Yu Jiu still had to continue his studies abroad. Shi Sheng nigh enthusiastically sent him off at the airport.
‘This idiot is finally leaving! Luckily, no stupid chain quest appeared to make me follow him...’
“Xiaoxia-meimei, do you really want me to leave that much?” Yu Jiu dragged his luggage along, as he looked at Shi Sheng with raised brows.
‘My lil green plum doesn’t seem to like me all that much.’
“Yep. Hurry off, then.” Shi Sheng waved. The only reason she came to see him off was to make sure he really left.“You wound me.” Yu Jiu made to ruffle Shi Sheng’s hair, but she stepped back.
His hand stopped awkwardly in mid-air before he put it down, as if nothing was wrong. “Don’t celebrate too early. I’ll be back soon.”
‘My lil green plum is so fun that I simply must come back.’
“Obediently wait for me to return.” Yu Jiu waved at Shi Sheng. “I’m leaving.”
Shi Sheng, “...”
‘Crazy fuck.’
After Yu Jiu left, Shi Sheng felt that she was able to breath more easily, now that there was finally no one to question her on her whereabouts all the time, or tease her with every other sentence.......
School re-opened. It was their final year before senior high.
Shi Sheng was not a fan of having exams on the day school re-opened. ‘You’re killing me here!’
She hadn’t seen Yin Mo during the summer break, but now he appeared much worse for wear.
On the other hand, Shen Jiayin...en, appeared much prettier than before.
‘Tsk tsk.
Don’t even know who saved the FL that time in the alleyway. The FL’s cheats are always inexhaustible... Though I(bbb) want to say no, it’s no use...
System won’t give me(bbb) any cheats...’
After the test, Yin Mo called Shen Jiayin by name and summoned her to his office.
Shi Sheng lifted her head to look at her. Although Shen Jiayin appeared reluctant, she couldn’t defy inside the school, so she could only follow Yin Mo to his office.
“Hey... Sheng Xia, d’you know?” Yao Qin turned around the moment Shen Jiayin and Yin Mo left the classroom, gossip written all over her face.
“What?” Shi Sheng turned to look at Yao Qin.
Yao Qin leaned back. “During the summer break, I saw Shen Jiayin and Teacher Yin together. Their relationship didn’t appear normal...”
Shi Sheng raised a brow but didn’t speak.
Yao Qin continued, “I even saw her attend a charity auction. I wonder who brought her in.”
Although Yao Qin’s family background was quite well-off, it couldn’t compare to Gu Yan’s, so the type of charity auctions she was able to attend shouldn’t be very major ones.
‘Why did the FL go to that type of charity auction?’
“Do you know what Shen Jiayin’s family does?” Yao Qin prattled on.
Shen Jiayin had reincarnated to the time she just transferred over and hadn’t really talked to people much since then, so no one knew of her family background.
“Nope.” Shi Sheng shook her head.
Shen Jiayin’s family situation was a bit complicated. Her parents favoured sons over daughters, so she was already unloved at home. But then Shen Jiayin later discovered that she wasn’t even their real daughter at all.
The situation with the rest of the Shen Clan was even more complicated, as they were borderline ultra-wealthy. There were plenty of asshole relatives for Shen Jiayin to punish, which she did with great pleasure.
Yao Qin suddenly concluded, “Sheng Xia, you seem to have changed.”
‘The previous Sheng Xia just liked to sleep, but she wasn’t this distant. She also wasn’t this curt, like you’re asking her for money by prompting her to speak more...’
“We’re all growing up.” Shi Sheng tapped her pen on the desk, the sound quite pleasing to the ears.
“You can’t just stay in one spot.”
Yao Qin, “...” ‘Don’t understand your thinking, Einstein...’
Yao Qin watched Shi Sheng pull out an English book, and her lip twitched. ‘This mere mortal does not understand the world of top students!’
......
The first month went by rather peacefully for Shi Sheng. For some reason or other, Shen Jiayin didn’t stir up trouble during this time. She would occasionally go out with Wen Jingxuan and Xie Chen.
If Shi Sheng was in a good mood, she’d go watch them. If not, she wouldn’t bother watching the FL show-off, instead choosing to catch up on her ‘mental sustenance’.
Shi Sheng found that Shen Jiayin and Yin Mo appeared to have grown distant. In the end, he didn’t even teach classes any more.
The homeroom teacher that had been on maternity leave came back and resumed her duties.
Without Yin Mo, it seemed the students had one less thing to gossip about.
Shi Sheng observed Shen Jiayin for several days. The latter seemed quite relieved at Yin Mo’s departure.
‘Well I suppose it was to be expected for a book that had a plotline stretching out for so long to have the romance to progress slowly.’
Yu Jiu didn’t return, and Yin Mo didn’t show himself.
Life in junior high turned duller.
Meanwhile, Shi Sheng stably kept her position as a dunce.
If she said she was going to hit a certain score, she really would get it—and not a single mark higher or lower.
Since the teachers were aware of her true ability, they didn’t fuss too much, merely reminding her that she had to answer questions seriously during the mid-term exams.
A valedictorian-style dunce...
All the students around her expressed that they’d never seen such a show-off before.
Show-off Sheng safely made her way through junior high and ranked up to senior high.
Shi Sheng naturally picked the same school as Shen Jiayin.
As the top scorer in the province, Shen Jiayin received a lot of attention from different parties in school.
Shi Sheng knew why Shen Jiayin wanted to score first place. She wanted to start her own company.
But since running a business was very time-consuming, she’d hardly have any time to come to school. Hence, she’d have to score first place to get more bargaining power with the faculty.
Everything went according to how it did in the original storyline.
In her third year of senior high, Shen Jiayin truly started a company. Since she had money, even if she wasn’t familiar with running a business, she could hire professionals to do it for her.
As reality proved, though money was not omnipotent, having no money at all could solve nothing.
Shi Sheng had paid attention to the company’s progress. It was a bit slow, but the direction was good. Well, Shen Jiayin was from the future, so she had plenty of advantages when it came to being informed.
Yao Qin was still in the same class as Shi Sheng. They were even seated close together, with Yao Qin occupying the seat in front of Shi Sheng’s.
Once class had ended, she turned around to ask Shi Sheng, “Sheng Xia, are you going to the event tonight?”
“What event?” Shi Sheng didn’t lift her head, merely asking offhandedly.
“Dunno. My dad told me to go. I heard a lot of business people are going to be present, so Uncle Gu should be going too. Let’s go together.”
“It’s an event centred around stone-gambling.” Sheng Jiayin had appeared behind Shi Sheng at some point and spoke up.
“How do you know?” Yao Qin didn’t really like Shen Jiayin. Ever since the latter stole the position of most popular girl in senior high from her, Yao Qin disliked Shen Jiayin even more. The two had come into conflict several times.
Shen Jiayin’s lips curled into a disdainful smirk. “I’d advise you not to go. It’s a far more serious affair than a regular event.”
Yao Qin humphed coldly. “Shen Jiayin, aren’t you just relying on your slight acquaintance with that person from the Wen Clan? How much ability do you have?”
Shi Sheng reached out to touch Yao Qin hand, causing the latter to lower her head and look at her. Shi Sheng’s lips lifted in a slight smile, her gaze calm.
‘If you mock the FL now, you’re the one that’s going to have your face slapped in future.
She’s pretty capable, seeing as how Wen Jingxuan’s the one hugging her thigh...’
This conflict ended up being subtly diffused by Shi Sheng.
Shen Jiayin walked to a desk in front of Shi Sheng to grab her things, before walking towards the classroom door.
As she passed them, she raised her chin slightly. “See you tonight.”
“Sheng Xia, look at her—”
“If you imagine yourself as a queen, you’ll know that her pride doesn’t even measure up to one of your own farts.” Shi Sheng calmly answered.
Yao Qin, “...” ‘Top Student, this analogy of yours is really quite...something.’
