From the school gate to the classroom, on that short walk to school, Lin An received a lot of attention, including envy and admiration.
Even Liu Ruyun, the school beauty whom everyone considered unattainable, actually took the initiative to greet him:
"Hello, Lin An, I'm Liu Ruyun. I sat next to you during the exam."
Being approached by such a goddess for the first time, Lin An was slightly shy: "Um, hello."
"This is for you." Liu Ruyun handed him a bottle of warm milk.
Lin An quickly waved his hand: "No, no, I'm so embarrassed, we just met."
"We've only just met, but I heard you got all the extra questions right. Can I ask you any math questions I might have in the future, Lin?"
"Of course, we're classmates."
"Then you can accept the milk; it's my little bribe." Liu Ruyun smoothed her bangs with her slender, fair fingers and gave a sweet smile.
"Oh well."
Looking at the milk in front of him, Lin An could clearly feel the change in his classmates' attitudes towards him. Perhaps they were terrified of Lin Zhe's poison, so he was very cautious and did not choose to drink it. Instead, he quietly threw it into the trash can.
During morning self-study, Teacher Li stood on the podium and rearranged the seats. She pointed to the fourth row near the window and said, "Lin An, you can move there."
The girl sitting next to him covered her mouth and chuckled, "The academic genius is my deskmate now."
Leng Lin, who was in the front row, was secretly delighted that the two of them had become desk mates.
Lin An silently packed his things and moved in.
"Lin An, come out for a moment." Teacher Li gestured for him to talk in the corridor.
"Lin An, the head of the teaching department checked the surveillance footage yesterday regarding the tampering with your exam desk, but unfortunately the footage was broken the day before the exam."
"But don't worry, the school will definitely be stricter next time, and this will never happen again. Just focus on your studies and prepare well for the competition."
"Okay, Teacher Li."
Lin An had long expected this outcome. Lin Zhe had a monthly allowance of 30,000 to 50,000 yuan, so bribing a security guard to destroy a surveillance video would be easy.
During break, various classmates gathered around Lin An's desk. Some asked him questions, some asked him about study methods, and some girls gave him snacks. Leng Lin couldn't even squeeze in to talk to him.
During the afternoon self-study period, Lin An asked the teacher for leave and hid in the library. He was not used to being the center of attention, and having lived two lives, he was not very interested in the kind of admiration that middle school students showed him.
The library of No. 12 Middle School has two floors and ranks first in the number of books among Haishi Middle Schools. This is mainly due to Principal Chen's annual book donation event, which calls on the community to donate books to help students. The books donated by people from all walks of life are diverse and of varying quality, but the quantity is large.
Lin An was already a top student, and with his photographic memory, learning was now a breeze for him. With his current knowledge, he was absolutely confident that he would get into Tsinghua or Peking University.
He had long since moved beyond high school knowledge. He first found a book on linear algebra and, within an hour, felt that he had fully grasped its essence. He then continued to explore other books that interested him.
The bookshelves on the inside were filled with popular science books, and two cardboard boxes piled up next to the bookshelves caught Lin An's attention.
A passing librarian saw someone rummaging through the books in the box and pointed it out:
"Student, these are all discarded books collected by the donation office. Some of them don't even have publication numbers and don't meet the library's admission standards. If you want to find a book, you'd better look on the shelves."
"Thank you. I find this book quite interesting. May I take it home and read it?"
"Sure, take it if you like. It was going to be disposed of anyway."
Lin An held a yellowed old book in his hand, the cover of which read "A Collection of Life Skills".
"This name is interesting. I wonder what skills it contains." Lin An opened the book and looked back.
The first section is titled "Life-Saving Skills," which describes various difficult and complicated diseases and their treatments.
Lin An frowned slightly. He had read several books on traditional Chinese medicine and was familiar with some of its theories, but the content recorded in this book was clearly far superior to the mainstream treatments in the medical field today, and some of the techniques were simply unheard of.
Even at the end of this chapter, there are descriptions of curses and talismans. Lin An became interested and kept flipping through the pages. Other chapters of this book include a series of strange and wonderful skills such as feng shui divination, antique appraisal, character analysis, wilderness survival, and raising spirit beasts.
Lin An read it for a long time and finished the whole book in one go. These strange pieces of knowledge were imprinted in his mind, and his heart was like boiling water.
This is truly an unparalleled treasure!
Lin An flipped through the back of the book, trying to find out which publisher produced this good book, only to find that the entire book had only a title, with no author information or publication information.
With school about to end, Lin An carefully stuffed the books into his schoolbag.
The phone screen inside my bag lit up at just the right moment. I opened WeChat and saw it was from Leng Lin:
"Lin An, where are you? The exam results are out, and you're still number one."
Lin An remained calm as he walked out of the library. He saw that the bulletin board in front of the teaching building was surrounded by students, and he immediately spotted Lin Zhe leaning on the bulletin board.
Lin Zhe carefully examined the list. His name wasn't on the first page, nor on the second. It wasn't until the very end of the fourth page that he found Lin Zhe ranked 276th, with 185 points in the combined science section and 42 points in mathematics. He felt like the sky had fallen: "Impossible, impossible."
Lin Xi, standing beside him, supported Lin Zhe, who was about to collapse.
"Little brother, why don't you go ask the teacher if there's a problem with the grading?"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Lin Zhe walked out of the crowd, sobbing, "What am I going to do? How am I going to tell my family?"
Lin Zhe had been copying so much that he had forgotten how terrible his actual skill level was.
Lin An, who topped the list, scored 300 in science, 150 in mathematics, 147 in English, and 135 in Chinese. Such results are unprecedented in the history of No. 12 Middle School.
The cheers from the crowd grew louder and louder, and the rumors about Lin An cheating on the exam were completely disproven.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to him, Lin An bypassed the crowd and slipped out of the school gate.
The electronic version of the exam results has already been circulated in the parents' committee group. Inside the Lin family villa, Zhang Wanru was filled with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow: "Lin An, you're really promising. But what happened to Xiao Zhe this time?"
"How is this possible?" Lin Xia exclaimed.
"This is too abnormal. Xiao Zhe must have been frightened by Lin An's attitude that morning. He is such a soft-hearted person. Being rejected by his brother must have made him feel bad all day, which is why he behaved so abnormally."
Lin Rou spoke excitedly, eager to find a reason for her good brother.
Lin Wan listened to her sister's words and felt they made no sense; every sentence seemed to favor Lin Zhe, even though Lin An was clearly the one related to them by blood.
"Don't always look at people with prejudice. I heard that the exam venue was changed this time, so Lin An's score is real."
"If Xiao Zhe is so upset about being refused breakfast that he can't even answer the test questions, then he's too fragile."
Lin Xia sensed the doubt in her older sister's words about Lin Zhe's strength: "Big sister, why are you talking like that? Whose side are you on?"
"I'm just stating the facts. They're all younger brothers, so you should be fair."
Lin Rou retorted excitedly, "Lin Ancai is not my brother. How could such a vulgar person be worthy of being my brother?"
As soon as Lin Haoran entered the house, he heard his sisters arguing: "What's all the arguing about?"
Lin Rou said coquettishly, "Dad, Xiao Zhe didn't do well on the exam, and my older sister isn't understanding towards him."
"Alright, alright, it's no big deal. The Zhou family is hosting Mr. Zhou's birthday banquet this weekend. Wanwan, be sure to choose a decent gift to bring."
Lin Rou's eyes lit up: "Dad, Zhou Chen will definitely go, right?"
"Of course, he is the eldest son of the Zhou family. I heard he specially came back from Europe."
"Dad, can you take me with you too?" Lin Rou asked, clinging to Lin Haoran's arm.
Lin Rou is 26 years old this year. She was a campus beauty when she was in school. She has dated several rich second-generation men, but she was dumped by them all because of her bad temper and excessive spending. Now that she is not young anymore, she is eager to marry into a wealthy family.
Zhang Wanru chimed in, "Take her with you. There must be many eligible young men from wealthy families at the Zhou family banquet. She might meet someone suitable. It would be good for the family if our daughter marries well."
Lin Haoran was actually pinning his hopes on Lin Wan. She was a master's graduate from a prestigious university and had strong work abilities. If she could marry Zhou Chen, the Lin family would definitely rise to prominence. However, having two daughters would increase the chances of success and would be beneficial to him.
"Alright, you're coming with me too."
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