To catch the bandits, catch their leader first

The lunch rush had already passed. Far fewer students were eating now, and it was much quieter.

Shen Banxia liked this sort of dining atmosphere: quiet and uncrowded, with no one disturbing her meal and no need to squeeze through a crowd or waste time hunting for an empty seat.

Except, of course, for that annoying student who had deliberately tried to cause trouble earlier.

As Shen Banxia ate her lunch, she considered her options.

Aside from studying, making money was now her most pressing priority.

That morning, she had received Xu Ziming's transfer of ten thousand. Forget increasing her combat power-her lifespan hadn't increased at all. Instead, she had lost an hour.

She had been warned that her means of making money couldn't involve anything illegal. Otherwise, not only would she gain no lifespan, she would have time deducted.

The other reason for the deduction was that the frying pan was worth more than ten thousand. She had sold it at a loss.

She had nearly let loose a string of choice curses right then.

How had her way of handling things broken the law?

At most, she had fought violence with violence!

What discouraged her even more, though, was that poverty had limited her imagination. She had thought she was already demanding an outrageous price, yet that pan was actually worth more than ten thousand.

Sure enough, luxury goods never ripped off the poor!

Her protest had been futile, so she could only find another way to make money.

Her gaze fell on the cafeteria kitchen, and she wondered whether she should get a part-time job here to earn some pocket money. A second later, she rejected the idea.

In terms of returns, the money she earned wouldn't be worth the lifespan she wasted.

Besides, if she worked part-time here, the Shen Family would soon find out. Then she would have a hard time explaining why she needed a job instead of focusing on her studies.

After all, the income from a job like that wouldn't amount to even a fraction of the allowance the Shen Family gave her.

She still needed to find a more reliable way to make money.

She wondered whether Third Brother had finished opening the stock trading account she had asked him to help with. She would have to ask when she got home that evening. She needed to find a way to make money, fast.

After lunch, instead of returning to the dormitory for a nap like the other students, she headed straight to the school library to borrow books and look up information.

She gained a basic understanding of this International High School.

Several shareholders had invested a hundred million to build it, and it followed an international management model.

The students all came from wealthy or influential families and mainly fell into two categories.

The first were preparing to study abroad, with classes following an international curriculum.

Of course, there were also students who couldn't get into an ordinary high school but whose families had enough money to pay for them to attend an international one.

The other category was preparing for the Gaokao. They had the best teachers and educational resources for that exam, and their classes followed the Gaokao curriculum.

The class the Shen Family had originally intended to transfer the original owner into was a Gaokao prep class. After all, her previous high school had been preparing her for that exam.

But Xu Mingyue had said she could take better care of her older sister if they were in the same class, and suggested transferring Shen Banxia into hers.

Unaware of the truth at the time, Shen Shuyi had thought that made sense. She figured it would be good to prepare for studying abroad in advance in case the Gaokao results were disappointing, so she had applied to transfer Shen Banxia into Xu Mingyue's international class.

Naturally, Xu Mingyue hadn't suggested this to look after the original owner. She had wanted to crush the self-esteem of a girl who had always attended a rural high school and make it easier to bully her.

Shen Banxia smiled at the thought.

Since Xu Mingyue was so eager to be in the same class as her, she certainly couldn't disappoint her.

Having only just transferred, Shen Banxia hadn't been assigned a dorm room yet. After leaving the library, she returned to the classroom to work through practice questions.

"Who would've thought the country bumpkin would work this hard?" Xu Ziming walked into the classroom and spotted Shen Banxia doing practice questions. His brows rose, and his interest stirred.

"How could she not? She only transferred from a rural school to our International High School in her final year. Give her ten years, and she probably still couldn't reach our average level," someone said with a gleeful laugh.

"Classmates, how about a bet to see who scores higher on the Gaokao?" Shen Banxia suggested, looking at them earnestly.

"What did she just say? She wants to bet on our Gaokao scores? Hahaha..."

"That's hilarious. She doesn't even know we don't have to take the Gaokao. We're going straight abroad after graduation!"

"You can't blame her. She's never seen much of the world."

"Then let's bet on this month's exam results. After all, the Gaokao is far too difficult for you!

"Or we can bet on TOEFL or IELTS, the language tests you'll have to take to study abroad."

Shen Banxia replied calmly, neither impatient nor angry. Then she set her sights on Xu Ziming. To catch the bandits, she had to catch their leader first.

"Do you dare bet against me?"

The original owner had naturally been desperate to avoid the school bully before her. But hiding had been useless. Once Xu Ziming had targeted her, he wouldn't let her go. She could only take the initiative.

After living through so many lifetimes, she had no reason to lose to these spoiled rich kids who had nothing going for them beyond their family backgrounds.

"Why wouldn't I dare? You want a contest? Fine! What happens if you lose?" Xu Ziming asked with a scoff.

He had received an elite education since childhood, and going abroad was as frequent and convenient for him as stepping out of his house. There was no way he could lose to a country bumpkin like Shen Banxia.

"You can do whatever you like with me!" Shen Banxia met Xu Ziming's eyes, a faint, ambiguous smile on her face.

"Fine. Everyone here is a witness. We'll start with this week's monthly exam. Once the results come out, if this country bumpkin scores lower than me, she just has to call me Daddy three times."

Unable to withstand such a challenging look, Xu Ziming immediately made his declaration, brimming with fighting spirit.

"If you score lower than me, remember to give me a nice fat cash gift and call me Great-Auntie," Shen Banxia added with a small smile.

Xu Ziming's expression stiffened, and he glared coldly at Shen Banxia.

"I'll be waiting for you to call me Daddy!"

"Then let's see what you're capable of!

"But since we're making a bet, we should play fair.

"You can't give me trouble during this time. Otherwise, even if you win, it won't be a fair victory."

"I'm waiting for you to call me Daddy. Why would I bother picking on you?" Xu Ziming vowed.

Then he strode into the classroom with his head high and his chest out, acting like he owned the place.

"Boss, are you really going to compete with her on the monthly exam?"

"If I don't dare compete, isn't that the same as surrendering? What are you thinking?"

Xu Ziming smacked his clueless buddy on the head and snapped at him, then announced to all his buddies,

"All of you had better do well too. Anyone who scores higher than that country bumpkin gets a big reward from me!"

"You've got guts, challenging Xu Ziming like that!"

Shen Banxia turned and saw Pei Yu standing in the classroom's back doorway, holding a basketball and watching her with an amused expression.

"You flatter me! Perfect timing-there's a long-answer question I can't solve. Mind showing me how, top student?" Shen Banxia would never pass up an opportunity she could use.

It wasn't that she didn't know how to solve the problem. More precisely, her method involved concepts outside the high school curriculum.

Even if her answer was correct, she would lose marks for solving it that way. She needed to consult the top student, who knew the standard steps better.

And so Pei Yu, who had returned to the classroom to pick something up, was cornered by Shen Banxia into helping her with math problems.

Forced to explain two long-answer questions to Shen Banxia, Pei Yu discovered that she was quick-minded and grasped things with the slightest hint. She was nothing like an idiot.

He even felt that Shen Banxia wasn't nearly as dull as she pretended to be. She was more like a cheetah lying low in the shadows, waiting for a chance to strike.

That discovery made him begin to find Shen Banxia rather interesting.

[What's with the way this top student is looking at me? Has his brain short-circuited?]

Pei Yu froze. What had he just heard?

But Shen Banxia clearly hadn't opened her mouth. Where had that voice come from?