Cheng Mingjiao's face turned completely red with anger and humiliation as she stormed out.
Yi Tianyu slightly lowered his head, leaning closer with a mischievous grin on his handsome face, his eyes half-lidded: "So? How'd I do? Pretty good, right?"
Xue Jiao looked up at him seriously.
Their gazes met in the air for just a few seconds before Yi Tianyu awkwardly averted his eyes, his ears turning slightly red as he stammered, "What are you looking at!"
Xue Jiao rubbed her chin, mimicking his half-lidded expression: "I'm looking... to see when my mom gave birth to a brother for me!"
Yi Tianyu: "..."
After a pause, he widened his eyes: "Today! Hurry up and call me 'brother'!"
"Dream on," Xue Jiao rolled her eyes.
Yi Tianyu leaned in even closer: "Hey, don't you think Cheng Mingjiao... is really targeting you?"
"Yeah, I know."
"You don't hate her?"
"I hate her a lot."
"Then why don't you say anything when she mocks you? Are you that timid?" Yi Tianyu asked, puzzled.
Xue Jiao sighed slightly. Cheng Mingjiao was attacking her with academics, and if she retorted now, it would just be empty bravado!
"After I surpass her in exams, I'll go thank her."
With that, she packed her things and headed to the cafeteria.
Yi Tianyu's eyes widened: "Damn, that's brutal!"
While Cheng Mingjiao's grades were still better, Xue Jiao wouldn't say a word, letting her act arrogantly.
But once she won, all of Cheng Mingjiao's previous arrogance would become a joke.
And then, Gu Xue Jiao would go thank her—probably enough to make her spit blood in anger!
"Truly... hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!"
After saying this, Yi Tianyu froze: "Wait, why do I feel like Gu Xue Jiao can actually beat Cheng Mingjiao? She's ranked twentieth in the grade!"
He raised his hand and smacked his own head: "Yi Tianyu, have you lost your mind?"
Otherwise, where did this inexplicable confidence in Gu Xue Jiao come from?!
——
The monthly exams followed a similar format to the college entrance exams. On Thursday morning, they took Chinese, and in the afternoon, math. The next day was English and science subjects.
To align with the college entrance exams, the grading was also identical.
Chinese, math, and English were each worth 150 points, while the science subjects totaled 300 points, making a combined score of 750.
In her previous life, Xue Jiao hadn't received her final scores yet, but she estimated around 640 points—enough for a decent university and major in her province, but far from the top 10.
This time, if possible, she wanted to aim for over 700.
Xue Jiao knew it wouldn't be easy, but she had two more years—two extra years she had stolen compared to others.
At this thought, her gaze grew determined.
The Chinese exam wasn't difficult. She quickly finished all the multiple-choice questions but hesitated when filling in the answer sheet.
She erased three correct answers and replaced them with wrong ones.
Xue Jiao knew her own abilities well, but Gu Xue Jiao shouldn't be this capable.
Her recent efforts could show significant improvement, but not to the level of her full potential.
After some thought, she decided to aim for just passing each subject this time. For someone like Gu Xue Jiao, who hadn't studied seriously in years, even that would be a shocking leap.
This time, she'd hold back. Next time, she wouldn't need to hide anything!
Staring at the exam paper, Xue Jiao sighed. Controlling her scores to just passing in every subject was actually quite difficult—it took real skill to pull off!After all... you'd have to get all the answers right to do that!
——
"How did the exam go?" Xi Junyang felt that in this class, his peers were the three others who had also been placed here—Gu Xue Jiao, Yi Tianyu, and Qi Lei. Plus, Xue Jiao was good-looking, so he often wandered over to chat with her.
"None of your damn business!" Yi Tianyu shot him a glare.
Xi Junyang glared back. "I wasn't asking you, I was asking Jiao Jiao!"
"What's there to ask? Let's go play ball!" Yi Tianyu suddenly raised his voice, full of provocation.
"No!" Xi Junyang ignored him and smiled at Xue Jiao. "You studied so hard—you must have improved this time."
Xue Jiao shrugged. "Just barely passed."
Yi Tianyu felt irritated watching them talk. This Xi Junyang smiled at everyone—a classic people-pleaser. Why did girls always fall for that type?
And this woman Gu Xue Jiao was actually smiling while talking to him!
He suddenly sneered, "Barely passed? The results aren't even out yet, and you're already this confident?!"
Xue Jiao: "..."
Barely passing is... confidence?
Just how bad were Gu Xue Jiao and Yi Tianyu's grades?
"Wow! I knew all your hard work would pay off!" Xi Junyang grinned. Though tall, he had a boyish face.
Xue Jiao was almost nineteen in real age, so looking at this boy always gave her a sense of seeing a younger brother.
So, she returned a smile. "I'll keep working hard. You too."
"Work hard my ass!" Yi Tianyu stood up and grabbed Xi Junyang. "School's over! Let's play ball!"
"Hey! Slow down!" Xi Junyang yelped as he was dragged away.
Xue Jiao packed her bag and headed out.
"Xue Jiao?" Just as she reached the school gate, a car pulled up, and a familiar voice called out as the window rolled down.
"Huh? Mr. Lin?" Xue Jiao was slightly surprised.
Lin Zhihua nodded, his ink-black eyes fixed on her. "Need a ride?"
Xue Jiao quickly waved her hands. "No, no, my ride is waiting! By the way, what brings you here, Mr. Lin?"
"My younger brother studies here. I just picked him up." He tilted his chin slightly toward the passenger seat.
Xue Jiao looked over and indeed saw a boy in school uniform.
She smiled at the boy, then turned back to Lin Zhihua. "Well, I’ll get going then, Mr. Lin!"
"Mm, see you."
Xue Jiao waved and walked toward Uncle Xing's car.
Lin Zhihua rolled up the window and started the car, addressing the boy beside him who was too nervous to speak. "From now on, I'll pick you up on Fridays instead of Aunt Chen."
The boy in the passenger seat looked like he was about to cry but could only nod. "Okay."
He was just the child of the Lin family's housekeeper. From now on, Mr. Lin would pick him up every Friday?!
He... he... he just wanted to cry!
He could have been out having fun with his friends, but now he’d have to obediently go home in his school uniform.
That night.
Xue Jiao lay in bed when her phone pinged.
Gu Xue Jiao had previously added some random people, but she had removed them all. For now, her contacts only included one person—Lin Zhihua, the only one she had added.
[You had your monthly exam today. How was it?]
Xue Jiao replied—
[Just barely passed. Why?]
The response came quickly—
[My brother said he didn’t do well. Were the questions hard?]
[Not too bad. There were two math problems that were beyond the syllabus—we haven’t covered them yet.]
After sending this, she mused that Lin Zhihua was such a good brother, going out of his way to ask if the exam was difficult.Thinking about Cheng Mingze next door who still seemed to dislike her, she felt slightly exasperated.
[Oh. Got it.]
Xue Jiao glanced at the time and replied—
[Good night! Dancing.jpg]
The other side responded instantly again—
[Good night.]
After a few more seconds, another sticker followed—Cute.jpg.
Imagining Lin Zhihua's cold expression paired with this sticker, she nearly laughed out loud.
Without replying, she put down her phone, turned off the light, and went to sleep.
——
It seemed to be a habit—many people would take a break right after exams, and teachers usually wouldn’t assign too much homework.
So after the monthly exams, there were always a few relaxed days, especially with the National Day holiday. Cheng Mingze had also gone out with a few childhood friends for a few days.
When he returned, he saw through the half-open door of the neighboring room a girl in cute pajamas sitting upright at her desk, diligently working on problems. He froze for a moment.
Leaning against the doorframe, he quietly watched her.
Perhaps because he had been staring for too long, Xue Jiao turned around.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, sounding surprised.
Cheng Mingze looked at her meaningfully and said, “It’ll be hard for you to beat Mingjiao.”
“So?” Xue Jiao’s voice turned cold.
Truthfully, she didn’t want too much contact with this original male lead. No one liked being around someone who constantly looked at them with disdain. The only reason she remained somewhat friendly was to avoid making things difficult for Li Sitong.
Sensing her cooling attitude, Cheng Mingze straightened up, slightly uncomfortable. “If you keep working hard like this, you can ask me if you don’t understand something. Even if you lose to Mingjiao in the finals, as long as you stay within the top 100, you’ll remain in Class 1.”
Xue Jiao replied calmly, “Thanks, but no need.”
Cheng Mingze frowned. “Studying is your own business, not something to be stubborn about.”
Without giving her a chance to respond, he turned and left, clearly displeased.
Xue Jiao exhaled, feeling annoyed.
In her past life, she had been an orphan, relying entirely on herself. In this life, she finally had someone to lean on during her most crucial years, sparing her from worrying about tuition, study materials, and living expenses during such an important time.
She should be grateful, but whenever she was reminded of the mess and bad impressions Gu Xue Jiao had left behind, she still felt frustrated.
Checking the time—10 p.m., her usual bedtime—she got into bed.
Tossing and turning, unable to sleep, she suddenly opened her eyes, took out her phone, and posted a moment on social media.
—How long does it take to erase the bad impression someone leaves behind? When will the frustrations lessen?
After posting, it felt like she had thrown out some emotional trash, and her mood improved slightly.
Just as she set her phone down, she received a comment from her only friend.
Author’s Note:
Yi Tianyu: OMG! Breaking news! Gu Xue Jiao says she can pass the exams!! OMG! Passing! Such a difficult feat!
Xue Jiao: ………………………………
OpenNovel