It was clear from their conversation that Zhong Ziang and Yu Jiaze had old grievances.
As for what exactly those grievances were…
Zhong Ziang’s eyes darted around, looking conflicted. “Can we just not talk about it?”
Too embarrassing.
Jiang Fuyue nodded. “Okay.”
“Hehe… By the way, why are you at the back gate of the school at this hour?”
“Just passing by.”
“Oh…” Zhong Ziang responded.
At the intersection, the two parted ways. Before leaving, Zhong Ziang hesitated.
Jiang Fuyue raised an eyebrow. “Got something to say?”
“Well… If Yu Jiaze ever badmouths me, don’t believe him, okay? It’s all lies.”
“Alright.” She nodded.
“Huh?” Zhong Ziang was surprised. “You agreed so quickly?”
“Otherwise?” Jiang Fuyue shrugged. She spoke honestly, “Between you and Yu Jiaze, I have no reason to trust him over you.”
A warmth spread through Zhong Ziang’s heart. Suddenly, he felt like crying.
Back when that incident first happened, aside from Xie Yunzhao and his grandmother, everyone doubted him.
Even his own father, Zhong Yunyin.
Well, it made sense. In everyone’s eyes, he was just a spoiled rich kid, a playboy who threw his weight around.
What kind of reckless things hadn’t he done?
But this girl in front of him said she believed him.
Zhong Ziang rubbed his nose and declared loudly, “Don’t worry! This young master is absolutely worthy of your trust!”
…..
The enjoyable weekend passed in a flash.
On Monday, school resumed.
By the afternoon, the monthly exam results were released.
Before the scores were made public, the teachers gathered for an overall analysis.
In the Chinese Language Department—
“Who graded Jiang Fuyue’s essay?”
“I did. What’s wrong?”
“I thought we agreed not to give full marks so easily?”
“I didn’t give them lightly. I read it three times, carefully considered it, and then gave full marks. Any problem with that? Besides, it wasn’t just my decision—I showed it to Liu and Pang as well. They both agreed it deserved full marks.”
Teacher Liu and Teacher Pang nodded immediately. That was indeed the case.
The department head sighed. “A perfect score in composition means her entire test is full marks. But Chinese isn’t math or science—getting a full score… just feels odd.”
“It’s rare, yes, but she genuinely has that level of skill. We can’t just deduct points unfairly, can we? That would be overcorrecting.”
“I agree. If Jiang Fuyue has the ability, why shouldn’t she get full marks?”
“Ah… Well, nothing we can do now.”
In the Mathematics Department—
Xu Jing asked, “How many perfect scores?”
“Two—Jiang Fuyue and Ling Xuan.”
No one was surprised.
Xu Jing continued, “How many high scorers?”
“Seventy-five students.”
“That’s not bad.”
In the Science Department—
Since there were many teachers, the discussion was the loudest.
“What’s the percentage of students who got the last physics problem right?”
“According to statistics, less than one percent.”
The physics head sighed. “…Did anyone get all three sub-questions correct?”
“Yes. Jiang Fuyue got full marks in Science, so of course, she got them all right.”
“I meant anyone other than her!”
Everyone knew Jiang Fuyue couldn’t be counted in the regular statistics.
“Uh… No one else, I think.”
In the English Department—
“The essay written by Jiang Fuyue from Class 3 should be used as a model. Have all classes study it carefully! See how she combines eloquence with substance! Especially the way she fluently incorporates different types of subordinate clauses—everyone, pay attention!”
After half an hour of discussions, the analysis meeting ended amidst a buzz of chatter.
The freshly printed honor roll was promptly delivered.
The grade director instructed two interns, “Post it up. Students have been asking about it all morning.”
Once the math team wrapped up, Xu Jing returned to his desk, opened a fresh page in his notebook, and prepared to analyze the class’s performance.
Suddenly, several other class teachers gathered around, all smiling mischievously.
“Old Xu, your student Jiang Fuyue got another full score across all subjects. Impressive!”
“At this rate, she’s definitely securing the top spot in the national college entrance exam.”
“How do you usually teach her? Do you assign extra work or give her more challenging problems?”
Xu Jing immediately waved his hand humbly. “Let’s not talk about top scores. The final exam is still far away—too early to say!”
“As for her perfect scores… Honestly, has she ever scored less than full marks? She aced both the Physics Olympiad and the Informatics Competition. A monthly test like this is nothing.”
Xu Jing sighed in mild frustration. “You know, I actually worry that things are too smooth for her. A person who’s never failed in life is missing out on an important experience.”
Everyone: “……”
Ha. Classic humble bragging.
Still, they couldn’t help but envy him.
In their minds, they couldn’t help but imagine—what if Jiang Fuyue were their student?
Tsk tsk! They’d probably wake up laughing in their sleep.
But little did they know, the most infuriating part was still to come—
Xu Jing: “In response to Teacher Wang’s question, I need to clarify something—everyone in my class gets the same homework. There’s no special treatment.”
“But why does this not apply to Jiang Fuyue?” someone asked curiously.
Xu Jing sighed. “Because she basically never does the assigned homework.”
“……”
Xu Jing continued, “She prefers doing test papers. A simple one takes her ten minutes, a harder one maybe twenty or thirty. After finishing, she just tosses them aside.”
“?” The group stared at him. Are you the ‘Mother of Versailles’ or what?
Xu Jing looked innocent. Why were they all staring at him like that? Everything he said was true!
It was tough being honest these days—no one believed you anymore.
…
After the first class in the afternoon, the entire grade swarmed toward the honor roll.
Students rushed in from all directions, eager to see their rankings.
“Holy sh*t! Jiang Fuyue got a perfect score again—750! That’s too eye-catching.”
“Look at how neat her score is! And then look at mine—it’s like a dog chewed it up.”
“If you score all zeros next time and rank last, your scores will be neat too.”
“F*ck off!”
“Ling Xuan must be used to being second place by now, right? But honestly, being overshadowed by Sister Yue is kind of an honor.”
…
Wan Xiutong and Liu Bowen fought their way to the front. The first thing they saw was Jiang Fuyue’s name at the top.
Wan Xiutong jumped in excitement. “Jiang Jiang, you got a perfect score again!”
Liu Bowen grumbled, “Yeah, yeah… fine, she’s impressive…”
Jiang Han, Ge Meng, and Liu Sisi also arrived together.
“Move aside… Don’t push… Ouch! Who the h*ll stepped on my foot?!” Jiang Han yelled.
Silence fell for two seconds. Then—
The crowd continued pushing forward, squeezing even harder.
Jiang Han: “……”
Ever since she gave up her “big sister” status in the grade, her authority had declined day by day. Now, nobody was afraid of her anymore.
She felt… oddly powerless.
Ge Meng, who was small and energetic like a little cannonball, used to rush to the front. But now, she could only stay behind Jiang Han’s tall figure, looking timid.
Whimper… It’s hard being a little fluffball that can’t borrow a tiger’s might.
Liu Sisi sighed and simply raised a hand, effortlessly keeping a few rowdy boys from pushing forward.
Her slender arms, surprisingly strong, didn’t budge no matter how much the guys pushed.
The boys were dumbfounded. Wait… this is a girl?
D*mn! She’s way too strong!
Liu Sisi smoothly escorted Jiang Han and Ge Meng to the front.
Ge Meng’s eyes sparkled. “Sisi, I swear you’re getting more and more manly.”
Liu Sisi flexed her arm in response, showing off her muscles.
Ge Meng’s eyes shone even brighter.
Jiang Han: “……” Ugh!
Liu Sisi raised an eyebrow at her, as if questioning.
Jiang Han’s heart skipped a beat.
Fine, she admitted it—Liu Sisi was a little manly.
But only a little! No more than that!
Searching for Their Names, Jiang Han and Ge Meng started scanning the rankings from the bottom up.
Liu Sisi, uninterested in scores and rankings, didn’t bother looking.
Two minutes later—
Ge Meng: “Sister H-Han, why can’t I find my name?”
Jiang Han wiped some sweat off her forehead. “Me neither.”
“Did we miss it?”
“Maybe.”
“Should we start over?”
“Alright, let’s do it.”
They went back to the last page and searched again.
Another five minutes passed. This time, they were even more careful.
But—
“Still nothing!”
“Sigh…”
Just when they were about to give up—
Liu Sisi: “No need to look anymore. 125 and 144.”
“Huh?”
“If you don’t believe me, check for yourself.”
Five seconds later—
Ge Meng: “I-I’m ranked 125?! Oh my god, this feels like a dream. I never thought I’d ever break into the top 200!”
Jiang Han was frozen.
From dead last to 144th place… For a moment, she couldn’t believe it was real.
Maybe she was still dreaming?
Or had she entered some virtual world? A different dimension?
Until Ge Meng’s voice snapped her out of it—
“…Sister Han? Sister Han?!”
“Huh?”
“I’m so happy.” Ge Meng’s eyes were red.
Jiang Han felt the same way.
“So… we can be good students too.”
Liu Sisi watched them quietly. Then, she glanced at the bottom page of the honor roll and, unsurprisingly, found her own name.
She curled her lips into a small smile.
Everyone had their own path to take. The important thing was finding a way to live that suited them.
Though there was regret, she no longer felt inferior.
And that was good enough…
“Huh? Yu Jiaze and Yu Kaixin… Aren’t they the new transfer students in Class 3? I heard they’re siblings. But their scores…”
