Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

129 hardly welcomed new blood, and even if they did, they only recruited ordinary members. But even an ordinary member could learn a lot in 129 and have access to various resources.

Meanwhile, 129’s coverage was practically global. Hence, even an ordinary member had quite a lot of privileges.

129 had recruited a few times before this. After all, every organization needed new blood once in a while. And Chang Ning himself had been doing the sourcing.

But Qin Ran had never taken part in any of it.

She had a special presence in 129—the only one who’d never shown her face, but whose power in the Club was greater than Chang Ning’s.

Now that she’d revealed herself, how could Chang Ning let her off?

She’d heard about it when Lu Zhaoying brought it up over dinner, so she didn’t find this a surprise.

Xia Fei was still memorizing formulas for her in the adjacent cubicle.

Qin Ran sent a very succinct message in reply—

I won’t.

The moment she sent that, Chang Ning got a little panicky.

A call came in.

Qin Ran hung up coldly before the first ringtone even sounded.

Chang Ning was very persistent and called over and over.

Qin Ran couldn’t stand the notifications coming in. She got up and knocked on the wall between the cubicles.

Xia Fei’s official memorizing voice stopped.

Qin Ran opened her cubicle and walked out, receiving Chang Ning’s call.

She stuffed the other earbud into her ear and turned on the tap. “Speak.”

Qin Ran usually used a voice-changing function to conceal her actual voice, so this was the second time he heard her voice. Her tone was cold, but she sounded young.

Chang Ning, who for the longest time thought that Lone Wolf was a burly man, paused for a while before saying, “You’re the star of 129. If we announce that the question for the recruitment this year was set by Lone Wolf, just think of how many secretive people we could attract…”

Chang Ning was sipping coffee as he stood by the window. “Shouldn’t we create some news now that you’re out of your cave?”

Xia Fei came out of the cubicle too.

Qin Ran washed her hands and turned off the tap. She thought for a bit and decided not to reject him outrightly. “Alright, I’ll consider it.”

Chang Ning hung up happily.

Xia Fei also washed her hands and then followed behind Qin Ran while memorizing her Chemistry stuff.

Qin Ran felt as if a monk was behind her.

Ah, how annoying.

**

After a very strange night self-revision session, it was finally time to go back to the dormitory.

Lin Siran was walking behind Qin Ran and reading out some English vocabulary.

Qin Ran couldn’t help but glance at her cell phone as Lin Siran went on.

“Sister Ran!” Qiao Sheng caught up with her at the stairs.

“Don’t look for me if there’s nothing. And don’t look for me especially if there’s something.” Qin Ran stuffed her cell phone into her pocket and continued walking.

She looked rather cold and her eyes seemed to be lacking life.

Recently, there’d been less color in her eyes, and she was more expressionless altogether.

It happened again in the afternoon.

Qiao Sheng and the rest thought that Qin Ran was just frustrated about the upcoming examinations, so they wanted to comfort her after school.

Qin Ran rubbed her temple and responded simply, “Ah, I got it. How annoying.”

Qiao Sheng immediately made a gesture to zip his mouth.

Lin Siran walked with Qin Ran to the dormitory, shooting Qiao Sheng a glance.

Sister Ran was a little hot-tempered tonight, probably because of all the memorizing around her too.

It was best not to anger her.

When they arrived at the female dormitory, Qiao Sheng turned around and saw that Xu Yaoguang was talking to someone on the cell phone. He sounded rather mild.

Qiao Sheng realized that the person on the other end must be Qin Yu.

Besides Qin Yu, Qiao Sheng had not found another person whom Xu Yaoguang was this nice to.

He heard Xu Yaoguang say something about “Teacher Wei” and rolled his eyes.

When Xu Yaoguang was done, Qiao Sheng asked, “That was Qin Yu?”

“Mm, she’s in the capital now. She met the Shen family today, and Old Master Shen really likes her new song. She’s living there for the time being.” Xu Yaoguang kept his phone.

“Pfft— don’t tell me about her, I’m not interested at all.” Qiao Sheng didn’t sound too friendly.

Xu Yaoguang glanced at him. “What’s with that expression?”

Qiao Sheng got his cell phone out and began playing his game. “Young Master Xu, I heard this from Lin Siran. Do you know who gave the photo of Qin Ran to Wu Yan?”

Xu Yaoguang was curious. “… Who?”

“Qin Yu.” Qiao Sheng decided to tell Xu Yaoguang the truth only after considering it for a long time. “I’m only telling you this because I checked it with Wu Yan too. And I believe you can tell, because even I can, that Qin Yu is scheming against you.”

It was so obvious. Qiao Sheng couldn’t figure out why Xu Yaoguang was doing this to himself.

Qin Yu played the violin very well, but… he couldn’t be in a trance because of that?

Xu Yaoguang kept quiet for a while as he looked at Qiao Sheng. Then, he quietly said, “Mm, I know.”

…??!!

After waiting for so long, that was all he responded with?

“Young Master Xu!” Qiao Sheng wasn’t getting this.

“I already know what you’ve just told me. But for now, she hasn’t caused any actual harm.” Xu Yaoguang turned around and headed for the dormitory.

Qiao Sheng watched his back view as he left.

**

The examinations for First Middle School lasted two days—Saturday and Sunday.

Qin Ran had been working very hard for the past three days. Each day felt painfully long.

She continued studying on Saturday morning.

Qin Ran hadn’t been in the best condition recently. The traces of blood that had been gone for a while now came back.

Every night when Lin Siran went to the washroom, she’d see her memorizing English vocabulary.

The Ninth Class students dared not provoke her.

After the morning classes, Qin Ran let Lin Siran know that she wasn’t following them to the canteen. She went to the school doctor’s office instead.

Without Qin Ran around, Lin Siran followed Xia Fei and the rest to the canteen.

Xu Yaoguang and Qiao Sheng did not head to the canteen. They went out of school to have some noodles instead.

When they arrived, Wei Zihang was already eating a bowl of beef noodles.

“It’s just you guys?” Wei Zihang smiled as he saw them.

“She’s gone to the school doctor’s office.” Qiao Sheng sat at the table he was at and looked at the menu. “It’s the day of the examinations and you dare to eat an egg?”

He eyed the egg that Wei Zihang had ordered additionally.

Wei Zihang continued eating, ignoring his comment.

This was another big boss like Qin Ran.

While waiting for their noodles, Qiao Sheng and Xu Yaoguang casually talked. “Young Master Xu, who’s the Master Wei you and Qin Yu were talking about yesterday? Has he accepted Qin Yu yet?”

Xu Yaoguang shook his head. “I heard he’s in Country M now.”

Although Qin Yu was still in contact with him after she’d gone to the capital, they communicated significantly less than before. That was all that Xu Yaoguang knew.

Wei Zihang wasn’t too sure what they were talking about initially. But upon hearing this, he paused.

“On that note, that Master Wei shares the same surname as you.” Qiao Sheng turned towards Wei Zihang. “You could just be a family member of that Master Wei.”

Wei Zihang glanced at him but still did not speak.

“I was kidding, don’t take it seriously.” The noodles arrived and Qiao Sheng got a pair of chopsticks. “You don’t seem like the relative of an artistic Master.”

Wei Zihang was more famous in the underworld. He even knew gang leaders.

If the Lin family respected someone as much as they did Master Wei, then he must be someone fine and nurtured.

No matter how they thought of it, these two people simply weren’t of the same type.

**

On the other side, Qin Ran just had her breakfast in the school doctor’s office.

Lu Zhaoying had specially prepared a scrumptious meal for her.

Qin Ran slowly finished it.

When she went back to the classroom, most of the Ninth Class students were already back. They were dragging their desks and chairs in preparation for the examinations.

Qin Ran slowly dragged her chair and Lin Siran’s, but the boy in front of her took it away.

Qin Ran did not fight to get it back either.

“Ran Ran, you look much better now.” Lin Siran saw that Qin Ran had finally stopped frowning for the first time in three days and couldn’t hold back her surprise.

Qin Ran simply went “mm”.

She was a lot calmer now, compared to her annoyed expressions previously.

Lin Siran was worried that Qin Ran would be nervous today.

After all, Qin Ran wasn’t in a good mood last night. But seeing her state now put her at ease.

This examination was made to be like the final year examinations.

It was very strict.

The seating arrangement was based on the previous examination results. Those in the First Class would be in the main examination hall, while those at the back would be in other classrooms.

Qin Ran was obviously in the last venue.

The first subject was English at nine.

Qin Ran got ready an ab pencil to shade the bubbles on the mark sheet, and also a black pen.

“Sister Ran, did you not bring an eraser?” Qiao Sheng was also in the same venue.

He saw that Qin Ran had only prepared a pen and a pencil.

He thought about it. Right, why would a big boss have something like an eraser?

He quickly offered his own eraser and bowed 90 degrees to Qin Ran. “Sister Ran, please use this. You can roll the dice when doing the multiple-choice questions.”

Qin Ran was speechless.

She sat in the last seat of the last row, closest to the stairs.

Li Airong was invigilating the classroom beside hers and obviously saw her.

Qin Ran was the classic representative of the Ninth Class.

No matter where she was, she was always the center of attention.

Li Airong glanced at her with dark eyes.

Even students in the last venue of First Middle School weren’t all that bad. Those who hadn’t brought their foolscap paper along would at least have a pencil case or an eraser.

Only Qin Ran brought her writing materials without anything else.

Did she even look like a student who could do well in the examinations?

Any uneasiness that Li Airong felt initially completely dissipated.

She didn’t even bother to tell the other invigilator anything. She turned away and went back to her classroom.

**

This examination, be it in terms of the content being tested or the strictness of the invigilation, was done according to the final year examination standards.

It was the first time the entire city had a standardized examination, so the school took it very seriously. Each examination venue was allocated two invigilators.

But the teachers in the last venue weren’t all that serious. After putting out the signal shields, they were still having a good time chatting and having tea.

The announcement for the preparation of examinations rang.

The teachers began handing out the papers. “Everyone knows the rules. No cheating, no taking out your cell phones. There are signal shields around. Also, if you need the washroom, a teacher will have to accompany you.”

“They’re using a signal shield? That’s strict…”

“Teacher, don’t. I’ll be afraid if you follow me to the washroom…”

“Do we really have to do this…”

There was some commotion.

Nobody expected them to be so serious.

The scripts were passed down from the first to the last row.

Everyone in the second last row knew that she was the school belle and also the big boss that even Wei Zihang was intimidated by.

It took this student in the second last row a while before he carefully handed her the script.

Qin Ran put on the school uniform that she’d placed by the side and quietly said, “Thank you.”

That student turned around slowly and whispered, “You’re welcome.”

Qin Ran went through the script briefly, then looked at her right hand and then her left. She frowned.

Ah, which hand should she use?