Today was Monday, two days had passed since A-Xin and Jiang Cancan's identity swap.
The two agreed to meet at the school gate and enter together. When A-Xin arrived at the gate, Jiang Cancan was already waiting there. Carrying an old backpack, wearing clothes neither new nor old, looking around in all directions.
As soon as she appeared, Jiang Cancan happily waved at her, shouting loudly: "Jiang Cancan, Jiang Cancan, I'm here, come quickly! You're so slow."
In that moment, A-Xin's lips unconsciously curved upward. At the same time, she observed the people around them. When Jiang Cancan shouted "Jiang Cancan," they showed absolutely no surprise, as if Yu Xin really was Jiang Cancan.
"Jiang Cancan, what are you dawdling for?" Jiang Cancan walked over, linking arms with A-Xin. A-Xin felt the other's body trembling slightly and understood in her heart—even after being reborn, facing this terrifying, dark world with no end in sight, Jiang Cancan's heart was still filled with fear.
But Jiang Cancan was naturally an optimist, always acting carefree. Making people think she wasn't afraid, when in reality she was scared to death.
She also linked arms with Jiang Cancan and squeezed firmly. Jiang Cancan seemed to understand this was comfort, turned her head to show A-Xin a brilliant smile, her fingers hooked in A-Xin's palm, writing three characters: I'm not afraid.
How could she not be afraid?
A-Xin lowered her head and smiled, saying nothing more. The two walked hand in hand into the classroom.
Arriving at the classroom, classmates all called Jiang Cancan "Yu Xin" and called A-Xin "Jiang Cancan." The two accepted this cheerfully. A-Xin discovered that these people accepted their current identities so calmly, never showing even a hint of surprise in their eyes.
She trusted her own observation completely—she definitely hadn't missed anyone's reaction in the class. Unlike Chen Meilan, more or less surprise and confusion would appear in their eyes.
She didn't make a fuss, continuing to observe these people's behavior, always able to discover something.
The first class was math. The math teacher called her up to solve a problem. Very naturally calling her Jiang Cancan, she also very calmly went up, without a bit of doubt that she was Jiang Cancan.
In the math teacher's micro-expressions, she didn't see any surprise, as if she really was Jiang Cancan.
The second class was still math.
The third class was English. This time, the English teacher called Jiang Cancan to read an English text, addressing Jiang Cancan's name as Yu Xin. Jiang Cancan instinctively stood up, as if she really was Yu Xin.
For Jiang Cancan's normal behavior, neither the classmates nor the English teacher's expression showed any doubt. In their eyes, Jiang Cancan was Yu Xin, not a single mistake.
"What's wrong with you?" Jiang Cancan turned back to see A-Xin spacing out, reached out to pull her, "Going to the bathroom, coming?"
"Yes."
The two hand in hand went to the girls' bathroom.
Arriving at the girls' bathroom, A-Xin confirmed there were no cameras here. Actually, shielding cameras and any recording devices was very easy for her—she could do it with soul power.
But this world always gave her a feeling of unreality. Even though there were no cameras around, psychologically she felt as if eyes were peeping at her from behind.
Moreover, she wasn't sure—once she used soul power, would the Jiang Cancan before her eyes disappear? She had come for Jiang Cancan. Without understanding the truth of things, of course she didn't want to make the other disappear.
To prove her guess, she directly pulled Jiang Cancan into a toilet stall. The two looked at each other, neither speaking for a moment. Jiang Cancan hesitated, then still hooked her finger at A-Xin: What's wrong with you?
A-Xin: Discovered some interesting things, I'll tell you after I verify the truth.
Jiang Cancan's brows furrowed: Is something wrong?
A-Xin: Don't you feel that the people around us are all off?
Jiang Cancan's expression showed surprise: Is that so?
In that instant, A-Xin felt a gaze spying on her. Her eyes narrowed slightly. She quickly pressed Jiang Cancan against the wall, and before Jiang Cancan could react, her lips moved to Jiang Cancan's cheek, gently pecking it.
Jiang Cancan's eyes widened, looking at A-Xin in disbelief, her voice trembling as she pointed at A-Xin, "You... you... what are you doing?"
"I heard people say girls are very fragrant," A-Xin's fingertip slid across the skin on Jiang Cancan's cheek, saying in a low voice, "I'm testing to see if it's the same as what they said."
Jiang Cancan's face turned red. She pushed A-Xin, "You have a problem. If you want to test, can't you tell me first? Just suddenly coming over to kiss me like that really scared me to death."
Jiang Cancan suspected in her heart whether Yu Xin had been hurt too badly by men in her previous life, thinking all men were stinking men, and this life didn't want to find men anymore, planning to try finding a woman instead.
Plus everyone around was colluding to deceive them. Yu Xin couldn't possibly find other people, so in the end she set her sights on her.
Jiang Cancan rolled her eyes, "There's a saying: rabbits don't eat grass near their burrow, yet you can really do it." She stole a glance at A-Xin, her heartbeat somewhat fast. Actually, if it really came to that, if this person was Yu Xin, it wasn't so hard to accept.
In this world, she couldn't find a single person to trust. Even if she escaped this terrible place in the future, she had no way to trust anyone again—of course, except Yu Xin. So, rather than having a stranger she didn't know become known as her pillow person, it would be better if it was Yu Xin. Only Yu Xin wouldn't deceive her, wouldn't toy with her.
"That, Jiang Cancan, if you're interested, we can try first." Jiang Cancan's cheeks were a bit red. She asked A-Xin in a low voice, "After testing just now, are girls fragrant or not?"
A-Xin was obviously stunned for a moment. Earlier she was just confusing that spying gaze that didn't know where it was coming from. She could be certain it definitely wasn't a camera, which was why she had no choice but to push Jiang Cancan against the wall and kiss her. As for why she had to press the other against the wall to kiss her, it was just an instinctive action, not going through her brain, as if it should be done this way.
Hearing Jiang Cancan ask if she was fragrant, she carefully recalled just now and answered seriously, "Fragrant."
Jiang Cancan's face turned even redder. Speechless, she muttered, "Of course it's fragrant, I applied moisturizer, how could it not be fragrant?" She caught sight of A-Xin's indifferent appearance and felt very unbalanced. Taking advantage of A-Xin not paying attention, she also pressed the other against the wall, closed her eyes and kissed the other's cheek, then wiped the corner of her mouth, smiling as she raised her chin, "You kissed me once, I kiss you once, fair. I also want to test whether girls are really fragrant or not."
Honestly, extremely fragrant.
Yu Xin's little face was soft and smooth, really especially nice to kiss.
A-Xin wiped the place that had been kissed, saying, "There's saliva."
Jiang Cancan: "..." Really wanted to beat Yu Xin to death.
The class bell rang. The two quickly returned to the classroom.
Behind them, that group of experimental personnel monitoring them looked at each other, all looking at Jiang Bailei with an expression difficult to describe. Dr. Jiang, is there something off between your daughter and that Yu Xin?
Jiang Bailei's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He really hadn't expected that these two girls who grew up together with a good relationship would actually have that kind of tendency.
Fragrant or not?
After testing just now, are girls fragrant or not?
You kissed me once, I kiss you once, fair!
I also want to test whether girls are really fragrant or not.
Now their minds were full of "fragrant or not." Because of this special experiment, they couldn't very well separate the two, right?
Jiang Bailei's expression was heavy, "Has that intern female teacher been found?"
"Teacher, found her." Cheng Yiling answered, "She should be able to get here the day after tomorrow. We hired her with high pay in the school's name. When she received our request, she didn't hesitate at all."
"Good, very good. When the time comes, arrange for her to go to their class."
Cheng Yiling smiled, "Okay, teacher. I'll handle this matter well."
Jiang Bailei thought for a moment, then said, "You go too. It would be best if you could attract one of them. As long as one person takes you to heart, we can activate the experiment's ultimate phase." Jiang Bailei felt somewhat uneasy in his heart. His instinct was directly telling him that this experiment must succeed and end as quickly as possible, it couldn't be dragged on any longer.
Cheng Yiling was slightly stunned, then finally nodded, "Okay, I'll also enter the school as a subject teacher."
Jiang Bailei nodded. Under Cheng Yiling's gaze, he walked out of the laboratory. Until his back disappeared from view, Cheng Yiling swept his eyes over the busy experimental personnel around, as well as those observing A-Xin and Jiang Cancan's behavior, lowering his head with a smile.
After a day of observation, A-Xin could confirm that these people showed not a bit of surprise at her and Jiang Cancan calmly accepting their own identities. As if in their minds, they were each other.
When first looking at this world's story, she had suspected—if in a small space, indeed superb acting could be used to deceive a certain person and drive them crazy. But a city, a school, all the people who knew this person, couldn't all have exquisite acting skills. If there really were so many actors with exquisite acting, there wouldn't be bad films in this world.
So, these people had deep faith in their current identities without doubt. Could their memories have been tampered with?
No, except for the people where she was from, no one had this ability.
Then what was all this about?
On Wednesday, a newly arrived female teacher caught A-Xin's attention. At a glance she recognized her—this was that teacher who had once interned for a semester. Because she had inadvertently appeared in Yu Xin and Jiang Cancan's line of sight and believed their words, she ultimately died in an accident.
The other was replacing the Chinese language teacher. During break time, she called Jiang Cancan, "Jiang Cancan, come help me grade Chinese test papers. I remember your Chinese grades were very good before."
Hearing her call Jiang Cancan, A-Xin stood up, walked in front of this female teacher, smiling lightly, "Teacher, let's go."
"Yu Xin, do you have a problem?" The Chinese teacher looked at Yu Xin in surprise, "I remember your Chinese grades were also okay. You should be able to understand what was taught in today's class, right?"
"Teacher, I'm Jiang Cancan. Did you remember wrong?" A-Xin said with a smile.
Jiang Cancan nodded in her seat like a chicken pecking rice, "That's right, Teacher He. It's only been a year, and you already mixed us up."
"You're Jiang Cancan?" He Xin pointed at A-Xin doubtfully, "I remember you're called Yu Xin." Her eyes were full of confusion, tilting her head thinking, as if asking, did she really remember wrong?
"That's right, I'm Jiang Cancan." A-Xin answered, also observing this female teacher called He Xin.
Jiang Cancan stood up from her seat, "Teacher, I'm called Yu Xin, I'm Yu Xin. Teacher, did you want to call me to help you grade homework? My Chinese grades are indeed quite good."
Facing the two saying their own "correct" names, He Xin fell into confusion. Finally she still nodded, "Then Yu Xin, come help me grade homework."
"Teacher, I'll go too. My grades are also good." A-Xin volunteered. He Xin didn't refuse. She still wanted to figure out whether she really remembered wrong, or these two girls were colluding to tease her.
The three in the office, He Xin also recalled the times they spent together before. The general meaning was, she still felt she hadn't called them wrong. Yu Xin was Jiang Cancan, Jiang Cancan should be Yu Xin.
But A-Xin and Jiang Cancan both told her with smiling faces that they were themselves, no mistake.
Finally Jiang Cancan also asked with a smile, "Teacher, did you have a dream? In the dream you took me for Jiang Cancan and her for Yu Xin? Teacher, you're like Zhuangzi dreaming of being a butterfly."
He Xin's mind was a bit confused. Could it really be like this?
"Teacher, if you don't believe it, go ask all the students in the school, and my parents too. I also want to be Jiang Cancan," Jiang Cancan said helplessly, "Jiang Cancan is a wealthy young miss, while I'm a poor girl."
A-Xin followed up, "That's right, teacher. Honestly, if you really had a dream, then for me it was a nightmare. I don't want to be a poor girl."
"So, I remembered wrong, you didn't?"
"Haha, teacher, would we deny our own identities?" Jiang Cancan said carelessly, "You remembered wrong. Don't worry, we won't mind. Just don't remember wrong in the future."
After He Xin came to this school for several days, she eventually very naturally called A-Xin Jiang Cancan and called Jiang Cancan Yu Xin. She felt that if she didn't go along with them, she would go crazy. Now she deeply believed she had remembered wrong, possibly had a dream.
After He Xin, another new teacher was transferred to their class. It was a young man, handsome-looking, appearing to be in his twenties, teaching biology. As soon as he came to the class, he caused a sensation among the female students. This biology teacher called Cheng Yiling instantly became the male god of the school's female students.
When Jiang Cancan saw Cheng Yiling, outwardly she was all smiles, but inwardly cursing. This scumbag, how did he appear so early in this life?
What was even more terrifying was that Cheng Yiling was intentionally or unintentionally flirting with her. Although not obvious, she felt it—this scumbag indeed had bad intentions toward her in some way. Remembering Yu Xin's tragedy in the previous life, she almost jumped up to slap him.
"Teacher Cheng, there's something I don't know whether I should say or not." Jiang Cancan's hesitant manner made Cheng Yiling's heart leap with joy. He asked without a trace, "What is it?" And showed Jiang Cancan what he thought was a handsome and charming smile.
Jiang Cancan weakly glanced at the other, "I hope after I say it, teacher won't hit me."
"How could that be? Yu Xin, you can tell teacher anything."
"Then I'll say it?"
"Go ahead."
Jiang Cancan said in a small voice, "Teacher, is your stomach not good? Does your stomach have heat?"
She crossed her hands, her face somewhat flushed. In Cheng Yiling's eyes, she was just a young girl shy in front of a man.
He didn't think deeply about this question, just said, "Why do you ask?" He was actually a bit strange, "My routine is quite regular, and I eat on time. My stomach shouldn't have a problem."
Jiang Cancan blinked, "Then it must be an oral cavity problem," she muttered in a low voice, "If it's not stomach heat or a stomach problem, then it must be an oral cavity problem, otherwise... how could there be bad breath?"
Cheng Yiling's originally charming smile froze.
Bad breath???
"Teacher, you said you wouldn't hit me. That, teacher, I still have homework to rush through, so I won't talk to you more." Jiang Cancan quickly said, "Actually what I mean is, in the future when teacher talks to me, really don't lean too close. I kind of want to vomit... Ah! Sorry, teacher, I really didn't mean it. I just can't help it. You know that involuntary feeling of wanting to vomit, right?"
"I think it's necessary to remind you. After all, bad breath is also an illness and should be treated promptly, lest a small illness becomes a big one. Ah, goodbye, teacher. I'm really sorry. I hope you can understand my involuntariness. Really very sorry for troubling you. Honestly... teacher should really go see a doctor."
Having said that, she ran out of the office, leaving Cheng Yiling with his smile still frozen.
After that day, Cheng Yiling never approached Jiang Cancan again. Jiang Cancan occasionally discovered he was chewing gum. Because once when returning from the bathroom to the classroom, she happened to see Cheng Yiling wrap used gum in paper and throw it in the trash.
At that time the two looked at each other for a second, then each quickly entered the classroom, neither acknowledging having seen the other.
Next, A-Xin clearly felt Cheng Yiling planned to get close to her. She remembered his experience with Jiang Cancan and couldn't help but smile lightly.
"Jiang Cancan, if you have any questions about biology, you can come to the office anytime to ask teacher."
A-Xin answered, "Okay, thank you teacher."
The next day, A-Xin came to the office and placed a thick notebook on Cheng Yiling's desk. "Teacher, these are all my accumulated questions," A-Xin opened the notebook, saying, "There are still blank lines inside. I need to go to class. If teacher has time, you can actually help me fill the answers in the blank line areas. When I finish class, I'll come look."
"Teacher, if you're busy, then forget it." A-Xin added.
Cheng Yiling looked at this thick notebook, forcing out a smile, "No problem. Teacher only teaches biology, there's quite a bit of free time. It shouldn't take more than a few days for me to help you solve these."
A-Xin showed grateful eyes and bowed, "Then really thank you, teacher."
A-Xin walked out of the office with a light smile, turning back to look gratefully at Cheng Yiling, "Troubling you, Teacher Cheng."
After she walked out of the office, Cheng Yiling opened the notebook and looked at the questions inside, his expression stiffening. He had said that if there were any biology questions, come ask him and he could answer. It was also his fault for not being clear—questions couldn't be beyond the curriculum, and also couldn't be too strange.
Can people achieve immortality?
If XX and XX chromosomes combine, can they give birth to babies in the future? If they can give birth to babies, will there really only be female babies? Okay, this chromosome question is high school curriculum, no problem, but her question is also too strange, right?
Cheng Yiling thought of hearing Yu Xin and Jiang Cancan in the bathroom talking about whether girls were fragrant or not, his face darkening.
How can skin not age and stay beautiful forever?
Can the human body reach the state of the legendary gods, really able to ride clouds and move mountains and overturn seas? If really reaching this situation, what would their cells be like? Very curious, hope teacher can help answer.
I heard people say that divine females don't have periods. Is this true?
When Sun Wukong's body grows larger, do his cells undergo huge changes, or is it cell division and then reorganization? What about bones? What about dead cells like hair? Teacher, this question has puzzled me for a long time.
"What's wrong?"
Cheng Yiling stared at the notebook, "Things are more troublesome than I imagined. I thought it would go smoothly. If there's a problem, it must be with him. I never expected the problem would be with these two girls."
"Then what to do? Reconstruct again?"
"Do you know how difficult it is to reconstruct? If you're not careful, all the hard work will be wasted." Cheng Yiling rubbed his brow, very helpless, "I don't know what's going on. Before it was all especially smooth. How come this time there are so many problems? Could it be that we've been discovered, that something has intruded?"
"I think that's impossible. If we were really discovered, we wouldn't be this safe."
Cheng Yiling took a deep breath, "They have deep faith in their own identities," he pointed at the notebook in his hand, "and their thoughts are all over the place. These two brainwave patterns are really especially strange. Although we pulled their brainwaves here, we completely can't control their divergent thinking. Originally we didn't plan to control their actions, but we also didn't expect their behavior would cause us such big trouble. There's simply no way to determine what the final result will be."
"Should we pause? Or change the experiment direction, from human behavior to human organs, the brain, or even everything else?" He Xin said, "Anyway, this is in the brainwave world. They're all just brainwaves. The world we constructed with brainwaves, used to do some experiments—that's contributing to humanity. If we don't use them like this, their remaining time is simply being wasted."
She looked around, her face showing a smile, "This world is very real, isn't it?"
"Right, this world is very real, almost exactly the same as outside, with no difference at all. We can use this extremely realistic world to do many experiments we don't dare to do. And human experiments too," Cheng Yiling's eyes flashed with excited light, "Wait a few more days. If there's no progress, they're failed products. Destroy them, or conduct other experiments."
"Can you explain to him?" He Xin asked.
Cheng Yiling's lips curved, "Just present a new experiment to attract his attention." He sneered, "Besides, this matter has no choice. This is the world I constructed."
...
"Brainwaves?"