It was succinct.

Lu Zhaoying stared at the screen for a while but decided that it was rude to invade someone else’s privacy. When Qin Ran came out, he curiously asked, “Qin Ran, your friend?”

Having known Qin Ran for so long, Lu Zhaoying knew her pretty well. It wasn’t easy to be considered her friend.

Qin Ran casually took over the cell phone and glanced at it. Her expression didn’t change much. “You can say so.”

She went outside to receive the call.

Seeing how calm she looked, Lu Zhaoying did not ask more. That person probably wasn’t anyone important.

Lu Zhaoying went back to his seat and went through the group chat.

Jiang Dongye: Nothingtolivefor.jpg

Jiang Dongye: @Cheng Juan say something

Lu Zhaoying knew right away that Jiang Dongye had met with some obstacles yet again while looking for Gu Xichi.

He chuckled. “Master Juan, Young Master Jiang is looking for you.”

Cheng Juan was fiddling with the anatomy model when he heard this. He didn’t even look up as he asked, “Gu Xichi?”

“Bingo!”

Cheng Juan put the scalpel aside and coughed softly. “There’s no point in looking for me. I’m just a doctor, what can I help him with.”

Lu Zhaoying was speechless.

Cheng Juan was quietly observing the anatomy model, ignoring Lu Zhaoying.

His cell phone rang and he picked it up.

“Dad.”

“Old Jiang’s birthday party is at the end of the month. Will you be coming back?”

Cheng Juan leaned against the edge of the table. “I’ll see how when the time comes.”

Old Master Cheng never really had much expectations or demands of his youngest son. “Alright.”

Capital.

He hung up the call.

The few middle-aged men in the room couldn’t help but say to Old Master Cheng, “Dad, aren’t you too indulgent towards Third Brother? It’s been so many years, look at his guts now. He doesn’t stay in the military team, he left the research institute after just two weeks, and the money we gave him to start his business would’ve shut if not for Second Sis’s management.”

“Young people are fickle like this, it’s normal.” Old Master Cheng was standing before the bookshelf.

The middle-aged man opened his mouth and turned towards Old Master Cheng.

This old man had been strict for the greater part of his life. But when it came to this son of his, he was completely indulgent.

Who in the capital didn’t know Young Master Juan? He was someone that nobody wanted to offend.

He was more prominent than anyone in the Cheng Family.

**

At the same time.

The Lin family’s house.

“Xinran, how’s it like in your new environment with new classmates?” Lin Qi asked.

Meng Xinran took a bite of her food and casually said, “It’s alright, just that the students of Heng Chuan First Middle School like to kick a fuss out of nothing.”

They asked her about OST internal news or about the Yunguang Consortium as if they’d never been exposed to the outside world.

“You’re a little celebrity, isn’t it normal that they’re asking you things like these?” Lin Qi smiled. “How could that small place be compared to the capital?”

The greatest leader they’d ever seen was but Feng Loucheng on the news.

Ning Qing sat on the other side for this meal. She wanted to know why Meng Xinran was considered a “little celebrity” but did not ask.

“You’re in Ninth Class, right? I remember Ran Ran’s there too, have you met?” Lin Jinxuan was holding his chopsticks as he asked.

“Who’s Ran Ran?” Meng Xinran looked up.

“Qin Ran is Yu’er’s sister. She’s in the Ninth Class.” Lin Qi explained.

Meng Xinran had heard of Qin Yu, but no one in the Lin family had mentioned Qin Ran before.

Only now that Lin Qi had explained did she know that Qin Ran was associated with the Lins.

Qin Ran left a rather deep impression on her, but she couldn’t see how Ning Qing and Qin Ran were associated at all.

“I’ve heard of her, but we’ve never talked,” Meng Xinran said.

After dinner.

Housekeeper Zhang went upstairs to hand Meng Xinran some milk. She was polite and careful.

“Aunt Zhang, why haven’t I seen Qin Ran in the Lin family before? Isn’t she Qin Yu’s sister?” Meng Xinran received the milk and asked.

“She doesn’t live here.” Housekeeper Zhang furrowed her brows, evidently unwilling to say much about this.

She was wondering who that cool and distant girl was, but as it turned out, she was just Qin Yu’s sister, a girl who was barely the stepdaughter of the Lin family.

Meng Xinran nodded in understanding and did not ask more when she saw Housekeeper Zhang’s attitude.

Housekeeper Zhang went downstairs.

She saw Ning Qing, who was in a daze with her cell phone in her hand.

“Aunt Zhang.” Ning Qing kept her cell phone.

“Ms. Biao is a member of Team OST and a professional gamer in Kyushu Tour with more than a million fans on Weibo. She’s very famous online,” Housekeeper Zhang said slowly.

Ning Qing did not know what Team OST was, but when she heard about her being a gamer, she didn’t think much about it.

And yet, the fact that she had more than a million fans caught her attention. Ning Qing widened her eyes. “More than a million?”

That many?

Housekeeper Zhang looked at Ning Qing’s expression and knew right away that she despised gamers.

She smiled. “Madam, you may not know this, but Team OST belongs to the Yunguang Consortium. Every member is a part of them.”

Ning Qing simply smiled when she heard her mention the Yunguang Consortium again.

She did not know what else to say.

But she knew that no matter how well she did in the industry, she would only reach the tip of the iceberg.

She took her cell phone out and gave Qin Yu a call.

**

Friday.

Qin Ran arrived early and rested her head on her desk.

A group of people was huddled around Meng Xinran’s desk again.

“I’ve seen Meng Xinran’s Weibo account, she’s got more than a million fans.” The boy sitting in front of Qin Ran showed two other classmates his cell phone screen.

He turned around to see a head.

It was Qin Ran on the desk.

Her uniform was under her arms and she seemed to be sleeping.

Although she was all slumped over her desk, it still wasn’t a good idea to provoke her.

Lin Siran looked at the boy and whispered, “Don’t disturb her.”

“This Meng Xinran is rich. Just her watch costs about a million yuan,” another boy whispered to Lin Siran and the few of them. “I finally got through a round under her guidance. She’s good at gaming, she’s pretty, her family is rich, she’s a winner at life.”

The other classmates enjoyed watching Meng Xinran play. She was fast and accurate and extremely good at giving instructions.

She was helping people play on their accounts, and they often recorded the screen as she played.

The second lesson of the morning ended.

20 minutes break.

Qiao Sheng walked over to Qin Ran as he saw her get up. He placed his chin on her desk and said, “Sister Ran, Meng Xinran has tickets, do you want to go and watch the exhibition match with us tomorrow?”

Qin Ran took out a book, flipped a page, and said, “No, I’m not going.”

He Wen suddenly yelled from behind Qiao Sheng and it sounded like he was playing a game. “Ahhh! I’m dead, I’m dying! I can’t lose this round!”

How noisy.

Qin Ran remembered him. When Li Airong rejected her entry at the door the last time, he was the first one to leave the classroom with Qiao Sheng.

“Hand it over.” Qin Ran leaned on the wall and asked He Wen for the cell phone.

“Sister Ran, what are you doing?” He Wen glanced up at Qin Ran when he had the time.

Qin Ran looked at his cell phone screen. “Helping you pass the level.”

“No, Sister Ran, don’t kid with me. I think I’ll go to Ms. Meng.” He Wen hurriedly said, “Sister Ran don’t disturb me, please. It’s a crucial moment now. One more attack and I’m gone!”

He Wen turned away to look for Meng Xinran.

Qin Ran rubbed her nose and went on to read her book.

***

In the afternoon after lunch, the self-revision period.

Qin Ran usually didn’t go to the classroom during afternoon self-revision periods. The Ninth Class knew that.

When Meng Xinran got back after lunch, she reached for her bag to get the entrance tickets.

A group of them huddled around her again. “Classmate Meng, let me have a ticket too!”

Meng Xinran unzipped her bag and reached inside.

She couldn’t feel any tickets.

Meng Xinran’s calm expression changed as she unloaded her bag’s contents onto the table.

There were a lot of expensive lipsticks, but not a single entrance ticket could be seen.

Everyone just exchanged glances.

Meng Xinran clenched her fist as her expression stiffened. “Who was the first to reach the classroom after lunch?”

They weren’t sure how to react.

“Classmate Meng…”

Meng Xinran had lost the tickets.

“A student committee member and I came up first. None of us touched it.”

Meng Xinran suddenly thought of something.

She strode towards Qin Ran’s desk.

Having been in this class for so long, she knew that Qin Ran was always the last to leave.

Her expression went cold as she pushed Qin Ran’s desk to aside.

Bam—

The textbooks, novels, and other materials were sprawled all over the ground.

Everyone in the class went quiet.

Xia Fei hurriedly said, “Don’t touch Sister Ran’s things, she wouldn’t…”

Meng Xinran didn’t say anything. She couldn’t even be bothered to use her hands as she kicked the stack of things.

It was a light kick—

But an entrance ticket fell out of a novel.