VAP - Chapter 19
Chapter 19: The Sleeping Beauty Whose Words Are Law (18)
Even though she hadn’t been in the best of moods, resting in the mental space for several days, leaning on her system, was enough to calm Qi Jiu down.
She greeted her eighteenth birthday with what could almost be described as indifference.
The handover of the management rights was scheduled for the morning.
Perhaps Qi Jiu’s verbal assault had left them traumatized, because the Qi couple didn’t try any more tricks. They obediently attended the meeting and, under the lawyer’s watchful eye, returned all assets to their rightful owner.
Even though Qi Jiu looked utterly exhausted from the rare early start, appearing like any ordinary girl grumpy from lack of sleep, they remained highly vigilant, not daring to try anything funny.
It was surprisingly unexpected for them to be so docile… Perhaps Qi Jiu’s intimidation that day had left too deep an impression?
Of course, just as all the assets were handed over and Qi Jiu was turning to leave, Qi Tianhe couldn’t resist asking:
“Those documents, what do you plan to do with them?”
Qi Jiu raised her eyes, feigning ignorance. “What documents.”
“The files you showed me, the ones you spent seven years compiling.” Qi Tianhe gritted his teeth. “You know which ones I mean.”
When Qi Jiu had left ten days prior, she hadn’t taken the stack of files with her, giving Qi Tianhe the chance to examine them in detail.
The files were incredibly detailed, listing every last transaction. If Qi Jiu wanted to use them as evidence to sue him for embezzling assets, she would win the case, hands down!
And that was only a fraction of it. Qi Tianhe could hardly imagine what other crucial information this long-neglected daughter of his had in her possession.
A chill ran down his spine at the thought, but he forced a calm smile. “Since I’ve returned everything to you, there’s not much point in keeping those files. How you deal with them is your own business, of course. Your father was just curious.”
Qi Jiu shrugged. “Fine, there’s no harm in telling you.”
Just as Qi Tianhe pricked up his ears, he heard her drawl, “Of course I’m keeping them. Who knows, they might be useful for something else later, right?”
With that, the young lady gave the lawyer a polite nod and turned to leave.
She had no intention of wasting another moment on the vexing relatives beside her.
Her final words left Qi Tianhe choking with rage.
In truth, that kind of rhetorical question could easily sound hostile. Stating a foregone conclusion as a question was a particularly nasty way to talk to someone.
Generally, when a subordinate spoke to a superior that way, it was a provocation. When it was the other way around, it was pure contempt.
So, was Qi Jiu the former or the latter?
A chill ran down Qi Tianhe’s back. He realized he couldn’t answer that question.
The handover didn’t take long. For Qi Jiu, it was like a quick outing, and she could go home to catch up on her sleep.
Uncharacteristically, the young lady didn’t immediately dive under her covers. Instead, she sat on the sofa, hugging a fluffy cushion and zoning out.
After a long moment, she let out a faint sigh.
Yue Du said softly, “I thought you would use those files right away. If you did, you could make Qi Tianhe pay a heavy price.”
“That would be letting him off too easy,” Qi Jiu scoffed. “This way, leaving him with a vague, ambiguous threat, he’ll lose sleep over it, constantly guessing what I’m going to do. Isn’t that much more fun?”
Yue Du considered this line of thought. It did sound satisfying, and it would be even more so if they added a little something extra.
So she eagerly pitched a product from the System Store: “The Beginner’s Nightmare Generator! Reusable up to five times, it custom-designs the most terrifying nightmares exclusively for your enemies. Guaranteed to scare them witless in their sleep, leaving them exhausted and neurotic upon waking! On special today in the store for only 10 points! This is a limited-time offer—”
Qi Jiu listened, amused. “Weren’t you just pinching every point a few days ago? Why the sales pitch now?”
Yue Du said gravely, “Points can be earned another day. Scumbags must be tormented today!”
“Fair point. Done.”
The two reached an agreement.
As for what kind of nightmare to concoct and when to drag her scumbag father into it, they would leave that for later.
Qi Jiu’s eighteenth birthday passed quietly, largely because she herself didn’t care much for the occasion.
To her, a birthday was no different from any other day.
However, while she might not care, Yue Du did.
The System Store didn’t stock birthday cakes edible for ordinary humans. It did, however, offer spirit cakes infused with energy from other small worlds and poison cakes laced with arcane toxins, none of which were suitable for an eighteenth birthday celebration.
So Yue Du ordered a cake from a nearby dessert shop, requesting it be delivered precisely at noon.
Qi Jiu tried it and was reasonably satisfied. “Tastes good.”
It wasn’t easy for the dessert shop’s pastry chef to earn the approval of the picky Qi Jiu.
There were no guests for her coming-of-age ceremony, no wishes made over eighteen candles, no heartfelt singing of “Happy Birthday”…
There was only the system’s simple well-wishing: “Happy birthday, Host.”
Qi Jiu’s response was equally simple: “Mm, thanks.”
That was enough.
If there had been all sorts of elaborate festivities, Qi Jiu would likely have found it a bother.
Simply eating cake, crawling comfortably into bed, and letting her consciousness sink into the mental space to while away the time with Yue Du—that in itself made for a perfectly pleasant day.
Who could say this wasn’t a perfect coming-of-age ceremony?
Time marched on, and the day of the great superpower outbreak drew ever closer.
During this time, the Main System issued another main quest: Maintain contact and friendly relations with Xing Qingcang.
This was clearly a recurring quest: make contact once a week for a reward of 10 points. All in all, it was a decent deal.
But for someone with a terminal case of laziness like Qi Jiu, would she really take time out of her week to chat with Professor Xing?
Of course not.
So the task fell to Yue Du.
Maintaining contact with an academic expert and a research fanatic would be a challenge for anyone—especially when that person was Xing Qingcang.
Professor Xing’s passion for academia was unparalleled, and he had no desire to waste energy on trivial matters. That was why he had given Qi Jiu the contact information for his two students.
The subtext was:
Ask them whatever you want, just don’t bother me!
Yue Du did just that at the beginning.
Adopting Qi Jiu’s persona, she humbly sought their guidance, starting with simple high school physics problems and gradually increasing the difficulty. On the other end, the two students went from being nonchalant to struggling to keep up.
Although she was met with questions like, “Can you even understand this stuff?” it wasn’t an issue. All she had to do was simulate Qi Jiu’s voice and discuss the topics with them over the phone, and all their doubts would vanish.
Replaced by sincere admiration.
When the questions became difficult enough, the students had no choice but to consult their professor, and thus, Professor Xing was hooked.
A weekly debate became part of Yue Du’s routine.
Handling Xing Qingcang was simple. She was a System, and a vast galaxy of scientific knowledge far exceeding that of the current era was stored within her consciousness, ready to be accessed whenever needed.
Most importantly, however, she couldn’t let him believe that Qi Jiu was some physics prodigy. If she did, would the young lady ever know peace again?
So Yue Du presented herself as a mere messenger. Her story was this:
The knowledge and ideas, far beyond the grasp of a high school student, didn’t come from Qi Jiu herself but were the work of an older neighbor.
This non-existent neighbor was a man truly indifferent to fame and fortune, wanting only to immerse himself in his research without making a name for himself. Besides, his family’s wealth was more than enough to fund any experiments he needed.
But a truly brilliant scholar needs to exchange ideas with his peers. So, upon learning that Qi Jiu knew Xing Qingcang, he had asked her to act as an intermediary, conveying his thoughts to achieve a dialogue with the professor.
As for why he didn’t communicate himself?
Because this “big brother” didn’t want to reveal his identity!
Faced with such a whimsical explanation, Xing Qingcang had no choice but to accept it. What was the alternative? To believe that the intellectual confidant with whom he had such passionate discussions was the high school girl he’d met before?
That was even more absurd than the “neighbor” theory.
In short, the second main quest continued on smoothly.
There was no need for Qi Jiu to lift a finger. The young lady was happy to relax and continued to give half of her earned points to Yue Du.
At the end of her senior year, Qi Jiu, who had hardly paid attention in a single class, got into Shengjing University with the second-highest score in the entire city. It was the best university in Shengjing.
In fact, if it weren’t for being too lazy to move far from home, her score was high enough to get into Capital University.
And so, a new legend of a “study god” was born at Shengjing No. 1 High School. The story of the upperclassman who slept through every class yet effortlessly got into Shengjing University inspired generations of students who came after.
After becoming a proud university student, Qi Jiu’s laziness grew even more flagrant. Sometimes, she wouldn’t even bother sending a puppet to attend lectures, simply bribing a classmate to sign the attendance sheet for her.
Life went on, one repetitive day after another. For Qi Jiu, as for all the ordinary people in the world, who could have possibly imagined that their world would one day be turned completely upside down?
For two years, the Main System issued no new quests. Yue Du speculated that it wouldn’t speak up again until the great superpower outbreak.
“It might suddenly assign a very difficult mission,” she reminded her host.
Qi Jiu was unconcerned. “My superpower should have awakened by then, right? In that case, there’s nothing to fear.”
Qi Jiu had a baffling confidence in her own abilities, despite knowing nothing more than what Yue Du had told her: that her future power would be a Word Spirit type.
Yue Du called it “the boss’s confidence”—regardless of whether things were under her control, the first step was to project confidence.
Compared to her host’s carefree attitude, Yue Du was far more nervous. After all, the Qi Jiu she knew wasn’t the one from the original timeline. Would the power she awakened really be the Word Spirit ability described in the files?
To be fair, the Word Spirit ability was perfect for a lazy person like Qi Jiu. But the awakening of a superpower wasn’t something one could control. Who knew what she would end up with.
Author's Notes
Attention! The feat of sleeping through three years of high school and then getting into the best university only exists in novels, and the protagonist is not human!
Everyone in real life must study hard and make progress every day!
(At the same time, the author sheds tears of envy)
Comments
Post a Comment