Chapter 3

The classroom dissolved into chaos. Their bids climbed as if I were selling an original imperial calligraphy scroll instead of completed homework.

I waved both hands. “Five yuan is enough. I can’t take more. If you want an assignment done, I’ll go in the order you agreed.”

“They’re all science worksheets anyway. I can finish them quickly.”

A business should flow steadily. I was afraid that if I charged too much, their parents would notice. In my first year of high school, I had once taken a rush order for six yuan. The student’s parents discovered it while checking the accounts and spent the next day shouting outside my home.

The argument continued until Cen Yue secured first place. She transferred twenty yuan with a triumphant smile.

My battered secondhand phone lagged for ages before the payment arrived. Staring at the twenty-yuan balance, I promised excitedly, “Don’t worry, Miss Cen. I’ll make your homework beautiful tonight.”

I earned one hundred yuan that day from five orders. I worked until one in the morning. To protect the quality, I never accepted more than I could finish.

After school the next day, another hundred yuan arrived. I was about to shoulder the Chanel backpack I had rescued from a trash can when the richest and most hot-tempered heiress in class blocked my way.

She inspected her diamond-studded nails, then jerked her chin at two girls beside her. “Drag her into the restroom.”

Even Shengren’s restrooms were brighter and larger than my attic, but cold sweat still broke across my forehead. Everyone had gone home. Hardly anyone would come in here.

Was she about to bully me? I could not imagine how I had offended her.

Ever since transferring in, I had tried to make myself as small as possible. Whenever someone flaunted a luxury item in my face, I made sure to stare at its dizzying logo and say, “It’s gorgeous. It must be very expensive.”

Only then would they answer with satisfaction, “Not really. Only a country bumpkin like you would think so. This bag didn’t even cost a million.”

The five yuan I earned from one worksheet would not have bought a single thread on it.

Ji Wenqiao smiled ominously and hooked a finger beneath my chin. “You’re our class president…”

She drew out every word. My heart hammered as I reviewed the past month.

I had never clashed with her. Whenever she showed off, I looked properly envious and praised her. I had accepted five yuan from her last night and delivered her homework on time.

Her boyfriend—the man her family intended her to marry—was also in our class. The only thing I had ever said to him was, “Hello, Cheng Qianyu. Ji Wenqiao asked me to tell you she’s waiting downstairs. You’re going out on the yacht together.”

I could find no offense. The two girls held my arms so tightly I could not move.

If necessary, I decided, I could swallow a few mouthfuls of toilet water and beg until Miss Ji calmed down. Anything to remain at this school.

Ji Wenqiao slowly took out her phone. Her nails tapped against the screen with an unnerving click.

“In a moment,” she said crisply above my head, “you’d better know what to say—and what not to say.”