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Chapter 4
Originally, the relationship between them was very good, but in the blink of an eye they became sworn enemies who wanted to stomp each other into the ground.
This change happened too quickly.
From this it can be seen that the kindness Ren Ran's aunt's family had shown them before was done with ulterior motives. In their hearts they were probably resentful of Ren Ran's family the whole time.
For people like them, it's not hard to understand why they would do something as vicious as switching destinies.
While finding the mastermind behind it is important, the most urgent thing now is to figure out if her destiny has really been switched with someone else's.
She thought of the young Taoist from her past life, who claimed to be the 87th generation disciple of the Zhengyi school, but she didn't know his name or Taoist title.
Even without knowing exactly who he was, she had to find him.
The next day, as usual after eating breakfast at home, Kong Liji drove Ren Ran to school.
"My precious daughter, do you have enough pocket money?" Kong Liji thoughtfully asked.
"No." Ren Ran bluntly held out her hand.
In her past life, after Kong Liji had kicked her out, Kong Lian had deliberately come to taunt her, telling her that their father gave her 500,000 yuan in pocket money every month, and often bought her bags and jewelry using the Ren family's money.
In contrast, Ren Ran herself only received 50,000 yuan in pocket money each month. Her father was always brainwashing her mother, saying things like she couldn't be allowed to develop wasteful habits.
For daily accessories and bags, her mother would buy them for her. The clothes she wore were all custom-made by her grandparents.
The only places she could spend money were on snacks and social activities with friends.
She didn't have strong desires to buy things, so 50,000 yuan was enough for her needs.
When her father had first made this demand, she didn't have much reaction. But when she thought about how he gave his illegitimate daughter 500,000 yuan per month in pocket money, all spent from the Ren family's money, Ren Ran laughed coldly to herself.
Clearly, he had never loved her, even from the very beginning.
Kong Liji took out a stack of red paper bills from his briefcase. "Here, take it."
If it had been any other day, she wouldn't have moved to take it. After all, it wasn't like she lacked money. If she really needed money, she still had the supplementary card her grandparents had given her.
But this time, she unhesitatingly reached out and took it, feeling the thickness--probably 2 or 3 thousand yuan. For ordinary people this was a lot, but for those of their social status, it wasn't even enough to treat her girlfriends to a meal.
Ren Ran grabbed his briefcase and directly took all the money inside.
This action truly shocked Kong Liji.
Ren Ran looked at him with a mischievous expression, like she had succeeded in some scheme. "Dad, that little bit isn't enough. You can't be stingy."
She took out a few bills and stuffed them back into the bag. "Here, don't say your daughter doesn't love you. At least I left you money for a meal."
Kong Liji didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Alright, alright, my precious daughter loves me the most. Just this once, don't make it a habit."
Ren Ran smiled and waved as she watched him leave.
After he was gone, the smile on her face instantly disappeared.
She had just entered the school when someone came running up to gossip to her.
"Ren Ran, did you know Pei Ming was given a demerit?" It was her classmate Zhao Yi.
In their past lives, she and Zhao Yi had an ordinary relationship, but when Pei Ming had falsely accused her, Zhao Yi had stood up for her.
At school, Pei Ming was very popular among the girls, but Zhao Yi especially couldn't stand him. Now that Pei Ming was in trouble, she couldn't help sounding gleeful as she spoke. "Luckily you refused him yesterday, otherwise you would have been implicated."
Ren Ran frowned. "It was just a demerit?"
Zhao Yi was surprised. "Yeah..."
Wasn't that enough?
Previously Zhao Yi had felt Ren Ran was interested in Pei Ming, but now it seemed there was no interest at all--in fact, it seemed like she held a grudge.
"Oh." Ren Ran nodded.
In their past life, the two of them had clearly been required to publicly reflect in front of the entire school's faculty and student body. Now it was merely a demerit.
Could it be the effect of her, the butterfly, flapping her wings?
Zhao Yi was shocked again. It seemed fellow student Ren Ran really wasn't satisfied with this punishment result. In the future, whoever dared to say Ren Ran liked Pei Ming was definitely deliberately smearing and slandering her reputation.
When she entered the classroom, Xu Li was chatting with several close classmates. Seeing Ren Ran, she directly looked away, ignoring her.
"Some people are truly vicious--if they didn't give others signals that they could love them, how could the other brazenly confess? Now they've gotten the other party punished but walk away innocent themselves. People like this are extremely dangerous; who knows when they'll stab you in the back." Xu Li deliberately said loudly to the classmates around her.
The eyes of everyone in the classroom shifted between Ren Ran and Xu Li.
Ren Ran put her book bag down heavily on the desk. "Some people obviously have a secret crush on the other person, liking them so much they're about to kneel down and lick their feet, knowing they're not good enough for them, only able to harbor their feelings like a rat hiding in the sewers. Even more despicable is that in order to openly interact with the other person, they use their 'good friend' status again and again as an excuse to look for the boy, publicly claiming they're helping their friend. People who put on one face in public and another in private like this--everyone must be extremely careful, or you won't even know when she sells you out."
Whether it was in the past life or now, she had never liked Pei Ming.
Just now, she wasn't maligning Xu Li out of malice either. From the time she entered school, Xu Li had liked Pei Ming, for a full two years already. With Pei Ming's family background and looks, he was naturally top-tier. Xu Li came from an ordinary family, with only passably good looks, so she knew she wasn't good enough for him. Lacking confidence inside, but wanting to see Pei Ming at all times and let him know of her existence, she had always said things in front of Ren Ran like how outstanding Pei Ming was, how excellent he was, her face all but screaming "I like him!"
She didn't dare approach Pei Ming alone, so she often dragged Ren Ran along to bolster her courage. After all, compared to Pei Ming, Ren Ran's family background and looks were superior or at least not inferior.
As a good friend, she was naturally happy to help Xu Li attain her desire. If the two of them got together in the future, she could count herself as half a matchmaker.
But she didn't know when, rumors started spreading that it was her who liked Pei Ming.
"You're spouting nonsense and smearing me!" Xu Li angrily retorted.
Ren Ran took out her phone, opened the chat interface, and clicked on a voice message. Xu Li's voice clearly came through:
【Pei Ming is so outstanding, I'm not good enough for him. I just want to follow behind him and silently protect him.】
"Do you need me to reveal more explosive information?"
Xu Li's face flushed red. Feeling the strange looks being directed at her by the surrounding classmates, their eyes full of resentment towards her.
"You have no shame."
Xu Li charged over, trying to snatch Ren Ran's phone. Ren Ran pushed her away with one hand, and she lost her balance, heavily falling to the floor. Her eyes were fixed on Ren Ran, filled with hatred mingled with the humiliated tears welling up.
Ren Ran was unafraid of her vicious gaze, looking down at her condescendingly.
"Ren Ran, and I treated you as a good friend! I didn't expect you to treat me like this."
Xu Li left these parting words, running out of the classroom aggrieved, leaving behind a group of classmates looking at each other speechlessly.
"Is there something wrong with her brain?" Zhao Yi asked in surprise. She was the one who started things, but got exposed instead, so how could she still act like the victim?