Acting as the Powerful Background Character in a Scummy Alpha Novel - Chapter 15

The next morning, Xiao He sat by the window, watching the group head off to school as energetically as ever despite the chaos of the previous night. She then looked at the fever cooling patch on her own forehead and the cold medicine in her hand. “Are these brats made of iron?”

“Who told you to push yourself yesterday?” Guan Shanyue chuckled, sitting across from her. “Though, they aren’t all fine. One of them did catch a cold.”

“Which one?” Xiao He took a sip of her medicine, frowning slightly at the taste.

“Jing Shen. That kid lacks common sense; how could she take a shower in that state? She’s sick now. She came to me for medicine this morning and left, saying she had an exam today and couldn’t miss it.”

Guan Shanyue sipped her coffee, watching the cars depart with a touch of nostalgia for her own youth.

Xiao He froze. Hadn’t she been the one who told Jing Shen to go wash up?

It turned out the one lacking common sense was herself. Feeling guilty and embarrassed, she lowered her head and drank her medicine. It seemed she was the real culprit.

Heistan’s examination process was incredibly efficient. By 3:00 PM, the two-day comprehensive exam concluded, and by 4:00 PM, the results were delivered to Butler Lin.

This was Xiao He’s first time looking at exam results from a parental perspective. Feeling a bit curious, she took the list.

Rank 1: Jing Shen.

Jing Shen had outdone herself this time, though it wasn’t entirely surprising given her consistent excellence.

Rank 2: Chu Yuelan. Again, expected. When performing normally, she and Xiao Linchu were the top contenders for the first place. These two, if nothing else, never gave cause for worry regarding their academics.

Rank 20 (approx.): Xiao Shuyuan.

Stable performance. Combined with her specialized talents, she would have her pick of universities.

Just as Xiao He was feeling satisfied, a string of zeros at the bottom caught her eye. She followed the line to the name: Xiao Linchu!

“What happened here?” Xiao He looked at Butler Lin.

“The school said Miss Linchu turned in a blank paper,” Butler Lin replied, sounding utterly exhausted. It was truly one thing after another.

Seeing Xiao He’s face darken, Guan Shanyue hurried to intervene. “Don’t get angry! Don’t get angry! Maybe the child has something on her mind? We can ask for the full story when they get back!”

Reminded by Guan Shanyue, Xiao He suppressed her temper and looked at the person in second-to-last place: Xie Qingyu.

“Four points, three points, five points, twelve…” Xiao He read the numbers aloud. Compared to the three-digit and high two-digit scores above him, these single-digit marks didn’t even cover the leftovers. “The sum of his six subjects isn’t as big as my shoe size! Has Xie Qingyu’s brain been kicked by a donkey?!”

She slammed the report card onto the table, her vision momentarily blurring from rage.

“Calm down, calm down! Your health comes first!” Guan Shanyue had just been appreciating her peaceful job this morning; now her heart was nearly jumping out of her chest. Seeing Xiao He clutching her forehead in distress, she hurried to rub her back. “We’ll deal with them when they get back. Don’t let them make you ill!”

After much coaxing, Xiao He finally composed herself. She looked at Butler Lin. “Tell them to see me immediately after school. I want to know exactly what they think they’re doing!”

That afternoon, the group was preparing to drive home, unaware of the impending storm, when they found the black-clad bodyguards already waiting.

Xiao Linchu and Xie Qingyu had their cars impounded immediately. Xiao Shuyuan watched from the side, trembling with relief that she seemed to be in the clear.

“What did I do now?!” Xie Qingyu collapsed. Why was he always the one in the line of fire?

“Master Qingyu, you’ll find out when you get back,” the driver said, leading them into the car.

In the main hall of the estate, Xiao He was waiting. As the five entered nervously, they saw the papers on the table beside her. Their hearts sank.

“Did I, or did I not say, that I would be checking your exam results?”

On her first day in this world, Xiao He had called them back specifically to tell them this. However, quite a bit of time had passed, and they had assumed she was too busy to remember. They had been caught completely off guard.

Some breathed a sigh of relief; others felt their hearts jump into their throats.

Xie Qingyu looked like a wilted eggplant. He glanced around, knowing he was the primary target. “Auntie, you know my grades are bad. It’s not something that changes overnight. If you want to punish me, just say so; don’t use grades as an excuse.”

“Your grades aren’t just ‘bad’; you didn’t learn a single thing. If I threw the answer sheet on the ground and stepped on it, the dirt marks would score higher than you!”

Xiao He fumed at the memory of those numbers. How did someone even manage to score that low?

“I didn’t want this either! I never learned the basics, and now I can’t keep up. Everyone is doing calculus while I’m still on addition and subtraction. How am I supposed to get points?” Xie Qingyu was terrified, but he couldn’t stop his mouth.

“Fine. You have a point,” Xiao He said, looking at the boy who seemed determined to be a “dead pig unafraid of boiling water.” “Starting tomorrow, you don’t need to attend classes with them, and you don’t need to go to school. I will hire private tutors just for you. Since you lack the basics, we’ll start from the beginning. I don’t care if we have to start with third-grade problems. You will stay home until the next big exam, and we’ll see if you have a score then.”

“Auntie, you can’t! You’re killing me!!”

Knowing Xiao He always followed through, Xie Qingyu was scared to death. Being stuck at home for lessons was a fate worse than death to him.

“Be quiet,” Xiao He said, feeling a faint pain in her chest. She took a slow breath to steady herself and looked at Xiao Linchu. “Now for you, Linchu. Are you going to give me an explanation?”

Xie Qingyu, who was about to keep wailing, was stunned to see a companion in punishment. He went silent and watched the show. Linchu was usually the top-ranked student in the school; how could she be getting scolded?

Facing Xiao He’s gaze, Linchu pressed her lips together and remained silent, offering a form of wordless resistance.

Dealing with such a stubborn child was Xiao He’s biggest headache. She couldn’t use the direct approach she used with the thick-skinned Xie Qingyu, yet the girl wouldn’t listen to reason. She decided to set the matter aside for a moment.

“There are rewards as well as punishments.” Xiao He looked at the remaining three. Their results were excellent. “Tell me what rewards you would like.”

Xiao Shuyuan spoke first. “Auntie, my coming-of-age ceremony is approaching. I want it to be grand.”

“Mhm. And you two?” Xiao He agreed readily and looked at Jing Shen and Chu Yuelan.

Chu Yuelan thought for a moment. “President Xiao, you have already given me enough. I lack nothing. If you agree, I hope you can increase the subsidy for the Sunshine Orphanage to improve their conditions.”

“Mhm. Jing Shen?”

Xiao He didn’t care what they asked for; if she promised, she would fulfill it.

Jing Shen felt a bit lost. She had always viewed studying as her duty and hadn’t expected an extra reward. “Can I think about it?”

“Fine. Tell me when you’ve decided,” Xiao He nodded. “The rest of you can go back to your lessons. Xiao Linchu, stay behind.”

As they walked out of the main building, Xie Qingyu was still lamenting his tragic future, while Xiao Shuyuan looked back. “Auntie kept Linchu behind again. She really is biased.”

“Maybe it’s a punishment?” Chu Yuelan mused. She was curious about what was going on with Linchu; the girl had clearly upset Xiao He.

Xie Qingyu huffed. “Please, mine is the most severe punishment. Usually, when Auntie punishes someone, she does it in front of everyone to ‘kill the chicken to warn the monkey.’ But Auntie is biased—Linchu obviously did something bad, yet Auntie speaks to her so patiently, while she just scolds me. Linchu needs to be handled like me; a few rounds of this and she’d straighten up!”

Jing Shen could tell Xiao He was unhappy today. Xie Qingyu’s grades were a constant, so they shouldn’t have caused such anger; it had to be Linchu.

However, Xiao He did seem to treat Linchu differently. Perhaps it was because they had a nominal mother-daughter bond.

But if Xiao He was lenient, why was Linchu so full of hostility?

And then there was Chu Yuelan. Jing Shen looked at her friend. Chu Yuelan was staring at the main building with an unreadable expression. In front of Xiao He, she was the picture of gratitude and obedience, yet in reality, she was full of resentment.

Living here, Jing Shen was realizing that many things were not what they seemed.