Chapter 1
In a spacious, sunlit classroom, a shaft of sunlight fell across the girl with her head on her desk.
Her long, silky black hair spilled over her slender shoulders, with a few strands stuck to the pale curve of her neck and pressed against her hollow collarbones.
She wore a crisp white blouse and a dark green plaid skirt. On her chest, the ornate name badge bore two gilded characters: Yan Can.
The sunlight mischievously crept farther inside; the girl’s pale, slender fingertips twitched.
“Hey, why did Yan Can fall asleep as soon as class ended?”
“Don’t know. She didn’t look that sleepy during class…”
Two girls in the same uniform were whispering to each other when the girl on the desk suddenly lifted her head.
Because she’d been sleeping face-down, the hair at her forehead stood up a little, and a faint red mark had been pressed into it; but it did nothing to dull her looks, and instead gave her a sort of disheveled beauty.
Yan Can glanced at the time on her wrist. Her delicate brows furrowed, and she turned and rushed out of the classroom.
She ran so fast that the wind she kicked up flipped through her classmates’ books several pages at a time.
A passing student…
“Holy crap, what’s going on?” Yu Ting in the front row turned around and asked Zhang Ru.
When Yan Can had just raised her head, she’d seen the expression on her face; it had looked a little angry.
“Was she upset?”
Zhang Ru shook her head, looking blank.
She’d felt that low pressure around Yan Can when she woke up too. “Maybe… she’s just cranky after waking up?”
What she really wanted to say was that Yan Can looked like she was going out to fight someone.
But she didn’t dare say it. This was Yan Can, after all—the only daughter of the school board member, the future head of the Yan family corporation, a cold, haughty, untouchable flower high on the ridge.
The ever-composed Yan young lady had flown out in a fury after waking up, and Zhang Ru still doubted whether what she’d just seen had been an illusion.
She’d been fine this morning.
Zhang Ru thought it was strange, but didn’t dwell on it.
Next period was Demon Teacher’s class. She still hadn’t memorized the text, and that teacher loved to call on people to recite from memory.
Meanwhile, Yan Can ran down the corridor toward another teaching building. The wind whipped her long black hair into a mess, but she had no time to care.
When she crossed from the corridor into the other building, a heavy crash sounded behind her. Yan Can didn’t look back; all her thoughts were on getting there fast.
She had to be fast!
In ten minutes, the female lead of this world was going to fall from the roof.
By the time she finally panted her way up to the rooftop, no one else was there yet. She checked the time on her wrist; five minutes remained.
She let out a breath, bent over with both hands on her knees, and gasped for air.
The sun was high at noon, burning the flushed red from Yan Can’s face until it glowed even brighter.
She had no intention of hiding from the sun; she just stood there and waited.
Yan Can had transmigrated into this book three months ago.
At first, she had been extremely satisfied with her identity and situation.
In the original text, the only mention of her had been one light sentence: Yan Can’s mother donated a building to the school.
Only after she came in did she discover that this Yan Can, who shared her name, was loaded beyond belief. Not only was her mother a school board member, but her father also controlled the Yan family corporation, and she was their only child.
There wasn’t even the clichéd battle for the heir’s power. More than that, the original body’s hardware was excellent too; she was even prettier than Yan Can had been in her original world.
Best of all, she wasn’t some vicious supporting character or some tool used to push the male and female leads’ relationship forward. She had no real connection to the leads or even the plot.
Yan Can had read countless novels and knew one thing very well: as long as you got involved with the male and female leads, nothing good ever came of it.
So once she learned she was just a background character, she quickly adapted to her role.
And then, damn it all—
She was trapped in this day, September 4th!
She could never make it to September 5th.
What a waste of such a great identity!
At first, she thought she must have died and entered a loop.
After all, lots of novels were written that way.
So during the second loop, she was extremely cautious, drank a pot of strong tea at night, and forced herself to stay awake until midnight.
It didn’t work.
Time still wouldn’t move forward.
Relying on the endless novels, movies, and TV dramas she’d seen, Yan Can began searching for variables.
She tried changing the behavior of herself and the people around her, hoping to break the loop.
By the fortieth attempt, she finally discovered a key point.
No matter what changed, the female lead of this book, Su Ci, would fall to her death today, and the time of that fall was 1:24 p.m.
With that discovery, Yan Can started looking for a chance to confirm it.
But every time, she was too late to catch up to the female lead’s death.
Because the starting point of each loop was different.
Sometimes, the moment she opened her eyes, the news of the female lead’s death had already come.
Twice, she’d woken up early and prepared to stop it, only to be blocked by one bizarre person or another bizarre event.
That delayed her from stopping the female lead.
So later, whenever she woke up again, the first thing she did was run straight to the scene of the crime.
Waiting for the hare by the stump.
Yan Can checked the time; it was already 1:21 p.m.
Three more minutes until the female lead appeared.
And just five minutes ago, the class bell had rung.
According to the information gathered from previous loops, Su Ci would walk out of the classroom when the bell rang, then slowly make her way to the rooftop.
She was already on the way.
Yan Can just had to wait here.
The wind lifted the hem of the girl’s clothes and her long hair.
Yan Can had no mind to fix the strands blown out of place; she stared tightly at the doorway.
To be honest, compared with nervousness, Yan Can felt more angry right now, though she didn’t even know what she was angry about.
Minute by minute, time passed. Soon the stairwell echoed with the sound of leather shoes striking the floor, getting closer and closer.
Tap, tap, tap…
Yan Can saw a blurry, slender figure gradually come into focus in front of her, until it finally stood at the doorway, looking at her in surprise.
She seemed to be wondering why Yan Can was still on the rooftop at this hour, but that confusion only flashed by for an instant. Soon, the thin girl, who looked a little malnourished, moved her gaze past Yan Can and walked toward the railing.
The moment they brushed past each other, Yan Can reached out and grabbed her wrist.
So thin!
The bone of her wrist even pressed a little into Yan Can’s palm.
The novel had said the female lead was skinny, a striking presence in class, but seeing her in person still made Yan Can think she was far too thin. If she used any more force, the wrist might break.
Maybe because Su Ci was truly too thin, Yan Can felt her beauty was a little less than deserved. In her aesthetic view, she preferred someone with a bit more substance.
But there was no denying it; the female lead really was beautiful.
Dark brows, almond eyes, smooth, fair skin; standing in the sunlight, she looked as if she were glowing.
In the first hundred loops, Yan Can had never gotten close to Su Ci. This was the first time.
Yan Can…
was a little stunned by her beauty.
So much so that she forgot to stay angry, and forgot all the plans she’d made during the loops.
Su Ci didn’t know why this person had suddenly grabbed her, but she hated being touched by strangers.
She instinctively tried to shake her off, only to realize the other girl was holding on very tightly. Su Ci frowned.
Yan Can had thought that if she could stop the female lead, if she could get a chance to talk to her, no matter what, she’d drag her along.
At least get through today safely.
Break the loop.
So Yan Can had no intention of talking nonsense with Su Ci. Whether she liked it or not, she kept a grip on her arm and didn’t let go.
What she needed to do next was control her.
A hundred loops hadn’t been for nothing. Yan Can had already made her plan; as long as she made one phone call, she could have the driver come immediately, knock her out, and keep the female lead under control.
As long as they got through today safely.
However, just as Yan Can’s other hand reached into her pocket… uh.
It came up empty.
She remembered that heavy crash from earlier.
No choice, then. She could only force Su Ci away. The strength on the wrist she was gripping increased.
Su Ci frowned. Yan Can looked at her. “Come with me first.”
“Do we know each other?”
Her voice was very cold, and paired with those cool features, it made Yan Can inexplicably uneasy.
Yan Can had only thought of forcing her away and hadn’t yet figured out how to take her with her while the female lead was conscious. After all, this person had fallen to her death by suicide; if she really wanted to die, Yan Can feared it wouldn’t be easy to persuade her.
But then she caught sight of the name badge on the girl’s chest and had a flash of inspiration.
“You’re Su Ci, right? Before, during PE, you fainted from low blood sugar, and someone fed you a tube of glucose. That glucose was mine.”
As the young lady of the house, the original Yan Can had a delicate body and was prone to fainting at the sight of blood or from low blood sugar; she often kept glucose in her pocket.
The female lead had fainted once, and the original body had given her glucose once.
Yan Can had heard that from the original body’s deskmate during one of the loops.
Of course, the original body hadn’t handed it to her personally; she’d given it to someone else, and that person had passed it to the female lead.
That was the only connection between the original Yan Can and Su Ci that Yan Can had uncovered in the previous loops.
Su Ci’s gaze moved from the other girl’s small, fair face down to the name badge on her chest.
She knew who Yan Can was, but had never met her. After all, Yan Can was a year above her, and they weren’t in the same building; they rarely crossed paths.
Seeing that she seemed to remember, Yan Can let out a breath of relief. “So I helped you, and you have to help me back. We’re even. Today’s my birthday, and you have to stay with me.” Afraid she’d be refused, she spoke quickly.
Su Ci frowned, seeming about to say something, but Yan Can cut her off at once. “Students are supposed to help each other. I helped you, so you have to help me; you need to keep me company for my birthday. Anyway, you have to stay with me.”
Su Ci didn’t answer. She looked at her deeply, then lowered her eyes to the hand Yan Can still had clamped around her wrist. “Let go of me first.”
Yan Can didn’t let go. “You agree first.”
Su Ci…
The wind on the rooftop was strong, blowing their hair into a mess; the dark green hems of their skirts were tangled together by the gusts.
In the silent tug-of-war, Su Ci nodded.
Only then did Yan Can loosen her grip. There was a thin sheen of sweat in her palm.
Su Ci’s wrist was sweaty too; it was Yan Can’s.
Su Ci casually wiped it against her skirt, glanced at her phone, then looked back at her.
Meaning: from what time to what time?
Yan Can understood instantly. Since accompanying her for a few hours still counted as accompanying her, they might as well go all the way until today ended.
That would put her at ease.
“After school today, come home with me and keep me company for my birthday.”
“Come home with you?” Su Ci frowned.
“What, can’t you?” Yan Can said that, but her heart was pounding.
If she didn’t agree, she’d think of something else.
Yan Can’s brain started spinning at high speed.
Unexpectedly, Su Ci was silent for a moment, then nodded.
“Really?!” Yan Can’s smile suddenly widened. “Then I’ll come find you this afternoon after school.”
With the female lead’s promise, she could temporarily stop worrying about Su Ci jumping off the roof.
She didn’t even know why Su Ci wanted to jump.
If she’d known earlier, she would’ve listened to her coworker and read this novel…
Why hadn’t she read it back then again?
Oh, right; because this book began in reverse, and the female lead died right at the start. Yan Can didn’t like unhappy endings, so she hadn’t read it…
She had no idea whether changing the timeline of the female lead’s rooftop death would mean…
She didn’t have time to think about that much. For now, getting through today safely came first.