CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER 29: THE BANDIT PACT

"The Eve Ball" has come to a close, but the lingering influence of the rose hurricane brought by Su Ziceng is far from over.

Wen Maixue seems to have become an enemy of Su Ziceng, so much so that she can’t even stand to be on the same plane as her. Luckily, this made Su Ziceng’s return trip home a bit more peaceful.

Faced with the economy class personally sponsored by Sister Mu, Su Ziceng simply couldn’t muster any enthusiasm. Just as she was hoping for the flight to land quickly, a round belly suddenly blocked her view.

The black shirt was stretched to its limit, Qiu Zhi with his build should be pressing down the seats in first class. His presence in economy class was clearly "offside" in terms of weight.

"Miss Su," thanks to Su Ziceng’s righteous deeds the day before, Qiu Zhi had already added her to his friends list. "Thank you so much." Qiu Zhi cluelessly blocked the aisle, prompting a chorus of groans from the other passengers.

To prevent the plane from being literally divided in two, Su Ziceng had no choice but to crouch down, squeeze herself out, and shove the fat sphere that was Qiu Zhi back into his seat.

Several seats in first class were empty, and Su Ziceng plopped down into one. The flight attendant began to approach to intervene when Qiu Zhi hurriedly nodded and said with a full face of agreement, "He’ll cover the remaining cabin fee for me." The flight attendant consequently retreated.

"No need to thank me," Su Ziceng grabbed all of Qiu Zhi’s meal boxes and began feasting. She had been generous the night before, mainly because she couldn’t bear Qiu Zhi’s pitiful look. Afterwards, she regretted it, thinking that had she known she would receive a recommendation from Kelly’s administration, she wouldn’t have dared to offend Wen Maixue, not even with ten times the courage.

Despite her lack of knowledge about Kelly Women’s College, and her disinterest in anything other than Hang Yishao during her four years at university, even someone as cold as Chang Chi would always call Wen Maixue "Sister Maixue" when speaking of her. At Kelly Women’s College, Wen Maixue was undoubtedly a top figure, someone who couldn’t just be described as being high above others.

"I’ll be needing your help more in the future!" Hearing Qiu Zhi’s earnest words, Su Ziceng was taken aback. Qiu Zhi next to her looked at her with hopeful eyes, like a wagtail grass begging for pity. She quickly wiped off the pastry crumbs from her hands, wondering if there was something wrong with her ears. The ball had already ended, and she, the wicked witch who’d forcefully given Princess Maixue a rotten apple, should’ve retreated after accomplishing her deed.

"I want to know Mai Mai’s preferences and daily schedule," Qiu Zhi said, having become even more determined to pursue Wen Maixue after last night’s "ode to love." His grandma had told him that Wen Maixue was the only woman in the world who truly matched his status, which is why he declined invitations from prestigious foreign universities and chose to study business management at Daoquan University, which is closest to Kelly Women’s College.

Su Ziceng listened as things got more absurd. This fatty was clearly misinterpreting her occasional good deed. However, she saw an opportunity. "You’re a new business management student at Daoquan University?"

"I’m not at all interested in economic management. What I’m really good at are logic and programming," Qiu Zhi quickly presented his personal tool, a bulky but rare IBM laptop of that era. Once Qiu Zhi’s short, fat fingers touched the keyboard, his chubby hands transformed into the nimble fingers of a pianist, producing captivating "tap tap" sounds.

Red and green bar graphs appeared on the large screen, and Qiu Zhi’s eyes lit up with excitement, as if he were seeing Wen Maixue again.

"Stocks?" Su Ziceng looked at the fluctuating curves on the screen and then at Qiu Zhi’s doughy face, a light bulb went off in her head.

"This is just a stock market simulation, a new fad from overseas that I tried out," Qiu Zhi immediately reverted to the introverted youth he had seemed when they first met, waving his hand, "You also know about stocks, that’s great, just like Miss Su. Everyone around me mocks me for messing with this novelty, as it’s not widespread yet."

Seventeen years ago, the Z country stock market was just in its infancy, and people’s understanding of stocks wasn’t even on par with treasury bonds, "Qiu... Qiu," Su Ziceng stuttered, grabbing Qiu Zhi’s necktie that was hanging around his neck, "When does your grandmother plan to hand over ’Qiu Sheng Jewelry’ to you?"

"Qiu Sheng Jewelry has always been managed by my mother; I have no idea when it will be handed over to me." Qiu Zhi’s round face was turning purple from the tightness of the necktie, struggling to breathe.

"It seems like it’s ten years from now, or maybe five, no, that’s too long," Su Ziceng still clutched the necktie tightly. She hadn’t paid much attention to financial news before her rebirth, but after the Qiu Family sold ’Qiu Sheng Jewelry’ and ventured into the stock market, branded the ’God of Stocks’ of Z country, the Young Master Qiu rose swiftly. Could it be this chunk of meat right before her eyes?

"Listen, I can help you keep an eye on Wen Maixue, tell you all the trivial things about her," Su Ziceng tried hard to recall Wen Maixue’s future husband, who seemed to be an Earl from Europe, which meant Qiu Zhi’s current efforts were destined to be in vain.

But all of this was none of her business, no, starting now it was her business. "I want ten percent... no, twenty percent of your stock earnings, a perpetual twenty percent. In addition, as an equal exchange, you must tell me everything related to Hang Yishao at Daquan University."

Su Ziceng gripped Qiu Zhi’s necktie firmly, forcing his large head to nod in agreement, before finally releasing her hold. Qiu Zhi was still unaware that, inconceivably, his wealth had been partly siphoned off by a woman other than his future wife.

Just as Su Ziceng and Qiu Zhi were plotting their respective "spy plans", in the VIP lounge of Mo City Airport, several groups of people had already been waiting for quite some time.

After learning that Wen Maixue had suddenly changed her flight, the Wen family and Qiu Family exchanged pleasantries and then left in a hurry, never once greeting Su Qingzhang, who had been neglected by both families from start to finish.

Su Qingzhang was still concerned about Su Ziceng being admitted to Kelly Women’s College, a matter that was directly approved by the school board. Before the Kelly Women’s School Board, the photo presented was one of Su Ziceng looking like a nocturnal butterfly at a dance, whereas the typically central focus, Princess Maixue, was left with just a tiny illustration photo, her black silhouette merely serving as a backdrop.

The Qiu Family, having heard about Su Ziceng’s "extra attention" to Qiu Zhi, seldom gave Su Qingzhang a good expression for a change.

Su Qingzhang laughed dryly, but his heart was hardly at ease. Su Ziceng’s admission into Kelly Women’s College was undoubtedly a slap in his face, demonstrating that his authority as the head of the Su Family was utterly disregarded. Su Ziceng, his daughter, who neither relied on his money nor his influence, was royally walking a path she never could have reached before. Chang Mei sat by his side, accompanying him with smiles.

As soon as Su Ziceng disembarked from the airplane, she was immediately taken home by Su Qingzhang. Her summer confinement came as expected, only this time it included the interlude of the Eve Ball, an act Su Qingzhang had implicitly consented to.

Afterwards, she didn’t see Sister Mu or Boss Han and others for a long while. In the remaining half of the month, she could only listen to the wall clock in her room every day, ignoring the cold and harsh words of Chang Chi, counting the days until the start of the school term, when her real actions would begin.