Chapter 11

Although he had only been alone for a few days, Lin Jiu had already started to get used to it.

However, Tang Yue was a little uncomfortable.

It was on the third day that she discovered something was wrong with Lin Jiu and Zheng Ying.

In the past, she had seen them both go out together and return together, but now they were both going their separate ways.

The two of them didn't communicate much in the dormitory and seemed polite to each other, as if they had just met.

Finally, during a break, she, as the dormitory head, patted Lin Jiu who was sitting in the front seat.

She whispered, "Did you have a fight with Zheng Ying? Why are you alone now?"

Lin Jiu turned around and said, "No, I just want to go alone."

Looking at Lin Jiu's sincere expression, Tang Yue was still a little suspicious: "You really didn't quarrel?"

Lin Jiu looked into Tang Yue's eyes and said seriously, "We didn't quarrel. You see, we get along well in the dormitory."

She told the truth that she and Zheng Ying had not quarreled, they just returned to being ordinary classmates.

Tang Yue touched her chin, feeling something was wrong, but she couldn't refute Lin Jiu's words.

After all, she had seen many people quarrel, and after the quarrel, they were basically not in a good mood when they met. During this period, Lin Jiu and Zheng Ying did get along normally, but they were not as close as before.

"The monthly exam is the day after tomorrow. Are you ready?"

Seeing that Tang Yue wanted to ask more questions, Lin Jiu delivered a powerful blow, completely dispelling her desire to continue pestering.

Monthly exam.

That’s right, the monthly exam is coming soon.

Tang Yue got a headache just thinking about this. She had let herself go a while ago and hadn't memorized anything about history and politics.

She recalled the key points that the teacher had highlighted some time ago. Well... there is still a lot to remember.

She really doesn't have time to care about Lin Jiu and Zheng Ying's affairs. They are fine anyway, so why should she just sit here and worry about them?

She decided to take care of herself first.

Seeing Lin Jiu so relaxed, Tang Yue couldn't help but ask, "Why do you look so free? Have you finished reciting it? No way?"

"What do you mean I'm idle? I was just memorizing politics, and you interrupted my train of thought. Anyway, class is about to start, so I might as well chat with you for a while."

Hearing about politics, Tang Yue's nerves tensed up and she immediately waved her hand: "I don't want to chat with you anymore. I have to start working hard. Don't bother me!"

Lin Jiu came up to Tang Yue, opened his round eyes and smiled as he asked, "Are you really not going to talk anymore?"

Tang Yue had a bitter expression on her face: "No more chatting."

Lin Jiu pretended to be regretful and said: "Oh, I still want to talk to you..."

Seeing that Lin Jiu refused to look back, he looked like he wanted to continue chatting.

Tang Yue said nothing, but just went ahead and straightened Lin Jiu's body so that she was facing forward, ending the conversation.

The monthly exam lasts for three days and covers nine subjects.

Lin Jiu felt that compared to classes, the exams were the easiest because the rest time was so long during those three days.

Lin Jiu didn't want to push herself before the exam. For her, reviewing for thirty minutes before the exam would only make her more anxious.

During those days, she was only responsible for eating, taking exams, and sleeping, and didn't care about anything else.

No. 4 Middle School is very efficient. The test papers were corrected and the results came out the next day after the exam.

During the break, Yuan Hui posted the grades on the wall behind the front door, and a bunch of people gathered around to see their rankings.

Lin Jiu sat in his seat without moving, planning to wait until there were fewer people before going to see.

She felt that her grades were probably not very good, because there were indeed many questions in the exam that she was not familiar with.

Moreover, there are too many excellent people in the class and the competition is too fierce.

Suddenly, Lei Yi, who was checking his scores in the crowd, shouted towards the back row of seats, "Meng Qinyang, you got second place! That's awesome!"

"......." Hearing this, Meng Qinyang had no smile on his face and his expression was extremely ugly.

Just at this moment, someone in the crowd exclaimed loudly: "Ji Xin is amazing, 70 points ahead of the second place, he is simply not a human being!" Many people who came forward to watch also nodded in agreement.

Meng Qinyang felt even worse, feeling like a mere stepping stone to Ji Xin's aid, a thorn in his side. He fidgeted restlessly, making eight hundred small movements a minute.

Looking at Chen Miao who was reading elegantly next to him, Meng Qinyang seemed to have discovered a blind spot.

The first place is Ji Xin and the second place is myself.

What about Chen Miao?

Chen Miao has always been the child of other people's family in his mother's eyes.

Every time the results came out during the winter and summer vacations, his mother would look at his report card and criticize him from across the Atlantic Ocean.

He has always been among the top three in his age group, but his mother is not satisfied.

She felt that Guicheng was a small city and that you had to get first place in the exam to be considered qualified. In her eyes, only first place was worthy of praise.

Every year, she would use Chen Miao as a role model and scold him harshly, saying, "Look at Chen Miao. He always gets first place and is great at everything. What about you? When will you get first place too?"

When he was a child, after hearing the name Chen Miao so many times, Meng Qinyang really felt that his cousin was particularly annoying.

To the extent that, he, who originally liked to call Chen Miao "brother", ended up calling him by his name and felt annoyed just by looking at him.

Although he hated him, he had to admit that Chen Miao was really outstanding.

Every time he went to his aunt's house, Chen Miao was busy and had no time to play with him.

I have private tutoring in the morning, three hours in the afternoon to write exams and summaries, and two hours left, so I choose between a martial arts gym or a fencing gym. In the evenings, I practice piano and calligraphy, and if there's any time left, I read some more.

He also didn't understand why Chen Miao's days were so packed, considering that Chen Miao was only a few months older than him.

At that time, he even asked his aunt whether his uncle deliberately abused Chen Miao. It turned out... it was Chen Miao who arranged it himself.

Chen Miao came to Guicheng and was in the same class with him. He was worried that Chen Miao would put too much pressure on him and he would be scolded by his mother again.

So, what is happening now?

Looking at the person involved, Meng Qinyang couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with you?"

Chen Miao was still reading, not even looking at her. "What's going on?"

"Results." Meng Qinyang lowered his voice and said, "Haven't you always been number one? What happened this time?"

Chen Miao's expression remained unchanged as he replied casually, "I didn't get first place, that's it."

Meng Qinyang felt something was very wrong, especially since Chen Miao came to Guicheng.

After arriving in Guicheng, Chen Miao became incredibly relaxed. During class, he'd listen lazily. After class, he'd read or gaze out the window at the scenery. At night, he'd go home without doing any homework, occasionally practicing calligraphy. Most of the time, he'd read, use his computer, and then sleep.

This lazy him was very different from the one Meng Qinyang remembered.

Snatching Chen Miao's book, Meng Qinyang looked at him with a sharp gaze and asked, "Why don't you stay in Jinhai and come to Guicheng? Tell me, what are you doing in Guicheng?"

Even though his book was snatched away from him, Chen Miao didn't get angry. He just spread his hands, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and replied, "I came here to play."

Hearing this, Meng Qinyang unconsciously raised his voice and said, "What?! Are you kidding me?"

Although Chen Miao's behavior was a little abnormal, Meng Qinyang still couldn't believe that he was here to play.

Chen Miao opened his eyes, looked at the ceiling and said, "I'm not kidding."

Meng Qinyang was silent. Chen Miao would not lie to him for such a small matter. Perhaps the reason why he came to Guicheng was just that simple.

"...No wonder you read this kind of extracurricular books every day." Meng Qinyang muttered.

Closing the book in his hand, Meng Qinyang looked at the "Keynesian Economics" on the book and found that the book was no longer the same one he had seen before.

At the beginning, he saw Chen Miao reading this kind of book all day long, so he went over to read it.

All in English.

He lost interest instantly and looked disgusted.

However, at that time he had glanced at the cover and he remembered that the book was "GAME THEORY".

Meng Qinyang asked, "Why did you change it?"

Chen Miao took his book back from him, turned to the page he had read, folded a page, and replied, "I've finished the previous one."

Glancing at Ji Xin in the far right row, Meng Qinyang sighed softly, "Compared to Ji Xin, I'd rather you outrank me. After all, you're my brother."

"Oh." Chen Miao responded coldly, then he put the book back on the desk and looked out the window.

——

People came to see the results one after another, but Lin Jiu never found a chance to go and see them.

But she was not in a hurry.

When Yuan Hui posted the grades, it was already the break between the third classes.

She has plenty of time to watch at noon.

As soon as the get out of class was over, she quickly went to the cafeteria and ate her meal in ten minutes.

When I returned to the classroom, there was no one inside, it was empty.

Passing by her desk, she first put her lunch box on the desk, and then walked to the report card.

She was looking down from above, and her sight lingered on Ji Xin's group for a long time.

She had never imagined that there could be such a freak. His achievements were so incredible that they were jaw-dropping.

Ji Xin is an all-round athlete with no subject that holds him back.

Lin Jiu looked at his results, frowning the whole time, and his heart sank deeper the more he looked.

She felt that during high school, Ji Xin would be an insurmountable mountain and there was no hope of catching up.

Sighing deeply, she then looked at Meng Qinyang's grades. Compared to Ji Xin, his Chinese and English were a bit behind, but his other subjects were also very good.

However, with Ji Xin in front, Meng Qinyang's results are not so amazing.

Then, she saw many familiar names: Wang Jingyi, Zhuo Ling, Wen Min, Chen Miao...

When she saw Chen Miao, her gaze paused briefly for a few seconds. Although she only spoke once, it was impressive enough.

Then she looked at his grades. In terms of science alone, his grades were very good, but his grades in liberal arts were average, so his overall results were not that outstanding.

After skipping his name, Lin Jiu scanned a short string of names before seeing his own.

In an instant, she seemed to feel the blood in her body coagulate, her head lacked oxygen, and her brain went blank.

She clenched her fists tightly, and her hard nails pierced her palms, bringing a slight stinging pain, and her mind began to clear up.

39 people.

This is an extremely dismal ranking.

There are only 48 people in the class, and this result can be said to be the last in the class.

Lin Jiu felt like he was being slapped in the face by this result. An indescribable feeling suddenly surged in his heart, sour and astringent. It eroded his heart bit by bit, bringing waves of burning pain.

She had never had such grades before. When she was in junior high school, no matter how bad her grades were, she would never be at the bottom.

However, this was No. 4 Middle School. Those who could reach here had fought their way up from various regions, and she was just lucky enough to make it ashore.

Such results seem embarrassing, but they are real.

Even though she paid full attention in class every day during the past month at school, her level was still this high.

There is a gap between her and them, and this gap cannot be filled by her current efforts alone.

Suddenly, a faint voice came to my ears.

Someone is back.

And she was still looking at the rankings, even for a long time.

She realized that her eagerness to know her grades might be visible to everyone.

If her grades were good, it wouldn't be a big deal, but her grades were not good.

She suddenly felt a little embarrassed and didn't want to see anyone in the classroom. Her face was tense and she slowly walked out the front door.

When she reached the corridor, she straightened her back, looked straight ahead, and walked quickly, her steps a little unsteady.

When going downstairs, Lin Jiu suddenly saw Chen Miao and Meng Qinyang going upstairs from above.

She paused, lowered her head slightly, looked down at the stairs under her feet, and walked towards them.