HBWMA -Chapter 178 Another Year, Another School Season

Three years later.

Just like that autumn sun when she was twelve.

Sunlight passed through the tinted car windows and spilled onto the orange-brown leather seats. The shifting light inside the car flickered like fractured gold.

In the back seat, a girl rested her chin on one hand, gazing out the window. Her porcelain-white skin looked almost translucent under the sunlight. Beside her, a boy sat with his head lowered, holding a Bible. His fingertips traced across the pages, cutting through the scattered golden light that fell over the book.

Gao Zhi adjusted his sunglasses. “Young master, Miss Jiang, we’ve arrived.”

Shen Lanxi’s fingers paused. He lifted his gaze toward the window.

Jiang Huashan stretched lazily, then very naturally pulled out her phone and opened her payment QR code.

“Another quiet day.”

Three years ago, they had made an agreement: as long as she remained quiet during Shen Lanxi’s daily car rides, she would receive a reward of 300,000 each time. That agreement had continued for three years.

“……”

Shen Lanxi turned his head to look at her.

After today, the girl in front of him would be a high school student. Not only had her school badge changed from the “Sword of the Brave” to the “Rose Shield,” even her previously ordinary “flat plains” now carried the faint suggestion of hills.

Shen Lanxi averted his eyes without a trace, his expression calm. “I heard you ask Shen Qingyu for more?”

Jiang Huashan assumed the young heir was about to lecture her again and said blankly, “How is that the same? Shen Qingyu likes hearing compliments. I have to flatter him all the way and provide emotional value. Isn’t it reasonable to charge more for that?”

Emotional value?

Shen Lanxi curled his lips slightly, then opened the car door and got out directly.

No wonder every time Jiang Huashan was dropped off by him, Shen Qingyu would show up at school looking unusually smug and full of himself.

“Hey!”

Jiang Huashan was about to chase after him, when Gao Zhi quickly pulled out his phone.

[Bofubao Payment Received: 300,000 yuan]

“Miss Jiang, it’s already been paid.”

Jiang Huashan’s expression immediately brightened. “You’re the best. Without you, with that bad temper of his, Young Master Shen would’ve been beaten up long ago.”

Gao Zhi felt slightly guilty and decided to defend his young master a little. “Miss Jiang… this money is from the young master.”

Jiang Huashan waved it off. She didn’t care about such details—money arriving was all that mattered.

In order to investigate Fang Mei’s secrets, she had spent plenty of money over the past three years on Liang Xu.

Money could make the devil grind stone. After taking her money, Liang Xu went all out trying to please Fang Mei, even generously helping her when she was at her lowest. Fang Mei was deeply moved and declared she had finally found true love.

Three years had passed. It was finally time to close the net.

Liang Xu also seemed to sense this was the last deal and demanded a one-time buyout sum.

It wasn’t a small amount. Jiang Huashan couldn’t afford it all at once, so she had to “borrow” from the richest people around her.

Actually, she could have asked Shen Zhuang directly. But three years ago she had promised him she would grow up properly and stay away from dangerous matters. If he found out she had not only been secretly funding Fang Mei’s lover for three years, but also personally coached a college-age “boy” DD on how to seduce her own mother…

The image of Shen Zhuang’s worldview collapsing was too horrifying to imagine.

So she had no choice but to take a roundabout path.

Gao Zhi got out of the car skillfully and opened the door.

“Princess, please step out.”

Golden sunlight spilled into the car. Jiang Huashan gathered her thoughts, then extended one long, straight leg out first. Her black leather shoe landed firmly in the brightest patch of light. Her plaid pleated skirt swayed gently in the autumn breeze, and she smiled brightly as she stepped out, glowing in the autumn sun.

“Look! It’s Jiang Huashan!”

“Where? Where? Oh my god, it’s really her! As expected of the ‘national princess,’ the pinnacle of divine aesthetics…”

After the night banquet three years ago, she had gained a new label: “Transparent.”

Before she could even understand what that meant, at sixteen she received another familiar label: “Beautiful.”

Her attitude toward this label was the same as toward “crazy”—utter nonsense.

Over the past three years, she had worked hard doing all kinds of outrageous things. Any single incident would have been headline-worthy. So why, now that she was sixteen, did she automatically get labeled “beauty”? Did that mean she had no other strengths besides her face?

Damn storyline.

From the parking lot, there was only one public corridor leading forward. Two years ago, Yucai School had planted a wisteria vine there for beautification. Now the entire corridor was covered in hanging purple blossoms, like an entrance to a fairy-tale kingdom.

Shen Lanxi stood beneath the wisteria, waiting. When he noticed Jiang Huashan hadn’t caught up, he slowed his steps. Then, hearing her approach, he deliberately stopped again.

But in those few moments, Jiang Huashan had already skipped past him.

“Shen Lanxi, hurry up. Why are you so slow?”

“……”

The high school campus had two main buildings: Yingcai Building, an 19th-century British-style structure, and Decai Building, a modern European design. The two stood opposite each other, sharing a central garden.

Today was the high school freshmen entrance ceremony, and both buildings were decorated with flowers, full of ceremony.

Jiang Huashan quickly found her classroom according to the instructions, matched her name, and located her seat.

There were not many students yet. She glanced around and began organizing her bag.

Shen Lanxi followed her into the classroom.

Jiang Huashan glanced at him casually. “Anything else?”

Shen Lanxi nodded. “The opening ceremony is in the auditorium today. Several high-ranking priests from the Tian’en Church will attend, and several major media outlets are invited.”

Jiang Huashan replied, “What does that have to do with me?”

“Of course it does. Didn’t you know? You’re now one of the school’s key monitored students.”

Jiang Huashan frowned. “What kind of attitude is that? Without me, everyone would still be roasting under the sun every year. Now they get to enjoy air conditioning in the auditorium—what’s wrong with that?”

Shen Lanxi said, “Thanks to you, Grandpa donated a new auditorium.”

“……”

Seeing her go quiet, he didn’t say more and simply looked around the classroom.

Her seat was by the window in the middle row. Shen Lanxi noticed at a glance that aside from her deskmate Fu Sui’er, everyone else seemed to be boys.

“Why are you still here?”

“……”

Shen Lanxi didn’t even lift his eyelids. He turned and left the classroom.

The high school was in one building. After leaving the freshman class, Shen Lanxi headed toward the stairs.

Just then, two boys came up the stairs with arms around each other’s shoulders.

“No way, you confessed again? What was the reason this time?”

The boy looked defeated. “Same as always. She said she doesn’t like kids.”

“Forget it, I suggest you change your target. There are too many people who like Jiang Huashan. You’re barely at the back of the queue. She even treats the Yao family’s young master like a dog—why would she ever look at you?”

Shen Lanxi stopped walking and turned his head toward them.

The two boys didn’t notice him at all. The rejected boy got agitated.

“How is that impossible? Last time I helped her carry books and she even smiled at me! She even praised me!”

His classmate looked surprised. “That sharp tongue of hers knows how to praise people? What did she say?”

The boy said shyly, “She said I’ve got a good eye for work.”

Classmate: “……”

Shen Lanxi turned away and continued upstairs.

Golden autumn sun—opening season was always the busiest day on campus.

Students walked into classrooms in high spirits, chatting in pairs and groups. After a whole summer apart, many had changed noticeably, and friends eagerly shared their holiday stories the moment they met.

Jiang Huashan idly opened her chat window with Fu Sui’er. Their last conversation was a week ago. Since the age of fourteen, Fu Sui’er had flown to Country S every summer to study with Kong Maolin. In previous years, she always managed to return a week before school started, but this time she said she might be delayed.

“Hahaha, Xiaoxiao, that was so satisfying just now! Did you see it? Those ‘De Cai’ class losers all turned green with anger.”

“Exactly. They think getting first place nationally makes them so great? And they even wanted to hang the honor board above our Yingcai class—how ignorant.”

Wherever Fu Xiaoxiao went, there was always a chorus of flattery. A group of girls walked into the classroom chattering loudly, each face filled with superiority.

The classmates in the room were drawn by the commotion and looked over curiously at Fu Xiaoxiao.

“Xiaoxiao, what happened?”

Fu Xiaoxiao originally didn’t bother answering, but after glancing at Jiang Huashan, she changed her mind. Pride filled her eyes.

“Those idiots from De Cai just needed a little lesson.”

She flicked her hair theatrically, glanced at Jiang Huashan, then walked to her seat.

The girls beside her also quieted down, exchanging looks before returning to their seats.

Back then, Jiang Huashan had nearly driven Fu Xiaoxiao insane on her own. Later, even repeated interventions from the Fu family had gone nowhere. That incident made her name well known, and everyone knew not to provoke her.

“Rankings are up! The rankings are up!”

Suddenly, shouting came from outside the classroom. The students inside immediately got restless and stood up to head outside.

This was Yucai High School’s tradition: to encourage healthy competition, every opening ceremony day they publicly posted the top ten academic rankings of each grade—known as the “Red List.”

Where there was a red list, there was also a black list. The bottom ten students would be publicly exposed as well.

Jiang Huashan closed her phone and stood up, walking out of the classroom.

By then, the hallway outside was packed with people, and students from the De Cai building across the way had also come out of their classrooms.

“Hey? What’s going on? Why is the De Cai Class 1 red list placed below the Yingcai class?”

“Yeah, that’s strange!”

Fu Xiaoxiao walked into the crowd smugly.

“What’s strange about it? I had them switch the positions.”

At Yucai, most things were unfairly competitive—but not on Red List Day.

This was a century-old tradition: only the highest-performing results could be displayed at the top. This year, the Yingcai Class 1 freshmen didn’t have any standout geniuses—their top scores weren’t even enough to rank at the bottom of De Cai.

Meanwhile, De Cai Class 1 had produced several shockingly strong performers.

Normally, De Cai Class 1’s red list should have been placed above Yingcai Class 1. But now, the positions had been swapped.

“……”

Jiang Huashan looked toward the De Cai building. No wonder everyone over there looked furious instead of celebratory.

“What exactly is there to be proud of? With such poor results hanging at the top, don’t you feel embarrassed?”

At that moment, Su Miao stepped out from the corner of the corridor.

Students from Yingcai Class instinctively avoided eye contact, their expressions turning subtle.

Fu Xiaoxiao frowned. “Su Miao, what do you mean?”

Su Miao glanced at the red list in the flowerbed.

“I said it clearly enough. You’re embarrassing yourself—and embarrassing our whole Yingcai class.”

Jiang Huashan couldn’t help laughing. After three years, Su Miao was still the same—attacking everyone indiscriminately.

Zhou Qishan tugged at her sleeve nervously. “Forget it, it’s opening ceremony day. Didn’t you hear the new rule? Anyone who causes trouble today will be expelled.”

“All of this is because of her,” Su Miao said coldly, shooting Jiang Huashan a glare.

Jiang Huashan: “……”

Furious at being publicly humiliated, Fu Xiaoxiao snapped, “Say that clearly—how exactly did I embarrass Yingcai? Didn’t you see that the senior Yingcai red list is also above De Cai’s?”

“Ha?” Su Miao sneered. “Do you not have eyes? The senior Yingcai class earned it through real ability. Shen Lanxi got nearly full marks in thirteen subjects. The second place, Yan Heng, was only seven points behind. And A-Ling was third by just one point. Look at us?”

Everyone immediately looked at their own results.

Terrible. Their top student’s score was 200 points lower than De Cai’s top student.

“……”

It was over. The entire high school now knew—this year’s Yingcai Class 1 freshmen were the worst batch in history.

Fu Xiaoxiao’s expression stiffened. She hadn’t thought that far ahead—she only wanted to stop De Cai from showing off.

Su Miao continued, “There are plenty of ways to beat them. You just picked the dumbest one. Being stupid is one thing, but you dragged all of us down with you. A-Shan, let’s go. Standing here is embarrassing.”

After that, even the onlookers quickly slipped back into the classroom.

Fu Xiaoxiao’s face turned pale with anger. She pointed at the red list.

“Go tear it down.”

The girls beside her jumped in shock. “No, Xiaoxiao! If you destroy the red list on opening day, you’ll be expelled!”

Fu Xiaoxiao was furious. “Then why didn’t any of you stop me earlier?!”

The girls looked awkward. “We didn’t think that far… Who is Su Yun anyway? How is her score so high?”

“I’ve never seen her before, but she’s always been excellent. It’s just that junior high doesn’t publish rankings, so nobody knew.”

Su Yun?

Jiang Huashan’s mind flickered with fragments—newspaper headlines, a green qipao, delicate shoulders and a graceful, piano-like waist.

Curious, she looked again toward the opposite building.

Just as her gaze swept across, a shadow suddenly fell over her eyes.

“Guess who I am?”

Jiang Huashan smiled faintly. “The little president is back?”

“Hahaha!” Fu Sui’er hugged her tightly. “I’m back! Did you miss me?”

The girl in front of her had bright almond eyes and delicate features. Compared to her younger, shorter, darker self, she had transformed completely.

Jiang Huashan studied her. “You’ve grown taller again.”

Fu Sui’er slung an arm around her shoulder. “Didn’t you say it yourself? The future me is a 1.7-meter-tall silly giant!”

The two smiled at each other.

Fu Sui’er said, “Let’s go back to class. I’ve got so many fun things from this summer—I’ve been holding them in the whole time and need to tell you everything.”