The Rebirth of the Socialite's Glory (GL) - Chapter 12

Andover Academy, a school that allows students to go straight from secondary school to university, is one of the top institutions in Country E and is also nationally renowned. Admission requirements are stringent, demanding not only talent but also a strong family background and financial resources.

This school has historically cultivated many notable figures. In politics, business, research, fashion, and even the entertainment industry, their extraordinary presence can be seen. There are no mediocrities among the students who graduate from this school.

Feng Hua was a transfer student, abruptly entering a high school class that was already well-integrated.

For a period, Feng Hua was ostracized. Anna Goodrich also didn’t intervene to help Feng Hua, letting her classmates exclude her.

Feng Hua didn’t feel pressure or anxiety about this. In her mind, these were just a bunch of naive teenagers.

However, Feng Hua quickly broke this unfavorable situation. She helped a sick girl, carrying her to the infirmary; she cooked Chinese delicacies and shared them with classmates who wanted to try; she was talented and could quickly join conversations, offering insightful contributions; she crushed the previous first-place student in the monthly test with an absolute advantage of a perfect score, becoming the new top student; and she was also exceptionally beautiful, making it impossible for anyone to truly dislike her… One by one, these incidents influenced the perception of Feng Hua, and gradually, the people in the class began to accept her.

Unbeknownst to Anna Goodrich, Feng Hua had become the class’s new darling, the new member praised by everyone.

In response, Anna Goodrich looked at Feng Hua with higher regard and began to focus more attention on her, intentionally or unintentionally nurturing her and taking her to participate in many competitions. This allowed Feng Hua to enter the upper circles of Country E and build her own network.

Feng Hua was somewhat puzzled by Anna Goodrich’s overtures but didn’t have the habit of discarding benefits that came her way. While accepting her kindness, she remained silent about whatever ulterior motives Anna might have.

Whatever Anna Goodrich wanted, she would naturally say it when she was ready.

Five years passed in a flash. In these five years, Feng Hua continuously enriched herself and, with Anna Goodrich’s help, evaded Feng Heng’s scrutiny and built her own businesses. Although she kept a low profile in stock trading by using multiple identities to avoid exposure, she amassed a considerable fortune. Most valuable of all was the network she possessed. Unlike Country A, in Country E, alumni relationships were a particularly close, sincere, and stable form of connection, especially at Andover Academy, where the students were the school’s greatest asset.

With this precious asset, Feng Hua’s path was surprisingly smooth.

She flourished in Country E, occasionally remembering Ye Qiu, thinking of how she had clipped her wings of pride in the previous life, thinking of the humiliation she had inflicted, and also pondering her current life: pitiable, cute, kind, strong… Despite finding it somewhat difficult to accept, Feng Hua had affixed these labels to Ye Qiu.

She wondered how Ye Qiu was doing now. With the money she had left her, would her life be easier and happier than in the previous life?

Would Ye Qiu blame her for leaving?

Feng Hua was extremely reluctant to admit feeling lonely in a foreign land. Even with so many sincere friends here, she still felt lonely and, at times, felt an inner emptiness, like a hole that needed to be filled with something.

She was also extremely reluctant to admit that Ye Qiu was the person with the most vivid colors in her life, occupying too many of her memories.

“Darling, I think we need to make a trip to Country M, to see the great Times Square in City N.” Anna Goodrich called Feng Hua to her office. She sat on the desk, her long, stocking-clad legs casually crossed. She was a woman who was sexy, charming, yet elegant and reserved. Time had left no mark on her face; instead, it had mellowed her, making her even more alluring to those who looked at her.

Unfortunately, Feng Hua considered herself a person with a normal sexual orientation. Even with Anna Goodrich’s strong and seductive pheromones, they failed to create any ripples in the lake of her heart.

Feng Hua sat properly in the chair, wearing a gentle, natural, and friendly smile, executing the elegant etiquette taught at the academy flawlessly. She asked curiously, “City N is the largest city in Country M, with the highest GDP in the world and an international metropolis. It directly influences the global economy, finance, media, politics, education, entertainment, and fashion. It’s full of opportunities and temptations… but Miss Anna, City N is a big apple, but it’s too big to bite, isn’t it? Do you really just want to take me to see how bright the lights of Times Square are?”

“Oh, of course not, my little Blanche.” Anna affectionately called Feng Hua by her English name, her eyes full of pride and encouragement. “There will be a grand competition in City N. It will be a springboard for geniuses, a touchstone provided by top billionaires, and a proving ground for future financial new elites. Baby, that’s where you belong. Stand there and let everyone see you.”

“Oh?” A hint of curiosity and longing appropriately appeared on Feng Hua’s face.

Anna kept her guessing, looking at Feng Hua with a knowing smile.

When Feng Hua arrived in Country M with Anna and checked into the Langham Hotel in City N, she finally recalled the news about this event that could be called a magnificent competition.

She certainly couldn’t have been unaware of such a grand competition in Country M, but at that time, she hadn’t received an invitation. Although she had excellent grades and appeared in many competitions then, she wasn’t prominent enough in that absolute field, hadn’t made a noteworthy contribution, and thus hadn’t had the ability to obtain one of the invitations. At that time, she had missed this grand event.

In this life, she was more outstanding, more dazzling. The well-established academy she belonged to could even directly secure ten of the one thousand invitations. It might not sound like much, but it was a global competition, and the entirety of Country Z probably couldn’t obtain more than ten invitations. Andover Academy霸道 (domineeringly) occupied ten spots with the strength of one school.

Although she hadn’t received a personal invitation, she would receive one prepared for her by the school.

So many things had changed in this life. Feng Hua was not afraid; instead, she felt extremely happy. This showed that her efforts were worthwhile, and she could change her own destiny.

The exterior of the Langham Hotel was magnificent, possessing an unparalleled elegance and unique classical charm. Before stepping into the opulent hotel lobby, Feng Hua looked up at the flag above and then gracefully walked in with Anna.

The popularity of the Langham was undeniable, even though its price was so high, with one night’s cost exceeding a middle-class person’s monthly salary. Yet, this very hotel had recently announced a half-month temporary closure, exclusively hosting those with invitations to this financial competition free of charge.

Anna was accompanying Feng Hua as a mentor and was not qualified to stay at the hotel. After arranging Feng Hua’s accommodation, she rented a nearby hotel.

Feng Hua, not yet sixteen, already had a tall figure. Although her face still showed obvious youthful tenderness confirming her minor status, her curves were already apparent, and her noble and extraordinary temperament prevented people from looking down on her because of her young age. Without her noticing, she had already attracted several gazes of different intent.

Entering the room, Feng Hua first ordered dinner to be sent up and then took a half-hour petal bath wearing a bathrobe. When she came out, dinner was already laid out on the clean white tablecloth.

The food was delicious, and after the main course, she could enjoy the fresh, sweet, and juicy fruit from the fruit basket.

This was a real hotel; the environment and service were delightful, unlike five years ago…

Inevitable, Feng Hua felt a small sense of being moved by the environment.

She held a glass of red wine, overlooking the night view of City N by the bed. It was truly beautiful. If she were in City L, what she could see would be beautiful buildings like those from a fairy tale, but in City N, from the Langham Hotel in the city center, she could see the utmost prosperity of City N. Lights were everywhere, with no dark spots. The various lights were like stars scattered across the continent, an unbroken expanse of brilliance that was stunning. It was like a city that never slept.

It was precisely by standing in such an exceedingly prosperous place that an accompanying surge of ambition was ignited.

The competition began as scheduled. One thousand elite teenagers from all over the world, theoretically the most outstanding group, participated in the first round of eliminating half the contestants to five hundred.

The competition was brutal. These one thousand people were all the best of the best, all favored children of heaven, yet half of them were to be eliminated in just the first round. One can imagine how intense it was.

Feng Hua didn’t find anything wrong with it. The top three winners would gain a smooth-sailing future, a stepping stone to immediate success. Such an opportunity could only be obtained by the most outstanding. There was no free lunch in the world. Although this seemed like a free gain, it wasn’t something just anyone could achieve.

The second round still eliminated half of the participants, leaving two hundred and fifty contestants.

The third round directly selected the top one hundred.

The fourth round selected the top twenty.

The fifth round selected the top ten.

The final event would be the only practical competition, lasting one year, with live coverage throughout, and then simultaneously broadcast globally, attracting the attention of hundreds of millions of users.

The five rounds of competition took exactly half a month. In just half a month, only ten remained out of a thousand. The intense competition was followed by a tremendous sense of spiritual loss and relief. A few contestants with slightly poorer physical and psychological resilience even had to be hospitalized for recovery.

The hotel resumed normal operations, but the ten finalists could still stay for free and enjoy all the hotel’s services free of charge.

The top ten contestants were undoubtedly highly scrutinized. What was surprising was that among the top ten, three were from Country Z, occupying three-tenths of the spots, which some foreign media used as a gimmick to wildly discuss a “Country Z conspiracy theory.”

A strong youth makes for a strong country. The emergence of three people from Country Z also indirectly reflected the strength of Country Z.

During the competition, Feng Hua was completely isolated. She didn’t see a single shadow of the one thousand contestants. Everyone was locked in an independent room, solving problems, problems, and more problems. Various strange, creative, and theoretical questions were overwhelming. This intensity was even greater than Country Z’s imperial examination system.

During this time, she didn’t know the rankings or any information about the other remaining contestants. They were exposed to constant surveillance, but the contestants had no way of knowing anything about the outside world.

Day after day, not just Feng Hua, but everyone felt their heart hanging by a thread, thinking that at any moment, someone might notify them of failure and withdrawal…

When the final top ten were selected, Feng Hua endured her exhaustion to look at the list, and her face quickly went white again. Her face, pale as paper, had her eyes wide open.