The Vicious Female Supporting Character and the White Lotus Female Lead: Ch 24, Pure Campus Love The cold, dry wind blew away the last withered leaf on the branch and before people realized it, winter had arrived. For the past two days, the cold current came, causing the temperature to drop sharply and many people began to wear their thick down jackets. As for Luan Qing Xiao, she didn’t need to buy her own clothes. Every season, the store manager will send someone to her home with the newest outfits for her to choose. When the weather was warm, everyone wore their school uniforms, regardless of whether they are rich or poor. Now they have down jackets, it became natural to compare them. "Wow, you got the new style of Goose Feather House. I really wanted to buy it, but it was too expensive and my mother said she would only buy it for me when I entered the top 20 at the end of the term." "By the time it’s the end of the term, it’ll be almost New Year. It won't be cold for much long. If you buy it, are you sure you still have a chance to wear it?" "After hearing the temperature would drop today, yesterday my mother took me to the mall for a down jacket. We accidentally entered the X-Card store. Guess how much the new X-Card outfit cost?" "Definitely more expensive than the Goose Feather House." "Of course, the two brands aren’t even of the same level. Let me tell you, at least this number!" Bai Fei slowly stretched out five fingers.
"Five thousand? That’s not bad. Goose Feather House is three thousand, it's not that expensive." "What do you mean five thousand, it’s fifty thousand! To be precise, fifty thousand eight hundred. The moment I saw the price on the tag, I knew what a luxurious life the wealthy lived ." Different from the cold outside, the heating in the classroom was sufficient, plus there were many people. The warmth made people lazy, and they were all discussing the current additional topic of the cold—— down jackets. After all, they can't stay in the classroom forever. As long as they head outside, whether they can come back alive depends on the down jackets. When Luan Qing Xiao and Nie Zhen'er walked in, the people in the classroom couldn't help but focus their eyes on their coats. Luan Qing Xiao's down jacket had a simple design, and the brand trademark couldn’t be seen from the outside. Bai Fei, who was rambling about how expensive the X-Card down jacket was, also glanced. His eyes directly fell onto Luan Qing Xiao. His deskmate nudged him and whispered,"Wei, whatcha doing? Why are you staring at Luan Qing Xiao, did you suddenly find that you fell in love with her?" Bai Fei returned to his senses, replying to his deskmate with a serious expression, "I did indeed fell in love with Luan Qing Xiao’s..." The deskmate opened his mouth in surprise.
"...down jacket. Damn! That's an X-Card! It's the exact same one as the one I saw yesterday! Fifty thousand eight hundred! What reason do I have to not to love it!" There were also those who didn't dare to look at Luan Qing Xiao, so they focused on Nie Zhen'er. Nie Zhen’er walked to her seat and put down her backpack before taking off the thick dark green jacket. Again, they couldn't see the trademark, but it wasn’t any brand they knew well, and they seemed to have seen Nie Zhen'er wore this last year. Nie Zhen'er, a beautiful person and great academic- wise, and was secretly named the campus belle by the boys. She doesn't like to talk, and there was only one Li Ni who she was close to before. The girls felt that she was aloof and looked down on people, and that’s why she didn’t talk to them. Many girls dislike her in their hearts. In the past month, this small group of girls who didn't like Nie Zhen'er suddenly had a strong backbone character-Pei Yi Ruo, who was just promoted from Class 3 and ranked second in the monthly exam. Pei Yi Ruo was different from Nie Zhen'er. Her studies were good and although she wasn’t as beautiful as Nie Zhen'er, she was cheerful and outgoing. When talking to her, she would make people laugh, and she didn’t get into the boys' group to be a “buddy.” Girls normally didn’t hate such girls.
There were five people in the small group including Pei Yi Ruo. Jing Fang Fang sat right behind Nie Zhen'er. Seeing Nie Zhen'er take off her coat, her eyes rolled. Then she eagerly sprawled forward on her desk and asked Nie Zhen'er. She patted Nie Zhen'er on the shoulder and curiously said, "Zhen'er, your down jacket looks quite decent. It really makes you look whiter, I want to buy one too. What brand is it?" Nie Zhen'er turned around. She sincerely replied, "I’m wearing a cotton coat, not a down jacket. And I forgot what brand it was." Her dazzling apricot eyes reflected Jing Fang Fang's stunned face as Nie Zhen'er continued, "It's rather cold to wear cotton clothes now. I don't recommend you buy them."
After the self-studying session, the four people from the small group approached Pei Yi Ruo to gossip. Jing Fang Fang complained, "You don't know how pretentious Nie Zhen'er was. I asked her where she bought the down jacket. She actually said she was wearing a cotton coat, how it wasn’t suitable for the current weather and how cold you’ll be if you wear. If it made her cold, would she have worn it herself? I bet she just didn’t want to tell me the brand, Tsk, what’s so great about her." The others were like her, and they poured out their dissatisfaction with Nie Zhen'er. Pei Yi Ruo's focus was different from them. Nie Zhen'er was beautiful and had a temperament. No matter what kind of clothes she wore, she made it appear as some luxurious brand on her. No one has ever doubted her family background, because Nie Zhen'er seemed like a little princess. How could the princess have no money? Pei Yi Ruo smiled faintly. Her eyes showed deep disdain. In her heart, only Luan Qing Xiao was the real princess, and Nie Zhen'er was only fitted to be the servant next to the princess at best. No matter what she looks like, based on her background, it was impossible to become a true friend with the noble princess. Now she caught Nie Zhen'er. Others are just bewitched by her appearance and can't see that Nie Zhen'er is actually a poor girl who can't even afford a down jacket, so she can only wear a cotton coat. As long as she slips up a little bit and exposes the truth... there will be a good show to watch. There were too many people in the classroom, Pei Yi Ruo watched their discussion and just listened by the side. She didn’t participate at all. In the afternoon, they had a PE class. After following the exercises the PE teacher showed, the group found a clean place to continue their morning topic. "Do you know what brand Nie Zhen'er's jacket is?" Because the clothes worn on Nie Zhen'er look so stunning and Jing Fang Fang didn't get an answer from Nie Zhen'er, so she couldn't ask again, but she really liked it. She couldn’t help but ask the small group, hoping someone will know. In the end, everyone shook their heads. Ding Ruo Jie rolled her eyes, saying, "Why can’t you be more open-minded? Wearing the same style as Nie Zhen’er, are you afraid that you’ll get hurt from the comparison."
"..." Jing Fang Fang curled her lips and glanced bitterly at the figure of Nie Zhen'er in the distance. Pei Yi Ruo also looked in the same direction, but the person she was watching was Luan Qing Xiao. A cold wind blew pass. Pei Yi Ruo put on the hood of the down jacket, appearing unwittingly saying, "I might have seen a junior sister wearing the same cotton coat as Nie Zhen'er in the cafeteria today." "There’s too many junior sisters." Jing Fang Fang wasn’t interested in the clue provided by Pei Yi Ruo. Pei Yi Ruo smiled, "What a coincidence, I actually know this junior sister." Jing Fang Fang's eyes lit up, and she quickly grabbed Pei Yi Ruo's hand, shaking her "My dear sister, tell me the class and name. I’ll find her after class!" After class, Jing Fang Fang happily took Ding Ruo Jie to the freshman building. Pei Yi Ruo watched the back of the two and thought coldly: How could I know such a poor junior sister? I just happened to see it on the list of poor students. In the distance, Luan Qing Xiao held Nie Zhen'er's hand in her palm, bowed her head and kissed it. With signs of distress spelled on her face, she said something to Nie Zhen’er and then let go of her hand to take off her down jacket. She handed it to Nie Zhen'er, who refused. Luan Qing Xiao frowned and didn’t put on the down jacket. Nie Zhen'er jumped anxiously, but Luan Qing Xiao stayed unmoved. She could only take off her cotton coat and gave it to Luan Qing Xiao before slipping the down jacket on. Pei Yi Ruo stared from far away. Her cold eyes seemed to be burning a hole through them, and the muscles around her cheeks twitched uncontrollably. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Notesdown jackets (羽绒服): A down jacket usually is filled with feathers from a duck or geese and the fluffiness of the down created tiny air pockets, making it great at trapping heat. It's different from a parka as it's lighter and are worn in temperatures warmer than what a parka would require. Nie Zhen'er cotton coat hardly provide any warmth, but it is way cheaper
(学妹): In Chinese culture, it's kind of a way to show respect. A female in a higher grade level would be called senior sister by the underclassmen while a male would be considered a senior brother. Upperclassmen then could call a female lower in grade level as junior sister and a male as junior brother. It's not required or a huge thing being stresses upon though