A few days later, Hua Xu returned the necklace to Zhou Xiu.
As she looked into Zhou Xiu’s dark, calm eyes, Hua Xu turned her head away and, against her conscience, said, “I couldn’t find the person who gave it to you. You should just keep it, Xiu’er. If you don’t like it, you can always sell it. It’s just a gift, like the pen you gave.”
Zhou Xiu sighed and took the necklace back.
There was no way she could bring herself to sell it. It was her first real gift. Before this, no one had ever given her anything, and there might never be another gift as meaningful.
During physics class, the physics teacher surveyed the room.
Seeing a bunch of sleepy students, he concluded, “The finals are coming up, so it’s time to focus and prepare. Your class is always at the bottom, and it puts me in a difficult position.”
The teacher motioned for Zhou Xiu to follow him outside for a chat. With a tone of frustration, he asked, “Your math is so good—why are your physics scores so poor?”
“Out of a possible 110 points, you scored lower in physics than in biology, which is only out of 90 points. Students who are strong in math usually don’t struggle this much in physics.”
“If you could just score a bit higher in physics, Class 24 might be able to get another student into the top 100 in the grade.”
Zhou Xiu was silent for a moment before replying, “I understand, teacher.”
After reading the scholarship requirements, Zhou Xiu knew that if she didn’t want to drop out, she had to achieve excellent results in the finals.
And top ten wouldn’t be enough—she needed to rank in the top five to have a shot at earning enough for Yude High School’s tuition.
Ranking in the top five was still a daunting challenge for Zhou Xiu.
To that end, Zhou Xiu made a point of checking the honour roll from the midterm exams in the school’s information board. The top five in science were: Xie Cheng, Li Simiao, Xu Haobo, Zhang Qi, and Qi Yaguang. Without exception, each of them lost fewer than twenty points in total across all subjects. Some of their stronger subjects were even close to full marks.
The fifth-ranked Qi Yaguang excelled in English, scoring 149 on the last monthly exam. Her scores were consistently high across the board, particularly in math and physics.
In comparison, Zhou Xiu’s 80 points in English were embarrassing. If she scored another 80 in English this time, she wouldn’t even have a chance at the scholarship.
Zhou Xiu memorized the scores on the honour roll and slowly made her way back to the classroom.
She asked Hua Xu for advice on improving her English.
Hua Xu looked at her, confused. Her English scores usually hovered around 120 to 130, which was decent but not nearly enough to compete with the top students.
Hua Xu quickly shook her head, “Xiu’er, you’ve already made great progress. I can’t teach you much. My English isn’t the best in the class—the best is Xu Qing. He scores above 140 every time. You should ask him for help.”
Hua Xu gave Xu Qing a meaningful look.
Yu Qingyan, overhearing the conversation, couldn’t resist chiming in, “But Xi Shaoyuan has the best English—he almost always scores full marks.”
“His mother tongue must be English.”
Zhou Xiu ignored those two comments and asked Xu Qing about his English study methods.
Xu Qing lent Zhou Xiu his notes and patiently explained, “Your main weakness is a lack of foundation, but your memory is good. So, I recommend that you read a lot of English literature, watch movies, and memorize…”
“Luckily, oral exams aren’t part of the test. If they were, you’d have even more gaps to fill. But if you’re planning to study abroad, you should start working on your speaking skills now.”
The system chimed in, […]
[That’s even harsher than I would be.]
It pondered whether it should implement some incentive policies and then issued a task:
[Ding—Read an English book. If you can recall the core content, you will receive a reward of 300 RMB.]
[Watch an English movie. If you can recall the key dialogues, you will receive a reward of 200 RMB.]
Adding to the existing task of 10 RMB for memorizing a text, Zhou Xiu suddenly felt that studying English wasn’t so tedious after all.
Breaking down English study into these small goals and working on them every day would surely lead to progress over time.
The process of studying and memorizing could earn her money. Improving her English would lead to better overall scores, and with better scores, she could secure the scholarship for next year’s tuition.
Thinking this way filled Zhou Xiu with motivation.
…
Wednesday, competition class.
Mr. Wang handed out a particularly difficult test. Zhou Xiu racked her brains but couldn’t figure it out, even after spending a long time on it. It was after school, and Mr. Wang had deliberately left early, leaving this “century-old problem” behind, driving everyone nuts.
At this moment, Zhang Qi said, “I heard Xie Cheng solved it. I’m going to see how he did it.”
Zhou Xiu hesitated for a moment, then packed her bag and followed.
Xie Cheng seemed used to being surrounded after class.
Almost half the class was waiting for him to finish writing, with their eyes glued to his test paper. At this moment, surrounded by his classmates, Xie Cheng seemed like the moon among stars, shining with a brilliance that was hard to ignore.
After watching halfway through, Zhou Xiu understood how to continue.
After Xie Cheng finished writing one solution, he started on a second one. But his calculation speed wasn’t as fast as Zhou Xiu’s, and he paused for a while. Zhou Xiu called out a set of numbers:
“Square root of five, square root of two divided by three, square root of ten.”
Xie Cheng glanced at Zhou Xiu and, without hesitation, filled in the numbers she had called out. The subsequent calculations went smoothly, saving a lot of time.
After saying her piece, Zhou Xiu left the classroom. Right now, she needed to shift her focus from the Math Olympiad to the upcoming finals.
The finals were the most crucial thing.
Just then, Qi Yaguang, who was still lingering among the group, picked up a flyer from the ground. She looked at it in surprise and asked softly:
“Who dropped this?”
Because the back of the flyer had an application form, it was probably important.
This was the flyer Zhou Xiu had received from Miss Li, outlining the rules and regulations for applying for financial aid. It had fallen out when Zhou Xiu was crowded around, watching Xie Cheng’s solution.
Yude students weren’t known for being strapped for cash, especially not in the Winner class.
No one claimed the flyer, but it was as if a drop of water had fallen into hot oil, causing a sizzle of awkwardness.
A moment later, Xie Cheng finished writing and looked up, saying, “It’s mine.”
“Qi Yaguang, please hand it to me.”
Xie Cheng reached out, extending a pale hand toward Qi Yaguang.
Qi Yaguang eyed Xie Cheng sceptically. He was tall, elegant, and always carried a bit of the arrogance typical of top students. He didn’t speak much, but when he did, his words were usually as gentle as a spring breeze.
Could someone like him… really be a financial aid applicant?
Xie Cheng folded the application form neatly, tucked it into his textbook, and packed up his things before leaving the classroom.
Lu Lingshan held her forehead and said to Qi Yaguang, “Xie Cheng arrived at school today in a Phaeton.”
Author’s Note:
Regarding Xiu’er’s previous monthly exam scores, adjustments are as follows:
Chinese: 108
Math: 150
English: 80
Physics: 72
Chemistry: 76 Biology: 90
Leave a Reply