The comment read like this—
【Lin: Humans are advanced creatures driven by self-interest, more inclined to remember the bad than the good in others. Instead of anxiously trying to leave a good impression, just be yourself. Troubles will never cease—the more you care, the worse everything seems. But if you stop caring, the troubles disappear.】
Xue Jiao took a deep breath and exhaled, feeling an unprecedented sense of calm.
Then, with a faint smile, she murmured, "Didn’t expect you to be a motivational speaker."
She put down her phone and, within minutes, drifted into sleep.
——
On Monday, Uncle Xing drove them to school.
Xue Jiao sat on the left side of the back seat, while Cheng Mingze sat on the right. One gazed out the left window, the other the right, neither speaking a word.
"Today’s the day the monthly exam results come out, right?" Uncle Xing suddenly spoke up.
"Mhm—"
"Mhm—"
Xue Jiao and Cheng Mingze responded simultaneously, both pausing in surprise before lapsing back into silence.
Cheng Mingze stared absently at the passing scenery outside. He couldn’t quite understand it—Gu Xue Jiao had never cared about studying before. The textbooks the school handed out were still brand new.
She used to dress in outrageous outfits, either running off somewhere or arguing with Li Sitong at home.
Back then, Cheng Mingze had thought, How could such an annoying person exist? Just looking at her is unbearable.
But ever since she declared she would change at the Cheng family’s old residence, it was as if she’d become a different person—attending school diligently, even spending most of her time at home studying at her desk.
Lost in thought, his gaze unconsciously shifted to Xue Jiao.
For some reason, seeing her so well-behaved now stirred an inexplicable feeling in him.
Being stared at was uncomfortable, especially when the other person’s eyes were filled with suspicion and doubt.
"What is it?" Xue Jiao turned her head, removing one earbud while the other continued reciting a lesson.
Hearing the coldness in her voice, Cheng Mingze felt a surge of irritation and blurted out almost reflexively, "Gu Xue Jiao, aren’t you tired of pretending for so long? What exactly are you scheming?"
Xue Jiao froze, lifting her head to look at him. "What?"
Cheng Mingze grew even more impatient, especially under the scrutiny of her bright, clear eyes. The strange emotion rising in his chest made his tone even more irritable and brusque.
"I said, you’ve been acting obedient for so long—what’s your real goal?"
Xue Jiao let out a humorless laugh. "Then what do you think my goal is?"
"You’d better not be plotting anything shady!"
The car slowly pulled up to the school gate. Xue Jiao opened the door and stepped out. Cheng Mingze hesitated for a moment before doing the same.
He reached out to stop her, but a voice interrupted from the side.
"Big sister! Mingze-ge!"
Xue Jiao and Cheng Mingze both turned to look—it was Gu Shiyun. Surprise flickered in both their eyes.
"It’s you," Cheng Mingze said, his tone familiar.
Xue Jiao thought to herself, As expected. Even without Li Sitong’s car accident, the male and female leads would still end up together.
Gu Shiyun smiled gently, her gaze shifting to Xue Jiao. "Big sister."
"Don’t call me that," Xue Jiao retorted bluntly.
A flash of humiliation crossed Gu Shiyun’s eyes, but she forced a strained smile. "The grudges of the older generation… I don’t think they concern us. I’ve always considered you my sister."
Her voice was as gentle as ever, though laced with obvious effort.Cheng Mingze instinctively spoke up for her: "Gu Xue Jiao, don't—"
"Cheng Mingze." Xue Jiao called his name seriously, her gaze sweeping over both of them with equal gravity. "The matters of the previous generation indeed have nothing to do with her. But the fact remains that her mother was the other woman for years, causing real harm to my mother. I don't hate her, but if I were to become close sisters with her, what about my mother? Don't you think she'd be heartbroken?"
When Xue Jiao mentioned "the other woman," Gu Shiyun's face visibly darkened, while Cheng Mingze froze momentarily, lost in thought.
Xue Jiao continued, looking at him: "Also, you just asked me why I'm like this, but I want to ask you—what are you thinking?"
"When I was doing poorly, you found me an eyesore and wished I'd disappear. Now that I'm reflecting and improving, you suspect I have ulterior motives. So tell me, what exactly should I do?"
Having said her piece, she turned and walked away. Cheng Mingze remained rooted to the spot, staring blankly at her retreating figure.
Gu Shiyun took a deep breath and tugged at Cheng Mingze's sleeve. She couldn't let him dwell on this now!
"Mingze-ge, has school been busy lately?" Gu Shiyun blinked innocently.
Cheng Mingze snapped out of his thoughts and forced a smile. "Yeah, it's alright. Class is about to start—let's go."
He strode off ahead, his pace slightly hurried, as if chasing after something.
Gu Shiyun's expression darkened further.
Gu Xue Jiao had changed!
The old Gu Xue Jiao, who had been so easily manipulated, was gone. This new Gu Xue Jiao had already bested her twice?
The first time, she'd gotten Gu Jingxu and Wu Wanjun involved, not only failing to revert Xue Jiao to her former self but nearly losing the house in the process!
This time, she'd even been humiliated in front of Cheng Mingze!
Gu Shiyun exhaled deeply, then remembered that today was when the exam results would be announced. Her expression finally brightened slightly.
No matter how much Gu Xue Jiao improved, when it came to academic performance, the difference between them was like night and day!
——
As Xue Jiao entered the classroom, she sensed an unusual tension in the air.
No sooner had she taken her seat than Xi Junyang rushed over and plopped down in front of her desk, leaning in to whisper, "Hey, did you hear? Our class lost to the one next door in overall scores this time. First place went to that guy Chu Sheng from the other class, second place was Gu Shiyun, and our Shang Zhiyuan came in third."
"So?" Xue Jiao looked puzzled.
Just then, someone noisily pulled out the chair beside her and sat down, legs crossed, lips curled in a smirk. "So us deadweights are in for a scolding from the Nun today!"
Xue Jiao: "???" She glanced blankly between Yi Tianyu and Xi Junyang.
At that moment, someone stormed in through the front door and bellowed, "What's going on?! Everyone back to your seats!!"
It was Yin Fang, a woman who wore her anger plainly on her face.
Yi Tianyu tilted his head slightly. "Scared, bookworm?"
"Are you?"
"What's there to be scared of? What's she gonna do to me?" Yi Tianyu shrugged nonchalantly.
"Yi Tianyu!" Yin Fang suddenly barked.
"Here!" Yi Tianyu raised an eyebrow.
"Stand at the back for class."
"Why?" Yi Tianyu protested.
"Because you only passed two subjects! On such an easy test! You're dead last! Go stand in the back!" Yin Fang's voice rose sharply.
Yi Tianyu: "..."
Xue Jiao's shoulders shook slightly with suppressed laughter. Yi Tianyu noticed and awkwardly rubbed his nose.No sooner had he boasted that Yin Fang couldn't do anything about him than he was proven wrong in the blink of an eye.
"And the rest of you! Look at your pathetic scores. This test was so simple—everything was just covered in class. Our class only has four students scoring over 700, while the class next door has nine! Nine! That's more than double!" Yin Fang slammed her hand on the desk repeatedly.
"I won't even make you memorize vocabulary during morning self-study today. I just want to know—what have you been doing this past month since school started?! The difficulty of these questions isn't even half that of the college entrance exam. And only four of you scored over 700?! You're supposed to be the advanced class! In all the years I've taught, your performance is the most disgraceful! Those who scored below 600 wouldn't even make it into a second-tier university if this were the actual college entrance exam!"
Her sharp gaze swept across the room, successfully making everyone lower their heads.
Only then did she exhale heavily: "The top ten spots? Seven are from the class next door. Our class only has three!"
She roared: "What the hell have you been doing?!"
"I won't even mention other subjects, but let's talk about English. Yi Tianyu! How could you fail such an easy English test?! And Gu Xue Jiao! 90 points—really? Did you aim to barely scrape by the passing mark?"
Xue Jiao: "..." She really had aimed for exactly that.
"For this test, those who failed must copy the entire paper five times. Those below 100 points, copy it three times. Below 120, copy it once!" She threw the test papers onto the desk and continued scolding, calling out most of the students by name.
It wasn't until the end of class that the English test papers were handed back, followed by the other subjects' papers being distributed one after another.
During the morning break, the overall rankings were posted outside. Xue Jiao glanced at the top scores before silently walking away.
The test really had been simple. The top ten all scored above 700. The top scorer in the grade was Chu Sheng with 729 points, followed by Gu Shiyun in second place with 721, and Shang Zhiyuan from their class in third with 718.
Xue Jiao's barely passing scores placed her squarely in the middle of the pack.
Unfazed, she slowly made her way back to the classroom.
A prestigious school was indeed different. Scoring above 700 meant losing only minimal points in each subject. This test even included two advanced math problems beyond the syllabus, yet the top scorer still achieved a perfect score in math.
Filled with determination, Xue Jiao quickened her pace.
She wasn't a genius—she could only rely on hard work.
——
"Holy—" Yi Tianyu exclaimed while holding her test papers. The moment Xue Jiao sat down, he turned around in shock.
"What's wrong?"
Blinking rapidly, Yi Tianyu stared at her as if she were a monster. Last Friday, Gu Xue Jiao had told Xi Junyang her scores were just barely passing.
At the time, Yi Tianyu thought she was being overly confident to casually admit such mediocre results.
Now, staring at the desk, Yi Tianyu fell into deep existential doubt.
Just barely passing...
This was way too fucking precise!
Chinese: 91, Math: 90, English: 90, Science: 180. Total: 451.
These were Gu Xue Jiao's scores.
Yi Tianyu looked at the papers, then at Xue Jiao, then back at the papers, utterly bewildered.
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