The fact that he had even considered calling a truce only made Su Yunluo more determined—and more confident.
Still, she didn’t take the exam lightly.
She knew her foundation wasn’t strong enough. The confidence she gained from the high school entrance exam wasn’t nearly enough to carry her through this stage. So during that period, she pushed herself close to her limit—arriving first in the classroom every day and leaving last. Even long after the dorm lights were turned off, the faint scratch of her pen could still be heard behind her curtain, often lasting deep into the night.
If she was going to compete, she might as well widen the battlefield. Besides Xie Chen, she added another name in her mind—Shi Ranran, her longtime rival now in Class Four. Since both of them had entered the city’s top high school, Shi Ranran had probably already heard about the tension between Class Five and Class Six.
Su Yunluo made up her mind—she would not let her see her lose.
On the first day of the monthly exam, Su Yunluo arrived early at the first examination room, where the top thirty-seven students in the entire school were gathered.
She took seat number sixteen and immediately opened her English book, determined to squeeze every last minute out of her preparation time.
By the time Xie Chen arrived, the room was almost full. He gave a small nod toward the first row in the first column, then glanced at Zhou Xubai in the third column before walking to his seat in the fourth.
Only after he sat down did Su Yunluo realize—his seat was also in the last row. There should have been a student ranked twenty-fourth between them, but that desk’s exam number had already been removed. The student was absent.
With that gap gone, it felt as if the two of them were facing each other directly across an invisible boundary. Every slight lift of the eyes meant their gazes could collide in midair.
After it happened a few times, Su Yunluo stopped avoiding it and simply looked straight at him.
At that exact moment, Xie Chen also raised his eyes and met hers without hesitation.
Over the past month, they had run into each other several times but never spoken again, silently returning to the role of strangers. Yet somehow, the moment he sat there in the exam room, fingers resting lightly on the edge of the desk, that quiet, undeniable presence she had once noticed—and tried to ignore—returned.
It was steady, almost arrogant in its calm, as if he could stand above everyone else without even trying.
It made her uneasy.
So she snapped her English book shut, stood up, and walked to the front of the classroom to put it away. Then she returned to her seat with measured steps, chin slightly raised, eyes forward—as if performing her own version of confidence, as though she belonged above everyone else.
From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw his lips curve slightly.
She wasn’t sure if it was real, but she straightened her back even more.
First exam: Chinese.
This was Su Yunluo’s home ground. She wrote her essay in one smooth flow, almost effortlessly. When she checked the time, she still had half an hour left.
The person beside her was still writing intensely and only put his pen down five minutes later.
The moment he looked up, Su Yunluo quickly looked away—but the corner of her lips lifted slightly.
In her mind, she quietly celebrated.
Unfortunately, the celebration didn’t last long.
The second exam—math—reminded her how unpredictable things could be.
Math had always been her weakest subject. Even physics sometimes felt manageable, but math never did. Back in middle school, when the full score was 120, the highest she ever got was 100. Over the past month, she had devoted more effort to math than any other subject—but this exam was genuinely difficult. The big questions were tricky, and even several multiple-choice questions left her uncertain.
By the time she finally worked through the last major problem, her mind was already spinning. She looked up—and there were less than ten minutes left.
She didn’t even have time to wipe the thin layer of sweat at her temples. Almost instinctively, she glanced sideways.
Xie Chen had already put down his pen.
She didn’t know when he finished. He wasn’t even reviewing his answers anymore. His paper was likely already completed. He just sat there casually, looking almost… bored, as if finishing early was nothing special.
When her hurried glance landed on him, he met her eyes calmly.
This time, something in his gaze felt different.
Still composed, still steady—but no longer like the day he read her challenge letter. There was a quiet certainty now, as if he could see through her struggle with the paper.
That realization made her chest tighten.
She quickly lowered her head and rushed to continue filling in her answer sheet.
On her way back from the restroom, she passed the third exam room and ran straight into Shi Ranran.
“Su Yunluo!” Shi Ranran called out, raising a brow. “For the last multiple-choice question—did you pick C?”
Back in middle school, Shi Ranran always liked to call herself a math genius. After their high school entrance exam results and their falling out, Su Yunluo later heard her say:
“It’s fine if she beats me in other subjects, but I refuse to believe she can beat me in math. Just wait until high school when it gets harder. Let’s see how long she can keep smiling.”
Now, looking at that same absolute confidence on Shi Ranran’s face—the kind that said if you’re different from me, then you must be wrong—Su Yunluo hesitated.
She had chosen D, not C.
She was about to say it confidently—but then she accidentally glanced toward the first exam room doorway.
Xie Chen was standing in the hallway, talking with the top-ranked student in the grade, Qi Ning, and Zhou Xubai, along with a few other boys.
The three of them stood there like they had their own spotlight. Around them, groups of girls had already gathered, their attention fixed on them.
Zhou Xubai, the school heartthrob, needed no introduction. As for Qi Ning, he was the city’s top scorer in the entrance exam—quiet, low-key, and somewhat mysterious, yet clearly familiar with both Xie Chen and Zhou Xubai.
From the third exam room, Li Zhe rushed over, barely steady as he blurted, “Xiao Xie! What did you pick for the last multiple-choice question? A or D?”
When Xie Chen didn’t answer immediately, Li Zhe panicked. “Don’t tell me it’s B?!”
Xie Chen just smiled, unscrewed his water bottle, and took a sip. Then he said calmly, almost like offering consolation, “Forget that question. Focus on the next exam.”
Zhou Xubai laughed softly beside him. Even Qi Ning had a faint expression of… pity.
Su Yunluo’s heart skipped.
She turned back to Shi Ranran.
The “D” she was about to say stopped at her lips, and instead she said, “I forgot.”
But Shi Ranran had clearly overheard the conversation. A victorious smile spread across her face.
“I think I should remind you of something,” Shi Ranran said.
“What?”
“In first year of high school, the midterms and finals don’t include politics, history, or geography.”
Su Yunluo looked at her sharply. “So?”
“So,” Shi Ranran smiled deeper, “you should already know how this ends between us.”
Su Yunluo didn’t respond. She simply turned and walked back into the exam room.
For the remaining exams, she set two rules for herself: no more comparing answers—and absolutely no eye contact with Xie Chen.
Especially the second one.
That calm, effortless confidence of his… was even more unsettling than getting a wrong answer.
Their seats were too close. Even without looking, she could feel his rhythm—steady, mechanical, ridiculously fast. Every time, he finished at least half an hour early.
It made her constantly doubt herself: Is he really that good… or just pretending?
Final exam: Physics.
The last big question involved a pursuit problem with acceleration and deceleration—normally her strong point. But this time, the changing speeds were too chaotic. She got stuck.
She stared at the question for a long time, mind blank. She had already filled most of her answer sheet but still couldn’t find a clear solution. Only in the final minutes did inspiration finally strike. She hurriedly wrote down two steps—
—and then the bell rang.
Papers were collected row by row, starting from the front, and in moments, they reached her desk.
The moment her paper was taken, her heart gave a small jolt. She instinctively glanced to the right.
Her opponent was already sitting there, looking like he had finished long ago.
Zhou Xubai stood up from the third column and tilted his chin toward Xie Chen. “Well?”
“The questions were too basic,” Xie Chen said lightly, packing up his stationery. “Hard to create any real gap.”
As he passed the podium, he tapped Qi Ning’s desk lightly. With a faint smile, he said, “Do you think this might be the closest I’ll ever get to your total score?”
Qi Ning didn’t answer—but he nodded slightly, as if agreeing.
When Xie Chen looked up again, Su Yunluo quickly averted her gaze.
She refused to look at his expression.
And she refused to think too much about that casually arrogant remark.
Deep down, she knew—despite struggling in the last two big questions of math and physics, her overall performance had been steady. Maybe even better than usual.
As for Xie Chen’s words…
She decided to treat them as just more of his arrogance.