Chapter 13: making money.

The next morning she went to school, Shifan was talking with someone from her class. It was one of her class friends from the past, Bingwen. He was your average guy, the most notable thing about him was his neatly split hair between his scholarly glasses.

She pretended not to see Shifan as her anger meter started to go up again, but he didn't let her go.

"Hey, Lanru, you're a classmate of Bingwen, what a coincidence!"

Coincidence bullshit, she never saw them talk in the past, 'you're really adamant, huh,' her eyes were cold as she greeted him, "Hello, senior."

He was blind to that looking between them "Bingwen, you take care of Lanru, Ok."

"Leave it to me," Bingwen, enthusiastic, put his hand on his chest.

"Can you excuse us," Shifan smiled tactfully at him,

"No problem, see later, senior Shifan," Bingwen nodded and left.

He nodded at him half-heartedly and looked at her, "actually, I came here just in case those girls try anything again."

"Thank you, senior."

"Are you gonna keep calling me that, it's too distant," he acted as if he was wronged.

"We're not close, senior," her tone was monotonous all the time.

"OK OK, there's something else," he looked at her eyes directly, "can you spare me some time after school, I have something to tell you."

She already knew what this was all about, she was waiting for it, actually. She already had something in mind for him this time, to south her anger.

"Ok, let's talk after school?"

He smirked sneakily, looking at her disinterested face. He didn't believe it, he was gonna pull that look off her face soon.

After the last period ended, she was ready to deal with Shifan and found him waiting by the exit of the freshmen building. She followed him to the side, and he straightened himself and looked at her confidently, "let me present myself, I'm Li Shifan, the heir of the Li family."

His family was one of the big families in the province, though, the Li family was below the Ning's, which was among the big 5 in the capital city of the province. But as the heir, his status was higher than normal descendants of big families. Besides, the Li family wasn't that far behind the big families in the capital, so he was proud of himself.

Her eyes widened, she was playing along with his expectation, and he was satisfied indeed. He was the dream of many young girls. How can this bumpkin be any different?

"So?" her tone didn't change though, it kind of annoyed him.

He put his hand on his chest, "I mean, I want to go out with you?"

"Senior, do you know who I'm?" he was stunned for a moment, so she elaborated, "I mean my family."

"No, I don't," he shook his head, but his eyes said otherwise.

"I'm from the Ning family,"

"Ah... OK," he didn't know what else to say.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

"No," he was taken aback, he had a lot but which one, he needed to probe her, so he said, "why?"

"I heard that you like my sister, are you trying to play us sisters?"

"Ah.. No, I, of course not," his face turned red, not from shyness, though, his face twisted unsightly, the gears on his head seemed to swing into full gear, "I used to admire her, but I.. it wasn't anything seri-ous, I fo-rgot about her after she rej-ected me."

He stuttered for a bit, but she didn't find it funny, her brows furrowed for a second, was this it. Did he do all that because her sister rejected him? did he find her an easy target to let off some steam?

She stopped overthinking, for now, she can't lose control over her emotions. Damn this young body of hers was too emotional, it wasn't like her tempered old self. After all that she went through, nothing could disturb her mind, still like a windless lake, absorbing all the rocks thrown at her soundlessly. She even took her own life with little hesitation. That level was unnecessary, though, but she needed to temper herself again for sure, and for the 3 years of high school, she would do just that before she took on the business world and her enemies.

She took some time to calm down before she said her piece, "I would need to test you before I made up my mind."

A frown appeared on his forehead, he hid it fast, but she didn't care. She continued, "you look like a decent guy, but you used to like my sister, after all. this is bothering me... if you think it's too much, let's leave it at that."

"No problem at all, whatever it takes," his eyes looked directly at hers, but she couldn't see any sincerity, just pride, arrogance, hidden underneath his smile.

'It would take a lot, I promise.'

A sincere smile appeared on her face, "greet, actually, you came just in time, my father didn't give me my allowance yet. You want to be my man, right! How about we see your generosity, you take care of my allowance until then," this was her plan to make a few bucks for now.

"No problem, how much do you need," he smirked inwardly, 'all it takes is just some money to get you, it looks like this is gonna be as easy as I expected. These poor women are the same.'

"You are from the Li family, I can't ask for pennies, can I," she already had something in her mind, but took her time to frustrate him, "how about 15000 yuan."

His smile disappeared, 'this bumpkin, have you ever seen that much money,' that was two-thirds of his monthly allowance, how did she come up with that number.

Before he could think of anything she said, "Let me check my account number for you," she tapped a few times on her phone screen, "OK, here it is," she smiled and waited for him to take his phone out. She didn't give him any space for negotiation.

'Let's see how far you're willing to go, and believe me, I can make good use of that money.' she laughed inwardly looking at him.

He didn't show it on his face, but his sloths' moving hands showed how unwilling he was. He couldn't lose face, though, he took his phone eventually and prepared the money transfer.

She spelled the numbers from him in high spirit, number by number prickling him, and not long after, she received a message notice. She checked the message, and indeed she received 15000 yuan in her account.

She looked him deep in the eyes, 'to go this far, he really had something against her, 'I'll find it, no hurry.'

She recovered her smile fast, and said, "great, you have a long way to go, but you're making a good start," she took two steps backward with her hands behind her back, "ok, see you tomorrow."

"Hey, wait!"

"Why, are you gonna take me shopping as well, to show more of your generosity," she halted and looked back.

"NO, NO, I just want.. to say, bye."

She almost laughed, her anger finally was under control, 'things started to get fun, let's play for a long time,' she looked at him for the last time before she said again, "bye," and left without looking back.

Shifan ground his teeth but sent her away with an ugly smile. Did she really think, taking his money was that easy? he would make her cough it up in a way or another for sure.

Fortunately for her, Meili didn't pick her up from school this time, so she took the car directly back home. With money in hand, she went ahead and hired an app developer.

After filtering through the bidders she found a reliable freelancer with a good reputation, experience, and an affordable price, around 1200 yuan. She contacted him, and inquired for a way to pay him without being tracked, she wanted to hide all her tracks just in case. He was happy to hear about this, he wouldn't need to share his profit with the website that way. He told her she can buy the amount in bitcoin and sent it to him.

She followed his instruction, converted half her money into bitcoins, and paid him a deposit. It wasn't a big amount, so she wasn't afraid to lose money, still, she only offered to pay 10% of it, about 120 yuan.

Thinking about bitcoins, she checked the charts. It was hovering at about 13 million dollars. She remembered a big spike was coming, she studied electronic currency in university in the past, it was the future of money, after all, an important part of modern finance. She didn't remember the exact dates, but keeping a lookout on the changes, she could figure it out.

'I really needed some funds.'

It would be really painful to watch this opportunity go, she can raise enough capital to start her business and investments. She brushed it off, for now. unfortunately, she doesn't have any way to seize a significant amount of money. She won't give up, though, she just needed to find it.

This made her realize she had an even more urgent thing to do, she had invaluable knowledge about the stock market, and other economic insights that needed to be written down before she started to lose it. She decided to spend 2 hours at least every day on this.

It was almost the weekend, so she ordered some skincare and health products for her mother before she started to archive her knowledge. Working with her smartphone was inefficient, she needed a PC as soon as possible.

Knock Knock

"Lanru, are you inside?"

'Not again,' she almost blurted it out, she thought she escaped today, but it seems she was wrong, she could only laugh rolling her eyes, "yeah auntie, come on in, the door is open."

It looked like no stepmom was good, this was her special plan to torment her. Lanru laughed at her silly idea and looked warmly at her smiling stepmom.

"Lanru, perhaps.. do you want to go out?"

'Knew it.'