This test was one of the very few special admission slots that Yucheng No. 1 High School had specifically reserved for transfer students. It focused only on the school’s two strongest core subjects: mathematics and physics.
At eight o’clock, the test began on time.
The corridor outside the examination room was packed with waiting parents.
They chattered noisily among themselves, making the stuffy corridor even more loud and chaotic.
Lin Zhinuo sat against a corridor pillar. Several parents nearby were proudly showing off the competition awards their children had won during their first year of high school.
Lin Zhinuo silently complained to herself: If your children are really that amazing, why are they transferring to No. 1 High School?
But at the same time, she couldn’t help worrying.
With so many top students competing against one another and only a handful of spots available, what would they do if Xu Qingyan failed to get in?
Seeing how gloomy she looked, her face flushed with heat and covered in sweat, Lin Jingshan gently tried to persuade her.
“Zhizhi, go sit in the car and turn on the air conditioning for a while. Once your brother finishes the test, Dad will call you.”
But with the boy she cared about still inside the examination room, Lin Zhinuo naturally refused to leave. She insisted on waiting until the very end.
No one knew how long they waited before the first student finally came out of the examination room.
The waiting parents swarmed toward him, bombarding him with questions about how the test had gone.
The boy kept his head lowered and said nothing. He simply turned around and walked straight toward the school gate.
Then the second student came out, followed by the third…
Every face was solemn. None of them looked particularly optimistic.
Lin Zhinuo had sharp eyes and noticed one boy secretly wiping away a tear.
At that moment, a parent dressed in white hurried over. Before she could even say anything, the boy snapped irritably,
“Damn, what kind of crappy test was that? I couldn’t even finish the questions.”
Lin Zhinuo’s heart sank.
She remembered that this very parent in white had just been bragging about how her son had participated in a mathematics competition the previous year and even won some kind of award.
Even a top student who had won a competition had been stumped.
Just how difficult were those questions?
Xu Qingyan was almost the last person to walk out of the examination room.
His expression remained as cool and indifferent as ever, revealing neither joy nor disappointment.
The student who came out immediately behind him was a girl with a high ponytail. She was the only examinee there who wore a smile on her face.
She hurried up to Xu Qingyan and, turning around with a smile, said, “Classmate, I saw you finishing pretty quickly. Why were you the last one out?”
“Do you have a phone number? Let’s add each other as friends. Maybe we can discuss things together sometime.”
Xu Qingyan said nothing. He lowered his eyes and simply stepped sideways, avoiding the girl who was blocking his path.
Lin Zhinuo waved toward him.
“Brother!”
The boy immediately lifted his eyes.
Under a nearby tree, the girl stood amid patches of dappled sunlight and shadow, her eyes curved into crescents, her face bright with a warm smile.
“Brother, you worked hard.”
Lin Zhinuo walked over and handed him the bottle of mineral water she had prepared in advance. She deliberately said nothing about the test, afraid of putting any pressure on him.
“The test results won’t be out for another couple of days.” Lin Jingshan patted Xu Qingyan on the shoulder. “Don’t think about anything. Let’s go get something to eat first.”
It happened to be lunchtime, so Lin Jingshan took the two children to a nearby restaurant.
He had an important meeting with a client that afternoon, so after lunch, he hurriedly drove the two of them home before rushing back to the company.
They had gotten up far too early. By now, Lin Zhinuo was both hot and sleepy, and all she wanted was to take a quick shower and go back to sleep.
She ran upstairs with quick little steps, calling back over her shoulder,
“Brother, I’m going to take a shower and get some sleep. If you’re bored, watch some TV or take a nap.”
Xu Qingyan stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching the girl’s lively figure disappear upstairs.
He pressed his lips together.
“Zhizhi.”
Lin Zhinuo suddenly stopped.
When she turned around, surprise and delight flashed across her eyes at the sound of him taking the initiative to call her “Zhizhi.”
“I won’t disappoint you.”
His voice was soft, yet perfectly clear.
Lin Zhinuo froze for a moment before the corners of her lips slowly lifted.
How could she possibly be disappointed?
That boy who had grown up through such a difficult childhood would, in the future, shine as brilliantly as a star.
“I believe in you, Brother. Let’s work hard together!”
On the third day after the test, Lin Jingshan received a personal phone call from the Director of Academic Affairs.
“The transfer test this time was personally written by a senior mathematics teacher from the Lingyun Class. The difficulty was deliberately raised, and two of the major problems were nearly at competition level…”
After a tactful explanation, the director’s meaning was clear: they wanted the student to complete his enrollment paperwork as soon as possible. Not only would his tuition be completely waived, but he would also be placed directly into the Lingyun Class when school started.
Lin Zhinuo sucked in a sharp breath.
Although she was an absolute academic underachiever, that didn’t stop her from worshipping the Lingyun Class at No. 1 High School, where the most outstanding academic stars in Yucheng gathered.
Their goal was Tsinghua and Peking University, and their abilities were at the absolute top.
Knowing full well that Xu Qingyan would become an extraordinary and dazzling person in the future, Lin Zhinuo still couldn’t help but look at him with stars in her eyes.
“Brother, you’re amazing!”
Xu Qingyan’s ears turned pink at her soft, sweet praise.
Lin Jingshan was beaming with pride. He patted Xu Qingyan on the shoulder.
“Good boy! You really made me proud!”
The hand resting on his shoulder was broad, strong, and warm.
Just like when Grandpa had held his hand up when he was a child.
Xu Qingyan pressed his lips together.
“Uncle, I won’t let you down.”
“You silly boy.” Lin Jingshan laughed heartily. “The only thing I ask of you is to always conduct yourself with integrity. The road ahead is yours to walk. How you choose to walk it will ultimately be up to you.”
There was still more than half a month before No. 1 High School started.
In order to get into her dream dance academy, Lin Zhinuo made up her mind to thoroughly strengthen her fundamentals in classical dance.
There was a highly experienced classical dance teacher in Yucheng who ran a training program. Quite a few students enrolled, but only a handful were taught personally by her. Most of the classes were handled by substitute instructors.
Lin Jingshan was a rough-and-ready man who knew absolutely nothing about professional dance. At first, he had let his daughter learn dance simply because everyone else was doing it.
Whatever other families’ daughters had, his little princess couldn’t be missing out on.
And whatever his little princess wanted to learn, she could learn whenever she wanted. He had never been stingy about spending money on her.
So throughout Lin Zhinuo’s entire elementary-school years, she had practically tried every extracurricular class imaginable.
Including, but not limited to, piano, drawing, badminton, figure skating, cello… all kinds of things.
In the end, dance was the only one she stuck with.
Apart from throwing money at it, Lin Jingshan had never really understood the qualifications of the teachers themselves. He had spent plenty of money, yet Lin Zhinuo had never received guidance from the teacher who was truly best suited to her.
Because in her previous life, she had eventually learned more about this teacher after entering university.
So that summer, she pestered Lin Jingshan into contacting that classical dance teacher and discussing lessons with her.
The teacher had her improvise a short dance on the spot. After seeing her remarkable flexibility, natural physique, and exceptionally rare aptitude for dance, the teacher immediately agreed to personally teach her.
The delicate, playful little girl who had always been pampered and loved to fool around suddenly became extraordinarily diligent and hardworking.
Every day, she went to dance practice on time without ever complaining about being tired or suffering.
Lin Jingshan couldn’t help secretly asking her one day,
“Zhizhi, is your brother’s academic performance making you feel pressured?”
Ever since they had returned from Grandma’s house, his daughter had become especially disciplined. She practiced dance seriously, studied hard, and had even gotten into No. 1 High School a school he had never dared dream she could enter.
Lin Zhinuo blinked her big, round eyes.
“It’s not pressure at all. Brother’s excellence has motivated me to study. I want to work hard and become better too, so I can be the daughter Dad is proud of.”
Lin Jingshan’s heart melted at her words. He ruffled his well-behaved daughter’s hair.
“What good deed did I do in my past life to deserve this? Not only did I somehow get myself an outstanding boy for free, but my precious daughter is also so thoughtful and sensible.”
Lin Zhinuo’s nose suddenly stung.
Lin Jingshan was broad-minded and generous by nature. He never fussed over trivial matters when dealing with people or handling things. Whenever a friend was in trouble, he was always the first to step forward and lend a helping hand.
It was precisely because he was so kindhearted and tended to see people as much simpler and purer than they really were that he had eventually been betrayed and schemed against by the brother he trusted most, leaving him buried under a mountain of debt.
In her previous life, her father had been deliberately provoked by debt collectors. The two sides had gotten into an argument and started shoving each other, and tragically, he had fallen from a building at a construction site and died.
Less than a month after her father’s death, Grandma had also passed away after being overwhelmed by grief.
Those dark, hopeless days had nearly crushed Lin Zhinuo.
Her thoughts churned, and Lin Zhinuo’s eyes reddened.
She hurriedly wrapped her arms around Lin Jingshan’s neck and buried her face against her father’s shoulder.
“Dad, in this world, Brother, Grandma, and I are the people closest to you the ones you can trust the most. From now on, don’t trust outsiders so easily, okay?”