The Competition Sponsor

Fu Liangxia followed Ge Lingling out of the teaching building and noticed a commotion at the entrance. She glanced over curiously and spotted Xu Qiuying, Su Xingshu, and Bai Yan, who was being dragged along by Xu Qiuying and couldn't get away.

This scene obviously caught Ge Lingling's attention too. Watching Xu Qiuying act coy and clingy toward Su Xingshu, she frowned deeply and muttered a curse under her breath.

Xu Qiuying had one hand tugging at Bai Yan while making a pitiful face at Su Xingshu, wheedling, "Su, just come eat with me and my cousin, please? I booked a Michelin-starred chef from France a week ago specially—he flew all the way here, and it cost me over half a month's allowance."

Su Xingshu glanced down at his phone, tapping the screen a few times. His expression lacked its usual polished smile, looking rather cold. "I don't want to."

Xu Qiuying's face went pale.

She'd been counting on Su Xingshu's famously easygoing demeanor—surely he wouldn't embarrass a girl in public. That was the only reason she'd dared to ask him out in front of everyone.

But unexpectedly, he didn't spare her any face at all. Not even dragging Bai Yan into it helped. He'd rejected her in front of so many people.

Xu Qiuying vaguely felt that Su Xingshu had changed. He used to maintain his persona carefully, all smiles for everyone.

But somewhere along the line, he'd stopped being the kind of person you could charm with sweet words. In fact, no girls had been seen around him for a long time now.

He'd grown somewhat cold. When he wasn't talking, he almost felt like a carbon copy of the student council president.

Yes, that was it—Xu Qiuying finally realized where the dissonance came from.

Su Xingshu now really resembled Cheng Xingzhou.

That expressionless look.

And it wasn't like there was no trace of a reason.

Xu Qiuying's thoughts churned as her gaze drifted aimlessly, only to freeze when it caught a figure behind the crowd.

—Fu Liangxia.

Everything seemed to have started changing the moment she appeared.

Meanwhile, the girl she was staring at felt her phone buzz. She looked down and saw a message from Su Xingshu: 【Enjoying the show?】

She almost thought he had eyes in the back of his head, to have spotted her that fast.

Fu Liangxia: 【A French chef? You're not tempted, but I kind of am.】

Not that she was actually tempted—the Fu family wasn't so poor as to short her meals.

She just couldn't resist teasing him a bit, seeing him so flustered.

After sending it, she saw the boy in the distance seem to smile. 【If you like, I can get one too. The royal family's personal chef.】

Fu Liangxia didn't reply. In the distance, Xu Qiuying suddenly fixed her gaze on her and asked Su Xingshu, "Is it because of her that you turned me down?"

As Xu Qiuying pointed, Fu Liangxia felt everyone's eyes snap to her at once, making her the center of attention.

Hatred flickered in Xu Qiuying's eyes. Even Ge Lingling beside her slowly loosened her grip on Fu Liangxia's arm, watching her with a complicated look.

Su Xingshu lifted his eyelids and swept a glance at her. Reading her reluctance, he said in a low voice, "It's got nothing to do with anyone else. I just don't want to go."

When Su Xingshu wanted to say something harsh, his words could be cutting.

Xu Qiuying's tears fell almost instantly, and she was left standing there, mortified.

Fu Liangxia couldn't be bothered to watch the drama play out. She asked Ge Lingling beside her, "Shall we go?"

"Ah? Oh, yeah, let's go." The other girl snapped back to reality and led the way, occasionally sneaking glances at Fu Liangxia as if she wanted to ask something but held back.

Fu Liangxia pretended not to notice, waiting to see when Ge Lingling would finally give in to curiosity.

To her surprise, Ge Lingling turned out to be remarkably patient. It wasn't until they entered the club building and stepped into a lavishly decorated activity room that she spoke. "Didn't expect you'd have that much game."

Several girls were seated in the room, all wearing immaculate makeup and school uniforms that had been altered to fit more snugly. Any single accessory on them cost as much as an ordinary family's apartment.

Fu Liangxia spotted Tao Zhi among them, though the girl clearly didn't hold much sway here. She gave Fu Liangxia a slight nod in acknowledgment.

The girl sitting at the center, admiring her manicure, looked up at the sound of the voice. She gave Fu Liangxia a cursory once-over, then turned to Ge Lingling. "What do you mean?"

Ge Lingling summarized what had happened in front of the teaching building, emphasizing Xu Qiuying's actions and her hostility toward Fu Liangxia.

After hearing it all, the Fan Club president frowned in disgust. "That bitch Xu Qiuying, she just won't go away. Looks like the last warning wasn't enough for her..."

The others stayed silent, listening quietly to the president's instructions.

They were all petty tricks to humiliate people—the kind that showed up routinely in novels of this setting. Fu Liangxia listened with a blank face, even thinking about finding a seat for herself and waiting until they were done discussing.

She thought it, and so she did.

They had plenty of private time to hash things out, but they'd chosen this moment deliberately—a chance to put her in her place, to show her what happened when she overstepped.

Fu Liangxia didn't care. She walked straight to a single sofa, sat down, and pulled out her phone to start working through practice problems.

Their discussion was a bit noisy, but Fu Liangxia got into the zone quickly. Within moments, she was fully absorbed in the problems, focused and single-minded.

The Fan Club members, whose intimidation tactic had been completely ignored: "..."

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like?" she said.

Ge Lingling's face darkened. "We're talking here. Can't you see that?"

Fu Liangxia didn't take her eyes off the problem, her brain still calculating as she said offhandedly, "Yeah, I see it. Both eyes."

Ge Lingling nearly choked on her own fury.

"Let me make this clear: right now, you're the one begging to join the Fan Club. Shouldn't you be listening carefully to what we're saying? If you ever pull something as shameless as Xu Qiuying, we won't go easy on you."

The Fan Club president waved a hand, signaling Ge Lingling to calm down, then said, "I read your application. I'm interested in those benefits you said you could provide. But how would you prove it?"

She swept her eyes over Fu Liangxia and said coolly, "If you're thinking you can use your looks to get close to Su and get those photos you mentioned, I'd advise you to drop that idea."

"Our family and the Su family could be called old friends, and I know Su is generous with his girlfriends. But half-naked perk shots like you described? I'm telling you, absolutely impossible."

Fu Liangxia filled in the final answer, watched the screen show it was correct, and smiled in a good mood.

That smile stunned the Fan Club girls for a moment.

She said, "How I get them isn't your concern. And as for what Ge Lingling is worried about—that won't happen either."

Ge Lingling snorted coldly, clearly unconvinced.

"But if I really do get them, does that mean the Fan Club president position could open up for a new occupant?"

At those words, the girls exchanged glances, none of them having expected her to be this audacious.

They thought Bao En, the president, would refuse. Instead, she nodded readily. "Of course."

"But on the flip side, if you fail—given the attitude you just showed—the Fan Club might not be able to accept a member as arrogant as you."

Fu Liangxia stared at her, curving her lips. "Deal."

Bao En leaned back against the sofa. "Then I'll be waiting for the good news."

Fu Liangxia got up and walked out, hearing the eruption of arguments behind her the moment the door shut. They seemed to be questioning Bao En's decision.

But that had nothing to do with her.

Bao En, surrounded by the noisy chatter, finally reached her limit. She slammed the table and shouted, "Alright, quiet down! She hasn't even gotten them yet—what are you all rushing for!"

Tao Zhi hesitated, wondering whether to mention that Su Xingshu and Fu Liangxia seemed pretty close, when Bao En continued, "Don't you get it? Su is a celebrity. There's no way he'd just hand out perk shots to anyone. Relax—your president isn't getting replaced anytime soon."

At that, Tao Zhi shut her mouth, privately thinking that from what she'd seen, maybe Su really would break his own rule for her...

After leaving the activity room, Fu Liangxia finally noticed new messages on WeChat. She tapped it open and saw a message from Fu Haoyao from five minutes ago asking where she was.

Fu Liangxia: 【At the club building. What's up?】

The reply came almost the instant she sent it, as if he'd been glued to his phone. 【Nothing.】

Fu Haoyao: 【Just wondering if you want to grab lunch together.】

Fu Liangxia couldn't see him, but Xu Ke, sitting across from Fu Haoyao eating beef chow fun, could see it all clearly. Fu Haoyao might look calm on the surface, but his leg was shaking so hard it could vibrate the whole table.

Xu Ke couldn't bear to watch. "Brother Fu, since when did you get this timid?"

It was just asking someone to eat—why was he so nervous?

Fu Haoyao shot him a look. "Who's timid? I just have a natural inclination to shake my leg."

Xu Ke: "..."

Fine, natural inclination to shake his leg, first occurrence in eighteen years.

He was speechless.

A buzz came from the phone on the table.

Fu Haoyao reached for it at once, about to see what it said, when he heard a cold, familiar male voice from behind him. "Why haven't you ordered yet?"

Xu Ke saw who it was and immediately put down his chopsticks, standing up. "Brother Fu."

"Hello."

The man gave a slight nod, then looked at Fu Haoyao and repeated his question. "Why haven't you ordered? Did you know I was coming and decide to wait for me?"

...

Walking toward the cafeteria, Fu Liangxia reviewed her recent tasks.

First, she needed to complete the side quest of getting into the Fan Club. A task that gave rewards was worth doing for free. That would require her to fool Su Xingshu somehow—with his Affinity Points at nearly seventy, there was no way she couldn't wheedle a perk photo out of him.

Second, there was the camping trip. The English teacher had set it for Thursday afternoon during club activities, with everyone flying back Sunday. But their group still hadn't decided between going up the mountain or out to sea.

And most importantly, the preliminary round of the competition was confirmed for tomorrow afternoon. She needed to review her wrong answers once more today.

With that in mind, she noticed when she neared the cafeteria that things were livelier than usual today.

Quite a few students wearing Student Council badges were handing out flyers nearby. When they saw Fu Liangxia, someone stepped forward and pressed one into her hand, saying enthusiastically, "The sponsor for the National Math Competition is giving a presentation at our school this afternoon. If you're interested, you should go listen."

She looked down. The flyer was printed in black and gold, clearly high quality, and featured two blurry silhouettes with "Mystery Guests" written beside them.

"A presentation?" she asked.

"You didn't know? The winners of this competition get a chance to intern at the sponsor company, plus eligibility for Sride University's startup contest," the student explained helpfully. "The guests coming today are here to promote that benefit."

Most students at Saintland had their own family companies. Strictly speaking, they wouldn't lack for internship opportunities. So why were they all so excited and eager about this activity?

A flicker of doubt crossed Fu Liangxia's mind, then she remembered—this seemed to be a plot point from the original novel.

Back then, Bai Kewei, Cheng Xingzhou, and Bai Xin, as winners, all got to intern at the sponsor's company. The latter two didn't really need it, but since the female lead was going too, they followed along. And one of the sponsors happened to be Fu Corporation. It was because of that internship at Fu Corporation that Fu Langshu discovered Fu Haoyao's tangled relationship with Bai Kewei, and offered her money to leave him.

If it was connected to the F4, the crowd's enthusiasm made sense. And setting the Fu family aside, Fu Langshu himself was a legendary young entrepreneur. Getting to intern under him would probably be quite rewarding. But recalling that complicated, winding chain of events, Fu Liangxia's mouth twitched involuntarily—she was already worrying about her future peaceful life.

Moreover, Fu Liangxia vaguely remembered there was something related to the original owner in this storyline. After all, she was a cannon-fodder female supporting character, and with plotlines tied to Cheng Xingzhou, it wouldn't make sense if she didn't appear. But Fu Liangxia hadn't been reading carefully back then, so she couldn't recall what exactly had happened to the original owner.

In any case, it couldn't be anything good.