Ch 83: After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

After arriving at No. 2 High, Ruan Cha and Fu Chen waited by the front gate for Xu Nan. About five minutes later, Ruan Cha spotted Xu Nan hurrying over with a single-shoulder bag.

“Nan Nan!” Ruan Cha beamed and ran up to hug her. “Just knowing you’re here with me makes me not nervous at all!”

Standing beside her the whole time, Fu Chen silently looked away when he heard that. He had spent the entire morning trying to ease her nerves, and yet… he’d failed?

Caught off guard by the hug, Xu Nan blushed slightly but still returned the gesture gently. “I did some third-year practice papers the past two days. Didn’t do great. I probably can’t jump to Year Three with you guys.”

Xu Nan hadn’t decided to skip ahead on a whim. The Xu family had hired top-notch tutors, so she’d always studied faster than her peers. After coming back from the Golden Peach base, she’d already been preparing for the exam. Even if she didn’t make it, she didn’t think it would be shameful. There’s always a first time for everything—like sharing a table in the cafeteria or watching fireworks together. She was just trying things out.

Ruan Cha let go of her and looped arms with her as they headed into the school. “Nan Nan, you really have faith in me?”

“Of course I do. You always know the answers when I ask you questions,” Xu Nan said, sneaking a glance at Ruan Cha’s expression, trying to figure out whether she’d seen the forum post.

Ruan Cha was happy to see her friend’s trust. She smiled and comforted Xu Nan in return, “If you can’t skip, it’s okay too—think of it as trying something new. Whether we end up in the same class or not, let’s have lunch together at noon!”

Xu Nan chuckled. “If you really do move up to Year Three, you’ll get out of class earlier—make sure you save us seats!”

Ruan Cha nodded. “Okay.”

With school starting the next day, students who had returned early were either lounging in the dorms or wandering the campus. When Ruan Cha, Fu Chen, and Xu Nan showed up together, they immediately drew attention.

Student A: “Fu Chen and Xu Nan are skipping too? No way! Are there three academic gods in our grade?”

Student B: “Why do you care so much? They just want to try. If you think you can do it too, go ahead. If they fail, it’s not like we’ll laugh at them.”

Student A grinned and looped her arm through her friend’s. “Who said we wouldn’t laugh? I guarantee you, once the results are out, even if Fu Chen and Xu Nan are safe, Ruan Cha’s gonna get dragged by that anti-rich forum troll. I’m dying to know who’s behind it.”

Student B clicked her tongue. “Probably jealous of Ruan Cha. Targeting only her out of the three? That’s a little too obvious.”

They kept their voices low, so Ruan Cha and the others didn’t hear a thing. The three walked into one of the classrooms, followed shortly after by a few teachers—causing the girls to freeze in shock.

The two looked at each other and practically said in unison, “When did our school start using four teachers to invigilate a grade-skipping test?!”

While the students were stunned outside, Ruan Cha and Fu Chen were calm inside. The four-teacher arrangement was something they had discussed with the faculty in the car earlier.

The invigilators were led by the infamously strict Head of Year, nicknamed “Big Dark Face.” He looked at the three students with a straight expression and gave a curt nod. “Sit down. Stay quiet. No whispering.”

Liao Lan, another teacher overseeing the test, cleared her throat. “There are only three of them. We’ve spaced them out with two rows between—it’s not like they can whisper.” She looked visibly concerned. So stern… what if she scared Ruan Cha?

After all, Ruan Cha came from her class—she was one of hers.

Big Dark Face: …

Why did I agree to invigilate again?

Ruan Cha sat in the front row, took the paper from the teacher, skimmed through the difficulty, and, feeling confident, got to work.

As for the four teachers occasionally glancing her way—she had a strong mentality. She knew her accuracy rate was high. What was there to fear?

The exam lasted the whole day, just like a normal test, fully covering math, Chinese, English, and science across all three years of high school.

While the three of them were testing, the forum thread was still being bumped periodically. No. 2 High students did love drama, but that didn’t mean they thought failing the test was shameful.

The problem was the thread’s original poster kept jumping out to say that Ruan Cha was setting a bad example for first-years, stirring up unrealistic ambition—and within one night, several users agreed with that opinion.

Basically, they wanted to slap a huge label on her: corrupting underclassmen and encouraging laziness.

345F: Ruan Cha’s a bad influence? You think everyone can get through midterms and finals losing only 3 or 4 points?

LV: 345F, are you one of her friends? Just because her grades look good now doesn’t mean she’s not looking down on struggling students, right?

At that moment, in her villa, Huang Jiajia’s eyes widened in rage as she scrolled through the thread. “F*ck you, you damn bastard!”

Who the hell was behind this disgusting smear job? She had to dig them out!

As soon as Fu Chen left the school, he noticed the new direction the forum post had taken. After thinking it over, he logged in with his admin account and personally replied:

Fu Chen: Ruan Cha and I both participated in the grade-skipping assessment. Her scores on the midterm and final were better than mine. So, if anyone wants to match Ruan Cha, please start by matching me. Thanks.

408F: Ahhh! My male god showed up! You’re really moving up to Year Three?! That means we’re losing our campus heartthrob?!

412F: I almost exploded—saw Fu Chen and Ruan Cha show up together this morning!

433F: OP, you singled Ruan Cha out so obviously. You’re clearly targeting her. I think I know who you are. Let me dig up more info and I’ll be back.

Just when Zheng Wei was feeling proud of himself, he saw Fu Chen’s reply. Enraged, he slammed his phone onto the table. He couldn’t understand—why would Fu Chen jump in himself?

In Zheng Wei’s eyes, sure, Fu Chen had good grades, but if he really wanted to skip a grade, scoring 650 would already be impressive. What made him think he could still maintain a score over 740?

And now he was exposing himself in the post? Wouldn’t he be the one humiliated if he failed?

Some people’s pride runs deep—like Zheng Wei. Coming from a poor background and relying on good grades to get into No. 2 High, he was highly sensitive about both his family situation and academic performance.

He wore modest clothes but feared being ridiculed. If his ranking slipped, he worried people would laugh at him.

So, Zheng Wei believed if Ruan Cha’s test was public and she failed, she’d absolutely be mocked and unable to lift her head at school.

Last time, he spoke the “truth,” and yet Ruan Cha and Fu Chen used a few words to turn classmates against him, calling him sour and anti-rich. Just because they had money, they were untouchable?

——

Back in the car heading home, Ruan Cha saw Fu Chen’s reply and wasn’t particularly surprised. After all, neither she, Xu Nan, nor Fu Chen had been trying to hide their decision to take the assessment.

But reading Fu Chen’s calm yet pointed reply suddenly reminded her of a few photos taken during the fireworks on New Year’s Day. She’d pulled them out when she was bored—and noticed a few small details.

Scratching her head, Ruan Cha realized that in the group shots, Fu Chen’s gaze always seemed to fall on her—as if someone had accidentally captured the moment he was staring at her.

Not only had she noticed, but Huang Jiajia had too, and even called to ask about it. When Ruan Cha casually said she saw Fu Chen as an older brother, Huang Jiajia instantly shot her down.

Huang Jiajia wasn’t wrong—there was no blood relation at all. What kind of “big brother” was that supposed to be?

Ruan Cha slapped her cheeks to snap herself out of those messy thoughts, then glanced down at system 1128, who had taken the form of a glutinous rice ball and was now sitting obediently on her lap.

“1128, check if there are any other accounts used by Zheng Wei in that thread besides the original poster account.”

Judging by Zheng Wei’s personality, he likely wouldn’t spend money to pay someone else to boost the post. But given that it kept getting bumped by seemingly new accounts, there was a chance he was doing it himself.

[1128 system]: Posts 90L, 288L, and 357L were all made from Zheng Wei’s phone.

System 1128’s tracking capabilities were so advanced that, unless the person was like Yu Zheng—proficient in both mysticism and mental shielding—most people could be tracked straight to their current device.

[1128 system]: The 288L account is linked to the school-issued account system and tied directly to Zheng Wei’s student card.

Ruan Cha nodded. It was hard for outsiders to register on the Erzhong forum, but not for students. As long as they logged in with campus Wi-Fi and entered their student ID and password, they could register up to four accounts with a single phone number.

After thinking it through, Ruan Cha said in her mind, “1128, if Zheng Wei posts or replies again after the test results are released, switch the account he uses to that 288L one.”

[1128 system]: And if he doesn’t post again?

“Weren’t you reading that psychology book with me the other day? Do you really think he won’t post again?” Ruan Cha paused and smiled. “Besides, even if he doesn’t, just replace one of the replies he made using the ‘lz’ nickname in that first thread with the account linked to his student card.”

The [Bijing Forum] was designed to be fully anonymous. Users could create endless alternate accounts just by changing nicknames. Of course, there were limits—nicknames could only be changed once a month. Otherwise, Zheng Wei wouldn’t have bothered creating three separate accounts.

[1128 system]: Got it.

As the system processed her command, streams of data flashed through its internal programs. Then, it pulled up the psychology book Ruan Cha had been reading days ago. It decided it was time for some serious studying—if it didn’t catch up, Classmate Ruan Cha might start looking down on her out-of-date system partner.

—

The next morning.

Ruan Cha met up with her future cousin-in-law Yan Ruocan. The two sat by the window in a quiet spot at Seven-Point Star, with several delicate desserts laid out between them. A freshly brewed pot of tea filled the air with a lingering fragrance that made the whole setting feel serene.

Yan Ruocan was a little dazed. Though she had only been in Nanshi for half a month, she’d already heard about the famous Seven-Point Star. The restaurant’s specialty medicinal dishes drew in droves of customers.

“Cha Cha, do you know someone on the management team here?” she asked, surprised. They hadn’t made a reservation, but just flashing her face had landed them VVIP treatment.

Ruan Cha looked a little shy. “The owner of Seven-Point Star is very nice. She came to our family banquet before and told me I’m welcome anytime—there’s always a seat reserved.”

Back during the banquet introducing Wei Jiao, both the restaurant owner and He Wuwei had attended. Ruan Cha had been shocked to find the young and beautiful woman was the owner—definitely refreshing her impression of what a chef could be.

After she finished explaining, Ruan Cha pulled out a document. “Ruocan-jie, I read a few medical books while I was still living in the small town. One of them had a really comprehensive section on the nervous system. I ended up taking some notes and reorganizing them recently, and I was wondering if you could take a look—let me know if anything’s off.”

“You’re thinking of becoming a doctor?” Yan Ruocan asked as she accepted the document but didn’t open it right away. She watched Ruan Cha carefully—after all, it was rare for someone to not only read medical texts but also compile notes and ask others to check them.

Ruocan couldn’t help but wonder if Ruan Cha was holding something in, perhaps feeling troubled. She didn’t want to ask directly, so maybe this was an indirect way to say something.

Ruan Cha smiled. “At the moment, yes. I’m seriously considering becoming a doctor. I started reading those books out of curiosity, but once I began, I just couldn’t stop.”

She wasn’t lying. Initially, she’d wanted to study AI to research the system and prevent another virus-X-like disaster in her world. But now that the mobile game project was coming to life, she believed there’d be others more suited to that task.

As for being a doctor, she didn’t explain further. After all, psychologists counted too. In the first timeline, both the original “Ruan Cha” and that actress had suffered from depression. Maybe learning this could help her save others.

Yan Ruocan nodded, not pressing further. She opened the file and skimmed the beginning—it mostly contained general info about the nervous system. It was familiar to her as someone in the pharmaceutical field, though not her area of expertise, so she couldn’t immediately spot anything wrong.

But when she reached the later pages, her eyes landed on a few formulae—and her entire demeanor changed. Years of training allowed her to recognize at a glance that these weren’t just random guesses.

“Cha Cha, these formulas—” her voice trembled slightly.

Glancing at the end pages, Ruan Cha showed an expression of mild surprise. “Oh, I found those in some ancient texts. The original components were quite outdated, so I swapped in modern equivalents based on their effects. I was just playing around when I wrote those down… must’ve printed them by accident.”

One was Yu Zheng, one was Jiang Yuxing, and then there was that time she saw the task panel over Ren Qingqing’s head and didn’t even bat an eye. After long-term training, all of it had helped Ruan Cha become an expert at lying with a perfectly straight face.

She already had thick skin to begin with, and with a bit of acting skill, Ruan Cha honestly felt like she was a genius.

Yan Ruocan, on the other hand, was reeling inside—on a whim?

To be honest, as a professional, she couldn’t say for certain that the medicines derived from those formulas would definitely be effective. But she could confidently say that what was written in that file could open entirely new avenues for current stalled research!

Seeing that Ruan Cha had absolutely no idea how valuable the document she brought was, Yan Ruocan took a deep breath. “Cha Cha, I think those formulas are really worth studying. Would it be okay if I take this back to research a bit? I’ll make a copy and return it to you right after.”

“Of course!” Ruan Cha’s eyes lit up, visibly excited. “If it can be helpful, I’m more than happy. No rush to return it either—keep it as long as you need, Ruocan-jie.”

Ruan Cha didn’t dare say that what came out of the library would definitely be useful in this world. After all, after thousands of years, human genetics may have changed. Something that could be a miracle cure in the future might actually be harmful in the present.

Even though she’d read a few books, she was still a complete amateur. If someone with real expertise wanted to study it, and it actually proved useful, of course she’d be thrilled.

Though she had a lot on her mind and was dying to take the file back and show it to a mentor, Yan Ruocan kept it together and stayed to finish dessert with Ruan Cha.

Ruan Cha had a vague idea of how she might be feeling. If she had just received some valuable intel on Yu Zheng, she’d probably want to rush home and study it right away. So she took the initiative and politely excused herself.

When Ruan Cha said she was leaving, Yan Ruocan felt relieved too. Once again, she silently prayed that her dream and reality were opposites—because if good people really didn’t get good outcomes, that was just too messed up.

They didn’t let the dessert go to waste; both packed it up to take home.

Just after wrapping up one major thing, Ruan Cha was still feeling cheerful when an unexpected second piece of good news arrived that very night: the results of the jump-grade exams for Ruan Cha, Fu Chen, and Xu Nan were all in. The school would post them tomorrow, but because of its connection to the energy pool, the system received Ruan Cha’s results first.

[AAAAHHHHHHH!!!]

[Classmate Ruan Cha! You scored 746 points on the jump-grade exam! The energy pool was just replenished with 2,984 knowledge energy points!]

System 1128 was so excited its entire voice pitched up—it was almost 3,000 energy points! Classmate Ruan Cha had truly lived up to her promise of feeding the energy pool until it burst!

I was truly blind back then—what was the point of activating so early and ending up with Yu Zheng? I raised a monster.

If I’d activated a few years later and bonded with Classmate Ruan Cha, the two of us working together, maybe she would’ve graduated university already, one of the youngest to do so!

Thankfully, Ruan Cha hadn’t heard what the system said—otherwise, she would’ve just sighed and said helplessly: “You’re wrong. Even if you’d bonded with me earlier, I’d still have just wanted to be a slacker.”

Ruan Cha took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. She set her pen down and looked at the glutinous rice-ball-like System 1128, which had puffed up a few sizes from excitement. “1128, go unlock your database first. Get us the information we’ve been trying to find, then extract Yu Zheng’s DNA that’s stored inside.”

【Classmate Ruan Cha, I promise to complete the mission!】

As she watched the system burrow back into the antivirus program, Ruan Cha’s eyes stung and her nose turned sore. For the first time, she felt—she really might be able to beat Yu Zheng. She could protect her family.

The system needed time, but Ruan Cha couldn’t focus on her workbook anymore. After sitting in her chair for a few minutes, she got up and walked straight into her parents’ room.

Ruan Zhengfei and Wei Jiao were sitting up in bed together, each with a book in hand, determined to finish one a week so they wouldn’t disappoint their daughter.

Of course, they weren’t about to suffer through this effort without a little comfort. A bed tray spanned the mattress, loaded with fruit and snacks—a textbook example of the most comfortable homebody lifestyle of the modern day.

“Cha Cha, you’re here?” Wei Jiao looked up and was just about to proudly show off her reading, but then she noticed her daughter’s reddened eyes. Her heart lurched. She immediately jumped out of bed, full of concern. “Cha Cha, did someone bully you? What’s wrong? Tell Mom—Mom will get justice for you!”

A beat behind, Ruan Zhengfei also rushed over. “Sweetheart, if something’s wrong, talk to us. Don’t keep it bottled up. Mom and Dad are here.”

Those simple words—Mom and Dad are here—reminded Ruan Cha of the book’s version of their family: two dead, one driven insane. Looking at her parents now, safe and alive before her, she couldn’t hold back. Her voice choked as she hugged them both tightly. “Dad, Mom… the three of us have to stay together forever. No one’s allowed to leave.”

“We all have to be okay. You’re not allowed to leave me.”

The two stood frozen, their daughter clinging tightly to their necks. They exchanged a glance, clearly confused but not hesitating in their response. Their hands moved to gently pat her back, and Wei Jiao comforted her like she used to when Ruan Cha was small. “We won’t leave. Mom and Dad will be with you forever. You’re our one and only precious girl—we could never bear to leave.”

Ruan Zhengfei echoed, “That’s right. Even when you get married someday, we won’t go far. We’ll just live across the street—step out and we’ll be there. And if you don’t get married, we’ll just live under the same roof like before, all three of us together.”

Their comforting words and hugs calmed her down. As Ruan Cha came to her senses, she realized she was probably overreacting and flushed with embarrassment. She couldn’t even look her parents in the eyes. “I… I just fell asleep earlier and had a terrible dream. I dreamed I was all alone… and you were both gone. It scared me.”

Hearing that, Ruan Zhengfei laughed and pinched her cheek. “You’ve always had a terrible sense of direction, even when you were little. We used to worry all the time you’d get lost. Back then, you weren’t scared. Now that you’re grown, you’re scared of being alone?”

“I am.” Ruan Cha didn’t feel embarrassed admitting it. “Anyway, the two of you aren’t allowed to leave me.”

Wei Jiao chuckled and kissed her on the forehead. “We won’t. Mom and Dad always keep our word.”

Ruan Zhengfei added with full support, “Mhm!”

Satisfied, Ruan Cha hugged them tightly one more time before heading back to her room.

After she was gone, her parents picked up their books again, now with even more determination in their eyes.

Their daughter was too clingy—if they didn’t work harder, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with her. They couldn’t let her slow down just to wait for them.

【Classmate Ruan Cha, I’ve retrieved all data about Yu Zheng from the database.】

She had just returned to her room when the system’s voice came through. But this time, it sounded low—subdued.

In an instant, a thousand guesses flashed through Ruan Cha’s mind. “The data says Yu Zheng is tough to deal with? He has backup plans? Dangerous weapons? We don’t have enough energy points to break through his mental defenses?”

System 1128 was silent for a long moment.

【Classmate Ruan Cha… I used to feel relieved that you weren’t hurt by Ren Qingqing. I believed that meant my mistake could one day be forgiven.】

Ruan Cha: …

Are you trying to make me confess what happened in the first timeline?

【But just now, I found out the real reason I detached from Yu Zheng. It turns out he used a forbidden spell in the metaphysical domain to save someone. In doing so, he killed someone else, which triggered the built-in condition for my detachment.】

Ruan Cha’s eyes widened. In that moment, so many past events snapped together in her mind.

Like what happened to Ren Qingqing in the first timeline—why was virus X the only thing left under her skin? It was likely because she killed the original “Ruan Cha,” triggering the system’s detachment condition and causing it to leave her.

Wait.

Ruan Cha suddenly remembered the timeline when the system left Yu Zheng.

He was still in college back then—he hadn’t even adopted Yu Zhiyan and Jiang Yuxing yet. Which meant, the person he’d tried to save…

“Did the person Yu Zheng tried to save actually survive?”

System 1128 was crying now. It felt utterly unforgivable.

【Yes and no. That person had already died. Yu Zheng used a forbidden life-for-life technique to force someone else to take their place. But the spell was interrupted halfway, which meant the one who was supposed to survive never woke up, falling into a deep coma. And the other person—the one who had been alive—died.】