Chapter 8: Yang Qi?

Chapter 8: Yang Qi?

The last time—no, the only time—she had ever stepped on a stage was back in kindergarten, when she’d been forced to do some group calisthenics…

Chen Shiyu nervously gnawed on her thumbnail, the other hand doodling aimlessly on her scrap paper. Her brows had been locked in a frown all morning.

Forget it, there’s still more than half a year left! The program hasn’t even been decided yet.

Besides, by then she’d either already swapped back into a man’s body, or been fully assimilated by the memories of this girl’s body. Either way, going on stage to dance probably wouldn’t feel nearly as unbearable as it did right now.

Ugh, this sucks…

Five minutes before morning reading began, the homeroom teacher arrived.

She was a middle-aged woman in a long black dress, with a thin face and a perpetually stern expression. Smiling wasn’t in her vocabulary.

A moment ago, the classroom had been loud enough to blow the roof off, but the instant she appeared, every student scrambled back to their seats. Books flipped open, pens were snatched up, and everyone suddenly put on an exaggerated act of “serious studying.”

Chen Shiyu shrank her neck like a quail and quickly shoved her phone deep into the drawer.

She flipped through her textbook at random, trying to piece together fragments of her past life’s high school memories with the limited knowledge from the girl’s memories.

High school again, huh…

Her impression of those years wasn’t exactly bad, but when she tried to recall the details, it was all a blur. Those three years felt like a dream that passed in the blink of an eye.

The bell rang for morning reading.

Her deskmate, unsurprisingly, was late again. If memory served, that was a flat-chested, short-haired girl with a bit of a tomboy vibe—always rowdy and goofy, but with poor health, constantly taking sick leave. Still, her grades weren’t bad.

“Teacher, did Lin Xin take another sick day?”

When the homeroom teacher walked past her desk, Chen Shiyu put on a look of genuine concern and asked warmly.

“Mhm. She’s been hospitalized again.”

“I’ll visit her when I get the chance.”

That was how her character was supposed to respond—but in truth, Chen Shiyu had zero intention of going to visit.

“Good. Then you can bring her the test papers.”

“Eh…” She froze for a second. “Alright… but I probably won’t be free until the weekend.”

Seriously? Two sentences in and she’d already saddled herself with an errand?

The worst part was that she never knew how to refuse. No matter how flimsy the excuse, turning people down always made her feel guilty, like she was the one in the wrong.

“Class begins.”

The teacher took her place at the podium, and morning reading morphed straight into a Chinese lesson.

“Good morning, teacher~”

The class gave their uneven greeting, and silence quickly settled in, broken only by the rustling of pages.

Chen Shiyu let out a quiet breath of relief. At least in class, she didn’t need to keep that fake smile plastered on her face. No need to tread on eggshells around unfamiliar classmates, no need to agonize for half an hour over every single sentence.

Her posture slumped, cheek resting on one hand, fingers idly twirling a strand of hair as she stared at the blackboard. Her mind, however, wandered far away.

Just a few days ago, when she was holed up at home, she could barely drag herself out of bed. She’d been hazy, lethargic, with zero energy to do anything.

But after that brief bus ride, resting with her eyes closed while sitting on Shen Yan’s lap for ten minutes or so, she’d felt oddly refreshed. Even now, listening to the dull monotone of the teacher’s lecture, she wasn’t sleepy at all.

And back at Shen Yan’s house, that nap she’d taken had been so blissfully deep and comfortable that she’d woken up energized for the entire day.

It was almost like… she’d been replenished by something.

Chen Shiyu had read more than her fair share of novels. Words like mana and youki flashed across her mind, and considering she was technically a fox spirit right now, could it be… yang qi?

Whatever it was, it seemed to be some kind of energy that kept her spirit sharp and clear.

Instinctively, she glanced back at Shen Yan—only to meet his gaze head-on. Startled, she whipped her head down.

Why’s he looking at me?

I’ve been acting totally normal, right? The persona’s holding steady, right??

—Wait. Is it because I haven’t been talking to him much?

Watching the flustered little fox scratching her head in panic, Shen Yan silently rolled his eyes.

Shen Yan had half-expected the fox spirit to eventually grow bored in class and doze off—maybe even embarrass herself by revealing her identity in front of everyone.

But no, she actually managed to sit there with that serious face, pretending she understood senior-year Chinese literature.

Of course, it didn’t last. Before long, Chen Shiyu’s “focused listening” melted away into picking at her nails, and then into a dead-eyed, soul-crushed expression.

There was a faint air of… serene despair about her.

Compared to her usual lively self, the contrast was almost too much—it was so ridiculous he had to hold back a laugh.

Weirdly enough, Shen Yan even felt a sense of satisfaction.

That sly fox had stolen his childhood friend’s body.

Now? She was the one suffering.

Watching her stumble and flounder… yeah, that felt good.

The morning reading period finally came to an end.

Stretching, Shen Yan headed out of the classroom. He leaned against the railing, arms resting lazily as his gaze wandered over the sports field below.

The crisp morning breeze brushed past him, untangling the stiffness from sitting in class.

“Shen Yan~”

The breeze carried with it a faint, refreshing fragrance—light, familiar, but with a subtle new undertone that made his heart skip a beat.

He turned his head.

Chen Shiyu was standing beside him, mirroring his posture against the railing. The wind teased her bangs aside, revealing a pale, smooth forehead and delicate ears.

“…What is it?”

At school, of course, the two of them couldn’t act too close. Even if all their classmates had long assumed they were a couple, appearances had to be maintained.

“Well… why were you staring at me in class?” Chen Shiyu asked bluntly.

“Because you’re cute.”

Her face flushed so fast it was almost visible by the second, crimson spilling across her cheeks and climbing all the way to the tips of her ears. She looked like a ripe fruit, dewy enough to squeeze juice from.

—Huh. She’s actually pretty innocent, isn’t she?

The thought made Shen Yan suddenly want to tease her. “What? I’m not allowed to look if you’re cute?”

“T-That’s…”

In truth, Chen Shiyu was just dying of embarrassment. Her toes curled inside her shoes, and she couldn’t think of a single comeback.

So she panicked and threw out a diversion. “This weekend, will you come with me to visit Lin Xin at the hospital?”

“Why do you always drag me along?” Shen Yan sighed helplessly. “I was planning to stay home and play games.”

“She’s my deskmate, y’know~ Besides, we could swing by the city after. Games aren’t that fun, are they?”

She lied smoothly, tilting her head with just the right amount of curiosity. “By the way, earlier you mentioned something about… a Desert Eagle taking down four people? What does that mean? Is it impressive?”

To a man, those words were nothing short of blasphemy!

“Hold on, hold on, I’ll show you!” Shen Yan whipped out his phone, all fired up. “Here—look! I recorded the whole highlight!”

“Wow! That’s amazing!”

“Of course it is!”

The moment the conversation shifted to games, both of them visibly relaxed. For Chen Shiyu, it was a safe zone, and for Shen Yan, it was the perfect chance to flaunt his skills to his childhood friend.

And when Chen Shiyu gazed at him with wide, admiring eyes, Shen Yan felt like he was floating straight to the heavens.

His old childhood friend had never entertained him like this. In fact, she used to scold him whenever he bragged, dismissing games as a waste of time.

But this fox spirit? She’d nailed it perfectly. She’d sniffed out his weakness in an instant.

“Let me try next time?”

“No problem!”