Ouyang Qian, Li Dan as well as a few of her other high school classmates had all chosen the Jiangnan University. Jiangnan University was among the top 5 educational establishments as well and was only a notch lower than the Imperial University and National University. Ouyang Qian and Li Dan had both heard of the news being spread in Jiangnan, so they bragged about it in the group chat.
After hesitating over and over again, Cheng Lingsu still decided to call her good sisters from before. They had become like strangers to her now, but back then during the high school time, Cheng Lingsu's family's financial situation was pretty good, and the Cheng family was glorious in Jiang City. It even oppressed Ouyang Qian's and Li Dan's family faintly, so they always felt they were a grade lower than Cheng Lingsu.
"Hello, Qianqian? It's me, Susu!"
Ouyang Qian naturally didn't have the qualifications to participate in the West Lake party. No one in her family possessed such qualifications, let alone her.
"It's you." Ouyang Qian's voice contained a little astonishment as well as dislike, "Why did you call me? Don't tell me you want to borrow money? My university expenditure is pretty high recently, so I don't have spare cash."
Since a poor acquaintance had called her, her first thought was that she had called to borrow money.
The appearance of Ouyang Qian giving a despiteful look towards a poor student flashed through Cheng Lingsu's mind. She couldn't help but feel a little disgusted. She had never expected that Ouyang Qian was such a person. She thought it was ridiculous that her classmate who had accompanied her for 3 years showed such contempt towards her. Her voice calmed down, "I don't want to borrow money from you."
After hearing this, Ouyang Qian asked her, "Why did you call me then?"
"I want to enter the party at West Lake Manor which you mentioned. Can you get an invitation card for me? Just one is enough." Cheng Lingsu replied.
"What?"
Ouyang Qian raised her voice, "Cheng Lingsu, you really have the nerve to say that. I'm not qualified to attend it. Not even my father is qualified, let alone me. Do you think you can enter it?"
"Can you get one or not?" Cheng Lingsu asked again.
She was also helpless. She wanted to prove to Jiang Xiu and Lin Yueling that she wasn't useless and could help the Jiang family. This desire was quite intense inside her, but she was still young and studying in university. She had no contacts as well and only knew her former classmates from high school.
For example, this Ouyang Qian who had become a stranger to her now.
"That…"
Ouyang Qian had also spent a great effort to get an invitation card but getting it was super-difficult. The grade of the party arranged by Crown Prince Ao was too high, and even if it were the former Cheng family, it wouldn't have had the qualifications to enter this party. Only the top officials of Jiangnan were entitled to enter the party. How could she obtain an invitation card if the grade was so high?
But if she said she couldn't, Ouyang Qian felt like she would lose face. After all, during the three years of high school, she had always got the short end and subconsciously entered the role of a little sister among the cohort. This was pretty regular and how the human psyche worked. Now that the serf had obtained a chance to sing, she naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity.
Typically, when a lackey parts from the group and becomes successful, they would go back to humiliate the former leader. This was because she felt she had suffered before and wanted to get back what she lost. "How about this? Where are you right now? Come over, and I'll think of some way to help you."
Cheng Lingsu said, "Okay. I'm in a cab right now. I'll come to find you."
"Alright. I'm at the No. 2 Manor at West Lake. We're having a small-scale party over here. Hehe, it also needs an invitation card, but you can use my name to enter."
Since the other side was having a big party, they decided to have a small. The people participating in it were all of the later generations who were using this chance to form a network of contacts which would help them in accumulating capital when they venture into society later on.
When she hung the call, Li Dan asked her, "Who did you talk with for so long?"
Ouyang Qian laughed, "Cheng Lingsu!"
Li Dan said, "That poor girl. Where did she get the face to call you? She isn't thinking of associating with us, right? Her Cheng family has gone bankrupt. Why is she looking for us?"
"She wants to get an invitation card for the West Lake Manor's party."
"What?"
Li Dan cried out, her reaction was the same as Ouyang Qian's when she first heard it, "Is she crazy? Does she think it's a place she can set foot on? Even we couldn't enter it after racking our heads so much, does she think she can do it?"
Ouyang Qian rolled her eyes while grinning wickedly, "I duped her. When she comes, we'll humiliate her."
"You mean…"
Li Dan understood what she meant and got excited.
The No. 2 Manor naturally fell short of the West Lake Manor. One was like a knockoff while the other was genuine. They couldn't even be compared, but even if the No. 2 Manor was a knockoff, it was a high-quality knockoff. It was situated at the corner of West Lake and graced by the surroundings. The servers, as well as drinks, were already prepared inside and most importantly, it was near the West Lake Manor.
The cab driver delivering Cheng Lingsu had come here for the first time as well. Usually, all those who to place possessed their own cars. He was embarrassed due to the difference in the grade of the vehicles. When she got down the car, the driver couldn't help but steal a few glances towards Cheng Lingsu. She looked pretty and also seemed like a lady from a wealthy family.
As she was about to enter, she got blocked by the guard, "Miss, please show your invitation card."
"I'm Cheng Lingsu, I was invited by Lady Ouyang Qian."
After the guard contacted the people inside, he let her go inside.
The No. 2 Manor was pretty near to the West Lake Manor. The violin music come over from there could be heard over here as well. People standing in a high place could even see people moving around in the bright lighting on the other side. Some young masters even peeked over there with binoculars and weren't even ashamed of such actions. They instead felt self-complacent, feeling as if they were participating in it after taking a glance there.
"Susu!"
Ouyang Qian and Li Dan welcomed her quite courteously. There were a few wealthy youths beside them. Those who entered Jiangnan University weren't little characters from just Jiang City alone, there were people from all over Jiangnan, and some even came from other provinces to join Jiangnan University with the intentions to pick up girls.
Her former high school classmate, Lin Shu, was also among them. As for Ye Wenchen who was the man of the moment among their group, he had left this circle due to failing in the college entrance exam and his father losing his official position. According to the rumors, he was repeating the year.
"Qianqian, Little Dan…"
Ouyang Qian sized up Cheng Lingsu up and down. She looked as livid as before even though a few months had passed by and still attracted the gazes of men. They had all entered the age when women were most beautiful.
"You came over in such clothes?"
Cheng Lingsu wore a simple yet elegant white long-sleeved shirt paired with jeans and canvas shoes. Her attire seemed more like as if she was going for an outing than going to a party.
"I didn't have the time to change my clothes." Cheng Lingsu didn't care about this. "Qianqian, can you really obtain an invitation card?"
Ouyang Qian said, "Of course, I already have it."
"Really?"
Cheng Lingsu was overjoyed. It seemed like the part had just begun over there. She didn't know what kind of predicament Jiang Xiu was in right now, but she heard that Crown Prince Ao had used his power to gather a lot of influential officials of Jiangnan to bring down Mr. Jiang. She believed he would be undergoing a lot of pressure when facing so many enemies alone. She knew she couldn't do much to help him, but she hoped that she could stand beside him at this time and support him spiritually.
"Give to me quickly!"
Ouyang Qian said, "Hehe, what's the rush?" She put the invitation letter in her purse again, "Don't you know the rules?"
Cheng Lingsu furrowed her brows, "Stop playing around, Qianqian. I have something important to do. If you help me today, I'll remember this favor and pay you back later."
"Is that so?"
Ouyang Qian laughed. Li Dan also laughed along with her as if they had something very ridiculous. "Susu, how will you repay us? Do you think you're still the Second Young Lady of the Cheng family? Your family has gone bankrupt. It's time for you to wake up, okay?"
Cheng Lingsu's face turned paler. She felt it hard to endure being ridiculed by them. What hurt her more was that these words came from her friend who was her best friend for 3 years, "Give it to me, okay? I'll owe you one."
Li Dan chuckled, "Susu, looks like you still haven't woken up. Do you think your family still has billions of assets? You can't even be regarded among the working class now. What will you use to repay us? Let me rephrase that, what can you even help us with?"
"What do you want then?" Cheng Lingsu asked.
"Let's play a game…"
"Drink a bottle of beer." Of course, the beer wasn't drunk normally. The bottle was placed between a boy's crotch. The girl would crouch in between and sucked the beer through a straw.
It looked as if the girl was giving that kind of job to the boy, it was very disgusting and ruined the image of the girl. If a mosaic were put on the beer bottle later on, then that would be really…
"The preparations are done."
This game was a little too excessive and aimed to thoroughly destroy Cheng Lingsu's image as a maiden.