SW - 33

After a brief moment of eye contact, the faint sound of voices drifted in from the corridor entrance.

Lu Chi hastily stood up, pulling his chin away from her hand and averting his gaze.

Tang Yin quickly followed suit, standing up. She glanced at his hand hanging by his side and swiftly grabbed it. “You’re so handsome, I really like you.”

Though she said this, she had anticipated that if she didn’t break through to his heart this time, their next encounter might feel like meeting a stranger.

Lu Chi pursed his lips and didn’t respond to her words.

Tang Yin was waiting for his next reaction when she suddenly felt her hand being held in the darkness. The next moment, Lu Chi pulled her forward.

He hadn’t resisted.

Tang Yin could barely contain her joy, almost wanting to jump up in excitement.

She understood how difficult it was to overcome such psychological barriers and had mentally prepared herself for the possibility that Lu Chi might distance himself. Yet, she hadn’t expected this outcome.

This meant that Lu Chi hadn’t rejected her.

Tang Yin sighed with relief. Though she appeared relaxed on the surface, she was well aware of the gravity of the situation.

An incident that had caused such severe consequences for Lu Chi—if she had said the wrong thing, the repercussions would have been unimaginable.

But now, everything was going well.

The corridor wasn’t long—within half a minute, they reached the end. Outside was bright, and some light spilled in, revealing students walking about.

As they approached the exit, Lu Chi withdrew his hand.

Tang Yin wasn’t surprised. She giggled mischievously, stepped out first, and waved at him. “See you this afternoon.”

The lively, radiant face of the young girl was vivid and animated.

Lu Chi watched her, his mind involuntarily recalling how she never seemed to feel inferior. She was always confident and bold.

And yet… this was something he had always lacked.

The mocking words from the past echoed in his ears again. His expression darkened, and a sudden heaviness pressed against his chest.

In a daze, those words resurfaced in his mind, dispelling all the shadows.

Lu Chi’s gaze lingered on Tang Yin’s figure as she disappeared into the dormitory building ahead. Slowly, the corners of his lips curved upward.

The mock exam started quickly, ended quickly, and the results came out just as fast.

All the teachers’ attention was focused on the mock exam results.

Though the mock exam wasn’t the actual college entrance exam, it was one of the closest simulations. All scores were ranked province-wide, making it the easiest way to gauge the school’s performance.

The school, naturally, considered all possibilities. On the report cards handed to each homeroom teacher, the students’ provincial rankings were included.

On the third floor of the high school department’s office, joy surged the moment the report cards arrived.

Homeroom teacher Mr. Wu of the experimental class was the first to receive the results. Seeing Lu Chi ranked first in the entire province nearly made him burst into laughter.

Mr. Wu was well aware of Lu Chi’s talent. Occasionally, he’d lose points due to minor mistakes, but more often than not, he scored full marks, especially in subjects other than Chinese.

This student was one he particularly liked. Gifted as he was, he never grew arrogant. Every time Mr. Wu saw him, Lu Chi was buried in books. He owned more reference materials than anyone else in the class and was thoroughly familiar with every type of question.

The teachers who taught Lu Chi couldn’t help but praise him repeatedly. With such talent and diligence, how could he not succeed?

The report cards were circulated among the teachers in the office. The subject-specific teachers received individual subject scores, and upon seeing the total scores, they were genuinely shocked.

“If this continues, next year’s top scorer is practically guaranteed.”

“Look at these scores! If I had achieved this back in my day, Tsinghua and Peking University would’ve been within reach!”

“Teacher Wu must treat us to dinner if he wins the bonus next year!”

Not only did the education department reward schools that produced top scorers, but the school also rewarded the classes that achieved such feats—and the bonuses weren’t small.

Teacher Wu chuckled, “Certainly, certainly.”

Lin Ru looked at the rankings on the report card and couldn’t help but feel a little worried.

During this period, Tang Yin’s performance in other subjects remained excellent, and her physics scores had stabilized. But Lin Ru feared that an unexpected slip-up in the mock exam could spell disaster.

Fortunately, the report cards didn’t take too long to arrive. By the afternoon, Lin Ru had them in hand.

When she saw Tang Yin ranked third in the entire province, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Upon checking her physics score, she found that Tang Yin had only lost two points.

In the past, she had lost at least seven or eight points—a significant improvement that didn’t drag her down.

During evening self-study, Lin Ru called Tang Yin out. “Tang Yin, your performance this time is excellent. Keep it up, and perhaps you can improve even further during the actual exam. There are still two more mock exams—you mustn’t slack off.”

Though this was her first batch of students, since the start of their senior year, the teachers in the office had repeatedly emphasized this point. When the report cards first arrived, even Teacher Wu had remarked on it.

Many students became complacent after performing well in the first mock exam, only to see their scores drop in the second. If they worked hard afterward, they might recover somewhat; otherwise, their fate in the college entrance exam was practically sealed.

Lin Ru didn’t want Tang Yin to fall into such a situation.

Tang Yin took the report card from her hands, her eyes first landing on her physics score. She frowned slightly—it was acceptable, but not as good as she had hoped.

Then she shifted her gaze to the provincial ranking. The number “3” stood out glaringly.

Suddenly, Tang Yin wasn’t happy anymore.

Lu Chi’s results had already spread—he was ranked first in the province, while she was third, with someone else in second place. This made her deeply unhappy.

“Teacher Lin, do you know how many points the second-place student got?”

Lin Ru was taken aback and repeated, “Second place?”

Tang Yin nodded. “The second-ranked student in the province.”

Lin Ru shook her head. “I don’t know that. I just received the report cards—I’ll go ask Teacher Wu. He probably knows.”

With that, she returned to the office.

Teacher Wu, with his connections and acquaintances among teachers, thought for a moment after hearing her question and provided an answer. “Second place? It seems to be a boy from the No. 1 High School of the neighboring city. I forget his name, but their school is quite good.”

Lin Ru relayed the answer to Tang Yin, intending to ask why she cared, but upon returning to the office, she realized she had been smoothly sidetracked by Tang Yin’s casual question.

Back in the classroom, Tang Yin rested her chin in her hand, lost in thought.

Su Kexi still didn’t know her own results. Seeing Tang Yin’s demeanor, she couldn’t help but guess what had happened. “What’s wrong? Look at this draft paper—it’s practically been poked through by you.”

“I’m ranked third provincially.”

“You’re still upset with such great results?” Su Kexi’s eyes widened. “Then I’d probably cry myself to sleep.”

“The second place is from the No. 1 High School of the neighboring city.”

Su Kexi asked, “Why are you asking about second place? It has nothing to do with you.”

Tang Yin tilted her head and replied matter-of-factly, “There’s a person between me and Lu Chi. Of course, I need to know the score difference.”

“…” Su Kexi couldn’t help but say, “You’re really jealous—controlling even this.”

After the evening self-study ended, Tang Yin ran into Lu Chi at the stairwell.

The two walked down the stairs side by side when Tang Yin suddenly spoke. “I’m only third.”

Lu Chi was confused by her abrupt statement and noticed her voice sounded a bit muffled. Unable to resist, he responded, “Very… very good.”

Under the dim glow of the motion-activated lights, Tang Yin gazed at him pensively. “You’re first, and there’s someone I don’t know in second.”

The implication was clear.

Lu Chi nearly stumbled. “… “

It had only been three days since the mock exam results were released, and after the test papers were reviewed, preparations for the Zero Class began.

The top thirty students from the third year of high school and the repeater class formed the Zero Class. The teachers assigned to teach them were the best in the school, both in terms of experience and teaching performance. The assigned homeroom teacher would only manage this one class.

Naturally, Tang Yin was among those selected for the Zero Class.

However, the reorganization of the Zero Class wouldn’t happen until after the holiday, giving everyone a bit of a buffer period.

What pleased Tang Yin most was that the Zero Class allowed students to choose their own seats.

The students admitted to the Zero Class were generally self-disciplined, so seat selection was left to their discretion. Initially, some teachers were dissatisfied with this rule, but when they saw no objections from the students, they let it go.

At home, things were relatively relaxed. After dinner, Tang Yin spent half the evening playing with her phone before opening WeChat.

She wondered what Lu Chi was doing.

She sent him a message.

Soon, a reply came back—a single question mark.

Typical of his few words, even his WeChat responses relied on symbols.

Tang Yin decided to cut straight to the point: “Are you going out tomorrow?”

LuChiChi: No.

TangYinYin: Let’s go out together—just the two of us.

LuChiChi: No.

Tang Yin wasn’t satisfied and unleashed her ultimate move: “I lost two points in physics! Those two points dropped me to third place—I need the tutoring of a top student!”

LuChiChi: …

TangYinYin: You promised to tutor me—you can’t back out now.

After a long while without a response, Tang Yin huffed twice, tossed her phone aside, and started munching on snacks.

The next moment, her phone buzzed.

She quickly picked it up—it was Lu Chi’s reply: “… Okay.”

His tone was clearly reluctant. Tang Yin smacked her lips.

A new message popped up: “Tomorrow afternoon at one o’clock, at the bookstore.”

“They didn’t even give me a chance to persuade him.” Tang Yin made a face at her phone.

She had planned to use buying study materials as an excuse to hang out with him, but Lu Chi likely saw right through it.

How boring.

Yet, she adored this uninteresting side of him.

It had snowed on Saturday, and though it stopped by Sunday, there was still plenty of snow on the roads, mostly swept to the sides.

As soon as Tang Yin arrived at the bookstore entrance, she spotted Lu Chi standing there.

He wore a long overcoat that reached his knees, tall and elegant, with a dark plaid scarf wrapped around his neck. From where she stood, his chin was hidden beneath the scarf, revealing only half of his exquisite face.

What surprised her even more was that Lu Chi wasn’t wearing glasses today.

Tang Yin’s heart skipped a beat, and she dashed over to him. “Bookworm!”

Lu Chi reflexively turned his head.

His unobstructed, narrow eyes shimmered softly, bright and clear, yet uniquely captivating in shape. The striking contrast was intensely stimulating.

Tang Yin couldn’t help but be mesmerized.

She loved seeing Lu Chi’s serious and clean demeanor the most.

Thinking this, she secretly leaned closer and whispered brazenly, “I missed you today.”

Lu Chi’s mouth opened slightly, his cheeks flushed red, and his eyes appeared even more beautiful. His heartbeat quickened, and his gaze wavered as he stammered, “A-apart from that… did you have nothing else to do?”

“Of course I did,” Tang Yin shrugged.

Suddenly, she tiptoed closer, stopping just millimeters from his lips. In a soft voice, she murmured, “Like… thinking about you again.”