Ch 20: After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

Twenty minutes later, the one-sided beatdown in the dark alley was nearing its conclusion.

When Zhou Xiaoran finally snapped out of her fright and regained control of her body, the first thing she saw was the bald man lying unconscious on the ground. And then—there was Ruan Cha, wildly swinging her baton with one hand, fierce and unstoppable as she mercilessly lashed the muscular man.

“You’ve done this to girls before, haven’t you? Scum!” Ruan Cha hissed, every swing of her baton an outlet for her hatred. Every time she saw news about sex offenders, she wished she could string them up and chemically castrate them herself.

“Ahhh—”

The muscular man, electrocuted and battered, was already feeble and hoarse from screaming. But Ruan Cha showed no mercy, giving him no chance to plead.

The moment he opened his mouth, another round of blows would rain down on him, leaving him oscillating between life and death. The torment made him wish for an end to it all.

Ruan Cha, seeing his bruised and dislocated limbs, pressed a button on her baton to reactivate the electric charge. With one final swing, she struck his chest and coldly announced, “Thoracic vertebrae!”

The man let out a bloodcurdling scream before his head lolled to the side as he passed out. To him, it was probably a relief.

But—

If people can beat a dead body, why spare someone merely unconscious?

---

[Ding! Due to the associated target completing the task of labeling 30 skeletal structures (via *beep* methods) before the host, the task is deemed a failure. No points awarded. Bonus canceled.]

Hearing the system’s electronic voice, Ruan Cha blinked in mild surprise. She hadn’t expected to complete the task anyway, not having worked on it systematically. Still, faced with the choice between beating scum and letting Ren Qingqing earn a single point, she had firmly chosen the former.

The scumbag needed to remember this nightmare.

The fact that the system even counted this as an attempt left her feeling equal parts amused and awkward, especially when recalling the censored beep noise.

After half an hour of fighting without breaking a sweat, Ruan Cha finally turned to Zhou Xiaoran and tilted her chin at her. “Come here.”

Zhou Xiaoran: “!!!”

“I’m sorry! It was all Lin Ling’s idea. I was wrong, I was really wrong!” Zhou Xiaoran sobbed, trembling as she confessed everything, terrified that Ruan Cha might turn the electrified baton on her. “She told me it was just to scare you! I didn’t know it would go this far. Please, Ruan Cha, let me go home!”

From the moment she saw the lewd, slimy look in the muscular man’s eyes, Zhou Xiaoran had sensed something was wrong. But she hadn’t dared to think too deeply, instead convincing herself that it was really just meant to be a scare.

Until—

Her clothes were ripped by the bald man, and in the struggle, she’d felt a despair so profound it was as though she were dying.

Ruan Cha frowned slightly, kicking at the unconscious muscular man with a look of utter disdain. “Strip him. Leave his underwear. Be quick about it.”

After issuing the command, Ruan Cha leaned lazily against the wall, pulling out her phone to call her driver, casually explaining that she’d been delayed helping a classmate with a question.

Zhou Xiaoran didn’t dare resist, terrified that any refusal might turn the baton on her. Trembling, she removed the muscular man’s clothes, leaving only his underwear, and then looked at Ruan Cha with pitiful eyes, awaiting judgment. “I-Is this okay?”

“It’s fine,” Ruan Cha replied nonchalantly, pointing to Zhou Xiaoran’s phone. “Take a picture.”

Zhou Xiaoran: “…”

“Take a picture?” she stammered.

Of what?

Wait.

She looked down at the muscular man lying on the ground, stripped down to his underwear. Shocked, she pointed at him, her worldview shattering and rebuilding itself in an instant. “You want me to take a picture of him?!”

“Unless you want to photograph the bald one? That works too. You could take pictures of both. Just send me the photos when you’re done.”

Ruan Cha had always liked soft, delicate girls—hugging them felt comforting, like with Huang Jiajia. But when it came to people who schemed against her, regardless of their gender, they wouldn’t even get a shred of kindness from her.

Knocking out the bald man first before dealing with the muscular man had been the last bit of goodwill she had extended to Zhou Xiaoran.

Zhou Xiaoran didn’t dare resist and obediently took out her phone. With a conflicted expression, she started snapping pictures of the unconscious muscular man from every angle. What kind of hobby does Ruan Cha have?!

---

Five minutes later, Ruan Cha, satisfied with the collection of ugly and incriminating photos on her phone, smiled. She tapped on her phone and dialed 110.

“Hello, Officer? I’m at No. 23, Four Pavilion Lane. I just saw… two naked men lying here. They’re—”

Zhou Xiaoran, listening to Ruan Cha embellish the story while assigning a laundry list of potential charges, suddenly felt a strange sense of pity for the two men. Once the police investigated, it was likely these two wouldn’t see the light of day for a long time.

After hanging up, Ruan Cha slung her backpack over her shoulder and looked at Zhou Xiaoran with a detached expression, a far cry from the patience she’d shown earlier while explaining math problems. “If you’re sincere about correcting your mistakes, follow the officers to give a statement. Otherwise, just go home.”

Before leaving, Ruan Cha didn’t forget to zap the two unconscious men with the baton a couple more times, just in case they were pretending.

The police station was less than a five-minute drive from the school’s back gate. Not only would the two men remain unconscious long enough for the officers to arrive, but they might even stay that way for another hour or two in custody.

---

After Ruan Cha disappeared from view, Zhou Xiaoran, still sitting on the ground, hugged her knees and stared blankly at the two men. The shame and rage she had felt earlier when the bald man tore at her clothes surged back in an overwhelming wave.

She glared at the bald man, now completely unaware of his surroundings, and, imitating Ruan Cha’s actions, raised her foot and stomped down hard.

Scum!

Ugh!

---

As Ruan Cha left the alley, she noticed a tall man under the streetlamp, wearing a long coat, a baseball cap, and a black mask.

Fresh off dealing with two pieces of human trash, she paused. “…”

Without giving him a second glance, she headed straight toward her car. But as she walked, she noticed something—it wasn’t her imagination. A shadow on the ground, elongated by the streetlights, followed her steps.

The suspiciously dressed man was trailing her.

Lin Ling’s backup plan?

Ruan Cha decided not to act rashly, intending to see what this person was up to. However, even after she reached the Liang family’s car, the masked man didn’t make any suspicious moves.

The driver, who had been waiting by the car, visibly relaxed when he saw her. “Cha Cha, you’re finally out. If it weren’t for Cunjin insisting, I would’ve gone looking for you myself.”

“Cunjin?”

Before Ruan Cha could finish her question, her head was lightly knocked from above, followed by a lazy, playful voice. “Hey, kiddo. Meet your second cousin, Liang Cunjin.”

Ruan Cha: “…”
Why are you dressed like a spy making a secret rendezvous?

---

Once inside the car, Ruan Cha finally got a clear look at her second cousin’s face behind the mask. His features were strikingly handsome, his demeanor casual yet dashing. His brows and eyes bore a three-to-four resemblance to her aunt Tang Hua, with naturally upturned, smiling eyes.

Recalling the driver’s words and estimating the timeline, Ruan Cha rubbed her nose, her expression neutral, though a faint awkwardness lingered in her mind. “Second Cousin, did you see everything just now?”

“Hmm, I caught about six or seven minutes of it,” Liang Cun Jin replied, his eyes curving with mirth as he playfully patted her head. “Cha Cha, you were so cool! I’m completely in awe. Can you teach me a few moves sometime?”

Lin Ling.

Liang Cunjin mulled over what he’d witnessed. By the time he arrived, Ruan Cha was already beating the men. Later, from a sobbing classmate sitting on the ground, he heard Lin Ling’s name mentioned.

After learning about Lin Ling’s family background, Liang Cunjin promptly contacted an uncle to ensure that once the two men were taken to the police station, their entire ancestral lineage would be scrutinized.

In fact, barely a moment after Ruan Cha left, the police had already arrived. The little girl is too naive, unaware of the power of money. If the Lin family intervened, those two might actually walk free.

Now, the only question was whether the Lin family could shield Lin Ling from criminal liability.

---

Ruan Cha leaned back a little, wary that more head pats might stunt her growth. She held out her hand after hearing the second part of Liang Cunjin’s words. “First, pay your tuition fee.”

“…”

“Cha Cha, we’re family—”

“Even between brothers, accounts must be settled clearly.” Ruan Cha sighed, recalling bitterly, “Last time, Dad scammed me out of a whole month’s allowance. I’ll cut you a deal—200.”

Liang Cunjin’s attention wasn’t on the discount but on the allowance. “You get 400 a month?”

“W-what’s wrong with 400?! I’m very frugal when I top up my account.” As a self-proclaimed freeloader with no income, Ruan Cha felt a bit guilty about her monthly allowance of 400.

Liang Cunjin: “…”

He remembered that their second aunt, Liang Qianling, used to give Mengyu a baseline monthly allowance of 20-30k, while he and his brother got cards with no limits.

Was Cha Cha’s life this hard before? Budgeting for mobile top-ups?

Feeling a pang of guilt, Liang Cunjin pulled out a card and pressed it into Ruan Cha’s hand, his generosity almost hitting the roof of the car. “The password is 010101. Take it and spend it however you like—recharge, buy clothes, whatever! This is my gift to you!”

In truth, Liang Cunjin had prepared a gift, but not knowing what Ruan Cha or her parents liked, he had simply bought various items from an old street after leaving his film set.

Ruan Cha: “…”

Big cities really are different. Back home, gifts were always cash in a red envelope—who just hands over a bank card?

“Cunjin, Cha Cha, the map shows heavy congestion ahead on Bainan Road. Shall we take a different route? It might add about ten minutes.”

“Go ahead and switch.” Liang Cunjin didn’t mind and yawned mid-sentence.

Ruan Cha, noticing his head nodding forward slightly, poked his arm. “Second Brother, your seatbelt isn’t fastened. I’m a bit tired from evening self-study and want to nap for a while.”

“Sure, go ahead.” Liang Cunjin buckled his seatbelt and asked the driver to adjust the car’s temperature. “Even if you fall asleep, I’ll wake you when we get home.”

“Alright.”

However, just a few minutes after Ruan Cha closed her eyes, Liang Cun Jin, who swore he’d wake her up, yawned again, slumped back, and promptly fell asleep faster than she did.

Ruan Cha peeked through barely opened eyes, noticing the bluish circles under his. Being an actor must be exhausting, she thought, recalling childhood games of Ultraman and kaiju with her parents. No matter what, her dad had always refused to become an actor, only occasionally performing in town plays.

As she watched him, sleepiness overcame her again, and she closed her eyes to rest.

---

Inside the quiet car, far away, Ren Qingqing was seething with rage.

Staring at the “Task Failed” notification, she was on the verge of losing it. “System, whose side are you on?! Ruan Cha just finished evening self-study—when would she have had time to work on an anatomy diagram? And why on earth was she drawing one to begin with?!”

The most infuriating thing was that when the task came through, Ren Qingqing had been alone with Xu Shen, just a breath away from kissing him. Not only was the moment ruined by the system, but she didn’t get the kiss, and the task wasn’t even completed?!

Upon hearing her outburst, the system fell into an eerie silence.

After a burst of crackling static, the system processed the task’s outcome—how Ruan Cha had completed it first—and converted the external photon H-wave signals it had received into a video, displaying it directly on the panel in front of Ren Qingqing.

“Ah!”

“Metacarpal bones!”

“Ow, ow, ow!”

“Spine!”

The video played in vivid detail, accompanied by waves of blood-curdling screams, assaulting her ears.

Ren Qingqing, who had been seething with anger moments before, froze in place as she watched Ruan Cha’s relentless baton strikes rain down on the muscular man. Her expression of resentment stiffened, replaced by a sudden and absurd sense of fear.

If Ruan Cha ever discovered that the system was tied to her, how many hits could I even survive?

“Does this mean Ruan Cha will always complete tasks faster than me?”

[Apologies. The system cannot predict this. According to its programming, the host can only extract intelligence and beauty points if superior to the associated target in a specific area. However, the associated target has consistently completed tasks first. If the host chooses to continue with B tasks, please be prepared for this pattern to persist.]

The virus creator had left a message: Testing human nature is all well and good, but… truly foolish people don’t deserve any rewards.

It wasn’t the system’s fault. All tasks were pre-programmed into its core, but even it couldn’t help wondering—how did the associated target always seem to predict and preemptively complete the tasks?

Ren Qingqing: “…” I’ll kill you.

Thinking of Xu Shen, she bolted from her room and ran into the Xu family’s housekeeper. Frantically, she asked, “Where’s Xu Shen?”

“Master Cheng called Master Shen and Miss Lan out for an outing,” the housekeeper replied. Though she didn’t think much of Ren Qingqing, who was staying as a guest, she maintained a polite facade.

Ren Qingqing’s shoulders slumped instantly, her fleeting excitement extinguished by the icy realization. Half an hour ago, he had been reminding her to take her medicine, to rest, and they had almost kissed. Yet now, he had left her alone at home and gone out to have fun?!

[Host, I suggest you focus on completing your tasks instead of letting other matters distract you.]

“Shut up! I don’t need a piece of artificial intelligence lecturing me!” Ren Qingqing snapped, her tone dripping with hostility. “All you do is penalize me—what use are you?!”

[…]

[Ding! Due to the host’s declining approval rating, the system will undergo an update—updating… updating…]

Ren Qingqing glared at the words Updating flashing on her panel, her brow furrowed tightly. What was the system up to now?

…

By the time the car returned to the Liang family estate, it was already 10 p.m., but the villa was still brightly lit. Apart from Liang Zongqi, who was at the company, the other four family members were present, clearly waiting for someone.

Liang Cunjin, spotting Grandpa Liang, darted forward like an arrow. “Oh my god, Grandpa, you’re still awake? Were you waiting for the most handsome, dashing, and unparalleled star of the Liang family—me?”

“Dream on.” Grandpa Liang rolled his eyes at his flamboyant grandson and waved to Ruan Cha. “Cha Cha, come here and tell Grandpa, is school tiring?”

Wei Jiao immediately hugged Ruan Cha, her voice filled with concern. “Of course it’s tiring! Adding evening self-study for no reason. Cha Cha, your cheeks have even thinned! Auntie made your favorite sweet-and-sour ribs tonight; they’re still warm. Do you want some?”

Ruan Cha: “…”

Mom, the reason for the evening self-study = your daughter = Ruan Cha.

“It’s actually not tiring,” Ruan Cha replied with a slight smile, her words seeming to reassure both her grandparents and parents while subtly hinting at her semi-revived slacker nature. “Evening self-study at school… it’s quite interesting.”

Ruan Zhengfei & Wei Jiao: “!!!”

The two exchanged a glance and instantly read the worry in each other’s eyes. The forum posts must have really gotten to her!

Earlier that day, Ruan Zhengfei had borrowed a secondary school account from Grandpa Liang and, together with Wei Jiao, spent time browsing the school forum while lying on the bed.

The hottest posts were all about their daughter’s recent exam results. Instead of being overjoyed by her rank of sixth in the grade, both parents felt their hearts sink.

Years ago, when Cha Cha had topped her elementary school for the first and only time, it had been after classmates bullied her. She had not only fought back physically but also crushed them academically.

And now—

Their daughter had surged to the top again.

---

“Forget the sweet-and-sour ribs; it’s late already.”

“Right, Cha Cha, we have a gift for you.”

Tang Hua pulled out a delicately wrapped box and smiled warmly. “Congratulations on ranking sixth in the grade for your monthly exams. But don’t feel pressured—just do your best next time and perform as you normally would.”

“Cha Cha ranked sixth in the grade?”

Hearing this, Liang Cunjin let out a dramatic “wow” and quickly reached out to ruffle Ruan Cha’s hair. “Let me soak up some of that academic genius aura!”

Ruan Cha: “Second Brother, am I a cat to you?”

Liang Cunjin’s antics successfully derailed her train of thought, and she forgot to ask how her family even knew her monthly exam results. She simply assumed the school’s dean had informed Grandpa Liang.

“You’re even cuter than a cat,” Liang Cunjin teased with a laugh. This little one said she wanted to nap in the car earlier—not because she was tired, but because she saw I was exhausted.

He had been navigating the entertainment industry for four or five years now; he wasn’t short on emotional intelligence.

Seeing his daughter’s delight at the gift, Ruan Zhengfei’s smile deepened—it was, after all, his suggestion.

“Cha Cha, your grandpa and I, along with your parents, have discussed this. We’re going to hold a banquet to introduce your family of three to everyone,” Grandpa Liang said kindly, his expression both warm and wistful.

He felt a sense of comfort knowing that despite Wei Jiao’s difficult life in the orphanage, she had a reliable husband and an adorable, well-mannered daughter. Their family seemed happy. But he couldn’t help sighing, wondering if Wei Jiao and Liang Yue—his late daughter—might have been great friends if Yue had still been alive.

Wei Jiao nodded in agreement. “Absolutely. We must host it.” She envisioned her daughter dressed beautifully, like a little princess, making her grand appearance at the banquet.

Recently, she and Zhengfei had seen a hot topic online where people mocked the idea that the Liang family didn’t truly recognize their family because no banquet had been held.

And wasn’t that around the same time Cha Cha suddenly started studying seriously? Wei Jiao thought. They couldn’t slack off anymore. A banquet? It was just a banquet!

Ruan Cha was a little surprised that her laid-back parents agreed to a banquet, but considering how much they enjoyed lively gatherings, it wasn’t too surprising. “I have something to share too. Next Friday, my school is holding its annual arts festival, and every student needs a parent to attend. So—”

“I’ll go!”

“I’ll go!”

“Grandpa just happens to be free.”

“I—”

Liang Cunjin had barely uttered the word “I” before Grandpa Liang and both parents shot him sharp looks. He immediately shrank back, put on an exaggeratedly gentlemanly gesture, and said, “After you.”

The three exchanged intense looks, sparks flying between them. Finally, Ruan Zhengfei raised his hand. “I vote for Wei Jiao.”

Wei Jiao raised hers. “I vote for myself.”

Together, they declared, “Wei Jiao, two votes—she wins!”

Grandpa Liang: “…”

Everyone else: “…”

Liang Cunjin, noticing his grandfather’s exasperated expression, quickly changed the topic. “Cha Cha, are you performing in the festival? Record it and bring it home—we can all watch it together!”

For the first time, Grandpa Liang found his grandson somewhat reliable.

Ruan Cha adjusted her backpack, looking uncertain. “Does helping with background music count?”

“Of course!” Tang Hua, a musician herself, lit up at the mention of music. “Piano? Violin? Do you need me to help you practice?”

Seeing Tang Hua’s enthusiasm, Ruan Cha hesitated briefly before adding, “Erhu and suona.” Her dad had taught her the erhu, and her mom had taught her the suona.

Ruan Zhengfei & Wei Jiao: “Cha Cha, you’re amazing!”

The Liang family trio: “…”

A phrase suddenly popped into Liang Cunjin’s mind, one he’d seen online: There’s no one the erhu can’t move to tears, and no soul the suona can’t send off.

Cha Cha, are you planning to make people cry their souls away?