Who Was the Rich Second Generation?

At six thirty the next morning, Xiao Bing crawled out of bed to make breakfast. Her older brother was an exam candidate, so breakfast had fallen to her all year.

But she found that Lu Yuan had already been bustling away in the kitchen for quite a while.

"Bro, spare me!" Xiao Bing pleaded as she brushed her teeth. "I don't want noodles!"

Xiao Bing loathed the food Lu Yuan made because all he could cook was noodles, and he often forgot to add salt. She would rather cook for herself.

"I didn't make noodles."

Lu Yuan brought out a plate holding three flatbreads fried golden brown.

Xiao Bing eyed the flatbreads suspiciously. They looked tasty, but she didn't dare take a bite.

"Bro, is this some dark cuisine you learned online?"

"Heh."

Lu Yuan smiled contemptuously, disdaining to answer such a stupid question.

In his previous life, Lu Yuan really had been a loser. He was poor, with no house, no car, no wife, and no skills, struggling at the very bottom of society.

But when it came to cooking alone, Lu Yuan really wasn't afraid to measure himself against anyone.

Because he had been a cook in his previous life.

Bet you didn't see that coming. He wasn't a special forces soldier, a miracle doctor, or an antiques appraiser, but a cook at a roadside food stall, covered in grease and smoke.

Although he wasn't necessarily any worse than those Michelin three-star chefs, feeding a little girl like Xiao Bing was well within his abilities.

"Eat up. There's more if that isn't enough."

"I don't want a single one!"

While they were arguing, Dad finished washing up too and spotted the flatbreads on the table at once.

"Oh, what kind of flatbread is this?" Lu Wenkai picked one up and took a bite. "Huh, there's egg inside? It tastes great!"

Reassured, Xiao Bing picked one up and took a bite too. Then she fell silent and kept gobbling it down.

Lu Yuan noticed that her eyes were growing brighter and brighter.

"Bro, you've really got some skills! What's this called? I'll learn to make it myself sometime."

"Egg-stuffed flatbread."

"Huh? Never heard of it."

"You've never even heard of egg-stuffed flatbread? Has school muddled your brain?"

Lu Wenkai finished the flatbread in a few bites, then picked up the clothes he had packed the night before and prepared to leave. He needed to look after her at Jiangzhou First Hospital for several days.

The hospital where Xu Yongmei was staying wasn't in Ning City, but at Jiangzhou City First Hospital. Ning City was a prefecture-level city under the Jiangzhou region, about a two-hour drive away.

"Dad, wait a second."

Lu Yuan found a lunchbox, packed several egg-stuffed flatbreads into it, and put it in a plastic bag before handing it to Dad.

"Take some to Mom. Just warm them up a little in the microwave when you get to the hospital."

"Okay!"

Lu Wenkai felt a sting in his nose. His son had grown up.

But he was a father of few words and wasn't good at expressing his feelings. So he merely nodded and left the house.

Lu Yuan watched his father's retreating figure, a thousand thoughts on his mind. When he turned around, he found Xiao Bing rubbing her hands together pitifully.

"Bro, I accidentally ate yours too. You won't blame me, will you?"

Lu Yuan laughed.

"If you want more, I'll make them for you when I get back tonight."

"Okay!"

With that, Lu Yuan picked up his schoolbag and headed out.

It was Saturday, but third-year high school dogs still had class. Xiao Bing was a first-year and didn't have Saturday classes, but she still had to go work at the Food Flavor Pavilion after nine.

As he picked up his keys on the way out, Lu Yuan saw Xiao Bing's exercise book on the counter. He glanced at it and saw "Lu Youbing, first year, class 5" written in the name field.

Youbing? So she really was "Xiao" Bing. Now he finally knew her full name.

Ningcheng First Middle School, third year, class 2.

Lu Yuan set down his schoolbag and began looking over his classmates, trying to remember which of them was a rich second generation. Although he was unlikely to borrow such a huge sum from a student, he had to try for his mother's sake.

After looking around, he really couldn't remember who it was. High school students were relatively innocent, and most of them didn't pay attention to things like that. Only after entering society did they start measuring everything by money.

"Ma Jin, are you a rich second generation?" Lu Yuan casually asked his deskmate.

But he regretted it the moment he spoke. This guy was even poorer than he was and often borrowed money from him.

Ma Jin put down his collector's edition math textbook, a complicated look in his eyes.

"Lu Yuan, I never thought you'd see through me when I'd hidden myself so well!"

"So be it. The three-year period is up, and I'm laying my cards on the table."

"I'm the hidden richest man in the world, the king of the underworld! At my command, a hundred thousand soldiers will be outside the school in an instant to welcome the Dragon King back to his rightful place!"

Lu Yuan scratched his head helplessly.

"Ma Jin," he advised as someone who had been through it all, "there are only thirty-four days until the college entrance exam. Come on, at least do some studying."

"Aren't I studying right now?" Ma Jin waved the collector's edition math textbook in his hand.

Lu Yuan gave up. This guy was beyond saving.

Chen Shihe, who sat in front of them, heard the conversation behind him and chuckled. He turned around and said with a grin, "Lu Yuan, are you trying to set Great Immortal Ma straight again? He's about to become an immortal. Don't hold up his ascension."

"Right, right, my mistake!"

"By the way, Lu Yuan, are you applying to Cultivation University? Your grades are pretty decent," Chen Shihe asked, changing the subject.

"I'm still thinking about it. The twenty-thousand-yuan application fee is too expensive."

Zhou Xiyun, at the neighboring desk, heard this and leaned over to complain too.

"Yeah, it's just an application. It's practically robbery!"

As soon as Zhou Xiyun spoke, Lu Yuan remembered this close friend from high school. They had always gotten along well at school.

Later, Zhou Xiyun got into university while Lu Yuan failed the entrance exam. Their circles grew farther and farther apart, and they gradually lost touch.

"I heard from someone in the year above who applied that the fee includes the cost of a True Essence test, so it's very expensive." Chen Shihe began showing off his information.

Lu Yuan's ears twitched. "True Essence" was another term he had never heard before.

Chen Shihe continued without stopping. "The guy from the year above said Cultivation University's True Essence test isn't quite the same as the hospital's. It's more accurate, so it costs quite a bit more."

"Then did he get into Cultivation University?"

"Of course not. Wasn't Wang Hao the only one from our school who got in last year?"

"How much True Essence did your friend have?"

"He said he had 115 ling."

"115 isn't low. Last year's cutoff for consideration at Cultivation University was only 112."

"Maybe his written exam score wasn't high enough."

"True. The written exam counts for thirty percent at Cultivation University. They don't just look at True Essence."

"Oh, right, Zhou Xiyun, how much True Essence do you have?" Chen Shihe suddenly asked.

Faced with the question, Zhou Xiyun looked troubled. After a while, he said quietly, "I tested at 108 at the hospital two months ago. The doctor said that if I got myself into good shape over these two months, it might go up a little."

At 108 ling, he still fell short of last year's cutoff, and Zhou Xiyun was torn. His True Essence was neither high nor low. It would be a shame to give up, but if he didn't, there wasn't much hope.

"I'm only a point or two higher than you," Chen Shihe said reassuringly. "Last year was a weak year, and this year should be a strong one, so the cutoff might drop a little."

"I'll do my best. Lu Yuan, how much True Essence do you have?"

"Me? I haven't been tested."

Lu Yuan said he hadn't been tested, but thought, I don't even know what True Essence is. You're all discussing it so enthusiastically, and I'm really embarrassed here. Right now I don't want to know anything about True Essence. I just want to know whose family has money!

"You'd better get tested before you apply, so you have something to go on. Twenty thousand yuan is no small amount." Zhou Xiyun knew a little about Lu Yuan's family circumstances, so he brought it up.

As they talked, the math teacher walked into the classroom. Everyone returned to their seats, and class began.

With just over a month left until the college entrance exam, all that remained of their lessons was revision of one kind or another. The math teacher lectured at the front, and Lu Yuan listened for a little while and found that he could still understand it.

His mind soon wandered, however, and he finally remembered that there was a "suspected rich second generation" in the class: the class monitor, Jia Xuanxuan.