Out of heartache and pity, and because she felt that Zhou Yuchen was like her in the past, she treated him with gentleness. She wanted to share some of that warmth Gu Qingcheng gave her with Zhou Yuchen!

  However, at that time, she knew that she had to work hard in her studies, whereas Zhou Yuchen had completely given up on himself.

  “I’m not an academic loser…” Zhou Yuchen said quietly.

  “Then don’t be a coward during the exams. If you have the capability and catch up to me, I’ll admit you’re not an academic loser. Else, in my eyes, you’ll remain an academic loser!” Yun Liuli took the medicine from Guan Nina’s hand and stuffed it into Zhou Yuchen’s arms. “Go back to class!”


  “But what if those hooligans are still there?” Guan Nina hurriedly asked.

  “Why should we fear them? Are they going to eat us alive?” Yun Liuli pulled Zhou Yuchen to his feet by the wrist and said to Guan Nina, “Let’s go to class!”


  An uneasy Guan Nina jogged after the valiant Yun Liuli as she dragged Zhou Yuchen to school.

  When the three of them got to the classroom, they saw that Xiao Yuan had come back to school today.

  Xiao Yuan, who was chatting merrily with his friends, frowned when he saw Yun Liuli pulling Zhou Yuchen into the classroom with her.

  “Yun Liuli has returned to school too!”


  “Yeah. She seems injured…”


  “Are you silly or what? Yun Liuli applied for sick leave!”


  Their classmates began talking amongst themselves in hushed whispers.

  Guan Nina went to sit beside Yun Liuli. She opened her book and pretended she didn’t notice the way their classmates were looking at them, pretended she didn’t hear their voices.

  Since class hadn’t started, Guan Nina recalled the unfinished conversation with Yun Liuli from earlier. Hence, she asked, “Liuli… why do you want to earn money? You don’t look like you need money!”


  Yun Liuli refused to tell her about her plans to provide for Gu Qingcheng, so she said, “To repay a debt!”


  That wasn’t false. All these years, Gu Qingcheng was the one providing for Yun Liuli. In the future, she wanted to do that for him instead… So, in a way, she was repaying her debt.

  “Do you owe a lot of money?” Guan Nina asked.

  Yun Liuli thought about Gu Qingcheng’s daily expenses, so she nodded. “A huge amount!”


  Guan Nina inhaled a breath of cold air. “I can sponsor you 20,000 yuan… That’s my private savings! Subsequently, the allowance my parents give to me, I’ll give it to you!”


  Yun Liuli felt rather touched. She smiled at Guan Nina and said, “That’s only a drop in the bucket. Forget about it!”


  Moreover, Yun Liuli still had time to earn money! She wasn’t in a hurry…


  Zhou Yuchen looked at Yun Liuli’s side profile. Was she really… in need of a lot of money?

  Zhou Yuchen opened his book. His pen-wielding hand trembled slightly because of the pain.

  He recalled what Yun Liuli said and felt that it was indeed wrong of him to be throwing a fit despite how Yun Liuli had been helping him all along!

  He suddenly tugged at Yun Liuli’s sleeve and said in a low voice, “I’m really not an academic loser!”


  Yun Liuli turned sideways and saw the sincere look in Zhou Yuchen’s eyes.

  “Exams are around the corner, prove it to me!” Yun Liuli said with a calm voice.

  Zhou Yuchen gazed at Yun Liuli and solemnly nodded. “Okay!”


  After school, when Zhou Yuchen returned home, he thought of how Yun Liuli said she was in need of money. He suddenly entered the kitchen and rummaged through the trashcan to find a crumpled piece of paper. He opened the note… On it was a string of numbers.

  This was the phone number that Zhou Yuchen’s biological father… and also Xiao Yuan’s biological father, left him!

  Regardless, Zhou Yuchen was his son!

  Hence, when Xiao Yuan’s father heard how his son was creating trouble for Zhou Yuchen, he couldn’t resist coming to look for Zhou Yuchen. When he saw Zhou Yuchen’s living conditions, he left Zhou Yuchen his phone number. He told Zhou Yuchen this…


  “Xiao Yuan is very smart, but he never uses his intelligence on the proper matters! Xiao Yuan will definitely be the one inheriting the Xiao family’s assets in the future… Before that happens, if you agree to cooperate with me and provoke Xiao Yuan, to make him turn his focus to proper business, I can give you 10% of the shares. Consider my proposition carefully. This is my number, call me after you come to a decision…”


  Zhou Yuchen was bright, so he understood what his father, Xiao Qinghai, meant.

  In Xiao Qinghai’s presence, Zhou Yuchen crumpled that piece of paper and tossed it into the trashcan in a dashing move without even glancing at the contents.

  However, Xiao Qinghai said, “Ten percent of the Xiao Corporation’s shares are worth much more than the assets your mother left you! Moreover… with me as your backing, Xiao Yuan won’t bully you as easily! Do consider carefully!”


  When Xiao Qinghai talked to Zhou Yuchen, he didn’t speak like a caring father. Instead, he sounded like he was talking business with an irrelevant person.

  Zhou Yuchen knew very well why Xiao Qinghai came to him. Besides the fact that he was Xiao Yuan’s stepbrother, more importantly… Xiao Yuan despised Zhou Yuchen from the bottom of his heart.

  Xiao Yuan was extremely competitive, so he would definitely be unhappy if someone like Zhou Yuchen were to oppress him.

  With the phone number in hand, Zhou Yuchen stood before the window, a dark expression on his perfectly chiseled features.

  Since this was Xiao Qinghai’s decision, he’d better hope that Xiao Yuan had the fight in him to emerge victorious, instead of him, the garbage that Xiao Yuan despised, trampling Xiao Yuan into the mud.

  Zhou Yuchen crumpled the piece of paper into a ball again and dialed the number.

  The call went through. Zhou Yuchen said, “I agree to do what you asked! Get Xiao Yuan to stay away from the people around me, especially my previous nanny and her family. Or else… I’ll terminate our cooperation!”


  …


  Early the next morning, when Guan Nina was waiting at the school entrance for Zhou Yuchen, she saw Zhou Yuchen getting out of a luxury car. What shocked Guan Nina even more… was seeing Xiao Yuan get out of the same car.

  Contrasting the wounded yet still-handsome face of Zhou Yuchen, Xiao Yuan was pulling a long face!

  Last night, Zhou Yuchen was fetched back to the Xiao family!

  Even though Grandma Xiao couldn’t stand Zhou Yuchen’s eyes that were of a different color from theirs, when she recalled what her son told her… that they could make use of Zhou Yuchen to provoke Xiao Yuan into using his intelligence on serious matters, not only did Grandma Xiao tolerate his presence, she treated Zhou Yuchen in an affable and cordial manner. This left Xiao Yuan looking on in shock and astonishment.

  At the dining room table, Xiao Qinghai formally notified Xiao Yuan that… from today onward, Zhou Yuchen was a member of the Xiao family. Also, Xiao Qinghai would determine his successor based on their academic grades and their performance when they interned at the Xiao Corporation!

  Xiao Yuan, who was previously thought to be the one and only successor, was enraged and nearly flipped the dining room table over. He pointed at Zhou Yuchen furiously and demanded to know what right a piece of garbage had to compete with him!

  Xiao Qinghai said, “If Yuchen is garbage in your heart, then… if you can’t even win against a piece of garbage, it only shows that you’re worse than garbage. How can I entrust the Xiao Corporation to someone worse than garbage?”