Volume 3 Chapter 19

Volume 3 + Chapter 19: Bai Yuxuan’s Revenge

At that moment, Bai Yuxuan was walking alone along the path, her expression deeply despondent.

(My thoughts are constantly filled with you, yet you wouldn’t even let me have one single cookie! Ah, come to think of it, earlier today, you clearly had time to listen to an underclassman play the piano, but you couldn’t spare a moment to talk with me!)

The more Bai Yuxuan thought about it, the more wronged she felt, and the angrier she became. She strode quickly back to the student council office.

“Boss, you’re back, ” Jiang Cheng, upon seeing Bai Yuxuan’s expression even darker than before, didn’t even dare finish his sentence and hastily retreated to the side.

“Yuxuan-senpai, has something happened to you?” Xia Bingdie asked urgently. But Bai Yuxuan didn’t speak. She simply sat down on her stool and glared fiercely straight ahead.

“What’s wrong with the boss? Wasn’t she pretty happy earlier after revising the Cultural Festival plan?”

“I have no idea either.”

After a long silence, Bai Yuxuan slammed her hand violently on the table and stood up.

“I’m going to redo this Cultural Festival plan from scratch!”

(Hmph, Ouyang Qianxue. You want to deliberately ignore me? Fine, I’ll force you to play along with me!)

Meanwhile, back at the club side of things.

Just as Duan Haichen was, as usual, helping the various senpais in the club with preparations for the Cultural Festival, a student suddenly called out to him.

“Excuse me, are you Duan Haichen?”

“Yes, that’s me. And you are…?”

“Ah, I’m from the drama club. Since the actor list for the Cultural Festival is determined by a vote, and you received quite a lot of votes, congratulations, you’ve also been selected as one of the cast members. Here is your role assignment and the script.” With that, the student handed a stack of documents to Duan Haichen.

“Can I refuse? I need to stay here and help Senior Ouyang!”

“What’s your hurry, buddy? I know you’ve got a crush on Senior Ouyang. Take a closer look at the script and the role assignment first.”

“This is…!”

Although the stage play was a rather conventional tale of a hero defeating a demon lord to rescue a princess, the role assignment clearly showed Ouyang Qianxue playing the princess and Duan Haichen playing the hero.

Moreover, the script contained numerous scenes where the princess and the hero embraced, as well as scenes where the hero carried the princess in his arms. Looking at the script, Duan Haichen’s heart began to flutter with excitement. But after a moment’s thought, he closed the script and handed it back to the drama club student.

“Senior Ouyang is such an exalted and noble presence. What right do I, Duan Haichen, have to play that hero, holding her and embracing her?”

“Oh? I really didn’t expect you to say that. Do you realize how many guys would fight tooth and nail for the hero role? Based on the voting results, the role would have gone to Bai Yuxuan, but since we considered how busy he is as student council president, we approached you instead, you, whose popularity is second only to Bai Yuxuan’s, to play the hero.”

“But the hero as I’d play him simply wouldn’t be worthy of Senior Ouyang’s princess!”

“Is that so…” The drama club student’s expression turned somewhat regretful.

“If you refuse to play the hero, then we’ll just have to find another guy to take your place. Think carefully, the Senior Ouyang you so admire will end up in some other guy’s arms.”

“This…” Duan Haichen fell into deep distress.

“Looks like I can’t convince you, then. We’ll just have to go ask Bai Yuxuan instead!” With that, the drama club student turned to leave. But just then, Duan Haichen grabbed him by the arm.

“No way! That person, I will never, ever let her lay a single finger on Senior Ouyang. I’ll take the hero role!” Duan Haichen declared with a resolute gaze.

“What the actual heck, a princess?!” Looking at the script in front of him, Ouyang Qianxue wanted nothing more than to tear it to shreds, throw it on the ground, and stomp on it twice.

“Haha, you got the female lead, what more could you possibly be unhappy about? Even I, an actual idol, couldn’t beat you for it. You should count your blessings!” Ning Caiwei said, trying to console him during lunch.

“Then I’ll give you the role. You play it for me!”

“That won’t work. This was the result of a school-wide student vote. Refusing the role would mean letting down everyone’s expectations.”

“Ning Caiwei is right,” Wang Qian said as she walked into the classroom.

“Every year, it’s a tradition at Sakura Academy that the school beauty appears on stage during the Cultural Festival. Every previous school beauty has performed without exception. If you refuse when it’s your turn, it could cause some very serious repercussions. It might even affect your clubs.”

“Sigh… alright then. But this princess role…” Ouyang Qianxue stared at the script in his hands, completely at a loss.

“What are you afraid of? The guy playing the hero is your devoted fan. If there are scenes you’re too embarrassed to do, just tell him to skip them. He’ll definitely agree.”

Inside the student council office.

“Whoa, Boss, you are absolutely ruthless!” Jiang Cheng exclaimed after reading the proposal Bai Yuxuan had written.

“You’re going after Senior Ouyang from every angle. Did you two have some kind of grudge in a past life?”

“Yuxuan-senpai, isn’t this going a bit too far?” Even Xia Bingdie looked somewhat uneasy after reading Bai Yuxuan’s proposal.

“What? Do you have a problem with it? Did serving as Ouyang Qianxue’s maid for three days make you switch sides?” Bai Yuxuan’s expression darkened as she questioned Xia Bingdie.

“No, that’s not it. I just think it might be a little excessive.”

“Hmph. I know perfectly well whether it’s excessive or not. Just do exactly as I say. I’m heading to the drama club. You two continue with your assigned tasks.” With that, Bai Yuxuan left the student council office, flashing a sinister smile before she went.

“How can you not understand the boss’s intentions?” Jiang Cheng patted Xia Bingdie on the shoulder once Bai Yuxuan was out of earshot.

“Ouyang Qianxue is now the first person in Sakura Academy’s history to simultaneously lead three major clubs. Add to that the way she backed up the other clubs during the club abolition incident at the end of last semester, now all those smaller clubs listen to her commands. You could say she is the true power holder among Sakura Academy’s clubs. In terms of influence, she is in no way inferior to the boss.”

“But two tigers cannot share one mountain. Someone like the boss could never allow anyone to stand on equal ground with him. His aim with this move is to completely crush Ouyang Qianxue and become the sole ruler of Sakura Academy!”

“…” Xia Bingdie didn’t bother responding to Jiang Cheng’s explanation. She knew their relationship wasn’t as simple as it appeared on the surface.

Two days later, Sakura Academy’s Cultural Festival arrived as scheduled. In addition to students from the host school, many from other schools came drawn by the reputation. And as the vice presidents had anticipated, Ouyang Qianxue’s fame brought enormous crowds to the three clubs. On the very first day, they were packed with visitors.

Once word spread that the desserts served at the Go Club’s sweet shop were personally made by Ouyang Qianxue, the line of people waiting to get in stretched all the way to the stairwell.

Meanwhile, in the student council office.

“Yuxuan-senpai, everything is progressing smoothly according to your plan. Everything you requested is ready.”

“Well done. Heh heh. This is going to be a very interesting game. Are you ready, Qianxue?”

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