"Green Tea" (绿茶) is a slang term in Chinese used to describe a person, usually a woman, who pretends to be innocent and kind while actually being manipulative.
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"Can we… switch seats for morning reading?"
Gao Dong was gazing out the window, lost in thought, when a soft and pitiful voice, almost on the verge of tears, suddenly reached his ears.
He turned his head and saw the class beauty standing beside his desk, holding a stack of worksheets and textbooks. Her head was lowered, her eyes rimmed red, and her nose twitched as if she had suffered some great grievance.
To be fair, no man could easily say no to a sight like this.
Gao Dong shot a jealous glance at his new deskmate.
Damn, An Yuan had it good—the most beautiful girl in the class clung to him every day, and the second most beautiful girl used to be his seatmate, with an ambiguous relationship to boot…
"Fine, I'll take your seat first."
Gao Dong got up decisively and gave up his spot.
"Thank you…"
Chen Cheng successfully sat down beside An Yuan, pursing her lips, her teary eyes locked onto her childhood friend.
"Why do you look so miserable? And why are you looking at me like that?"
An Yuan was completely confused. He had been focused on solving practice problems and had no idea what had just happened.
"Did something happen?"
"Li Wanyi bullied me! She said such awful things to me…"
With a soft whimper, Chen Cheng flopped onto the desk, her voice barely above a whisper to avoid drawing the attention of their classmates. As she whined, she sneakily glanced in Li Wanyi's direction.
"Wait… You got bullied? By a girl?"
"If you suddenly get ambushed by a shrew in the restroom, would you even have time to react? My brain completely blanked out!"
An Yuan wasn't sure what kind of expression to make.
Thinking about it… Yeah, with Li Wanyi's fiery personality, even he couldn't win an argument with her.
Otherwise, a few days ago, he wouldn't have ended up so pissed off—despite being in the right—that he drove off in the middle of the night to drink with Chen Cheng, leading to both of them time-traveling.
The memory of his ex-fiancée's ugly, furious face during their past arguments resurfaced in his mind.
"That woman…" An Yuan frowned in disgust, his fists clenching. But for now, he focused on comforting his distressed friend. He reached out and patted Chen Cheng's shoulder, his voice low and soothing.
"It's okay now, it's okay."
But something felt off.
He knew his friend's personality well.
Chen Cheng was the type to swallow her grievances rather than complain. In all the years they had known each other, this was the first time she had ever acted all whiny and teary-eyed, seeking comfort. In the past, at most, she would rant and curse when she was drunk.
Could it be that the change in gender had subtly altered her personality?
"Ah Yuan~ Wuwu~"
"Want me to go beat her up for you?"
"You'd actually hit a woman?"
"Well…"
Chen Cheng added fuel to the fire. "Forget it, Li Wanyi wasn't that overboard… she just swore a lot…"
Hearing that only made An Yuan angrier. He shot a glare at Li Wanyi.
He had already felt guilty toward Chen Cheng, and now, because of him, she was being bullied? He had no idea why he had been so blind in his past life to think that marrying Li Wanyi was a good idea.
Li Wanyi had been watching them the whole time. Seeing An Yuan suddenly glare at her, she was completely baffled.
Wait— I just called her one name! I didn't even say anything that bad!
"Forget it, it's not that big of a deal…"
Chen Cheng, now playing the role of the aggrieved victim, reassured An Yuan. At the same time, she snuck another glance at Li Wanyi, her eyes gleaming with smug satisfaction.
Before, An Yuan had merely found his ex-fiancée annoying.
Now, he hated her.
Forget dating her and repeating past mistakes—he probably wouldn't even want to be friends with her anymore!
That's what you get for insulting me!
Just then, the homeroom teacher entered the classroom for morning reading.
Chen Cheng immediately picked up her pen and pretended to be focused on solving practice problems.
A moment ago, she had been whining and sniffling like she was on the verge of tears. But now?
Forget crying—she could barely hold back her smile.
She felt amazing.
Even her period cramps felt less painful.
"My mom's going on a trip in a few days," Chen Cheng said in a hushed voice as she doodled in her notebook. "I think your mom's going too—I overheard it the other day."
"So what? Let them travel."
"You should just come stay at my place!"
Back in their previous life, whenever one of their parents went on a long trip, they'd crash at each other's place for a few days. Their parents had always been welcoming and never minded.
But this time, you're a girl!
An Yuan racked his brain for an excuse to refuse. It wasn't that he doubted his self-control… he just didn't trust his lower instincts.
Just then, their homeroom teacher strolled over to their desk.
Chen Cheng clamped her mouth shut immediately, lowering her head nervously.
The teacher tapped on the desk and asked, "Why are you two sitting together?"
Chen Cheng tensed up the moment she saw the teacher, but fortunately, An Yuan spoke up just in time.
"She had a question about a problem."
"Did she get her answer?"
"Uh… yeah, I think so?"
"Then why aren't you back at your seat?"
Chen Cheng awkwardly grabbed her books and notes and bolted back to her desk.
Watching her scurry off, the homeroom teacher sighed and gave An Yuan a serious look. "You're in your final year. Put aside romance for now—studying is the most important thing."
"Chen Cheng and I are just friends," An Yuan said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Why is everyone misunderstanding this?!
"High school is tough, but once you get into college, things will be much easier. Then you can date all you want."
That sounded nice and all, but An Yuan knew better than to believe it.
His college days had been nothing but stress—fighting for self-study seats, scrambling to grab spots in the library, signing up for one competition after another, running himself ragged.
Meanwhile, he had heard that Chen Cheng had actually enjoyed her college life—skipping class whenever she felt like it, playing games in her dorm, writing web novels, and sleeping all day.
"Yeah, got it," An Yuan replied obediently, but in his heart, he was determined to live a much more relaxed life this time. No more working himself into premature balding, high blood pressure, and stress-induced weight gain.
Satisfied, the homeroom teacher walked away. An Yuan had always been a good student—smart, disciplined, and never causing trouble—so she had always favored him.
Morning self-study was relatively light today. For once, the teacher wasn't using the time to turn it into an extra Chinese class and was just making sure the students weren't getting too noisy.
By the time self-study ended, An Yuan had already finished all his homework from the previous day.
Stretching his arms and cracking his joints, he was about to ask Chen Cheng for a sip of her milk tea when he noticed Li Wanyi hesitating as she walked toward him.
His face immediately turned cold. Without even looking at her properly, he stood up and walked away.
Even though he knew Chen Cheng had been faking her tears in front of him, she had actually been bullied by Li Wanyi.
His old friend had always been the type to keep her grievances bottled up, never talking back when insulted. He had thought that maybe, in high school, Li Wanyi would be different—but nope. She was still the same, still just as sharp-tongued and aggressive. All that gentle, well-mannered charm she usually showed? Fake.
"Chen Cheng, wanna go to the shop? I barely ate breakfast."
"Coming!"
"Is the PE teacher sick again? What class got switched in?"
"No idea~ but it feels like we've barely had any PE classes in high school at all!"
Watching them walk away, chatting and laughing together, Li Wanyi finally realized—she had lost. Completely.
'That green tea bitch!'
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