Xue Jiao frowned slightly, finding this person far too noisy.
Cheng Mingjiao, seeing her silence, thought she had struck a nerve and laughed even more triumphantly.
"Gu Xue Jiao, cheaters like you get exposed sooner or later! First place? Try taking the test again! Haha!"
Cheng Mingjiao was at the peak of her smugness. She truly despised Gu Xue Jiao—seeing her humiliated brought her immense joy, especially exposing her true colors. Right now, her excitement rivaled winning the lottery.
No! For Cheng Mingjiao, Xue Jiao’s misfortune was even more satisfying than hitting the jackpot!
Yu Weiwei sat on the other side of the classroom. In the past, whenever Cheng Mingjiao targeted Xue Jiao, she would always step in, united against a common enemy.
But today, she hunched her shoulders, wanting to speak up but feeling too ashamed.
In the end, she opened her mouth but shrank back into her seat, saying nothing.
"Cheng Mingjiao, are you an idiot?" Yi Tianyu flung a book at her, hitting her squarely in the face and shutting her up.
"Yi Tianyu!!" Cheng Mingjiao’s face twisted in fury.
How dare someone hit her?!
"I’ve never hit a woman before, but you’re an exception, you lunatic. Chu Sheng is first, but Xue Jiao is also first—729 points, half a point higher than Chu Sheng."
Yi Tianyu looked at her with undisguised disdain, as if she were an absolute moron.
"Impossible!! You’re lying!" Cheng Mingjiao exploded, refusing to believe it.
Gu Xue Jiao was still first? How?!
This fraud must have cheated last time, then put on an act of studying hard—but it was all fake!
She was convinced Xue Jiao would be exposed in this monthly exam!
But now someone was telling her Xue Jiao was first?!
"No! You’re lying!"
Yi Tianyu rolled his eyes at her, his expression dripping with sarcasm.
Behind her, the girl sitting in front of Cheng Mingjiao tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "Um… Gu Xue Jiao really is first… tied with Chu Sheng…"
She really was first?!
"No… no… you must have cheated!" Cheng Mingjiao still refused to believe it.
Or rather, she couldn’t bring herself to believe it.
Ever since Xue Jiao "changed," the image Cheng Mingjiao had carefully cultivated in this class had crumbled. If she accepted that Xue Jiao had earned first place, then her earlier outburst… would make her look utterly ridiculous.
"Cheating! Gu Xue Jiao, you definitely cheated!" Cheng Mingjiao insisted firmly, trying to convince others—and herself.
"She didn’t cheat!" A voice came from the classroom door.
The stern, older woman’s voice carried authority, and combined with Yin Fang’s reputation for strictness, the class instantly fell silent, all eyes on her.
Clutching a stack of English test papers, Yin Fang strode in, her high heels clicking sharply against the floor.
Her expression was severe, and with the students’ exams in hand, she perfectly fit the nickname they had given her—the Abbess.
"Gu Xue Jiao’s results are not from cheating—they’re genuine!" At this, her brow relaxed slightly.
But soon, it furrowed again. "Cheng Mingjiao! Instead of doubting others’ achievements, why don’t you focus on improving your own grades? Huh?!"
Cheng Mingjiao opened her mouth to retort, but Yin Fang didn’t give her the chance, pressing on: "Do you know what you scored this time? Eleventh in the class! Cheng Mingjiao, you used to be in the top three, and now you’ve fallen out of the top ten! What exactly have you been doing this semester?"Cheng Mingjiao's eyes widened in shock—she was only eleventh in the class?!
That bitch Gu Xue Jiao had taken first place, while she was only eleventh?!
"You never focus on studying properly, always keeping an eye on Xue Jiao, snitching on her, making things difficult for her, even mocking her! I just want to know, where on earth do you get the confidence to act like this? Will staring at Xue Jiao improve your grades? Huh?! She's now the top student in the grade, while you've fallen to 39th place!"
Yin Fang's anger was genuine. Cheng Mingjiao had once been someone she valued—how had she ended up like this?
She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Cheng Mingjiao, you need to pull yourself together. After this semester, you'll be in your final year of high school! In such a fiercely competitive environment, if you don't improve, you'll definitely fall behind! From now on, focus on your studies and stop obsessing over others! Sit down."
Cheng Mingjiao sat down, head lowered as if in self-reproach. But no one saw the hatred burning in her downcast eyes.
Gu... Xue... Jiao!
Yin Fang shifted her attention away from Cheng Mingjiao and directed her reprimands at others in the class.
Xue Jiao paid no attention to the scolding, her gaze fixed on the English textbook in front of her.
A moment later, a small note was pushed toward her—
[Hey, dummy, why did you ask me to walk back with you earlier?]
Xue Jiao frowned slightly and glanced sideways at the boy next to her, who was wiggling his eyebrows mischievously.
Sighing, she wrote back—
[Huh?]
Yi Tianyu's eyes widened in frustration. He scratched his head anxiously before scribbling another message—
[Just now, outside the bulletin board, after you finished talking with that person, you called me to walk back to the classroom together!]
After sliding the note back, Yi Tianyu's ears turned slightly red. His eyes darted around, but his peripheral vision remained locked on the girl beside him.
This girl... did she like him too?
Huh? Why did I think "too"?
Yi Tianyu shook his head slightly, still watching her from the corner of his eye.
Xue Jiao ignored him and continued reading. Yi Tianyu grew impatient, making a small noise before nudging her—
His lips silently formed the words: Look at it!
Xue Jiao: "..."
Reluctantly, she picked up the note.
Why?
Why did there have to be a reason for everything?
Xue Jiao looked exasperated. They had gone out together—wasn't it natural to return to class together?
Her deskmate was a decent guy, but... was he a bit slow?
She quickly wrote a reply and pushed it back—
[Stop bothering me. Study.]
Yi Tianyu's eyes nearly popped out of his head in disbelief.
He stared at those four words, shaking his head and scratching his ears, as if he wanted to grab Xue Jiao by the shoulders and shake her hard—
Just tell me why!
"Thud—" A piece of chalk hit Yi Tianyu squarely on the forehead. He looked up, dazed.
"Yi Tianyu! What are you doing?! Where's your mind at?! Look at your test paper—I haven't even scolded you yet! Don't think a little improvement means you can get complacent. Let me tell you, you're still far from where you should be!"
Yi Tianyu: "..."
——
Evening, Yi household.
"Son! You're back! How was your day?" Yi's Mother walked out with a smile, quickly taking his schoolbag from him.
"Here, see for yourself." Yi Tianyu tossed his report card at her, then sat at the dining table and took a sip of water.
"278th place?! You passed everything except Chinese?! And you got 110 in math?! Aaaaaah—"Yi's Mother let out a shriek of delight.
"Pfft—" Yi Tianyu spat out his water. "Mom! What's the big deal? I never knew you cared so much about grades before!"
Yi's Mother grinned from ear to ear, hugging the report card tightly.
"Son, of course I didn't care when your grades were bad before. But now that they're so good, how could I not care?"
"..."
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Yi Dafa rushed out from his shower upon hearing the scream, looking anxious.
Yi's Mother handed the report card to Yi Dafa: "Look! Our son ranked 278th! Total score of 501! With this result, if he works a bit harder, he can get into a first-tier university!"
"Really?!" Yi Dafa's face lit up with joy.
He reached out to take the report card, but Yi's Mother slapped his hand away: "You just showered and your hands are still wet! Don't ruin our son's report card!"
Unfazed, Yi Dafa kept grinning, vigorously wiping his hands on his clothes until they were dry before carefully accepting it.
"Oh my! It's true! My son actually did so well, even better than last time! This trend is fantastic!" He was so overjoyed that Yi Tianyu began to feel uncomfortable.
He shifted awkwardly and muttered, "If you're this happy now, won't you go crazy if I do even better next time?"
Yi Dafa's eyes widened—
Even better?
"My boy! You're amazing!"
Yi Tianyu scratched his head, annoyed.
What had he just said? Do even better?
Damn it!
"Huh?" Yi Dafa's tone suddenly changed, as if he'd discovered something unbelievable.
Both Yi's Mother and Yi Tianyu turned to look.
"Gu Xue Jiao, 729?!"
"What? Gu Xue Jiao? Your son's puppy-love girlfriend scored 729?!" Yi's Mother's eyes also widened in disbelief.
"She's not my puppy-love girlfriend, Mom, stop talking nonsense!" Yi Tianyu instinctively retorted.
Yi's Mother sighed. "Fine, fine, not your puppy-love girlfriend—the girl you have a crush on!"
Yi Tianyu looked as if someone had stepped on his tail, flushing with anger—
"What crush?! Who said anything about a crush?! Stop making things up!"
Having said that, as if burning with embarrassment, he added, "Alright, alright, I'm going upstairs to sleep!"
Yi Tianyu turned and left. Just as he reached the second floor, he could still hear the conversation downstairs—
"Our son's embarrassed—he must like that girl! Old Yi, you've met her, what's she like?"
"Top-notch! Our son's taste is just like mine—absolutely brilliant! That girl is stunning, beautiful and quiet! So well-behaved and sensible, and her grades are outstanding!"
"That good? I just thought that since our son sits next to her, his grades have skyrocketed—she must be impressive!"
"Extremely impressive! It's just her family situation is complicated."
Yi's Mother sounded surprised. "How so?"
Then came Yi Dafa's rapid-fire explanation, words pouring out nonstop.
——
The Cheng household was also buzzing with excitement.
Just as Xue Jiao arrived home, Li Sitong asked with a smile, "Mingze, Jiao Jiao, how were your exams?"
Cheng Shuo walked over with a glass of water and sighed. "Why ask about grades the moment they get home?"
Li Sitong glared at him. "What else should I ask students about?"
"Fine, first place," Cheng Mingze replied casually. He always ranked first—if he ever didn't, that would be the real surprise.
"And Jiao Jiao?"
Before Xue Jiao could answer, Li Sitong's phone rang."It's so late, who could be calling?" She was surprised, and even more so when she saw the caller ID. "Liu Yazhen?!"
She exchanged a glance with Cheng Shuo, both looking conflicted.
"Answer it, put it on speaker," Cheng Shuo said.
Clearly, they were both curious why their sister-in-law, who had barely contacted them since the last incident, was calling again.
"Hello."
"Li Sitong! Ask Gu Xue Jiao what exactly happened to my daughter at school today! She came home crying and locked herself in her room!" The voice on the other end demanded.
Liu Yazhen hadn't mentioned the full story—Cheng Mingjiao had been crying while cursing Xue Jiao.
Li Sitong had been calm at first, but her temper flared at the mention of Mingjiao, reminded of those words.
"Why don't you ask her yourself instead of questioning my daughter? What? Are you suggesting my daughter bullied her?"
"It's entirely possible!"
"You—"
Xue Jiao stepped forward and took the phone. "Let me handle this."
Her face was cold. Li Sitong numbly handed her the phone.
The voice on the other end clearly heard her and raised its pitch. "Gu Xue Jiao! What exactly happened to my daughter today?!"
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