I Just Want to Freeload on Your Luck - Chapter 24

Only when Zhao Zhanhuai got back to his room did he realize that there were many things belonging to Zhao Yuan in his room. There were two pillows on the couch, and she left a short jacket in his room as well.

Zhao Zhanhuai was experiencing a pounding headache.

In terms of a brother-sister relationship, their actions may be a little too close for comfort in the eyes of a stranger. Yuanyuan didn’t seem to be this reliant on their other family members as well.

Zhao Zhanhuai didn’t think much of this back then. He didn’t think that the current Zhao Yuan had that kind of feelings for him either. But Mingxi’s words were like a police siren for him, making him come to a sudden realization— It didn’t matter if she had that thought or not. He was doing to kill it before it could be born.

There was an urgent need to create a distance between them.

Zhao Zhanhuai put aside his own pain and quickly got the secretary to clean up the things that Zhao Yuan had left in his room. Then, the items were all placed in a cardboard box and returned to Zhao Yuan.

There were a few other items which he didn’t know if they belonged to Zhao Yuan. So long as it was for female use, he would get the secretary to pack them in. Since he kept mostly to himself and has never brought anyone home before, these things could only be Zhao Yuan’s.

While he was tidying up the things, Zhao Zhanhuai gradually noticed an increasing sense of biasness.

He didn’t have a single thing in his room that was related to Mingxi.

If he were to recall carefully, it was likely Mingxi had never entered his room before.

Zhao Zhanhuai’s heart sank even further.

When Zhao Yuan received the cardboard box from the secretary, she felt so wronged that her chest began to heave. She slammed the door with a loud thud, and she never came downstairs even though it was already dinner time.

The auntie knocked on her door twice, but she still kept her head tucked under her blanket, refusing to eat.

It was rare for Zhao Yuan to do this at home. This was because everyone at home spoiled her, and she had never been bullied by anyone.

But whenever it was to a point where she would refuse to eat, her family members would definitely take turns to coax her out.

But today, their mother wasn’t home yet. There was only Zhao Zhanhuai and Zhao Yuning in the house.

Zhao Yuning wasn’t one who could read the room well. He was unkind to anyone he spoke to. He came over, knocked on the door and said, “Yuan jie, are you eating dinner? If you aren’t then at least tell us. Is it worth doing all this just because Auntie Zhang was fired? Da ge said that Auntie Zhang has always treated Mingxi jie poorly. Is Auntie Zhang more important or is Mingxi jie more important?”

Zhao Yuning muttered to himself, “Needless to say, firing 100 Auntie Zhangs would not be as important as Mingxi jie’s return.”

“…”

Zhao Yuan’s heart was in great pain.

Zhao Zhanhuai was supposed to ask about her. However, he was adamant on creating a distance between him and Zhao Yuan. Furthermore, for the whole night he couldn’t help but to recall what Mingxi’s ex-homeroom teacher told him this afternoon.

The guilt he felt for Zhao Mingxi was so overwhelming— Back then when Mingxi refused to eat, he had never bothered to coax her. Why did he have to only spoil Yuanyuan?

After a moment’s hesitation, Zhao Zhanhuai said with furrowed brows, “Let her be.”

Even though she waited until it was 10 p.m., no one came to comfort Zhao Yuan.

Zhao Yuan’s eyes were swollen to the size of walnuts. Gradually and finally, as if she had ants in her pants, she panicked.

This was completely unexpected.

Why is this happening?

Around 11 p.m., a bright light coming from a car flashed through her windows, signalling the return of their mother who had just returned from promoting her birthday banquet.

After a while, Zhao Yuan’s door opened. Madam Zhao walked in, sat by the bed and gently lifted up Zhao Yuan’s blanket. She sighed and consoled her, “Yuanyuan, do you have to go to this extent for an Auntie Zhang? It was truly Auntie Zhang’s fault this time. Your brother is still mad about it.”

“If you are truly unwilling to let go of her, after the birthday banquet when Mingxi returns, I’ll get Auntie Zhang to apologize to her and admit her faults. Then I’ll hire Auntie Zhang again.”

Her mother still cared for her.

Zhao Yuan felt greatly relieved. She sat up and sniffled. “Okay…”

But actually, was she really doing all this because of Auntie Zhang? What she truly cared about was her eldest brother and Zhao Yuning’s attitude.

After her mother was done consoling her, she looked out the window at the cold night and couldn’t help but to say, “I wonder how Mingxi is doing in school. She hasn’t been home in a while. I regretted it the moment I scolded her back then, but I had no means of backing down.”

The relieved expression on Zhao Yuan’s face instantly went hard.

The hand that she had placed underneath the blanket curled up into a tight fist silently.

“She will come home once she has thought things through.” Zhao Yuan could say a few consoling words while forcing out a smile.

Her mother nodded. “After she returns from the banquet, let’s buy her some of her favorite things.”

Zhao Yuan, “…”

As her mother was a little tired as well, she spoke no further and left the room.

For the whole night, Zhao Yuan found it hard to sleep. She was both anxious and agonized.

She didn’t know if it was just a mere misconception, but it felt as if ever since Mingxi left home, everything at home seemed to have changed, quietly and unnoticeably.

*

The next day, Zhao Yuan’s eyes were a little swollen. They were so prominent that even some powder could not cover them up.

During the Flag Raising Ceremony, Pu Shuang immediately noticed it and asked, “What happened to you? Did something happen at home last night? I’m sorry for misleading you yesterday. I didn’t know that your brother really went to look for Zhao Mingxi…”

After giving it some thought, Pu Shuang consoled her, “I think that the reason why everyone has their attention focused on Zhao Mingxi is because she left home.”

“I know.” Zhao Yuan turned, her eyes unconsciously locked on Zhao Mingxi who was standing not far away at the third row of the International Class. There were also many people like her who were secretly looking at Zhao Mingxi.

After Zhao Mingxi took off her mask, she was getting prettier and prettier with each passing day. In the morning mist, her complexion was milky white, her facial features delicate and beautiful, and as she stood in the crowd doing absolutely nothing, it was enough to make others turn into her background.

Furthermore, she didn’t bring many clothes with her when she left home, but for some reason she was constantly wearing well-tailored branded clothing lately, and it made her appear even more outstanding.

Zhao Yuan furrowed her brows. “But I can’t possibly follow in her footsteps and leave home as well.”

“What are you afraid of?” Pu Shuang whispered. “Our teacher said that our October monthly exam results will be released today! Zhao Mingxi’s results are definitely going to flop while your results have always been good.”

“When you show your results to your mother and eldest brother, they will definitely pay attention to you again.”

…

During the Flag Raising Ceremony, all the homeroom teachers from all three classes were not present. They were all rushing to arrange the rankings for the newly marked monthly exam results.

There was only the dean who was in charge of discipline.

Every class was separated into a square-shaped formation. As Mingxi was considered quite tall for a girl, she stood at the middle of the third row.

She was still thinking about last weekend’s monthly exam as well as the questions she asked Professor Gao yesterday.

Over at Professor Gao’s place, Mingxi felt a long-awaited, simple sense of happiness from studying.

Just like how she was back at the small Northern town, she didn’t need to think or care about anything. She only needed to focus on her studies.

The mere action of bringing the praise from her teachers back to her grandmother and Mr. and Mrs. Dong was enough to make her happy.

It was a shame that she could only go there once a week.

While Mingxi was absent-mindedly thinking of all these, suddenly, someone whistled loudly at her. The girl behind her carefully pulled her hand. Mingxi lowered her head and turned back. The girl stuffed a phone case in her hands.

Mingxi was confused. What is this?

Someone whistled.

She instinctively looked back and saw the tall Fu Yangxi standing at the last row. His red hair which was like a porcupine stood out among the morning mist and cold winds. His pale face still had a sheen over tiredness on it, but his face revealed a happy expression.

When he saw that he had attracted her attention, Fu Yangxi immediately raised his hand and pointed at the item she was holding in her hands.

He wanted her to look at her phone?

Mingxi looked closer and noticed that the phone cover of the phone in his hands was black in color, and it was the same design as the one that girl had just stuffed in her hands.

The only difference was that his black phone case had a simple design of a small sun.

As for her own white colored phone case, it bore the design of a small msk, outlined by black ink.

Mingxi: ???

Matching phone cases?

Mingxi was shocked.

But upon a closer look, she noticed that a dozen boys from the back row had all taken out their phones for her to see.

They were all the same kind of phone case, save for their difference in color. Orange, yellow, blue, green and purple, even the drawings at the back were different. Someone of them had a simple cartoon character design; some of them had a simple pile of sh*t.

The one who got a yellow phone cover with a simple design of pile of sh*t looked at Zhao Mingxi with a pained expression.

“…”

Only then did Mingxi’s pounding heart slow down a little.

What a surprise.

She thought that Fu Yangxi had given her a matching phone case. Turns out it was just a phone case specially made for the people in his weird gang.

How childish.

Although she felt that this gesture was both childish and arrogant, Mingxi still found a sense of belonging from this, as if a group of people had accepted her as one of their own.

Mingxi smiled and turned to look at Fu Yangxi. Then, she lowered her head, took out her phone and changed her phone case. After that, she raised her phone again, and without looking back, she waved it at Fu Yangxi.

Fu Yangxi’s ears immediately flushed red. He quickly turned and said to Ke Chengwen who was beside him, “I told you she’ll change it.”

Ke Chengwen secretly blocked him from the cold glare coming from their neighbouring competition class’ Shen Liyao. He was unsure of what to say. “Try to keep it low-profile, Xi ge. They’re all looking at you. If you wanted to buy a matching phone case, go ahead. Why did you have to force all of us to change one as well?”

“What matching phone case? Are you crazy? She’s the one who likes me. That kind of girly thing should be done by her.” Fu Yangxi was in denial. He glared at Ke Chengwen. “The one that I got is a gang phone case! Am I not allowed to have my own personal preference?”

Ke Chengwen instantly replied, “You’re allowed!”

Fu Yangxi said, “Leave.”

Once he was done talking, Fu Yangxi raised his head. He saw how the dean who was up front was staring at him, as if he was about to pull him out. Fu Yangxi raised his brows, and his lips formed the word “building” without a sound.

“…” The dean immediately made a turn and patrolled another area.

Ke Chengwen, “…”

Fu Yangxi, who had just changed a new phone case, was in a good mood. The way he walked was filled with arrogance. Although he had yet to complete his previous punishment of cleaning the toilets, after he returned to class, he took the initiative to throw away all the rubbish on their floor.

As they didn’t have a self-study period this morning, when Mingxi saw him leaving to throw the rubbish, her eyes gleamed and she hurried after him.

Due to Fu Yangxi’s long legs, it didn’t take him long before he reached the ground floor.

Mingxi jogged all the way. It took her quite the effort before she managed to catch up to him at the small alley located at the ground floor of their academic building.

When Fu Yangxi heard footsteps behind him, he turned around and saw her. “What are you doing here?”

“Let me help you!” Mingxi quickly reached out a hand and took away the trash bags which Fu Yangxi was holding in one hand.

Recently, the plants in her flower pot have stopped growing.

But it was mainly because she had given him desserts and helped him do his homework too many times, leading to a diminishing margin of zero.

Aside from that, she had accidentally hugged him and held his hands, so the luck brought by these two physical touches were all used up.

Mingxi couldn’t figure out what to do next.

She hadn’t tried throwing rubbish on his behalf, so she might as well give it a try.

Fu Yangxi held on to the trash can, unwilling to let go. However, when he saw how determined Mingxi was with her shining eyes, he could only unhand the trash can.

Only when Mingxi held it did she realize that it was quite heavy. She had to hold it with both hands. She quickly said, “Xi ge, you head on upstairs. Leave this to me.”

Sometimes Fu Yangxi would wonder if she was treating him a little too well. She was even willing to do such a small task like throwing away the trash on his behalf. Could this be what they call ‘mutual help in humble circumstances’?

He observed her quietly.

The October winds were cold. Mingxi stood before him with her head slightly raised. Fu Yangxi felt a sensation as if he had just eaten a strawberry flavored candy.

Fu Yangxi lowered his head. When he noticed that Zhao Mingxi’s shoelaces have come loose, he asked, “Is this how you normally tie your shoelaces?”

Mingxi looked down at her white sport shoes in confusion. “What is it?”

The method she used to tie her shoelaces was quite weird whereby she would merely tie two simple knots. While it wasn’t to the extent where it would easily come loose, it does look rather messy.

“Come here.” Fu Yangxi suddenly commanded.

Mingxi: ?

Fu Yangxi was getting impatient. He said coldly, “Take one step closer to me.”

“What for?” Mingxi asked in disdain. Nonetheless, she still held unto the bags and took a step towards him hesitantly.

Fu Yangxi abruptly bent down, his fingers touching her shoelaces. He pulled apart the laces on both her legs and tied two perfect and beautiful butterfly knots. “This is the right way to do it.”

In the small alley, Mingxi was standing still while Fu Yangxi was half-squatted before her. Both their shadows were pulled long due to the orange sunset.

Mingxi looked down at his head of red hair. Her fingers which were holding on to the trash can unknowingly clenched tight. She was nervous for some reason.

She felt that Fu Yangxi had been acting rather odd recently.

—He was being oddly good to her.

She averted her gaze to focus on the shoelaces which Fu Yangxi had tied for her.

Mingxi was stunned. All her life, including her last one, aside from her grandmother, Fu Yangxi was the only one who had tied her shoelaces for her.

Mingxi immediately retracted her foot in an unnatural manner, and proceeded to take one step back.

Fu Yangxi’s fingers were still on her shoes. So when she suddenly retracted her foot, his body instantly went stiff.

Once he realized what he had done, his heart started to pound loudly against his chest. With his red ears, he slowly stood up like a rigid rock.

He squinted at Zhao Mingxi, his eyes conveying a look of ‘have you been living under a rock, Little Mask?’. He crossed his arms and with an arrogant tone and said, “What are you so nervous about? We’re in the same class and you are my follower. It’s only right for us to help each other out— Unless you—”

Mingxi didn’ need to hear his next words to guess that he was about to say something illogical again. Unfortunately, her hands were busy with the trash cans, hence she could not use them to cover her ears.

“Shut up.” Mingxi really wanted to cover his head with the trash can. She made a move and went ahead without him.

Fu Yangxi swallowed hard before following her.

He couldn’t help but to smile.

When he observed her delicate and pretty silhouette, he suddenly felt the urge to say, ‘Let’s date.’

But before the words could leave his mouth, he swallowed them back.

Little Mask hasn’t even confessed yet. She might not be ready.

He shouldn’t rush things.

“Let’s throw it together.” Fu Yangxi caught up to her in just a few steps. He tucked one of his hands in his pocket and tried his best to stop the corners of his mouth from curling up. He reached out one hand and held up the other end of the trash can.

Mingxi wanted nothing but to carry the trash can and run at that moment. “No need. It’s fine. I can do this myself.”

Fu Yangxi said, “Don’t worry, I get it. Whenever a girl says ‘no’, she means ‘yes’. Whenever a girl says ‘it’s fine’, it means ‘something is wrong’.”

Mingxi: …

You don’t know anything!

Fu Yangxi paid no mind to her and continued to hold on to the trash can.

Mingxi couldn’t figure out why he would allow his other followers to help him throw away the trash, but when it came to her, he wouldn’t allow her to do things like throwing away the trash and cleaning the toilets.

Mingxi could only understand it as a little punk having his moment of chivalry.

Being able to throw half is better than not being able to throw anything at all.

“Fine.” Mingxi felt dejected. She had no choice but to hold on to the other side of the silver trash can and head towards the school’s trash site with Fu Yangxi.

*

After they were done throwing away the trash, as they were walking back to class with the empty trash can, Fu Yangxi was caught by the dean who had just come out from the academic building.

The dean wanted to talk to him about what he did this morning during the Flag Raising Ceremony.

Fu Yangxi pulled a long face. He had no choice but to give the trash can to Mingxi and ask her to go up on her own first.

Mingxi was glad that Fu Yangxi wasn’t around. She took the trash can and walked upstairs slowly. She counted the amount of tiny buds in her flower pot. As this was the first time she had helped Fu Yangxi throw rubbish, three little buds grew.

Up until now, there are 79 buds.

As Mingxi felt motivated once more, her whole body seems to have been refreshed. She smiled all the way back to the International Class.

In the end, before she could enter her class, as she was walking upstairs, she raised her head and saw Shen Liyao and the other five from the School Representative Team.

The students from the Gold Medal Class would normally use the left stairway of the academic building, but for some reason they left from the right stairway today.

When a group of them saw Zhao Mingxi, they all appeared awkward. They instinctively looked towards Shen Liyao.

The moment Shen Liyao saw the smile on Zhao Mingxi’s face, he felt as if the sight had pricked his eye. He couldn’t help but to clench the fingers in his pocket tightly.

He saw everything in the upstairs corridor.

He saw how Zhao Mingxi and Fu Yangxi went off to throw rubbish together. The two of them talking happily all the way.

Fu Yangxi even helped her tie her shoelaces.

Shen Liyao couldn’t help but to look down at Zhao Mingxi’s shoes. An emotion akin to anxiousness filled his heart.

He subconsciously took a step forward, but was held back by Ye Bai’s hand on his shoulder. Ye Bai whispered in his ear, “She might have done that on purpose. God Yao, control yourself.”

However this time, Shen Liyao directly slapped Ye Bai’s hand away.

His mind was like a tightrope, filled with only images of Zhao Mingxi and Fu Yangxi together. He couldn’t calm down nor could he control himself.

What in the world is she trying to do?

Even though he was not around, she would still talk with Fu Yangxi.

He even saw them holding hands before the exams.

Shen Liyao’s fists were tightly clenched in his pockets. He tried to maintain his composure as he stood in front of Zhao Mingxi. “I received some news today that the Dong family will be returning this Saturday. Did you know about this? If need be—”

There was a pause. Shen Liyao raised his gaze and with all his might, he tried to speak in an indifferent tone, “I can go and pick them up with you.”

Shen Liyao had met the Dong family two years ago. He also knew about the relationship between the Dong family, the Zhao family and Zhao Mingxi.

“What?” Mingxi was stunned for a moment. She belatedly realized that after the Dong family struck gold, they had most likely found themselves in the social circles of the Zhao and Shen families. Thus, it was not surprising for the news of them returning to their country to reach Shen Liyao’s ears.

She hurriedly shook her head. “It’s alright. There’s no need for you to do so. Thank you for your reminder, but I can pick them up on my own.”

Shen Liyao’s brows furrowed instantly. “Why?”

Mingxi answered, “What do you mean ‘why’? What if they mistake you as my boyfriend?”

“…”

Shen Liyao couldn’t understand what was going on with Zhao Mingxi lately, just as how he couldn’t understand why Zhao Mingxi didn’t want others to mistake him as—

The feeling of annoyance could not be dispersed from his heart. He was no longer able to control himself. “Isn’t that what you want?”

“…” Mingxi got it now. Shen Liyao thinks that she still likes him.

Although it wasn’t a good place to talk about this, since Shen Liyao was the one who initiated it, Mingxi decided to make everything clear once and for all.

Or else was she to spend more time asking him out to the nearby cafe?

After all, her pursuit of Shen Liyao was a really casual thing. He had never shown her any affection, so he probably didn’t think of it as anything significant.

“I don’t like you anymore.”

Mingxi looked at Shen Liyao with a serious expression. “I might have liked you because you helped me once. But since I was young back then, if I have offended you, please do not take my actions to heart.”

Mingxi could not get any clearer.

“…”

“…”

“…”

The stairway fell into a bout of silence, as if only the sound of the wind could be heard.

Ye Bai was so shocked that his jaw fell open.

Shen Liyao watched as Zhao Mingxi said the four words ‘don’t like you anymore’ in a clear tone. His stiff expression was akin to that of a plaster figure.

For a moment there, he felt a slight sense of pain in his heart.

When his other teammates from the School Representative Team looked at his expression, they didn’t dare to even take a deep breath.

Although Shen Liyao had been able to make a guess about this lately, he still refused to believe it. But who knew that before he could convince himself, she had actually said it herself.

Shen Liyao didn’t know if he was supposed to compliment Zhao Mingxi for being so certain or something. Based on his memories of her, whenever she wanted to do something or if she made any decision, she had never been sloppy about it.

She was so decisive that her previous pursuit seemed like a joke.

Shen Liyao initially thought that Zhao Mingxi’s absence from his sight would cause him to let out a huge sigh of relief as he no longer had to spend time dealing with her.

However at this moment, he didn’t feel released at all. Instead, what came to him was a surge of painful emotions.

Never was there a time when he had felt such clear feelings of losing something…

Shen Liyao pulled a long face as he stared at Zhao Mingxi.

Zhao Mingxi assumed that she had embarrassed him, so she could only continue awkwardly, “I think that’s it? Bye, I still have to get back to class.”

After she was done, Zhao Mingxi quickly left without even looking at the reactions of Shen Liyao and his teammates who were behind him.

…

They stared at Zhao Mingxi’s silhouette for a few seconds.

Ye Bai was still in disbelief. “Is she joking? She stopped liking you just like that. When has there ever been a person who would not be dramatic when they go from liking to not liking at all? She must still be trying to get a reaction out of you, right?”

Shen Liyao’s mind was in a buzz. He didn’t have the mood to think about what Ye Bai said.

How did things turn out to be like this?!

He even started to think back. On the day she suddenly decided to leave him, did he do something?

But there was none. Shen Liyao couldn’t think of anything. The day when she decided to give up on him out of nowhere was just another ordinary sunny day.

The more it was like this, the more it made Shen Liyao’s stomach queasy.

Ye Bai said, “But just now when Fu Yangxi was tying her shoelaces for her, she unconsciously took a step back— She doesn’t seem to have moved on from you yet?”

“Leave me be for a moment.” Shen Liyao shook off his hand and turned to walk downstairs.

“God Yao, we have to conduct an experiment later, and marks will be counted for it!” a guy from the School Representative Team hurriedly reminded.

Ye Bai quickly caught up to him and said, “Do you like her? You can’t possibly have fallen for her, right? If you don’t like Zhao Mingxi, then there is no point in you being bothered about what she said!”

Shen Liyao stopped walking. As if he had to force himself to say these words, he answered, “I don’t like her.”

Ye Bai said, “Exactly.”

Shen Liyao told himself, he didn’t like her. It didn’t matter. It’s fine. It’s nothing big.

So many people would stuff love letters on his table everyday. Her absence didn’t matter.

Although he admired her and that they could continue as friends— She just didn’t like him anymore.

But at this moment, Shen Liyao was still so lost that he couldn’t say anything else.

Everything was spiralling out of his control.

He didn’t have the mood to conduct some sh*tty experiment. He continued to walk downstairs and said coldly, “Don’t follow me.”

*

At the same time, in the office, a few teachers had formed a circle as they analyzed one exam paper in shock.

“The final question requires Linear Functional Analysis. This was a question which I had set in order to create a gap between their marks. This topic is beyond a high schooler’s syllabus. What was extremely relieving for me was that there were a total of seven people who managed to answer this with clear work, and there were even three among them who got the steps right. This shows that they have dabbled into many areas of study.”

Said the Gold Medal Class’ Mr. Jiang who was both their math teacher as well as their homeroom teacher.

“This is Shen Liyao’s paper. I’ve seen his handwriting for the past two to three years so I am sure that this belongs to him.” He waved the exam paper to his left, the happiness in his eyes apparent. Then, he waved the exam paper to his right. “This is our class’ Qiu Wei’s paper.”

When it comes to outstanding students, as teachers they were able to recognize their handwritings easily.

“Now the problem is, whose one is this?”

Mr. Jiang said, “I have never seen this student’s handwriting before!”

Although the exam papers have all been marked, they had yet to be unsealed so they couldn’t see their names. The three of them were extremely shocked and confused about this exam paper, so much so that they were discussing it over breakfast.

The Evergreen Class’ Mrs. Ye Bing squinted at the International Class’ Mr. Lu who was sitting at the corner. She gave him a mysterious smile. “It can’t possibly be from the International Class, right?”

“I say, Mr. Lu, if your class continues on with these results, you’re all about to get kicked out of this building! Although your class does not need to join competitions nor are they required to obtain good results, and they only need to develop in all areas— but we can’t have a huge gap between us, right? Wouldn’t you guys fall into the category of a Normal Class then?”

“Also, look at your results this month. It has already been reduced by half due to that boy from the Fu family. Will the other half be reduced this month due to the monthly exams?”

Mr. Lu bit into his pancake. Although his face was full of anger, he did not dare to say a word.

What sin did he commit that he had to be stuck with this group of students from the International Class? Their results were only so-so, but they were the best in creating trouble for him.

Although he felt uncomfortable about this, he still retained a smile as he replied Mrs. Ye Bing, “I think it should be someone from the Evergreen Class. You should compare their handwritings.”

Mr. Jiang agreed, “It has to be someone from the Evergreen Class.”

Although Ye Bing could not determine which student in her class did this exam paper belong to, she agreed that it had to be someone from her class.

The corners of her red lips curled up. She picked that exam paper up and said, “Let’s not make any more assumptions. Hurry up and bring the other exam papers here. We’ll arrange their rankings.”

After a while, the teachers in charge of other subjects brought over their exam papers. When they sent it over, they all said that there was one student with a handwriting that they were unfamiliar with who seemed to have gotten rather good results. Their marks were very high as well.

Only the biology teacher didn’t say anything about this.

This piqued the interest of the three homeroom teachers. Even the teachers of other subjects felt that there was an unfamiliar handwriting?

Because they were paying a lot more attention to this student who not only had unfamiliar handwriting, they also scored full marks for their maths paper, while they were separating the papers, they also paid more attention as to the identity of this student.

When the seal was opened, the three homeroom teachers surrounded the paper.

Although Mr. Lu felt that this as none of his business, he still went over in a sour mood. He pretended to be a mere extra and that he was not jealous at all.

In the end, when the name was revealed—

“…”

???

Mr. Lu couldn’t believe his eyes!

Meanwhile, Mrs. Ye Bing and Mr. Jiang were stunned. “T-This, who is this Zhao Mingxi?”

F*ck, when it comes to his students scoring full marks, these two draw up a blank as to the identity of his student. Mr. Lu yelled out angrily, “She’s from our class! The student who just transferred from the other block’s Normal Class!”

“What’s going on?!” Mr. Lu was stunned for a good five seconds before he quickly flipped through Zhao Mingxi’s other subject papers. After merely going through Chinese and English, his hands were already shaking. He felt as if he had just struck gold as he was both in disbelief and fear. He was afraid that in the next moment, her marks for her other subject papers would be average—

In the end, after reading through all her exam papers, aside from her Biology paper which she didn’t complete and had scored an average mark on, the scores for her other subjects were extremely high, the total of which added up to 700.

“What the hell? A transfer student from the Normal Class? 700 marks?” Ye Bing couldn’t control her emotions.”This time’s Maths paper was really hard! It’s as hard as last year’s Hundred School Tournament’s paper! Did you guys set easy papers for the other subjects?”

The other subject teachers all said, “No, we made it especially hard for our subjects as well.”

“Then what’s going on?” Ye Bing couldn’t believe it. She hurriedly turned back. “Quickly add the marks of the other students so that we can arrange their rankings.”

If someone who had just transferred from the Normal Class could get 700 marks, wouldn’t the other students from the Gold Medal Class and Evergreen Class be able to get scores of 700 and above then?

*

As it was merely a monthly exam, it was easy for the students in the Evergreen Class, hence no one paid any mind to it.

However, as this exam would determine who would be the host for the Annual School Celebration as well as being the first common exam taken by the new School Beauty as well as the previous School Beauty, everyone in the Evergreen Class couldn’t help but to pay attention to Zhao Mingxi’s results.

Previously, Zhao Yuan didn’t care about these exams as well. After all, her results were good, so if nothing went wrong, her ranking would be around 20. Although it couldn’t be compared with the more intelligent School Representative Team, it was still enough to annihilate around 99% of students in their area.

Nonetheless, as this month’s exam was joined by Zhao Mingxi, she felt a little nervous.

She had been waiting in her classroom ever since the end of breakfast. Although she appeared as if she was nonchalant while reading a book, her mind was focused on the door as she waited for their homeroom teacher to display their results on the screen.

Ye Bai and the rest from the School Representative Team were all quietly discussing what had happened to Zhao Mingxi as they had all witnessed Zhao Mingxi rejecting Shen Liyao this morning at the corridor.

Thus, they went from not caring about this monthly exam’s results — because no matter what they would always be the Top 6 — to paying a lot more attention to it.

As for Zhao Mingxi, she was obviously nervous about this.

She heard that they had yet to choose the team for this year’s Hundred School Tournament. Usually, only 20 will be selected. Therefore, if she manages to get into the Top 20, she would be able to join the Hundred School Tournament.

God knows how much she wanted to join that Tournament.

This time when she took the exam for the first few subjects, she could happily feel that her ‘debuff’ had all but disappeared. She didn’t know if it was because of the dozen buds which had just grown before the exams.

But when it came to Biology, the familiar feeling of being unable to write and almost blacking out appeared once more. Thus, she couldn’t do her best in the Biology paper.

I wonder how it’ll turn out in the end.

She kept on looking at the clock. She turned back and asked Ke Chengwen, “When will the homeroom teacher for the International Class usually come to announce the results?”

“Before the start of the first period, around 8.50 a.m..” Ke Chengwen was playing a game while sitting on a table, his legs swinging. “Are you nervous, Little Mask?”

After he finished speaking, Fu Yangxi rolled up a book and swatted him on the leg heavily. He then looked at him with a threatening glare.

Fu Yangxi didn’t allow anyone else to use this nickname.

Ke Chengwen quickly switched it up, “Zhao Mingxi, are you nervous?”

“Of course I am.” Mingxi confessed honestly. This was the fastest way for her to earn money. “I want to join the Tournament.”

She couldn’t earn a lot of money by merely taking exams for others or tutoring them.

But if she joins the Tournament and gets into the finals, she heard that the school will give them 50,000 yuan as a cash prize.

And if she wins the Tournament, not only the school, even the city will give her money! She would get extra marks as well! She wouldn’t be able to find better benefits anywhere else!

Of course, winning the Tournament was not something Mingxi dared to hope for.

“But your results—” Ke Chengwen gave her a one over before speaking in a hesitant manner, “Are so-so, right?”

“What are you talking about?” Fu Yangxi smacked him again.

Ke Chengwen’s legs were swollen. He didn’t dare to sit on the table anymore. He quickly crawled back to his seat.

The guy who previously had the gall to ask what Mingxi looked like under the mask asked in a small voice, “When it comes to exams, the more important part is the fact that she joined it. I’ll be thankful if she doesn’t pull down our average marks.”

He originally thought that his voice was small enough that no one could hear him in this noisy classroom. Unfortunately for him, Fu Yangxi immediately stood up with a fierce look. “Tao Han, come here for a moment.”

Ke Chengwen couldn’t help but to say, “…His name is Wang Han.”

F*ck.

That guy instantly hid underneath his desk.

The class was in an uproar.

Fu Yangxi was about to angrily drag Tao Han out from behind Mingxi. When Mingxi recalled how he had been summoned by the dean this morning, she quickly blocked him.

When Fu Yangxi saw that he couldn’t get out from behind Mingxi, he pulled open the window to his right and was about to jump out.

At this moment.

Their homeroom teacher Mr. Lu suddenly rushed in!

Everyone watched as Mr. Lu with his bright face and confident steps walked over to Zhao Mingxi. The way he looked at her was as if he was looking at his own biological daughter!

Then—!

He abruptly pulled her up and hugged her. Then, he mumbled, “Ah, I’ve finally made a comeback,” as he jumped a few times with Zhao Mingxi in his arms.

The dizzy Zhao Mingxi: …?

Fu Yangxi: !!!???

“Lu Zhangwei, what the f*ck do you think you’re doing?!” Fu Yangxi was exasperated. He quickly pulled Zhao Mingxi out of his arms.