As soon as they finished the Chemistry paper, the bell rang.
Principal Tan called Mr. Chen and Mr. Lin over to grade the exams on the spot.
“You two go have lunch first,” he said, dismissing Zhou Yuwei and Jiang Chao.
The two of them walked out of the principal’s office together.
“Student Zhou Yuwei.”
Jiang Chao called after her.
“What is it?”
“Actually… I don’t know whether you copied my answers or not. What I mean is… I really don’t know.”
But deep down, he had accepted what everyone else was saying. He had assumed she had probably copied him.
He hadn’t intended to say anything before.
But today, he had finally gotten a clear look at Zhou Yuwei’s face and realized just how beautiful she was.
She had always kept to herself, avoided crowds whenever she walked, and hidden behind thick bangs that covered most of her face.
He had never really seen what she looked like.
Today, however, she had combed all of her bangs back, revealing her strikingly beautiful features.
Especially when those captivating eyes settled on him…
He felt as if his whole body had gone numb.
Zhou Yuwei frowned slightly.
“…Mm.”
She answered coldly and walked away.
Jiang Chao felt thoroughly snubbed.
“Zhou Yuwei, let me give you a suggestion.”
“If… if you beg me and agree to be my girlfriend, I might consider writing your name on the afternoon’s three exam papers.”
Without another word, Zhou Yuwei headed downstairs.
She had no interest in talking to an idiot.
Principal Tan would be supervising the exams personally. Anyone who dared pull something like that right under his nose had to be brain-dead.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that oddballs seemed to appear every year—
But this year, especially, she seemed destined to run into more than her fair share.
She glanced back at him.
“Kid, this big sister isn’t interested in you.”
Then she walked downstairs without looking back.
Standing upstairs, Jiang Chao watched as Liu Changyun and Xu Zitao ran toward Zhou Yuwei.
“Tch…”
“So that’s who she likes.”
“Just some alley brat.”
He lifted his head toward the sky.
Zhou Yuwei…
You brought this on yourself.
Don’t blame me when I make a complete fool of you.
…
“Well? How’d it go?” Liu Changyun hurried over to ask.
“It was… okay.”
“No way! I’ve got money riding on you. You’d better not make me lose!”
Hearing that, Zhou Yuwei stopped walking.
“…You people are gambling?”
“No, no, no!”
He shook his head frantically.
“Just kidding! Who’d dare? Haven’t you considered who my old man is? If I got caught gambling at school, he’d break both my legs when I got home.”
“Then what exactly did you bet?”
“I made a wager with Wu Di.”
“If you score higher than Jiang Chao, he’ll clean the school toilets by himself for the entire month.”
“But if you score lower than him, then Zitao and I will be the ones doing it.”
Liu Changyun handed Zhou Yuwei her lunch box.
“I picked it up from the cafeteria.”
“Two steamed buns and cabbage stewed with glass noodles.”
The three friends squatted together and ate lunch.
Zhou Yuwei reached into her bag and took out several strips of dried meat.
Lately, her father had been buying wild game in the countryside, so before they left for Suzhou, he had specially made some jerky for the sisters to take with them.
Only a little remained.
“What kind of meat is this?”
Liu Changyun took a bite and chewed enthusiastically.
“Pretty tasty.”
“Rat meat.”
Zhou Yuwei deliberately tried to scare him.
Liu Changyun nearly choked.
The meat in his mouth really was delicious…
Which left him in an awkward dilemma.
He couldn’t bring himself to swallow it.
Nor could he spit it out.
Honestly…
It was torture.
“She’s messing with you.”
Xu Zitao took a bite as well.
“How could Uncle Zhou possibly feed rat meat to his two precious daughters?”
“It’s probably either wild boar or rabbit.”
“Oh… that’s good.”
Liu Changyun immediately relaxed and resumed chewing.
“Zhou Yuwei, that’s just cruel.”
“I got punished with a whole month of cleaning the school toilets because I stood up for you, and this is how you repay me?”
Xu Zitao turned to Zhou Yuwei.
“Are you confident?”
“I can guarantee I won’t score lower than him.”
She could promise that much.
Compared to the college entrance examinations of the future, this paper really wasn’t that difficult.
Although it had been nearly ten years since she’d graduated from high school, knowledge, once learned, belonged to her forever.
She had once earned admission to Beifang University, later passed the IELTS examination, and even been accepted by Cambridge.
As long as she reviewed everything once more, the knowledge would naturally come back.
Besides, the exam papers from her province in her previous life had been famous for their brutal difficulty.
Still…
She had been lucky.
The morning exams had been Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry.
If they’d tested Chinese or Politics instead, all the memorization-heavy subjects…
She probably wouldn’t have outscored Jiang Chao.
…
Inside the principal’s office.
The two teachers finished grading the papers.
“How is this possible?”
Mr. Chen stared at the scores in disbelief.
“Did she really earn these herself?”
he asked Principal Tan excitedly.
“She did.”
“I supervised the entire exam personally.”
“So? Student Zhou Yuwei did quite well, didn’t she?”
He had stood beside both students throughout the test, watching them solve the questions.
Not only had Zhou Yuwei worked much faster than Jiang Chao, but her accuracy had also been astonishingly high.
Even her mathematical solutions…
“Look at this.”
He pulled out a sheet of scratch paper Zhou Yuwei had thrown into the trash after finishing the exam.
“She actually came up with alternative solution methods.”
Mr. Chen looked genuinely astonished.
“This student…”
Principal Tan nodded.
“She deserves focused cultivation.”
“She’s university material—good enough for Jing University or Qing University.”
Jiang Chao had also performed well.
But compared to Zhou Yuwei…
He simply couldn’t measure up.
“I heard she’s the student who scored full marks in English.”
“Then why…”
“And if she could get full marks on an exam this difficult, why did she only score ninety on the midterm English exam?”
“I heard her family has overseas connections.”
Mr. Chen lived across from Mr. Qi, and the two families were close.
During dinner together the previous evening, Mr. Qi had mentioned it in passing.
“No wonder…”
They both thought they understood the reason.
“Very well.”
“From now on, Student Zhou Yuwei will be one of our key students.”
“This matter ends here.”
Principal Tan was in an exceptionally good mood.
In fact, he felt this whole incident had turned out rather well.
Otherwise, they might never have discovered such an outstanding talent.
“So… should they still take the afternoon exams?”
“Take them for what?”
Principal Tan pointed at the three flawless exam papers lying on the desk.
“With papers this perfect sitting right in front of us, is there any need to continue?”
Mr. Lin looked at Zhou Yuwei’s three perfect scores and nodded in agreement.
“You two go eat.”
Principal Tan waved them away.
After they left, he picked up Zhou Yuwei’s papers again and examined them repeatedly.
“Everything’s excellent…”
“It’s just…”
“Her handwriting is ugly.”
“Such a beautiful girl…”
“And yet this handwriting…”
“Tsk, tsk.”
“Barely acceptable.”
He muttered to himself.
…
That afternoon, when classes resumed, Zhou Yuwei returned to the principal’s office.
The moment she entered, she saw Mr. Qi and Ms. Zhang already waiting inside.
Jiang Chao stood with his head lowered.
His face was pale.
The shock still hadn’t worn off.
He simply couldn’t believe that Zhou Yuwei was actually this outstanding.
Thinking about the things he’d said to her that morning…
He wished the ground would open up and swallow him.
“Student Zhou Yuwei.”
Principal Tan smiled.
“You’ve already proven with your own ability that you did not cheat on this examination.”
“Thank you, Principal Tan, for seeing the truth.”
“You don’t need to take the afternoon exams.”
“Go back to class.”
He gestured for Jiang Chao to leave first.
With his head still lowered, Jiang Chao greeted the principal quietly before walking out.
His homeroom teacher followed behind him.
His expression wasn’t much better.
He had never imagined that, in their final year of high school, Qi Donghai’s class would suddenly produce such a dark horse.
The two of them had once competed for the affection of the same woman.
Ever since then, they had never gotten along.
Now, the outstanding student in his own class, Jiang Chao…
Had been defeated by the previously unknown Zhou Yuwei from Qi Donghai’s class.