After quickly finishing the lunch Xu Baoying had brought back, Zhu Yaya rolled up her sleeves. Planning to take advantage of the quiet period with few people around, she decided to start cleaning from the women's restroom on the top floor, the fifth floor.
Zhu Yaya thought it would be easy and didn't insist on Xu Baoying helping her, choosing to clean alone. It was just a women's restroom—she had cleaned plenty of assigned areas before!
However, after cleaning the fifth-floor restroom, she was filled with despair. In that short time, her nose, her eyes, and her stamina had all suffered immense devastation.
Why? Why? Zhu Yaya felt like screaming, possessed by the spirit of a dramatic actor. Why can't people just use the toilet properly!
With a greenish face, Zhu Yaya hurriedly finished cleaning the fifth-floor restroom, dragged her mop out, and escaped. Using the walk down the stairs, she desperately breathed in the fresh air.
She comforted herself: "It's fine, it's fine. The fourth-floor restroom will be much easier to clean."
She had been to the fourth-floor restroom before with Xu Baoying. That floor had many science classes and fewer female students, so its restroom was the cleanest in the entire building.
Dragging her mop, Zhu Yaya walked to the fourth-floor women's restroom. Just as she was about to open the door, she heard some unusual noises coming from inside.
Some unpleasant guesses formed in her mind, so she didn't rush to open the door. Instead, she cautiously held her breath and leaned her ear closer.
The door's soundproofing wasn't great, so Zhu Yaya clearly heard the voice of the female lead, Xu Chun.
Xu Chun shrieked, "You... how can you be so cruel to me? We're all classmates! We should get along well."
"Keep pretending, just keep pretending! I've seen plenty of your type since I was little. Always faking it, acting like an innocent, harmless little white flower, when in reality, you're all vicious and ruthless behind the scenes," a harsh female voice rang out.
"Sister Mai Sha is right, I saw it all!" another girl chimed in.
"You think I don't know your scheming ways? You think this will attract Prince Chen's attention? Impossible! Prince Chen isn't that shallow!" the harsh female voice sounded again.
Several other girls' voices chimed in agreement.
Zhu Yaya: ...How unfortunate! Your Prince Chen really is that shallow a person; he ends up with Xu Chun in the end.
Although Zhu Yaya found Xu Chun's personality somewhat... indescribable, she couldn't just stand by and do nothing. Just as she was thinking about how to intervene and resolve the situation, the long-absent voice of Mr. System sounded in her mind—
"Congratulations on successfully unlocking the fourth task. Please first proceed to the nearest stairwell, imitate the conversation of two girls, and deliver the following lines: 'Did you hear? That girl who defied Prince Chen was taken to the women's restroom by Sister Mai Sha and the others to be taught a lesson,' and 'Serves her right, who told her to dare defy Prince Chen.' Attract Murong Beichen to intervene and rescue her, successfully 'eating the melon' (watching the drama). Please remain hidden and must not be discovered by Murong Beichen or Xu Chun."
Upon hearing Mr. System's notification, she realized—this matched a scene in the book. Xu Chun's actions had indeed aroused the jealousy of the school beauty and female antagonist, Shen Wandan, who was infatuated with Murong Beichen.
Therefore, Shen Wandan had incited Mai Sha, Murong Beichen's number one obsessive fan, to corner Xu Chun. Xu Chun was taken to the women's restroom by her classmate Mai Sha and others to be bullied. It was when the male lead, Murong Beichen, was going upstairs and overheard two unnamed girls chatting about it that he learned of the incident, went to the restroom, and rescued Xu Chun. It was because of this event that the female lead Xu Chun's feelings towards Murong Beichen began to change slightly. The same was true for Murong Beichen.
Zhu Yaya first hurried to the stairwell to check. Not seeing Murong Beichen, she propped her mop against the wall, hurried down to the third floor, ran back to the classroom to fetch her fruit box containing watermelon. Luckily, she brought watermelon every day just in case.
Xu Baoying stared dumbfounded as Zhu Yaya rushed in and took the fruit box from her backpack: "You're going to clean the restroom, why are you taking a fruit box?"
"To eat melon," Zhu Yaya tossed out these two words and ran off.
At that moment, Xu Baoying seriously doubted her own ears. Did she hear that right? Zhu Yaya wasn't planning to eat watermelon in the restroom, was she?
Zhu Yaya ran to the third-floor stairwell and looked down. She happened to see Murong Beichen starting to climb the stairs from the first floor. After thinking for a moment, she climbed to the fourth floor and hid at the fourth-floor stairwell, secretly watching Murong Beichen. When he reached the third floor, she raised her voice in a shrill cry: "Did you hear? That girl who defied Prince Chen was taken to the women's restroom by Sister Mai Sha and the others to be taught a lesson!"
Then, she switched to a sarcastic, mocking tone: "Serves her right, who told her to dare defy Prince Chen!"
After that, Zhu Yaya watched Murong Beichen's reaction through the gaps in the stairwell railing. To her surprise, he showed no reaction at all.
What's going on? Was her voice too soft? Zhu Yaya scratched her head and decided to repeat it once more.
Fortunately, this time Murong Beichen reacted. She saw his footsteps pause briefly before quickening their pace.
Secretly pleased, Zhu Yaya hid in a corner, trying her best not to be discovered by Murong Beichen.
Anxious to rescue someone, Murong Beichen indeed didn't notice her hiding in the corner. He reached the fourth floor and hurried towards the women's restroom. Zhu Yaya followed, hiding not far from the restroom, ready to open her fruit box at any moment.
Soon, Zhu Yaya heard a loud kick against the door, followed by the screams of several girls and Xu Chun's sniveling sobs. A group of girls dressed like delinquents scrambled out of the women's restroom.
Zhu Yaya silently hid behind the wall of an empty classroom and opened her fruit box. After the group of girls left, she came out again, walking while stuffing watermelon into her mouth.
Not long after, Xu Chun and Murong Beichen walked out.
Xu Chun was soaked, wrapped in Murong Beichen's jacket, weeping like a rain-drenched pear blossom, a pitiful sight. She sniffled and then wore that familiar expression of stubborn, unyielding resilience that Zhu Yaya knew so well. Clenching her fists, she said firmly, "I will not yield!"
Murong Beichen's heart was stirred. Looking at this strong-willed, stubborn girl before him, he felt somewhat moved. However, his pride and self-respect wouldn't allow him to lower his head and offer gentle comfort. He looked down at this pitiful girl with a touch of pity. She didn't know how obsessed Mai Sha was with him. This time, he had just happened to help her, but next time, she would still be targeted by Mai Sha.
Yet, he couldn't help but say, "But why do you have to deliberately attract my attention like this! If you were just like other ordinary girls, Mai Sha wouldn't target you like this."
Xu Chun wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve, continuing with a stubborn expression: "I do this not for any other reason, but for the justice in my heart." She spoke with righteous indignation.
...
Zhu Yaya, who was in the middle of 'eating the melon' (watching the drama), wore a calm expression, indicating she was already used to it. During these days of following Xu Chun, she had truly endured too much. Right now, she was just grateful she was merely an unnamed bystander in this book.
Zhu Yaya continued stuffing watermelon into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out, obediently staying in the corner, quietly waiting for Murong Beichen and Xu Chun to leave, and waiting for Mr. System's online notification.
After a series of meaningless dialogue, Murong Beichen and Xu Chun finally left. As they were leaving, Zhu Yaya happened to be looking down, using a small fruit fork to pick at the watermelon cubes in her fruit box, so she didn't notice that Xu Chun glanced deeply towards the corner where she was hiding as she turned to leave.
Zhu Yaya breathed a sigh of relief. Under her eager anticipation, she heard the system notification in Li Zeyan's voice, and another familiar male voice. The two pleasant male voices performed a duet—
"Congratulations on successfully completing the fourth melon-eating task. Reward: three years of lifespan and twenty thousand RMB."
"What are you doing here, lurking around?"
