Reborn Young Miss: Phoenix Burning Red-Chapter 110: Number One (2)

Valerie couldn’t stop her laughter once she was seated. They had just returned to their classroom, but she couldn’t get over what she’d witnessed earlier.

"Goodness, Addie. I would have never thought you have such a wicked tongue! I have never seen Ayla Jiang make such a face before." She commented as she guffawed recalling Ayla’s expression. Thankfully, most of their classmates hadn’t returned yet and Adrienne could only shake her head.

"It’s time to put her in her right place. She’s used to borrowing someone else’s hand to demean someone. I pity those who were blinded by her fake smiles." Valerie continued.

"If someone hears you, you would attract trouble. Don’t forget she has a lot of admirers here." Adrienne reminded her. She didn’t know why Valerie chose to hang out with her and Myrtle, but she supposed it would be for the best. In the future, she would be able to help Valerie to avoid the calamity that would eventually ruin her life.

"Who cares." Valerie scoffed. "You’ve toppled Ayla from her spot and Sierra isn’t doing any better either. Do you notice that she’s at the twelfth place in the overall ranking? This has never happened before. I wonder what caused it."

Valerie might not have known, but Adrienne did. After all, she was the one who instigated the chaos within Sierra’s family. Sierra must have found out that her family wasn’t wealthy anymore. Aside from having the surname ’Jiang’, she didn’t have anything else to be proud of. If people were to know that they were poor now, Sierra’s arrogant personality wouldn’t be able to take it.

Adrienne’s second uncle, Alfred Jiang had invested a sum of money in a rising venture, but ultimately lost almost all his fortune because of it. Among the three Jiang brothers, her Uncle Alfred was the greediest. This was why Adrienne wasn’t surprised when he fell into a ponzi scheme.

The company promised him high returns, and he should have suspected that it was an investment fraud, but he was blinded with his greed after he received his early payments. Adrienne was the one who casually mentioned the company during her grandfather’s birthday banquet, but who would have thought her second uncle would dive into it head first.

’Stupid.’ Adrienne thought. Now that her second uncle had suffered a great loss, he would attempt to recover from it. Unfortunately, because he was in a vulnerable situation, it would be easy for Adrienne to push him to bankruptcy. She wasn’t in a rush, but her Uncle Alfred was in a tight position. It was time for Uncle Shark to use his connections to lure her second uncle.

In her previous life, Alfred Jiang also invested in this company, but he was able to pull out his investments before the share price came crashing down. Perhaps it was a streak of luck, but he managed to avoid a massive loss. Because of this, he was one of the investors who earned the most.

Sierra’s arrogance grew more because of this. With her family steadily rising within the social circle, it was also easy for her to crush Adrienne’s reputation even further.

"Who knows," Adrienne finally answered her deskmate. "She is probably dealing with a serious problem at home."

"Do you know something?" Valerie asked her curiously.

"Classmate Xia, even if Sierra and I are cousins, how am I supposed to know the status of their household? We aren’t even close to begin with."

Valerie nodded in understanding. Ever since Adrienne stepped away and distanced herself from her cousins, she noticed the considerable change between them. Lately, Ayla and Sierra kept getting tangled in various rumors, besmirching their reputation. The one who suffered most among the Jiang daughters though was Elise Jiang, who was trying to keep a low profile these days because of the incident during their grandfather’s banquet.

"It’s good that you’ve stopped associating yourself with your cousins and Elise Jiang. They could drag your name into murky waters if you remained oblivious to their ill intentions."

"How could that be?" Adrienne chuckled. "They want to harm me? But do they have the ability? My mother didn’t give birth to me to become their backdrop for life."

Valerie’s grin widened. The more she listened to Adrienne, the more she was pleased with her changes. Adrienne used to be meek and timid, putting her at a disadvantage whenever she was compared to her cousins. However, now, that was not the case any longer.

Their classes resumed but before Adrienne could go home, their homeroom teacher summoned her to have a talk with her.

"Adrienne, you really gave us a heart attack yesterday. I would have never thought you were this outstanding. I should have paid more attention to you." The homeroom teacher commented. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

She thought that the reason why Adrienne couldn’t focus on her studies before was because of her mother’s accident. After all, Rosemary Zhao’s accident wasn’t exactly a secret anywhere.The shock and trauma had truly changed her after that.

"It’s me who failed to pay attention to my studies, teacher. I’m sorry for failing your expectations before." Adrienne replied.

"With you being at the top of the ranking, would you consider moving up to the elite class?" The teacher asked.

Adrienne shook her head. There was no need for her to associate herself with those who were in the elite class. The competition there was harder. At least with her current class, there’s no unnecessary pressure or burden placed on her.

"There’s no need, teacher. I’m already acquainted with my classmates and it would be hard for me to get used to new ones." She reasoned out. Adrienne also expected that once the news of her declining the offer to join the elite class reached Ayla and Sierra, it would anger them much further.

How can she let that chance slip by? She was hitting two birds with one stone by doing this.

"Alright. If that’s what you want." Thankfully, the homeroom teacher didn’t press her further.