Ruan Tian: “I heard him say, ‘That idiot from the Wang family has a serious gambling habit, terrible technique, and loves showing off. During the second round, have someone provoke him and cause a minor accident—just scrape his car a little.’”
Ruan Tian: “At first, I didn’t understand why he deliberately sent one of his own people to scrape someone else’s car.”
Ruan Tian: “But I kept listening and figured it out... After the collision, your cousin immediately went over to help the young master of the Wang family smooth things over, then teamed up with him to win the race.”
Ruan Tian: “After looking into it further, I found out that the Wang family’s son is Mr. Wang’s son from Hairun Precision. Your cousin got him on his side first, so his renewal assignment was completed in no time.”
Ruan Tian exclaimed at the end: “Oh my God, your cousin looks like a spoiled heir who spends every day drinking, eating, and fooling around, but who would’ve thought he’d play so dirty!”
Ruan Tian: “This information is explosive enough, right? If you take it to your elders and report him for unfair competition, you can eliminate a powerful rival!”
How could Yu Xiaxing possibly report him?
She was practically praying that her brothers and sisters would grow stronger one after another!
Better yet, let them all become war gods! Let them all evolve! Let them all turn into ruthless overachievers!
Only then would the day she was eliminated draw closer and closer!
Yu Xiaxing didn’t explain any of this to Ruan Tian. She brushed it off casually. “Well done. This information is very valuable. I’ll wait for the right moment to use it. For now, forget it.”
After sending that, she suddenly remembered something.
Yu Xiaxing: “Wait, no. I didn’t even ask you to investigate him.”
Ruan Tian: “My daughter got into school successfully, and she even received a full scholarship through the arts-track program at your school. Ms. Liang personally wrote the recommendation, saying that my daughter has not only talent but also an exceptionally resilient character.”
Ruan Tian: “Boss Yu, you’re the benefactor of both me and my daughter. Without you, we’d still be completely lost.”
Ruan Tian: “So I wanted to do something for you. From now on, I can keep an eye on your brothers’ and sisters’ progress. If there’s anyone you want investigated, you can come straight to me.”
Ruan Tian: “You can use me for free. Forever.”
Yu Xiaxing stared at that last sentence and fell silent.
What did she mean, “use me for free”? It made their relationship sound strangely intimate.
Still, after everything she had experienced out in the world, Yu Xiaxing knew that Ruan Tian was genuinely useful.
So she didn’t refuse. “All right. I’m sure we’ll have more chances to make money off the Yu family. When that happens, we’ll split the profits again! Oh, right—there’s someone I need you to investigate now.”
She sent Ruan Tian Huo Mian’s basic information and asked her to look into what Huo Mian had been doing since returning to China.
The moment she finished giving her instructions, someone knocked on the door.
“Board Director Yu, this is Jiang Tinglan. I’ve come to discuss withdrawing from school.”
When Yu Xiaxing thought about how Yu Yuanchen and Yu Zheng had already completed half of their renewal assignments while she still hadn’t made any progress, she felt quite pleased.
Still, she couldn’t keep slacking off forever.
She had already figured out how to make herself look like she was working hard.
She pulled open a drawer in her desk and began taking out various props...
—
Jiang Tinglan waited outside the board director’s office.
She had arrived brimming with hostility. She had thought everything through carefully.
No matter what Board Director Yu said, she wouldn’t listen!
If the woman tried to persuade her gently, she would say that adults like them had no idea what she was going through.
If the woman scolded her harshly, she would say that the school was just like her mother—using authority to oppress her.
If the woman threatened her with her future, she would say that this only proved that everyone saw her as nothing more than an investment!
She had to rebel! She had to take back control of her own life!
But after several minutes of mentally preparing herself, Board Director Yu still hadn’t opened the door.
What was going on? Was no one inside?
Suddenly, the door opened, and a girl wearing glasses and a school uniform poked her head out. She looked at Jiang Tinglan and said, “Why don’t you come in and sit down? I’m waiting for Board Director Yu too.”
The girl looked about the same age as Jiang Tinglan, so Jiang Tinglan didn’t suspect anything. She walked inside.
“Where did the board director go?” Jiang Tinglan asked.
She had no idea that the bespectacled girl in front of her was actually Yu Xiaxing in disguise.
This was Yu Xiaxing’s third form.
Her first form was Board Director Yu herself. Her second was Dian Dian’s Mom. Her third was a transfer student.
So far, Yu Xiaxing hadn’t openly met any of the students. She had encountered Zheng Wenhao by accident before, but he had already dropped out.
She didn’t want to reveal her identity in front of the students, lest it become inconvenient for her to gather information among them in the future.
That was why she had specially bought a pair of age-defying, nonprescription glasses and obtained a school uniform from the school, just in case she ever needed to disguise herself.
The few minutes of delay just now had been spent changing clothes and transforming herself.
Now she answered Jiang Tinglan, “I don’t know either.”
Jiang Tinglan guessed that she was a senior in high school. She certainly didn’t look like a teacher, so Jiang Tinglan’s guard was lowered somewhat.
She walked over and sat down on the sofa, leaving some distance between herself and Yu Xiaxing.
The office fell silent for several seconds.
Yu Xiaxing studied her.
Jiang Tinglan was nothing like the rebellious girl Yu Xiaxing had imagined. She seemed somewhat melancholy and deep.
Yu Xiaxing asked casually, “Are you here to talk to the board director about dropping out too?”
Jiang Tinglan immediately looked at her. “You are too?”
Yu Xiaxing nodded. “Yeah. I don’t want to study anymore either. Board Director Yu called me here to talk, but when I arrived, she left me waiting. I have no idea what she’s trying to do.”
Jiang Tinglan said nothing and returned to her faintly melancholy expression.
Yu Xiaxing continued, “I’m so angry with my parents. They went off to work as doctors without borders to save children in war-torn regions, leaving my brother and me at home to fend for ourselves.”
Jiang Tinglan’s gaze shifted slightly.
Yu Xiaxing lowered her eyes and continued complaining, mixing truth with fiction.
“They’re incredibly respected outside. They’ve even won the World Peace Prize.”
“But after saving so many orphans created by war, they somehow never have time to look after their own children.”
“It wasn’t such a big deal at first... But a few days ago, they finally managed to get permission to call their family from the war zone. And what did they do? They didn’t even ask how I was doing. The first thing they asked was why my grades had dropped!”
“They’ve never taken care of me, so what right do they have to criticize my grades?”
Yu Xiaxing silently apologized to her parents.
These were complaints she really had thought about when she was little.
But after growing up and benefiting from her parents’ professions, she could no longer bring herself to say anything bad about them.
Her parents had used their status as doctors without borders to enter the circle of advisers to international nongovernmental organizations. Through that, they had built connections with many people in the highest levels of global society.
They had brought the Yu family advantages in terms of prestige and expanded the family’s international political connections. Her grandfather, in particular, doted on her and Yu Zheng, and that was also connected to the choices her parents had made.
Later, when she went abroad to study, she came to understand even more clearly how her parents had supported her in the long term.
While her classmates struggled with difficult research projects, her parents could casually provide her with firsthand materials and useful connections.
As for the allowance for children of parents working abroad, it really wasn’t much money, so that wasn’t worth mentioning.
The most important thing was the intangible benefit of having parents who were respected and held in high regard...
Once, because she wasn’t fluent in the language, she got into a misunderstanding with a classmate, and the teacher had initially been very stern.
Once her classmates learned that her parents were working on the front lines, they stopped giving her a hard time. Her teacher even stepped in to mediate, saying, “Your parents have done something truly remarkable. I believe you’re not a bad kid, either.”
That was when she realized that her parents’ work had brought many invisible benefits to both the family and the children.
Everyone has to make sacrifices. Few parents can provide financial security, social standing, and companionship all at once…
Apart from being there for her, her parents had given her everything else.
Besides, they weren’t even her biological parents.
Still, she had no intention of sharing any of this with Jiang Tinglan.
Hearing that her classmate’s parents neglected her while demanding good grades, Jiang Tinglan felt deeply understood.
She, too, began confiding in her about the pain of her own family of origin…
