9 Chapter 9

◎It's risky to talk about others◎

Next to the blackboard is a class ranking printed on A4 paper. Each time a new exam ends, a new ranking is placed on top of it, and now there's a thick layer of it.

During the break between classes, Zhan Xinyue stood in front of her report card to study her grades.

Her ranking was relatively stable, consistently in the teens of her class and the thirties of her grade. Although she had her off days, she never fell out of the top twenty in her class.

However, sometimes, consistently high performance can be frustrating, as is the case here.

Is it even possible to go from having a completely blank mind to achieving normal grades in just a few days? Her heart felt heavy, as if a stone was pressing down on it.

She took a deep breath, her gaze shifting downwards, and she saw Xie Wanzhi's name. Xie Wanzhi's grades weren't very good; she ranked near the bottom of her class. However, she had extraordinary luck in the year she took the college entrance exam, achieving a score she hadn't reached in all three years of high school, and ultimately got into a prestigious university.

She flipped through the report cards one by one. Class 10 was, after all, an experimental class, and the competition was fierce. Everyone's rankings were constantly fluctuating, but the name in the first row never changed, as stable as a rock lying across the flowing water.

Shi Ziqian, ranked 1st in class and 1st in grade.

...

The exam was so challenging and urgent that she couldn't afford to think about anything else for the time being. With less than a week until the monthly exam, she was actually quite uncertain about her own capabilities, but since things had come to this, she could only do her best and leave the rest to fate.

Thinking about it this way actually made me feel a bit more relaxed.

She began to think about how to improve her score as much as possible in these few days. The monthly exam was meant to test the learning outcomes of the current period, so it wouldn't test knowledge from too far back; the focus would be on what she had learned this month. Although mastering these subjects was difficult, raising her score from 0 to several tens of points wasn't too hard. Plus, with her foundation from her previous life, she figured that if she crammed for a week, she should be able to get a decent score.

With a general direction in mind, she picked up her pen and began to write out a detailed plan.

There's no time to focus on Chinese and English anymore; the focus for the next few days is on math and combined science. The first phase of the plan is to quickly browse through the textbooks for these subjects, going over the key points to refresh any lingering memories. The second phase involves reviewing the worksheets and practice tests from the previous month. With only a week, doing every single problem is impractical; quickly reviewing the solution steps from previous attempts and memorizing them simultaneously is much more efficient. Finally, if there's still time, she'll review the recently compiled error notebook. Monthly exams are largely designed to solidify previous learning, so the teacher will definitely include many frequently missed questions for review.

In the following classes, she didn't listen to any of the lectures and devoted all her time to progressing at her own pace. Because she was so focused, time flew by.

The last period in the afternoon was an activity period. Only a few students went out to play, while most students remained in the classroom doing their own things.

"New Moon, let's go for a walk." Xie Wanzhi hadn't stayed in her seat for long before she came over again.

Zhan Xinyue naturally didn't have time to pay attention, made a few perfunctory remarks, and continued to work on her problems with her head down. Xie Wanzhi leaned against her desk and chatted idly with Xin Wenhua and the others who had turned around.

Shi Ziqian wasn't in his seat. When he was there, Xin Wenhua and Lu Meng rarely turned around to chat so casually; at most, they would turn their heads slightly to occasionally chime in on Xie Wanzhi's words.

As the three chatted, Xie Wanzhi's gaze fell on Zhan Xinyue, and she casually remarked, "Xinyue seems like a completely different person these past two days, studying so much every day. It's really boring."

What was said in jest was taken seriously by the listener. Zhan Xinyue was startled, but her face remained impassive. Just as she was pondering whether to say something, Xin Wenhua spoke first: "You should learn from her. Xinyue is a very diligent student."

Xie Wanzhi smiled meaningfully: "I don't have Xinyue's conditions. She can even get Shi Ziqian to do things. The top student in the grade is explaining problems to her. How am I supposed to learn?"

Zhan Xinyue's brow twitched, but she held the pen without moving. Xie Wanzhi, as if seeking her approval, asked, "Right, Xinyue?"

"What do you mean by 'ordering'..." Zhan Xinyue raised her head, but before she could finish speaking, Xin Wenhua interrupted her.

"You still have time to worry about others?" Xin Wenhua said earnestly. "If you ask me, you really should pay more attention to yourself. Your ranking is about to drop out of our class."

Xie Wanzhi rolled her eyes, reached out to hit him, and said angrily, "Can't you stop being so foul-mouthed? Didn't you tell me to learn from Xinyue? And haven't I been studying properly all this time? This is an activity class, okay!"

Xin Wenhua dodged skillfully, chuckled, and said, "You can die."

陆蒙在旁边晃着脑袋：“你们两个，一个天天被怼，一个天天挨揍，就这还能两个人每天聊得不亦乐乎，要我看，如果这都不算爱……”

Xie Wanzhi interrupted him: "Don't talk nonsense. I have a fatherly affection for him, okay? It's only because I can tolerate such a stupid son like him that I can tolerate him. If it were anyone else, I would have beaten him to death long ago."

"Who is whose son? I'm your father, okay? My good daughter."

The topic veered further and further off course during the two's nonsensical argument, but thankfully it didn't steer the conversation away from Zhan Xinyue. She took the opportunity to quietly lower her head and continue working on her homework.

Someone turned on the TV at the front of the classroom. The only time everyone could watch TV each day was during activity periods or before evening classes when they were forced to watch a segment of campus news recorded by the school itself.

When the camera switched to an entertainment channel, the female host was reporting that the heirs of two leading domestic electronics brands had recently held a grand wedding. The footage of their grand wedding flashed by, and Xie Wanzhi couldn't help but exclaim "Wow!"

"What?!" Xin Wenhua looked at the TV. The program had been switched to the sports channel, and several boys were sitting at the front table, watching a boxing match.

"Didn't you hear? The heirs of those two brands got married. They just showed a video of their wedding, it was so extravagant!" Xie Wanzhi exclaimed, then rolled her eyes. "Who changed the channel? Why do these guys always love watching such violent stuff..."

Xin Wenhua's focus was elsewhere: "What a powerful alliance! It seems these two groups are going to monopolize this industry in the future."

"You're so clueless! I was talking about weddings, how romantic! I'm so envious."

Lu Meng winked at her: "What, you want to get married too?"

Before he could finish speaking, Xie Wanzhi slapped him on the back: "Your mouth is just as foul as Xin Wenhua's."

Lu Meng rubbed his back and shrank back.

Xin Wenhua shouted, "What does this have to do with me? Don't get hurt by mistake!"

He dismissed these young girls' sentimentalities, saying, "What's so romantic about it? It's all business. Do you think it's true love? For heirs of large corporations, marriage is no different from a transaction; it's all about consolidating resources."

Xie Wanzhi pouted, "Yes, yes, you know best." She didn't want to respond to Xin Wenhua's words, her gaze falling on the empty seat next to Zhan Xinyue. After a while, she suddenly said, "Do you think families like Shi Ziqian's will end up like this in the future?"

“Of course,” Xin Wenhua said. “Families like theirs don’t care about feelings at all. For businessmen, there are only two eternal words: profit.”

"So, having money isn't all that great, it's so restrictive!" Lu Meng seized another opportunity to turn around.

"But apart from that, I'm very happy. I wish I were this rich too. God, why didn't you let me be born into the Shi Ziqian family..."

Xin Wenhua said sarcastically from the front, "Is that all you've got? What's the point of relying on your family? If you're going to rely on someone, rely on yourself."

Xie Wanzhi said, "Really? But Shi Ziqian's grades are better than yours too."

Xin Wenhua was humiliated by her rebuttal, her face turning red. To make matters worse, Lu Meng chimed in, "You know what, how can someone have a billionaire father, be smart, get good grades, and be good-looking? They're practically born to be the main character. As for us, I think we're just NPCs at best."

"You're an NPC, but I'm not," Xin Wenhua said angrily. "Your thinking is too superficial. Good grades and good looks, in the end, it's all because your family is rich. With money, what can't you have? As long as you have money, they can send you abroad to study for a few years from a young age, or find a foreign teacher to accompany you from childhood, and find some famous teachers to tutor you one-on-one in other subjects. How could your grades be bad?"

Lu Meng stroked his chin, deep in thought.

“And as long as you have money, you can find a beautiful wife to improve your genes, and the next generation will naturally be good-looking.” Xin Wenhua said earnestly, “So all those things you talk about, like grades and looks, are just superficial. In the end, it’s just because his father is rich.”

The two finally nodded in approval, and Xin Wenhua raised his eyebrows, looking much better.

Zhan Xinyue, who had been working on her problems with her head down, suddenly replied in a calm tone, "Not necessarily."

"What?" He didn't understand at first.

"Can't a child look like his father?" She said in a serious tone, but her words sounded quite comical, and Xie Wanzhi burst out laughing.

"Hiss—" Xin Wenhua choked for a moment and said, "You're talking about low-probability events, I'm just talking about the majority of cases."

"What do you mean by a low probability event? There's still a 1/2 chance, okay?" Xie Wanzhi chimed in, switching sides.

"No matter what, it can at least improve the genes, right?" Xin Wenhua said sullenly, standing there for a while before suddenly starting a new topic, "But seriously, don't think those so-called wealthy families are some kind of wonderful place, all of you looking forward to it. Like Shi Ziqian's family, do you really think they're that great?"

Xie Wanzhi, who had been rolling her eyes at his condescending lecture, suddenly became interested: "What do you mean?"

Lu Meng leaned closer curiously, "What do you mean by that?"

Zhan Xinyue raised her eyes again and gave Xin Wenhua a lukewarm look.

Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on her, Xin Wenhua clearly enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention and deliberately kept everyone in suspense: "Really? You guys didn't know anything about this?"

Xie Wanzhi was impatient. "What is it? Hurry up and tell me. If you don't want to say it, just keep it to yourself."

Xin Wenhua then spoke, "Don't be fooled by Shi Ziqian's family's wealth; their finances are actually in a mess." He paused deliberately, noticing Xie Wanzhi staring intently at him, before continuing, "I won't say much else, but do you know how many children they have?"

“They have other children in their family? I’ve never heard of that,” Lu Meng said.

"Is this all you wanted to say after all this time?" Xie Wanzhi said dismissively. "He has a younger sister, I've known that for a long time, she's in the junior high school."

"Tch, you guys are really out of touch." Xin Wenhua made a speechless expression and opened his palm. "Five! They have five kids!"

"Huh?" Xie Wanzhi exclaimed in disbelief, tilting her head to the side, her hair falling onto Zhan Xinyue's hand. Zhan Xinyue withdrew her hand, leaned back in her chair.

“And what’s more, his dad has three wives!” Xin Wenhua continued.

"Three wives? Isn't that bigamy?" Xie Wanzhi was shocked.

"No way, these wealthy families are still living in the feudal era with polygamy?" Lu Meng said.

"You're so ignorant. He's been divorced twice, and this wife is his third." Xin Wenhua scoffed. "That's why their families are incredibly complicated, not what you imagine. Look at Shi Ziqian, who knows how much of the family fortune he'll get in the future? The fight for the inheritance will be quite a spectacle."

These things were common knowledge in the late stages of senior year in her previous life, and Zhan Xinyue had certainly heard some of them, so she wasn't surprised. But hearing them gossiping behind her back still made her feel uncomfortable.

After all, Shi Ziqian had never provoked them.

"There's another piece of information, do you want to hear it?" Xin Wenhua asked mysteriously.

Xie Wanzhi and Lu Meng quickly leaned closer: "Listen, listen, tell us quickly."

“These wealthy people aren’t as simple as they seem. Do you know who Shi Ziqian’s father’s second wife is?” He lowered his voice. “The daughter of a high-ranking official in our city. I heard he was already married and had a child a long time ago—probably Shi Ziqian—but then he met this second-generation official and dumped his first wife without a second thought… So, the reason their business is so big now is because there are a lot of secrets involved, things I can’t tell you, things I can’t tell you.”

"My God, this isn't a government-business relationship..." Xie Wanzhi covered her mouth.

Xin Wenhua made a "shh" gesture. "What's this? There are many things in that circle that you wouldn't even dare to dream of. You know, so-and-so looks like they're above worldly affairs, but how could they possibly be like that?"

The two of them fell silent for a moment, as if processing what had happened.

Xin Wenhua spoke with great conviction, describing Shi Ziqian as someone who bullied and harassed boys and girls in class. But in reality, Shi Ziqian hadn't spoken a single word to him.

Xie Wanzhi asked with skepticism, "Is what you're saying credible? Or is it just hearsay?"

Xin Wenhua: "Who do you think you are? I overheard this at a dinner party when I was with my dad. That table was full of influential people in the city's business world, there's no doubt about it."

Xie Wanzhi: "You're not only freeloading, but you're also accompanying your dad to a social event."

Xin Wenhua chuckled and changed the subject: "But you know what, Shi Ziqian's father is really ruthless. His father-in-law had only been out of office for a short time when he got divorced again. He found someone in his twenties, who seems to have just graduated from university."

"That's outrageous! This isn't something you can just use and then throw away..."

"Just graduated from university? Back then, Ziqian's stepmother wasn't much older than him." Lu Meng's focus was always different from others.

"That was several years ago. She must be in her thirties now, but she's still very young."

The group of people clicked their tongues in amazement for a while.

Xin Wenhua concluded, "In short, those worlds are very complicated and beyond the reach of ordinary people like us. I'm only telling you this privately, so please don't tell anyone else. If word gets out, I'm dead."

"Don't worry." Xie Wanzhi took a while to process this, then cast a worried look at Zhan Xinyue. "Xinyue, even though you're deskmates with him, you shouldn't have too much contact with him. You'll be in big trouble if you offend him."

Zhan Xinyue frowned, "Why are you dragging me into this..."

Before she could finish speaking, Xie Wanzhi suddenly froze, her gaze drifting towards the door, before silently stepping down from the crescent moon on the table.

Zhan Xinyue followed her gaze and met Shi Ziqian's dark eyes.