Ch 12: After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

Although the school broadcast had ended, the gossip among the students never ceased, especially among those who excelled academically and spoke good English.

“Ahhh! The girl who just did the broadcast—her voice was sweet with a hint of coolness. It was so soothing! Did anyone catch her name from the introduction? I’m on my knees begging!”

“Ruan Cha! She’s from Class 10! Not only does she have an excellent English accent, but her horseback riding is also super graceful! She’s gorgeous—basically the goddess of my dreams!”

“Wow, senior, are you seriously saying you fell in love at first sight?”

“Love at first sight? That’s so cliché.” The senior, a dashing young man, ran his fingers dramatically through his pomaded short hair. “I’m telling you, I’m madly in love!”

At Second High, students with authentic accents weren’t rare, but Ruan Cha was different. It was as if she was born to be a broadcaster—her emotional inflection and pacing were impeccable. Her voice was crisp and clear, with just a hint of sweetness.

Closing your eyes and listening to Ruan Cha’s storytelling felt like stepping into a dream. A gentle breeze, spring rain, warm sunlight, summer lotuses—it was a rare moment of tranquil enjoyment amidst the bustling world.

Scrrraatch.

Lin Ling stabbed her fork fiercely into her plate, her expression a mix of resentment and shock. Her face burned with humiliation as her classmates buzzed about Ruan Cha, her anger flaring uncontrollably.

She had unknowingly set the stage for Ruan Cha to shine! She had practically handed Ruan Cha the spotlight at Second High!

To be honest, there weren’t major rivalries between high school students, but from the first time Lin Ling met Ruan Cha, she had been losing—again and again, repeatedly getting metaphorically slapped in the face. The pride and arrogance instilled in her by her family’s pampering made it impossible for her to swallow this bitter pill.

Lin Ling’s desk-mates exchanged uncertain glances, unsure how to console her. After all, they couldn’t understand why Lin Ling had made things difficult for Ruan Cha with the English script. How many students at Second High even cared enough to pay attention, let alone fully comprehend it?

“Lin Ling, Ruan Cha wouldn’t tell anyone about the script issue, would she?”

“Let her talk if she wants! Who would believe her? For her to deliver the broadcast so smoothly just now, she must have prepared the script beforehand!”

Lin Ling’s expression remained angry, her nails digging red marks into her palm as her voice turned icy. “If she really dares to bring up the swapped script, I can totally turn the tables and accuse her of slandering me. I submitted five drafts in total, and it’s perfectly normal for one to have a copying error, isn’t it?”

After saying this, Lin Ling furrowed her brows and cast a sharp, scrutinizing glance around her desk group, a clear cold smirk in her eyes. “Of course, whether there’s a traitor among us will be proven with time. I trust you won’t let me down, will you?”

“No, of course not,” the group muttered nervously, avoiding Lin Ling’s gaze. Their faces betrayed unease.

Among Lin Ling’s tablemates, only one was from Class 10. The rest had family businesses that depended on the Lin family’s influence. They wouldn’t dare offend her so easily, or their entire families would be left struggling.

Besides, even if they wanted to cozy up to Ruan Cha or the Liang family by spilling the truth about Lin Ling’s script swap, they had no concrete evidence in hand.

…

Ruan Cha couldn’t care less whether Lin Ling was fuming or not. After the broadcast, she sat in the lounge area of the broadcasting room, savoring the desserts and vegetable salad Fu Chen had packed for her, her face radiating pure bliss.

From head to toe, she practically exuded two words: comfort and happiness!

As for Chu Shuwei, the moment Fu Chen showed up, his expression shifted dramatically. After calling him “President,” Chu quickly found an excuse to leave, almost making Ruan Cha suspect that Chu had been messed with by Fu Chen in the past.

“The English Club, apart from its daily lunchtime English Corner, holds group activities on Fridays, usually around 4 p.m. These include English speeches, singing, and role-playing simulations,” Fu Chen explained while nibbling on a mini cake he had packed for Ruan Cha. “Your English is among the best in the club, but I remember you wrote ‘squash’ in the club preference section of your enrollment form?”

Squash, huh.

Ruan Cha sighed inwardly, suddenly finding her dessert a little less appealing.

If it weren’t for Ren Qingqing’s system, and the metaphorical Sword of Damocles hanging over her head, she’d have wanted to explore not just squash but also photography, instrumental music, dance, and everything else she’d never tried before.

Finishing the buffalo milk in her bottle, Ruan Cha looked up at Fu Chen, her expression earnest, her almond-shaped eyes shimmering with an intense (and not-so-subtle) eagerness to learn (survive). “I love studying. I love English. The daily activities of the English Club might very well elevate my life to new heights.”

—And preserve her beauty and intellect.

Fu Chen: “…”

No need to oversell it.

Once she finished eating, Ruan Cha neatly packed up the small box, tied it up in a bag, and set it aside to throw away later. The entire process was smooth and efficient, as if she had done it countless times before. Fu Chen watched and pondered silently, forming new guesses about her childhood circumstances.

“Fu Chen, there’s something I’d like to ask you for help with.”

“Go ahead,” Fu Chen snapped out of his thoughts, pushed his teacup aside, and leaned back lazily in his chair. “What is it?”

Ruan Cha touched the tip of her nose, suddenly feeling a bit sheepish. “Since you can see the club preferences I wrote on my enrollment form, I assume you’ve also seen my grades from the end of freshman year?”

“Hmm, the rankings were very… orderly,” Fu Chen teased with a faint smile, glancing at her as she covered her face with one hand. He chuckled lightly and, reading between the lines, straightened up slightly. “Do you need help with your monthly exam prep?”

“Yes!”

Ruan Cha immediately shed any pretense of embarrassment—her thick skin came in handy. Besides, the earlier bashfulness was half an act, just to avoid giving Fu Chen the impression that she hadn’t changed her attitude about studying.

“It’s not too much trouble for you, right? Do you still have your first-year notes?”

Although Ruan Cha had shown little interest in subjects like Chinese, physics, chemistry, and biology, and had been inattentive in class, she wasn’t so bad as to score 10 points.

Her poor grades were entirely self-inflicted—she would cherry-pick the questions she liked, complete those, and then give up on the rest.

Now, she deeply regretted it. Truly regretted it. She felt like the heavens had sent this wretched system to punish her for her slacker ways.

“I still have my notes,” Fu Chen said, tapping his fingers lightly on the edge of the tea table. He mentally reviewed how much he had written back in first year—three pages per subject might have been ambitious.

Noticing the relaxed expression on Ruan Cha’s face out of the corner of his eye, he swallowed back his initial response and changed tack. “But just reading the notes won’t cut it. You need to understand the scope of what the teacher focuses on in the exams. I’ll go through them and highlight the key points for you. I’ll bring them tomorrow.”

“Thank you! I’ll copy them quickly and return them to you right away!”

In Class 10, apart from a few diligent students, no one really took notes. The monthly exam might be called a “monthly exam,” but the content covered both first- and second-year material.

Even though Ruan Cha had tried studying earnestly for a week after transferring to Second High, her weak foundation in science from first year meant that second-year topics often left her completely confused. She could memorize facts but struggled to apply them.

As for the second-year students, outside her own class, Ruan Cha only knew three people, including Fu Chen. And since one of them was the top student in the grade, borrowing notes from him to bask in his academic brilliance was the obvious choice!

Fu Chen shook his head. “No rush. You can keep them for now. After the monthly exams, there’s the midterm in another month—you’ll need them then too.”

Ruan Cha: “…”

Her momentary excitement came to an abrupt halt.

Ding! Main Task 1 issued. Host must achieve a higher grade ranking than the linked target in the monthly exams 14 days from now. Success will deduct 3 Intelligence points and 2 Beauty points from the linked target. Failure will result in a 5-point penalty for the host.

Ding! Main Task 2 issued. Host must rank within the top 30 in the grade in the monthly exams 14 days from now. Success will reward 3 points.

Ruan Cha: “!!!”

Her vision went dark, and she nearly fell backward in her chair. The usual tasks she gave Ren Qingqing only involved 1 or 2 points, adding up to 3 at most. But now the system had brazenly decided to exploit her with a 5-point penalty!

Three failed tasks from Ren Qingqing combined had only cost her 3 points, but Task 2 was clearly a little devil in disguise—calculated to precision.

Fu Chen was just about to suggest leaving when he noticed something off about Ruan Cha’s mood. His brows furrowed slightly as a thoughtful expression emerged. “Did something happen?”

Hearing this, Ruan Cha shook her head. The next moment, she grabbed her bag and stood up abruptly, her almond-shaped eyes brimming with obvious determination. “I just feel like I shouldn’t waste time eating! I need to study! Study hard!”

Even after Ruan Cha had left for a while, Fu Chen remained seated, unmoving. The look in her eyes earlier wasn’t just one of resolve—it also carried a faint, unmistakable anger, as if she were ready to pick a fight.

Fu Chen: “…?”

Thanks to the broadcasting incident and the hype from some students in Class 10, students from other classes had actually come to catch a glimpse of Ruan Cha. To their disappointment, she never left the classroom after class. She remained seated, head down, diligently studying—looking every bit the model student, utterly out of place in the typically lax Class 10!

At the back door of Class 10, Xu Shen sat sprawled in his chair, deterring any bold attempts from outsiders to gather. Meanwhile, from the front door’s vantage point, Xie Changan, who sat next to Ruan Cha, effectively blocked any view of her side profile.

Of course, the real reason they couldn’t see her was because they lacked the guts to walk into Class 10 openly, unlike Fu Chen or Ji Feiyang, who could boldly stroll in under Xu Shen’s watchful eyes.

As the crowd outside the class grew restless, someone suddenly exclaimed, “Oh my god, check out the [Bijiang] forum! Someone’s claiming that Ruan Cha’s midday broadcast was completely improvised!”

That one sentence silenced the previously noisy Class 10. Moments later, nearly everyone pulled out their phones and, taking advantage of the break, flocked to the school’s exclusive anonymous forum, [Bijiang].

[818 | Was Ruan Cha’s Campus Broadcast Improvised Brilliance or a Calculated Scheme? Campus Reporter Little F Investigates!]

Little F, a frequent anonymous whistleblower on the forum, was known for exposing everything from serious bullying incidents to cafeteria food reviews—an eclectic mix that always captivated readers.

Original Post:
OP: Ruan Cha’s broadcast left Little F so emotional I couldn’t calm down. I used some connections to sneak into the broadcasting room to check out her script—after all, the idyllic imagery of that small town was just too dreamy!

OP: But after reading the script labeled “Class 10, Ruan Cha,” I was stunned! Please use your eyes and take a good look at this, [Image: Top Half of Script.jpg] [Image: Bottom Half of Script.jpg].

OP: According to Senior Chu, who was on duty at the broadcasting room during lunch, Ruan Cha slammed the script on the table midway through the broadcast and improvised the rest! Just look at the nonsense in the second half of the script—it’s enough to make anyone cringe!

45L: From what Little F described, it seems like Ruan Cha was set up. She was assigned to the broadcast room last minute, and the script was changed. If she didn’t catch on in time, she’d have embarrassed herself publicly. Whoever planned this must be furious that Ruan Cha turned it into a stellar performance—even the English teachers are praising her!

49L: If I had to guess who’s behind this, it’s probably a certain Class 10 student responsible for managing the broadcast schedule and submitting scripts—Lin someone.

53L: Wow, Ruan Cha is such a treasure! Not only is she stunning and graceful in equestrian sports, but her quick thinking is also top-notch!

60L: Hold up, enough with the Ruan Cha stanning. Does anyone really not know who she is? The genuine daughter of the Liang family, but from some small town? You think she could improvise like that on the spot?

68L: Wild theory—what if Lin was the one who got played by Ruan?

74L: Did Ruan Cha step on Lin to gain fame at Second High? Holy crap, the more I think about it, the scarier it seems. I mean, who knows how long she secretly practiced for that broadcast!

79L: LOL, some of you were actually sympathizing with Ruan Cha earlier? Hilarious. Whether she improvised or not is still up for debate. Maybe Senior Chu has a crush on her? Honestly, if she really did improvise, I’ll eat my hat!

81L: Breaking news! Ruan and Lin are facing off directly! Lin Ling is accusing Ruan Cha of slandering and framing her!

82L: I have a friend who needs to see this, if you know what I mean.

86L: I’m that friend.

102L: What’s happening? 81L, spill the tea already!