Chapter 403-404

Chapter 403: Destroyed the Last Shreds of Sympathy ... Ever since offending the Su family, Yun Yuanfeng had been in a bad mood. Yun Xi had heard that someone from the Su family had put pressure on and taken several projects from Yun Yuanfeng. Taking away these projects was equivalent to cutting off a hefty chunk of his income for Yun Yuanfeng. The end of the year was approaching, and everyone was at their busiest. This was the time of year when Yun Yuanfeng’s department made the most money. It was a pity that they had offended the Su family at this juncture. He was extremely fortunate to have this position, let alone being able to make a fortune. 　 　 But this sort of matter couldn’t be predicted or expected, so Yun Yuanfeng had no choice but to keep a low profile for the time being. He resented Liang Xiuqin for the huge trouble she had brought upon him. When Yun Xi came back home, she heard that Liang Xiuqin’s health club had been smashed up. Frightened, Liang Xiuqin had run back to the compound, but she had been stopped by the sentry and, no matter how hard she begged, no one dared to let her in. Yun Xi heard that later Liang Xiuqin had run to beg the second aunt to intercede with the old man and let her return to the Yun family’s house. Yun Xi knew that her second aunt definitely wouldn’t help her return. Yao Ying had been bullied by her for so many years. If Liang Xiuqin had had a conscience before, Yao Ying wouldn’t have refused to help her. It was a pity that because of her own actions, she’d destroyed the last shreds of sympathy people had for her. ... Registration for the middle-school English competition began, and, from the preliminary to the final, the competition lasted two months. Jing High School put great emphasis on its English curriculum, and the competition results had become an important reference for middle school students in entering high school, receiving bonus points, studying abroad, and priority in college admissions. Although it was a foreign language, because Jing High School had a rigorous curriculum, its students’ English skills weren’t bad, and many people signed up for the competition. The school held a round of quizzes and screenings, then sent those with the best grades to the preliminary round. 　 　 English was Zhao Yumo’s strength. As soon as the rankings for the entire grade came out, Yun Xi felt a little confused. Zhou Chengzhe, who was usually ranked first in the entire grade, was ranked fifth. Yun Xi got first place, Zhao Yumo got second place, Zhou Chengzhe’s deputy monitor Xie Wensi got third place, Li Sinuo got fourth place, and Zhou Chengzhe got fifth place. It wasn’t surprising to Yun Xi that Li Sinuo could squeeze in. After all, Li Sinuo’s grades weren’t bad, and she was repeating the grade, so her Chinese and English grades were better than those of their classmates. Surprisingly, Zhou Chengzhe fell to fifth place, and she, the second place incumbent, robbed him of first place. At the same time, the school’s test results for the biology competition also came out. Unlike Zhao Yumo, Yun Xi wouldn’t purposely answer questions with Zhou Chengzhe’s academic abilities in mind. She didn’t know how strong Zhou Chengzhe was academic, so she could only show her true academic abilities. As soon as the rankings came out, she saw that she had gotten first place and Zhou Chengzhe had gotten third place. She vaguely sensed that this was bad news. Although just one test didn’t mean anything, as soon as class started on Monday, rumors started to spread that Yun Xi and Zhao Yumo had always been academically capable, but they had always gotten second and third places out of pity for Zhou Chengzhe’s impoverished family background. It wasn’t a big deal at first, since these kinds of unfounded rumors always started. Individual tests depend on academic strength and academic performance for that specific test, so various factors were at play. 　 　 If it had been someone else, they would’ve treated it as academic stars being competitive toward each other or as pure luck. But when this sort of thing befell Zhou Chengzhe, who had been born into a poor family, it was always bad news. Because of his background, Zhou Chengzhe had more pride than anyone else. He desperately tried to get the highest grades every time because he didn’t want to be looked down upon just because of his family background. Yun Xi had reminded Zhao Yumo early on that she couldn’t always be the second place incumbent, lest Zhou Chengzhe find out, and since his pride was too strong, he might even resent her for pitying him. Occasionally, it was necessary for people to be a little unpredictable, so others wouldn’t be able to figure them out. Now, all hell broke loose because someone started a rumor that they had pitied Zhou Chengzhe and looked down on him because of his poverty. Wouldn’t that be humiliating to Zhou Chengzhe, denying his abilities and shaming him? Obviously, they didn’t mean that at all, but with the terrifying power that rumors had, they suddenly became the center of a scandal. Yun Xi always stayed away from people like Zhou Chengzhe. In her previous life, men like him were usually ruthless social climbers. In her previous life, Han Yaotian also had low self-esteem because of his status as an illegitimate child, and the slightest bruise to his ego could set off his insecurity. *** Chapter 404: Beware Of Reaching The Sky in one step, Lest You Tumble To Death Just As Quickly! ... After the second period ended, Zhou Chengzhe ran to Class 3 to find Yun Xi because he simply couldn’t stand it anymore. Throughout the entire grade level, rumors have it that he only got the first place because Zhao Yumo and Yun Xi were purposely letting him. “They are obviously more academically gifted than you, but they get second place every time only because they’re purposely letting you!” “It’s probably because they feel sorry for you since you’re family is so poor!” “If you hadn’t been their charity case, would you be where you are today?” “...” The derisive taunts of their classmates bruised Zhou Chengzhe’s ego. He studied so hard for so long and finally managed to get first place every semester. 　 　 He was used to being praised by all his teachers and envied by his classmates. Yet now that the two of them did better than him on the exam, they became smug and arrogant, then deliberately spread rumors that belittled all his past achievements and hard efforts! His family indeed wasn’t as rich as theirs, but how dare they bully him so ruthlessly? “Yun Xi, what do you and Zhao Yumo mean by spreading such rumors? You two simply did better than me on one test out of pure luck, so do you two need to deliberately slander me like this? One good test score doesn’t mean that you’ll test well every time. Beware of reaching the sky in one step, lest you tumble to death just as quickly!” Zhou Chengzhe believed that Yun Xi and Zhao Yumo scored higher than him on this quiz purely out of good luck. Not only didn’t they keep a low profile, but they brazenly seized this opportunity to spread rumors to belittle him and humiliate him! In his opinion, they weren’t as academically gifted as him, but much more haughty and self-complacent han him. People like them will suffer once they fall down from their high position! But what he didn’t know was that their good grades weren’t due to luck, but rather the fact that they were actually much more academically talented than him! Moreover, they didn’t spread the rumors at all even though they really were purposely letting him score higher than them before! With an innocent expression on her face, Yun Xi stared at Zhou Chengzhe, who had always been too arrogant to talk to them but uttered such astonishing statements upon speaking to her for the first time. He really was exactly how she perceived him! Zhou Chengzhe was a narcissistic and pompous social climber that couldn’t resist aggressively confronting her as soon as things went wrong. Moreover, he spoke harshly. “Mr. Zhou, aren’t you overthinking things? We did well in the exam purely out of good luck. When did we slander you? These rumors are all based on hearsay, so who knows who deliberately spread these misleading rumors to create drama? How could you believe in them?” “Who else could it be besides you two? Although my family isn’t as well off, that doesn’t mean I need to become your charity case! I rely on my own abilities, while all you two do is rely on your families. What right do you two have to humiliate me!” 　 　 “Mr. Zhou, when you heard the rumors, you immediately came to confront me before you even got the facts straight. When did I humiliate you? When did I make you my charity case? Where is the evidence? When we don’t perform as well as you on they exam, you say we’re deliberately doing so out of charity. When we perform better than you on the exam, you say we’re seizing the opportunity to slander and shame you. Therefore, what exactly are you trying to do?” Speaking of this, Yun Xi became vaguely aware that someone was secretly using Zhou Chengzhe’s bad performance on this exam to create drama. In the past, when Zhou Chengzhe scored first place in the entire grade while she and Zhao Yumo scored second and third respectively, no one would say anything. Now that the two of them scored first and second place respectively, rumors that Zhou Chengzhe was their charity case starting circulating. It was a perfect way to hurt Zhou Chengzhe’s pride and self-esteem while manipulating Zhou Chengzhe to attack both of them! Once things get blown our of proportion or trouble erupts, it is very likely that all three of them will get disqualified from the competition. If the top three academic stars in the grade year get disqualified, for the rest of the students, the chance of winning would be much greater. By manipulating the three of them, one could kill three birds with one stone. There were many suspects for the culprit behind the rumors. The suspects included all those who were participating in the competition, as well as the top-ranking students for this quiz. Finally, Yun Xi decided to focus on Li Sinuo. “The three of us will compete against each other. If you two lose, you two will have to apologize to me in front of all the seniors and explain the matter clearly! Otherwise, I won’t let you two off the hook!” Yun Xi couldn’t help but sneer. “How do you want to compete?”