Rong Yu woke up at three in the morning.
Perhaps due to the initial dissonance between her body and soul, it took some time for them to fully merge before she could finally move her limbs with ease.
She picked up her phone and typed three characters into the search bar: Ji Shunying.
A photo of an elderly man appeared on the screen.
For Rong Yu, her last meeting with Ji Shunying had been just yesterday.
It was hard for her to accept that her once soft and adorable eight-year-old son had, in the blink of an eye, turned into a wrinkled old man.
After turning seventy, Ji Shunying began suffering from multiple health issues and spent most of his time recuperating abroad, rarely making public appearances. The Ji family’s business was gradually handed over to its new leader—Ji Zhiyuan.
To see Ji Shunying, she would first have to go through Ji Zhiyuan.
But Ji Zhiyuan wasn’t someone easily accessible either.
Rong Yu set the matter aside for now.
She started scrolling through short videos on her phone—China’s rapid modernization, the people’s growing confidence, the relentless advancement of technology… Every single thing left her in awe.
"Miss."
A knock sounded at the door.
Rong Yu realized the sky had already brightened.
Following the original owner’s routine, it was time to get ready for school.
During the original owner’s college entrance exams, her mother had passed away. Overwhelmed by grief, she had gone to the wrong exam hall for the first test, failing miserably. The setback shattered her confidence, and in the end, she scored just over a hundred points. After being brought to Haicheng, she was arranged to repeat her final year of high school.
Rong Yu was curious about what education looked like in this era.
She grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs.
As soon as she reached the bottom, a teenage boy stood up from the dining table and pointed at her. "You’re the one who splashed wine on my sister at the banquet yesterday!"
This was Rong Qing'an, her half-brother from her father’s side.
"‘Splashed’ is such a strong word. I was simply offering her a taste," Rong Yu said, bending his accusatory finger back with a smile. "It’s rude to point at people, you know. Or else others might think you lack manners."
Rong Qing'an was stunned.
Ever since this sister had moved into the house, she had always been meek, keeping her head down. Today, she actually dared to talk back.
His eyes flared with anger. "You’re the one with no manners, you country bumpkin—"
"Enough!" Rong Wangtian slammed the table. "First, you offend the Ji family’s CEO yesterday, and now you’re picking fights with your brother first thing in the morning. Rong Yu, you’re eighteen already—when will you grow up?"
"Don’t take it out on the child," her stepmother, Shen Lin, interjected. "We should try to arrange a meeting with Mr. Ji to apologize and see if we can get his forgiveness."
Rong Yu took a seat at the table. "Relax. He won’t care."
The Ji family had always carried an innate gentleness and tolerance in their bones. Her husband had been like that, and so had her eight-year-old son back then. The descendants of the Ji family wouldn’t be any different.
If he held onto such trivial matters, life would be exhausting.
After breakfast, Rong Yu slung her backpack over her shoulder and got into the car.
She had transferred to Haicheng No. 1 High School, where she was now in the same class as Rong Ruoyao. Originally, they were supposed to ride to school together, but due to their strained relationship, the Rong family had to provide a separate car.
Walking into the school, she marveled at the bright, clean classrooms.
Back in her time, during the war, several of the schools she attended had been bombed. She had barely managed to finish high school through sheer perseverance. Later, she went on to university, graduate school, and overseas studies—her academic journey had been fraught with hardship.
The original owner had been in the liberal arts stream. Subjects like history and politics only required a quick read-through—they weren’t her focus.
In her past life, she had consistently topped her class in physics, but her principal believed her talent lay in mathematics. She was eventually recommended for Peking University’s math program, marking the beginning of her long journey into mathematical research… She was eager to know how far the field had progressed in the past seventy years.
Unsurprisingly, high school textbooks wouldn’t give her the answers she sought.
"Ruoyao, look at Rong Yu—she’s so pretentious," Rong Ruoyao’s deskmate whispered mockingly. "She only scored a hundred-something on her college entrance exams. Who does she think she’s fooling?"
Rong Ruoyao glanced over.
She saw Rong Yu flipping through all three years’ worth of textbooks, finishing each one in just over ten minutes. That was hardly the attitude of someone serious about studying.
Her father had spent a considerable amount of money and pulled countless strings just to get Rong Yu into this school as a repeater. If she ended up at the bottom of every monthly exam, he would be utterly disappointed.
Sooner or later, she’d be sent back to the countryside.
Rong Ruoyao looked away.
Rong Yu decided to visit the library.
As the top high school in Haicheng, its library was nothing short of magnificent—five floors filled with books on every subject imaginable. Students were only allowed to borrow ten books at a time, and she found herself torn between choices, struggling to narrow them down. After much deliberation, she finally made her selections.
Arms laden with a thick stack of books, she had just stepped out of the library when—
A boy on a skateboard came hurtling toward her from the open square in front of the building. Blocked by the books in her arms, she barely had time to react before he crashed into her.
Her shoulder took the impact, and the ten books tumbled to the ground.
The skateboard’s wheels rolled over the covers.
But the boy showed no intention of stopping. Instead, he spun his skateboard in a circle, drawing cheers from the onlookers.
Rong Yu looked up. "Pick them up."
The boy had pink-streaked hair, earrings, and wore ripped jeans—the picture of a delinquent. He tilted his head, smirking. "You’re seriously ordering me around?"
Laughter erupted around them.
"Who does she think she is?"
"A girl, and a pretty one at that. But way too arrogant."
"Wild Bro, you gotta teach her a lesson!"
"..."
A memory flashed in Rong Yu’s mind.
This boy was Ji Zhouye, the infamous school tyrant of No. 1 High.
She wasn’t entirely sure what a "school tyrant" entailed.
Her voice turned icy. "I’ll say it one more time. Pick. Them. Up."
Ji Zhouye’s smirk widened. "And if I don’t?"
Rong Yu smiled.
For some reason, that smile sent a chill down Ji Zhouye’s spine. Ignoring the unease, he pushed off on his skateboard to leave.
But then—his board was suddenly pinned underfoot.
The world spun. His back slammed hard against the skateboard, pain shooting through him. By the time he processed what had happened, Rong Yu already had one knee pressed against his waist, one hand gripping his wrist, the other pinning his shoulder.
"Now. Will you pick them up?"
Ji Zhouye’s eyes widened.
He—had just been—taken down—by a girl?!
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
"She actually dared to provoke Wild Bro? She’s got a death wish."
"Wild Bro, don’t go easy on her. Crush her."
"..."
Ji Zhouye struggled.
He couldn’t move an inch.
This girl—her strength was unreal.
Rong Yu’s voice was frigid. "You have three seconds. Or I can’t guarantee you won’t be humiliated further."
More students gathered to watch.
Gritting his teeth, Ji Zhouye finally bent down and picked up the scattered books.
"You got me by surprise today. This isn’t over!"
He shot her a glare, grabbed his skateboard, and stormed off.
His lackeys hurried after him. "Wild Bro, you’re just letting her go like that?"
Ji Zhouye scoffed. "Fighting a girl would make me look pathetic."
