Chapter 36

The clueless newcomer kept smiling and nodded, thinking that she at least recognized the "ming" in "the sun and moon make brightness." Then she secretly tapped a few keys on the computer, wrote a "meng" character with "ming" as its radical on a scrap of rough paper, handed it to William Wood, and replied with a smile, "You're welcome!"

And so, a week later, Li Rongxiu and the others successfully received all the paperwork for the Super Prodigal Sons Alliance Foundation, abbreviated as the "Super Meng Fund." The moment Li Rongxiu saw that glaring title at the very top, he could not help flipping the table.

What the hell was this "Super Adorable Fund"?!

Chapter 36

Since Diwan High School helped students apply to establish venture capital companies or foundations in order to compete for the title of Outstanding Student, the relevant departments in Wancheng would, after completing the procedures, directly photocopy the documents and send them to Diwan High School for filing.

Likewise, in order to encourage students to be independent, self-reliant, and willing to shoulder greater social responsibility, the school would publish the names of every newly established foundation in the school newspaper on the day its approval procedures came through. It had even copied the model of a stock exchange and opened a business corner on campus, allowing all students to check the operations of every foundation and venture capital company at any time.

Thus, on this day, every teacher and student at Diwan High School who had read the day's school paper learned that the school now had a "Super Prodigal Sons Adorable Alliance Fund" founded by several spoiled rich kids. After routinely publishing the basic information on the "Super Adorable Fund," the school newspaper reporter had spared no effort in praising how fresh, refined, and uniquely charming the name of this startup fund was.

"One cannot help but feel fond of it at first sight, filled with delight. We hope that in the days to come, this fund can bring even more hope and joy to the students of our school."

With a smack, Li Rongxiu angrily threw that morning's school paper onto the desk. The other students in the classroom secretly cast furtive glances his way, and he could vaguely hear whispers around him. Li Rongxiu viciously looked toward the sound, only to see his classmates sitting in twos and threes, looking at the ceiling and the floor, their deliberate attempts to distance themselves so affected it was infuriating.

Li Rongxiu snorted coldly, his face twisted with displeasure, then stood up and silently walked out of the classroom. Zhao Qijun immediately followed after him with dutiful diligence.

The originally silent classroom instantly erupted. Someone said in an exaggerated, snickering voice, "They actually wrote a typo when registering the name of their foundation. I've never seen anyone so stupid. A bunch of prodigal sons want to play the elite game? Is their IQ even above the baseline?"

In an instant, even the other students in the hallway turned to look over with bright eyes. The naked contempt and mockery in those gazes made it impossible for Li Rongxiu to ignore them.

Li Rongxiu and Zhao Qijun, who had not yet gone far: "..."

It was foreseeable that, from this day onward, the spoiled rich kids' school lives would bid farewell to the peaceful days of quiet ears.

During the lunch break, in a luxurious single room in the A District dormitory building.

Holding a steaming slice of pizza, Zhou Ruixin ate as he complained, "...This morning, they laughed at me so much I had no face left. Everyone used to call me Young Master Xin, but today they changed it to Young Master Meng. I was so embarrassed I almost couldn't stay in the classroom!"

"You've got it easy. When has this lady ever been laughed at from childhood until now? But today, I got mocked nonstop by a bunch of bookish girls. Even my little followers aren't as obedient as before. During PE class, no one even wanted to pair up with me. I'm the one who really lost face!" Xin Mengmeng angrily gulped down half a bottle of tomato juice, not forgetting to shoot Rosen a vicious glare as she complained.

Even the usually quiet Wu Zhiheng could not help muttering, "Exactly. If we can mess up something as simple as naming it and handling the procedures, who would dare believe our foundation can operate smoothly? Since we got off to such a bad start, we can't blame the other students for having no confidence in us. All we can say is that we're unlucky."

Allen Yaksa did not complain endlessly like the others, but his tightly furrowed brows and stiff, ashen face made it abundantly clear that he was in no better mood.

Rosen leaned against the corner of the dorm room like a criminal, listening to his companions complain. He could not help saying weakly, "It's actually not that bad. At least the girls around me think the name is pretty cute~"

The more Li Rongxiu listened, the more stifled he felt. Unable to hold back his anger any longer, he lay facedown on the bed and shouted, "What use is cute?! I wanted something cool and flashy! No, I'm changing the name back!"

His furious roar was like thunder exploding from flat ground, frightening the spoiled rich kids into immediate silence. Everyone turned to look at him, only to see Li Rongxiu's soft black hair puffed up in disarray from rolling around. His originally jade-white face had already flushed crimson with anger, as though dusted with a thin layer of rouge, bright as morning clouds. Rather than looking fierce or frightening, he only seemed even more adorable.

The spoiled rich kids, who had been just as indignant about that morning's treatment and had been chattering nonstop, saw how worked up and aggrieved Li Rongxiu looked and did not dare say anything more to provoke him. Instead, they all changed the subject and began comforting him.

As the culprit, Rosen could only smile bitterly and nod repeatedly. "Change it back, change it back. We'll definitely change it back. It's all my fault. I should've gone with William yesterday."

"No, no, it's all my fault. Before filling out the application, I should have properly checked how those characters were written. If I'd thought of that earlier, this mistake would never have happened." William felt both apologetic and embarrassed. Looking at Li Rongxiu's flushed, angry face, he spoke guiltily.

"Forget it. What good is apologizing now? The embarrassment has already happened." Xin Mengmeng waved her hand reluctantly. "The most urgent thing is to change the foundation's name back as soon as possible."

Zhao Qijun immediately said, "I'll ask the teacher for leave this afternoon and handle it myself."

He felt terrible as well. If he had not been so useless and shirked Li Rongxiu's order, Rosen would not have thought to ask William to help him out, and none of this would have happened. So in the end, it was because he, Zhao Qijun, was not capable enough.

If a follower could not even carry out his boss's orders, how could he be considered a qualified follower?

Lost in self-reproach, Zhao Qijun completely failed to notice the shame and sorrow that flashed across William's face the moment he spoke.

After being mocked by the entire school, whether kindly or maliciously, for a whole morning and finally venting his anger, Li Rongxiu felt much better. Once all his rage had dissipated, his mind cleared, and he noticed William's pitiful expression. He let out a frustrated breath and waved his hand. "Forget it. It's not some major technical error anyway. Let them laugh if they want. The ones who'll have the last laugh will definitely be us. As for this matter..."

Li Rongxiu raised his head and glanced at the utterly ashamed William. Smiling, he patted William's shoulder and said, "Since William was responsible for handling the procedures in the first place, let him handle the name change too. Zhao Qijun, just write down the full name of our foundation and give it to William."

Upon hearing this, William Wood quickly raised his head and looked at Li Rongxiu with both gratitude and surprise. He hurriedly promised, "Young Master Xiu, thank you for being willing to trust me again. This time, I absolutely won't let you down."

After all, ever since he had decided to take on the task of registering the foundation, Li Rongxiu had already added his name to the competition group's roster. In other words, from that moment onward, the final results of the competition group led by Li Rongxiu would also affect William Wood's assessment score for the semester.

If, at such a critical moment, William Wood were expelled from the team because he had handled things poorly, then his future at Diwan High School would be over—because no one would believe that a student incapable of even registering a foundation, such a basic task, could shoulder any other important responsibility.

And teamwork results carried considerable weight in Diwan High School's semester evaluations. In other words, if William Wood were expelled from Li Rongxiu's team, he would likely be unable to find another team willing to accept him in the time that followed. That would also mean that his grades for his first semester at Diwan High School would not be very good.

Perhaps those Diwan High School students from poor families, or those who cared little for interpersonal relationships beyond academics, would not care much about their team grades. But for William, whose family had worked in diplomacy for generations and who wished to pursue the same path, failing his teamwork assessment meant failing at interpersonal skills. If his father saw such an end-of-term evaluation when he brought it home, even his father would be disappointed.

Fortunately, Li Rongxiu had not completely rejected him because of one mistake. He still had a chance to prove that he was capable and worthy of trust.

Noticing William's tumultuous shift from panic and embarrassment to tearful gratitude, Li Rongxiu curled his lips and comfortingly patted William's head without saying anything more. Since Li Rongxiu had already given the order, Zhao Qijun said no more either. He casually tore a sheet of white paper from his notebook, carefully wrote the words "Super Prodigal Sons Alliance Foundation," and handed it to William Wood. William solemnly accepted the paper, folded it, and placed it in the folder beside him.

With one important matter settled, Li Rongxiu finally felt a little hungry. He had endured the ridicule and sarcasm of so many classmates all morning; even without eating, he had felt full from listening to all that gossip. The other spoiled rich kids had gone through much the same, and none of them had much appetite either. Xin Mengmeng, who had long been eyeing other people's fast food, simply ordered KFC delivery and BSK pizza, along with cold drinks and cola. The group returned to the dormitory to rest in low spirits.

Now that he had vented his pent-up anger, Li Rongxiu looked at the pizzas, hamburgers, and fries spread before him and found this junk food tasteless. Ignoring his friends' teasing about his "old-fashioned palate," Li Rongxiu frowned and picked up his phone from the bedside table, intending to call Imperial Residence and ask the executive chef there to prepare several spicy Sichuan dishes for delivery. But before he could, his phone suddenly rang.

Seeing Shen Yujun's name flashing on the screen, Li Rongxiu directly answered the call. The next second, Shen Yujun's clear, magnetic voice came through the receiver. "How is it? What did you eat for lunch?"

"I haven't had time to eat yet. I was just about to call Imperial Residence and order delivery." As Li Rongxiu spoke, he could not help remembering what his uncle from the Li family had asked him to do a few days ago. After hesitating for a moment, he was about to ask when Shen Yujun spoke first. "There's something I want to discuss with someone, but I don't know who to talk to. You know... I've never had many friends."

Li Rongxiu smiled faintly. When someone said something like that, they were definitely not asking in a literal sense. He simply got straight to the point. "Does the matter troubling you have something to do with my uncle?"

Shen Yujun paused thoughtfully for a moment before saying, "Can we... meet alone now? We can go to Imperial Residence, and we can order your favorite Sichuan dishes too."

Chapter 37

When Li Rongxiu pushed open the two vermilion, carved doors of Autumn Water House at Imperial Residence, he saw Shen Yujun already sitting inside in a white tracksuit. The afternoon sunlight streamed through the window glass, and golden light fell across Shen Yujun's face and body, casting a radiant glow over his already handsome features.