After five bigwigs in Beijing's elite circle fell into their trap, I fled.

Chapter 5: Portraits of Lazy People
Jiang Shu's face flushed slightly, a rare occurrence for her.

She silently recalled her life over the years:
The village chief, who ran a shell company to attract investment and alleviate poverty—and it truly was a shell company—had a large rock at the village entrance with a sign that read "Baihua Trading Co., Ltd." hanging there as long as she could remember, and hadn't made a single sale in over a decade…

Li Erniang, who brews wine, hasn't produced a single jar of wine in over a decade—it's said she's too lazy to follow the proper procedures and has ended up diluting alcohol with water...

Liu Cuihua, a professional chicken farmer, has never sold a single chicken; the chickens, even as chicks, lined up to end up in the stomachs of the villagers…

Uncle Zhou, who claims to be a pastry chef, hasn't made any pastries in over a decade. When asked, he always says he's waiting for a good wheat harvest—but given the laziness in their village, the wheat has either been left to rot in the fields or eaten by birds for years…

There were also barefoot doctors who couldn't even cure their own colds and eventually recovered only through time...

Aunt Chu, who's too lazy to even cook every day and spends all her time begging from her neighbors...

……

She didn't realize it until she thought about it. But now that she did, Jiang Shu suddenly began to wonder how she had managed to survive all these years.

It really is that truckload of relief supplies that arrives from outside every month...

Jiang Shu suddenly snapped out of her reverie and calmly looked at the classmate who had asked her the question: "Xinghua Village? Never heard of it."

Zhou Houde glanced at Jiang Shu, who was blatantly lying, and reflexively recited her admission information from memory before mentally clearing it.

Jiang Shu is a newcomer, so it's impossible for her to sabotage the situation.

"Never heard of that!" The talkative boy quickly turned his attention to something else. "So, were you admitted to Jiangcheng No. 1 High School through a special admission program because of your excellent grades?"

Jiang Shu's eyes, behind her glasses, quietly observed this classmate who seemed to be focused on either Xinghua Village or on her personally: "May I ask your name, classmate?"

"Oh, my name is Qin Dou." The talkative boy seemed oblivious to the new classmate's annoyance. "So, what exactly was the reason you were recommended to this high school?"

Jiang Shu hesitated, unsure how to begin, when Zhou Houde began to smooth things over: "Naturally, it's because Jiang Shu has performed exceptionally well—not only at No. 1 Middle School, but this time, Jiang Shu's recruitment was jointly recommended by the principals of ten middle schools in the districts and counties under Quanwen Town..."

Jiang Shu glanced at Zhou Houde in surprise, then chose to remain silent.

Zhou Houde coughed twice loudly: "Jiang Shu, there are plenty of empty seats in the classroom. You can choose one yourself, and then we will begin the class."

Jiang Shu walked directly towards Qin Dou and then tapped on his deskmate's desk: "You, move to another seat."

It was indeed a light tap, but there were slight cobweb-like marks on the spot where the hand tapped...

Qin Dou's deskmate, Zhang Mai, hurriedly stood up and took a step back, while Jiang Shu sat down directly.

Qin Dou felt the air around him suddenly turn cold and couldn't help but shiver slightly.

Zhou Houde opened his book and began the lesson.

Unlike before, this class went exceptionally smoothly. Regardless of whether anyone was daydreaming, the quiet learning atmosphere kept Zhou Houde smiling throughout the entire class.

After class, Zhou Houde left the classroom, still feeling a bit lost and smug. Jiang Shu took out her math book from her bag, thought for a moment, and handed it to her deskmate: "Your lessons are so difficult, I can't understand them at all. Could you please help me take notes?"

Qin Dou's lips twitched: "Jiang Shu, my time is very precious—I even pay someone to take my notes, and you—"

"Take my notes, or help me with the problems after each class. You choose one."

"Do you even know who my grandfather is? How dare you order people around like that? Believe me or not, I'll make you crawl out crying later—Aaaaaah!"

A crisp snapping sound rang out, and Qin Dou's face turned deathly pale. He clutched his left arm and curled up in pain!
Jiang Shu calmly put his joint back in place: "I have a habit of disliking being provoked—I beat up the principal's son when he bullied me, and I also beat up the local bully who provoked me." Qin Dou cowered, hugging his now completely healed arm, stammering and not daring to utter any harsh words!

His grandfather is capable, but he's far away and his needs are limited...

“I’ll choose to copy the notes.” He silently took Jiang Shu’s book from her.

Others who witnessed this scene...

"Let's just say, Jiang Shu's combat power is..." a student whispered, "I wonder if my dad would agree to me having another father..."

Jiang Shu turned her head and threw an English book into the classmate's arms: "Sweetie, Dad will give you a dollar. Here are your English notes."

The classmate's eyes immediately turned red...

In the following classes, all the teachers were very engrossed in their lessons, and at the end, they would even remark to the class teacher, Zhou Houde, in his office:
"Teacher Zhou, your students have suddenly become enlightened! I've never seen them study so diligently, or the classroom atmosphere so quiet. Even that spoiled brat Qin Dou, the deputy director's son, is writing furiously..."

As a result, the old-fashioned mobile phone that Zhou Houde promised when school ended turned out to be a new smartphone.

"You can keep your phone, but you can't bring it to class—if you trust the teacher, you can turn it off and the teacher will keep it for you." Zhou Houde smiled and his eyes narrowed. "From now on, you'll be our class's discipline monitor—don't lay a hand on anyone, everything else is up to you, the teacher will support you, support you completely!"

Jiang Shu looked at the brand-new smartphone and hesitated for a moment.

"Keep it. It's just a cheap machine that costs a thousand yuan. If you feel bad about it, you can pay the teacher back when you make money later."

Jiang Shu then accepted it and bowed respectfully to him.

Zhou Houde's eyes welled up with tears! See? I told you he was a good kid! In all my years of teaching, which child has ever respected him like this!

Jiangcheng International Hotel.

At the entrance of the hotel, which had been booked out, rows of luxury cars were parked. Countless dignitaries stood in the lobby on the first floor of the hotel, their expressions ranging from excited to nervous, but they dared not overstep the bounds in the slightest.

Well-trained bodyguards kept a tight watch at the elevator entrances and stairwells on every floor to ensure that no unauthorized personnel could sneak in.

Room 808, the hotel's presidential suite.

Li Yubai's two special assistants stood at the door, watching wave after wave of people come and go from the suite. Their inner gossip burned like a raging fire that could not be extinguished.

Assistant Gao lowered his voice: "Who exactly is the BOSS coming to Jiangcheng to see? He's changed his clothes more than twenty times and he's still not satisfied..."

Assistant Yang's voice was even lower: "It should be a woman."

Assistant Gao shook his head: "Impossible. The BOSS's family can't produce people with love-struck minds. Otherwise, it's impossible that they've passed down the family for so many generations without ever having a legal wife. Every heir is an illegitimate child."

Assistant Yang pointed inside the room: "The boss has gone through three rounds of stylists and makeup artists, and even had a face mask done—can he really do this to a man?"

"Even seeing a woman shouldn't cause this kind of reaction..." Assistant Gao sighed repeatedly. "Speaking of which, the boss started acting strangely about six months ago!"

Assistant Yang seemed to have thought of something, tugged at Assistant Gao's sleeve, and lowered his voice:

"Do you remember that night six months ago when a girl wrapped up tightly broke into the boss's office? She seemed to be seriously injured and covered in blood—the boss didn't kick her out, but instead kicked us out."

Assistant Gao clearly remembered: "A very serious injury; her black cloak was soaked in blood—she barged in saying she wanted to discuss a sure-fire deal with the BOSS..."

(End of this chapter)