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Chapter 2: News

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

One of Lu Baobao’s hands was under the table, scrolling through a pink cellphone which had been a present for her 16th birthday. It was covered in rhinestones and was a clearly girlish phone.

When the phone screen lit up at that moment, Jiang Se lowered her head to look and saw the news headlines. In Europe, many supercars were racing against the police. It was believed that the culprits were Huaxia citizens.

The cover photo of the article was a white sports car with a superior design. In the photo that had been captured by satellite, there was a blurry figure in one corner of the car bonnet. It was a custom-designed symbol. The words “Pei Yi” were on the tip of Jiang Se’s tongue, but she did not utter them.

Lu Baobao shook the phone in her hand. When she saw Jiang Se looking at it, she stole a careful glance at the English teacher in front and inched closer to her friend.

“Sese, have you seen the headlines?” When she finished, she could not suppress her curiosity and followed up with another whisper, “The news says that these people driving the luxury cars are from our country. We sure do have many rich people.”

Jiang Se remained silent, so Lu Baobao elbowed her.

“Hey, who do you think these people are?” She tapped on the white sports car with her fountain pen. “I’ve done some research last night. This car costs at least this much,” She put the fountain pen down and spread her fingers to make a “five”. $50,000,000.

However, Jiang Se thought inwardly, ‘Not even close.’

This was a custom-made sports car that was one of a kind. It was flashy in appearance, and it had a handsome price tag as well.

“I’m reminded of the ‘Feast of the Kings’ last year.” Lu Baobao was trying to shoot Jiang Se a look. She was referring to the entertainment industry scandal that had shocked Huaxia last year. “Do you think that there are beautiful models or celebrities in these cars? First, they play with sports cars. Next, they’ll play with women.”

“That’s enough,” Jiang Se reminded her because their hushed conversation had attracted the English teacher’s attention. Nevertheless, Lu Baobao wanted to continue the conversation. She looked up and saw the English teacher frowning at them slightly. She stuck her tongue out and stuffed her phone back under her desk, not making any more sound.

However, just because Lu Baobao did not dare pursue the topic during class, it did not mean that she had forgotten about it.

The second the bell for recess rang, she whipped her phone out again, tugged at Jiang Se, and started talking excitedly, “If this person can afford to drive a sports car in this price range, there’s no way the celebrity sitting inside is a small-timer, is there? During last year’s ‘Feast of the Kings’, the rich celebrities caught on camera on that yacht were there in droves...”

Jiang Se’s eyelids twitched. “Your dad must’ve regretted giving you that phone.”

Lu Baobao did not even look up as she was busy scrolling through the photos. “Don’t be stupid. My dad doesn’t know about this.”

The photos on her phone were similar to those that Jiang Se had seen on last night’s news. The original models of the various sports cars were introduced at the end, and Lu Baobao was studying them intently. Meanwhile, Jiang Se sat there quietly for a while.

“That place is close to Bordeaux.”

“What? Bo...” Lu Baobao looked up, staring at Jiang Se with her huge eyes. “Where’s that?”

“Bordeaux, Bor-d-eaux.” When Jiang Se saw that she was still puzzled, she added, “It’s where they make wine.”

Lu Baobao was hit with a sudden realization and she smacked the table. “Oh, that place!”

Jiang Se could not help but giggle. However, when she mentioned the words “wine”, she had the urge to sigh instead.

While Lu Baobao was still chattering away beside her, Jiang Se was thinking of Pei Yi.

Pei Yi was the eldest grandson of one of her grandfather’s, Feng Zhongliang’s, top brass. He was the apple of the Pei family’s eye.

When she followed Feng Zhongliang back to Huaxia from Hong Kong, she met him when they visited the Pei family.

Feng Nan was five years older than Pei Yi, and they had been close ever since they were kids. She treated him as a younger brother.

However, they had a quarrel last month. In the heat of the moment, he left for France with a bunch of his friends.

He had a villa in France that his family bought for him two years ago. The two of them had promised to go to France when it was time to harvest the grapes, but before he returned, she had turned into Jiang Se.

When she thought about this, she felt slightly crestfallen, and the smile on her face faded as well.

Her quarrel with Pei Yi was only a small matter. He was the Pei family’s treasure and had been spoilt since young, so he was arrogant and rebellious. She was the only girl whom he was willing to get close to.

Although he was the eldest son of the current generation, the Pei family had always said that he needed an older sister around him.

On the day of their quarrel, she had a meal with the heir of the Jianghua Group. When she came back, she had a quarrel with Pei Yi who had been waiting for her back home.

Although he was brash, he would usually back down when it came to her. However, she did not expect him to turn around and leave after their fight the other day. This was the first instance of that happening ever since the two of them knew each other.

“What’re you thinking about?” Lu Baobao could not resist nudging Jiang Se. “You’ve been holding that English book for half a day now.”

She had talked until her mouth and tongue were dry, yet she got no reply. She only realized that Jiang Se was not even looking at her cellphone when she looked up. “Are you even listening?”

Jiang Se shook her head. “Forget about those. We have a couple of minutes before the next class, which is math. Don’t let anyone catch you playing with your phone.”

When Lu Baobao heard this, she stuck her tongue out again. She quickly locked her phone and stuffed it into her pocket. Then, she reached out and flipped the textbook under her desk, fiddling with it for a long while. Finally, she could not suppress her curiosity, so she looked up and asked, “Who do you think those people are?”

Jiang Se was not in the mood to discuss such matters with her right now because she was fretting about her own concerns.

The matter with Pei Yi aside, she was now Jiang Se. Aside from being younger and prettier, she did not have any other advantage.

When she woke up the other day, half of her face was swollen. After the incident, she found out from Du Honghong that she had bickered with Du You the night before, so Du Changqun had given her a slap which knocked her out.

The original Jiang Se was a child from a previous marriage to the Du family and nobody in the family liked her. Now, Jiang Se had to deal with her fate.

That morning, she overheard the conversation between Du Changqun and Zhou Hui. Although she was about to sit for the National College Entrance Examination, she reckoned that Du Changqun would not pay for her college education. Nonetheless, she would have to study besides having to figure a way out for herself. Jiang Se took out the mathematics book and placed it on her desk. The end of term exams was just around the corner, but Jiang Se’s mathematics book was as good as new. She flipped through it casually and could not find a single scribble of notes.

Lu Baobao chuckled. “Are you making a last-minute effort?”

Then, she pouted. “Darn it. Saturday’s ‘Rescue Mission’ will be filmed in Shen Villa. I want to go and check it out.”

“Just go then.”

With Jiang Se’s reply, Lu Baobao hugged her arm and pressed it to her breasts to rub against herself.

“That won’t work on me.” She pushed Lu Baobao’s face way with her free hand.

However, Lu Baobao wore a pleading expression as she begged, “The National College Entrance Examination is just around the corner and my dad’s working me like a mule. He wants me to do my revision at home every day. Save me, please.”

“You should be asking your mother.” Jiang Se was humored by her sympathy-garnering expression. Lu Baobao straightened up and swayed her friend’s arm.

When she saw that Jiang Se was still unresponsive after she tried her puppy dog eyes, she persuaded again, “Come to my house and tell my dad that you’re going to the library with me. He’ll say yes for sure. Then, you can come with me to Shen Villa!”