Ch 13: After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

Lin Ling, seeing her comments successfully steering the forum’s narrative, couldn’t help but feel smug. She had said it all along—Ruan Cha had no proof!

Her confidence surging, she glared angrily at Ruan Cha. “Ruan Cha, you’re so vicious! Yesterday after school, I told you at the back gate that you’d be on duty in the broadcasting room at noon. And now you’re claiming I told you last minute?”

“The script in the post isn’t even the one I gave you! You swapped it yourself and then staged this whole thing to frame me!”

Her eyes burned with the indignation of being falsely accused, and she looked as if she expected the entire class to rally behind her in condemning Ruan Cha. After spitting out her accusations, she suddenly lifted her foot, aiming a furious kick at Ruan Cha to vent her anger.

The next moment, chaos erupted.

“Ahhh! It hurts, it hurts!” A piercing scream instantly filled the classroom.

Huang Jiajia, who had been about to step forward to protect Ruan Cha, froze in shock. The twenty-odd classmates watching the scene all gulped in unison.

One moment, Lin Ling had been brimming with arrogance, but now she was pale-faced and drenched in cold sweat, curled over in pain. One of her feet wouldn’t even touch the ground, and her expression was utterly miserable as she groaned in agony.

No one had anticipated what happened next. Just as Lin Ling raised her foot, Ruan Cha effortlessly slid her desk aside with one hand and gracefully maneuvered herself and her chair behind the desk.

This resulted in Lin Ling’s intended kick landing squarely and forcefully on the metal-reinforced edge of the desk.

Witnessing Ruan Cha’s seamless maneuver, Xie Changan was utterly stunned. He stared at her desk and chair, murmuring under his breath, “So… so cool.”

Oh my god, this is knee-weakeningly impressive. I want to kneel and call her boss! Someone teach me that move!

Ruan Cha calmly straightened her desk, glanced at Lin Ling, and tilted her lips into a faint smile. Yet her dark, inky eyes held not a shred of amusement. Her voice was light but icy. “Lin Ling, it seems your legs aren’t the same length. Since we’re classmates, I’ll correct that for you free of charge. No need to thank me.”

“You dare hit me, Ruan Cha!” Lin Ling, seeing Ruan Cha’s smug expression, was so infuriated her features contorted. She raised her arm and swung it down with ferocity, her expression savage. “Do you really think the Liang family cares about your family? They despise your mother for being crude and uncultured. Your entire family is a disgrace!”

“Ahh—!”

“Let go! Let go, let go!”

Ruan Cha effortlessly grabbed Lin Ling’s wrist with one hand. Her eyes lifted lazily as she glanced at Lin Ling, whose teeth chattered from the pain. Despite the faint smile on Ruan Cha’s lips, her gaze was cold and oppressively intimidating. She spoke slowly, her tone almost mocking. “Lin Ling, I detest people who insult others’ parents. Also, I don’t believe in sparing girls.”

As her words fell, Ruan Cha’s grip tightened, making Lin Ling nearly collapse to her knees from the pain.

The classmates who had been considering intervening exchanged uncertain glances.

They wanted to step in, but none dared. And honestly, they didn’t really want to leave either—this was a front-row seat to an epic showdown!

Standing casually on the other side of the desk, Ruan Cha subdued Lin Ling with ease. Her gaze was filled with derision. “You said you told me yesterday about the broadcasting room duty?”

“Let go!” Lin Ling shrieked.

Lin Ling practically screamed through gritted teeth. When she finished, she glanced around, glaring fiercely at the two girls who usually followed her around like shadows. “Are you blind? Get over here!”

Before they could move, Huang Jiajia darted forward like a slippery eel, stepping in with a cheerful smile. “Don’t interrupt Cha Cha while she’s teaching a lesson to someone who doesn’t know how to speak without insulting parents! Unless… one of you wants to fight me instead?”

The two girls shrank back, their heads lowering. Though their families had some wealth, neither dared to cross the Lin family—or the Huang family, for that matter. And honestly, Ruan Cha looked downright terrifying, like the kind of person who’d bite a chunk out of anyone who got in her way.

Ruan Cha glanced at the clock and saw that class was about to start. She tightened her grip on Lin Ling’s wrist. “Answer me!”

Her dad had always said, even if you’re a slacker, be a slacker with strength—otherwise, the world will swallow you whole. Normally, Ruan Cha didn’t care about others gossiping behind her back, but when it involved her parents, she became a piranha with razor-sharp teeth.

“Y-yes! I did!” Lin Ling stammered, her gaze dodging as her teeth chattered. The pain was unbearable—her foot hurt, her wrist hurt, and even her skull felt like it was pulsing with pain. But facing Ruan Cha, she stubbornly clung to her earlier claim. “Before I got in the car after school yesterday, I told you myself!”

Hearing this, Ruan Cha’s lips suddenly curved into a bright, dazzling smile that somehow made Lin Ling’s heart clench with panic.

“Sorry, but I’m from a small town, and I’m not used to riding in private cars. I take the school bus home from the front gate every day.” Noticing Lin Ling’s eyes widen with disbelief, Ruan Cha tilted her head slightly, her tone mocking, as if she were watching a frantic monkey.

“And honestly, your intelligence is so rudimentary it’s almost impressive. I swapped the script? Did you forget that fingerprint analysis exists? I already asked Senior Chu. When you swapped the script last minute, you weren’t even wearing gloves, were you, Lin Ling?”

One sentence was enough to make Lin Ling’s entire body go cold. She could manipulate the fingerprint evidence during the examination and wasn’t too worried about that, but… Ruan Cha really took the school bus home? The Liang family let her take the school bus? How embarrassing!

Ruan Cha casually observed the range of emotions flitting across Lin Ling’s face—shock, fear, and finally, resentment—and felt utterly satisfied. She had originally planned to handle this later, but some people just insisted on delivering themselves to her doorstep.

As for whether the Liang family planned to host a banquet, Ruan Cha saw no need to explain. The truth was, her parents had delayed it repeatedly. Besides, how the Liang family treated her was something anyone with eyes and a heart could discern; it wasn’t for others to gossip about.

She released Lin Ling’s wrist, ignoring the bruises that were already forming. Her gaze was sharp and icy, carrying a thinly veiled threat. “Lin Ling, if you dare bring up my parents again, I won’t guarantee that your wrist won’t become a permanent companion to a cast.”

The heated exchange between Ruan Cha and Lin Ling had unfolded before the entire class, and anyone with a brain had already figured out who had been scheming against whom. Even some classmates who thought they were nothing like Ruan Cha couldn’t help but feel a tinge of admiration for her after witnessing the whole incident. As for Lin Ling, the dividing line between her and the rest of the class had likely shifted by a few more centimeters.

Lin Ling had always been bossy and commanding, never once facing repeated humiliation like this. Feeling the odd glances from her classmates, her anger surged uncontrollably. Clutching her immobile wrist, she shouted in desperation, “Do you really think Ruan Cha is innocent? Improvised without a script? You’ve all been played for fools!” In her mind, Ruan Cha must have predicted her setup and turned the tables, using it as a chance to gain fame in the school.

The Lin family had hired foreign tutors, and Lin Ling had been studying for four years. Someone like Ruan Cha could only reach her level of fluency by growing up speaking with native speakers from a young age!

Improvisation? On the spot?

What a joke!

Meanwhile, Xie Changan noticed Ruan Cha had already put on her earphones and was fully immersed in studying. He marveled at her composure before flashing a lazy smile at Lin Ling. “Lin Ling, maybe you should spend some time online. Ruan Cha’s impromptu performance was real—whether you like it or not.”

“What do you mean?” Lin Ling caught the certainty in Xie Changan’s expression, and a sudden unease crept into her heart.

Xu Shen, having watched enough of the drama, found it boring. He had always thought Lin Ling’s bullying methods were childish and uninspired, and now, seeing it again, he felt her intelligence was indeed limited. Spitting out his flavorless gum, he tilted his chin slightly upward. “Lin Ling, stop standing there making a fool of yourself. Go check the forum posts. All this scheming—it’s embarrassing. If you don’t feel ashamed, I’m embarrassed to share a class with you.”

Normally, Xu Shen wouldn’t bother saying a word to Lin Ling. But since he found Ruan Cha pleasing to the eye, he didn’t mind stepping in to help her out this time.

Lin Ling stared at Xu Shen in disbelief, never imagining the day would come when the boy she admired would call her an embarrassment.

And the look of disdain in his eyes—it felt as if she had fallen into an icy lake in the dead of winter, her entire body freezing, with cold winds stabbing through every crack and pore.

One of Lin Ling’s usual lackeys hesitantly stepped forward and held up a phone for her to see. Glancing nervously at Lin Ling, she said cautiously, “Lin Ling, Fu Chen replied to the forum post himself. He said the broadcasting room just got new surveillance cameras.”

The forum post now included two video clips: one showing Lin Ling swapping the script at the last minute and another showing Ruan Cha taking the script but never once looking at it during her entire broadcast.

The high-quality footage clearly captured their faces, and even zoomed in, the text on the papers was legible.

At the end of the video, there was a pointed mention:

@79L: After watching this, bring your chair to Class 10.
79L (previously): Hahaha, looking back, a bunch of you were pitying Ruan Cha earlier. Hilarious. Whether she improvised or not is still debatable! Senior Chu from Little F’s post probably has a crush on her. Honestly, if Ruan Cha really improvised, I’ll take my head off and give it to her as a stool!

The crowd: Is this even human behavior?

After Fu Chen tagged a certain individual, he even went the extra mile, transcribing the entire conversation from the video. Word for word, it confirmed that Ruan Cha had been forced to abandon the script at noon due to some “unknown reason” and improvised on the spot.

213L: Aaaaah! Confessing my love for Fu Chen! Is this a big brother standing up for his little sister? So handsome I could cry QwQ. Ruan Cha, I want to be your sister-in-law!!

229L: Sister-in-law squad +1!!! Aaaaah!!!

232L: Am I the only one who noticed Ruan Cha’s reply to Senior Chu? “One of the uncles who farms for us is British.” London accents aren’t uncommon, but Ruan Cha’s pronunciation is clearly of an upper-class tier. [smile.jpg]

233L: Damn! That’s the key point!

236L: Suddenly thinking of that cabbage praised by the golden-tongued Xie Sui!

245L: Offering a fortune for that cabbage. I need to see this international fairy cabbage!

Although the latter comments took the post in a completely different direction, Lin Ling, staring at the video Fu Chen uploaded, felt her face burning hot. Her pale complexion darkened into an unflattering shade of liver red.

The drama in Class 10 ended with the school bell.

However, everyone in the class knew one thing for sure—Lin Ling and Ruan Cha had officially become enemies. At the same time, their perception of Ruan Cha was thoroughly updated.

She might look delicate and soft, but clearly, she could break more than pencils—she could break wrists too!

While the class buzzed with gossip, the person at the center of it all, Ruan Cha, acted as if nothing had happened. Like an old monk in meditation, she paid full attention in class, reviewed seriously during breaks, and her rigorous diligence left the class slacker, Xie Changan, marveling in disbelief.

To Ruan Cha, the afternoon’s events were merely an interlude. However, a frustrating sequel awaited her just before school ended.

Xu Shen, who usually left during the fourth period, was standing at the classroom door. His lean, strong arm rested casually on the doorframe, effectively trapping Ruan Cha inside. He tugged at the corner of his lips in a lazy smirk and looked down at her with sharp, arrogant eyes. “Ruan Cha, how about dating me?”

The soft glow of the setting sun cast a warm light over everything, but Ruan Cha had no time to appreciate the sunset. She was too busy experiencing a resounding what the hell is this?!

In the original story, Xu Shen had become intrigued by Ren Qingqing’s looks after seeing her a few times and later by her quirky personality. One afternoon, he cornered her and confessed, only to be rejected with the line, “I like people who are good at studying.”

While Xu Shen didn’t persist in pursuing her, he did stop slacking off in his life. He no longer slept during class, and his previously idle days came to an end.

The male lead’s halo and intelligence activated instantly, allowing him to effortlessly excel. After just one term, Xu Shen shot up to second place in the grade rankings, tying with Ren Qingqing during the monthly exams.

Later, the two became known as the “golden boy and jade girl” of the school. By senior year, Ren Qingqing secured the top spot in the college entrance exams, while Xu Shen went abroad for further studies.

Just as readers began complaining about the lack of their university-era interactions, the plot took a surprising turn. Ren Qingqing, equipped with her genius system, suddenly pursued a career as an idol. The entire story shifted from a campus genius narrative to an entertainment industry prodigy tale.

While Ren Qingqing dominated the entertainment scene, Xu Shen graduated early in just two years and took over the family business, silently supporting her from behind the scenes. The two eventually played out a love story between a domineering CEO and a top-tier celebrity within the industry.

Ruan Cha, who could see the book’s events play out in her mind, also had access to the readers’ comments. One particularly popular thread lamented that they only wanted to see Ren Qingqing publish journals, conduct research, and win a Nobel Prize—not dominate the entertainment industry. The responses beneath it were a battlefield of heated arguments.

As far as Ruan Cha was concerned, as long as it didn’t drag her family into any mess, she couldn’t care less whether Ren Qingqing won a Nobel or an Oscar. But right now, her only wish was to ensure Ren Qingqing’s points were reduced to zero before graduation. Who had the time to battle it out in the entertainment industry?

Wasn’t studying good enough?

Or better yet—wasn’t living like a carefree slacker good enough?

Ruan Cha firmly believed that the responsibility of guiding Xu Shen to study diligently should be handed over to Ren Qingqing. Clutching her backpack tightly, she shot him a look of clear rejection. “Didn’t I tell you before? My family are descendants of Chi You—future immortals. How could I possibly date anyone?”

Seeing that Xu Shen wasn’t taking her words seriously, Ruan Cha’s mood darkened slightly. She then straightened her expression and rejected him outright, her tone crisp and final. “No. It’s impossible. Thank you.” Without waiting for his reaction, she pushed past him and headed straight for the school bus. If she didn’t hurry, it would leave without her!

For a moment, Xu Shen stood frozen, watching Ruan Cha’s unapologetic retreating figure. He narrowed his eyes slightly. Had he just been rejected by a girl who hadn’t even seen much of the world?

—Interesting. Was this some kind of playing hard to get strategy?