Chapter 175: Reception Girl Jiang

Not sure if it’s like this at every school, but for graduating seniors, schools always organize a pre-exam pep rally before the college entrance exams.

It’s as if only those who’ve been through this rally
can perform exceptionally in the exam hall.

Like today—
June 6th.

A good day.

Under clear blue skies, Jiangzhou No.1 High School’s pre-exam pep rally was being held on the athletic field.

Since this rally was only for graduating seniors,
underclassmen like Jiang Ning could only stay in their classrooms, attending class while hearing bursts of applause from outside.

In a daze, Jiang Ning thought back to the pep rally she’d attended in her previous life.

If she remembered correctly— first the principal gave a speech, then a student representative,
then the parent of that student representative.

Yes, the parent.

She remembered clearly: that year, the speaker was the mother of the top student in the grade.
A very dignified middle-aged woman, fluent in standard Mandarin with no accent—clearly someone from a well-off family.

Though her content was a bit sleep-inducing.

Finally, after the speeches, the school held a balloon release event.

The elegant name? “Letting dreams fly.”

Yeah…

Write your dreams on the balloons, release them, and then… they’re gone?

Anyway, after going through the whole process,
it was usually nearly noon.

Jiang Ning wasn’t particularly interested, but she couldn’t resist the curiosity of her nosy girlfriends.

The moment class ended, they crowded to the window, peering toward the athletic field.

Since the field was to the northeast of their teaching building, Jiang Ning’s window had a perfect view.

So the current scene was—three girls’ heads crammed onto one meter-wide windowsill, two more leaning on another one.

“The seniors have it rough,”
“Exams are tomorrow, and they still get dragged out to suffer today.”

Hearing Sun Qian’s comment, Luo Shanshan and Zhu Hui nodded in agreement.

Just then, Qi Wen, who was leaning on another window, suddenly pointed at the tree-lined path leading to the field.

“Hey, look—isn’t someone over there?”

Hmm?

Jiang Ning was the first to follow her line of sight.

Sure enough, under the bamboo grove, two shadowy figures stood close together.

From their posture and movements, the two were practically pressed against each other.

“Whoa, someone really is there!”

“What are they doing?”

“No idea!”

The three innocent girls voiced their confusion.

Only Jiang Ning had a knowing smile.

“Maybe… they’re eating ice cream jelly?”

With that one line, everyone’s cheeks flushed red.

Except for Tian Yawen, who had just squeezed in and hadn’t caught the mood. She asked blankly,
“What’s wrong?”
“What’s ice cream jelly?”

But—
no one answered her.

Moments later, thunderous applause erupted from the field, drawing all their gazes.

Up in the sky, dozens of colorful hydrogen balloons had appeared.

One by one, seniors released them into the sky.

Within a few breaths, the balloons were already high above, drifting in the same direction with the wind.

At first glance, the scene was unexpectedly poetic.

For a moment, everyone’s eyes were fixed on the balloons.

Even Jiang Ning, who had seen it before,
couldn’t help being drawn in.

As the balloons soared higher, passing over the rooftop, a breeze suddenly swept through the girls’ hair.

At that moment, Jiang Ning thought about two years from now, when she would also write her dreams on a balloon on that same field—
then release it and watch it vanish into the sky.

For some reason, a trace of melancholy crept in.

And then, she opened her mouth
and began to sing softly in a voice as clear as spring water:

“When I first encountered this world,
I couldn’t bear to leave it behind,
Watching the distant sky so close to my eyes,
Still willing to walk through fire and water to go there again…”

“…I once couldn’t pull myself from the vastness of the world, Was immersed in dreamlike speech,
Couldn’t tell truth from lies, made no struggle, feared no ridicule…”

Jiang Ning didn’t finish the song.

She only sang a part—
because the class bell suddenly rang, interrupting her thoughts.

Emotions, once broken, are hard to reconnect.

Force it, and it’s just patchwork.

So Jiang Ning sighed naturally and turned to return to her seat.

But when she turned around, she was surprised to see her entire group of girlfriends, including Tian Yawen, staring at her with shock and awe.

“Jiang Jiang, your singing is so good!” Luo Shanshan murmured.

Then she suddenly remembered something.

“But why did you lie and say you couldn’t sing?”

Cough cough cough…

This girl…

Jiang Ning chose to ignore her and started walking back.

Just then, Sun Qian suddenly asked,
“Wait—what’s that song called? I’ve never heard it.”

Before she could answer,
Qi Wen, who had been silent, softly said:

“‘The Wind Rises.’”

“Huh? That name sounds familiar…”
Sun Qian instinctively turned to exchange glances with Zhu Hui.

“Isn’t that the song from Jiang Jiang’s new album Another World she released a few days ago?”

Qi Wen nodded.

Then Tian Yawen raised her question,
“Wait, wasn’t that song not officially released yet?”

“Yeah, I think so!” Zhu Hui added in surprise.

“I heard the preview version—it sounded nice, so I learned a few lines…”
Jiang Ning casually made something up, then exchanged a glance with the only one who knew the truth—Qi Wen—and playfully winked.

In fact, Jiang Ning knew there had been no promotional announcement for the song’s release.

Back then, Liao Liao had explained the plan:
drop a song or two as a surprise attack to shake up the major charts.

Judging by the quality of the five songs Jiang Ning had given her, any one of them could dominate the charts for a while.

An opening move that was a royal flush.

Once the rankings got disrupted, other entertainment companies would surely jump in to stir things up.

Then Top Entertainment would drop the remaining three lead tracks in one go—
a decisive blow.

Because the other companies wouldn’t know if Jiang Ning had more hits in hand.

What if she had more?

Then all the other songs released around the same time would just be background noise.

Who would accept that?

After all, any song being promoted by a major label was gunning for those very charts.

So—

Before the others even realized what was happening, Top Entertainment would’ve already taken over the top half of the summer music charts.

Letting “Jiang Jiang” leap directly from fourth- and third-tier status to the threshold of becoming a quasi-second-tier singer.

As long as that step was achieved, the plan would be considered a success.

Back then, Liao Liao’s vivid description had stirred Jiang Ning’s blood a bit.

But thinking back on it later—

Wasn’t this basically taking advantage of chaos to sneak in?

She made it sound all grand and heroic, like going into battle.

——

At noon.

Because the school needed to prepare the exam rooms in the afternoon, the three-day holiday effectively began as soon as the morning classes ended.

After school, Jiang Ning said goodbye to her “concubines,”

then loaded a plastic bag stuffed with exam papers into the basket of her e-bike

and leisurely pedaled off toward her mom’s shop.

Whether it was because of what she was paying attention to or not,

along the way,

Jiang Ning surprisingly spotted several Xiaoning Electric Bicycles on the road.

But most of them were Xiaoning No. 3s.

Very few people had bought No. 1 or No. 2.

Especially No. 1—

That clunky shape and the price of over two thousand…

But Jiang Ning understood.

If she wanted electric bikes to become as widespread as in her past life in a short time,

she couldn’t rely on herself alone.

She’d have to wait for that money-god-level fortune-bringing policy to be issued.

When that day came—

With the “motorcycle ban” in place and the market already primed,

Jiang Ning could almost see endless wealth surging toward her like waves.

By then,

not to mention becoming the richest person in Jiangzhou City,

she might even rank in the top ten.

Before long,

when Jiang Ning returned to her mother’s shop,

she happened to run into Aunt Huang peering around outside the door.

“Hey! Aunt Huang, what are you looking at?”

“Huh? Oh, Ningning.”

“I’m waiting for my little rascal to come home for lunch.”

“It’s almost twelve, and he’s still not back.”

Oh.

Unless something unexpected happened, that little brat was probably playing with mud in some corner somewhere.

“He’s probably held up with something.”

“Don’t worry, Aunt Huang.”

“He should be back any minute now.”

At that moment,

the shop door was suddenly pushed open,

and her mother’s figure stepped out from inside.

“Amei, how about going to look for him?”

“Xiaokai’s only ten, that really mischievous age.”

“Ningning can just watch the shop for you for a bit.”

Hearing that,

Aunt Huang thought it over and agreed.

She nodded,

then looked apologetically at Jiang Ning.

“Ningning, sorry to trouble you.”

“Auntie will be right back.”

And so,

the future richest woman in Jiangzhou stood at the door of the cloth shoe store like a greeter girl, wearing a fake smile on her face.
(End of chapter)