Unable to find any resonance in her own class, Shu Xiaoshan went to Class Five to find An Xin as soon as class ended.
"Birds of a feather really do flock together."
When Shi Jiayan saw Shu Xiaoshan running out of the classroom, she knew exactly what she was going to do. Shu Xiaoshan was always hanging around with An Xin, as if afraid no one would know that the two of them were equally lacking in character.
"I think being self-reliant is a good thing. I haven't even seen that butterfly clip for sale anywhere—five yuan isn't expensive at all."
After the winter sports meet, most of the class had already forgotten what An Ning looked like with her dyed hair. Before Shi Jiayan could even speak up for An Ning, the other girls in the class started talking.
At the end of the day, the original owner of this body had never done anything bad at school before.
The bad reputation she'd had before—looking back on it now—had all been spread by An Xin and Shu Xiaoshan.
The students in Class Five still didn't know An Ning well, but after An Ning's confrontation with An Xin on the playground, they no longer took everything An Xin said at face value.
"An Ning going to set up a stall to sell things just proves that your dad really doesn't give her any living expenses. She's a sixteen-year-old student, and she's your stepfather's biological daughter. You're not telling us all this hoping we'll laugh at An Ning, are you?"
"Third in the whole grade, and your stepfather still won't take care of her? Your stepfather is really cold-hearted."
Hearing that someone had seen An Ning setting up a stall over the weekend, plus Shu Xiaoshan saying that An Ning had brought things to school to sell—
An Xin felt deeply satisfied, thinking she had this in the bag. But who knew that the moment she opened her mouth, the people around her would all be calling him "stepfather" and taking An Ning's side.
So what if An Ning was An Jianhua's biological daughter? There was no rule saying a biological father had to treat his biological daughter well.
An Xin's face flushed red with anger: "She's the one who won't come home. I didn't do anything wrong. What can I do about matters between adults? It's not like I wanted my real dad to die in an accident. You're all just bullying me because I don't have a real father. You're all taking her side. Have you all forgotten what she used to be like? Even now, the school hasn't made her retake the exam, so her third-place ranking in the grade isn't even confirmed yet…"
After saying this, An Xin lay her head down on the desk.
She had thought that by bringing up her biological father, someone would come comfort her after she shouted. But she waited and waited and heard nothing. Feeling wronged, she started to cry.
The more she did this, the less the others dared to talk to her. An Xin lay there for an entire self-study period. When evening self-study ended, she ran out with red-rimmed eyes. At the school gate, she saw Lu Lijun waiting to pick her up, and tears of grievance streamed down her face.
"Mom, find a way to make An Ning stop going to No. 1 High School. If she keeps going there, I won't be able to continue my studies."
Lu Lijun was afraid someone might overhear, so she pulled An Xin along and hurried away. On the way, she comforted her while asking what had happened.
When she heard that An Ning had gone to set up a stall, and about the cold remarks from her daughter's classmates, she frowned. Getting An Ning out of the school—that used to be easy. But now that An Ning had severed her father-daughter relationship with An Jianhua and had done so well on the monthly exam, if Lu Lijun went to withdraw An Ning from school, wouldn't it be obvious that the stepmother was mistreating the child?
If this blew up, it could even affect her job.
The best option would still be for An Jianhua, the biological father, to step in.
But An Jianhua's current attitude was to act as if An Ning didn't exist.
She had tried to persuade him several times, but An Jianhua showed no intention of bringing An Ning back home.
Lu Lijun thought for a moment, then pulled three hundred yuan out of her bag.
"Here's one hundred for you. Take the remaining two hundred to An Ning tomorrow and tell her your father hopes she'll come back. Even if she doesn't want to live at home, she should still take the living expenses. She's a student—she shouldn't be out setting up a stall. It's unsafe and affects her studies. We're all worried about her."
"I'm not going. She definitely won't give me a pleasant face. And why should she get two hundred, that's so much!"
Her own monthly allowance was only a hundred—why should An Ning get two hundred?
"Then you'll just have to keep suffering at school. In your classmates' eyes, An Ning is the disadvantaged party. They give you cold looks because they think you're the one bullying her. Helping An Ning makes them feel like they're on the side of justice."
Lu Lijun patiently taught her daughter step by step. "When you go see An Ning tomorrow, you must be sincere. The worse her attitude is, the more your classmates will see who's really in the wrong between the two of you."
After saying this, seeing that An Xin still looked unconvinced, Lu Lijun's voice grew firmer: "Or do you really not want to stay at First High? Do you want to slink off and transfer to some third-rate high school?"
"No! I don't want that!"
An Xin's talk of quitting school was just talk. First High was the best high school in Jiangcheng. If she transferred in her sophomore year, she'd only be moving to a worse school.
"If you don't want to lose, then swallow your temper. After all these years watching An Ning, you should have learned that throwing tantrums is the most useless thing. It only makes your father think she's noisy and makes everyone think she's unreasonable."
"She's different now than before…"
Meeting Lu Lijun's eyes, An Xin's voice gradually faded.
Putting away the money meant for An Ning, An Xin spent the whole night thinking about how to face her. By the next day, she had dark circles under her eyes. After the first period, she went to Class Nine.
"Sister, this is what Mom and Dad asked me to give you. You don't want to come home, and Dad is really worried about you. He said to keep the living expenses and not go out to set up a stall—it's unsafe and will affect your studies."
After rehearsing it over and over in her head all night, An Xin felt her tone and expression were just right.
Without Grandma Xu around, An Ning had simply tied her hair into a regular bun today. The butterfly hair clip she used as her signature was still in her hair, and many girls in the class dressed the same way.
She was explaining a problem to someone when she saw An Xin walk straight up to her desk.
She looked her up and down.
"You know An Jianhua cares a lot about face, right?"
An Xin, who had expected to be met with sarcasm, froze in panic when she heard An Ning mention An Jianhua, staring blankly at her.
"There's no way he'd have you bring me money, and he wouldn't allow you to make up stories to curry favor with me—even if you are his beloved stepdaughter."
As she spoke, An Ning stood up directly and grabbed An Xin's arm.
Suddenly seized, An Xin instinctively resisted: "What are you doing?"
"Calling An Jianhua to confirm whether this two hundred is really from him. Two hundred isn't a small amount—I can't just accept it carelessly."
If this were the old An Ning, An Xin wouldn't have been afraid of anything she said. But this An Ning now—meeting her cold gaze, An Xin panicked the moment An Ning grabbed her.
She knew how much An Jianhua disliked An Ning.
Lately, even when her mother brought up An Ning, An Jianhua would put on a sour face.
An Xin had always maintained the image of an obedient, well-behaved girl in front of An Jianhua. She didn't dare gamble on this. She was afraid that if An Ning made that call, An Jianhua would come to hate her just as much as he hated An Ning.
The last time she had publicly declared severing ties with her father, it had already displeased An Jianhua.
An Xin didn't want to call An Ning, and her face grew paler and paler. Just then, the class bell rang, and she abruptly broke free from An Ning and fled Class Nine.
"What's this, she really came here to put on a show."
"Didn't you see how scared she got when An Ning said she'd make the call?"
"Next time, keep an eye on our classroom door. Don't let students from other classes just walk in."
Watching An Xin's retreating figure as she fled in panic, An Ning returned to her seat and sat down.
She had only meant to scare An Xin anyway. She had no desire to call An Jianhua—just hearing his voice made her sick.
For the rest of the day, An Xin didn't come back to bother An Ning.
However, during evening self-study, the dean of students came to Class Nine and called An Ning out of the classroom.
"An Ning, someone reported that you brought items to school to sell to your classmates. Is this true?"
The person who reported An Ning also mentioned that she set up a street stall outside, but since many students at the school came from merchant families, having a street stall wasn't really an issue.
But bringing items to school to sell could be a minor or major matter, and since someone had filed a report, it had to be taken seriously.
"That's not true. I brought a pack of hair clips to school. Some classmates thought they looked nice, so I gave them some and collected money for them."
The dean was taken aback. No matter how she heard it, An Ning's logic didn't seem to hold up.
She gave items, collected money—that was buying and selling goods. How was that not true?
"There weren't many clips in the pack, and I planned to use them myself. I don't have much allowance money. Since my classmates liked them, I couldn't very well just give them away for free without charging."
"That's right, teacher. We saw An Ning's clips and thought they were pretty, so we asked for them ourselves."
"An Ning was kind enough to share them with us."
When An Ning was called out by the dean, the classroom fell silent. Students near the front door eavesdropped on the conversation outside, and upon hearing An Ning's explanation, they couldn't help but speak up in her defense.
Chu Hang, at the back door, was equally eager to chime in: "Teacher, this isn't some sordid money transaction—it's a sacrifice born of classmate love. Ah—"
He was about to break into song.
"Quiet! Get back to your self-study. What's all this racket supposed to look like!"
The dean hadn't intended to blow this out of proportion anyway, and with that interruption, there was nothing left to pursue.
"Study hard and don't let other things distract you. Our No. 1 High School's scholarships are quite generous."
An Ning nodded in acknowledgment: "Teacher, I'll work hard."
"Good, that's the spirit. Head back to class."
An Ning returned to the classroom but didn't immediately go to her seat. Instead, she walked up to Shu Xiaoshan.
Sensing An Ning stop, Shu Xiaoshan nervously averted her gaze.
"What are you looking at me for?"
Seeing that An Ning neither left nor spoke, Shu Xiaoshan forced herself to appear calm and looked back.
An Ning didn't say a word, only moving away after half a minute.
During that half minute, no one in the classroom dared to breathe too loudly. Only when An Ning sat down did the suffocating atmosphere finally dissipate.
"Sister An, you really know how to apply the pressure."
Chu Hang gave her a thumbs up. If Shu Xiaoshan dared to cause trouble for An Ning again after today, he'd have to call her a real tough one.
An Ning wrote "You flatter me" on a piece of paper as her response to him.
Monday had been eventful with Shu Xiaoshan and An Xin causing trouble, but by Tuesday, that nagging feeling of something missing made An Ning restless.
So as soon as school let out in the afternoon, she headed to the internet café with Chu Hang.
Thinking back to the unpleasant parting last Friday, An Ning planned to search online for part-time work again.
But when she opened QQ, the little penguin icon immediately started flashing.
There were only a few messages, but they had been sent from Saturday all the way through yesterday.
Saturday:
Guan Sheng: [The document has been sent to your email, please check.]
Sunday:
Guan Sheng: [Miss An, you don't need to feel pressured. Work is work. I recognize your work ability, and I won't stop collaborating with you because of your age.]
Monday:
Guan Sheng: [Forgive me, I'm not a pervert. I didn't know. I was wrong. Little sister, please pretend nothing ever happened (kneeling]
It only took three days to make an elite lawyer break down.
An Ning tapped on her keyboard.
Thriving Little Ning: [Good afternoon, Boss Guan. I'll check my email right away :)]
An Ning deliberately added a smiley face at the end of her message, hoping to soothe the money god on the other side and get him to stand up from his kneeling position—otherwise, who would transfer money to her?
🙂