Chapter 61: The Start of a New Term — I’m very happy to place first!
♕
It was already September, and every big university throughout the country was welcoming the start of a new semester. Ye Zhen Zhen had to go through all kinds of procedures two days prior, even sitting for a makeup exam to apply to a college while she was at it. Because of her special circumstances, the school rapidly processed her application and set the time for half a month later.
September 16th.
Ye Zhen Zhen stared at this date, distressed. She pondered on how she could genetically mutate from a trash student to a tyrannical student in half a month.
Uncle Wu’s car stopped outside the school—Ye Zhen Zhen conveniently employed him back upon inheriting the Ye estate. Just as she stepped out of the car, her phone began to ring in her backpack, a call from 10086.
As the car slowly started moving off, Ye Zhen Zhen pursed her lips and accepted the call, Xi Cao gege’s voice blaring out from the speaker the moment she answered. “Ye Zhen Zhen, the dates for the competition were released! The preliminary is on September 17th, at the school’s newest region—Sweet Osmanthus Plaza!”
Ye Zhen Zhen froze. That day was also Dr. Ji’s birthday. She took a breath, her voice sounding miserable. “I have to sit for a makeup exam on September 16th…”
“Makeup exam?” Xi Cao gege sounded doubtful, but then remembered that Ye Zhen Zhen had not taken the school’s final exams. “Oh, it’s fine. You can casually take the test and still score first in the year!”
Although he and Ye Zhen Zhen were not in the same department, practically everyone in the school, teachers and students alike, knew she scored first on every exam.
Ye Zhen Zhen: “…”
She suddenly felt a lot of pressure.
“No…after I was in the accident, it seems as if my brain had been dropped and broken. So…” Ye Zhen Zhen trailed off; saying any more would just lead to her crying.
Xi Cao gege suddenly understood. He was silent for a moment and then very considerately offered, “I am brothers with your department’s eternal number 2. How about I have him help you cram? Although you probably can’t recover to your previous performance level, you wouldn’t perform bad enough to fail…” Xi Cao gege felt saddened as he said this. The pain of failing a course, he understood!
“Really?!” Ye zhen Zhen looked as if she saw the sun rise, her entire being brimming with hope. “Thank you, Xi Cao gege!”
Ye Zhen Zhen accidentally blurting out his nickname caused Xi Cao gege’s expression to shift slightly. He coughed dryly and said, “First of all, there is no need to thank me. You know, since he had been near you all year round. I’m talking about rankings, so you might have an idea. He might not agree either.”
“Oh, so it’s like that…” The light within Ye Zhen Zhen’s eyes dimmed.
Hearing the disappointment in her voice, Xi Cao gege’s heart quickened a beat. He vouched, “Don’t worry, if he doesn’t agree, I’ll spread naked photos of him throughout the entire school!”
Ye Zhen Zhen fell silent before asking, “Why do you have naked photos of him?” After she asked, she felt as if her question had been a bit untactful, so she promptly added, “You don’t need to explain; I understand.”
Xi Cao gege: “…”
What did she understand? He didn’t understand!
He coughed dryly again for the nth time and said, “Gan Zhe and I will prepare for the competition; you focus on preparing for your makeup exam!”
He hurriedly hung up after he said this. Ye Zhen Zhen heard the click signalling a disconnected call and felt her heart settle down at last.
At that moment, the radio in the car was broadcasting news about the public trial of Ye Hong Sheng’s murder. Ye Zhen Zhen’s mind drifted far away upon hearing this. A few days prior, Zuo Yi had sent her a message, saying that some new information was obtained after bringing Li Su in for interrogation.
Ye Hong Sheng had called her before he was killed. At that time, she was very surprised, because the entire time she was doing business with the Ye Family, the Ye Family had kept their identity hidden. If she had not accidentally run into Ye Zhen Zhen during that time, she also wouldn’t have discovered that the child she had adopted was of the Ye Family’s bloodline.
Ye Hong Sheng had personally called her, clearly unworried about exposing his identity. He didn’t ask her how she came to know of Li Jia Jia’s identity and instead directly asked her if she had taken advantage of the car accident six years ago to switch the children.
Li Su had been quite frightened at that time. Since Ye Hong Sheng had asked like this, that meant he already had some understanding of the situation. In a moment of desperation, she admitted that she had done so, but she had said that it was because the real Ye Zhen Zhen had already died in the car accident. She thus switched Li Jia Jia for the dead Ye Zhen Zhen.
The reason why she dared to panic like this was because she knew Ye Hong Sheng could not know her situation inside out. So many years had passed. Apart from the money she was sent at the fixed time, they did not have any contact. They had switched the contact numbers used to maintain contact quite a few times, but after she moved to D City, she had always used her old city’s number and hadn’t changed it.
She did such a thing because subconsciously, she didn’t want the other person to know of her whereabouts. Although with the Ye Family’s power, she reckoned that they would have spare power to investigate her, but she knew the Ye Family probably wouldn’t waste power on such a thing.
They had always ignored Li Jia Jia. They probably wouldn’t care about where she went as long as she did not come to A City.
After Li Su’s panicked explanation, she wasn’t sure how much Ye Hong Sheng had believed her. Furthermore, when she and Li Jia Jia had suddenly appeared at the car accident scene back then, she knew Ye Hong Sheng must have been furious then even if she wasn’t sure about what Ye Hong Sheng had been thinking. When the phone call had suddenly hung up, it had felt as if her airways had suddenly been severed. Li Su had felt her heart stop beating then.
The Ye Family would surely investigate this matter. It was only a matter of time before the truth would be discovered. She wanted to call Li Jia Jia and tell her to be careful, but every time she tried to get into contact with Li Jia Jia, the calls would not go through.
She had remained in this nervous state for two days, until she saw in the news that Ye Hong Sheng had been murdered.
Ye Zhen Zhen, upon recalling to this point, closed her eyes. Although she hadn’t intended to look into this matter, the police still seemed to be prosecuting Li Su. She recalled that night when she had temporarily stayed in Li Su’s home—Li Su had been sitting on the sofa by herself, crying.
At that time, she was holding a photo of Li Jia Jia, right?
The radio suddenly shut off in the car, as the vehicle had pulled to a stop. When Ye Zhen Zhen returned to the apartment building, she received a message from 10086, one written as if they were close friends. 「Number 2 already agreed. You can begin the tutoring lessons tomorrow. Good luck on your makeup exam!」
Ye Zhen Zhen stared at the name ‘Lao’er’ for a while, hesitating, before ultimately deciding to ask for the person’s real name. She hadn’t finished typing this up before she received a new message. This message was not from 10086, though; it was from Zhou Wen.
Zhou Wen; this name caused Ye Zhen Zhen to blank out for a second. She had heard Zuo Yi say that Zhou Wen had a high chance of being the illegitimate daughter of housekeeper Zhou and her grandfather. Although, housekeeper Zhou had ultimately not admitted this point.
Zhou Wen was three years older than her, but if she truly was her grandfather’s illegitimate daughter, then according to the family hierarchy, she was her…little aunt?
Ye Zhen Zhen mentally facepalmed at this address even as she opened up Zhou Wen’s message. The message’s content was very simple, only informing her about her dress designs ranking first in sales for the previous quarter. According to their contract, she was to be rewarded a thousand yuan bonus, so Zhou Wen wanted to make an appointment to meet with her.
This message raised Ye Zhen Zhen’s spirits quite thoroughly. Her designs had begun sale midway through July, yet her design’s half month of sales surpassed the three months of sales belonging to the other designs, meaning that she had done very well.
Making an appointment to meet with Zhou Wen in the afternoon, Ye Zhen Zhen then sent a message to brag to Dr. Ji, who was currently in the middle of work. Afterward, she happily ran off to the kitchen to warm up some food.
Because her mood was good today, Ye Zhen Zhen awarded herself with an ice cream. Naturally, this matter must be concealed from Dr. Ji and sneakily done; she could not allow him to find out.
Dr Ji’s eyes were very sharp, and his memory was also very good. Regardless of how many flavors or brands of ice cream Ye Zhen Zhen bought, he always remembered it clearly. Last time, his cold eyes had swept across the freezer before he had turned around to say, “Ye Zhen Zhen, did you pilfer a strawberry ice cream? Rebecca’s.”
Ye Zhen Zhen: “…”
At that time, she had felt herself very clever for running downstairs to throw away the ice cream wrapper in the trash of another floor.
This time, Ye Zhen Zhen had learned from experience. After she sneaked an ice cream, she intended to go back and buy the exact same one to replace it. This way, Dr. Ji wouldn’t discover her crime! She was simply too quick-witted!
With this in mind, Ye Zhen Zhen felt at ease as she boldly drank a chocolate milkshake, leaving only an empty shell left on the table. When she went out later, she intended to conveniently deal with the evidence as well.
After she ate lunch and took a short nap, Ye Zhen Zhen grabbed the evidence and walked down a street, tossing the evidence into a trash can on the curb.
She was still meeting with Zhou Wen at that coffee shop in Starlight Plaza. Zhou Wen was already sitting inside by the time Ye Zhen Zhen arrived. Furthermore, a glance revealed that a nearly empty cup of coffee was on the table. She seemed to have been waiting for a while.
Ye Zhen Zhen subconsciously looked at the time. She was not late and had in fact arrived ten minutes early. She walked inside and took a seat across from Zhou Wen. Zhou Wen smiled at her, a bit embarrassed and awkward. “Sorry for making you intentionally come just to receive a thousand yuan…Although you are now not lacking in money, this one thousand yuan has always been your hard-earned money, so I should give it to you.”
Now that Ye Zhen Zhen had already regained her status as the heiress of the Ye Family, her part-time work should naturally not be mentioned in the same breath.
Ye Zhen Zhen actually felt very happy, though. “Thanks. This isn’t a matter of how much money. I’m very happy to place first!”
She also was someone who could place first!
Zhou Wen looked at her expression and unconsciously smiled. “Your talent being acknowledged is indeed something worth being happy about. I’m wondering if there is a chance to collaborate with you in the future?”
“Of course there is.” Ye Zhen Zhen agreed and pondered for a moment before adding, “But I have to take a makeup exam right now, and after that, I will be busy with my thesis to graduate…”
She felt a headache forming.
“No problem, as long as my company doesn’t go bankrupt one day, whenever you have time to contribute is fine.”
Ye Zhen Zhen stilled. She eyed Zhou Wen for a long time but simply choked down her thanks.
The two of them had a deep mutual understanding to not mention anything involving Ye Hong Sheng, simply chatting casually before returning to their respective homes. Ye Zhen Zhen held a slightly complicated view of Zhou Wen. Long ago, Zhou Wen was her childhood playmate before later becoming her cooperative partner. When she had needed the most help, Zhou Wen had helped her. Now, Zhou Wen might be her little aunt…
Ye Zhen Zhen tossed her head back, feeling as if some things would forever be confusing.
Before she returned home, she didn’t forget to walk the extra distance to buy the exact same chocolate milkshake to bring back. After Dr. Ji returned home, however, he still found something odd.
Ye Zhen Zhen stared at the tall and straight back illuminated by the open freezer, a thin layer of sweat collecting on her hand. There wasn’t any flaw in her plan, was there?
“Ye Zhen Zhen.” Ji Zhe Yan finally turned his head, the chocolate milkshake Ye Zhen Zhen had just bought in his hands. “Did you pilfer an ice cream like this?”
“No!” Ye Zhen Zhen denied flatly. She had replaced it with an identical copy; it was impossible for him to find out!
“No?” Ji Zhe Yan raised a brow. “But this production date differs from the others.”
Ye Zhen Zhen: “…”
How come you even remember the production dates?! Tell me, tell me!
Chapter 61: The Start of a New Term — I’m very happy to place first!
♕
It was already September, and every big university throughout the country was welcoming the start of a new semester. Ye Zhen Zhen had to go through all kinds of procedures two days prior, even sitting for a makeup exam to apply to a college while she was at it. Because of her special circumstances, the school rapidly processed her application and set the time for half a month later.
September 16th.
Ye Zhen Zhen stared at this date, distressed. She pondered on how she could genetically mutate from a trash student to a tyrannical student in half a month.
Uncle Wu’s car stopped outside the school—Ye Zhen Zhen conveniently employed him back upon inheriting the Ye estate. Just as she stepped out of the car, her phone began to ring in her backpack, a call from 10086.
As the car slowly started moving off, Ye Zhen Zhen pursed her lips and accepted the call, Xi Cao gege’s voice blaring out from the speaker the moment she answered. “Ye Zhen Zhen, the dates for the competition were released! The preliminary is on September 17th, at the school’s newest region—Sweet Osmanthus Plaza!”
Ye Zhen Zhen froze. That day was also Dr. Ji’s birthday. She took a breath, her voice sounding miserable. “I have to sit for a makeup exam on September 16th…”
“Makeup exam?” Xi Cao gege sounded doubtful, but then remembered that Ye Zhen Zhen had not taken the school’s final exams. “Oh, it’s fine. You can casually take the test and still score first in the year!”
Although he and Ye Zhen Zhen were not in the same department, practically everyone in the school, teachers and students alike, knew she scored first on every exam.
Ye Zhen Zhen: “…”
She suddenly felt a lot of pressure.
“No…after I was in the accident, it seems as if my brain had been dropped and broken. So…” Ye Zhen Zhen trailed off; saying any more would just lead to her crying.
Xi Cao gege suddenly understood. He was silent for a moment and then very considerately offered, “I am brothers with your department’s eternal number 2. How about I have him help you cram? Although you probably can’t recover to your previous performance level, you wouldn’t perform bad enough to fail…” Xi Cao gege felt saddened as he said this. The pain of failing a course, he understood!
“Really?!” Ye zhen Zhen looked as if she saw the sun rise, her entire being brimming with hope. “Thank you, Xi Cao gege!”
Ye Zhen Zhen accidentally blurting out his nickname caused Xi Cao gege’s expression to shift slightly. He coughed dryly and said, “First of all, there is no need to thank me. You know, since he had been near you all year round. I’m talking about rankings, so you might have an idea. He might not agree either.”
“Oh, so it’s like that…” The light within Ye Zhen Zhen’s eyes dimmed.
Hearing the disappointment in her voice, Xi Cao gege’s heart quickened a beat. He vouched, “Don’t worry, if he doesn’t agree, I’ll spread naked photos of him throughout the entire school!”
Ye Zhen Zhen fell silent before asking, “Why do you have naked photos of him?” After she asked, she felt as if her question had been a bit untactful, so she promptly added, “You don’t need to explain; I understand.”
Xi Cao gege: “…”
What did she understand? He didn’t understand!
He coughed dryly again for the nth time and said, “Gan Zhe and I will prepare for the competition; you focus on preparing for your makeup exam!”
He hurriedly hung up after he said this. Ye Zhen Zhen heard the click signalling a disconnected call and felt her heart settle down at last.
At that moment, the radio in the car was broadcasting news about the public trial of Ye Hong Sheng’s murder. Ye Zhen Zhen’s mind drifted far away upon hearing this. A few days prior, Zuo Yi had sent her a message, saying that some new information was obtained after bringing Li Su in for interrogation.
Ye Hong Sheng had called her before he was killed. At that time, she was very surprised, because the entire time she was doing business with the Ye Family, the Ye Family had kept their identity hidden. If she had not accidentally run into Ye Zhen Zhen during that time, she also wouldn’t have discovered that the child she had adopted was of the Ye Family’s bloodline.
Ye Hong Sheng had personally called her, clearly unworried about exposing his identity. He didn’t ask her how she came to know of Li Jia Jia’s identity and instead directly asked her if she had taken advantage of the car accident six years ago to switch the children.
Li Su had been quite frightened at that time. Since Ye Hong Sheng had asked like this, that meant he already had some understanding of the situation. In a moment of desperation, she admitted that she had done so, but she had said that it was because the real Ye Zhen Zhen had already died in the car accident. She thus switched Li Jia Jia for the dead Ye Zhen Zhen.
The reason why she dared to panic like this was because she knew Ye Hong Sheng could not know her situation inside out. So many years had passed. Apart from the money she was sent at the fixed time, they did not have any contact. They had switched the contact numbers used to maintain contact quite a few times, but after she moved to D City, she had always used her old city’s number and hadn’t changed it.
She did such a thing because subconsciously, she didn’t want the other person to know of her whereabouts. Although with the Ye Family’s power, she reckoned that they would have spare power to investigate her, but she knew the Ye Family probably wouldn’t waste power on such a thing.
They had always ignored Li Jia Jia. They probably wouldn’t care about where she went as long as she did not come to A City.
After Li Su’s panicked explanation, she wasn’t sure how much Ye Hong Sheng had believed her. Furthermore, when she and Li Jia Jia had suddenly appeared at the car accident scene back then, she knew Ye Hong Sheng must have been furious then even if she wasn’t sure about what Ye Hong Sheng had been thinking. When the phone call had suddenly hung up, it had felt as if her airways had suddenly been severed. Li Su had felt her heart stop beating then.
The Ye Family would surely investigate this matter. It was only a matter of time before the truth would be discovered. She wanted to call Li Jia Jia and tell her to be careful, but every time she tried to get into contact with Li Jia Jia, the calls would not go through.
She had remained in this nervous state for two days, until she saw in the news that Ye Hong Sheng had been murdered.
Ye Zhen Zhen, upon recalling to this point, closed her eyes. Although she hadn’t intended to look into this matter, the police still seemed to be prosecuting Li Su. She recalled that night when she had temporarily stayed in Li Su’s home—Li Su had been sitting on the sofa by herself, crying.
At that time, she was holding a photo of Li Jia Jia, right?
The radio suddenly shut off in the car, as the vehicle had pulled to a stop. When Ye Zhen Zhen returned to the apartment building, she received a message from 10086, one written as if they were close friends. 「Number 2 already agreed. You can begin the tutoring lessons tomorrow. Good luck on your makeup exam!」
Ye Zhen Zhen stared at the name ‘Lao’er’ for a while, hesitating, before ultimately deciding to ask for the person’s real name. She hadn’t finished typing this up before she received a new message. This message was not from 10086, though; it was from Zhou Wen.
Zhou Wen; this name caused Ye Zhen Zhen to blank out for a second. She had heard Zuo Yi say that Zhou Wen had a high chance of being the illegitimate daughter of housekeeper Zhou and her grandfather. Although, housekeeper Zhou had ultimately not admitted this point.
Zhou Wen was three years older than her, but if she truly was her grandfather’s illegitimate daughter, then according to the family hierarchy, she was her…little aunt?
Ye Zhen Zhen mentally facepalmed at this address even as she opened up Zhou Wen’s message. The message’s content was very simple, only informing her about her dress designs ranking first in sales for the previous quarter. According to their contract, she was to be rewarded a thousand yuan bonus, so Zhou Wen wanted to make an appointment to meet with her.
This message raised Ye Zhen Zhen’s spirits quite thoroughly. Her designs had begun sale midway through July, yet her design’s half month of sales surpassed the three months of sales belonging to the other designs, meaning that she had done very well.
Making an appointment to meet with Zhou Wen in the afternoon, Ye Zhen Zhen then sent a message to brag to Dr. Ji, who was currently in the middle of work. Afterward, she happily ran off to the kitchen to warm up some food.
Because her mood was good today, Ye Zhen Zhen awarded herself with an ice cream. Naturally, this matter must be concealed from Dr. Ji and sneakily done; she could not allow him to find out.
Dr Ji’s eyes were very sharp, and his memory was also very good. Regardless of how many flavors or brands of ice cream Ye Zhen Zhen bought, he always remembered it clearly. Last time, his cold eyes had swept across the freezer before he had turned around to say, “Ye Zhen Zhen, did you pilfer a strawberry ice cream? Rebecca’s.”
Ye Zhen Zhen: “…”
At that time, she had felt herself very clever for running downstairs to throw away the ice cream wrapper in the trash of another floor.
This time, Ye Zhen Zhen had learned from experience. After she sneaked an ice cream, she intended to go back and buy the exact same one to replace it. This way, Dr. Ji wouldn’t discover her crime! She was simply too quick-witted!
With this in mind, Ye Zhen Zhen felt at ease as she boldly drank a chocolate milkshake, leaving only an empty shell left on the table. When she went out later, she intended to conveniently deal with the evidence as well.
After she ate lunch and took a short nap, Ye Zhen Zhen grabbed the evidence and walked down a street, tossing the evidence into a trash can on the curb.
She was still meeting with Zhou Wen at that coffee shop in Starlight Plaza. Zhou Wen was already sitting inside by the time Ye Zhen Zhen arrived. Furthermore, a glance revealed that a nearly empty cup of coffee was on the table. She seemed to have been waiting for a while.
Ye Zhen Zhen subconsciously looked at the time. She was not late and had in fact arrived ten minutes early. She walked inside and took a seat across from Zhou Wen. Zhou Wen smiled at her, a bit embarrassed and awkward. “Sorry for making you intentionally come just to receive a thousand yuan…Although you are now not lacking in money, this one thousand yuan has always been your hard-earned money, so I should give it to you.”
Now that Ye Zhen Zhen had already regained her status as the heiress of the Ye Family, her part-time work should naturally not be mentioned in the same breath.
Ye Zhen Zhen actually felt very happy, though. “Thanks. This isn’t a matter of how much money. I’m very happy to place first!”
She also was someone who could place first!
Zhou Wen looked at her expression and unconsciously smiled. “Your talent being acknowledged is indeed something worth being happy about. I’m wondering if there is a chance to collaborate with you in the future?”
“Of course there is.” Ye Zhen Zhen agreed and pondered for a moment before adding, “But I have to take a makeup exam right now, and after that, I will be busy with my thesis to graduate…”
She felt a headache forming.
“No problem, as long as my company doesn’t go bankrupt one day, whenever you have time to contribute is fine.”
Ye Zhen Zhen stilled. She eyed Zhou Wen for a long time but simply choked down her thanks.
The two of them had a deep mutual understanding to not mention anything involving Ye Hong Sheng, simply chatting casually before returning to their respective homes. Ye Zhen Zhen held a slightly complicated view of Zhou Wen. Long ago, Zhou Wen was her childhood playmate before later becoming her cooperative partner. When she had needed the most help, Zhou Wen had helped her. Now, Zhou Wen might be her little aunt…
Ye Zhen Zhen tossed her head back, feeling as if some things would forever be confusing.
Before she returned home, she didn’t forget to walk the extra distance to buy the exact same chocolate milkshake to bring back. After Dr. Ji returned home, however, he still found something odd.
Ye Zhen Zhen stared at the tall and straight back illuminated by the open freezer, a thin layer of sweat collecting on her hand. There wasn’t any flaw in her plan, was there?
“Ye Zhen Zhen.” Ji Zhe Yan finally turned his head, the chocolate milkshake Ye Zhen Zhen had just bought in his hands. “Did you pilfer an ice cream like this?”
“No!” Ye Zhen Zhen denied flatly. She had replaced it with an identical copy; it was impossible for him to find out!
“No?” Ji Zhe Yan raised a brow. “But this production date differs from the others.”
Ye Zhen Zhen: “…”
How come you even remember the production dates?! Tell me, tell me!
