Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Apart from the month-ends and festive holidays, everyone in Zhao Youyue’s school most looked forward to the afternoon half-day off in weekends. They could head out to enjoy sumptuous meals that were different from their canteen food, and could purchase junk foods that were unavailable in the school convenience store. Also, they were able to go online and form teams to play “League of Legends”. Some couples would even go on dates (the forever aloners were exempt). Too bad the holiday lasted for just a short time, and they were expected to return to respective classrooms at half past three in the afternoon and continue their self-revision till dinner time. After that, it would be time for night-revisions…

Basically, the entire weekend was just a long period of self-revision as the teachers would dole out plenty of homework.

In this sort of senior high which practised strict learning culture, most of the students would not go easy on their studies. As a result, the school had boosted a college admission rate of 95% and an undergraduate enrolment rate of 99%. Many of the school alumnis would become successful individuals, and this has proven to be a valuable head-start connection for the students. At the same time, there would also be well-endowed ladies like Zhao Youyue studying here. Perhaps some blokes who knew their way around ladies might be able to catch up with these fair, rich and beautiful ladies, would they? Or maybe there could be a real-life version of Cinderella searching for her Prince Charming…

There were quite a variety of 2G-s [1] in this school. Just that such 2G-s who were so arrogant and rowdy, as if they were afraid that no one could recognize them, could still rarely be seen. If they were too outrageous and broke the school rules, they would be penalized without any favor or leniency.

The school, as a matter of course, should be an institution where students gain knowledge instead of messing around.

The four lessons in the morning were unbearable for many students as they would have to hold back their anticipation of dashing out the school compound.

Naturally, Zhao Youyue was the outlier. Though teachers were present for all four lessons, all of them except Mr. Qiu would usually sit behind their podium and be engrossed with their laptops. Some of them could even put on headphones and watch movies. Who cares about the students in front of the podium! As long as they remained quiet.

Even the young and handsome Mathematics teacher, Gu Yaoyan failed to hold back and ended up playing “League of Legends”. In contrast to Mr. Qiu, Gu Yaoyan hated the fact that he was still required to sit in during weekends. Since the school had fixed the arrangement this way, he might as well play some games whilst sitting in for the class. After all, he was popular among students and nobody would actually report him to the school authority.

Had he not finished the game in the end of lesson, some of the daring boys would flock up front to watch the game. Gu Yaoyan was more than willing to show off his skills as a Diamond I category player. He would say something cheeky like – Everybody pay attention, Teacher Gu is gonna pull a Pentakill this time! Those noobs on the other side are just like giveaway questions. Look closely my students, here comes another giveaway question!

Naturally he would receive loud cheers if he succeeded in his showoff attempt. That was absolutely a fantastic sensation. But if he got killed right after uttering his famous last words, he would close his laptop without batting an eye or looking back, and head straight back to the teachers’ office. Indeed, death is like the wind – always by my side[2].

The Truth was, Gu Yaoyan was worried that he might be caught on spot for playing computer games by the next teacher in charge. If that happened, it would be embarrassing.

Of course, Zhao Youyue started playing her phone happily during the self-revision classes. If the teachers could play with their computers behind the podium, why can’t I play with my phone?

Furthermore, how could she complete her homework without the phone?

Zhao Youyue in reality was not a patient and diligent studybug like “Xu Jing”. Sometimes she would choose to complete the questions on her own when she “found her conscience” or when she needed some mental self-consolation. More often than not, she would fail to hold back the urge to take shortcuts. Looking at a question, she thought to herself, “Tsk, this is troublesome. It hurts my brain to figure it out. Hmm, let’s just look up for the solution online…”

The class that Zhao Youyue found most unbearable was Mr. Qiu’s self-revision class. He had never brought along his laptop but only his teaching materials and lecture preparation notes. While the students were studying, he would do likewise on the podium. Not to mention, he would often patrol the classroom as if he was an invigilator.

It was true that Zhao Youyue feared the class teacher, Qiu Yingchun quite a lot. As a matter of fact, he did not look fierce at all, instead he looked just like a simple and kind man. Still, Zhao Youyue felt that Mr. Qiu was like the dog that never barks – when it bites, it is usually a lethal one.

To be honest, people like Zhao Youyue who was getting by her studies could really use some disciplining by Mr. Qiu. At least, she would be able to restrain her habitual tendencies and complete her homework based on her actual proficiency level during Mr. Qiu’s self-revision class. Though her current proficiency level was not yet on par with the elite students, but she could already handle her usual homework with ease. Of course, she would still face some troubles solving the more difficult questions towards the end. As for the rest of the questions, as long as she put serious thoughts into it, or maybe spend a longer time, she would surely be able to complete them.

At last, the clock hit eleven thirty in the morning. The bell rang. Some of the students who have already packed up their bags earlier on sprinted out of their classroom like wild stallions. It was obvious how precious this “temporary prison release” was to them.

Zhao Youyue, on the other hand, was just leisurely packing up her stuffs. She was in no rush as she did not plan on coming to school anymore for the afternoon and night self-revision. As the reigning slacker among the commuting students, she was able to enjoy half a day and a night’s rest. She had also decided to catch an afternoon movie after lunch, followed by another hearty meal. After that she would buy herself a copy of “Wind Manga” to enjoy back home.

Zhao Youyue was also in no rush to read her manga, but the same could not be said of others like Jiang Chao, the deskmate of Wang Yang who sat in front of her. He was rather obsessed with “Pure Romance” lately. He could even skip going to the canteen for meals after class and run straight to the bookstore opposite the school. Without hesitation, he would buy the latest issue of “Wind Manga”, then ran back to his dormitory.

He only remembered that he was yet to have lunch upon reaching the entrance of the dormitory but he did not bother to head back to the canteen. Instead, he went to the convenience store and bought himself a cup of Master Kong Beef Tenderloin Noodle and also his favorite Shineway Corn Sausage Snack as lunch. Compared to canteen food, he felt that these are much more delicious.

Jiang Chao merrily read through the newly-acquired “Wind Manga” while eating his noodles. At this very moment, his life was in complete bliss. It was like he had endured the entire week of tormenting study just to enjoy this blissful weekend afternoon. Oh yeah, he could finally indulge himself in the world of manga without a care in this world…

Initially, he only used his phone to read the manga online, not to mention he was reading the pirated version. It was not because he looked down on the original manga, he just thought it was unworthy as “Pure Romance” was a regular harem manga after all. However, the storyline of “Pure Romance” got really interesting lately as if it was breaking away from the chains of the harem manga genre. All the previous contents had even been used to pave a way for a single character. This character was none other than Jiang Chao’s newfound goddess – Xu Jing!

In order to follow closely upon the development of the newly crowned Tri-No Goddess, he would always purchase the magazine to read the latest stories. By doing this, he was also supporting the original manga at the same time, wasn’t he?

Translation note:

[1] 二代– 2G. Literally means second generation. A somewhat derogatory term used to address the offspring of someone prominent/rich. For example, 富二代 (Fu Er Dai) = Rich 2G or rich second generation, used to refer to the daughter/son of a rich man/woman/family.

[2] “Death is like the wind – always by my side” is a famous quote of the character Yasuo, from League of Legends.