Class Group
Translator: Shiny, Editor: Aru
Ruan Chengyi had started from scratch.
He worked in the production of medical equipment and raw materials trade, and his wife, Zhao Bingzhi had graduated from medical school. Now, she had already taken the post of the Director of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the First Municipal Hospital. Over the years, both people had become busier and busier, so they only had this one daughter; Ruan Yue.
Ruan Yue was also very well-behaved. She was independent and got good grades, saving them from many worries.
Watching her sitting down properly with her bag in her arms, Ruan Chengyi smiled and asked, “How come you came out so late?”
“There was a little work.” Ruan Yue replied without looking at him.
At this point in time, the conflict between him and Zhao Bingzhi had yet to reach the surface, therefore, he wouldn’t think that the conjugal relationship between his wife and himself would affect his daughter’s attitude towards him. Seeing that Ruan Yue was not in a good mood, he smiled and reached out his hand to brush back the hair that had fallen in front of her ear. “Working hard studying? You didn’t come back home all week.”
“Mm.”
Ruan Yue suppressed the turbulence in her chest and shrunk her body back.
This action was too obvious to be ignored. Ruan Chengyi’s outstretched hand paused in midair before he brought it back to himself.
Ruan Yue was silent throughout the journey.
When the Maybach drove into the Ningcheng developmental area, Zheng Yunkai asked, “Chief Ruan, will we send Miss Ding home first?”
“Yes.”
After a few seconds, he said, “In the trunk, there are pomegranates and grapes. Give ChuChu two boxes.”
“No need Uncle Ruan!” Ding ChuChu turned around at once. “If we want to eat these things, we’ll buy them ourselves. You don’t need to be so polite!”
“We got too much, but they can’t keep for too long. You take some of them.”
“……Then, thank you, Uncle Ruan.” Ding ChuChu pursed her lips and said softly.
Once the car drove into the Lan Yuan apartment district, the car stopped at the entrance to the apartment building, and she unbuckled the safety belt.
Zheng Yunkai had to get the fruits, so he also got off.
Looking through the rearview mirror, Ruan Chengyi saw two people standing behind the car. He pondered for a few seconds, then got off the car and walked to Ding ChuChu’s side. He softly asked her, “ChuChu, Uncle wants to ask you something.”
“En?” Ding ChuChu raised her head obediently.
Ruan Chengyi chuckled. “It’s nothing big. It’s just that Yue’er seems to be in a bad mood. Did something happen at school this week?”
“Ah—”
Ding ChuChu inexplicably felt nervous for a moment. “I….. I don’t know. After school started, Sister Ruan Yue wasn’t very active in class. I asked her to study with me several times, but she declined.”
“Is there any boy who looks for her often?” Ruan Chengyi thought for a moment before asking.
Jiang Xun’s haughty and outstanding face flashed through her mind immediately, but she didn’t dare to say anything. She quickly shook her head. “There doesn’t seem to be anyone.”
Ruan Chengyi nodded thoughtfully and didn’t ask again.
He returned to the car and watched through the window as Zheng Yunkai and Ding ChuChu went upstairs.
Ruan Yue sat beside him wordlessly.
A while later, Zheng Yunkai opened the door holding two paper bags. He placed the two bags on the copilot seat as soon as he got back on the car and said to Ruan Chengyi with a smile, “Sister Ding filled two large jars with her pickled vegetables. She said she would give you some to have a taste.”
“Is that so?” Ruan Chengyi smiled. “It must have been troublesome.”
“It seems that she accidentally sprained her foot and has been staying at home these past few days to rest, so she did it. But, Miss Ding immediately started crying after seeing her ankle wrapped up in bandages.”
“Children lack life experience.” Ruan Chengyi chuckled as he shook his head. Seeming to recall something, he sighed ruefully and said, “The mother and daughter pair have been depending on each other for several years. Their feelings are bound to be deep.”
“That’s right.” Zheng Yunkai agreed and nodded. “The poor child had to start managing the household early. Miss Ding is also mature and filial. Now, after meeting you again and receiving your generosity, their future days will be better.”
Lifting her pupils to stare out of the window, Ruan Yue smiled bitterly.
In her previous life, she had been unable to comprehend how a woman like Ding Meijuan, whose appearance, learning, family background, and upbringing were all incomparable to her mother’s, in addition to having a child from a previous marriage had managed to climb into her father’s bed and make their family fall apart.
She had been contemplating on this matter in the past few days and come to a vague understanding—
She was the type that was most cherished by men. Lonely and pitiable, yet hardworking. It was easy to make a man feel depended on and give him a sense of achievement.
………
After the Economic and Technological Development Zone for Ningcheng had been designated, Lan Garden put forward the gimmick of “The only villa by the river in Ning City, the wildlife garden by your door”, attracting a large number of local rich businessmen to settle here.
Ruan Chengyi happened to be one of them.
He had bought a residential building and a shop in the high-class area and requested a Feng Shui master to select two western-style houses. One for their family to live in, and the other for his parents to come and enjoy their old age. But, it was a pity that Ruan Yue’s grandparents didn’t like city life, so they had never come over.
The Maybach stopped at the entrance.
Zheng Yunkai got out of the car and opened the door for his boss. By the time that he went around to the other side, Ruan Yue had already gotten out of the car and opened the co-driver’s door.
She took the paper bags and handed one over for Zheng Yunkai to hold, holding the other one herself.
He still had to carry the fruit boxes, so he did not rush to help her carry it. However, he didn’t expect that he had just bent over to pick up the fruit boxes and the paper bag in Ruan Yue’s hand slipped, the glass bottle crashing against the floor with a loud ‘bang’ and spread out a strong scent of pickled vegetables.
Ruan Chengyi who was standing in front of her turned his head instantly and saw the girl standing with her head lowered, the red pickle juice with pepper flakes splashed on her leg.
“Are you okay?”
Naturally, a bottle of pickled vegetables couldn’t be compared with his daughter. When he saw that Ruan Yue’s leg had been scratched by some glass fragments, he immediately furrowed his brows, turned his head and called out, “Xiao Zheng, call Sister Wen and ask her to bring a broom and mop.”
“Coming, coming!”
The Aunt had heard the sound of the car and opened the door. Hearing her name, she rushed out in a hurry. Seeing Ruan Yue’s feet and legs splashed with pickle juice, she directly put down the things in her hand and said, “Yue Yue, you stay still. Auntie Wen will come back with some wet wipes. We should clean up the dirty things on your legs first.”
Saying these words, she turned around and ran back inside.
After Ruan Chengyi had made his fortune, the Ruan family had gotten many servants. However, no one else could address Ruan Yue the way that Wen Ru did.
Zhao Bingzhi was an official’s daughter. When she was in her confinement period after giving birth, Ruan Yue’s grandparents did not feel at ease and sent someone to take care of them from their home. This person was Wen Ru.
She had watched Ruan Yue grow up and had always regarded her as her own. In her previous life, after her parents had divorced, she had naturally decided to follow Zhao Bingzhi. However, Zhao Bingzhi had an extremely good temper. Not only did she not demand to divide the property, but she had also left directly after getting the divorce certificate.
Because of this, Wen Ru’s good-for-nothing son had nursed resentment, and under the influence of alcohol, he had wound up beating her to death.
Ruan Yue still remembered the day that she had been buried. It had rained heavily that day and only a few people had attended the funeral. Only her daughter in law had dragged a pair of unwilling children, wailing in anguish.
If she had not witnessed that scene, Ruan Yue would not have been able to believe that Auntie Wen who had always had a joyful demeanour had been burdened by a blood-sucking family.
As she watched the plump figure run back out of the arched entryway, her eyes stung with tears and she couldn’t help sobbing.
Zheng Yunkai was sweeping the floor and Ruan Chengyi had just grasped her arm and moved back a step only to raise his head and discover her tears, startling him. Before he could ask her anything, he heard Wen Ru’s voice filled with heartache asking, “What’s wrong? Is the cut painful, are you scared? You’re still a child, carrying things and such, you should just leave those things to Yunkai. Don’t cry, don’t cry. Auntie Wen knew that you were coming back, so I made your favourite sweet-scented osmanthus and lotus root rice, it’s still warming in the pot.”
Ruan Yue wiped her tears. “My skirt got splashed with pickle juice. Can you wash it clean?”
“Pfft—” Wen Ru was immediately amused by this sentence and released a sigh of relief. “Worrying me because of this, it’s no problem. Auntie Wen will take care of this.”
“Then, okay.” Ruan Yue nodded her head gently.
She had always had a chilly temperament, but this bout of crying showed Wen Ru a feeling she hadn’t seen in a long time. She took a wet wipe to help her wipe the stains as she muttered a few words like; “Your legs are too skinny; staying at school for a few days, you must have been hungry and lost weight; children still need to eat good meals.” and so on……
Ruan Yue listened to this and felt a fuzzy warmth in her chest as her gaze fell on her body.
On the other hand, Ruan Chengyi felt that his daughter had been acting quite strange this afternoon. After entering the house, he watched as Ruan Yue went upstairs to change her clothes. Taking out his phone, he dialled Dong Guofeng.
After he hung up the phone, Wen Ru, who was wiping the dining table couldn’t help but ask, “Is someone bullying Yue Yue in school? I can’t bear it!”
“No.” Ruan Chengyi chuckled and explained, “It’s just that the child hasn’t been quite right after school today, so I was just calling the headteacher to ask.”
“…….Okay.”
Wen Ru pondered for a moment, looking pensive, “Yue Yue hasn’t cried in several years. According to her temper, she wouldn’t cry just because her skirt got dirty. Sir, you ought to carefully ask the teacher. Our Yue Yue is such a gentle and beautiful girl, it would be easy for her to suffer grievances in school. These days especially, there are some bastards who feel a sense of accomplishment from bullying beautiful girls!”
Originally, Ruan Chengyi had been somewhat worried, but listening to her vehement defence, he laughed and nodded his head, “Got it! I’ll take care of it…… Bingzhi still hasn’t come back yet?”
“She said that there is an emergency surgery and she’ll be coming back late.”
“Oh, okay.”
………
Second Floor, Bedroom.
Ruan Yue had finished her bath and went into the closet to change her clothes. She could hear the sound of her phone buzzing incessantly.
After coming out, she discovered that Cheng Xiao had added her to ‘High 20 Class 9 Headquarters’, their class group.
Cheng Xiao was the girl who sat in front of her in class. They had spoken to each other a few times over the past few days, so they had gotten much closer than before. After adding her to the group, Cheng Xiao had been worried that she might become angry and messaged her privately; “I added you into the class group, heh. If you feel annoyed, you can just mute it.”
“Hm, thanks.”
Ruan Yue went back and was just about to mute the notifications for the group when she found she was @ in the group for a while.
Your Brother Zheng Whose Handsomeness Breaks Through the Heavens: @Yue, Damn! Is this the Great Beauty Ruan Yue?
She responded simply: Mm, I’m Ruan Yue.
………
Outside A Middle School, Freedom Island Internet Bar.
The mobile phone on the desktop vibrated for a while and Qin Zheng picked it up and took a look.
He quickly responded with, “Hahaha, *scatters flowers* Welcome!” A boy came over from his side, holding a bottle of mineral water and greeted him, “Fuck! You’re digging pits! You’re asking for trouble standing there like that, you’ve got a screw loose!”
“Haha, he’s hitting on girls in the Wechat group.”
“Damn! Brother Chen’s triple jump is awesome!” Li Shiyu shouted excitedly and took the time to gossip, “Who’s he hitting on?”
“Leng Meiren¹” someone answered briefly.
Leng Meiren was the nickname given to Ruan Yue by a group of rogues from the class. After hearing them mention her, Lu Chen couldn’t help looking away from the screen and staring at Qin Zheng.
“What the fuck, what are you doing Brother Chen?!” Li Shiyu cried out anxiously.
Lu Chen’s gaze returned to the computer screen and found that he had been shot in the head by the opposing team’s sniper.
“Fuck—” Cursing lowly, he took off the headphones and threw them onto the desk.
Sensing the vibration from the mobile phone in his pocket, he took it out impatiently to discover a voice message from his mom, “Didn’t I tell you to come back earlier today? Where are you now?”
……………………
1. Leng Meiren means ice beauty. It is the title given to her by the boys.