A few days later Wan Zhi sat at his desk, he was going through the information he had gathered over the past few days to see the exact state of things. Even though he had the memory of many things he just couldn’t go about making blind guesses based on them, there could always be discrepancies and he didn’t want to be brought down because of negligence.

As he went through the information he became sure that the only difference in this time versus his last life was the changes in his personal choices. The world outside remained unaffected and so too the things that happened beyond them, he nodded and took out a notebook, and began listing his plans. He frowned as he realized he had missed the two easiest chances he had to make money, the world cup and Olympics had been held earlier in the year, he wished he had been reborn sooner.

He sighed and brushed it off, even though he himself hadn’t been involved in these things because of the interest he had in those people he wanted to learn about the things they loved. His pen suddenly dug into the paper and he pulled himself from the memories and refocused himself. The chance for those two would come around in time but for now, he should focus on earning money so he could just dump his money in them when the time came.

By the time he had returned to the Wan family the first and second young master was much older than him, the first master was already twenty-seven and had been working in his family’s company for a long time, while the second master was nineteen and preparing for his second year of university. Though they were disgusted with him they put up fake fronts of accepting the family's illegitimate son, their intention was for him to taste the happiness of being a young master before they brought him down.

Because of this, he was able to get close to them and they imparted a lot of knowledge of their world to him, not that these things would turn out to be useful in his later lives. It was because since they had taught him everything he knew they would know all of his tricks, not that he had any. All he wanted, even as he grew into an adult, was the love and attention from his father and brothers, yet all he got was a miserable end.

Wan Zhi’s body began to shake but he took a deep breath as he passed his fingers through his hair to calm himself down. Just as he did his phone began to ring, he looked at it and let out a sigh before he picked it up. It was a call from Mrs. Li she was asking for him to come in and pick up his school supplies, his school would start in a week so he needed to have everything on hand.

He set his things down and went to change into clothes that made him look steady and then took his wallet and phone before leaving the room. He locked his door and went to find his mother, she looked up from her phone and ran to get dressed after he told her. This time she didn’t wear anything that brought out her childlikeness but made her look like a mature and responsible mother.

Wan Zhi nodded and the two left the house, closing the door behind them, they hailed a cab and a while later they pulled up in front of the school. As they did they witnessed all the cars that parked in front with people moving about, it was clear that they weren’t the only parents that had been called in. Wan Zhi looked at the crowd and bit his lip as he headed inside the school, soon they found the counselor.

The jolly lady smiled at him and then took him into a room where two other children and their parents sat, an old woman even sat close to one of the children. Looking at their clothing you could tell they were of higher status and Wan Zhi could feel the discrimination that they felt when they looked at him. He ignored them and took his place with his mother, teacher Han walked in and sat down across from them.

“I’m sure we’ve all met before and gone through the formalities, but now I would like the three top students to get to know each other since they will be representing our first years going forward.” After he said this he led the parents out of the room and Yin Zi looked at Wan Zhi worriedly before she did. As soon as the door closed the two children turned to look at Wan Zhi with assessing gazes.

Wan Zhi looked them straight on and the first child cleared her throat. “I am Liu Li-Jing, I ranked first in the county on the exam but apparently I’m only second in this school, even though I don’t need the scholarship, I feel upset that someone else got it. I heard you’re the first rank, I’ll tell you now that I will be competing with you going forward, so don’t let your guard down.”

After saying that she looked away, the boy sitting next to her arched his brow and then looked to Wan Zhi. “Sorry she has always been like this since we were kids, but I do have the same sentiment. I am Zhen Jianyu, nice to meet you Wan Zhi.” Wan Zhi gave him a look and he chuckled. “Since our parents found out our rankings they did their research on our new competitor, you could say we know almost everything about you.” After saying that he chuckled and looked away.

Wan Zhi arched his brow and tried to look natural even as he felt uncomfortable, he hoped what they knew only revolved around his school life. If they had any news on his mother’s matters that old fox might come sniffing around. The thought of that man putting a wrench in his plans caused Wan Zhi to have a bitter taste in his mouth as he sat and waited for the teachers to return.