Ch 63: After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

The title of “Little Boss of Jintao Base” made Ruan Cha famous once again at No. 2 High School.

Coincidentally, on Saturday night, the second episode of Dear Life aired, featuring a clip of her parents confidently discussing their future goals at the dinner table. The video went viral online, and their facial expressions even generated more memes than their daughter, Ruan Cha.

“Goals?”
“First, acquire a company.”
“Plans?”
“First, acquire a vineyard.”

Initially, most viewers assumed Ruan Cha’s parents were exaggerating for the sake of entertainment. Even if they weren’t, people thought they were likely relying on the Liang family for backing, acting as figurehead bosses without real power.

The students at No. 2 High School had shared the same assumptions—until they heard Ruan Cha was the little boss of Jintao Base. Coupled with the fact that the base’s vegetables, like the legendary “Three Slackers Cabbage,” cost 1,000 yuan per head, their perceptions began to waver.

Perhaps her parents really were serious about their ambitions and plans. After all, the Jintao Base wasn’t just a partner with No. 2 High School; it also collaborated with other schools and operated three similar bases in other cities. Over the span of a few years, they had developed these bases from scratch into thriving operations.

To doubt their ability to acquire companies or vineyards? Who’d believe that now?

Ruan Dad & Ruan Mom: We’re just good at picking people.

Ruan Cha, meanwhile, was relieved that she was still in high school. While her classmates were surprised, most of their attention remained focused on their studies. The buzz around the posts died down after just two days.

There was, however, one troublesome consequence.

In the half-month since returning to school from the base, the number of love letters Ruan Cha received had skyrocketed.

Even after the Liang family’s banquet, she had already found six or seven letters in her desk cubbyhole. Now, the number had doubled.

Each day, as she stared at the growing stack of pink envelopes, Ruan Cha became more determined than ever to keep quiet about her family’s land, cabbage crops, and hundreds of houses.

Some people’s enthusiasm could be downright terrifying!

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In elite circles, pragmatism often prevailed. Initially, most families viewed the Ruan family as dependent on the Liang family. Few sought alliances or considered marrying their sons into the Ruan family.

They had intended to wait and observe. Could the Liang family properly cultivate Ruan Cha into a dignified lady of noble status?

If they looked at Liang Yue, they believed it was possible. But if they looked at Liang Qianling, they were doubtful.

Now, the situation was different. The Ruan family wasn’t just networking with prominent families like the Ye, Yang, and Lu families; as the owners of Jintao Base, they also had the wealth to afford such luxurious ingredients. Clearly, they’d lived well before—and likely educated their daughter well, too.

Some families, slightly below the Liang family in rank, began to shift their attention to Ruan Cha. A girl raised in wealth and comfort, even if slightly lacking in poise, wouldn’t embarrass anyone in a noble marriage.

The night of the Liang family’s banquet, a few parents had already had “serious conversations” with their sons.

While marriages between powerful families were common, they were rarely arranged blindly. Seeing that Ruan Cha was beautiful, gentle, and ranked first academically, some young men couldn’t help feeling a spark of youthful admiration.

With their parents’ encouragement, love letters began pouring toward Ruan Cha like a blizzard of snowflakes.

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“Ah, you are like the moon in the sky, shining as bright as the stars in my eyes—”

“Stop, stop, stop!” Ruan Cha pressed one hand over Huang Jiajia’s mouth and snatched the letter with the other. “They asked you to pass it on, not tear it open and read it out loud!”

Due to the academic competitions, Xu Nan and Xie Sui were not at school, so only Ruan Cha, Fu Chen, Huang Jiajia, and Ji Feiyang went to the cafeteria for lunch.

Huang Jiajia grinned nonchalantly. “I think he should thank me for opening it and reading it out loud. Otherwise, you’d have just thrown it in the trash anyway. Cha Cha, why don’t you take another look? I think the writing—”

He suddenly fell silent, his eyes widening in surprise.

Sitting at the same round table, Fu Chen’s elbow “accidentally” bumped into the soup bowl, spilling the soup just enough to soak the love letter on the table, leaving it wet and smudged.

The writing blurred to the point that only faint horizontal and vertical lines were vaguely discernible.

Huang Jiajia: ???

Across the table, Ji Feiyang stroked his chin, his eyes behind his glasses gleaming with gossip. He swore on his yearlong experience as a No. 2 High School intelligence dealer that his buddy was definitely up to something!

Fu Chen quickly grabbed some napkins to clean up the spill, his brow furrowing apologetically. “Ruan Cha, I’m sorry. I wasn’t careful. The bowl was too full. If it hadn’t spilled, you could’ve continued reading. If Classmate Chen asks, just say it was my fault.”

Huang Jiajia stared at Fu Chen’s apologetic face, and two words popped into her mind: white lotus.

Not only did you ruin Classmate Chen’s love letter, but you’re also trying to get some attention from him in the process?!

Wait.

Huang Jiajia scratched her head. Why was she overcomplicating things between Fu Chen and Ruan Cha? They didn’t seem like they’d end up together anyway.

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Ruan Cha casually folded the love letter a couple of times and helped Fu Chen wipe the table clean. “I was going to throw it away anyway, so it doesn’t matter if it got wet.”

Among the love letters Ruan Cha had received, Chen Ji was particularly persistent. After a couple of rejections didn’t work, she resorted to simply tossing his letters directly.

Hearing this, Fu Chen glanced at her expression and asked casually, “By the way, I noticed you’ve thrown out most of the letters, but you kept one, didn’t you?”

That one sentence made Huang Jiajia and Ji Feiyang’s eyes light up in unison. With matching curiosity, they exclaimed, “You kept one?!”

Under their intense gazes, Ruan Cha sighed helplessly. “It’s from Xie Chang’an.”

“!!!”

“Xie Chang’an?!”

Fu Chen’s eyes lowered slightly, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table. Ruan Cha had always gotten along well with Xie Chang’an in Class Ten. He had thought that with time, the friendship between him (Fu Chen) and Ruan Cha might turn into affection, sparing her unnecessary trouble in high school. But now, was someone else cutting ahead of him?

Huang Jiajia slapped the table, making the soup bowls tremble. “Damn! No wonder Xie Chang’an didn’t show up at lunch—he’s embarrassed, isn’t he?”

“No, no, no.” Ruan Cha quickly waved her hand, worried they’d misunderstand. “Don’t get the wrong idea. What Xie Chang’an gave me wasn’t a love letter. It was—”

She paused, her expression complicated. “He wrote a recipe for thirty-two ways to cook cabbage, hoping to trade it for a few priority seats at Seven Stars’ new dessert launches.”

Fu Chen, Ji Feiyang, and Huang Jiajia: “…”

With Xie Chang’an’s recipe as a diversion, the conversation about love letters came to an abrupt end.

However, even after the four of them finished eating and were on their way back to the teaching building, Fu Chen was still mulling over whether he should take some kind of action. As the building came into view, he tilted his head toward Ruan Cha and casually asked, “Ruan Cha, what’s your view on high school relationships?”

Ji Feiyang, seeing that Fu Chen was almost laying his cards on the table, felt his inner matchmaker stir. He quickly sped up and walked ahead of the two, eager to hear Ruan Cha’s response.

As for Huang Jiajia, she remained utterly indifferent. In her mind, given the entanglements of their backgrounds, it was already a stretch for the two to maintain basic civility. Anything beyond that? Absolutely impossible.

Ruan Cha had just been informed by the system that Yu Zhiyan had returned to school. Hearing Fu Chen’s question, she reflexively responded bluntly, “A waste of time.”

In high school, she was focused on maximizing her energy points and planning to skip grades. If she had any spare time, she’d rather read a book or two. Why bother wasting it on dating?

From a young age, Ruan Cha had preferred TV dramas full of action and fighting, read The Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West instead of love stories, and watched anime centered on competitive sports. Even though she grew up with a pair of lovey-dovey parents, it hadn’t fostered any expectations of a sweet romance. Her greatest wish was to lazily lounge around, binge-watch shows, and snack at her leisure.

Of course, ever since her rebirth, Ruan Cha had bid farewell to laziness. But now that her focus was on studying, she naturally had no desire to divert her time elsewhere.

Hearing her reply, Ji Feiyang gave Fu Chen a sympathetic look. However, seeing that Fu Chen’s expression remained calm, as if unaffected, Ji Feiyang scratched his head in confusion, wondering if perhaps he had overthought things. Could it be that Fu Chen didn’t have any romantic intentions after all?

Fu Chen pressed on, “You think it’s a waste of time in high school. What about university?”

Ruan Cha pondered briefly. “In university, I’d hope to find someone with shared ideals.”

Preferably someone who could study with her, push her to study, and keep her from succumbing to occasional temptations to return to a lazy lifestyle.

Shared ideals.

Fu Chen turned the phrase over in his mind, finding the boundaries of “shared ideals” a bit ambiguous. At times, like recently, Ruan Cha seemed passionate about studying. Yet, during occasional breaks, she appeared relaxed and leisurely. For a moment, Fu Chen couldn’t quite pinpoint what Ruan Cha’s true ideals were.

As the four walked in silence, they rounded a corner and suddenly heard the sound of a heated argument. Ruan Cha paused. “Is that Xie Chang’an’s voice?”

Almost as soon as she spoke, Huang Jiajia had already dashed ahead, with the other three quickly following.

Xie Chang’an, red-faced, was being held back by someone, preventing him from landing a punch on Zheng Wei’s face. “Zheng Wei, say that again, I dare you! If you’re so upset, blame yourself! What does this have to do with Ruan Cha? She’s ranked first in the grade, and you’re twenty-first. If you have a problem, go find the twentieth-ranked student to complain to!”

The boy called Zheng Wei, tall and lanky with dark skin and unremarkable features, was fuming and retorted sharply, his words lacking any restraint: “Xie Chang’an, are you some kind of rabid dog? What if I said it? So what? Isn’t Ruan Cha’s family rich? If she’s got money, why take a spot in Class 1? Couldn’t she just stay in your Class 10?”

In No. 2 High School, most students came from well-off families, but there was a minority who earned scholarships through exceptional academic performance. Zheng Wei was one of them. His family was relatively poor, and he usually kept to himself at school, fearful of being looked down upon.

Zheng Wei wasn’t particularly intelligent; his decent middle school entrance exam results were solely the product of relentless hard work. However, once he entered No. 2 High, surrounded by outstanding peers, he watched his ranking steadily drop and had no choice but to begrudgingly admit that no amount of diligence could compare to the innate talent of the school’s true geniuses.

Seeing the carefree students in Class 10, who spent their days eating, drinking, and having fun without worrying about their futures, Zheng Wei’s envy curdled into jealousy. Why is it that some people are born at the finish line, while I can’t catch up no matter how hard I run?

When Ruan Cha and her two friends surpassed him, pushing him to 21st place and shutting him out of Class 1, Zheng Wei couldn’t suppress his resentment. Hearing someone downstairs praising Ruan Cha, he snapped and made a few cutting remarks.

Unfortunately for him, he ran straight into Xie Chang’an, a “hardcore Ruan Cha fan.” The two argued heatedly, nearly coming to blows.

Fuming, Zheng Wei couldn’t hold back and kept ranting, “Doesn’t Ruan Cha’s family have money? If they’re so rich, why don’t they donate to charity or fund educational programs instead of buying cabbages for 1,000 yuan each? Do they have to flaunt their wealth to the whole school? Do they even have a conscience eating that? There are people who don’t earn 1,000 yuan in a month!”

As Zheng Wei’s words grew more excessive, Fu Chen stepped in, first holding back the enraged Xie Chang’an. Then, with a cold and slightly mocking tone, he fixed his dark gaze on Zheng Wei. “Before questioning whether others have a conscience, shouldn’t you start by taking off your shoes that cost several thousand yuan?”

“Driven by your own vanity and resentment toward the wealthy, you parade around under the ridiculous guise of righteousness in broad daylight. Did you really learn nothing else at No. 2 High except how to be shameless?”

It had to be said: some people were walking contradictions. They despised the rich yet yearned for acceptance into the wealthy’s circles. Zheng Wei was a prime example. He looked down on the lavish spending of some affluent students at No. 2 High but didn’t want to stand out as different. As soon as he received his living expenses, he immediately bought a pair of shoes costing several thousand yuan, hoping to blend in and avoid ridicule.

Seeing Fu Chen and Ruan Cha, Zheng Wei felt a moment of guilt but stubbornly refused to back down. Puffing up his chest, he retorted, “I earned the money for these shoes myself! At least I’m not wasting it on cabbages that cost 1,000 yuan each! That’s absurd! With that kind of money, think of how many underprivileged students could be helped!”

Watching Zheng Wei’s self-righteous accusations, Ruan Cha couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation. “Last I checked, donating money is a private matter. Did you grow X-ray eyes to see whether my family donates or not? As for the cabbages, they’re from my—”

“Ruan Cha! Your parents are here!” a voice from upstairs interrupted her.

Everyone turned to see a classmate excitedly running toward them. “Your mom donated two thousand kilograms of Three Slackers cabbages to the cafeteria! And your dad donated three buildings! They’re both in the principal’s office right now and asked me to come get you!”

Everyone: “…”

Talk about next-level extravagance!

Ruan Cha: “…”

Mom, Dad, weren’t you two busy acquiring companies and vineyards?