Monday.
Before the first class began, the classroom was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
After the math scores came out and their class ranked dead last in the entire grade, their homeroom teacher, Old Jiang, had given the class a thorough scolding.
Meng Siyu and Lin Zhinuo whispered to each other.
“Although we ranked last in math this time, our overall Chinese scores are actually pretty impressive.”
Lin Zhinuo blinked lightly. “How do you know?”
“I went to the office to hand in the homework earlier and secretly glanced at the ranking list. You’re second in the entire grade. I also took a peek at our class scores. You did pretty well in Chinese too you got 115.”
Lin Zhinuo raised an eyebrow. That was quite a good score.
After all, according to her memories, she could usually only manage around seventy or eighty.
“What about you?” she asked.
Meng Siyu rubbed the tip of her nose sheepishly. “I got 140.”
Lin Zhinuo: “……”
She was still that amazing.
Even if Lin Zhinuo added up her abilities from both lifetimes, she still couldn’t match Meng Siyu’s talent for literature.
The second class was mathematics, taught by a bald male teacher. His lectures were dry and monotonous, leaving the students below drowsy and struggling to stay awake.
To put it bluntly, his explanations weren’t nearly as clear and easy to understand as the few words Xu Qingyan had given her.
However, what pleasantly surprised Lin Zhinuo was that she had actually scored 128 and ranked among the top twenty in the class.
It was a score she had never even dared to dream of before.
That evening, she happily sent her score to Xu Qingyan.
[Brother, I got 128 in math this time! Thank you, Teacher Xu, for your guidance.]
Teacher Xu replied: [It’s because Zhizhi is smart.]
Lin Zhinuo’s fingers paused for a moment.
She had heard that the second-year students had also finished their monthly exams, and she was secretly curious about his results.
But then she remembered that he was in Lingyun Class, a class where everyone was pushed to their absolute limits and surrounded by top academic achievers. She deleted the message she had typed halfway through.
She was afraid of making him feel pressured.
The next morning.
Lin Zhinuo had just taken out her English book and was preparing for morning reading when Meng Siyu entered the classroom humming a little tune.
“Did you win the lottery? Why are you so happy?”
“This feels even better than winning the lottery.” Meng Siyu squeezed past her and took her seat. “My sister, that study maniac who has been sitting firmly at the top of the grade for years, was knocked down yesterday. Not only did she fall to second place, but she was also beaten by a huge margin in terms of score. She was so depressed this morning that she didn’t even eat breakfast.”
Lin Zhinuo’s eyelid twitched.
The second-place student in Lingyun Class couldn’t even eat?
She had ranked in the top twenty and had eaten just fine so much that she was stuffed.
“That serious? Is your sister a little too competitive?”
Meng Siyu waved her hand. “You don’t understand. That’s Lingyun Class we’re talking about. It gathers the top one percent of students from all over Yucheng a circle filled with academic geniuses. Forget losing their appetite. Some students with poor mental resilience have even completely broken down and developed depression.”
Lin Zhinuo frowned slightly at those words.
For some reason, Xu Qingyan’s cold, aloof face flashed through her mind.
She wondered how he had done on this monthly exam.
He was usually so reserved and composed. Would he be upset if he hadn’t done well on the exam?
Or perhaps, because he was living under someone else’s roof, would he feel guilty if he thought his results weren’t good enough?
Lin Zhinuo was distracted for the entire morning.
At lunchtime, she hurriedly ate a few bites before rushing toward the school canteen shop.
She bought ten Snickers bars and ten Dove chocolate bars in one go.
Sweets were the best remedy for a bad mood.
After calculating that Xu Qingyan should have finished lunch, she sent him a message.
[Brother, have you had lunch? Come to the back entrance of the library after lunch. Go down the little slope, to the place beside the back of the science building.]
Lin Zhinuo sat on a stone bench.
The stone-paved path beneath her feet wound its way through the dense shade of the ginkgo trees, whose leaves were half green and half yellow.
Everyone was eating lunch at this hour, so the surroundings were unusually quiet.
She tilted her head slightly upward, letting the dappled sunlight fall across her face, until the sound of approaching footsteps interrupted her thoughts.
She turned her head and saw a tall, slender figure appear in her line of sight. She immediately straightened and waved at him.
“Brother.”
Xu Qingyan had run over at a fast pace, and even after stopping, his chest was still rising and falling slightly.
His eyes were fixed on the girl in front of him, his gaze calm and sharp as though he were studying her expression.
Lin Zhinuo felt uncomfortable under his stare and called softly, “Brother?”
“Did you need me for something?” Because he had rushed over, his voice was slightly hoarse from running.
“Oh… I… I brought you some chocolate.”
Lin Zhinuo hurriedly reached into her pockets and pulled out all the chocolate at once. Both hands were filled to the brim as she stuffed it into his arms.
Xu Qingyan froze slightly. He hadn’t expected that she had specifically messaged him to come here just to give him chocolate.
The girl had faint dimples in her cheeks, and her almond-shaped eyes were clear and bright. Her tone was earnest and soft.
“I bought these especially for you. They’re a magic weapon for making a bad mood better.”
She held both hands high, the long bars of chocolate in her palms almost slipping through her fingers.
He raised his hands and steadily caught them. Then, as if performing a magic trick, the girl reached into her pocket again, grabbed another handful, and stuffed them all into his hands.
“You’ll always be the best in my eyes.”
“You’ve always been amazing, and you deserve every good thing in the world.”
He always wore that cool, aloof expression, and Lin Zhinuo couldn’t read a single emotion from his face, so she simply kept showering him with praise.
He was amazing!
He was the best!
Both of Xu Qingyan’s hands were now completely full. His palms were warm so warm that the chocolate gradually began to melt.
Lin Zhinuo earnestly tried to comfort him.
“Brother, actually, one exam doesn’t mean anything. Even if you didn’t do well, you shouldn’t be sad…”
“I won’t.”
Lin Zhinuo froze. “Huh?”
“I won’t do badly.”
Lin Zhinuo was speechless for a moment before explaining, “My deskmate’s older sister used to be really amazing. She did just a little worse than before this time, and she was so upset that she couldn’t even eat. So I was worried that you might…”
Xu Qingyan understood. He realized why she had bought so much chocolate.
He pressed his lips together.
“Zhizhi, don’t worry. I’m first in the entire grade.”
“Huh?”
It took Lin Zhinuo a moment to process his words. Her almond-shaped eyes gradually widened in disbelief, and she covered her face with both hands.
She took two steps back and carefully looked the young man in front of her up and down.
First in the entire grade!
How did Lin Zhinuo end up with such an incredible older brother?
Xu Qingyan really was a genius!
This was Yucheng No. 1 High School’s Lingyun Class, after all the best of the best among the top students.
“Brother, hurry and put the chocolate in your school uniform pockets,” Lin Zhinuo urged excitedly.
The girl’s eyes were filled with admiration and delight. Her reaction pleased Xu Qingyan perfectly. His normally cool and aloof features slowly relaxed, and the corners of his lips curved into an obvious smile.
He obediently put all the chocolate into his school uniform pockets.
Lin Zhinuo hurriedly stepped closer and held out both hands toward him.
“Brother, give me your hands. Let me borrow some of the luck of a top academic genius.”
The girl’s palms were fair and softly rounded, her fingernails carrying a faint rosy tint.
“Come on, Brother. Hurry. Class is about to start.”
Meng Siyu was lying on her desk taking a nap. The moment she saw her deskmate return, she immediately pulled a piece of bread from her desk compartment and handed it to her.
“What were you doing? You barely ate anything before running off.”
Lin Zhinuo’s eyes sparkled brightly.
“I went to see the person who knocked your sister out of first place the number one student in the entire grade.”
“What do you mean?”
Meng Siyu’s imagination immediately ran wild.
“You didn’t go get revenge for my sister, did you?”
Lin Zhinuo thought for a moment.
“More accurately, I went to reward him.”