Chapter 251
Qin Rong took a deep breath and deliberately spoke in a tone that seemed casual but was actually showing off.
"Hmph, I won't lower myself to your level! Some people are only good at running their mouths. Do you know who is coming to my house for dinner tonight?"
Shen Nanchu didn't reply, merely looking at her as if she were an idiot.
What did it matter to her who went to Qin Rong's house for dinner?
She was truly sick in the head.
And quite seriously, too.
Qin Rong continued on her own, her voice rising an octave.
"It's Pei Zhengnian!"
"Big Brother Pei is coming to my house as a guest tonight! My dad invited him personally!"
Qin Rong specifically emphasized the words Big Brother Pei, making it sound exceptionally intimate.
Then, as if afraid Shen Nanchu wouldn't understand, she laid her little schemes bare, carrying an inexplicable sense of pride.
"Shen Nanchu, don't get too smug!"
"Once I marry Big Brother Pei, we'll see if a widow like you can still be as arrogant as you are now!"
"My dad is Qin Gang, an actual staff officer, way better than an orphan without parents like you."
Hearing this, even Zhao Xiaomei and the other two were stunned. They looked at Qin Rong in disbelief, wondering if she had lost her mind from studying. How dare she say such things?
Shen Nanchu was a widow?
How was that possible?
What kind of family would let a widow drive a car to school?
And live so comfortably...
Shen Nanchu lay on her bed, looking at Qin Rong, who was immersed in her own fantasies like an idiot, with an inexplicable look in her eyes.
It wasn't anger, but more like pity and mockery.
Heh.
She sneered, as if she had heard an extremely ridiculous joke.
"Marry him?"
Shen Nanchu's voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear, carrying icy thorns.
"Qin Rong, your daydream actually has quite the plot."
"What, does your family run a mirror shop? Is that what allows you to see exactly what kind of virtue you possess?"
She looked Qin Rong up and down, her gaze as sharp as a scalpel.
"In terms of family background, would the Pei family even bat an eye at your lowly threshold? In terms of brains, you have to cram at the last minute just to pass your final exams, and you expect to be a good wife and mother? In terms of looks..."
Shen Nanchu paused, the corners of her lips curling into an extremely harsh arc.
"Tsk, I suggest that the next time you look in the mirror, you focus on the laugh lines sagging down to the corners of your mouth and the acne on your forehead."
"With your appearance, you have the nerve to lust after Pei Zhengnian? Even if his eyesight was terrible, he wouldn't go so far as to pick up a..."
"Well, a uniquely distinct piece to display at home, right? It might ruin his appetite."
[Disgust Value +50]
"You... you're talking nonsense!" Qin Rong was so angry that tears welled up in her eyes. "Big Brother Pei... he isn't that superficial!"
"Oh? He isn't superficial,"
Shen Nanchu replied slowly.
"So he should fall for a woman like you, who has nothing but inexplicable confidence and a broken-gong voice?"
"Qin Rong, that's not called confidence, it's called humiliating yourself."
"I advise you to wake up quickly. Don't dream so much that you can't tell reality from fantasy anymore, because then you'll truly be beyond saving."
No matter how proud and superior Qin Rong felt at the beginning, under Shen Nanchu's rapid-fire, venomous attacks that precisely hit every sore spot, she was ultimately scolded until her face turned pale. Trembling all over, she began to doubt her life. She couldn't even cry and could only storm out, slamming the door in a wretched state.
Her roommates, Zhao Xiaomei, Li Juan, and Wang Fang, hastily lowered their heads to study.
The dorm was finally quiet.
Shen Nanchu closed her eyes to rest.
...
At night.
After dinner, Shen Nanchu prepared to turn on the audio-visual function her system had previously loaded to binge-watch some shows.
The system was still dormant, but some basic entertainment modules could barely operate.
However, she simply couldn't focus on the shifting lights and shadows on the screen.
The words Qin Rong said during the day kept popping into her mind.
"Pei Zhengnian is coming to my house for dinner tonight!"
"Once I marry Big Brother Pei..."
So annoying!
It was like a fly buzzing in her ear!
Shen Nanchu irritably turned off the audio-visual system.
"Almighty Host, you seem restless?"
Even though the system was dormant, its basic perception and interaction functions were still intact. Sensing Shen Nanchu's emotional fluctuations, it used a faint trace of energy to send a caring message.
"Do you need me to try activating the remote surveillance for a live broadcast of Pei Zhengnian's situation?"
The system asked, both considerately and gossipily.
Shen Nanchu stubbornly and immediately refused. "No need! Mind your own business! He can eat wherever he wants, what does it have to do with me?"
She rolled over to face the wall, as if trying to convince herself.
"After all, with a top-tier beauty like me around, how could Pei Zhengnian possibly fall for an unpresentable dried salted vegetable like Qin Rong?"
"Unless his head got caught in a door!"
Even saying so, Shen Nanchu still felt uncomfortable in her heart. It was stuffy, an indescribable sense of irritation.
She wondered if she was sick.
"System, check my physical condition."
The system quickly provided feedback.
"Check complete. Almighty Host, all your physical function indicators are normal. Your metabolism is vigorous, your heart rate is steady, and your immunity is strong. In short, you are as strong as an ox."
Shen Nanchu was speechless.
Did this broken system know how to use adjectives?!
If her body was fine, where was this uncomfortable feeling coming from?
Shen Nanchu furrowed her brows, utterly puzzled.
Finally, the system's faint voice sounded again, carrying a hint of uncertainty and cautious probing.
"Almighty Host, according to the fuzzy matching analysis of the human emotion database..."
"Your symptoms of feeling irritable, having a tight chest, and being extremely repulsed by a certain opposite sex interacting with other members of the opposite sex..."
"Is there a possibility, perhaps, maybe, maybe... you're feeling uncomfortable because you're jealous?"
Jealous?
These two words struck Shen Nanchu like a sudden clap of thunder.
She froze instantly, then almost bounced off the bed like a cat whose tail had been stepped on!
"Jealous?!"
"Are you kidding me?! I would be jealous of that idiot?!"
She roared at the system in her mind.
"Your broken database needs an upgrade! If you spout any more nonsense, I'll pull your power cord!"
The system fell silent for a moment. "Almighty Host, I don't have a power cord."
At this moment, Shen Nanchu couldn't hear the system's words.
Because her heart was in turmoil.
An unprecedented, unfamiliar emotion had dropped like a stone into the icy lake of her heart, stirring up endless ripples.
Irritated, she pulled the blanket over her head, trying to shut out all distracting thoughts.
...