Chapter 36

The new guy, Xiaobai, kept smiling and nodded. He figured he recognized the character Ming in "The sun and moon make Ming." Then, sneaking a few keystrokes into the computer, he wrote the character "萌" on a scrap of paper—it had Ming as one of its components—and handed it to William Wood with a smile. "You're welcome!"

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." When he saw the blatantly obvious name at the very top, Li Rongxiu couldn't help flipping the table.

What the heck was this "Super Adorable Fund" supposed to be? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Chapter 36

Since every time Diwan High School helped a student apply to establish a venture capital company or foundation, it was in pursuit of the Top Student title, the relevant departments in Wancheng would send a copy of the paperwork to the school for its records after processing everything.

Likewise, to encourage students to be independent, take initiative, and shoulder more social responsibility, the school would publish the names of all newly established foundations in the school paper on the day their applications were approved. It had even modeled a business corner on the stock exchange, where students could check on the operations of every foundation and venture capital company at any time.

So, on this day, all the teachers and students at Diwan High School who read the school paper learned that a new foundation had been formed by a group of rich kids: the "Super Prodigal Sons Adorable Alliance Fund." After dutifully publishing the "Super Adorable Fund's" basic information, the school paper's reporter had spared no ink in praising its name for being so fresh and unconventional, with a charm all its own.

"Just seeing the name makes you feel fond of it, fills you with joy. We hope this fund will bring even more hope and happiness to the students in the days ahead."

With a slap, Li Rongxiu angrily tossed the morning's school paper onto the desk. His classmates furtively peeked at him, and he could vaguely hear them whispering. He glared viciously in the direction of the voices, only to see his classmates sitting in little groups, looking up at the sky or down at the floor. Their deliberate attempts to distance themselves from him were so contrived they were infuriating.

Li Rongxiu gave an indignant snort and silently got up and left the classroom. Zhao Qijun immediately followed close behind.

The classroom, quiet moments earlier, erupted into a commotion. Someone burst out laughing and said with exaggerated disbelief, "They actually made a typo when registering the foundation's name! I've never seen anyone so stupid. A bunch of rich kids trying to play at being elites—do they even have the brains for it?"

In an instant, even the students in the hallway were staring over. The undisguised scorn and mockery in their eyes made it impossible for Li Rongxiu to ignore them.

Li Rongxiu and Zhao Qijun, who hadn't yet gotten far: "..."

It was easy to predict that from this point on, the rich kids' school days would be anything but peaceful.

During the lunch break, in a luxurious single room in the A-District Dormitory Building.

Zhou Ruixin held a steaming slice of pizza as he ate and complained, "...I got mocked so badly this morning that I lost all face. People used to call me Young Master Xin, but today they've all switched to Young Master Meng. I was so embarrassed I could barely stay in class!"

"You think you had it bad? When have I ever been laughed at in my whole life? But today a bunch of bookish girls wouldn't stop mocking me. Even my little followers aren't as obedient as before. No one even teamed up with me in PE! I'm the one who really got embarrassed!" Xin Mengmeng chugged half a bottle of cherry tomato juice in a fit of anger, then glared viciously at Rosen as she complained.

Even Wu Zhiheng, who was usually quiet, couldn't help grumbling. "Exactly. If we can mess up something as simple as choosing a name and filing the paperwork, who's going to believe our foundation can run smoothly? Since we've made a bad start, we can't blame the other students for having no faith in us. We can only say we've had bad luck."

Allen Yaksa didn't complain like the others. But his tightly furrowed brows and rigid, ashen face clearly showed that he wasn't in a good mood either.

Rosen, looking like a sinner, leaned into a corner of the room and listened to his friends complain. He couldn't help saying timidly, "It's not really that bad. At least the girls around me think the name is pretty cute~"

The more Li Rongxiu heard, the more aggrieved he felt. He finally lost his temper, flopped onto the bed, and shouted, "What good is cute? I want something cool! No, I'm changing the name back!" (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

His furious shout rang out like thunder from a clear sky, and the rich kids fell silent at once. Everyone turned to look at him. Li Rongxiu's smooth, black hair had puffed up as he rolled around, and his face, usually as pale as jade, had flushed a rosy red, like a light layer of rouge, bright as the rosy clouds. He didn't look frightening in the least—in fact, he seemed even cuter.

The rich kids, who had been indignant and complaining nonstop about what had happened that morning, saw Li Rongxiu so riled up and upset that they didn't dare say anything else to provoke him. Instead, they hurriedly changed the subject and tried to comfort him.

Rosen, the main culprit, could only nod again and again with a wry smile. "We'll change it back, we'll 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. I should've checked how to write those characters before filling out the application. If I'd thought of that beforehand, this mistake wouldn't have happened." William also felt both apologetic and awkward. Looking at Li Rongxiu, red-faced and fuming, he said guiltily.

"Forget it. What's the use of apologizing now? We've already lost all the face we could lose." Xin Mengmeng waved a hand reluctantly. "The most important thing is to change the foundation's name back as soon as possible."

Zhao Qijun immediately chimed in. "I'll ask the teacher for leave this afternoon and take care of it myself."

He felt awful too. If he hadn't been so useless and refused Li Rongxiu's instructions, Rosen wouldn't have had to find William to help him out, and none of this would have happened. So in the end, it was all because Zhao Qijun wasn't capable enough.

If a follower couldn't even carry out his boss's orders, how could he be a competent follower?

Too busy blaming himself, Zhao Qijun completely failed to notice the shame and sadness on William's face the moment he spoke.

After being mocked, whether kindly or maliciously, by the entire school all morning, Li Rongxiu had finally vented his anger and felt a little better. Once his anger had all dissipated, his head cleared, and he noticed William's pitiful expression. With an unhappy sigh, he waved a hand. "Forget it. It wasn't an important technical mistake. Let them laugh if they want. We'll be the ones laughing last. As for this matter..."

Li Rongxiu glanced at William, who looked utterly ashamed, and patted him on the shoulder with a cheerful smile. "Since William handled the original filing, let's not trouble two people with one task. He can handle the name change too. Zhao Qijun, just write down the full name of our foundation and give it to William."

At that, William hurriedly looked up at Li Rongxiu, his expression full of gratitude and surprise. He didn't forget to promise, "Young Master Xiu, thank you for being willing to trust me again. I absolutely won't let you down this time."

After all, ever since he'd agreed to take on the task of registering the foundation, Li Rongxiu had already put his name on the competition team's roster. In other words, from that moment on, the competition team led by Li Rongxiu would affect William Wood's grades for the semester too.

If William Wood were kicked off the team now because he'd mishandled the task, his future at Diwan would be over—because no one would believe a student who couldn't even manage something as basic as registering a foundation could handle any other important responsibilities.

Teamwork also counted for a large portion of the assessments at Diwan High School each semester. In other words, if William Wood were kicked off Li Rongxiu's team, he might not be able to find another team willing to accept him for the rest of the semester. That would mean his grades in his first semester at Diwan High School would suffer.

Students at Diwan who came from poor families, or those who cared little about socializing beyond their studies, might not have cared much about their team grades. But William came from a family that had worked in diplomacy for generations, and he intended to pursue the same career. If his team grade were unsatisfactory, it would mean he lacked the ability to handle interpersonal relationships. If his father saw such an evaluation at the end of the term, even he would be disappointed.

Fortunately, Li Rongxiu hadn't written him off completely because of one mistake. He still had the chance to prove that he was capable and worthy of trust.

Noticing William's tumultuous mix of panic, embarrassment, and gratitude, Li Rongxiu curled the corners of his mouth and comfortingly ruffled William's hair, saying no more. Seeing that Li Rongxiu had given the order, Zhao Qijun said nothing further either. He tore a sheet of paper from his notebook, carefully wrote the words "Super Prodigal Sons Alliance Foundation," and handed it to William Wood. William accepted the sheet with great care, folded it, and tucked it into the folder beside him.

With one important matter more or less settled, Li Rongxiu finally felt a little hungry. He'd spent all morning enduring his classmates' mockery and jeers; even without eating, he'd had his fill of all the gossip. The other rich kids were in much the same situation and had little appetite. Xin Mengmeng, who'd long been eyeing other people's fast food, simply ordered takeout from KFC and BSK, along with some cold drinks and cola. Then the group returned to the dormitory, dejected.

Now that he'd vented his anger, Li Rongxiu looked at the pizza, burgers, and fries spread out before him and found them tasteless. Ignoring his friends' teasing about his "old-fashioned appetite," he frowned and picked up his phone from the bedside table, planning to call the Imperial Residence and ask the head chef to send over a few spicy Sichuan dishes. But just then, his phone rang.

Seeing Shen Yujun's name flashing on the screen, Li Rongxiu pressed the answer button. The next moment, Shen Yujun's clear, resonant voice came through the receiver. "So, what did you have for lunch?"

"I haven't had a chance to eat yet. I was just about to call the Imperial Residence and order takeout." As he spoke, Li Rongxiu remembered the favor his uncle from the Li family had asked of him a few days earlier. He hesitated, about to ask about it, when Shen Yujun spoke from the other end of the line. "There's something I'd like to discuss with someone, but I don't know who I should turn to. You know... I've never had many friends."

Li Rongxiu smiled faintly. When someone said that, they were rarely asking a literal question. So he got straight to the point. "Does whatever's troubling you have something to do with my uncle?"

Shen Yujun paused for a moment, then said, "Could we... meet alone right now? We can go to the Imperial Residence and order your favorite Sichuan dishes."

Chapter 37

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