Falling for the Mafia Boss

Friends

This morning was the Global Financial News class with the homeroom teacher. Shui Bingrou was sitting in the second row, thinking to herself that she had to pay close attention in class, otherwise, she might be caught by the teacher and scolded again. However, her desk mate, Li Xiaoxuan, boldly started chatting with her under the teacher’s watchful eyes.

"Hi, my name is Li Xiaoxuan, and you're Shui Bingrou, right? What a lovely name! And, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen!" Li Xiaoxuan greeted Shui Bingrou with a cheerful smile.

"Hehe… Really? You probably haven’t seen more than ten girls, right?" Shui Bingrou teased her.

"Wow, you're sharp! Let me tell you, Xiaoxuan has a terrible memory for people, and my parents are super protective of me. Besides my housekeeper, I only know one other girl—oh, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Ling Xin. Because I made poor choices in friendships, I ended up becoming friends with Li Xiaoxuan." A girl from the back suddenly interrupted.

"Hey, Ling Xin, I wasn’t talking to you! It's rude to cut in. And besides, I’m not as bad as you make me sound! Everything I said is true. Especially when you turned down the school heartthrob’s invitation, that was so cool! I really admire you for that! If it were me…" Li Xiaoxuan continued.

"I can already guess what you’d do. You’d cling to him like an octopus and never let go." Ling Xin interrupted again.

"Ugh, I’m not as bad as you make me sound, Ling Xin! Stop putting me down in front of Shui Bingrou!" Li Xiaoxuan protested.

From Li Xiaoxuan's tone, Shui Bingrou could tell that she was a lively and cheerful person, someone who didn’t care about social status. Shui Bingrou silently acknowledged her as a good friend.

"Let’s focus on the class for now, we’ll chat after. The teacher’s been glaring at me like she has a grudge against me." Shui Bingrou whispered.

"Don’t worry about her, she’s just a snob who only sucks up to rich people. She looks down on poor students. Don’t take it to heart," Li Xiaoxuan comforted.

The teacher suddenly called out, "From Tunisia to Egypt to Libya, the African upheaval doesn’t seem to be over. This has implications for the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Central Asia, and South Asia, where tension is rising. Will the African changes spark another 'Middle Eastern phenomenon'? New student Shui Bingrou, can you answer: Does the world seem to be entering a new era?"

"I’ll answer," Li Xiaoxuan stood up and said. A group of boys also stood up, eager to respond.

"Students, I didn’t call on you. Sit down," the teacher said.

"But Shui Bingrou just got here and hasn’t even seen the textbook. Plus, your question is so tricky," Li Xiaoxuan persisted.

Shui Bingrou tugged at Li Xiaoxuan's hand and then stood up, speaking confidently: "From the international perspective, the first wave of the global financial crisis from 2008 hit Western developed countries, causing bank failures, debt crises, and sluggish consumption. The second wave impacted emerging economies, leading to sluggish exports, rising inflation, and higher unemployment. The third wave triggered chaos in developing countries, with soaring prices, declining incomes, and financial struggles. Some countries, with their irresponsible expansionary monetary policies, have caused inflation worldwide. Meanwhile, these crises left the world’s major powers busy with their own issues, unable to address the complex international disputes. This gave some political forces the opportunity to initiate reforms in both domestic and international orders for their own selfish interests. In such a global environment, although some countries were able to protect themselves and weather the crisis, many others, unprepared and with years of problems, finally opened the ‘Pandora’s box’..." Shui Bingrou spoke fluently.

"That's enough, sit down," the teacher interrupted. "My goodness, you’ve said everything. What am I supposed to teach now? I was hoping to make you look bad in front of everyone, but you actually know so much."

"Impressive, you’ve only just arrived and you already analyzed everything so thoroughly, like an expert," Li Xiaoxuan said in admiration.

Shui Bingrou smiled but didn’t speak. Thankfully, she had been listening to economic reports with Huang Fu Jue and learned a little from him, or she would’ve been embarrassed. Suddenly, all the students looked at her with admiration.

An Dong Ni, who had been quietly watching, was deeply impressed. It wasn’t easy for anyone to analyze matters so comprehensively. Having secretly taken over his father’s business empire, he gradually learned about such issues, but it was rare to find a student with such insight. His judgment on people had clearly been right.

And so, the story of the beautiful and academically gifted Shui Bingrou began to spread throughout the school. Some even began to say that the title of school beauty would have to be re-evaluated.