Chapter 70
Chapter 70: The Group’s Darling Sister Lan, Yun Jing Express Delivery
Twenty slots!
With the original four, that made twenty-four. For No. 7 High School, it was such an absurd windfall it barely felt real.
And then there was last week: the wasteland beside the school suddenly swarmed with construction crews. People said new classroom buildings were going up, along with dorms, a track field, and other shared facilities. Ye Jun Ning couldn’t help suspecting the principal had robbed a bank.
Xue Yi Wei stopped short, her brows drawing tight. “Jun Ning, what did you just say?”
Ye Jun Ning had only been to the physics office once. How had she come back sounding completely unhinged?
“Jun Ning,” Xue Yi Wei said, voice low, “I know Ye Wan Lan doesn’t want to give you a slot, but if it isn’t hers, she has to spit it back out eventually.”
Xue Yi Wei shook her head. “Let’s go back to class first. Next period is Teacher Ren’s.”
Ye Jun Ning was still drowning in the kind of joy that made the whole world float. She didn’t hear a word Xue Yi Wei said.
She drifted back to her seat and immediately sorted the optics problems she still couldn’t solve.
The bell rang. Teacher Ren padded into the classroom like a cat.
The students stiffened, uneasy.
Whenever Teacher Ren wore that eerie smile, it meant he was about to hand them something brutal.
“I heard about what happened yesterday,” he said, bright as sunshine. “Everyone argued over the Physics Competition Summer Training Camp slots. There’s no need to tiptoe around it anymore. This time, anyone ranked in the top twenty in physics can go!”
He made a grand sweeping gesture. “Let’s thank Classmate Ye! Thanks to her, we got twenty more slots. Everyone—applause!”
…
The classroom fell into a dead, stunned silence.
“What are you spacing out for?” Teacher Ren snapped, smile still pasted on. “Clap.”
He started clapping himself—loud, insistent, shameless. “Next week I’ll distribute the remaining paperwork you need. Now, today we’re going over the test. Everyone, take out yesterday’s in-class quiz.”
The students fumbled for their papers in a daze. Half of them still looked like they couldn’t process what they’d just heard.
The one hit hardest was Xue Yi Wei. Her hand trembled. “Twenty training camp slots?”
How did Ye Wan Lan get them?
She was supposed to be some delinquent who’d slipped in through connections. How could she even think of helping other students?
“Su Xu Bai,” Xue Yi Wei whispered, leaning toward him, “could it be she… has another identity? Another backing?”
Su Xu Bai’s expression stayed flat. “They’re just training camp slots. Any of the major families in River City can get them.”
“So that’s it.” Xue Yi Wei exhaled—half relieved, half contemptuous. “Then she must’ve gone to Zhou He Chen. Spending someone else’s influence—there’s nothing impressive about that.”
Senior 2 Class 2 sat through the lecture with their minds scattered all over the place.
When the bell rang, someone stood up. “Let’s go apologize to Classmate Ye. If it weren’t for her, I could work myself to death and still never get into the training camp.”
“I’m going too!”
“Me too, me too!”
“Come on—everyone, let’s go…”
A whole crowd surged into the hallway and packed themselves in front of Senior 2 Class 1 again.
Xue Yi Wei didn’t move. She stayed seated, staring to her right with a shadowed look that deepened by the second.
“What are you doing here now?” a Class 1 student barked, stepping forward to block them. “Don’t even think about bullying our Wan Lan!”
The Class 1 students planted themselves in the doorway like guards, faces fierce.
“Classmate Ye,” someone blurted, “thank you. Seriously.”
A male student scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. “I’ve wanted to get into the training camp for so long, but the best I ever ranked was sixth. Thank you for the slot.”
“Yeah, Classmate Ye. We talked about you before… I’m really sorry.”
“Classmate Ye, we’re here to apologize.”
Su Xue Qing stared at Ye Wan Lan as if she’d been struck by lightning. “You moved that fast?”
“Once I’ve decided something, I cut through it cleanly.” Ye Wan Lan’s expression didn’t change. “It benefits me and it benefits others. One move, several wins—why wouldn’t I do it?”
Su Xue Qing jolted like someone had pinched her spine.
After a long beat, she let out a slow sigh. “If you were in ancient times, you’d definitely be the kind of monarch who welcomed worthy people with respect.”
“Half right.” Ye Wan Lan paused, then laughed softly. “Half wrong. Too bad…”
Too bad she’d always ended up one step short of that seat.
Too bad, six years after she left, the Ning Dynasty fell—and Madam Xiang’s royal line was wiped out.
“This is going to make Xue Yi Wei and Su Xu Bai furious,” Su Xue Qing said, satisfaction curling through her voice. “They didn’t expect you to just grab more slots, did they?”
Ye Wan Lan didn’t care. “When I do things, why would I worry about what others think?”
Only her own intent mattered. Her original purpose.
“A Lan.” Su Xue Qing’s eyes brightened. “Watch this.”
She stepped forward and addressed the crowd from Class 2. “If I remember correctly, Classmate Su Xu Bai and Classmate Xue Yi Wei also have the ability to get more slots for everyone. And they’re your classmates too, so why…”
The moment she said it, several Class 2 students’ expressions changed. You could almost see the realization snap into place.
Yeah.
Why had they only thought about forcing Ye Wan Lan to hand over a slot?
The vice class monitor silently gave Su Xue Qing a thumbs-up. “Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.”
Having made her point, Su Xue Qing returned to her seat and went back to studying Volume Two of Tai Yi Divine Needle, looking perfectly innocent.
—
Over in the counseling room, Rong Yu had just finished seeing a Grade 11 student and successfully eased the kid’s academic anxiety.
“I forgot to tell you something,” he said, as if it had just occurred to him. “This morning, Classmate Ye got cornered by people from Class 2.”
His frown deepened. “They said she’d taken someone else’s training camp slot and needed to give it back. It was outrageous.”
Yan Ting Feng lowered his lashes. “What slot?”
She’d come for tea today, and she hadn’t mentioned a single word about any of this.
“The Physics Competition Summer Training Camp slots in River City,” Rong Yu said. “What’s there to fight about? It’s not like they belong to Yun Jing. Isn’t it easy enough for people to get in?”
“Mhm.” Yan Ting Feng didn’t even blink. “Go. Get more slots and allocate them to No. 7 High School.”
Rong Yu: “….”
He really shouldn’t have opened his mouth. How did the running around always end up on him?
“Fine, fine.” He sighed. “I’ll contact someone and have No. 7 High School’s quota increased, okay? They’re guarding a few summer training camp slots like treasure—how boring.”
He wiped his hands and went to find the principal.
The moment he explained, the principal nearly leapt out of his chair. “But the slots already came through! Wasn’t it you who helped us?”
Rong Yu blinked. “No. I just got dispatched to do the work.”
“Then why did the higher-ups notify us that we’d be getting twenty additional slots?” the principal stammered, eyes wide. “I… I thought it was Young Master Yan!”
Now Rong Yu was the one who went pale. “Someone got there first?!”
If Yan Ting Feng found out, wouldn’t he lose his mind?
The principal lowered his voice, nervous. “It really wasn’t Young Master Yan who put in a word? I vaguely heard it went through a relationship with an honorary professor at Yun Jing University…”
Rong Yu fell silent.
Yan Ting Feng did know two honorary professors at Yun Jing University, but he’d only told his brother about this situation today. His brother couldn’t possibly have predicted it.
“Forget it.” Rong Yu waved him off. “Don’t panic. It has nothing to do with you.”
He returned to the counseling room.
Yan Ting Feng didn’t look up from the long blade he was wiping. “Done?”
“Brother,” Rong Yu said carefully, “I have something to tell you. Don’t get mad.”
Yan Ting Feng’s movements stayed unhurried. “Speak.”
“I was too late,” Rong Yu admitted. “Someone already solved it.”
Yan Ting Feng lifted his brows slightly. “Oh?”
“I’m sorry, Brother. I really don’t know who moved so fast.” Rong Yu clasped his hands together. “Next time we’ll be first, I swear. We’ll let you show off properly.”
“No need.” Yan Ting Feng set the blade aside. “It wasn’t someone. It was her.”
“What?” Rong Yu nearly choked. “She knows an honorary professor at Yun Jing University? Then why is she at No. 7 High School? Why not go straight into Yun Jing University?”
Yan Ting Feng’s gaze drifted, thoughtful. “Do you remember what she said about her plan?”
“I remember.” Rong Yu ticked it off on his fingers. “That young lady is wildly ambitious. Doctorate at Shen Zhou University at eighteen. Control the Global Center at twenty-five. You could give me a hundred hearts and I still wouldn’t dare imagine that.”
“She said it wasn’t delusion,” Yan Ting Feng replied. “It was ambition.”
His mouth curved. “I like her ambition. It’s beautiful.”
Rong Yu stared at him, still stunned. “You trust her that much? You don’t think she’s just a lunatic?”
“Mhm.” Yan Ting Feng rose and brushed dust from his clothes. “I’m a lunatic too.”
He smiled—soft and dangerous. “When lunatics tell the truth, you should be careful.”
Rong Yu fell silent.
So Ye Wan Lan really was hiding something. Maybe even a bigger trump card.
He sighed. He definitely wasn’t sleeping tonight.
—
After school, Ye Wan Lan went to the entrance of No. 1 High School to meet Lin Wen Li. Then the two of them took a car together to the Lin Family’s old residence.
Lin Wen Li pressed his lips together. “I heard your training camp situation stirred up a lot of anger in No. 7 High School’s physics classes.”
Ye Wan Lan looked mildly amused. “The news reached No. 1 High School too?”
“Mhm.” Lin Wen Li looked away. “Don’t listen to what anyone says. Just do what you should.”
“It’s fine.” Ye Wan Lan’s smile stayed light. “I got No. 7 High School twenty extra slots. It’s already resolved.”
Lin Wen Li wanted to say he wasn’t worried about her at all, but the words died on his tongue.
He was worried.
Ye Wan Lan glanced at her phone. “If the timing’s right, the courier should arrive soon.”
“What courier?” Lin Wen Li asked. “Tell Dad to pick it up when he gets home.”
“I had it sent to the old residence,” Ye Wan Lan said. “Grandmother should’ve received it.”
The Lin Family old residence was unusually quiet. Even Madam Lin—who normally never missed a chance to flatter Lin Wei Lan and Lin Wo Yu—had shut herself in. The whole house felt calmer for it.
“Mom,” Lin Wo Yu said, trying to soothe her, “A Lan is right. You worry too much.”
She gave a half laugh. “Even if the worst happens and we have to mortgage all of the Lin Family’s assets, I’m still here, aren’t I?”
Lin Wei Lan shook her head. “That’s not their only goal. If we can’t stop them, they’ll push harder. I’m afraid something will happen to you.”
Lin Wo Yu’s heart tightened. “Could it really be the main family…?”
“Old Madam,” the steward said as he entered, “your package.”
Steward Lin respectfully offered a box. “Express delivery from Yun Jing.”
Lin Wei Lan frowned. “Yun Jing?”
Who in Yun Jing would send her a package?
And by express delivery?
She took it and looked down at the shipping label.
Sender: Hands Off My Cabbage
Return address: Under the willow tree, Big Compound, 888 Xieyang Road, Yun Jing.
Lin Wei Lan’s gaze lingered on the sender name, her grip tightening without her realizing it.