Ji Zhouye had just stopped Duoduo to extort some money when Rong Yu grabbed him by the collar. "Extorting money from a kid? How impressive."
Ji Zhouye shrank his neck. He didn’t dare provoke this great-grandmother of his—he didn’t want to end up as miserable as his eldest brother. Though, truth be told, he was already pretty miserable…
Rong Yu tossed him aside. "Want a chance to earn some money?"
Ji Zhouye nodded eagerly, like a woodpecker.
"Come up with a proposal for me," she said thoughtfully. "I plan to establish a scholarship for impoverished but outstanding students at Haicheng No. 1 High School under the Ji family’s name. Use that brain of yours to figure out the specific terms. I’ll need a draft by tomorrow morning."
Ji Zhouye’s face twisted into a bitter expression. "I don’t know how…"
"Then learn. Or do you plan to just laze around at home waiting to die?"
With that, Rong Yu turned and walked away.
Ji Zhouye silently cursed in his heart. But there was no way around it—when the great-grandmother gave an order, no matter how difficult, it had to be done.
He opened his laptop and began teaching himself how to draft a proposal, researching the concept of scholarships…
Early the next morning, he proudly handed Rong Yu the draft. He hadn’t slept all night but was oddly energized, his voice brimming with excitement. "Great-grandmother, take a look! Isn’t my proposal amazing?"
Rong Yu flipped through it. It was passable—mediocre, but for a first attempt, it was definitely acceptable.
She glanced up. "You’re actually quite clever. Why don’t you put this effort into your studies?"
"Hahaha! Grandpa, did you hear that? Great-grandmother called me smart!"
Ji Zhouye jumped three feet in the air. He hadn’t forgotten how Rong Yu constantly berated his eldest brother for being stupid.
But she had praised him.
What did that mean?
It meant he was better than his brother!
Rong Yu rolled her eyes and turned to Ji Zhiyuan. "Ah Yuan, have someone revise this draft. Ideally, we can finalize it today."
Ji Zhiyuan nodded. "Understood, Great-grandmother."
Ji Zhouye rubbed his hands together. "So… where’s my reward?"
"Didn’t you write it clearly in the proposal yourself?" Rong Yu patted his shoulder. "Top three students in overall scores get 30,000 to 50,000 yuan. Top three in individual subjects get 10,000 to 30,000. There’s also a progress award—1,000 yuan for every rank improved… Since you’re an orphan, you qualify under the poverty criteria. Study hard, kid. You could earn over 100,000 yuan a month at best. Good luck."
Ji Zhouye: "……?"
So… he had stayed up all night digging his own grave?
On the way to school, Rong Yu spoke calmly. "As family, I’ll give you a special deal. Memorize one English word, and I’ll give you 10 yuan. Memorize a math or science formula, 100 yuan. A poem in Chinese, 500 yuan. Classical Chinese text, 1,000 yuan—no upper limit. For every point you score on a test, I’ll add two zeros to the reward…"
Ji Zhouye didn’t feel excited.
He just felt like life was cruel, and he wanted to cry.
Before, all he had to do was stretch out his hand, and his grandfather would send him money. If he acted cute in front of his four older brothers, they’d transfer cash immediately.
Now? He had to memorize words and recite poems just to earn a measly allowance…
The moment he entered the classroom, Ji Zhouye pulled out his English textbook and started frantically memorizing vocabulary. His grandfather had poor health and often spent months recuperating abroad, and Ji Zhouye had occasionally accompanied him. The immersive English environment had at least kept his language skills from being completely hopeless.
"Wait—Wild Bro, have you lost your mind?" Chen Nian stared at him in disbelief. "You’re actually studying?"
Ji Zhouye shot him a glance. "You’ll be like me soon enough."
When drafting that proposal, the person who had crossed his mind the most was Chen Nian.
Chen Nian was currently the class’s bottom-ranked student. For every rank he climbed, he’d earn 1,000 yuan. Ten ranks? That’d be 10,000—more than Grandma Chen could earn in a year from collecting scraps.
The Ji family worked fast. By the second class break, they had already negotiated with the school and posted the scholarship notice on the bulletin board.
The entire school erupted in excitement.
"Holy—these scholarship rewards are insane!"
"No kidding. If someone ranks first overall, their individual subjects won’t be bad either. They could earn over 200,000 yuan in a single monthly exam—that’s a regular family’s yearly income!"
"Song Huai from the elite class is gonna rake in the cash effortlessly."
"Didn’t you read? It’s for impoverished students. Song Huai’s family is loaded—he doesn’t qualify. Besides, he probably doesn’t even care about the money."
"……"
The wealthy students glanced at the notice and walked away.
But for the poor kids, it was like seeing a glimmer of hope. They rushed to their homeroom teachers to get application forms.
Chen Nian stayed silent for a long time.
He had planned to drop out after this year and work at a construction site.
To him, studying was pointless—so he had long given up.
But if studying could earn him money… maybe it was worth a shot.
He was dead last. There was nowhere to go but up. With just a little effort, he might make a few thousand.
Chen Nian watched Ji Zhouye furiously memorizing words, then quietly pulled out his own English book and began reading. But it had been so long since he’d studied that his pronunciation was terrible.
"Repeat after me," Rong Yu’s voice cut in. "Abandon. To give up, to forsake."
Chen Nian’s eyes instantly reddened.
After his father died, his mother had remarried and left him behind. The neighbors all said he’d been abandoned.
He was an unwanted child.
"Being forsaken by family isn’t an excuse to forsake yourself," Rong Yu said, looking at him. "Your worth isn’t determined by others’ choices—it’s determined by how you face life. Don’t you want to see the day she regrets leaving you?"
She had meant to encourage Chen Nian to move forward.
But no teenager could truly let go of the past.
Sometimes, they needed a goal—something to strive for—to keep going.
"A few years from now, you’ll graduate, land a top job, earn tens of thousands a month, buy a car, a house…" Rong Yu spoke softly. "And when she’s old with no one to care for her, imagine how much she’ll regret abandoning you."
"Exactly!" Ji Zhouye chimed in. "Once you graduate, I’ll get you into Ji Corporation. Promotions, raises, the good life—how awesome would that be?"
Chen Nian, who had been downcast, suddenly laughed. "As if Ji Corporation is your family’s business. You can’t just hire me on a whim—stop joking!"
Rong Yu patted his shoulder. "If you start working hard now, nothing’s impossible."
Chen Nian leaned in and whispered to Ji Zhouye, "Wild Bro, now I get why you’ve turned into such a simp. Rong Yu’s worth it…"
"Shut your filthy mouth!" Ji Zhouye glared. "Don’t you dare twist my relationship with Rong Yu with your dirty mind!"
