ATLAS TRANSLATES

The text floated past the top of the phone screen.

Xu Nanjing had also been tortured by this app before, and had once doubted whether Jiang Fuli and Jiang Xiju were even human.

After a moment of silence, he put his phone back in his pocket and asked somewhat impolitely, “Sister Bai Lian, can I see your question bank?”

Bai Lian: “…”

She handed her phone to Xu Nanjing.

Xu Nanjing was very proper and didn’t open anything else, just clicked on the overall rankings. He saw the familiar “L”, looked at the familiar follow list, and finally opened Bai Lian’s homepage—

NO.192 Baijian 23875

Xu Nanjing had heard a few things about Bai Lian from Ming Dongheng early on. The Xu family respected the people around Jiang Xiju and hadn’t investigated extensively.

Ming Dongheng had said Bai Lian’s grades were average, and Xu Nanjing had believed it until now.

“Nanjing,” Xiao Bingwen stopped the car at the intersection. Seeing that Xu Nanjing hadn’t come for a while, he came to hurry him along. Upon seeing Bai Lian, he politely said: “Miss Bai.”

Xu Nanjing slowly looked up.

He returned the phone to Bai Lian.

“What’s wrong with you?” Seeing Xu Nanjing’s strange expression, Xiao Bingwen asked. He knew Xu Nanjing had come to talk to Bai Lian about tutoring.

Xu Nanjing took a deep breath, “Her ranking in the prep camp app is 192.”

“What?” Xiao Bingwen looked at Bai Lian’s phone in great surprise.

Bai Lian nodded, “Yes, 192, what’s wrong?”

Even Tang Ming had made it into the top fifty. Bai Lian thought this ranking was within normal range compared to others.

“Your school probably doesn’t understand this ranking. Jiangjing University is open to the whole world, and foreign students there are often persuaded by other students to stay in Jiangjing. The competition is fierce,” As a Jiangjing native, Xiao Bingwen pulled back his shocked gaze. “So students from China who rank in the top five hundred on the app have a chance to enter Jiangjing University. As for the top two hundred…”

“It means you can not only enter Jiangjing University but also choose a very good major.”

These two had barely managed to get into Jiangjing University themselves, studying business.

Especially in Xiao Bingwen’s eyes, for someone from Xiangcheng, a place with inferior teaching resources and information lag, being able to enter the top two hundred meant having terrifying talent.

Bai Lian finally understood the reason after hearing this.

“You’re this strong?” Xu Nanjing clicked his tongue and came back to his senses. “I’m the one getting the advantage here. When you apply for graduate school later, you can come straight to our upper management.”

He casually made this promise to Bai Lian.

Making Xiao Bingwen take another look at Bai Lian.

Bai Lian gripped her phone and didn’t answer, only asking Xu Nanjing: “Why did you look for me today?”

Xu Nanjing: “…Just passing by to check on you.”

Tutoring?

He was too embarrassed to say it.

Bai Lian: “…”

Some “just passing by to check” – even more ridiculous than Young Master Jiang.

“Alright, I’m going to my classmate’s house.” Seeing that Xu Nanjing had nothing else to say, Bai Lian waved at him and turned to go to the Zhang house.

Xu Nanjing just stood there watching her back.

After Bai Lian left, Xiao Bingwen let out a breath, “Nanjing, she really is…”

“It’s not surprising,” Xu Nanjing muttered, “192, I should have known. Anyone Young Master Jiang takes notice of, how could they not be extraordinary?”

These two had no idea that Bai Lian hadn’t even finished all of this month’s questions. This 192 ranking was just from her spending one day during the weekend doing questions on the app after taking a break.

They thought this was Bai Lian’s limit, not knowing this wasn’t her true ability.

**

Today the Zhang family didn’t have much cargo to unload, so only Bai Lian and Lu Xiaohan came. Everyone else went home to do homework.

The two of them ate fruit washed by Mrs. Zhang in the courtyard.

“Xiao Lu should finish filming by the end of the month,” Mrs. Zhang smiled while talking to Bai Lian, her eyes full of joy when mentioning Yan Lu. “She’ll return to Xiangcheng after filming.”

Yan Lu had been filming for almost four months. Her acting skills and foundation were solid, her demeanor was good, only her line delivery was slightly lacking.

She held her own even in scenes with veteran actors.

If it was just her scenes alone, filming would have finished long ago, but it was delayed until today because of other actors.

Bai Lian finished eating a cherry and nodded, “I understand.”

She was focused on her studies, and Yan Lu generally wouldn’t disturb Bai Lian unless necessary. Later, Bai Lian hadn’t checked on Yan Lu again, but Mrs. Zhang had visited several times.

“We have to thank you for both her and Xiao Ze,” Mrs. Zhang looked at Bai Lian, then at Lu Xiaohan, “And all you classmates…”

Mrs. Zhang didn’t continue, but Lu Xiaohan and Bai Lian understood.

“Auntie, neither Yan Lu nor he did anything wrong,” Lu Xiaohan filmed the backyard with her camera, speaking unhurriedly. “Besides… Zhang Shize is a good person.”

Zhang Shize’s imprisonment was too closely related to Yan Lu, but Zhang Shize’s parents had never blamed her.

Bai Lian listened quietly, took another cherry from the plate beside her, and finally opened WeChat.

She sent two pictures to Dean Jian—

[New Song]

Dean Jian: [So fast?]

On the other end of the phone.

Jian Zhongyou put down his pen and picked up his phone.

Not far away, a man and woman stood up, “Teacher?”

“Li Jiu, Shuhe, you two keep practicing, I have something to attend to.” Jian Zhongyou raised his hand, letting the two continue as he turned to go back to his house at the school.

While walking back, he opened Bai Lian’s latest lyrics and composition.

The first image was the lyrics.

Jian Zhongyou opened it to look – surprisingly, Bai Lian hadn’t used that neat font style, but rather a flowing, unrestrained style that penetrated the paper. Even though it was just an image, he could see the free spirit of the writer in the strokes.

Though Jian Zhongyou didn’t study calligraphy, he came from a calligraphy family and naturally knew—

This was clearly the Liang style! Who had transcribed it for Bai Lian?

Jian Zhongyou praised it, then finally focused on the content. After the first, second and third songs, the fourth song had four characters:

“Rewriting Old Days”

The flowers along the path bloom again for you The old path returns once more …

Jian Zhongyou read all the way down, landing on the last three lines—

“The sun never sets, how beautiful

To take its place”

He took out his key, opened his room door, planning to go to his small recording studio to check Bai Lian’s song. The arrangement was very important for a song. Jian Zhongyou hadn’t played her composition yet, but looking at the lyrics he roughly understood the style, worried he couldn’t handle it.

Seeing the last few lines, he took out his guzheng while asking Bai Lian: [What does this mean?]

Bai Lian replied quickly: [The name sounds good, want to take it over]

Jian Zhongyou: “…”

This child, what a bloodthirsty air.

Bai Lian: [How is it? Can you arrange this song?]

This song was completely different in style from the previous two. Looking at the lyrics and musical style, Jian Zhongyou saw it was inspiring yet subtly aggressive, likely to be more of an “energetic” style.

Jian Zhongyou looked at the composition, feeling it was truly impressive for a high school senior to write.

He didn’t dare say he could arrange it well, this one was quite challenging.

Dean Jian: [I’ll try my best]

Dean Jian tried the sound in the recording studio before returning to his room to get his laptop.

**

In Jiangjing, Sister Xin received Bai Lian’s message.

“Warm your hands,” she passed a water cup to Yan Lu, smiling, “I need to return to the company for a bit, to arrange things for your next song.”

Yan Lu breathed out a white mist, “Miss Bai wrote it so quickly?”

Sister Xin nodded.

Not far away, a crew member came over with a script, “Teacher Yan Lu, the screenwriter wants you to look at the new script.”

Yan Lu thanked them and took the script.

Sister Xin watched this scene with satisfaction. Yan Lu had established herself now, stabilized her position in the “Da Yong” crew, and her acting had gained everyone’s recognition – the crew members all called her “Teacher Yan Lu.”

“Alright then, you look at that while I go back to the company to handle the promotional activities. By the time you finish filming, the new song should be ready to release.” Sister Xin told Yan Lu before returning to the company, “It should be around the end of the month.”

These past few months, Yan Lu had focused on filming “Da Yong” and signed a confidentiality agreement, so many inside details couldn’t be revealed.

During this time, her two songs had become huge hits, making the company’s resources subtly shift towards Yan Lu.

Whoever had potential would get better resources.

In North City, at Yan Lu’s company headquarters.

“Yan Lu is releasing a new song at the end of the month?” Hearing this, the CEO looked at Sister Xin with increasingly kind eyes, “Good, the company will support you fully.”

He smiled as he saw Sister Xin out.

Then returned to his office, looked at An Qi and his manager, lit a cigarette, and asked casually: “An Qi, why don’t you release your album at a different time? If it clashes with Yan Lu…”

An Qi was currently a popular singer, but his CP with Man Xi was already precarious.

Who could have imagined that just half a year ago, Yan Lu was just a controversial actress.

In just half a year, even An Qi, a popular singer, had to avoid Yan Lu’s new releases.

There was no help for it – Yan Lu’s previous two songs had been too successful, even making it onto overseas charts.

The CEO’s words made An Qi’s expression even worse. His manager saw this and quickly smiled at the CEO, “We’ll follow the company’s arrangements.”

After leaving the office, An Qi pulled out his mask and said coldly, “You still haven’t found out who the composer and arranger are?”

“People have offered up to a million but couldn’t buy the information,” the manager shook his head, “What did they see in Yan Lu? This kind of arrangement and composition would sound better with any professional singer than with Yan Lu?”

Compared to professional singers, Yan Lu’s singing was quite average.

It was also strange – if you said Yan Lu had a powerful backer, they hadn’t seen her getting overwhelming resources.

Thinking it over, only the enviable composition and arrangement stood out.

“Say, if you were still doing the CP with Yan Lu now, would she tell you who they are?” The manager looked at An Qi and asked softly, “Or just let you sing them directly?”

At these words, An Qi fell silent.

Rarely, An Qi felt some regret.

Because what the manager said wasn’t impossible—

Everyone knew the old Yan Lu was very generous with people.

“Keep investigating who’s behind her.” An Qi put on his mask and lowered his gaze.

**

End of February, Xiangcheng.

Bai Lian hadn’t been busy with anything else for the latter half of the month, just doing practice questions.

Saturday afternoon.

Bai Lian and Jiang He were doing homework by the fish pond in the garden. Jiang He sat beside her doing a puzzle while Bai Lian wrote answers neatly on paper with her pen.

Besides releasing 20 practice questions each month, the app also had challenge question banks.

Each time you completed a challenge question, your points would multiply.

That’s how Jiang Fuli got his unlimited points. Bai Lian wasn’t strong in chemistry, so she did more challenge questions, most importantly, the challenge questions were all math problems.

Xu Nanjing came over to look, having been out of high school for several years, he had almost forgotten these complex numbers. He just remarked to Xiao Bingwen, “Sister Bai Lian’s handwriting is so good, truly befitting a top student.”

Xiao Bingwen didn’t dare come close, but he had seen Bai Lian’s writing once or twice.

He silently glanced at Xu Nanjing – you didn’t use to talk like this.

Jiang Fuli stood not far away, tall and elegant, holding a box of fish food. He took a pinch and casually scattered it.

The fish food he scattered seemed to have a barrier – the school of fish scattered in chaos.

Jiang Fuli’s face was cold.

Bai Lian sat on the bench, one hand lazily propping up her chin, the other hand clicking to submit answers on her phone. Her cold black almond eyes were half-closed as she watched the fish, “Stop feeding them, the fish will starve to death.”

These words came from Bai Lian. Xu Nanjing looked up, not daring to laugh.

If it were him saying that, he’d be facing Young Master Jiang’s wrath tomorrow.

Xiao Bingwen lowered his head.

Jiang Fuli unhurriedly put down the fish food, saying carelessly: “You feed them.”

Xu Nanjing waited until he was done before sitting next to Jiang He and talking to Jiang Fuli, “The contract is signed. Are you really not going to mention it to Professor Ma?”

Jiang Fuli looked at the two boxes of chess pieces on the table – Jiang He had just been playing Go with Bai Lian. He sat on the pavilion’s long bench, his hand resting on the railing: “You notify Uncle and Aunt first.”

Rare earth metals were a big deal after all.

He then opened the laptop placed beside him.

“OK.” Xu Nanjing lazily raised his hand.

Meanwhile, Bai Lian looked down at her phone—

After the answers were reviewed, her ranking successfully changed from 56 to 19.

A WeChat message popped up at the top of her phone, it was from Yan Lu: [[Location]]

Yan Lu was returning to Xiangcheng today and wanted to treat Bai Lian and the other students from Class 15 to dinner on behalf of the Zhang family. She was now sending Bai Lian the location.

Bai Lian lowered her eyes and put away her pen.

Jiang Fuli closed his laptop and raised his eyebrows slightly, “She’s arrived?”

“Yes.” Bai Lian nodded.

Yan Lu also wanted to invite Jiang Fuli and Chi Yundai, but Chi Lu was busy with the new year and hadn’t returned to Xiangcheng yet. He only left a message for Bai Lian to train Zhang Shize well.

The two took Jiang He to dinner.

Only Xu Nanjing and Xiao Bingwen were left looking at each other. Xu Nanjing held his phone against his chin, “Xiao Ming, where did they go?”

“Probably dinner with Miss Bai’s classmates.” Ming Dongheng knew about Ning Xiao and that group.

Xiao Bingwen and Xu Nanjing didn’t think much of it – Bai Lian’s classmates should be from Xiangcheng No.1 High School… Bai Lian being a prospective Jiangjing University student was already surprising enough.

Xiao Bingwen’s phone lit up.

He looked down and saw a video promotion—

[Yan Lu’s New Song]

Xiao Bingwen was startled. He didn’t follow entertainment news, but seeing Yan Lu he clicked on it.

“Releasing a new song tonight?” Xu Nanjing heard the video blogger’s recommendation, “Why are you so interested in this singer?”

“She’s not a singer,” Xiao Bingwen explained, “Because Shuhe listens to her songs, so I pay attention too.”

Xu Nanjing was even more surprised: “Liu Shuhe? She likes a pop singer?”

“I heard…” Xiao Bingwen lowered his voice and told Xu Nanjing, “Her teacher really appreciates this singer.”

So everyone around Dean Jian paid attention to her, including Xiao Bingwen.

**

North City.

Bai Family home, Bai Qiming put down his coat, glanced upstairs, and asked the butler: “Has the young lady not come down?”

Butler Bai respectfully said, “She’s upstairs studying prep camp questions with Young Master Song.”

“Prep camp?” Nearby, the Bai family’s grand-uncle took the tea handed to him by the servant, surprised, “What’s that?”

“Questions from Jiangjing University’s prep camp,” Butler Bai kept his head lowered and explained, “The overall ranking can predict whether one can enter Jiangjing University.”

“Oh?” At the mention of Jiangjing University, the grand-uncle became interested. He took a sip of tea, then put down the cup: “So what’s Shaoqi’s current ranking?”

Though having two siblings from the same family enter Jiangjing University seemed unlikely, recently he had often heard Bai Shaoke say Bai Shaoqi’s studies had improved greatly.

After the incident with Dean Jian, the clan rarely contacted Bai Shaoqi.

But the Bai family still held some hope.

Bai Qiming’s face was glowing, clearly pleased: “This child has been keeping it secret, we still don’t know.”

As the two were talking, Bai Shaoqi and Song Min came down the stairs one after another.

“Perfect timing,” Bai Qiming waved, his strict expression carrying some gentleness, “Shaoqi, your grand-uncle is asking about your prep camp ranking?”