The results came out two days after the exam ended. Qiao Chen was in first place. Furthermore, Class A's teacher, Theresa, strongly insisted that they checked and rechecked the first place results.
Without a doubt, the whole schools, let alone the cadets in the same grade, were all in an uproar that a Class F student was able to finish in first place. If the cadet was a first or second year student, then it might have been possible that the cadet was misplaced in the wrong class because they weren't given the chance to fully showcase the full strength of their abilities.
However, Qiao Chen was already in his fifth year at the school. He was already graduating in the next semester. If he wanted to laze around and play it off, then he should have played for a little while only. Who would goof off until the last semester before their graduated? Why wouldn't someone want to showcase their full potential after they stabilize their abilities? Could someone even stabilize their abilities so late into their academic career? This had never happened before at the Yu Capital's School of Military Combat.
The semester ended once the rankings were announced, and the students were able to go on break. Many would return home the very next day.
—–
Qiao Chen and Dick were eating in the canteen. Danny walked over to their table and said the Qiao Chen, "Congratulations on getting first place."
"Thank you." Qiao Chen replied without lifting his head from his meal. "Congratulations to you too, for taking second place."
Qiao Chen's second half of the sentence burned Danny. Ever since Danny entered the School of Military Combat, he'd been tied for first place with Chad. For four year, eight semesters, he never gotten anything less than first. Then out of nowhere, Qiao Chen snatched first place from him this semester. This meant that he could only tie with Chad in second place for this semester.
To make matters worse, Qiao Chen not only finished in a shorter amount of time then they did, but he also obtained far more points than they did. Danny was shocked and didn't believe the results for a second. However, the school repeatedly checked and confirmed the results. Therefore, no matter how unwilling he felt, he could only accept the reality of the matter. However, Danny wasn't resigned to believe that Qiao Chen was able to obtain first place with his own strength. He believed that Qiao Chen's results should have been a one-time fluke.
"Are we going home together tomorrow? I contacted Dad yesterday. When I mentioned you to him, he said that he missed you very much and asked me to take you home." Danny said with a smile.
Danny was actually talking to Qiao An's father and the home he was talking about should belong to Qiao An… however, there wasn't a place for Qiao An there anymore.
Qiao Chen knew that Danny was wording it this way to annoy him on purpose. When Qiao An was alive, he hated it when Danny called Qiao An's dad as if he were his own dad. If Qiao An was still here, he probably would have angrily scolded Danny once he heard Danny's provocation. Then, a bunch of people would jump to Danny's defense and scold Qiao An and admonish him for treating Danny that way. It had become routine.
Unfortunately for Danny, he was Qiao Chen- not Qiao An. What's worse for him was that Qiao Chen could easily run circles around him with his own silver tongue.
"My grandfather contacted me yesterday. He said that he wanted to see me too and asked me to go live with him for a bit. Please help me tell my father that I won't be returning for the time being." Qiao Chen said calmly. He stood up to leave, but offhandedly turned back and said, "I must thank you for such filial piety towards my own father all these years. However, if you do happen to have the time, you should go back and see yours. I've heard through the grapevine that he seemed to have gotten injured during a goods transaction. It really was a shame that no one seemed to have gone and seen him. Poor guy…"
Danny stared at Qiao Chen's and Dick's backs as they left. He was surprised that Qiao An didn't scream at him like before. He was even more surprised that Qiao Chen mentioned his own father in such an amiable manner.
If it had been like it was before, then the routine was that Qiao An would have cursed him as a lowly and poor son of a businessman who was unworthy of calling his father as 'dad' and screamed at him to leave his house. Then, like routine, the other cadets who were listening to the exchange while eating would have rushed up to defend Danny.
Many of the cadets here were all children of businessmen too. They were the ones who couldn't stand Qiao An's constant belittling of Danny's 'lowly' background. However, Qiao Chen didn't do the same as Qiao An this time. He didn't scold Danny, but his words seem to have pitied how sad and miserable Danny's father had to live. This exchange even hinted to them that Danny and his mother didn't care about Danny's father at all.
Therefore, the words were similar and had the same meaning- you're poor and your father's poor, so don't go to my house; however the tone, the way he said it, and attitude changed how people perceived it.
Danny looked at the other cadets around him. They were looking at him, unsure. They thought they knew Danny as the kind of person who wouldn't just abandon his own father.
Danny knew that if he would take the initiative to explain the situation to them, then it'd seem even stranger, like he was denying his guilty conscious. So he quickly left the canteen.
In fact, the one who hated the title and class 'businessman' was Danny himself, not others. Danny believed that the greatest stain and shame of his entire life was his own father's existence. He hated it so much that he didn't even like mentioning his father to other people. However, he found out that he could use his father and the businessman class to gain people's sympathy. It was especially effective when Qiao An insulted him, because everyone would come and 'help' him. That was why he would intentionally word everything so that Qiao An would lose his temper and publicly degrade him like that.
Danny's mother was also person born from a higher class. When she was young, she fell in love with Danny's father. He was a penniless man from a commoner's family, but she didn't care. Her love was what fueled her. She severed ties with her family, disregarded their oppositions, and married Danny's father.
Truthfully speaking, sometimes the family's objections and demands weren't unreasonable or in poor faith. Danny's mother was a woman who lived a life of luxury. She never once faced the struggles or adversities that the poor did. Her family knew this, but she didn't listen. In the end, she proved them right. She wasn't able to adapt to the penny pinching and scarce life that ordinary, poor people lived. As a result, the rose colored glasses were broken by the reality of basic necessities such as food and water. Her love for Danny's father couldn't withstand the test of poverty and withered away.
They began arguing with each other. It became so bad that the two would quarrel over every little thing from the weather to the way they looked at each other. Meaningless things and small matters couldn't be overlooked or compromised.
Danny's father felt guilty. He knew that his wife just couldn't cope, so he gave up his beloved but low paying dream job and became a businessman in order to give Danny's mother a better life. He hoped that their love would be able to flourish again once they didn't need to worry about money anymore. He hoped that he could provide her everything she was accustomed to. To do this, he had to learn everything about business from scratch.
He persevered and eventually, Danny's father ran a very successful business. Danny's father was happy that the couple no longer needed to argue over money anymore. Unfortunately, Danny's mother still wasn't satisfied.
Even though she finally lived the life of luxury she was so accustomed to, the ones who surrounded her were only lowly merchants and their wives. The 'real' businessmen with power didn't even bat an eye at their presence and consistently looked down on them. Her pride as a noblewoman couldn't stand it. She constantly thought about it, and it gnawed on her heart every night. She wanted more. She deserved more.
Eventually, she came to the conclusion that it wasn't fair. She didn't deserve this kind of treatment because she was better then this. She was better than all of this. She came to the point in her life that she truly believed that she shouldn't have married Danny's father, because she deserved a life where people looked up to her with envy. Danny's mother couldn't stand the live she chose anymore.
She divorced Danny's father, despite all his hard work and toiling for her, and took Danny back to her original home. After she returned, Qiao An's father had an ambiguous relationship with Danny's mother before Qiao An's mother died. They didn't really have an actually romantic relationship with each other, but they were still too close with one another.
Furthermore, Danny's mother deliberately behaved in a manner that caused Qiao An's mother to believe that her husband betrayed her. Her health was already poor, but with such a heavy heartache, her health wilted away- even quicker than it was supposed to. She quietly died of her illness.
Throughout all of this, Danny had always been jealous of Qiao An even before his mother married Qiao An's father. He envied that beautiful and harmonious looking family when all he had were quarrels and scathing arguments from his.
He was jealous that Qiao An's parents treasured him. He was jealous that Qiao An's grandparents lovingly held and cared for him. He was jealous, because all he saw from his own grandparents were contempt and rejection.
He was even more envious that Qiao An had so many excellent (high-classed) friends who supported him. It was like Qiao An was given the moon and the stars. While he himself was given scraps from the trash as he was surrounded by children of merchants and peddlers. Even his cousins from his mother's side looked down on him and didn't want to play with him. Danny's dream was to change places with Qiao An.
He wished for it everyday, so when he knew that Qiao An's mother died, he was beaming with excitement. Then he found out that his mother was marrying Qiao An's father and he was so excited that he didn't know what to do with himself. He finally had the chance to seize his dreams and make them a reality. He was determined to take everything that Qiao An had- no matter what the cost.
......…
Qiao Chen returned to his grandfather's house and lived there for a few days. He had no intention to return to that home for even a second. It was better here. The people in this home would never think to drive him out the door. The only wished they could keep him there forever. Qiao An was scared that Danny would steal the very home he lived, so he stayed in that house of misery. Qiao Chen was unwilling to finally have a vacation only to be forced to see the two-faced fakes that were Danny and his mother for every day of his break.
Qiao Chen borrowed his second uncle's gher spouse's training room. There were all sorts of high grade equipment in there. It was perfect for Qiao Chen to improve his constitution. He used his system to plan a training regimen and combat simulation every day. He wanted to improve his physical capabilities to the best of his abilities before school began its next term.
One day, Qiao Chen leaned on the sofa after he finished the day's training. His uncle's gher spouse, Arthur, came in and asked him if he wanted to attend a party with him.
Qiao Chen asked who the party was for and figured that he'd be able to see Au Luo if he went. Qiao Chen quickly made the decision and agreed to go to the party with Arthur.
Once they reached the Lex family's door, Arthur received an urgent notice that required his immediate attention, so he couldn't attend the party anymore. He didn't want Qiao Chen to attend the party alone, so he wanted to send Qiao Chen back home. However, Qiao Chen repeatedly promised that there wasn't any problem with attending the party alone. Only then did Arthur agree to let him go in by himself.
——
"I'm surprised that you would also attend this party." Danny rounded on Qiao Chen and said with a smile. He was quite surprised by Qiao Chen's appearance. After all, once Qiao An's friends ditched him and became Danny's friends, Qiao An didn't like to attend many parties anymore.
"This is the Lex family's party. Why would it be surprising that I showed up? But you? I'm more surprised that you're here. Did you get an invitation?" Qiao Chen replied with a smile. "Ah, it should have been Chad who snuck you in again, right?"
Danny's smile became strained once he heard Qiao Chen's words. He couldn't deny it, because it was true. The Lex family were one of the most famous and powerful families on the capital planet. Even a nobleman like Qiao Chen's father couldn't enjoy the honor of receiving an invitation from the Lex family.
Apart from the nobles who had close or good ties with the Lex family, only families who stood at the top of the capital's inner circle would receive invitations. Danny didn't want to miss the opportunity to attend such a party because he knew that only the truly powerful could attend the party. In the end, he asked Chad to bring him into the party. Chad often agreed to requests like this anyways, so Danny had no qualms about getting in.
Danny worked hard to pull himself together and control his facial expression. Then, he gave Qiao Chen a dark smile.
Qiao Chen knew that Danny's wretched smile meant that he was up to no good.