Chapter 73 — None of My Business
Another round of exams had arrived, but Lin Yuejiu and Xu Nianshen remained completely calm, still preparing for the Saturday math finals.
Chen Qianxi passed by, carrying her books, and noticed another set of math competition problems on their desk. She flipped through them and felt a chill run down her spine. At the same time, she couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: no wonder they’re academic elites.
This time, Lin Rumeng was extremely focused on the exam. It would determine whether she could get a new violin, so she kept coming to Lin Yuejiu with questions more and more frequently before the test. The rest of the class went from shock to numbness, and the forum posts reflected the change: the headline had shifted from “Shocking! The Real and Fake Heiress Are Making Up” to “Looks Like the Real and Fake Heiress Have Kind of Reconciled.”
As for the discussion online, the two main characters weren’t even aware of it. Lin Yuejiu only thought that as long as Lin Rumeng didn’t cause trouble, she might help her; Lin Rumeng, meanwhile, only cared about scoring above 600 to get the violin she wanted—nothing else mattered.
After the exam, Lin Yuejiu immediately focused on the math finals. She had already discussed the schedule with Huang Weixue from the Music Association and had taken Saturday off. Huang Weixue told her to focus on the competition and promised a surprise on Sunday, though he didn’t reveal what it would be.
Ling Shule even came to Class One to cheer her on, urging her to aim for first place in the finals. Lin Yuejiu smiled and agreed.
That day in class, the homeroom teacher stood at the podium. “Exam results are out. Lin Yuejiu and Xu Nianshen tied for first place, with exactly the same score: 718.”
The class immediately burst into applause.
“True elites, unbelievable!”
“There’s nothing to say but admiration. They’re always top students, and their scores are often over 700. I could never dream of this!”
“Sigh… I guess this is what they mean by ‘you are influenced by the company you keep.’ When will I ever get a chance to sit next to one of those geniuses?”
“Lin Yuejiu’s score is the same as Xu Nianshen’s this time. Feels like she might actually surpass him soon.”
“If Lin Yuejiu overtakes Xu Nianshen, that would be huge! It’d make the school headlines for sure.”
“If that really happened, the forum’s headline would probably read: ‘Shocking! Former Top Student Falls Behind, Xu Nianshen Drops in Rank. Is This Human Nature Twisted or Morality Lost?’”
“Wow, you already know all the forum headlines.”
“Feels like another job opportunity just opened for me.”
Seeing her score tied with Xu Nianshen, Lin Yuejiu straightened her back proudly.
Xu Nianshen glanced at her from the corner of his eye, raising an eyebrow. “What’s up?”
Lin Yuejiu lifted her chin with a small triumphant look. “I tied with you this time.”
Xu Nianshen almost smiled. “And…?”
“Maybe next time I’ll surpass you!” Lin Yuejiu felt a thrill just thinking about it. Since she entered school, Xu Nianshen had always been first in the grade, never falling from that spot. Lin Yuejiu had mostly been second, rarely tied with him. The thought of a long-time runner-up finally matching the perennial top student was incredibly exciting.
Xu Nianshen smiled. “Keep trying.”
Lin Yuejiu huffed. “Xu Nianshen, don’t underestimate me. This is very possible.”
He laughed. “I’ll be waiting.”
In the back row, Chen Qianxi internally squealed. Wow, a new moment for this ship! Listen to him say “I’ll be waiting”—the tone is so indulgent, so gentle. That cold exterior? Only softened for Jiu Jiu! This is way too sweet.
Du Zhuo muttered: “And what about my table? No sugar for me?”
The homeroom teacher continued announcing the rankings. “Third place, Du Zhuo.”
Chen Qianxi froze mid-giddy-thought. Wait, whose name did the teacher just call? Du Zhuo? Who’s Du Zhuo? Oh right, that’s at my table. She got third place? That’s pretty good. Who got third last time? Ah… she remembered—it had been her. So this time, her tablemate had beaten her?
“……”
Du Zhuo beat her?
Chen Qianxi suddenly snapped awake, grabbed the score sheet that Du Zhuo had just received, and looked at it.
“Fourth place, Chen Qianxi.”
Chen Qianxi: “……”
So fourth place really was hers.
As she came down with the score sheet, Du Zhuo nudged her elbow. “Desk mate, you got fourth place!”
Chen Qianxi stared at him expressionlessly. “Fourth place… is that something to be happy about?”
Du Zhuo frowned. “Not something to be happy about?”
Chen Qianxi scoffed. “Haha, compared to last time, dropping in rank isn’t exactly a reason to celebrate.”
“What? You dropped?” Du Zhuo shouted.
Chen Qianxi internally wanted to smack this guy.
#Fists slowly clenching#
The homeroom teacher continued reading names. Lin Rumeng listened tensely, not hearing her name for a while. Finally, it came:
“Twenty-ninth place, Lin Rumeng.”
Lin Rumeng froze in shock. Twenty-ninth? How could it be? Last time she was twenty-eighth. She had dropped a rank.
She went up to get her score sheet and saw: 512. Last time it had been 548. A drop of 36 points. How could this happen?
A wave of confusion washed over her. She couldn’t clearly see what was in front of her. How could this happen? She had worked so hard, been so diligent, and yet her score was lower than last time.
Her eyes landed on Lin Yuejiu in the front row. Instinctively, she thought: maybe it’s because Yuejiu didn’t teach her all the knowledge points, so that’s why she scored lower. She looked at her math score—technically it had improved slightly, but not by much. So it must have been that Yuejiu hadn’t taught her everything.
Lin Rumeng immediately placed the blame outside herself, thinking it wasn’t her fault at all. In her mind, her effort was sufficient; maybe others’ standards were just too high.
But in reality, in this world, not all effort pays off. And fake effort never does.
On her way home from school, Lin Rumeng stopped Lin Yuejiu.
Yuejiu happened to be going to the bookstore to pick up some materials and had just finished buying them when Rumeng stopped her. Yuejiu paused. “What’s up?”
“Sister, how could you do this?”
“???? What did I do now?”
This girl was ready to cause trouble again.
“Sister, I got worse on the exam this time.”
“So?”
None of my business, Lin Yuejiu thought.
