Chapter 106: Jiang Ning! You Bastard!

Sometimes, history has a frightening way of repeating itself.

Even with the butterfly that is Jiang Ning flapping its wings, some things were just unavoidable.

Like that annoying fly, Luo Chengming.

She had known in advance that he would be transferring over.
But when she actually saw him appear, Jiang Ning still felt a wave of indescribable disgust.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t considered ways to stop that guy from transferring in.
But aside from methods that would cross legal boundaries, she honestly couldn’t think of anything effective.

After all, with her current capabilities, she couldn’t stop the school from accepting him, nor could she influence the decisions of the Luo family.

But that was fine.

Jiang Ning had her own way of handling things.

After school in the afternoon, she turned down Luo Shanshan and the others’ invitation to go eat spicy hot pot at the small shop and sat alone by the window.

She gazed out at the howling cold wind for a while.

Once the classmates had all left, she pulled a folder out of the inner pocket of her backpack.

Undoing the string, Jiang Ning took out the papers inside.

On top, the large words read: “Internal Documents of Hongsheng Group.”

Jiang Ning squinted at it.

This file had been something she asked Li Mingyu to help collect during the New Year holidays.

She had spent quite a bit of effort convincing her—promising over and over, swearing up and down—before Li Mingyu finally agreed to help dig up the information.

It had taken several days.

She only got word the day before yesterday that the documents had been left at the Jiangzhou University shop and she could go pick them up.

Li Mingyu had also warned her sternly not to let them be leaked.

Jiang Ning had readily agreed.

Then stuffed the documents into her backpack and, honestly, forgot about them.

Until she saw Luo Chengming show up today—then she waited for the classroom to empty out before pulling them out to study.

She skimmed through them.

Though the file only contained a few pages, the contents were substantial.

It included how Hongsheng Group got started, all of its current business projects, an overview of the group, management personnel, and even personality profiles.

But what surprised Jiang Ning the most was that the file contained a rough overview of Hongsheng Group’s tax records over the past five years.

On the surface, everything looked balanced.

Some years, it even showed a loss.

But Jiang Ning wasn’t stupid. She’d been around companies like this in her past life.

And for groups like this, the most common way to avoid taxes was exactly this—
Faking the books to look like everything balanced out, maybe even showing a slight loss each year.

That way, they could avoid paying a huge amount in taxes.

This was a well-known trick in later years.

The local tax authorities usually didn’t investigate too thoroughly.
After all, pushing a company too hard could drive it out of town—which would also hurt the local economy.

However…

From Jiang Ning’s perspective, this was a potential leverage point.

Not enough for a killing blow, but at the right moment, it could serve as the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

She continued reading.

With a pen, Jiang Ning circled a few relationships within Luo Chengming’s family.

His father, Luo Guosheng, 59 years old, a native of Jiangzhou. Years ago, he ran a snack shop, then somehow got hold of a small machine.

He modified it to become a snack food processing machine.

That machine was how the predecessor of Hongsheng Group got started.

Rumor had it, that machine still sat in the chairman’s office to this day.

His mother, Shang Jie, 35 years old, was Luo Guosheng’s third wife. She had one son and one daughter with him: Luo Zhengyang (8) and Luo Mingyue (9).

Luo Chengming was the child of the second wife.
Above him, he had a sister from the first wife who had just recently married—into the Fenghua Group’s second son.

Reading that, Jiang Ning’s brows furrowed slightly.

Taking down a single Hongsheng Group? That she might have some confidence in.

But if multiple families were tied up in intermarriage and business alliances…

That would be troublesome.

Still.

Right now it was only Fenghua Group involved, and even then, it was just the second son.

Manageable.

Nothing she couldn’t handle.

Then.

When Jiang Ning noticed that Hongsheng Group’s main business was in food, she let out a small breath of relief.

If the group had been involved in something more specialized, cross-industry sabotage would’ve been trickier.

But since their main business aligned…

Well, this could get interesting.

Still.

The reality was cold and hard.

With her current strength, taking on a behemoth like Hongsheng Group head-on would be like throwing eggs at a stone.

So for now, the most important thing was to protect that little rascal Qi while expanding her own capital as much as possible.

Once she reached a certain level—

Crushing Hongsheng Group might just take a single word.

While Jiang Ning was immersed in plotting her future, a curious voice spoke beside her.

“Jiang Jiang, what are you looking at?”

Startled, Jiang Ning hurriedly stuffed the papers into the drawer.

But the visitor had still caught a glimpse.

“Luo Chengming?”

“Jiang Jiang, isn’t that the new guy from Class 13?”

“What, you know him?”

Facing Qi Wen’s question, Jiang Ning had no intention of letting her in on what she was up to. She quickly shook her head.

“Of course not.”

“You saw wrong.”

Qi Wen pouted, clearly not buying it.

“Liar. I saw you mark a big X over his name!”

“Tell me, did he piss you off? Want me to help?”

Help?

I’m trying to keep you away, girl!

At the mention of this, Jiang Ning couldn’t help but think of Qi Wen’s tragic fate in her past life—and of that paralyzed girl in Second High in this life.

Her mood turned sour.

“This is my business. Don’t ask.”

Just one sentence.

Qi Wen’s smile froze.

“W-what do you mean…?”

Jiang Ning realized she might’ve been too harsh and quickly dialed back her attitude.

“I…”

Before she could finish, Qi Wen turned and walked away.

“Jiang Ning!”

“You bastard!!”

Hearing Qi Wen’s angry scolding and watching her run out without looking back, Jiang Ning suddenly realized she had done something incredibly stupid.

Qi Wen had only been trying to help, and she’d coldly shoved her away.

If that wasn’t stupid, then what was?

Jiang Ning immediately stood up, stuffed the confidential documents into the desk, and hurriedly chased after her.

As soon as she got out the door, Qi Wen was nowhere to be seen.

She quickly grabbed a passing boy and asked,
“Hey! Did you see Qi Wen?”

The boy looked startled for a moment, then pointed toward the stairs.
“She… she went downstairs, I think…”

“Thanks.”

Tossing out a quick thank-you, Jiang Ning rushed down the stairs.

She finally caught up with her at the emergency exit on the first floor.

Before she could say anything, Qi Wen’s reddened eyes glared back at her.

“What do you want!?”

“Let go of me!”

She tried to shake Jiang Ning’s hand off as she spoke.

But at this critical moment, how could Jiang Ning possibly let go?

She tightened her grip and quickly said,
“Wenwen, let me explain!”

“Explain? Explain what? I don’t need your explanation.”

Qi Wen’s words stabbed into Jiang Ning’s heart like a needle.

While feeling wronged, her anger also flared up.

Damn it!

Wasn’t all this for your sake?

And now you’re throwing a tantrum at me?

In a burst of frustration, Jiang Ning grabbed Qi Wen’s wrists and shoved her up against the wall.

Then she pressed her body against Qi Wen’s and growled,
“Can you stop freaking out?!”

Seeing Qi Wen struggle even harder, Jiang Ning panicked.

In a low, repressed voice, she quickly spilled the truth about what Luo Chengming had done at No. 2 High School—and his sick little hobbies.

She summarized it in just a few sentences.

When she finished, Jiang Ning realized that the resistance from Qi Wen’s hands had silently disappeared.

Qi Wen just leaned back against the wall, head lowered, silent.

After a long while, Qi Wen suddenly looked up, her beautiful eyes filled with tears as she stared at Jiang Ning.

“How do you know?”

“A classmate at No. 2 saw it with her own eyes.”

“And what happened to that girl?”

“Paralyzed… She’ll never walk again for the rest of her life…”

“Then why did you yell at me?”

“I… I… I’m sorry…”

With that apology, Jiang Ning let go of Qi Wen’s hands and stood there silently, head down.

The two stood in silence for a while.

Then Qi Wen softly murmured,
“You were worried about me, weren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“I understand now. I won’t blame you anymore.”

“Okay.”

“I won’t get lured away by him.”

“And… you won’t be mad at me anymore, okay?”

Qi Wen’s sudden shift in mood caught Jiang Ning off guard. She looked up in surprise—right into those glistening eyes.

And then… she was stunned.

At the same time.

Upstairs in the corridor, Director Liu Liang just happened to walk by and heard voices coming from the emergency exit.

He knew this area was a notorious spot for couples sneaking off to meet.

His steps immediately shifted.

With a stern face and burning anger, he headed straight for the emergency stairwell.

The lenient handling of the last couple had made him, the discipline director, lose face.

Rumors about the decline of discipline at No. 1 High School, and the “rampant dating culture” had even reached his ears.

Some woman from No. 2 High even thoughtfully sent him a list of the “Top 10 Dangers of Puppy Love.”

He’d been so pissed he swore that the next time he caught a couple, they’d face real punishment—no more soft handling.

He wasn’t about to lose his reputation as No. 1 High’s strictest discipline director!

And now…

The chance had come.

He hadn’t even reached the scene yet, but his furious voice echoed down the stairwell:

“You two in the emergency exit! Stay right there!!”

But when Liu Liang got downstairs and saw two girls standing in the corridor…

His expression froze.

But he was already there—he couldn’t not say something.

However…

The moment he recognized the two startled faces in front of him…

He himself was dumbfounded.

These two girls…

One was a rising star in literature and the arts, personally monitored by school leadership. She’d even helped the school get through the last inspection.

And the other?

The top scorer in the city’s Math Olympiad. A genius the prestigious Provincial No. 14 High was actively trying to recruit.

Rumor had it she’d be representing Jiangzhou City in the provincial Olympiad soon.

So right now, Director Liu’s face went through an instant transformation, and he spoke in a tone softer than he’d ever used in his life:

“Girls, were you… sharing some secrets?”

“This place is a bit drafty and chilly. If you want to talk, why not head to my office?”

“It’s got heating… really cozy…”

As he spoke, he even took a key out of his pocket to prove his sincerity and handed it over.

In the stairwell…

Jiang Ning looked at the offered key.

And for some reason, she felt like laughing.

And then she really did laugh.

Unrestrained, carefree, her laughter echoed through the corridor.

Then, right in front of the director—

Jiang Ning gently cupped Qi Wen’s face,

And planted a big, smacking kiss on her soft, pale cheek.

Smooch…
(End of Chapter)