Xue Jiao walked towards examination hall number thirteen. Gu Shiyun, sitting by the window, glanced towards the middle of the classroom and gave Cheng Mingjiao a disdainful look.
Idiot.
Cheng Mingjiao was clearly unaware of Gu Shiyun's gaze, happily seated in her own spot.
Ever since the last incident, Old Master Cheng had been angry with her, and Cheng Kai had kept her confined at home for a long time, forbidding her from provoking Gu Xue Jiao again.
That was why she had been so quiet lately.
Did she hold no grudges?
Impossible. She hated Gu Xue Jiao to the core.
If it weren't for Gu Xue Jiao, how could she have been beaten and scolded?
When she left home early that morning, Liu Yazhen had told her that if she performed well in this exam and crushed Gu Xue Jiao, she could finally hold her head high.
Cheng Mingjiao sneered. Crushing Gu Xue Jiao would be child's play.
As the invigilator entered the classroom, Cheng Mingjiao snapped out of her thoughts.
——
The midterm exams lasted two days, officially ending at 5 PM on Friday.
Xue Jiao followed the crowd out of the examination hall and headed towards Classroom One.
"How did you do?" Yi Tianyu asked beside her.
Both of them were tidying their desks, putting the books stored in the back cabinets back in place and reorganizing them.
"I performed to the best of my ability," Xue Jiao nodded, stuffing several workbooks into her bag.
"Oh... that's good..." Yi Tianyu carelessly tossed his books into the drawer. Like most boys, he haphazardly threw them in, only to struggle later when he needed to find them.
His sidelong glance at Gu Xue Jiao practically screamed—Ask me now.
Xue Jiao glanced at him, slightly exasperated. "How about you? How did you do?"
As if he had prepared his answer in advance, he blurted out: "Pretty good! Also gave it my all. At least I answered everything I knew, and for the ones I didn’t, I wrote down my thought process and formulas!"
"Oh... congratulations then..." Xue Jiao finished packing her bag, copied the homework from the blackboard, and prepared to leave.
"Wait!" Yi Tianyu reached out, grabbing her arm, then immediately retracted his hand as if burned.
"If it weren’t for you helping me review, I wouldn’t have known anything. Let me treat you to a meal!"
Xue Jiao shook her head. "No need. You’ve helped me too."
With that, she put on her earphones and walked off, listening to an English audio clip.
Yi Tianyu stood rooted to the spot, roughly ruffling his hair in frustration.
Why am I so stupid!
So stupid!
Stupid!
——
Xue Jiao only saw Li Sitong’s message when she checked her phone. Uncle Xing had a family emergency and had taken leave for a while, so Li Sitong told them to take a taxi home.
Almost as soon as she finished reading the text, Cheng Mingze’s message arrived.
—【Cheng Mingze: Together?】
Xue Jiao replied without hesitation—
【You go ahead.】
She put away her phone and walked along the road, still listening to her audio.
"Beep beep—" A black car honked beside her.
Xue Jiao turned her head as the window rolled down, revealing a familiar and handsome face.
"Where are you going? Why are you alone?"
"Lin Zhihua!" Xue Jiao’s eyes brightened slightly. In this world, Lin Zhihua was her only friend—especially after he had "helped" her deal with Li Sitong and the Cheng Mingjiao incident. She trusted and appreciated him even more now.
She scratched her head and smiled. "The driver took leave. I’m heading home."
Lin Zhihua raised an eyebrow. "What a coincidence. My younger brother went out with friends, so I didn’t get to pick him up. Aren’t you going out with your friends?"Xue Jiao shook her head, "Not going."
"Get in, I'll take you." His tone was commanding.
"Huh?"
——
Bai Mingde, the child of the Lin family's housekeeper—Lin Zhihua had come to pick him up on Friday.
He stood on tiptoe, trying to spot Mr. Lin's car.
Normally after exams, he'd change clothes to play basketball or hang out with friends. But Bai Mingde could only obediently wait at the school gate in his uniform, ready to go home.
As he stood on tiptoe, his phone buzzed.
[Mr. Lin: I have something to attend to. Go back by yourself or ask Old Li to pick you up.]
Bai Mingde's eyes lit up—could he go play now?
Another buzz.
[Mr. Lin: Aunt Chen knows you finished exams early today and is waiting for you.]
Bai Mingde's face immediately fell.
——
In the car.
Lin Zhihua put away his phone, asked for Xue Jiao's address, and started the car.
"How were the exams?"
"Mm, not bad." Xue Jiao sat in the passenger seat, her peripheral gaze drifting toward the man beside her.
"Keep it up, focus on your studies." His encouragement sounded eerie coming from his stern face.
"Okay..."
Silence fell.
Xue Jiao thought for a moment, bit her lip, and spoke: "Um... thank you."
"For what?"
"That thing before... thanks for helping me figure it out." Xue Jiao sounded a little embarrassed.
Lin Zhihua glanced at her out of the corner of his eye—the petite girl sat rigidly in the passenger seat, eyes fixed straight ahead.
Amusement flickered in his eyes, but his tone remained as serious as ever.
"You're still young. Studying is what matters most right now. Avoid family troubles if you can. If you can't, deal with them coolly—don't let them weigh on you. Your priority should be your studies."
His lecturing tone, usually so stern, now carried an unexpected warmth. Xue Jiao relaxed slightly, her speech becoming more casual.
"Yes, yes, I know!"
Lin Zhihua imperceptibly slowed the car a little.
"Lin Zhihua, aren't you a business owner? Aren't you busy?" Xue Jiao suddenly thought about herself—she seemed to run into him quite often, and he picked up his younger brother every Friday while still finding time to chat with her on WeChat.
"If the boss had to do everything, what would be the point of having a boss?" Lin Zhihua countered, a faint smile playing at his lips.
"Oh... I guess that makes sense..." Xue Jiao tilted her head, suddenly feeling silly for asking. She blinked blankly.
Lin Zhihua chuckled softly.
Xue Jiao quickly averted her gaze, her ears turning slightly red.
No matter how slowly he drove, they soon arrived outside Xue Jiao's home. Lin Zhihua parked the car.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." Lin Zhihua raised an eyebrow.
"You've helped me so much!"
"Didn't you say I'm like an older brother to you? Shouldn't I help you then?" His voice was deep, the hint of laughter in it making Xue Jiao's ears twitch—it felt oddly ticklish.
"You're not really my brother..." she muttered.
"Alright, hurry home now."
"Oh, okay. See you."
"See you."
Xue Jiao unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door.
"Hey—" A hand caught hers.
Xue Jiao froze.
His hand was warm—far warmer than her slightly cool one, almost hot to the touch.
Xue Jiao's hand was small; his casual grip seemed to envelop her entire fist, surrounding her with that faint, scorching heat.
Before she could turn around, his hand released, placing something else into hers.Xue Jiao instinctively took it and turned around.
"Your phone, don’t forget it," the man in the car said softly.
Xue Jiao looked at the phone he had handed to her and quickly replied, "I’m sorry, I didn’t notice earlier! Thank you!"
It was her phone. Clearly, she had dropped it in the car, and Lin Zhihua had picked it up for her.
"How many times are you going to say thank you?" Lin Zhihua raised an eyebrow, his deep eyes fixed intently on her.
"I’ll go first!" Under his gaze, Xue Jiao felt a little flustered. After hastily uttering those words, she turned and left.
Lin Zhihua watched her retreating figure, his expression relaxed.
This girl.
——
For Xue Jiao, there was no difference between holidays and school days.
She still followed her routine, studying various subjects systematically. After finishing most of the semester’s textbooks and completing several sets of college entrance exam mock tests, Monday arrived.
"Jiao Jiao, I’ll be attending your parent-teacher meeting today!" Li Sitong handed her a glass of milk from the table.
Xue Jiao took the milk, first saying thank you before responding indifferently, "Whatever."
Li Sitong’s mood dipped slightly. She instinctively wanted to scold her as she used to, but then remembered that Xue Jiao might still be upset with her.
So she softened her tone. "Then eat quickly. After breakfast, we’ll go to school together. Your Uncle Cheng is coming with us."
Cheng Shuo would be joining them—he was attending Cheng Mingze’s parent-teacher meeting, while Li Sitong would attend Gu Xue Jiao’s.
"Okay," Xue Jiao replied flatly.
Li Sitong tried her best to suppress her anger. In the past, when Gu Xue Jiao was immature, she often scolded her. Now that Xue Jiao had grown more sensible, she should control her temper.
So she sat beside Cheng Shuo and began eating breakfast.
Li Sitong had dressed up today. Although she and Cheng Shuo lived comfortably and he doted on her, she couldn’t forget the man and woman who had caused her pain. Their daughter was in Class 2-2. Even though Li Sitong knew Xue Jiao’s grades were far worse than hers, she refused to lose face in front of that woman.
At this thought, her gaze fell on Xue Jiao, who was leading the way half a step ahead.
It’s a shame Jiao Jiao’s grades are so poor…
That embarrassing yet helpless performance.
"Sister-in-law! Jiao Jiao!" A cheerful voice called from behind, and two familiar figures quickly approached.
"Oh, Sister-in-law, you’re here for the parent-teacher meeting too?" Liu Yazhen said with a smile.
Li Sitong’s expression darkened slightly at the sight of Cheng Mingjiao, but she forced a smile.
"Yes, I’m here for Jiao Jiao’s meeting."
Liu Yazhen nodded, turning to Xue Jiao. "Jiao Jiao, how were your exam results?"
"Not bad," Xue Jiao replied calmly.
"Mingjiao also said her results were not bad. Seems like you two performed similarly—what a pair of sisters!" Liu Yazhen continued, still smiling.
Li Sitong immediately burned with anger. The implication was that Xue Jiao and Cheng Mingjiao had scored similarly!
But in Li Sitong’s memory, Xue Jiao’s grades were far worse than Mingjiao’s. Liu Yazhen was clearly mocking them!
Suppressing her fury, Li Sitong only replied, "Mingjiao’s grades are still better!"
"Gu Xue Jiao, let’s go to your seat!" Li Sitong’s tone carried a hint of anger as she turned away.
Xue Jiao didn’t mind at all and headed toward Class 1.
As if misfortunes never come singly, unpleasant encounters always seemed to come in pairs.They had just reached the back door of Class One when a woman emerged from the front door of the adjacent Class Two.
It was Wu Wanjun and Gu Shiyun.
Both parties froze simultaneously.
Li Sitong took two furious steps forward when she heard Wu Wanjun speak—
"Shiyun, why haven't the results come out yet? How did you do this time?"
"The teacher said they'll bring them over soon. I did alright, probably won't fall out of the top three in the grade."
Li Sitong swayed slightly, nearly fainting from anger.
Xue Jiao sighed almost imperceptibly. This was exactly how the terrible relationship between Gu Xue Jiao and Li Sitong had developed in the past. Li Sitong felt Xue Jiao had embarrassed her, so naturally found fault with everything about her, making arguments a regular occurrence.
After all, she was Xue Jiao now, not Gu Xue Jiao.
Coupled with the previous incident, she could no longer muster any familial affection for this woman, nor feel sadness about it.
"The teachers are coming! The teachers are coming—"
At the exclamation, parents and students immediately grew tense.
Yin Fang and the Class Two homeroom teacher approached from the same direction, each carrying a stack of report cards.
"Class results—one copy per family. Parents may enter the classroom first," Yin Fang announced.
Meanwhile, the Class Two teacher posted a sheet on the bulletin board between the two classes. "This is the grade-wide ranking list. Those interested may take a look."
Instantly, a crowd of parents surged forward.
Li Sitong hadn't intended to look, but Liu Yazhen pulled her into the throng. Wu Wanjun glanced over and, with a mocking air, led Gu Shiyun closer.
"Sister-in-law, hurry and see how your Xue Jiao scored!" Liu Yazhen said loudly, dragging her further into the press of bodies.
The ranking list was posted quite high. Before they could push to the front, the leading names became visible:
Gu Xue Jiao, Rank 1, Total 739;
Chu Sheng, Rank 2, Total 730;
Shang Zhiyuan, Rank 3, Total 725;
Gu Shiyun, Rank 4, Total 717;
...
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