” instinct making her too embarrassed to keep looking.

But Chen Jing herself didn’t look the least bit self-conscious. Maybe she hadn’t even realized how much of a temptation that “half-covered, half-revealed” look was to hormone-fueled high school boys.

“Ugh, if I’d known it’d pour like this, I’d have brought a raincoat! Who knew it was gonna dump so suddenly~”

“Didn’t you check the forecast?”

“Forecasts are never right! What’s the point?”

Her back-row classmates were chatting idly when, all of a sudden, their conversation veered straight toward Chen Shiyu.

“Hey, Shiyu~ someone said they saw Shen Yan holding your hand yesterday!”

Chen Jing reached out and poked Shiyu’s back, her face full of gossiping intent. If she hadn’t been so pretty, people might have even called that expression “lecherous.”

“What’s so strange about that? We’ve known each other for more than ten years. Holding hands isn’t a big deal…” Shiyu tried to argue calmly. “We used to hold hands all the time when we were little.”

Of course, looking back now, that “handholding” had probably just been the innocent, safety-minded kind between neighbors who grew up like siblings.

Damn it, all because of this body’s original owner and her lovesick brain! She’d mistaken Shen Yan as her boyfriend from the start, leaving her stuck with a misreading of the situation!

Now she didn’t even know what attitude she was supposed to have toward him, other than pretending nothing had ever happened.

“But didn’t you used to complain that he was never proactive with you?” Chen Jing tilted her head thoughtfully. “So… does that mean your relationship has actually progressed?”

Progressed?!

Shiyu’s pupils shrank. Her whole body stiffened.

Wait—hold on a second! Was she, the fake “stand-in version” of Chen Shiyu, about to make more progress with Shen Yan than the real one ever had?! She hadn’t even gone out of her way to flirt with him! She’d just been following the original memories!

“Let’s not talk about that,” Shiyu quickly feigned a bashful laugh, trying to steer the topic away. “I was wondering about my deskmate though… Lin Xin. Why is she always absent? It’s so boring in class without her.”

Beside them, Shen Jiayi covered her mouth with a chuckle. “Wow~ you’re actually blushing!”

“So what illness does Lin Xin have, anyway? Did she ever tell you?”

“You’re changing the subject again!”

“…”

But Chen Jing seemed interested in that tangent and rested her chin on her hands, thinking aloud. “I think it’s some kind of rare disease?”

“Don’t tell me it’s ALS or something. She’s been collapsing a lot lately, right? Sometimes she can’t even stand and has to crawl along the floor,” Shen Jiayi chimed in, chattering away. “I just watched a movie about ALS! The main character looked just like her!”

“What was the movie called? Was it good?”

“It made me bawl until my eyes swelled up. But I forgot the title—hold on, let me check my watch history…”

Listening to the two behind her, Chen Shiyu froze.

She hadn’t expected her seatmate to actually be struggling with something so serious.

ALS, huh… A disease with no cure, slowly stripping away a person’s ability to move until even breathing became impossible. Just imagining it was terrifying.

Looks like she really should visit Lin Xin over the weekend. Poor girl.

Even if she was just a fox spirit living with someone else’s memories, Shiyu’s heart softened. She couldn’t help wanting to check in on her.

No—if she went by human terms, she was a fox immortal! That sounded way more dignified.

Shame she had no powers whatsoever, making her no different from an ordinary girl…

Because of the heavy rain, the teacher in charge of morning reading arrived a few minutes late that day.

The math teacher—a thin, wiry middle-aged man—came in and immediately slumped into “slack mode.”

He plopped himself down at the podium, sipped on his goji-berry tea, and started grading homework. He didn’t care if students were scrolling on their phones or copying homework right under his nose, so long as the classroom stayed relatively quiet.

Chen Shiyu, meanwhile, was busily working on a stack of Huanggang practice papers. If she finished a few pages early, she’d have less homework weighing her down later.

“Chen Shiyu, come up here for a moment.”

Her head jerked up in shock. In a split second, her mind raced through every bad thing she’d done—this life, her last life, and even back when she was still a fox.

—It couldn’t be that during one of her late-night raids, she’d stolen food from the math teacher’s house, right?!

Standing in front of a natural “superior” like a teacher, Shiyu couldn’t help feeling guilty. She shuffled to the front with her head lowered, eyes darting nervously around.

“Take a look at your homework. Do you even understand what you wrote?”

“Eh?”

The math teacher slapped the desk with irritation. “Having fun over the holiday is fine, but homework should be done seriously! Who exactly are you trying to fool here? You’re only fooling your own future!”

Shiyu peeked at her workbook. To be honest… even she could barely read it.

Hey, it’s not her fault! After university she hadn’t picked up a pen in years! During the May holiday her head had been all over the place, and she’d just copied answers she found online, half-focused and absent-minded.

“Look at how neatly you used to write before,” the teacher said, tone heavy with disappointment.

Shiyu didn’t argue. She kept her head bowed, showing the perfect “I admit my mistake” attitude.

Her naturally downturned eyes already made her look delicate and pitiful. With her brows lowered like that, she seemed so wronged it looked like she might burst into tears at any moment.

The teacher only needed a single glance before his heart softened. His scolding fizzled out instantly.

“…Just pay more attention next time. Go sit down.”

“…Okay.”

Shiyu exhaled in relief, jogged back to her seat, and pulled out some of her older exam papers.

She frowned the moment she looked at the handwriting.

The original girl’s handwriting was way too neat and graceful—delicate strokes like a refined little lady. But even when she tried her best, her handwriting still came out rough and careless, more like the scrawl of some boorish guy.

Anyone could tell at a glance they’d been written by two different people. Luckily, none of the teachers had paid much attention so far, just chalking it up to her being sloppy.

Learning to mimic that neat, girlish handwriting shouldn’t be too hard… after all, this body had long been used to it. The muscle memory of the girl’s hand was still there, shaping her writing.

Shiyu found herself wondering what kind of person she was becoming.

A blend of two lives? A hybrid shadow of herself and the girl?

She looked down. At some point, her knees had come together, legs slanted neatly to the side. Her back was straight, posture elegant and demure.

Her fingers absently twirled a lock of hair by her cheek. Adjusting her glasses was a habit she’d had for more than ten years—yet in just a few days, it was already being replaced.

Even her thoughts, subtle and sensitive as they’d become, seemed like they were borrowed from the girl who had lived here before.

Shiyu pressed her lips together, then deliberately spread her knees apart, sitting wide-legged like a guy.

It felt like a tiny act of rebellion.