"So confident?!" Yi Tianyu was astonished.
Xue Jiao ignored him and continued reading.
Yi Tianyu banged his head against the desk in frustration before flipping open his book. After a moment, he groaned, "Ugh, what even is this stuff?!"
Xue Jiao set down her pen. "I'll tutor you."
"What?" Yi Tianyu froze.
Then, as if he'd heard something unbelievable, his mouth fell slightly open. "You said you'll tutor me?!"
"Yes." Xue Jiao nodded, her expression serious.
Yi Tianyu stammered, "B-b-but… I don’t understand anything! There are only two days left before the exam..."
"You’re not aiming for a high score, just something slightly better, right?" Xue Jiao tilted her head slightly, her eyes fixed on him earnestly.
"Yeah..."
"Then let’s get started."
"Huh?" Yi Tianyu was stunned. "W-w-won’t I… hold you back from your own studying?"
Xue Jiao shook her head. "Two days can still make a difference. Tutoring you is also a way for me to review."
Two days might not be enough to cover much for the college entrance exam, but for the midterms of the first semester of their sophomore year, two days of focused review could cover a lot. After all, half a semester’s material wasn’t overwhelming—if they targeted the key points, even without aiming for top marks, significant improvement was possible.
Xue Jiao always kept her word. Yi Tianyu had helped her last time, so it was only fair she returned the favor.
She’d repay him with this midterm exam!
Xue Jiao made the decision unilaterally.
"Let’s start with math. I remember you almost passed last time, so your foundation isn’t terrible, and you’re quick-witted. Look at this page—the teacher spent a whole lesson on this example problem. The third and eighth questions in the homework, plus these three from the supplementary book, are all the same type. I’m sure this will be on the test. Just pay attention to..."
Xue Jiao spoke fluently, her eyes bright with confidence as she pulled out book after book and marked key points with a pencil.
Yi Tianyu stared at her, his heart pounding.
"Hey, do you get it?"
"Y-y-yeah… I get it..." Yi Tianyu stammered.
He didn’t know why Xue Jiao was helping him. Her last monthly exam results hadn’t been great either, but at least she’d passed all her subjects. She worked hard, and her homework was always flawless…
She was definitely qualified to "tutor" him, but… wasn’t she supposed to be a bookworm obsessed only with her own studies?
Normally, Yi Tianyu couldn’t even get her to answer a homework question, yet now she was proactively helping him review. This was beyond shocking for him.
But for some reason, he felt incredibly happy—happier than when he’d won first place in basketball!
Yi Tianyu didn’t sleep or doze off in class that day, but he didn’t listen to the lecture either—he was too busy reviewing the key points Xue Jiao had highlighted!
"Wait, tonight, stay up half an hour later. Memorize these physics formulas and make sure to do these two basic problems," Xue Jiao instructed seriously, pulling Yi Tianyu aside after evening self-study.
"Okay…" Yi Tianyu agreed obediently.
He didn’t know why he was being so compliant. Even if he bombed the exam, Old Man Yi was used to it by now—he’d just yell at him and dock his allowance, nothing worse.
So whether he studied or not didn’t really matter.Just like when Old Yi used to hire tutors for him before, Yi Tianyu would always act as if no one else was around, not caring whether the tutor was present or not, and just went about his own fun.
Eventually, Old Yi stopped hiring tutors for him altogether.
But when Xue Jiao explained problems or assigned homework, he surprisingly listened attentively and took notes.
Evening, at the Yi household.
Yi's Mother rushed into the room in shock: "Old Yi! Old Yi!"
Yi Dafa, half-asleep, grumbled angrily: "What is it? I just fell asleep, I'm exhausted!"
Ignoring him, Yi's Mother pulled off the blanket and shook him awake: "Our son! Our son! Something big has happened!"
Yi Dafa immediately sat up, raising his voice: "What trouble has that brat gotten into now in the middle of the night?!"
Yi's Mother covered his mouth while exclaiming in astonishment: "Our son is studying!"
Yi Dafa looked utterly confused: "What?"
A moment later.
"He's really studying?" Yi Dafa and Yi's Mother crouched by the door, peeking in cautiously with shocked expressions.
"Mhm..." Yi's Mother nodded vigorously.
"Is that really our son?"
"One hundred percent genuine."
"Not reading some extracurricular book?" Yi Dafa still couldn't quite believe it.
Yi's Mother slapped his arm: "Keep your voice down!"
Then she whispered: "No! No! When I brought him a midnight snack earlier, I saw—it was a physics textbook!"
Yi Dafa's eyes widened, then he broke into a grin.
"Let's go, let's go, we shouldn't disturb our son!" He quietly led Yi's Mother away.
——
Tuesday, classroom.
"Brother Yu, come on, let's play basketball. Tiger and the guys have already secured the court!" Xi Junyang ran over, sitting in Xue Jiao's seat, one arm slung around Yi Tianyu's shoulders as he spoke in a low voice.
Although Yin Fang hadn't explicitly forbidden it, her disapproval of them wasting time playing basketball was clear from actions like not allowing them to bring basketballs.
So even slackers like Yi Tianyu and Xi Junyang had to be discreet about playing basketball.
Yi Tianyu shook him off impatiently.
"Go by yourself if you want, don't bother me!"
His tone was irritable, clearly agitated.
Anyone who dislikes studying knows the frustration of struggling with incomprehensible problems.
Yi Tianyu was now so frustrated he wanted to hit someone. He couldn't understand the purpose of learning all this convoluted stuff—what use were charge conservation and Coulomb's law anyway?
This made him extremely irritable.
Xi Junyang stared at the desk in shock, stammering: "Brother Yu, you're studying?!"
"Shut up!"
"Did... the sun rise from the west today? Brother Yu, you've always refused to study no matter what. What's gotten into you?" Xi Junyang was equally stunned.
"..."
"Did your parents cut off your allowance?"
"..."
"Or are you just having a weird moment?"
"Get lost—"
At that moment, Xue Jiao returned from lunch.
She wore Qizhong High's uniform, her long hair tied up in a bun. Even with a bare face, her beauty was striking.
Xi Junyang felt slightly embarrassed, avoiding direct eye contact.
"Class Monitor, I just saw Teacher Yin. She might be..." Xue Jiao smiled.
Immediately, Xi Junyang jumped up: "I'm going back to my seat!"
Xue Jiao sat back down at her desk and took out a pencil."This question has a similar example in the textbook. It was on last month's exam, and the teacher said the error rate was extremely high, so there's a good chance it might appear again this month. Look at this problem—the first part was tested last month, and the latter part uses Coulomb's Law..."
She spoke earnestly while marking the textbook with a pencil.
Her voice was soft, slightly cool, yet incredibly pleasant to the ear.
Yi Tianyu's ears twitched slightly, his heart pounding wildly. His earlier irritation melted away, replaced only by a faint fluster. Thoughts of basketball and everything else vanished from his mind.
Right now, he didn’t want to play basketball—he just wanted to get to know Coulomb!
——
Time passed in this mix of frustration and nervousness for Yi Tianyu until Thursday arrived.
On Wednesday evening, all the desks had been moved out, turning the classroom into an exam hall. The names of examinees were posted on the door.
Xue Jiao’s Class 1 was assigned to Exam Hall 1. Many from Class 1 remained there, while even more from Class 2 joined them.
Xue Jiao and Yi Tianyu’s desks stayed inside. They moved their books to the cabinets at the back.
Yi Tianyu’s cabinet was next to Xue Jiao’s. As he took out his stationery pouch, he stole glances at her and casually asked, "Which exam hall are you in?"
"Thirteen."
"Oh... I’m in the thirties..."
Xue Jiao glanced up at him, screwed the cap back on her water bottle, put it away, and took out her own stationery pouch.
"You’ll improve this time..."
"I think so too! Thank you—I’ll definitely finish the paper this time, to make your efforts these past days worth it!" Yi Tianyu said hurriedly.
Xue Jiao shook her head, unfazed.
"Bang—" A loud noise came from the front as someone slammed a cabinet shut.
Both instinctively looked over.
It was Cheng Mingjiao.
Her recent silence had almost made Xue Jiao forget about her...
Perhaps the Cheng family had given her some instructions, because Mingjiao merely shot her a disdainful glance, said nothing, and then looked at Xue Jiao with mocking contempt before lifting her chin and strutting proudly to her seat.
She was flaunting her superior grades over Xue Jiao.
"Mingjiao, your grades are amazing. I got moved to Exam Hall 3 this time..." Yu Fangfang said gloomily.
"That’s still good. If you work harder, you can move back up—unlike some people stuck in the teens!" Mingjiao sneered, her voice loud enough to carry.
"You—" Yi Tianyu flared up in anger.
"Ignore them," Xue Jiao stopped him with a hand, shaking her head.
Yi Tianyu was still fuming. "What kind of people are they? So petty and gossipy—they deserve a beating."
"Just don’t pay them any attention," Xue Jiao said calmly. "Focus on your exam."
"Don’t worry, I will. You do your best too—don’t stress. Treat it like any practice test. It’s just a monthly exam, nothing to be nervous about." Yi Tianyu looked at her with concern.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that Xue Jiao’s grades didn’t reflect her ability. Was she underperforming because she was too nervous?
Xue Jiao nodded, her lips curving into a bright smile. "Alright. This time, I’ll do my best."
"Thump, thump, thump—"
Yi Tianyu couldn’t describe what he felt in that moment. His heart seemed to stop, then leap out of his chest.
The sensation reminded him of the vibrant peach blossoms he’d seen as a child during a mountain trip with his parents—a breathtaking sight he still remembered years later.
Xue Jiao turned and walked toward the door.
Just then, Gu Shiyun entered, chatting and laughing with someone, exuding confidence and grace.The two met at the door. Gu Shiyun smiled and nodded at her without a word, as if it were just polite courtesy between strangers.
Then she walked calmly to the second seat in the row closest to the window—the seat reserved for the second-ranked student in the entire sophomore year of No. 7 High School.
At this moment, Xue Jiao could clearly sense Gu Shiyun's pride and confidence.
Gu Shiyun’s disdain was different from Cheng Mingjiao’s. Mingjiao’s contempt was infuriating and immature, her methods crude. But Gu Shiyun’s disdain seemed natural, as if she wasn’t looking down on Gu Xue Jiao at all—yet it made people feel ashamed all the same.
All around her, people were singing praises of Gu Shiyun. Back in middle school, when Gu Xue Jiao had called Gu Shiyun an illegitimate child, she had been bullied relentlessly—no one believed her.
With two people like this around her, no wonder Gu Xue Jiao had let herself spiral into such a state.
Xue Jiao walked to the doorway, paused, and glanced back.
Her gaze lingered briefly on the proud and confident Gu Shiyun before shifting to the empty seat in front of her.
Author’s note: Xue Jiao: Me, Sister Jiao, is rising.
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