Adopting and Raising the Male Lead and the Villain

by Usui Takumii

not mine, new novel . org

2. 21 to 40

Chapter 21 – It's all for them (2)

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't have come up with something like that unless Xu Yushan had told her. How old was she after all? What did she know? Before today, whenever she threw a fit, she'd just throw some bowls, pull a disappearing act. Or escalate it to causing the Zhong's to lose some business deals…. Nothing that helped her own cause. All she did was make Zhong Chi hate her more and more… She wouldn't have the ability to set Xu Yushan up. That was not possible.

So the only plausible explanation was Xu Yushan couldn't keep her mouth shut and leaked the plans to Zhong Yuhuan. Every time something didn't go Zhong Yuhuan's way, she would go scream and shout in front of her father, that was the standard pattern of her behavior…

Xu Yunhui said with a darkened face, "Alright, stop crying now. You leaked the words and now you have to suffer the consequences. Just stay low for a while and don't stir up any drama. Things will go better once your brother becomes part of the family. There wouldn't be much more that girl could do. You will be set once your brother takes over the family business."

Xu Yushan didn't feel comforted at all.

All Xu Yunhui ever did was tell her to stay low. She had been staying low this entire time. And what did that ever get her? Nothing!

Xu Yunhui didn't understand her, neither did Zhong Chi… her brother? Who could tell how things would go with her brother? He too would get married one day!

Xu Yushan gritted her teeth and turned away. It was the first time she didn't just comply with what her mother had asked of her.

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And by now Xu Yunhui was already thinking about what she could cook up to take to the office for Zhong Chi. Her mind was always occupied by what more she could do to butter up to Zhong Chi, she hadn't been able to spare the time or energy to consider her daughter's feelings.

"Alright, why don't you take some time to calm down? Next time this happens and you upset your dad, not even I could save you," said Xu Yunhui as she stood up.

Xu Yushan's face was twisted.

She'd put her hopes on the Nan's now.

That's right! The Nan's….

The banquet with the Nan's was set for the 8th of next month. It was right around the corner.

—

School had started before the date of the banquet.

Zhong Yuhuan had to go to school, along with Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming.

Zhong Yuhuan was a sophomore in high school, the worse time of it all. Zhong Yuhuan wasn't thrilled about having to study all over again and take the midterm and final examinations.

But she felt much better remembering that she now has two more companions.

At least she wouldn't be the only one who had to get up early!

Lang Jinzhi gave her a call early in the morning and told her that all the paperwork for the boys to start school had been taken care of. Since they didn't want the boys to fall behind in class, they had arranged for them to start as freshmen. It was quite normal for boys their age to be freshmen in high school, after all, many boys tend to start school at a later time.

Naturally, the tutors would continue to come. It'd be much more efficient for them to have tutors at home while getting used to everything at school.

Zhong Yuhuan had the maids packed their book bags before taking off with Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming.

Secretary Cheng was already waiting for them outside of the house. He would be driving them to school today, and help with whatever remaining paperwork there were.

"Good morning, Secretary Cheng," Zhong Yuhuan greeted him cheerfully before she crawled inside of the car and waved at Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming.

The two of them were still standing outside of the car, looking at her.

She had on a little red dress and a bunny backpack on her back.

When she looked at them, she had one arm on the seat supporting her weight, her head tilted slightly, and a bright and tender smile on her face.

They thought at the same time…. They could really go back to school now?

Then… when would they be able to be the ones that would take care of her?

Chapter 22 – The Amazing Zhong Yuhuan (1)

Zhong Yuhuan attended the prestigious Murphy High School. The Majority of the students here would be leaving overseas for higher education before the Senior High School Entrance Examination. When Zhong Yuhuan said she was about to start high school and wanted to move closer to the school as the reasoning for asking for $5 million, that could only fool someone like Xu Yushan, who had never encountered people of this caliber.

Their car stopped in front of the school.

Outside the front door of the school, there were parked many luxurious cars. Most of the boys and girls getting out of the cars were accompanied by either the chauffeur or their parent's secretaries, rarely were any of them accompanied by their mothers.

Zhong Yuhuan placed her hand on the door handle but didn't open it immediately. Instead, she turned around and smiled at the two boys, "Don't be nervous, just go inside with me."

Li Jinyuan nodded once.

Huo Chengming didn't say anything.

Zhong Yuhuan stared at Huo Chengming and suddenly blurted out, "Oh, we've forgotten to get you a haircut."

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Her stare had made Huo Chengming feel uncomfortable all of a sudden and he said, "That's alright."

Zhong Yuhuan looked over at Secretary Cheng, "Secretary Cheng, do you happen to have a pair of scissors with you?"

"We have a pair in the car." Secretary Cheng understood what she was planning on doing. He thought that was a bit of a crazy idea, but figured it wouldn't matter all that much as long as she was happy. So he pulled out a pair of scissors and some tissue papers and handed them over to her.

Zhong Yuhuan adjusted herself and sitting somewhat sideways on her seat, she leaned closer to Li Jinyuan.

Li Jinyuan couldn't even look at her. He immediately closed his eyes subconsciously.

Zhong Yuhuan had a tissue paper in her open palm and placed it right under Li Jinyuan's bangs. Immediately after that, she raised the scissors and snipped and trimmed his overgrown bangs.

Li Jinyuan could feel her breath on him.

He sat there nervous and dared not even move a muscle.

She was done in no time.

Zhong Yuhuan balled up the tissue paper with the trimmed hair and tossed it into the trash can in the car before returning the pair of scissors to Secretary Cheng.

She sat back up and cocked her head while looking at her own handy work. She then removed the string she used for her own hair and, smiling, tied up Li Jinyuan's hair behind him.

Secretary Cheng turned around, took a look and said, "Nice! Very fashionable!

"I think so too!" said Zhong Yuhuan with a bright and beaming smile.

Huo Chengming looked up at her silently before turning away.

"Let's go!" Zhong Yuhuan turned, opened the door, and was the first to hop out of the car.

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming followed behind her.

When the three of them got close to the entrance of the school, Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming could hear rumblings from not too far away.

"Hey, look! Zhong Yuhuan is here!"

"Didn't she run away?"

"She's coming to school? If I were her, I'd first beat that woman at home to death, then beat the daughter she brought with her to death… who cares about school?"

The original owner had never get along or have any relationships with any of these rich kids.

Every student of this school was from well off families and were all raised in a carefree environment. Naturally they never had to learn the art of filtering what they were saying. There were always lots of gossip among the circle of rich people. When it comes to the Zhong's, it was definitely a fine topic to laugh about.

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming almost frowned at the same time, and both clenched their fists immediately.

They didn't make too much of a fuss but quietly sized up the gossiping boys and girls. All of them were slightly older than them, but it was obvious that they came from an overprotected environment.

Both of them arrived at the same conclusion – that they would be able to take them easily when push comes to shove.

By now Zhong Yuhuan had already strolled up to them and said to the boy who last spoke, "Are you going to jail for me if I beat them to death? Or, I can pay you $5 million and you can go beat them to death for me, how's that?"

Zhong Yuhuan was a pretty girl, especially when she approached you one step at a time, her attractiveness was inescapable.

The boy blushed uncontrollably and shouted stubbornly, "Do you think I need money?"

Chapter 23 – The Amazing Zhong Yuhuan (2)

"Oh, shut it. We all knew that you made your little brother from your dad's new wife cry and your pocket money was stopped for two months. You can barely afford your race car models now…. My money should tie you over for 6 months or so."

The boy swallowed whatever he had in mind and asked awkwardly, "Where did you money come from?"

"From Zhong Chi, for me this month."

"He is still giving you money? And that much?" exclaimed the boy.

"Who else is he going to give money to? Xu Yushan?" said Zhong Yuhuan with a smile, "In her dreams!"

"Amazing!"

This group of kids, which grow up with money, were so overprotected that they never truly grew up; they changed their minds all the time.

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All the ones who were raised with structures and emphasis on their education had already went to study abroad; they wouldn't be found focusing their attention on this school here.

So this group of kids now surrounded Zhong Yuhuan and called out, "How did you do that?"

"Man, that was quite incredible!"

"That woman was even able to get into the doors of the Zhong's, she must be pretty good at plotting herself; and you were still able to get money from your dad?"

Zhong Yuhuan pushed the crowd aside and said, "Stop blocking me, didn't you see I have others with me?"

The crowd finally all took a step back and gave her some room, but they were still staring at Zhong Yuhuan.

Plenty of the wealthy at Hai City have lovers outside of their marriage. Some of them even brought them into their house and shared the same room with their wives!

Most of the wives didn't care all that much so long as they have money to spend and keep themselves occupied. They may not care that much, but the kids were different. Particularly the young ones, they would hate for the illegitimate children to come and dip into their resources.

Of course, they were merely kidding about beating someone to death. Nobody would be silly enough to give up their own future for the lives of the shameless ones.

They all stared at Zhong Yuhuan and very curious how she was able to pull that off.

Zhong Yuhuan, with her bunny backpack, turned around and walked in between Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming. Then, turning and waving at the other wealthy kids, she said, "I am heading inside now!"

"Oh, c'mon, don't go yet, Zhong Yuhuan! Who are they? Your relatives? We have never seen them before!" Everybody followed behind her as they chittered away.

"My mom's adopted kids," said Zhong Yuhuan as she pointed at Huo Chengming, "My older brother." Then, pointing at Li Jinyuan, "My younger brother."

The other kids didn't give it too much thought but busted out laughing at her introduction, "HAHAHAHAHA, did that woman blow a gasket? Her son hasn't even been made official yet, has he?"

Zhong Yuhuan nodded, "Nope!"

What she didn't say was – That was going to happen soon enough; not much she could do to stop that one.

The rest of them just found this funny.

"How about we go hang out at your place tonight?"

"Yeah! We want to go see your older sister. Well, no, not really your sister, that girl that was born out of wedlock, to see how she feels about all this …"

"Yeah, yeah…"

"You guys talk too much!" said Zhong Yuhuan, not wanting to engage with them.

"As do you," said one of the girls as she looked at Zhong Yuhuan, "You didn't used to talk so much before!"

Someone next to her chimed in, "That's right! You don't always respond when others talk to you! You do roll your eyes at us a lot!"

"My mom was sick back then, I didn't feel very talkative."

"Yeah, I guess…"

Everybody laughed and joked around and it didn't take very long before the mood has changed entirely.

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming never uttered a word, but they had quietly relaxed their tightly-gripped fists.

It was just like they thought.

Whenever she stood, that place would turn into the brightest spot.

She was smart and pretty; she could easily overcome a situation like she was facing before and turned into the center of attention…

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming had never felt this way before.

It felt as though they had seen a bright and shiny treasure that was being displayed at the best spot inside a display case; this treasure so powerful it'd suck one's soul in and it made them desired her innately.

But she wasn't somewhere where they could reach right now.

The two boys looked up quietly at the school in front of them.

And they felt a fire burning inside their chests.

Chapter 24 – The Amazing Zhong Yuhuan (3)

Secretary Cheng quickly took care of all the registration paperwork. Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming were arranged to be in the same classroom and the dean delivered their textbooks himself.

The two of them observed everything quietly, taking them all in.

They started to form a sense of awareness….

A person must grow up before he has the ability to deal with all the hindrances in life. Otherwise, they'd be like those wealthy kids; although they were from wealthy families, but due to their age, when something went against their ways, they had no rights to say no.

Furthermore, a person must also have power, status, and wealth…. It was only when one has all those, then you would have someone like the dean waiting on your hands and feet.

That's why…

They need to grow up.

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They need to possess more.

Before they could turn the table and take care of her.

Their first day of school, and they had already made not too much but also not too little attention.

Part of the reason was because they came with Zhong Yuhuan, the other part of the reason was because, even at their young age, they already understood physical attraction! Girls that age were already well aware of the differences between the two genders and started to catch a glimpse of what it was like to find a boy attractive.

Li Jinyuan had on a shirt and long pants; after his bangs were trimmed, his clean and fair look was exposed. He was particularly attractive among the other boys who have yet to attain that stage, like the Japanese idols that the girls always liked on fashion magazines.

Huo Chengming was also wearing a shirt and long pants, but he was the exact opposite type as Li Jinyuan. He was good looking but also reserved, and a sense of meanness and standoffish feeling radiated from him.

When school was out, everybody leaned against the railings looking at the two new boys flanking behind Zhong Yuhuan.

"Like bodyguards." Someone said.

The girl next to him rolled her eyes, "What do you know? They are like princes, okay?"

"Liu Manman, you are reading too much comics!"

"They are like knights."

"You are reading too much comics too!"

"Do you think Zhong Yuhuan would let me borrow her older brother?"

"What is your problem? Why would she lend him to you?"

"I don't have an older brother… I want an older brother too…"

Zhong Yuhuan returned home, naturally she didn't invite any of her schoolmates to join her.

There was an air of awkwardness inside the Zhong's house.

Xu Yunhui was sitting on the couch. She smiled at Zhong Yuhuan tenderly when she saw her coming through the door and said to her, "Huanhuan, perfect, I have something to talk to you about."

Zhong Yuhuan didn't even pay her any attention.

"The Nan's had sent over the invitation for you to go join the banquet at their house in the next couple of days."

Zhong Yuhuan slowly took off her bunny backpack and, looking over at Xu Yushan, caught her turning away. Zhong Yuhuan had a pretty good idea how much brooding was going on inside of her.

Zhong Yuhuan pursed her lips a bit and asked, "Who else were invited?"

"Your dad and I," smiled Xu Yunhui.

"Oh?" said Zhong Yuhuan drawing it out slowly, "But not Xu Yushan?"

That was interesting!

She knew full well what type of a person that young master of Nan's was.

He was kicked out of school three times while studying abroad and knocked up a underage girl. The Nan's influence couldn't reach that far, so it took them quite a bit of effort to finally settle all the matters and kept everything under wraps. Finally, running out of options, they made him returned home. Now they just want to find him a virtuous wife. One that would stay home and take care of the chores at home, give them a few kids and never complain and, most important of all, didn't care how many other girls he has on the side.

Zhong Yuhuan truly didn't want this guy, which was why she bowed out so generously.

She almost felt that Xu Yushan and this young master Nan's just might be a match made in heaven!

Now that they have invited her but not Xu Yushan, she gathered it wasn't for the influence of the Ding's. Right now the Ding's were run by her Older Aunt, someone whose talents were more on enjoying herself than management. The Ding's hasn't been the same as what they were for a while now.

The Nan's was most likely doing this for the influence of Lang Jinzhi.

She heard from Secretary Cheng that Lang Jinzhi was about to have another big promotion.

Chapter 25 – Brother (1)

The next day, Xu Yushan just hid inside the house and never went out.

She had learned her lesson after the last defeat in front of Zhong Yuhuan – no matter how upset she was, she must contain herself.

It was only after Zhong Yuhuan got inside the car with the boys and the car has left the Zhong's mansion before she dared to open up the window and stared outside with hatred.

—

Zhong Yuhuan and the two boys adapted to the school life quite quickly.

Zhong Yuhuan felt that the curriculum was super easy, so she was taking it in stride. As for Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming, their time at the welfare agency had been bad, so attending school was nothing in comparison. No matter how dry the materials were, they could still understand and absorb the knowledge.

Shortly, it was already noon time.

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Zhong Yuhuan headed out as quickly as she could and a few boys and girls still shouted out behind her, "Zhong Yuhuan! Slow down! Have lunch with us!"

"Let's go to Koi Palace!"

"Wait for me, Zhong Yuhuan!"

Everybody was more or less from the same circle, there weren't a lot of one person looking down on another.

Once they have put the past behind them, now all they wanted was to get close to Zhong Yuhuan and learn a thing or two from her. That's why there were also one or two of them following behind Zhong Yuhuan. They couldn't wait to learn her tricks so they too could get $1 or $2 million pocket money from their fathers.

Zhong Yuhuan walked straight to the outside of Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming's classroom.

She noticed that they weren't there.

"I think this period was Physical Ed for them." Someone told her.

"Why don't we head to the gym and check it out for ourselves?"

So the rest of the group continued to follow Zhong Yuhuan like lemmings as they all headed toward the gym.

Murphy High School had a particular big sport complex. It contained a completely independent basketball court, a soccer field, and ping pong area, etc.

Finally, they all arrived at the basketball court.

In grade school, everybody preferred ping pong or badminton, but boys of this age were already drawn into basketball.

As soon as they arrived at the basketball court, Zhong Yuhuan finally found both Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming.

The two boys hadn't completely caught up with others their age yet, so they were at most considered midsize compared to their peers.

But now that they had removed Murphy's school jacket and unbuttoned the first few buttons for more ease of movement, one could see their not yet well-built adolescent chest.

They were sweating and their sweat moistened their hair and a few strands of their hair stuck to their face. As young as they were, there was already a hint of pheromone being released.

Ling Juechen and Huo Chengming probably hadn't had a lot of opportunities to encounter group sports like this during their stay at the welfare agency, so they were immediately addicted the first time they played.

They both stared intently at the hoop and it was surprisingly difficult for the other boys to take the basketball from them!

Some of the people behind Zhong Yuhuan couldn't wait any longer and shouted in that direction, "Class is over! School is out for now! Let's go!"

Huo Chengming tossed aside the basketball in his hand and stood at the same spot with his lips tightly pressed together. His head was still buzzing from being engaged at such vigorous activities.

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming looked toward the entrance of the basketball court almost simultaneously.

Then they immediately picked up their uniform jacket and walked over to Zhong Yuhuan almost in synchrony.

They surely were the male lead and boss villain; their attractiveness was already beginning to show.

Zhong Yuhuan looked up at them and gave them a big smile, "That was quite impressive!"

"Not, not that impressive," stuttered Li Jinyuan.

Huo Chengming couldn't even remember how to talk; his looked to and from Zhong Yuhuan's face – he looked some at her smile, then after a while he couldn't help but to look away.

"Hurry up! I have already made a reservation at Koi Palace!" Someone grabbed Zhong Yuhuan in a hurry.

Zhong Yuhuan smacked away his hand and said, "Okay, start walking and we'll follow."

Then she turned to the two of them and said, "Let's go get some lunch. Then take a nap after lunch before the afternoon classes."

Chapter 26 – Brother (2)

Even such a simple description from Zhong Yuhuan made them felt incredibly joyous and pleasant, as though their lives were now progressing forward at a steady pace and they were finally doing the same thing as others their age.

All of this had been simply unimaginable to them just not too long ago.

Huo Chengming replied in a low voice, "Mmm."

"Hurry up," said Zhong Yuhuan as she walked in front of them.

The two boys followed her a bit awkwardly. They even walked and wiped away their sweat with tissue paper at the same time.

They had played entirely too long and sweated entirely too much.

It was only after they have experienced this activity that they had never attempted before when they felt a sense of anxiousness.

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They were covered in sweat. Would she find them smelly?

Subconsciously, they fell a few more steps behind her.

It was Zhong Yuhuan who noticed that they fell behind and couldn't help but turned around again and said, "Hurry Up!"

It was then when Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming finally sped up and hurried toward Zhong Yuhuan.

The restaurant was not far from the school, just a few-minute walk from the school. It didn't take long for the young masters and misses to get to Koi Palace.

The manager of Koi Palace came to greet them in person.

All the students nearby were from rich families; the manager knew this very well and definitely would not ignore them just because of their age.

As soon they have been seated in their very own private room, the manager brought the servers in to take their orders.

After all the others had finished with their orders, they quickly shove a menu into Zhong Yuhuan's hand and said, "Zhong Yuhuan, what do you want to order?"

Zhong Yuhuan reached out her hand at the manager, "Give me another one."

The manager quickly handed her another menu.

Zhong Yuhuan handed the menu to both Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming, "I am sure you are starving by now. Take a look and order what you want."

The cover of the menu was even wrapped in a layer of silk, making it look even classier.

Never mind a being in such a fancy restaurant, even being able to order their own food was something that they had never experienced before.

"Hurry up," said Zhong Yuhuan as she leaned on the table and said rushed them softly, "I am hungry."

Her voice was soft, almost as soft as the hair flowing down onto her shoulder.

It was as though she was being coquettish.

There were so many dishes that they had never had before, but they worried that Zhong Yuhuan was hungry, so they just randomly picked a few dishes before handing the menu back to Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan did not take the menus from them but nodded at the manager and said, "That will be all for now."

The manager responded by taking the menus away.

He returned shortly with tea and snacks.

While everybody was waiting for the food to be served, the started giggling and chatting.

Someone said, "Zhong Yuhuan, your fiancé is back. We heard there will be some sort of a banquet, we even got an invitation!"

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming's ears perked up almost instantaneously and stealthily listening to the conversation.

Zhong Yuhuan reached for the tea pot to pour herself a cup of tea.

Huo Chengming suddenly reached out for the teapot, took it, and quietly poured tea into Zhong Yuhuan's cup.

Someone witnessed that and couldn't help but laughed, "It's so nice to have an older brother!"

The girl next to them rolled her eyes, "What's so good about that? My older brother wasn't nice to me at all!"

Zhong Yuhuan leaned on the top of the table again. With her head cocked, she stared at Huo Chengming and smiled, "Ge ge will be nice to me for life, right?"

Instantly, Huo Chengming turned beet red from his neck all the way up to the tips of his ears.

His grip on the teapot tightened and he said softly, "…. Yes."

He couldn't help but to look at her again.

But by now Zhong Yuhuan had already turned toward Li Jinyuan sluggishly and smiled, "What about you, di di?"

"Mmm," said Li Jinyuan with a young and inexperienced smile, "I will be nice to you for life."

Zhong Yuhuan felt very content.

She looked at all the other rich kids, elated.

"Aye, you think my mom will let me go and adopt an older brother from the welfare agency?" sighed the girl sitting across from them.

Zhong Yuhuan grinned and said, "You have a real brother, I think your mom will kill you."

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming exchanged a look quickly.

Neither one of them were good at expressing themselves so both of them remained quietly and didn't say anything else.

Chapter 27 – The Nan's Banquet (1)

Everybody headed back to school after lunch.

The next few days more or less followed the same pattern – everybody had lunch together, everybody went home together. Days passed by steadily and happily.

Before long, the day of the Nan's banquet arrived.

The Nan's original plan was to have a more private banquet, but after Senior Mr. Nan had lunch with Zhong Chi, he changed his mind and had his wife also sent an invitation to Xu Yushan. Senior Mr. Nan didn't want to offend any parties, so he changed the private banquet to a less inclusive one so the invitation to Xu Yushan didn't seem to stand out.

Naturally, Xu Yushan went from being sad to happy. When the weekend arrived, she put on her best make up and clothing and left to go to the banquet first with her mother.

Zhong Yuhuan, on the other hand, spent more time picking out the proper outfits for both Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming before they left the house together.

Almost half of the wealthy families attended the Nan's banquet.

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Even though Xu Yushan had spent a lot of time on dressing up, but being among all the others, she was at most a pheasant pretending to be a phoenix. Xu Yushan had not been to a lot of events like this one, she followed closely behind Xu Yunhui and dared not stay too far away from her.

Xu Yushan looked around and noticed that most of the wealthy young masters and misses were around chatting in groups.

Almost all of them had known each other growing up; naturally, they had already formed their own groups.

Finally, Young Master Nan had arrived.

That was when Xu Yushan finally gotten brave and prepared to walk up to talk to him.

But before she was even able to go up to him, she heard someone whispering not too far away, "How come Zhong Yuhuan is just now getting here? She didn't come with her dad?"

"They had a big fight not too long ago, haven't you heard about it? The one that came with Mr. Zhong today was his stepdaughter."

Xu Yushan felt like a dagger had stabbed her in her heart when she heard the term "stepdaughter."

She gritted her teeth and looked toward Zhong Yuhuan.

From her perspective, Zhong Yuhuan was still a child – no bust, no hip. What was there to look at?

But she was disappointed as soon as she turned her head.

Sometimes beauty wasn't always about having a big chest and a small waist and dressed in a way to show off one's curves.

Zhong Yuhuan had on a vermillion dress with a skinny waist, knee-length, and her shapely legs showing off from below the dress.

She was totally eye-catching and fully showed off her youth.

Then, looking at her neck.

A magnificent red ruby hung around her neck from a white silk band. It not only made her neck seem slim and long but, at the same time, created the illusion that she was but a gem herself. It made others felt that she needed to be tended to carefully.

She had immediate got the attention of everyone present at her young age.

As for the two boys behind her, they had on perfectly fitted suits. They might be young, but it was already quite obvious that they had beautifully proportioned bodies.

One of them was clean cut and handsome, with red lips and white teeth. He looked like he was from some prominent families.

The other one had very finely carved features. His mouth was shut tightly and a hint of viciousness showing through his face. His loftiness and panache were already beginning to show through.

Xu Yushan was so mad she almost passed out from anger.

How could Zhong Yuhuan bring the two unrelated, little bastards from the welfare agency to the banquet?

"Zhong Chi's daughter is so pretty!" someone sighed.

"Back then Mrs. Zhong was quite pretty too…. But still…" the person speaking lifted up the wine glass and covered up the rest of her words.

"Eh? Who are those behind her?" someone asked curiously.

"Those were the boys that Mrs. Zhong let her daughter go and adopt for her from the welfare agency; even Mr. Zhong had silently agreed to it.

"Didn't the next one bring a boy with her? I heard that these boys were not for the Zhong's; they were for the Ding's….the Ding's have no boys right now."

Xu Yushan bit her lips hard, she couldn't make out what others said after that.

Chapter 28 – The Nan's Banquet (2)

She stared at the direction of Zhong Yuhuan and hope that Zhong Yuhuan would come and pick a fight with her first. It looked bad for her, the older one, to pick a fight with her first.

But Zhong Yuhuan had just got into the banquet hall before she was surrounded.

It was by a group of young masters and misses.

"Those are Zhong Yuhuan's schoolmates," whispered Xu Yunhui softly into her ears. "At your age, you won't be able to make friends with these second-generation rich kids in school. But what you can do is to attend these banquets more often and, slowly, you will be able to make friends like these too."

Xu Yushan nodded once; she was both envious and jealous inside.

This was part of the benefits of entering into a wealthy family.

Once you have crossed that line into the upper class, the resources you encountered were completely different!

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Xu Yushan looked over at Young Master Nan ambitiously.

At this moment, Young Master Nan had already walked down the stairs and walked straight passed Xu Yushan and finally stopping in front of Xu Yushan.

Young Master Nan was aware that he had a betrothal since he was a child. He had even made a special trip to check out her fiancée at the Zhong's once before, but when he was in junior high, Miss Zhong was still in grade school.

Young Master Nan had immediately extinguished his desire to have early love. He had a huge fight with his family as soon as he got home and said how could she became their daughter-in-law and his wife in the future! He then turned around and hook up with his female classmate right away, and starting down the path of switching girlfriends after girlfriends.

This was his second time meeting Zhong Yuhuan.

As soon as he laid eyes on her, he was stunned.

He was already of age and tall; he pushed away the others and stood in front of Zhong Yuhuan. Smiling, he asked, "Fiancee?"

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "You are kidding, who is your fiancée?"

It was totally different when those mean words came from a pretty person.

Young Master Nan paused for a second and said, "Don't write it off, the purpose of me returning to this country is to marry you."

"It's illegal to be a pedophile. You will go to jail." Smiled Zhong Yuhuan.

Young Master Nan was not angered by her sharp words, "I will take you to meet my parents…" He was barely half way through his sentence before he stopped abruptly.

He stared straight behind her and paused before saying, "So vicious, which family are they from?"

Zhong Yuhuan was baffled by his words. She turned around and looked.

Li Jinyuan pressed his lips shut and his look was cold.

Huo Chengming was silent and his features were drawn tight.

So…. Which one of them threatened Young Master Nan?

Zhong Yuhuan took a step back to stand in between Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming. She put her arms in both of the crooks of their arms and said, "I think you should go. I don't want you to get hit."

Young Master Nan was stunned again.

"We have all heard of all your stories from overseas. I'm afraid my cousin would beat you up for talking to me."

Lang Jinzhi was quite well known among this group of second-generation wealthy kids. Just his name alone would make 9 out of 10 villains worry.

Just thinking about his face was enough to intimidate Young Master Nan.

He forced a smile and said, "That would be so unnecessary. Why would he beat me up?"

Despite what he was saying, he got the hint and stepped aside.

But Young Master Nan already had his mind set on Zhong Yuhuan and no longer had the interest to look at any other girls afterward.

This one was too old.

That one was too young, couldn't even tell if she'd be pretty after she grew up.

This one was not elegant enough; that one wasn't pretty enough.

After an entire round, Young Master Nan was still unhappy with what he was seeing.

This was when he was called over by his parents.

Chapter 29 – The Nan's Banquet (3)

"Come here, say hi to Uncle Zhong," said Senior Mr. Nan as he pulled Young Master Nan in front of him.

After they have greeted each other, Zhong Chi introduced the young woman standing next to him and said, "Young Master Nan, this is my daughter Yushan."

Young Master Nan thought to himself, what did your daughter have to do with me?

He turned and took a quick look.

She certainly was big-busted.

But he had encountered too many women with this type of mature charm and was no longer interested in them.

On the other hand, Zhong Yuhuan was about to sneak out of the banquet hall with a group of second-generation wealth kids.

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Young Master Nan felt anxious as soon as he saw that.

He thought about it. He didn't mind waiting for a few years for Zhong Yuhuan. She was so pretty that she was as good as 10 women.

He would feel very bad for the rest of his life if she didn't become his.

So Young Master Nan dropped a very impatient, "Alright, I got it." Before he took off in the direction of Zhong Yuhuan.

Senior Mr. Nan was never that happy with Xu Yushan to begin with, so after his son took off he could only said helplessly, "Well, he was engaged to Yuhuan first after all. He was already going after her as soon as he had returned."

Mrs. Nan, on the other hand, took a few more looks at Xu Yushan.

She had given the whole thing much more thoughts. If Xu Yunhui could trap Zhong Chi, then naturally Xu Yushan would have learned a thing or two from her mother? She wasn't asking for much, she just need Xu Yushan to appease her son enough to not act up and buckle down a bit and focus on his school work and career for a little while. She was just a stepdaughter anyway, if her son grew tired of her one day, he could always kick her to the curb and remarry.

The smile on Xu Yushan almost froze. Xu Yunhui quickly pinched her from the back so Xu Yushan was able to barely recollect herself.

On the other hand, Young Master Nan ran out the door after them and followed them all the way to the parking lot.

"Why are you leaving so soon?" He smiled and asked.

Huo Chengming spoke out all of a sudden, "Why are you following her?"

Young Master Nan smiled, "I am talking to her. This is none of your business."

Huo Chengming suddenly grabbed Young Master Nan on his collar and pulled him up. That totally caught Young Master Nan by surprise; he hadn't expected Huo Chengming would get physical all of a sudden.

Not to mention that Huo Chengming looked so young!

When Young Master Nan came to, he was already pinned down by Huo Chengming's.

Huo Chengming wasn't as tall as Young Master Nan, but now his face darkened, his tightened lips exuded and indescribable feel of viciousness like that of a young wolf.

He had a lot of fighting experience when he was an orphan. He aimed only at the vital locations. First, it was a punch straight to the chest to stun the opponent. Then the fists rained down, focusing mostly on the head and face, letting his opponent had no breathing room to fight back.

"Let, let go!" Young Master Nan struggled for a bit but wasn't even able to get up. He was pinned down tightly on the ground, with tears and snot flying out from pain.

When had he ever been in a fight his entire life?

Let alone a fight so vicious.

Young Master Nan didn't stand a chance at all.

It was then when Li Jinyuan quietly walked over to the other side and gave Young Master Nan a swift kick to his head.

Zhong Yuhuan, "…."

She never thought that the Young Master Nan would have been beaten up by Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan before Lang Jinzhi even had a chance to.

The rest of the second-generation rich kids all looked away simultaneously.

Um… they had not seen anything.

Chapter 30 – Secretly Measuring Up (1)

Huo Chengming knew when to stop. When he figured he was done, he got back up.

Young Master Nan struggled a couple of times before he was able to get back up from the ground. He dared not even looked this way but turned around and ran away as fast as he could.

The way Huo Chengming looked in his direction was deep and thoughtful. When he turned back to talk to Zhong Yuhuan, the deepness was gone.

He said gently to her, "Don't worry, he won't cause any trouble. People like him…. He would rather keep his image."

When he walked, he purposefully avoided looking at Zhong Yuhuan as though he was afraid to catch a glimpse of shock, fear, or disgust from her.

Zhong Yuhuan chuckled and said, "Mmm, I know. He got beaten up. Surely he wouldn't want anyone to find out about that."

He had beaten up Young Master Nan blatantly, and he was certain there would be no consequences. Had he beaten him up in a dark alley, and that Young Master Nan didn't know who it was that beat him up? The Nan's would probably think that it was one of their enemies and would certainly turn Hai City upside down to find the culprit.

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One of the second-generation rich kid said, "He can say whatever he wants." He slammed his chest as he talked, "I'd testify that it didn't happen."

"That's right. We didn't see anything." All the other kids bought into it.

Young Master Nan left the country at an early age and he was of a different age group from these kids, so none of them was particularly interested in siding with him.

He could have been buried alive, and they wouldn't care about him.

Young Master Nan's whole act was quite shameless to begin with.

How old was that Young Master Nan? And how old was Zhong Yuhuan? How could he come and harass her?

Finally, Huo Chengming's tightened face relaxed.

Zhong Yuhuan turned to Huo Chengming and smiled at him, "Thank you, ge ge, for protecting me."

The aura that could only belong to that of a young wolf just a minute ago was completely gone from Huo Chengming instantly. Pursing his lips, he said, "….. that's… my responsibility."

"Let's go!" said Zhong Yuhuan.

"Yeah! Let's go!" urged the others around them.

And they took off quickly.

As they were walking outward, Zhong Yuhuan turned her head and looked at Huo Chengming.

Huo Chengming was walking with an awkward gait.

Zhong Yuhuan blinked in surprise.

Was it really that impactful to call refer to him as "ge ge" for once?

Huo Chengming still hasn't recovered from that?

On the other hand, Young Master Nan returned to the banquet hall angrily. One step in and a dizzy spell almost caused him to tumble onto the floor.

He raised his arm and rubbed his forehead before the feeling that his nose was about to start bleeding subsided.

Mr. and Mrs. Nan were chatting with Zhong Chi when they saw their son enter in his current state.

Their faces dropped and they asked, "What happened?!"

Young Master Nan opened his mouth and was just about to say, "The bastard kid that came with Zhong Yuhuan beat me up…." But he stopped himself just in time.

No matter how he phrased it, it would sound like a kindergarten kid ratting someone out. And, exactly how old was he now? Could he say that he got beaten up by some kid? Never mind how embarrassing that was going to sound, others might not even believe him!

Young Master Nan lifted his hand and touched the wound on his face.

Tssssss…

He didn't want to embarrass himself.

So, as difficult as it might be, he forced himself to swallow the words that was about to come out of him.

"….. I was running after Zhong Yuhuan. I didn't make it in time and took a tumble."

When Huo Chengming was striking him, he hit the same spot repeatedly.

So, that was the only area that was particularly bruised. It did look like that was the spot that took a direct hit during a fall.

Mrs. Nan's heart ached when she heard that. She gave Young Master Nan a hug and comforted him.

Chapter 31 – Secretly Measuring Up (2)

Xu Yushan was shocked from witnessing that scene.

Of course she had heard about the crazy stories about him in the past, but she figured that was normal behavior for a rich young man like him and didn't think much about it.

What she didn't expect was that Young Master Nan, an adult, would behave so much like a child…

That was a harder pill to swallow.

Young Master Nan looked embarrassed from the fall.

Giving what had happened, Zhong Chi made up some excuse, ended the conversation with the Nan's and walked away with Xu Yunhui.

Xu Yunhui lowered her head and followed.

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Mr. Nan took a look at the departing Xu Yunhui and sighed, "She doesn't come close to Zhong Yuhuan."

"But, she is still so young. What is the point?" Mrs. Nan frowned. "Besides, we have all heard of her temper. When her dad brought Xu Yunhui into the house, remember all the scenes that she had caused? They even lost a business engagement because of her. She is going to fight to Yangyang day and night if he marries her."

Mr. Nan scoffed, "What do you know. Are you aware of Lang Jinzhi's current status?"

On the other side, the only thing that Young Master Nan could think about right now was that he wanted Zhong Yuhuan, bad.

She's so incredibly pretty!

Even just having her at home would make him happy!

The only reason that Zhong Yuhuan showed up at the banquet was to pick on Xu Yunhui and her daughter. She wanted everyone in the upper class social circle to know that she, Zhong Yuhuan, was still the one and only daughter of the Zhong's.

Once she had made her appearance and her point, she had lost all interest to stay.

That's why she just took off with the rest of the second-generation rich kids.

Naturally, they have their own form of entertainment.

After leaving the banquet, they headed toward a high-end club.

The manager at a high-end club knew how to cater to his customers. He knew how to alter the normal program when he saw this ground of young wealthy kids.

"Let's play pool!" Someone shouted. Then, turning to Zhong Yuhuan, "Zhong Yuhuan, do you know how to play pool?"

Zhong Yuhuan nodded, "Of course!"

"Great! Let's start with that then. And bring some gaming consoles too!"

Zhong Yuhuan took the opportunity when the others were talking to the manager to talk to Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan, "Do you know how to play?"

Both boys shook their heads.

Pool?

They have only heard of it in the past.

Zhong Yuhuan picked up their hands, scratched inside their palms, smiled and comforted them, "Don't worry, I will teach you."

The workers had everything prepared in no time.

Zhong Yuhuan had her fair share of these in her previous life.

Pool, handheld gaming devices, outdoor activities… she had played all of them.

Zhong Yuhuan picked up a pool cue before turning and looking at the two boys, "Which one of you wants to try first?"

Li Jinyuan opened his mouth and was about to say something.

Huo Chengming took a big step forward and drowned out Li Jinyuan.

"I will give it a try," said Huo Chengming.

"Okay!" Zhong Yuhuan reached out her hand toward him.

This time Huo Chengming had no hesitation. He took her hand and walked toward the pool table.

She grabbed the pool cue, and lowered her body closer to the surface of the table as she continued to explain the rules and pointers to Huo Chengming while giving him a demonstration.

"Just like this…." Said Zhong Yuhuan as she turned and looked at Huo Chengming.

Behind them, Li Jinyuan's eyes flickered a bit and, almost immediately, he removed his jacket, took a step forward, and tied it around Zhong Yuhuan's waist.

Zhong Yuhuan paused for a bit, then stood up and looked over at Li Jinyuan.

"Oh, thank you, di di." Suddenly, Zhong Yuhuan realized why he did what he did. She still had the on the formal dress she wore specifically for attending the banquet. It was easy for the dress to rise up when she leaned over.

Li Jinyuan pursed his lips and said softly, "You can call me ge ge too!"

Zhong Yuhuan shook her head, "Nope. You are younger than me, even if its just by a day."

Li Jinyuan looked into her eyes and finally gave up the fight and took a step back.

Huo Chengming suddenly looked at the jacket wrapped around her waist and even he had a complicated slight change in his emotions.

He said softly, "Huanhuan, give me the pool cue. I want to give it a try."

When Huo Chengming said that, his face was tightened, obviously nervous.

He had heard others called her "Huanhuan," but had never referred to her that way himself. This was the very first time he had shown any signs of closeness to her.

Zhong Yuhuan paused for a second, followed by a bright smile, "Okay!" She handed over the pool cue to Huo Chengming.

Chapter 32 – Secretly Measuring Up (3)

Huo Chengming leaned over and, mimicking how she was before, held the pool cue in his hand and hit the ball.

The ball spun out to the side of the table and circled the table.

Zhong Yuhuan gave him an applause from the side and said, "That's really good, ge ge. A little more practice and you will be able to hit the balls into the pockets!"

Suddenly, Li Jinyuan spoke up from behind, "Teach me too, jie jie!"

He, too, had rarely referred to her as "jie jie". Partly because he had rarely asked of anything from her and partly because he was worried that she wouldn't respond.

"Okay, just one minute." Zhong Yuhuan had the manager brought over another cue stick and took Li Jinyuan over to another pool table.

"Come over here."

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"Okay," replied Li Jinyuan. His body slowly started to relax and he walked over to Zhong Yuhuan with brisk steps.

All of the others were interested in watching Zhong Yuhuan play pool so nobody said anything but stared at the table.

On this side, Huo Chengming put down his pool cue and started intently at Li Jinyuan.

When he saw that Zhong Yuhuan had taught Li Jinyuan the same technique that she had taught him, Huo Chengming finally picked back up the pool cue, leaned back down, and hit another ball.

A few banging noises later.

Finally, a ball fell into a pocket in a fierce manner.

Huo Chengming stood up, looked over at Zhong Yuhuan and said softly, "Huanhuan, I hit one into the pocket."

By now, Huo Chengming realized that all he needed to do was to run her name on his tongue for a couple of times, and it was much easier to say it out loudly.

Huanhuan, Huanhuan.

After a few more times, it was almost addicting.

He felt an itch in his throat.

When Zhong Yuhuan heard Huo Chengming's voice, she handed the pool cue over to Li Jinyuan and looked up at Huo Chengming, "Is ge ge really that good?"

Huo Chengming said softly, "Why don't you come see for yourself?"

"Alright," Zhong Yuhuan walked over to him without giving it a second thought.

Li Jinyuan lowered his head and started trying to hit the ball silently.

All the others looked over at Huo Chengming, baffled. Then they turned to look over at Li Jinyuan, also baffled.

It would seem that…..

Something was off.

Zhong Yuhuan, on the other hand, seemed quite happy.

Once they have learned how to play pool, and after both the male lead and the villain boss had grown up… and they'd be wearing suits, with their wide shoulders, narrow waist and long legs… and when they rolled up their sleeves, grabbed a pool cue and started playing, that must be quite an attractive scene.

Zhong Yuhuan smacked her lips, she had finally experienced a shred of accomplishment from raising kids.

Chapter 33 – Plans for the future (1)

The entire pool table area had turned into Zhong Yuhuan's classroom.

It would take any normal person a whole day to pick up pool, but Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan were able to pick it up in barely a couple of hours.

Even the three young masters standing nearby and watching them for fun picked it up as well.

After being so super focused, everybody was tired in no time.

Someone couldn't help but ask, "Zhong Yuhuan, is there anything that you can't do?"

"Lots! I don't know how to play basketball, or soccer, or skiing, or swimming, or rowing…" Zhong Yuhuan listed out a bunch of them.

"Let's go skiing in New Zealand over new year!"

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"Don't go with him. Zhong Yuhuan, go with me to Egypt over new year! We will go dig out a pharaoh!"

"Are you crazy? Dig out a pharaoh? We should go check out the neon lights in the red light district!"

It did not take long before they digressed completely from the original topic.

Sitting in the middle, Zhong Yuhuan had turned into the center of the discussion.

Zhong Yuhuan worried that Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan wouldn't be able to join in the conversation so she announced, "Alright, alright, it's getting late. We need to head home."

Everybody else just looked at her dumbfounded, "Why do you want to go home? We are not done here yet. Didn't you say you are going to teach us how to play that new mobile handheld game?"

Zhong Yuhuan shook her head, "Nah, I got homework to do."

The others paused for a second and then laughed out loud, "You are kidding, right? Going home to do homework?"

Zhong Yuhuan nodded and replied solemnly, "I am still young after all. What if Xu Yunhui try some dirty tricks and tried to frame me later on?"

"Ugh… what does that have to do with doing homework?"

"One must study hard in order to become a successful person in life!"

"You need to study to become successful?"

"Or else what? Just sit around and do nothing all day long except to wait for pocket money from your family? What happens when you have a stepmother one day like I do now? Then what?"

Everybody seemed to be enlightened, "That kinda make sense."

"But doing homework is so tiring. We can directly go study overseas. Once we came back from overseas, we can join our family's business right away." The group of second-generation rich kids already had their lives planned.

All being said, they were just plans after all.

Zhong Yuhuan stared around the group and said, "You can't be that naïve! If you don't know anything yourself, even if you joined the company, you won't be able to control your subordinates. All your projects will be losing propositions, what is the point then?"

"You hire managers!"

"Are you an idiot? If you are ignorant, you wouldn't even know when your managers were just jerking you around!"

"Zhong Yuhuan, you are so smart!"

"That kinda makes sense, but I still don't know how to do my homework…. I have never done them before…."

"Zhong Yuhuan, what say we do them together at your place?" Everybody looked at her eagerly.

It was human nature to want to be closer to everything pretty and nice.

Right now, Zhong Yuhuan was pretty and full of vigor; everybody wanted to be close to her.

Yet Zhong Yuhuan turned them down cruelly, "No can do."

When she was home, she wanted it to be just her, the male lead, and the boss villain.

Ugh… that sounded odd when it was put that way.

Zhong Yuhuan stood up, grabbed Huo Chengming with her left hand and Li Jinyuan with her right and said, "C'mon, let's go. Home we go!"

Huo Chengming flipped his hand and held her hand in his before he replied softly, "Mmm."

That little exchange did not escape Li Jinyuan's eyes. His eyes flickered and, smiling at Zhong Yuhuan, also flipped his hand and held her hand in his.

All of a sudden it went from Zhong Yuhuan holding the hands of the two boys to her hands being held by the two boys.

The rest of the group could only look at their backs as they walked away.

Chapter 34 – Plans for the future (2)

When they arrived back at the mansion, Zhong Chi and the lot were not back yet.

Xu Yunhui's son's name was Xu Xing. He was currently a freshman in high school. Before Xu Yunhui married Zhong Chi, he applied and got into Dongling's 13th High School. This was a very strict school that was run in a draconian style. So, most of the time, Xu Xing stayed over at the school instead of at the mansion.

Naturally, he wouldn't be seen around the mansion.

Zhong Yuhuan quickly ascended the stairs with the two boys.

Li Jinyuan's jacket was still wrapped around Zhong Yuhuan's waist, and she just sit down on top of it. Zhong Yuhuan grabbed her backpack over and started pulling out her textbooks.

The two boys looked at her dumbfounded.

"What are you looking at me for? Do your homework!"

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That was when the two realized that when she said was going to "do her homework", she really was going to "do her homework."

Zhong Yuhuan had pondered over her future long and hard the first day she arrived into this world.

It was unlikely that Zhong Chi was going to change his ways one day; Grandpa Ding was up there in age; and it was impractical for her to seek help from Lang Jinzhi, her cousin, indefinitely. Once she thought about it that way, she practically had nobody who would stay by her side.

So, naturally, she would need to plan ahead.

Zhong Yuhuan turned and told him, "You both are freshman in junior high school right now and still behind on your school work, especially in the English area. But I will be attending senior high school aboard…"

Senior high school and university were important stages, she wouldn't choose to mess around and waste her life away.

Staying long term at the Zhong's would obviously be a bad choice so she might as well bamboozle another lump sum of money from Zhong Chi and go overseas to pursue her education.

Xu Xing might still be in school when she returned.

As for Xu Yushan, she was destined to be an airhead forever. Nothing would change about her in a few years.

By then, Zhong Chi would be even older than he is now, and she just might have a shot to take over the Zhong's business.

Zhong Yuhuan had it all planned out, but she didn't hear any responses from either Huo Chengming or Li Jinyuan.

Finally, she put down the pencil in her hand and looked up at them.

The two boys' eyes were reddened. Their fists tightened into balls like they were suppressing certain emotions.

"What's the matter?"

"If you are going overseas…. What about us?" asked Li Jinyuan, his voice filled with sadness.

"You will come with me, of course!"

The two boys relaxed immediately. Almost simultaneously, they looked up at Zhong Yuhuan. "Really? Together?" asked Li Jinyuan.

"Mhmm," nodded Zhong Yuhuan. "I have said it before, it will just be the three of us going forward."

They both looked meaningfully at Zhong Yuhuan and said softly, "Yes, it will just be the three of us going forward."

"Just be the three of us" should have sounded very sad, but at this moment in time, it took on a different level of meaning. When the words left their mouths, they all felt a sense of peacefulness and warmth… and also a hint of sweetness.

"When are we leaving?" asked Huo Chengming.

"We've got to wait for you. When you reached junior year…. Unless, of course, you can complete the coursework sooner, then we can take off sooner." Said Zhong Yuhuan as she casually spun the pencil in her hand.

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan quietly memorized her words.

If they can complete the coursework sooner….

Chapter 35 – Plans for the future (3)

To the two of them, overseas was an unfamiliar word.

But, they suddenly started looking forward to the days of going overseas… once they left the country, then it would just be the three of them, right?

"C'mon, let's start on the homework," Said Zhong Yuhuan.

"Okay," said Huo Chengming immediately.

Li Jinyuan was a step behind him but he still responded with a, "Okay."

That night, Zhong Chi and the lot returned home.

Zhong Yuhuan walked down the stairs with her hand on the banister. Xu Yushan looked up at her and almost couldn't contain the jealousy in her eyes.

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Zhong Yuhuan paid her no attention, looked directly at Zhong Chi and said, "Dad, there's something I want to talk to you about."

"Go ahead," Zhong Chi, on the other hand, was in a cheerful mood and this was the best time to bring up any requests.

Zhong Yuhuan took a few small steps and walked up to him as she said, "I want to go study abroad…."

"Oh, so that's what you want to talk about? When do you want to leave?" That was no surprise to Zhong Chi. In their circle, it was quite normal for kids to study abroad. It was the natural course of things.

On the other side, Xu Yunhui and Xu Yushan were both delighted by this news.

But, before they got too happy, Zhong Yuhuan continued, "I can't leave right now. I need to wait for Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan to work on their English and catch up on their school work so they can come with. They are going to need more and better tutors. The ones we had before were all hired by cousin, but I don't think it's right to keep troubling him, wouldn't you agree? After all Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan are already part of our family."

Naturally Zhong Chi didn't want the kids from the Welfare Agency around the house, so he would much prefer if they go overseas with her.

He asked point blank, "Well, what is on your mind?"

Zhong Yuhuan reached out her hand and said, "Sponsor me with a lump sum of money so I can hire better tutors for them."

Xu Yushan almost dropped dead of shock.

Was she seriously asking for money again?!

And what would enrage her even more followed.

Zhong Chi nodded without hesitation, "Okay, we shouldn't keep on troubling Lang Jinzhi." As Zhong Chi wasn't a big fan of the Ding's, naturally the less Zhong Yuhuan has to rely on Lang Jinzhi the better.

If words ever got out, it'd reflect poorly on him. People would think that he couldn't even take care of his daughter and that was why she needed to bother Lang Jinzhi on each and every single thing.

And that was how Zhong Yuhuan got another large lump sum of money. She went up the stairs joyously.

Awesome! The male lead and the boss villain have another lump sum for their education fund!

Maybe she should spend some money on piano lessons for them also?

Well-dressed men with their sleeves slightly rolled up and slender fingers running across the keyboard could be quite attractive too!

Chapter 36 – Bigger and Stronger (1)

Influenced by Zhong Yuhuan, the second-generation rich kids, who had been surrounding her, also started planning for their future. They didn't want to be a fool in the future, so with their teeth gritted, they tried to study harder.

When their families noticed their changes, they assumed it was just a fad and nobody thought much of it.

Everybody was around 13 to 14 year-old and during their rebellious phases. The more their families thought nothing of it, the harder they worked. They must work hard to keep this up.

Whenever they were about to give up, they just looked at Zhong Yuhuan, and their passion would be renewed.

Look at Zhong Yuhuan, her grandfather was once a renowned character of Hai City, and now her father was a new and coming figure in Hai City. Her cousin was no small character either…

And she was pretty!

But, she didn't want to rely on her looks, she wanted to rely on her ability…

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Who wouldn't want to learn from her after seeing an example like her?

Everybody agreed with Zhong Yuhuan's speech at the club the other day; and the more they agree with her, the closer they want to be to her.

Even though Zhong Yuhuan was young, everybody had omitted her childish look and only saw how sprightly and stunning she looked every time she talked.

It almost seemed like they wanted her to become the leader of their little group.

After that day when Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan beat up Young Master Nan, no further words were heard about the incident. Truth be told, even if he had said anything, with all the second-generation young kids muddling with the matters, nothing would come out of it.

—

Soon, it was Monday again, and Zhong Yuhuan and the boys continued to go to and from school.

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan have been spending more and more time on the basketball court. It was only that they had started to figure out the amount of time it would take Zhong Yuhuan to walk to the basketball court from her classroom after her class was out, so every time they'd take off early from the basketball court and walked over to the bottom of her building to wait for her.

Just like they did today.

They quickly wiped away the sweat on their faces and necks. With their uniform jackets in their hands, they jogged to the bottom of the building.

The two figures attracted a lot of attention immediately.

Someone leaned over the railings and looked down on them and said, "Zhong Yuhuan's brothers are here again?"

"They are quite attractive."

"Yeah, I saw them playing basketball yesterday too."

"I even saw that freshman Tong Meng brought them water."

"Wow, for realz? Tong Meng had already acted upon it? Well, did they accept the water?"

"Haha. No, of course not. Does Tong Meng even remotely come close to Zhong Yuhuan? If I have a sister like her, I'd think all others are ugly too…."

The person talking upstairs did not bother to lower his voice. Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan could hear every word clearly downstairs. Yet, they continued to just stand there as if nothing had happened and there was nothing wrong or embarrassing about it. Neither one of them moved.

Until Zhong Yuhuan finally came out of the building.

The two moved forward right away, almost as those they were in some sort of a competition, and ran up to Zhong Yuhuan.

"Huanhuan," said Huo Chengming.

Li Jinyuan looked down, and with an innocent look, he also said, "Huanhuan."

It was obvious that he wasn't going to see her as an older sister at all.

Zhong Yuhuan's cheeks puffed up and said, "Li Jinyuan, you think you can start treating me as though I am a younger sister of yours just because you have gained some more height lately?"

Li Jinyuan looked up and smiled at her gently, the little bit of childishness that was between his brows were all gone.

That had become Li Jinyuan's go-to trick. Every time he couldn't find the right words, he'd smile at Zhong Yuhuan, from a mild smile to a tender smile, with a sprinkle of shyness and innocence. He was able to play off just about any situation.

Chapter 37 – Bigger and Stronger (2)

Zhong Yuhuan didn't pick on Li Jinyuan any further but said softly, "C'mon, let's go get some food. I am famished."

Li Jinyuan replied with an "Okay," and reached out to take the bunny backpack from Zhong Yuhuan. Huo Chengming reached out at the same time. Each of them got one bunny ear in their hands and the backpack remained motionless.

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but turn around and ask, "What are you two doing?"

Original translation is from fuyuneko dot org. If you're reading this elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.

"Nothing," Huo Chengming let go of it first and said, "Li Jinyuan wanted to carry your bag for you."

Zhong Yuhuan twisted her shoulder and removed her backpack from her back and handed it over to Li Jinyuan, "Alright, here you go."

Li Jinyuan grabbed the bunny backpack in his hand, took a look, and slowly put it on his own back. He had on a black and blue colored school uniform and looked like some wealthy young master with his long legs and a slender waist, but now he also had an oddly contrasting bunny backpack on his back.

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Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but chuckle, "That looks good! Very good! Okay, you can carry it!"

Li Jinyuan showed no signs of being shy or embarrassed, he merely nodded and said, "Okay!"

That wasn't what Zhong Yuhuan had expected.

Wasn't the male lead suppose to be shy?

When she first took him out of the Social Agency, he was too shy to even hold her hands.

Perhaps, it was because Zhong Yuhuan had spent a little too much time looking at Li Jinyuan, his face gradually turned red.

…. Ahhhh, that was the shy male lead that she remembered.

Zhong Yuhuan looked away. With one hand around Huo Chengming's arm and the other one grabbing Li Jinyuan, she said, "Let's go!"

Due to the supplemental nourishment and the crazy workout every day, Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan gained height in an astonishing rate. When they walked next to Zhong Yuhuan now, they looked like two knights on each side of her.

—

On the other hand, Young Master Nan's family had arranged for several rounds of match making for him.

But when one had seen the best, how could he appreciate anything else?

Young Master Nan frowned and sat on the couch with his legs crossed and said in a low voice, "Don't I already have a fiancée? What is the point of all these match-making arrangements? What a waste of time?"

Mrs. Nan said through gritted teeth, "Oh, just why do you think that is? We are doing all these for you! When you can not make me not worry anymore, then we will stop arranging match-making for you. As the saying goes – 'start a family then work on your career'. You have a family first before you focus on your career. I am just hoping that you'd have a normal romantic relationship, then have a kid and be more mature!"

"Have a kid? With whom?" said Young Master Nan impatiently. "I like my fiancée!"

Mr. Nan gave him a swift kick and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Haven't you done enough crazy things overseas? How old do you think Zhong Yuhuan is? How much older than her are you? And you still think you have a shot at it? Are you kidding me?"

Young Master Nan tried to retreat backward and said in a low voice, "Didn't you arrange this marriage for me when I was a kid? So now you realize the age difference?"

Mr. Nan coldly said, "That was when we thought you'd launch your career after college and will be ready to get married when you have a certain level of accomplishment in your career before getting married. Now, look at you, messing around with someone when you were still in junior high school…."

Young Master Nan rolled his eyes, "I thought you were waiting for me to clean up. I am now. I don't want anyone else anymore…"

Mr. Nan pursed his lips, "That works too. You go back to school tomorrow and go finish up your degree in financial management. Then go to work in our company for a few years, when you figured out the odds and ends of the operations of our company, that should be about the right time."

The day that Young Master Nan was beaten had sowed the seed of his vindictive plans.

His plan was to marry Zhong Yuhuan, then he'd be able to kick out her two brothers.

Chapter 38 – Bigger and Stronger (3)

After he got home, Young Master Nan watched two romance movies. Both of them talked about how great love was, the difficulties and the bitterness involved, etc. etc…. They made Young Master Nan feel that he had found his true love so he was very agreeable, "Sure! I will even wait 10 years if that's what it will take!"

Having said that, he felt extremely proud of himself, sacrificing so much for true love.

Suddenly, he bounced up from the couch and started dashing upstairs.

Mr. Nan shouted at him, "And just where do you think you are going?"

"To look for my textbooks. Didn't you say you want me to go back to school?"

Mrs. Nan was still trying to recollect her thoughts from what just transpired, she muttered, "In that case… are we still going to meet with Zhong Chi's older daughter?"

Young Master Nan asked dubiously, "Uncle Zhong has an older daughter?"

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"Yes, the one that Xu Yunhui brought with her," said Mr. Nan coldly.

"Her name is Xu Yushan," added Mrs. Nan.

Young Master Nan, "Oh, that doesn't concern me. No! I don't want to meet her!"

Mrs. Nan's face turned colors, "But we have already made the arrangements…"

Young Master Nan dashed into his own room while thinking that he should probably also pick up taekwondo.

Otherwise, he was no match to those two bastards, how was he supposed to take Zhong Yuhuan from the two of them?

—

Xu Yushan had been waiting for days at the mansion for words from the Nan's.

She had no respect for that Young Master Nan; he was so immature for his age. Yet, on the other hand, she eyed the wealth of the Nan's. She knew that if she could become Young Master Nan's wife, she'd instantly get the title of Young Mistress Nan. She'd never run out of money again, and nobody would bring up her illegitimate status again.

These thoughts made her look forward to the call.

It was only that she had waited and waited, and there was still no news from the other end.

Xu Yushan was very worried that this opportunity would pass her by. She knew that the only reason she had a shot at this was because Mrs. Nan wanted to find her son an older and more mature woman to be his wife, in the hope that she'd help him stay on the right path.

If she missed this opportunity, she might never find another family as attractive as the Nan's.

As she got anxious about it, no matter how hard she tried to hide it, one could still tell from her look.

Zhong Chi scanned her face, frowned, and said, "Stop that! You must act more like an upper class young woman.

Xu Yunhui immediately put her hand on Xu Yushan.

Xu Yushan pouted, feeling like a bucket of cold water had just been poured over her.

(T/N: equivalent to English saying: rain on my parade, meaning someone squelching your enthusiasm in something.)

Before she came to the Zhong's, Xu Yushan had always looked up to her father. Now that she had entered the Zhong's, she slowly realized that her status in her father's eyes might not necessarily be higher than that of Zhong Yuhuan's.

Her father was slowly becoming more and more strict with her.

Suddenly, Xu Yunhui's cell phone rang.

Xu Yunhui mouthed the words, "The Nan's."

Zhong Chi didn't show anything from his look. He picked the newspaper back up and continued with his reading.

As for Xu Yushan, her heart practically leapt into her throat and gradually a smile spread across her face.

Xu Yunhui quickly picked up the phone. She was used to putting up a front, so regardless of the outcome, it was rare to see any signs of negative emotions on her.

Xu Yushan wasn't able to glean anything useful from her mother's look and that made her even more anxious. She lifted her hand and brushed the necklace she had on; she had spent quite a bit of time to dress herself up today.

Finally, Xu Yunhui hung up the phone.

"Mom…." Said Xu Yushan immediately.

Yet, the words coming out of Xu Yunhui's mouth was, "The Nan's said to put the meeting off for a while."

Xu Yushan paused for a second and asked, "What does she meant by 'putting it off'? I thought Mrs. Nan likes me?"

Suddenly, she recalled how Young Master Nan chased after Zhong Yuhuan.

He'd rather chased after a little brat instead of her?

Xu Yushan gritted her teeth and inadvertently bit herself on her tongue. The pain caused her to let out a cry.

Chapter 39 – If You Like It, I Like It Too (1)

Xu Yushan waited for Zhong Chi to leave before daring to speak. "Zhong Yuhuan was the one who sabotaged it!"

Xu Yunhui said calmly, "She wouldn't know how to do this in the past. Someone must be giving her pointers."

"Oh? Who could that be? Eh, didn't she get close to her maternal grandfather all of a sudden recently? Do you think it could be her grandfather? Or… or Lang Jinzhi?" Speaking of Lang Jinzhi, there was a subtle change to Xu Yushan's look. She said, "Now that Young Master Nan was a no go, what about Lang Jinzhi?"

Xu Yunhui was much calmer and analytical, she gave Xu Yushan a cold look and said, "That's the grandchild of the Ding's, Zhong Yuhuan's cousin, the only child of the Lang's. Never mind our conflicts with the Ding's. Lang Jinzhi is way out of your league."

Xu Yushan was a little hurt from that comment and couldn't help but say, "Then who'd be good enough for him? Zhong Yuhuan?"

Helpless, Xu Yunhui said, "Unfortunately, that is the truth. When she was born, her mother was a daughter of the Ding's, her father an up and rising businessman, then even her cousin became a prominent figure. Even after your father made it official with me, and I became the new Mrs. Zhong, you are still not the same as her. She might not have a mother, but she will still be the object of affection by many children of prominent families or government officials."

Xu Yushan lowered her head and remained silent.

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Her mother could put up with all of it, and for a good ten, twenty years no less, but she wouldn't be able to do the same.

Her mother had finally become Mrs. Zhong, but what about her?

She didn't want to spend her entire living under the shadow of a little brat.

Seeing that Xu Yushan was quiet, Xu Yunhui thought her daughter was finally listening to her. She patted her on her shoulder and said, "Take it easy."

Having said that, Xu Yunhui was the first to walk away.

—

Zhong Yuhuan had no intention to understand Xu Yushan's bitterness and pain.

She said she'd get the two boys into classes, so she immediately put in the applications for them. She then asked the two of them what they'd like to learn.

Huo Chengming, "Free combat."

Li Jinyuan, "Fencing."

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but ask, "None of you have interest in piano? Or violin?"

Li Jinyuan asked softly, "Is that what you like?"

Zhong Yuhuan had obvious interested look on her face. She nodded and said, "Yes, I do!"

Li Jinyuan, "What else do you like?"

Zhong Yuhuan didn't feel that anything was wrong. She bent her fingers one by one and listed out, "Swimming, painting, horse-back riding, skiing. Cello is nice too. Let me see what else…."

Huo Chengming didn't say a word, but he committed it all to memory.

Li Jinyuan spoke, "I like all of those too, can I learn them all?"

Huo Chengming, "…" He turned and gave Li Jinyuan a stare. A vicious look appeared in his eyes.

Yet, Li Jinyuan acted as thought he hadn't noticed that at all. He even smiled at Zhong Yuhuan; his smile soft and tender.

"Yes, but you won't be able to learn all of them at the same time. You can do it slowly, why don't we make a schedule?" said Zhong Yuhuan as she pulled out a piece of paper.

Li Jinyuan smiled and said, "Okay."

Right when he was about to move to behind Zhong Yuhuan and watch her draft up the plan, Huo Chengming beat him to it and took the better spot behind her.

Huo Chengming bent down a little bit and took the pen from Zhong Yuhuan all so naturally and said, "Huanhuan, you just talk, I will do the writing."

"Okay, then you can write," said Zhong Yuhuan as she casually let go of the pen.

A hint of regret flashed passed Li Jinyuan's eyes.

Zhong Yuhuan was completely oblivious to all the exchanges between the two boys. Her head cocked, her cheek resting in her palm, slowly she started, "Then why don't you two start with fencing and free combat? I will take them with you…. When Chengming ge ge takes his free combat class, Jinyuan will go to his tutoring section. When Chengming ge ge goes to his tutoring section, Jinyuan can go to his fencing class."

Zhong Yuhuan thought about it for a while and thought to herself, I am such a genius.

That way I would be able to attend all classes with them!

Other then the tutoring sections, of course!

"Okay!" The two boys agreed with her plans.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't care about the cost; she got all her money from Zhong Chi anyway. Happily, she finished the applications for the two boys.

Chapter 40 – If You Like It, I Like It Too (2)

Soon, it was time to go back to school.

After they had signed up for more classes, their schedule daily had become even more packed. Every time the two young men went to class, Zhong Yuhuan would tag along. The boys were serious in their learning while Zhong Yuhuan was more casual. She mainly just wanted to experience different things, she never intended to become very skillful in any of them.

As the amount of exercise increased, the two young men had yet another growth spurt.

They quickly surpassed Zhong Yuhuan in height. Now, when they were in their workout gear, they already looked more like tall and lanky older boys.

As Zhong Yuhuan was obsessed with raising the male lead and the villain, she had almost forgotten all about the rest of the Zhong's members.

She had much less fights with Zhong Chi, which made Zhong Chi much happier. He was pleased that she had finally matured some and gave her another raise in her spending money.

All in all, he was just happy she had stop making scenes at his company.

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—

Inside the fencing hall.

A group of second-generation wealthy kids surrounded Zhong Yuhuan. They were all sitting around the outer perimeter of the hall. As there were quite a few of them, they looked more like they were there to cause trouble.

They were all standing around Zhong Yuhuan, chattering, "Hey! Look at that, Li Jinyuan was quite good at this!"

"Yeah, I was wondering why we haven't been seeing you guys lately…."

"I want to learn this too, looks so cool!"

Li Jinyuan was standing there in his all white fencing gear, his body that had been gaining a lot of height recently, and with the fencing sword in his hand, most of his usual tenderness was gone and was replaced with ferocity.

Zhong Yuhuan found that attractive as well.

So she turned and smiled at her group of second-generation rich children and said, "Yes, you should sign up for this too."

Everybody was wealthy, and now that they had the idea in their heads, they immediately went and paid for their classes.

Zhong Yuhuan sat on the sideline and watched Li Jinyuan defeated his opponent.

It was less than one minute before Li Jinyuan won the round. He bowed at his opponent and walked over to Zhong Yuhuan, sword in hand.

He took his mask off as he walked over, and his hair, now wet from his sweat, was exposed for everyone to see.

Li Jinyuan walked over to Zhong Yuhuan. Suddenly, bending over toward her, he grabbed his own hair and said softly, "My hair is getting long again."

As he was dripping in sweat, Li Jinyuan appeared to be even more attractive than usual. Even his features seemed to be more defined at this moment.

Zhong Yuhuan looked at him and nodded, "Okay, we will stop by the barber shop and get you a haircut on our way home tonight."

"I want Huanhuan to cut them."

Zhong Yuhuan rubbed two fingers together and finally shook her head, "Nah, when I cut them, it looked like your hair was chewed up by a dog."

Suddenly, Li Jinyuan smiled and his eyes lit up, "Even when they were chewed up by a dog, it looked good."

Right then, one of the second-generation rich kids just happened to return, heard their conversation, and chimed in, "My mom took me to a fancy salon once, and I didn't think it was all that. Tony there was so bad, my haircut looked worse than if my hair was chewed up by a dog."

Li Jinyuan gave the second-generation rich kid a look before he turned back to look at Zhong Yuhuan and said softly, "Exactly."