Ch 52: After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

Ten minutes later, just as Ren Qingqing was about to leave the house, she suddenly heard the system’s electronic voice again.

[Ding! Due to a program bug being corrected, all art-related tasks are now fully disabled, fully disabled, fully disabled! Going forward, this system will only assign written test-based and experimental (including exam) tasks. Good luck, host!]

Ren Qingqing’s pupils trembled in shock!!!

Last night, the system had just informed her that in a few weeks, it would likely assign a task titled [Win First Place in the New Year’s Eve Piano Competition].

Feeling confident in her piano skills, Ren Qingqing had finally allowed herself a little smugness at being capable of completing such a task—only to be hit by a thunderbolt out of the blue first thing in the morning.

The thought that she might soon face continued deductions in intelligence and beauty points left Ren Qingqing both horrified and filled with resentment. Completely disregarding her surroundings, she rasped out in a hysterical voice, “You liar! You fraud! You absolute waste of space!”

Lying to her day after day—deserved to be destroyed!

Xu Shen had just returned from his morning run and hadn’t even had time to react before Ren Qingqing’s spit sprayed all over his face. His anger surged instantly, and he flung his towel aside, shouting furiously, “Ren Qingqing, are you out of your damn mind again?!”

Watching the scene unfold, Mrs. Xu could only stare in stunned silence: This Ren girl… she doesn’t seem quite normal. She’s even starting to corrupt my son.

---

Downstairs at the Liang house, Liang Cunjing came upon Ruan Cha happily sitting at the dining table, savoring her breakfast. He couldn’t help but ask with a laugh, “Cha Cha, you look like you’re in a fantastic mood this morning.”

“Absolutely,” Ruan Cha replied with a smile, passing him a stuffed pancake. “I spent an entire day and night fixing a bug in a program.”

The bug was gone, and now the system couldn’t unfairly favor Ren Qingqing anymore. Good riddance.

Ruan Cha had spent two full days immersing herself in artificial intelligence studies. Though she’d memorized the theories, she hadn’t fully mastered the skill to wield them with precision. With Fu Chen’s help, she targeted the system’s weakest firewall and struck decisively.

Given the system’s focus on academics, its defenses for art-related tasks were almost nonexistent, making them easy for Ruan Cha to exploit.

She’d considered writing a few programs to assign Ren Qingqing embarrassing tasks, but her current abilities couldn’t quite manage that. Instead, she opted for the straightforward approach: shutting the tasks down entirely. Let’s see how useful your system is when it can’t assign tasks anymore!

After all, Ruan Cha couldn’t guarantee she’d always be able to block Ren Qingqing. If Ren Qingqing ever managed to complete even 1% of a task, it would spell disaster—not just for Ruan Cha but also for Xu Nan.

Liang Cunjing, assuming Ruan Cha was simply indulging in programming as a hobby, didn’t pay it much mind. He merely marveled at the incomprehensible world of a top student.

Taking a bite of the pancake, he recalled how curious he’d been yesterday. Leaning closer, he lowered his voice conspiratorially, “Cha Cha, your second brother is dying of curiosity—how on earth did Auntie and Uncle get to know people like Mr. Lu and Mr. Ye?”

It wasn’t just Liang Cunjing who was curious. The rest of the Liang family was too.

After the banquet ended on Saturday, the family had been caught up discussing Liang Qianling. Then on Sunday, Ruan Cha’s parents had been out “working hard” all day, leaving no one around to ask.

If the Liang family had invited what amounted to half the elite circles of Nan City, the people Ruan Cha’s parents had brought could easily match that number and significance!

The most important difference was clear: while some of the guests invited by the Liang family came out of courtesy, those invited by Ruan Zhengfei clearly regarded the Ruan family as true juniors. The respect from the elderly guests, especially, was unmistakable to anyone paying attention.

For a moment, the way people in the circle viewed the Ruan family underwent a subtle shift.

As Ruan Cha sipped her soy milk, she repeated what she’d told Ji Feiyang on Saturday. But after she finished, she noticed that Liang Cunjing still wore a look of disbelief.

“Cha Cha, with their kind of status, why would they rent a house? And as for mooching meals… others, maybe, but Grandpa Lu? I remember he’s only obsessed with the boiled cabbage in clear broth from Seven Stars.”

Meeting people through renting and shared meals? He just couldn’t buy it.

Ruan Cha tilted her head thoughtfully, then held up two fingers to correct him seriously. “First, no matter how wealthy they are, they didn’t own property in our town. If they wanted to stay for a few years, they had no choice but to rent from my dad.”

Without giving him a chance to refute, she continued, “Second, the cabbage we often grow at home has been supplied to Seven Stars all along. Don’t you remember? You’ve even eaten it twice.”

“And our mountain has loads and loads of cabbages. Grandpa Lu often comes up himself to pick the ones he wants for lunch, clearing entire patches of land bald.”

Liang Cunjing sat there, stunned. Even after Ruan Cha finished eating and left the house, he still hadn’t recovered.

In his daze, he suddenly recalled the fruits and vegetables that had been sent to the Liang family from the town, all bearing the Three Slackers brand mark. At the time, everyone had thought that Three Slackers was the town’s unified label for its produce. But after listening to Ruan Cha’s explanation…

Liang Cunjing came to a bold conclusion.

Three Slackers produce was entirely cultivated by his third aunt’s family. And the rent Uncle Ruan talked about probably didn’t just involve a few houses—it might cover half the town.

Liang Cunjing: “…”

Glancing up, he caught sight of Grandpa Liang coming downstairs. With his worldview freshly reshaped, he muttered, “Grandpa, I think we’ve made a really, really, really big mistake about Third Aunt’s family.”

The biggest misconception being—

We thought they were poor.

Grandpa Liang: “???”

---

“♪ Little conch, toot-toot-toot, the seagulls hear it—♪” Ruan Cha hummed cheerfully as she got out of the car and walked toward Second High. Her mood was lifted, and she couldn’t stop smiling. The thought of having successfully shut down the art-related tasks that morning kept her spirits high.

She’d been worried ever since seeing the task related to the New Year’s Eve Gala in the system’s mission queue.

Second High had a tradition of having the top-ranking piano student perform the opening act at the gala. And after Ren Qingqing’s stellar piano performance at the arts festival, it was clear she had the skills to secure first place.

If the system had indeed assigned a task for Ren Qingqing to win the gala’s piano competition, there was a good chance she would have completed it.

During their shared study sessions, Ruan Cha had even subtly asked Xu Nan about piano. However, Xu Nan, having started learning the cello in elementary school, was only a beginner at piano and could barely manage a basic rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

As for Ruan Cha, she hadn’t unlocked any piano skills, so there was no chance of increasing the difficulty of her tasks. To escalate the challenge of winning first place, she would have had to achieve that herself in the competition.

But now—

Every possibility had been blocked off by her!

Where there’s one success, there’s bound to be another. Ruan Cha believed she could keep outmaneuvering the system in the future, shutting it down piece by piece until it completely broke down.

Ruan Cha was in an exceptionally good mood. Climbing to the second floor with her backpack, she hummed a children’s song and turned toward Class 10. Before she could take a step, however, someone suddenly tugged at her backpack strap, pulling her back slightly.

“Who dares tug on a fairy’s backpack strap?”

Fu Chen paused, releasing his hold. He played along smoothly, “Just brushing the dust off the fairy’s strap. Also—”

He stopped as Ruan Cha turned around, her bright almond-shaped eyes widening slightly in surprise. His lips curved into a faint smile, and he couldn’t help but laugh softly, “Also, to take you upstairs. We’re headed to Class 1.”

Ruan Cha: “…”

She had completely forgotten that after Friday’s parent-teacher meeting, the teacher had already arranged for her class transfer!

Trying to act composed, she nodded and replied in a steady voice, “I was just thinking of saying goodbye to my classmates in Class 10. I’m worried they’ll miss me too much.”

Fu Chen didn’t expose her and instead played along further, “They really will miss you. They even prepared a gift this morning. It’s already on your desk in Class 1. Shall we go check it out?”

Every Monday, Second High held a flag-raising ceremony. This week, it was Class 1’s turn, and Fu Chen, representing the class, was scheduled to give the speech under the national flag. He had arrived half an hour earlier than usual and conveniently brought along the gift from Class 10.

Ruan Cha suddenly found Fu Chen exceptionally agreeable. As a self-proclaimed drama queen, she had uncles and aunts who played along with her when she was younger. Now in high school, she even had a partner willing to play along—absolute bliss!

“Alright, let’s go.” Ruan Cha glanced back at Class 10, silently saying goodbye to Huang Jiajia, Xie Changan, and the rest of her classmates, before following Fu Chen up to the third floor.

Just before reaching the third floor, Fu Chen’s voice dropped low, with a clear note of amusement, “You sang pretty well just now. Wasn’t that song called… Little Conch?”

Ruan Cha: “… Thanks?”

Too much flattery could feel overwhelming. Really.

The students in Class 1 had all arrived early. There were few who were playing around; most had already opened their books to review or gathered in small groups around desks, going over the answers to last night’s homework sheets.

Sun Feng, a fellow member of the English Club, waved enthusiastically when she saw Ruan Cha. “Good morning, Ruan Cha!”

Other classmates also greeted her warmly as she and Fu Chen entered the classroom. “Morning, Ruan Cha!”

Although Ruan Cha’s transfer to Class 1 had displaced three original classmates, everyone was amicable, knowing they could still meet during breaks. Besides, the time since the midterm exams had helped smooth any lingering feelings. The strict ranking system for placement in advanced classes was something students were already accustomed to.

Ruan Cha greeted her new classmates, some familiar and some unfamiliar, before following Fu Chen to her new seat in Class 1.

The desk was covered with a uniform blue cloth, clean and tidy, with a sky-blue gift box on top. A delicate golden bow and a ginkgo-leaf card were attached, reading: For Ruan Cha.

Looking at Fu Chen, who was now seated behind her, Ruan Cha was a little surprised. “We’re sitting front and back?”

Fu Chen nodded, his expression calm and collected. “Yes. Since you’re new to Class 1, it’ll be easier for you to ask me if you need help.”

Hearing this, Sun Feng quietly turned to whisper to Ji Feiyang. After all, Fu Chen had taken this seat from the two of them.

Ji Feiyang muttered, “If Ruan Cha needs help, shouldn’t she ask me? I’m a certified information dealer at Second High.”

Sun Feng replied, “As a fellow girl, I’d be more convenient to approach.”

The two exchanged a glance and sighed in unison.

Ruan Cha thought Fu Chen’s reasoning made sense, and her mood improved. Having Fu Chen behind her was far more reassuring than having Yu Zhiyan.

“Ruan Cha, what did Class 10 give you? That gift box looks fancy.” Ji Feiyang leaned over with his math worksheet, his eyes gleaming with curiosity.

Ruan Cha shook her head. With Huang Jiajia and Xie Changan in Class 10, no one could guess what kind of surprise they’d prepared. “Let’s see.”

She untied the golden ribbon bow and, under the eager watch of her classmates, opened the gift box.

The first thing they saw was a layer of colorful decorative paper. Stretching their necks, they looked further inside, and then—

Ji Feiyang: “…”

The others: “…”

Ruan Cha: “???”

With a blank expression, Ruan Cha pulled out two booklets from the box. Her gaze fell on the bold titles, and she was momentarily speechless.

Fu Chen leaned forward to glance at the booklets in Ruan Cha’s hands and almost burst out laughing.

The booklets Ruan Cha held were labeled in big, flashy letters: Complete Suona Scores and Erhu Sheet Music Collection.

Ruan Cha silently placed the booklets back into the box.

—The barbecue she treated them to was clearly a mistake!

After tucking the booklets back into the box, Ruan Cha glanced around the classroom at her new classmates. With an earnest expression, she said, “If you want to laugh, just laugh. Don’t hold it in.”

Everyone exchanged glances, and then, unable to resist, burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs as they howled.

“Oh my gosh, Class 10 is full of geniuses! The gifts are absolutely outrageous. Suona and Erhu sheet music? Whose idea was this? It’s both ridiculous and hilarious!”

Ruan Cha looked on helplessly at the laughing crowd. Just as she was about to put the booklets away, her eyes caught a smaller booklet tucked among the layers of decorative paper. It had been hidden due to its size.

“Fu Chen, this one’s for you,” Ruan Cha said, handing him a copy of Saxophone Song Collection. “Class 10 didn’t forget you. Remember to treat it with the same respect. Keep it safe.”

Ruan Cha: Hmph, that’ll teach him to stifle a laugh at my expense.

Fu Chen: “…”

Ji Feiyang and the others, who had just stopped laughing, started up again. “Hahaha, Fu Chen, you watched this whole thing unfold, only for it to turn on you. Hahaha!”

When the laughter finally died down, Fu Chen calmly placed the booklet in his desk compartment. He looked at Ruan Cha and earnestly extended an invitation. “If we get the chance, let’s practice a duet sometime.”

Ruan Cha: “???”

… I’ve been utterly defeated!