novelraw Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Chapter 24
That happened on the very day after the reshuffle.
As the former Kindergarten Boss, Xu Feifei had always had two best friends at her side.
By "best friends" Xu Feifei meant true best-friend level; everyone else was just an ordinary friend.
One of them was called Sisi, the other Jiajia.
But when they entered elementary school, Sisi was assigned to Class Three. She made new friends; although she still greeted Xu Feifei whenever they ran into each other, they no longer spent weekends or recess together because of the difference in family circumstances, and eventually the friendship cooled.
The other one was Jiajia. After starting elementary school she still stayed by Xu Feifei's side; calling her the very best of besties would not have been an exaggeration.
Yet this time the class-transfer list happened to include Jiajia's name.
Xu Feifei froze when she saw it: "Jiajia, you're going to Class Two?"
Zhang Jiajia looked unhappy after seeing the list.
Seeing her best friend like this, Xu Feifei straightened her back and tried to cheer her up: "It's fine—Class Two is right next door. We can still play together during recess! Want me to help you carry your books over?"
Zhang Jiajia smiled. "Thanks, Feifei." She glanced teasingly at the transfer sheet. "What about Liu Wenjie? Was he moved?"
Xu Feifei put on an expression of disgust and gave a soft snort. "I just looked—no, he's still in Class One."
Zhang Jiajia covered her mouth and laughed. "Then you won't be bored, Feifei."
Xu Feifei didn't know what face to make as the two best friends carried the books to Class Two together.
They were chatting about how they would play together during recess when they suddenly heard voices discussing someone in the distance—several boys.
"The Class One class president got a perfect score again? Seriously? Wasn't the test supposed to be really hard? He must've cheated."
"Who knows? But some people say the Class One class president is pretty tight with his homeroom teacher. Their homeroom teacher often calls Liu Wenjie to the office, so whether the teacher changed his grades is anybody's guess."
"Anyway, getting first place every single time is just weird. Our class president is so smart and even he hasn't gotten many perfect scores..."
Xu Feifei couldn't hold back the moment she heard that; without thinking she clenched her fists and shouted:
"Quit talking nonsense! Liu Wenjie would never cheat! He earned every point on his own! Those questions are super hard for you, but for him they're easy as pie!"
The boys turned toward Xu Feifei. "Who are you? What's it to you?"
Veins bulged on Xu Feifei's forehead. These guys didn't recognize her—had she fallen so low?
"Never mind who I am! I won't let you bad-mouth Liu Wenjie! Besides, our homeroom teacher would never change Liu Wenjie's grades for him! He doesn't need anyone to change them!"
The girls, not used to seeing a girl this fierce, fell silent.
Her best friend soothed her: "Feifei, let it go, just ignore them."
Xu Feifei was still angry; she gave a cold snort.
"Mainly because those guys are talking rubbish! That jerk is super annoying, but cheating? He'd never stoop that low—they're underestimating him."
Her best friend thought to herself that Feifei really did care about Liu Wenjie; after all, she'd never beaten him after battling for years.
What no one knew was that Liu Wenjie happened to be walking past the classroom right then.
Being envied and slandered for good grades is common in school, but Liu Wenjie had the mind-set of an adult and paid no attention.
Just the weak squawking of weaklings.
Yet it truly surprised him that Xu Feifei always stood up for him.
And it wasn't once or twice—he knew of at least three or four times.
That evening Liu Wenjie went home for dinner. After parting with little Xia Ying, he happened to overhear his dad and mom talking about phones.
They said mobile phones had developed so fast these years that big cities were already switching to all-in-one models.
Boss Xu's factory had been losing money for two straight years; according to Dad, Boss Xu was now at a fatal crossroads.
Either bet that the all-in-one trend might vanish in a few years and keep stockpiling Universal-Charger-related goods,
or bite the bullet and pivot entirely—costly, but it might open a new path.
Liu Wenjie was shocked at how quickly the phone market shifted in this world; in his original world the transition had taken about ten years.
How long had it taken here?
When one industry declines, another rises in its place.
Times really do move in cycles. The former Kindergarten Boss, Xu Feifei, was no longer so outstanding in an elementary school that valued grades.
Her family circumstances had also taken a hit. On the surface everything looked the same,
but Liu Wenjie noticed the girl's clothes, food, and gifts were no longer so lavish.
Worst of all, after the reshuffle, the class gained a nouveau-riche girl named Jiang Rao, whose family supposedly made digital photo frames and had struck it rich these past two years.
Liu Wenjie figured that industry was even more fleeting—back in his original world, digital photo frames were obsolete almost instantly.
With high commodity taxes and rapid development in this world, anyone making an extra day's profit ought to thank heaven.
As for Jiang Rao, her personality was far worse than Xu Feifei's—extravagant and showy. Xu Feifei might be loud, but she never used wealth to influence others.
Jiang Rao was different. She routinely paid classmates to do her homework and didn't care a whit about damaging other people's things.
Whether she compensated you depended entirely on her mood, and she was extremely cliquish.
Strangely, Jiang Rao wasn't so arrogant toward Liu Wenjie alone.
Liu Wenjie didn't know why, but Jiang Rao herself did.
One week after the transfer, the flamboyant Jiang Rao clashed with a girl from the neighboring class—things escalated into a physical fight.
Liu Wenjie happened to pass by and stopped the two girls with a single "Stop arguing!"
As the top student in the grade, Liu Wenjie had enormous influence among the students; even the teachers sided with him unconditionally.
After all, the kid who ranked first by a wide margin was the focus of every teacher, and they knew his character best.
Jiang Rao looked at Liu Wenjie. "She bumped into me first!"
Liu Wenjie glanced at her impatiently, as if asking, Don't you know how this started?
"Back to class!"
Jiang Rao stared blankly at Liu Wenjie's eyes—nothing like a boy her own age.
There were plenty of boys who studied well, handsome boys, and daring boys,
but only Liu Wenjie combined all three.
Given her personality, Jiang Rao should have refused, yet she couldn't say a word. Blushing, she avoided Liu Wenjie's gaze, led her clique back to the classroom in a huff, and said nothing more.
On her way back, Jiang Rao happened to see Xu Feifei, who had heard Liu Wenjie was breaking up a fight, rushing out in a panic, muttering, "That guy didn't go pick a fight, did he?! Why not just call a teacher? What if he gets hurt?!"
......
A month after the reshuffle, a major incident occurred: Xu Feifei beat the vice president in the cafeteria so badly he had to be taken to the hospital with a bleeding head.