Chapter 7: 007 Ren Family, Enrollment

Ren Wanxuan had never wanted to judge others with malice, but—

She knew what kind of place Xiangcheng was. The teaching standards at Xiangcheng High School were average, but the Ren family would always hire the best private tutors for her.

As for those with a bit of social standing, most had transferred to places like Beicheng for their schooling.

Who would ever want to come back here?

Just as Ren Wanxuan finished typing, Ji Heng suddenly looked toward the door. "A-Lian is back."

Ji Shaorong paused and turned his head toward the courtyard gate.

A girl pushed the door open and walked in.

With her entrance, it was as if a bolt of lightning had suddenly streaked across the dark, heavy sky.

She wore a light blue top with beige, neatly fastened toggle buttons. The three-quarter sleeves were slightly wide with white auspicious cloud patterns at the cuffs. Below, she wore beige casual trousers that reached her ankles, where lifelike pink apricot blossoms were embroidered, appearing to ripple like pink waves as she walked.

She toyed casually with a pair of white earphones in her hand, and the flash of red on her wrist was like a red plum blossom in the snow.

Ji Shaorong’s gaze fell upon her clothes. He could tell at a glance that the dense, meticulous stitching was the work of Ji Heng’s own hands...

Ji Mulan’s personality had actually produced such a well-behaved daughter.

"This is your Second Uncle," Ji Heng said, pointing his tobacco pipe at Ji Shaorong to introduce him to Bai Lian.

Ren Wanxuan didn't look at this so-called cousin. Her mind was still on other things, so her expression remained indifferent.

Seeing Ji Heng point his pipe at Ji Shaorong again, she frowned slightly.

Having been trained by etiquette teachers hired by the Ren family since childhood, she had learned the etiquette of the Jiangjing nobility. Using a tobacco pipe to point at someone was simply too vulgar; even a servant in the Ren household wouldn't commit such a crude act.

When she was young and first saw Ji Heng take out a chipped blue-and-white porcelain bowl, Ren Wanxuan had told him it was too dirty and unhygienic.

She had been severely scolded by Ji Shaorong for it.

After that, Ji Heng stopped using that bowl to entertain her and bought clean white porcelain bowls instead.

But Ren Wanxuan didn't dare to speak out of turn again. Today, she could only bottle these feelings up and complain to her mother when she got home; her mother rarely let her come to the Ji house anyway.

Bai Lian gripped her earphones, glanced at the "Second Uncle" Ji Heng had mentioned, and curled her lips into a bright, smiling expression: "Hello."

She didn't call him Second Uncle.

Her voice was like the tone of a lightly pressed piano key—clear, ethereal, and hollow. Ren Wanxuan subconsciously turned her head.

She saw a pair of exceptionally beautiful eyes, clear and distinct with a cool, detached clarity.

Looking down at her outfit, which carried an antique charm, Ren Wanxuan had never imagined before meeting her that such outdated clothing could look so good on someone.

Even if Ren Wanxuan didn't want to admit it.

She gripped her phone tightly.

**

"It's rare that you're back," Ji Heng said, not one for many words. He broke the silence and said to Ji Shaorong, "Stay for dinner tonight."

Ren Wanxuan withdrew her gaze. She stood up, her manners refined: "Dad, I still have a private tutoring session; I can't go back too late."

Her peripheral vision drifted toward the water well in the courtyard.

The Ji family used the water from there. Even though the well looked clean, she really didn't want to touch the water here.

That was why she never stayed long whenever she visited, and she had never drunk the water Ji Heng poured for her.

Although Xiangcheng was a bit remote, most of the areas near the city had been re-planned, and the citizens had been provided with disinfected tap water long ago. Yet, Qingshui Street remained exactly the same year after year; no one had started any construction, and the residents still used well water.

Ren Wanxuan had never seen anyone else in this day and age still using well water.

Ji Shaorong looked at her. "Then you go back first; the driver is still waiting for you outside."

"Right," Ji Shaorong remembered something else. "Xuanxuan, this is your cousin. She’s also in her third year of high school and is about to switch from liberal arts to science. You two should exchange contact information."

As he spoke, he looked at Bai Lian. "A-Lian, Xuanxuan studies science too, and her grades are very good. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask her."

Bai Lian lowered her head; she was studying her earphones.

She decided that as soon as she got back to her room, she would take them apart to see how they worked.

After being called out, she lifted her head, looked at Ren Wanxuan, and slowly reached into her pocket for her phone.

Ren Wanxuan squeezed her phone and held down the power button to turn it off.

"Dad, I'm two years younger than her; I'm seventeen this year," she paused, then added, "I was playing games just now, and my phone is out of battery."

"Hello," Ren Wanxuan said, looking directly at Bai Lian, very politely. She took out a certain fruit-brand phone and acted with elegance: "Let's add each other next time."

Bai Lian raised an eyebrow and withdrew her hand.

"Sorry," Ji Shaorong also fell silent for a moment, then said softly to Ren Wanxuan: "You're in your third year of high school, don't play games every day."

Ren Wanxuan didn't reply, just nodded casually and bid farewell to Ji Heng.

The moment she turned around, her smile vanished, replaced by irritation and impatience.

Could just anyone be a relative of the Ren family?

**

With Ji Shaorong there today, it wasn't Bai Lian's turn to wash the dishes; Ji Shaorong did it.

Ji Heng watched his back as he looked for the water bucket. "The bucket is in the utility room. Did you forget again?"

Ji Shaorong smiled, looked around the courtyard for a moment, and then went to the utility room.

Ji Heng sat on a stool by the door, with paper and a pen on the table.

Bai Lian had just taken apart her earphones. She watched Ji Heng, who was wearing his glasses, sitting alone under the yellow light, his shadow stretched long.

She gripped the earphones, walked over, squatted at his feet, and looked up: "Grandpa."

Ji Heng’s hand paused, and he looked down at her. "What is it?"

"For you," she opened her palm to show him a small blue toy. "I got it with the milk tea I bought today."

Ji Heng looked at the blue rabbit in her palm and reached out to take it.

"Look at this pattern, do you like it?" He showed the painting on the table to Bai Lian.

Bai Lian took a look.

It was an exquisite piece of *gongbi* (meticulous) painting, a plum blossom design. The yellow stamens were distinct and lifelike. "It's beautiful."

"Mm, then I'll use it for the draft tomorrow." Ji Heng withdrew his gaze and waved for Bai Lian to go back. "Go back and study. Remember to wake up early tomorrow; your uncle will take you to school."

He was talking about Ji Shaojun; her school registration had already been transferred.

"Oh," Bai Lian stood up, making a request as she headed back to her room. "Then after the draft, can you mount it? I also like poppies; you should embroider one of those for me next time."

"You're quite picky, aren't you?" Ji Heng glanced at her.

Once she entered her room, Ji Heng sat where he was, motionless for a long time.

Mounting...

How long had it been since he heard that word?

He seemed to have grown accustomed to people nowadays liking fashion, liking haute couture dresses and high-end clothing.

No one liked the flowers he embroidered, and no one cared for the clothes he made. Even when Ji Mulan ran away from home, she hadn't taken a single piece he had made for her.

He looked at Bai Lian’s retreating figure, then looked down at the blue rabbit in his palm.

**

Inside the room.

Bai Lian, who didn't have to wash the dishes, was in a good mood. She returned to her room, placed the disassembled earphones on the table, and the first thing she did was search for the book Jiang He had sent her.

She opened Baidu and searched—

【Jiangjing University Physics】

However, the results were absurd. There was everything except for Jiangjing University or a book titled *Jiangjing University Physics*. She looked at the phone screen, and there was even a result—

【Scored 17 in Physics】

Bai Lian: "..."

Classmate, you're amazing.

She returned to WeChat, tapped on Jiang He’s profile picture, and politely greeted him—

【.】

On the other side of the phone, Jiang He was sitting on a carpet, clutching a realistic cabbage-shaped pillow, holding a 7x7 V-Cube in his hands and slowly twisting it. The watch on his wrist chimed.

He took a look and saw the sender had a profile picture of the Xiangcheng city gate. His eyes lit up.

He tossed the pillow aside, tapped his watch, and a light, thin 3D projection appeared with Bai Lian’s message.

Bai Jian: 【.】

Jiang He typed back, one character at a time: 【Sister Bai.】

Bai Jian: 【I'm not going to the library tomorrow, I have class.】

Jiang He: 【Okay.】

Bai Jian: 【I can't find the book you sent, it's not on Jingbao either.】

Jiang He rested his chin on his knees and blinked.

Jiang He: 【I'll ask my brother.】

He crawled off the carpet and went to the study.

Jiang Fuli was in a video conference. He was wearing white loungewear, leaning back against his chair in a slightly relaxed manner. His cold, pale fingers rested on the table, and his light, phoenix-like eyes were lazily lowered, looking noble and cold.

Seeing Jiang He, he slowly sat up, reached out to turn off the camera, and pressed mute. "What is it?"

Jiang He walked over and showed him the page on his watch.

"Are you asking for her?" Jiang Fuli raised an eyebrow. The soft loungewear softened his coldness slightly.

Jiang He nodded.

Jiang Fuli reached out and took the 7x7 cube he was halfway through solving. "I heard you want to go back with her?"

Jiang He nodded again.

Jiang Fuli methodically helped him restore it to its original state, sparing a glance at him. "No."

Jiang He stared at his cube and didn't nod this time.

"Go back to sleep," Jiang Fuli handed the cube back to him. "I'll have someone send the books over tomorrow."

His laboratory detector acceptance test hadn't met his requirements this time; he needed a detector sensitive enough to perceive recoil nuclei.

But the current detector medium in the lab wasn't large enough.

So he was modifying the design to ensure the detector was large-scale while maintaining a very low energy detection threshold. He didn't have much time.

Coincidentally, Jiang He had found a playmate recently, so he didn't need to be distracted by him.

After Jiang He left, Jiang Fuli withdrew his gaze, reopened the camera and microphone, tapped the table casually, and said calmly and coldly, "Continue."

**

The next day, Xiangcheng High School.

As the largest high school in Xiangcheng, Bai Lian followed behind Ji Shaojun to an office.

In the office, Lu Lingxi was wearing glasses. She had short hair with streaks of white that couldn't be hidden. She looked at Bai Lian with a gentle gaze: "Student Bai, can you tell the teacher why you want to switch to the science track?"

Why switch to science?

Bai Lian lowered her eyes slightly. Her long, curled eyelashes cast a shadow, hiding the dimness in her eyes. If at first it was just because she didn't want to see history, then now...

"Curiosity," she said quietly.

"Curiosity?" This was an answer Lu Lingxi hadn't expected.

"Mm," Bai Lian looked at the computer on the desk next to them. "For example, I really want to know how a computer transmits information."

Her black pupils reflected the sunlight refracting through the window, like a lazy white cat.

Things had changed, and no matter how terrified or uneasy she had been when she first arrived in this world.

But she was trying to explore this era. It was undeniable that she was now full of curiosity about it.

It was the first time Ji Shaojun had heard Bai Lian give this reason. He couldn't help but turn his head, looking at the earnestness on his niece's well-behaved face.

He was silent for a moment, thinking about how she had answered him last time. Oh—

So what?

Heh, was she brushing him off?

"Good," Lu Lingxi looked at Bai Lian quietly, seeing that she was very serious. "Why don't you try a comprehensive science paper and let me see?"

She found a comprehensive science paper on the desk.

Bai Lian spent 20 minutes and returned the paper to Lu Lingxi.

Lu Lingxi was a Chinese teacher. She took the paper and handed it to the physics teacher in the same office, asking him to help grade it.

Then, she said gently to Bai Lian: "Come, I'll take you to our class. There are twenty classes in the third year, and we are in Class 15."

Ji Shaojun followed along.

The third-year building was a separate structure, five floors from top to bottom, with four classes on each floor, two stairwells, and an office in the middle.

Teacher Lu’s office was on the second floor, and Class 15 was in the middle of the third floor.

As they passed a stairwell, a girl in a school uniform on the second floor happened to be coming up, holding a composition notebook. "Teacher Lu."

"Student Ren," Lu Lingxi adjusted her glasses, stopped, and said in a gentle voice, "Put your homework on my desk. Wait for me a moment; I have something to tell you."

"Okay." Ren Wanxuan looked up, but her gaze fell on Ji Shaojun.

She hadn't seen Ji Shaojun many times, but he looked like her father, so she recognized him.

But at this moment, her attention was on the person beside Ji Shaojun—

It was her, Bai Lian.

Ren Wanxuan was stunned, and in an instant, she thought of many things. Did she really transfer to this school?

Had the Ji family mentioned the Ren family to her?

Ji Shaojun saw Ren Wanxuan, and from the look in her eyes, he knew what she was thinking. He calmly and steadily looked away.

He used to be very good to Ren Wanxuan. Once, he had something he wanted to ask Ji Shaorong for help with, and he had gone to great lengths to enter the Ren family home.

Then, he saw the painting he had given Ren Wanxuan in the Ren family’s trash can.

Since then, he had never been to the Ren house again.

Lu Lingxi smiled and whispered an explanation to Bai Lian and Ji Shaojun. She sighed: "That is Ren Wanxuan. This child is truly, truly smart; she skipped two grades in middle school. Student Bai, you'll know who she is after staying at school for two days. If you have the chance, you can ask her for study tips."

Ren Wanxuan didn't care about Ji Shaojun. She smiled at Lu Lingxi, withdrew her gaze, and went to the office.

She placed her homework on the desk and saw a comprehensive science paper lying there.

Goodnight, sleep early after reading~

ps: (Stop saying I'm going bald!!!)

(End of chapter)