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  “The Cheng family arrangement? Who arranged it for her?” A middle-aged man outside the door came in and sneered when he heard Ouyang Wei’s words. “Let him face his big words himself. The Cheng family shouldn’t have to lose face!”


  “Cheng Raohan!” Old Master Cheng put down the teacup in his hand without a chance in his expression and interrupted him directly with a sharp gaze.

  Taken aback, Ouyang Wei stood up cautiously. “Grandpa Cheng, Uncle Cheng, I……”


  No one had mentioned this matter to Old Master Cheng.

  His bleak eyes looked endless, as he smiled gently and waved his hands. “It’s okay, that kid always has her own ideas.”


  Listening to Old Master Cheng’s words, Ouyang Wei’s hands hanging on her both sides tightened slightly, and she just smiled. “I will listen to what you said and won’t bother you.”


  Old Master Cheng took her to the door himself.

  After Ouyang Wei left, Old Master Cheng walked back slowly.

  “Dad, aren’t you too indulgent to Third Brother? Arranging for the woman next to him? If word gets out, where will Cheng family’s face go?!” Cheng Raohan looked at Old Master Cheng, feeling it was unfair. “You don’t care?”


  “Enough, this is nothing,” Old Master Cheng said lightly.

  He turned around and walked upstairs. Although his words were light, his brows were slightly twisted and knotted together.

  Outside the gate of the Cheng house.

  The Ouyang family’s car was waiting outside. Ouyang Wei stood by the car without entering and just picked up her cell phone and opening WeChat to check.

  She sent Cheng Mu a message in the afternoon, but he had yet to respond.

  Was he busy?

  Ouyang Wei was a little irritable for no reason. Previously when she messaged Cheng Mu, he responded in seconds.

  Since he went to Continent M…… it seemed like everything had changed.

  What happened to them in Continent M?

  The driver of Ouyang’s family car walked to the passenger seat and opened the door. After waiting for a long time and seeing that Ouyang Wei did not get in the car, he couldn’t help but whisper, “Miss?”


  Ouyang Wei came back to her senses and pursed her lips, her expression barely changing. “Let’s go.”


  She bent over and got into the car.

  **

  June 3rd, Monday.

  In Heng Chuan First Middle School, the whole school was uniformly issuing admission passes for the college entrance examination.

  The Lin family’s house.

  Qin Yu’s morning flight just landed at the airport.

  Aunt Zhang respectfully picked up the bag from her hand. “Miss, you’re back.”


  Qin Yu nodded slightly and smiled.

  She was now learning the violin from Teacher Dai, and she had achieved success already. She was talented, but not too strong.

  But after returning from Continent M, she worked harder than before to learn the violin. She had no time to rest almost every day. She was top-notch amongst the newcomers of the National Violin Association.

  Teacher Dai also valued her very much, waiting for her to compete for him at the National Violin Association’s membership trial this year.

  Old Master Lin knew that Qin Yu was back today, and he rushed over from the old house in the morning.

  “Yu’er, are you going to go back to school in the morning to go through the procedures?” Old Master Lin’s voice was gentle.

  Now that Qin Ran had no room to turn back, Old Master Lin was coming to an end.

  But Qin Yu did not disappoint him either.

  “Yes, I’ll go with mom.” Qin Yu took the tea from Aunt Zhang, smiled slightly, and glanced at Ning Qing. “By the way, mom, do you have any news from Sister? She should be back now that it’s almost her college entrance examination, right?”


  Ning Qing shook her head and twisted her eyebrows slightly.

  Did that mean that she was not back yet?

  Qin Yu took a sip of tea and shook her head slightly, seeming to sigh. “Is Sister going to stay for another year? It’s a pity. I originally thought we could get together in the Capital.”


  “Let’s stop talking.” Ning Qing raised her eyebrows and put down her teacup.

  Ning Qing let Qin Yu rest for a while, and in the afternoon she went to the school to get the admission pass for the procedures.

  “After finishing the procedures in the afternoon, I will take you to see your Little Aunt. You haven’t seen each other in a few months.” After Ning Qing had eaten, she sat on the sofa, holding the mirror and touching up her lipstick.

  Qin Yu nodded, not very interested. “Okay.”


  **

  At the same time, Heng Chuan First Middle School.

  Class 3.9.

  The next day marked the start of vacation for the senior year of high school. Today was their last day in class. Qiao Sheng followed Xu Yaoguang, not very emotional.

  “Weird, why are there so many people in the corridor of our class?” Qiao Sheng looked up lazily and saw the silhouettes of people in the corridor of Class 3.9. “Did they all come to find your contact information to fill in the student records?”


  Qiao Sheng glanced at Xu Yaoguang and raised his eyebrows.

  Nearing graduation, a lot of people came looking for Xu Yaoguang recently.

  Xu Yaoguang looked at the silhouettes, and a cold and cruel thought passed in his mind. After a pause, he lowered his eyebrows, hesitated, and said, “It shouldn’t be me they are looking for.”


  Qiao Sheng abruptly stopped and suddenly remembered another person.

  His whole person was instantly radiant. He raised his head, pushed aside the group of people, and looked directly at the table near the window.

  Over the past six months, Gao Yang had not changed seats because of the good learning atmosphere in Class 3.9 and the rapid improvement in their grades.

  Moreover, students who changed positions may still need time to adapt. Gao Yang listened to the suggestions of the students and did not change the seats again.

  The seat in the fourth row by the window was the throne of the boss. Finally, there was a figure in the previously empty seat.

  Wearing a white T-shirt, her face was slightly sideways and a pen was in her left hand. She was sending some graduation messages to a few people, her eyebrows drooping in a familiar and cynical manner.

  “Fuck, Sister Ran, are you finally back?!” Qiao Sheng found his voice after being stunned and walked to her.

  Qin Ran’s classmates at the table moved to give him space as always.

  “Yeah.” Qin Ran was no longer slow with her left hand now, as she continued to write casually.

  Almost everyone’s eyes were on her. Xu Yaoguang also came in through the back door, sat on his chair, and habitually took out the physics book.

  When opening the book, he involuntarily glanced at Qin Ran.

  As the first period approached, Qiao Sheng finally left Qin Ran, but his excitement had not subsided.

  Poking Xu Yaoguang’s back with a pen. “Young Master Xu, what do you think of Sister Ran’s physics? Seeing that the college entrance examination is only a few days away, the teachers are still betting.”


  Hearing Qiao Sheng’s voice, Xu Yaoguang’s eyebrows trembled. “I don’t know.”


  Just after finishing his sentence, the phone on the table rang.

  Xu Yaoguang put down his pen and took a look at his phone.

  When Qiao Sheng saw his action, he knew that this message was sent by Qin Yu and couldn’t help rolling his eyes. “She also returned to Yun Cheng?”


  “Yeah.” Xu Yaoguang responded lightly, but the movement of his hand did not slow down to reply to Qin Yu.

  The last lesson in the afternoon was the class meeting.

  Gao Yang explained a lot of life principles to the entire class 3.9 and then issued admission passes.

  After writing the words “To be at the top” on the blackboard, the class was dismissed.

  This concluded the last class of high school senior year.

  The whole class stood up and said in an unprecedentedly neat and loud voice, “Goodbye teacher!”


  There was nothing on Qin Ran’s desk, so she just put away her admission pass and waited for Lin Siran.

  She received a message from Ning Wei, asking her to go for dinner at night.

  Qin Ran responded with an “OK”.

  As usual, Qiao Sheng stood at the back door waiting for her with a basketball.

  “Sister Ran, are you going to be admitted to a college in the Capital?” Qiao Sheng asked Qin Ran with his head tilted.

  Qin Ran wore the cap on her head, and while sending a message to Cheng Juan that she would go to Ning Wei’s that night, she answered Qiao Sheng.

  “I’m going to the capital too.” Lin Siran smiled.

  Xu Yaoguang fell one step behind the others and looked forward.

  They were all influential figures in the third year of their high school. Standing together, this group of people attracted the attention of most students.

  “Qin Ran is really back!” a student said excitedly.

  Another person also lowered his voice. “So, who do you think will be the valedictorian of the college entrance examination this year? Qin Ran, Xu Yaoguang, or Pan Mingyue? Or Yun Cheng First Middle School?”


  With Qin Ran’s return to school, everyone was talking about her.

  Everyone seemed to have forgotten Meng Xinran, who was also troubled by the problems faced by the Meng family, and her grades dropped drastically.

  Meng Xinran heard this and looked in the direction of Qin Ran and the others, her hands tightening on her backpack.

  With a black face, she was gloomy and terrifying.

  **

  Ning Wei’s house.

  After more than half a year, Ning Wei’s legs had long since healed, and there was no sense of obscurity in her actions.

  She was stewing soup in the pot.

  Looking at the direction of the door from time to time, Mu Nan also sat on the chair outside, holding a book in his hand.

  There was a knock on the door outside, and Mu Nan raised his hand to open the door without waiting for Ning Wei to move.

  Some relief could be seen on his always cold face.

  Outside the door stood Qin Yu and Ning Qing.

  Mu Nan saw that it was these two people and, with a light tone, he stepped aside and said, “Auntie.”


  Then he shouted in the direction of the kitchen, “Mom, Auntie is here.”


  His voice was loud. Mu Ying heard it from her room and immediately excitedly came out. “Second Cousin and Auntie are here?”


  She hurriedly poured water for the two of them, her expression revealing her excitement.

  Downstairs.

  Cheng Mu stopped the car and Qin Ran opened the door. She said with a calm tone, “You go back first. Come pick me up later.”


  Cheng Mu nodded and asked Qin Ran to call him in advance.

  Qin Ran climbed to the sixth floor and knocked on the door.

  It was still Mu Nan who opened the door. He lowered his eyebrows, his expression still cold, but his voice suddenly eased. “Mom, Cousin is here.”


  Qin Ran went in.

  In the narrow hall, Ning Qing and the three sitting at the table saw Qin Ran and looked as if they had seen a ghost.

  “Ran Ran? When did you come back?” Ning Qing put down the cup with a “pop” and looked at Qin Ran in disbelief. “Why did you suddenly drop out of school?”


  Qin Ran did not expect to see them here either. She pulled the stool out and sat down crossing her legs like she usually did. “I just came back.”


  Mu Nan poured her a cup of tea.

  The same cup she used before, with strawberries printed on it.

  When Qin Yu saw her, her expression changed for a while before she came back to her senses. She looked at Qin Ran with a caring tone, as if all the previous barriers did not exist. “Sister, where have you been in the past few months?”


  “I didn’t go anywhere.” Qin Ran took a sip of tea casually. “Just walked around.”


  “Oh.” Qin Yu smiled, not caring much.

  Mu Ying pressed her lips. She didn’t dare to look at Qin Ran now, she only pressed her lips and looked at Qin Yu with a smile. “Cousin, how many fans do you have on Weibo now?”


  Qin Yu glanced at the teacup, did not drink, and seemed indifferent. “Nine million maybe.”


  Ning Wei brought out a bowl of food from the kitchen. “What nine million?”


  “Just Second Cousin’s Weibo, Mom. Don’t you know that she was posted online last year at an exhibition match at the Royal Performing Arts Hall in the Capital, and she unexpectedly became popular,” Mu Ying said with envy. “She’s so popular online now.”


  Qin Yu played with the cup, looked up at Qin Ran, smiled, and did not seem to care about the number of fans on her Weibo.

  Mu Nan helped Ning Wei arrange the dishes.

  At the dinner table, Ning Wei politely asked about Qin Yu’s current situation.

  “Yu’er went to Continent M with her teacher.” When Ning Qing mentioned this, her tone couldn’t conceal her pride. “She’s now in the National Violin Association, ranking first among freshmen students.”


  Mu Ying raised her head and said in surprise, “Continent M?”


  Continent M was a collective hub, the International Trade Center, where most big figures gathered. Mu Ying was only taken there by her teacher when she was taking a geography class, but it was not recommended for ordinary people to go. If they wanted to go they could only find tourist groups to bring them in.

  Qin Yu smiled and did not care. She took the chopsticks and said, “Well, I’m going to try for the National Violin Association of Continent M.”


  She did not say much about it, as they might not understand even if she did.

  “Sister,” Qin Yu just looked at Qin Ran, “You said last year that you were going to be admitted to Beijing University, do you remember?”


  Qin Yu looked at Qin Ran. Of course, Qin Yu did not mean to mock Qin Ran. She had seen Continent M and saw a bigger world. Now she did not even consider Qin Ran, who had been repeating for a year or two, as her opponent.