Chapter 26 — The Commoner School Beauty

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Wei Zhao nodded. So he was an entertainment tycoon. People who made their fortunes from nightclubs and karaoke parlors — not all of them, but a good many — had at least a touch of the underworld about them. Still, one could hardly hold that against them; those establishments drew a mixed and murky crowd, and plenty of troublemakers came looking for a fight. Without a powerful backing, a man could never open such a business.

"Sounds like his family has this city in its pocket." Wei Zhao felt no fear of Zhong Yongliang on that account. In his eyes, gang bosses and corporate executives alike were nothing next to the terror of his own old man.

If he ever crossed Old Man Wei, the man would beat him to within an inch of his life, and he would have no way to defend himself at all.

"What's his family worth?" Kang Xiaofeng curled his lip in disdain. It was plain he had no use for Zhong Yongliang — found him downright tiresome, in fact. "If you want to talk money, the Gu family is where the real money is. Zhong Yongliang's family has a few entertainment businesses in this city, but the Gu family is a genuine industrial conglomerate, with branch companies all over the country."

Wei Zhao had gathered a rough sense of Gu Pengzhan's strength. If the Gu Group was an aircraft carrier, then the Zhong family's holdings could only be described as little sampans. It was only natural that Gu Mengyao looked down on an upstart like Zhong Yongliang.

"You seem to know a lot," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

Kang Xiaofeng's face reddened, and he said rather awkwardly, "How many boys at this school don't know Gu Mengyao's background and particulars? Though Shen Yushu is a bit more of a mystery."

"How so?" Wei Zhao was curious. He had never met Shen Yushu's family, but it was plain that Shen Yushu was picked up and dropped off every day by the Gu family's car, and that she ate her meals at Gu Mengyao's home after school. It had given Wei Zhao the impression that she was riding on Gu Mengyao's coattails — but hearing Kang Xiaofeng talk, it seemed that was not the case.

"I've heard Shen Yushu's grandfather was a founding veteran of the liberation era, and her brother is a major general in the army. Back when we first started high school, a boy leaned on his family's connections to chase after Shen Yushu, and when she turned him down, he tried some underhanded tricks. Shen Yushu's brother found out and beat the boy so badly he spent half a year in the hospital. His family didn't dare breathe a word — afterward they even went to the Shen house to apologize." Kang Xiaofeng spoke mysteriously. "So you can see how formidable Shen Yushu's backing is. Yet she never goes looking for trouble. Plenty of people have crushes on her, but none dare confess."

Wei Zhao thought to himself, She doesn't go looking for trouble? She doesn't look for trouble — she troubles me every single day! She has a hold over me, and just now she got an eyeful of my... What a mess this is.

The very thought gave him a headache. Wei Zhao wasn't afraid that Shen Yushu's phantom brother would come after him; he knew something of Shen Yushu's character. The girl seemed far more open than Gu Mengyao, and wouldn't pester endlessly over such things. Gu Mengyao, though... she probably hated him even more now. Sometimes Wei Zhao would rather have been Shen Yushu's study companion than Gu Mengyao's — this young lady was truly impossible to serve.

"Wei Zhao, don't tell me you've fallen for them?" Seeing Wei Zhao silent, Kang Xiaofeng clapped him on the shoulder and asked.

Wei Zhao shook his head with a bitter smile. "How could I? I've never even thought about such things." Wasn't that asking him to elope with a young lady? It gave Wei Zhao a vague sense of guilt, as though he were some ancient household servant sneaking off with the master's daughter...

"Ha, but brother, if you really want to chase someone, there's still one other candidate," Kang Xiaofeng said in a low, mysterious voice.

"What candidate?" Wei Zhao asked offhandedly. Not that he cared about such things — he mainly wanted to learn more about the school through Kang Xiaofeng's chatter.

"Tang Zhi, from Class Nine, Senior Three." Kang Xiaofeng cleared his throat. "Our school's school beauty of the poor. She's very pretty, but her family's circumstances are like ours — nothing to speak of. She wears the school uniform every day and doesn't dress up, but even so she can't hide her beauty."

"Tang Zhi?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. The name was lovely enough, though he had no idea whether the girl was truly as beautiful as Kang Xiaofeng claimed.

"Of course, next to little princesses like Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, Tang Zhi doesn't stand out so much." Kang Xiaofeng's tone quickened and grew excited at the mention of Tang Zhi. "But by comparison, she's much closer to our level."

In a school like No. 1 Middle School, there were children of the wealthy and children of the poor alike. Imperceptibly, they had split into two factions. The rich young masters who had bought their way in gathered together, chasing beauties and playing at life all day long. After graduation, with the help of their money and family connections, they could get into the university of their dreams or even study abroad.

But the poor students studied ceaselessly, striving hard, if they hoped to test into their ideal university. Most of the poor students held the idle rich second generation in contempt, and those rich second generation in turn looked down on the bookworms who did nothing but study.

Still, it was hardly absolute. Among the rich second generation there were those who studied hard, and among the poor students there were those who fought and brawled and ran with the wrong crowd. But birds of a feather flock together, and the few lackeys around Zhong Yongliang were all rich second generation and official second generation whose families were much like his own.

So in Kang Xiaofeng's eyes, chasing Gu Mengyao or Shen Yushu was a dream beyond reach. Tang Zhi, the commoner school beauty, was someone they could actually hope to touch.

Looking at Kang Xiaofeng's somewhat hopeful smile, Wei Zhao sighed softly to himself. School was not the simple, innocent place he had imagined; it was full of interests and entanglements.

"You like her?" Wei Zhao asked with a smile.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of in that, I promise you. Plenty of the boys at this school — Tang Zhi is the girl of their dreams." Kang Xiaofeng spoke with certainty. "Brother, wait till you see her. Then you'll know I'm not lying."

Go after the commoner school beauty? It was a tempting suggestion... but in the end Wei Zhao shook his head. His identity now was that of a study companion, a book boy. Abandon the Young Miss to go chasing a girl? Even if Gu Pengzhan held his tongue, Old Man Wei would never let him off so easily. A man shouldn't be too much of a bastard about things; better to keep his head down.

Besides, the situation was hardly clear yet. He still hadn't worked out what Gu Pengzhan meant by all this. Surely the man wasn't expecting him to use his position to steal the Young Miss away? Hmm... now that he thought about it, that was quite likely... He and the Young Miss shared neither blood nor family ties; the only way he could give her love was that one. So if he went off courting some commoner school beauty and Gu Pengzhan got wind of it, what if the man fired him?

That would be what they called a thirty-thousand-a-month salary, the treatment of white-collar high society!