Qi Yaguang was surprised and looked at Lu Lingshan when she heard this.
She usually didn’t pay attention to which classmates in the class had better family backgrounds or what kind of car they drove to school.
“No wonder,” she thought, “I said Xie Shen—he doesn’t seem like someone who would care about such things.”
Qi Yaguang suddenly said, “That table is Zhou Xiu’s!”
At the time, she was closest to Xie Shen!
Qi Yaguang recalled a time when she had grabbed Zhou Xiu’s thermos, and the four characters on it should have been “Hope Project,” but the contradiction was that Zhou Xiu had been wearing a full set of designer clothes at the time, and she was assigned to Class 24. This was the most confusing part to Qi Yaguang.
Although the students in Class 24 were all lazy and always at the bottom in every exam, when it came to family background, they were the true second-generation rich.
So why was Zhou Xiu assigned to Class 24?
In fact, this was purely a mistake by Mrs. Xi. At the time, she wanted to place Zhou Xiu in the Winner Class, but the head teacher of Winner Class refused when he saw Zhou Xiu’s grades. As a result, Miss Li ended up being the one to take her in.
She figured it didn’t matter; there were so many underachievers in the class, adding one more wouldn’t make a difference. So, out of consideration for Mrs. Xi, she agreed.
Qi Yaguang said, “I never thought her clothes looked that expensive.”
Lu Lingshan smiled.
Not just expensive, Zhou Xiu lived in the Xi family’s house, and her clothing and expenses were all in line with Xi Shaoyuan’s standards, living more lavishly than many girls. If she hadn’t done some research, she wouldn’t have known that Zhou Xiu was actually just from the countryside.
At night.
Zhou Xiu came home and saw her parents lying on the bed tired, with her mother giving her father a back rub.
She carefully considered the head teacher’s advice: if she couldn’t get a scholarship, it would be safer to apply for financial aid.
After finishing her homework, Zhou Xiu was about to fill out her financial aid application when she realized it was missing.
Fortunately, she remembered what materials were needed for the application.
Over the weekend, she went to copy materials such as proof of her parents working in the city and income statements.
On Monday, she went back to Miss Li to get another application form. After receiving the form, Zhou Xiu filled it out immediately and attached the required documents.
This was noticed by Old Wang from the next door.
Old Wang silently looked away, remembering how he had given her a test paper last time, and she had forced him to take 100 yuan in return.
Teacher Wang often gave test papers to the top students in the class, but the papers were only a few dozen yuan, which meant very little to them but showed respect. The teachers didn’t mind, and neither did the students, so they wouldn’t specifically reimburse the teachers for the cost of the papers.
Old Wang couldn’t help but think of a saying: the poorer the child, the more ambitious they are.
…
In the Rocket Class.
Old Wang praised Xie Cheng’s homework and took some time to discuss his approach. He then criticized some students whose math had worsened, and Lu Lingshan’s name was among them.
Lu Lingshan had always been able to score over 120 in math tests, but after joining the math competition class, her math scores had actually declined.
This was unexpected.
Old Wang sternly warned, “Not every student has the talent of Xie Cheng. If you can’t achieve results in math competitions, the real way out for you is the math portion of the college entrance exam.”
The top students were used to being scolded by Old Wang and were immune to these kinds of remarks.
After class, Qi Yaguang sat next to Lu Lingshan and saw her sternly focusing on writing the test paper and homework as if she never got tired.
She comforted her, saying, “Don’t take Old Wang’s words to heart. Last time he even scolded me for not being as good as Zhou Xiu.”
“Li Simiao and Xu Haobo were also criticized severely by him. You just need to adjust to our class’s pace. It’ll get better with time…”
Xie Cheng sat not far from Lu Lingshan, and his break was interrupted.
He lazily opened his eyes and said, “Teacher Wang didn’t scold you. You’re really not as good as Zhou Xiu.”
Qi Yaguang, who was trying to comfort her friend with examples, was choked by the words of the person she admired.
After all, her math was at least in the top five of the grade, and math had always been her pride. Old Wang had criticized her for her poor calculations, which couldn’t compare to Zhou Xiu’s, but what was up with Xie Cheng?
Xie Cheng paused and suggested, “Lu Lingshan, maybe you should focus on the math part for the college entrance exam.”
Qi Yaguang turned her head and saw Lu Lingshan clenching her pen, her face turning pale as she bent over her desk and started crying delicately.
Qi Yaguang angrily said to Xie Cheng, “How am I not as good as Zhou Xiu? I’m in the top ten of the grade, and she’s outside the top hundred!”
Curious, surprised, and reproachful looks fell on Xie Cheng.
“Xie Shen, how could you say that?”
The class flower has been made to cry by you. Are students who work hard not allowed to be upset?
After crying, Lu Lingshan wiped away her tears and continued to work on the test papers, her focus and diligence leaving others far behind.
Qi Yaguang patted her best friend’s shoulder and comforted her, saying, “Don’t cry, hard work does pay off. Zhou Xiu also improved her grades through hard work.”
“Although she’s annoying, you can learn from her study methods.”
The smile on Lu Lingshan’s face had just begun to form but froze at the corner of her lips.
She still needed to learn from Zhou Xiu?
After school.
Lu Lingshan went to the office to help the head teacher sort through documents, application forms, and other miscellaneous tasks. At the end of the term, there were always a lot of such tasks, and the head teacher of the Rocket Class was also the grade leader.
She was sorting through various evaluation materials when suddenly she came across the materials Zhou Xiu had submitted.
A week later.
Miss Li called Zhou Xiu to the office and returned her materials. “Your family is not considered extremely poor. Also, you’re missing information about your hometown, so your application can’t be processed.”
Zhou Xiu was stunned for a moment, sighed, and took her things back.
The system slowly said: [Child, am I not enough for poverty alleviation?]
[Beep—The Galactic Interstellar Cold Door Support Foundation is here to serve you.]
Miss Li said, “If you can’t apply, then forget it. Go back and focus on studying for the exam. Try for a scholarship—”
She suddenly stopped speaking.
She remembered Zhou Xiu’s grades; winning a scholarship was still out of reach, and saying such words seemed like comforting a deaf person.
Zhou Xiu nodded.
System: [Child, we don’t want poverty subsidies, we want the scholarship!]
Zhou Xiu folded her application form. She shouldn’t have pinned her hopes on financial aid in the first place. Now that this path was completely blocked, her goal of earning a scholarship became clearer.
[Alright. Let’s go for the scholarship.]
After returning, Zhou Xiu packed her poverty materials into a plastic file folder. As motivation, she kept it close to remind herself to cherish her time.
She was determined to change her circumstances through her own strength.
She valued her time more than ever and even lost the motivation to write her winter break homework, which she had to indefinitely postpone before the final exam.
After Zhou Xiu went to the office, she came back looking like someone who had been studying intensely, sitting upright as if determined to learn.
In the past, during breaks, she would occasionally rest or take walks outside, but now all those activities were completely cancelled.
After lunch, everyone went to eat, but Zhou Xiu kept pushing herself to study.
Sophomore students weren’t forced to attend evening self-study, and especially for those who lived off-campus, they didn’t need to go. But Zhou Xiu surprisingly attended the evening self-study session, staying until 10 p.m. before leaving.
No one in Class 24 came to evening self-study. The entire classroom was empty, with only Zhou Xiu studying alone.
One day, after the boys in Class 24 finished playing basketball and left around 8 p.m., a few of them came back to the classroom to grab their bags.
To their surprise, the classroom lights were still on, and when they entered, they saw Zhou Xiu studying.
Du Feiyang was startled, and the basketball he was holding dropped with a thud.
“Xiu Xiu, why are you still here?”
Zhou Xiu ignored him, lost in her studies.
Tan Ming didn’t like to leave his belongings in the basketball team’s storage room because there were always many girls hanging around. In the teaching building, the students wouldn’t dare to be so bold.
So, he followed Du Feiyang back to the classroom to get his things.
When Du Feiyang saw Zhou Xiu studying so seriously, he was struck by her dedication. He stepped out into the corridor and called Hua Xu to tell her about it.
Hua Xu took a long time to respond, saying, “Why don’t we join the evening self-study tomorrow?”
“I can’t focus at home either.”
Hua Xu also felt the pressure of the final exams. Even though she had to face the tutor’s long face every day after school, she still wasn’t interested in studying. But sitting next to Zhou Xiu, watching her study and do homework so seriously, Hua Xu felt extremely motivated.
Du Feiyang hung up the phone and told Tan Ming, “I’m not going back. You go home yourself today.”
“I’ll stay and study with Xiu Xiu.”
Tan Ming, who had just taken a sip of water, slowly looked at him: “???”
“Du Feiyang, are you crazy?”
Tan Ming’s gaze shifted between the two of them. If there was no chemistry between them, Tan Ming might have thought Du Feiyang had a crush on Zhou Xiu.
Du Feiyang put down the basketball and opened his homework book. “Not crazy. Don’t you remember? I need to prove I’m not a piece of barbecue pork.”
“Xiu Xiu is right. You have to believe in the power of hard work.”
Tan Ming packed her bag quickly, “Suit yourself.”
Before Tan Ming left, Hua Xu hurriedly arrived with her backpack. Tan Ming was speechless: it was like both of them had caught Zhou Xiu’s “curse.”
The next day, everyone around Tan Ming was using Zhou Xiu’s review materials.
Du Feiyang even treated Zhou Xiu’s chemistry materials like treasures, reviewing them at least three times every day.
He couldn’t help but say, “Zhou Xiu only scored around 70 in physics and chemistry last month. Do you think this… is useful?”
Yuan Ruoyi raised her head in confusion: “These chemical formulas match the textbook, so they should be useful, right?”
If she memorized these, scoring 70 in the final exam would already be a huge leap.
Du Feiyang looked up and gave Tan Ming a surprised glance, “Really? You’ve never looked at Xiu Xiu’s materials?”
Yuan Ruoyi, who was clearly a pure academic underachiever, could be excused for not knowing how to judge the quality. But Tan Ming, with her above-average grades, should have been able to tell the difference after reviewing them.
Sigh—Du Feiyang sighed.
Hua Xu finished her milk and casually stuck a straw into Zhou Xiu’s milk.
She said calmly, “Even if Zhou Xiu’s physics and chemistry aren’t good, her math and biology must be good, right? I haven’t seen you look at those.”
“Tan Ming, you should take a look when you have the chance. Otherwise, you’ll drag the whole class down in the final exam. How regrettable would that be?”
The group of academic underachievers around Tan Ming nodded proudly.
It wasn’t that they were overly confident, they really thought they could do well in the final exams with the materials in hand, feeling like they had divine help.
**Nomad: Xie Shen it is an affectionate or sarcastic nickname for Xie Cheng. They swap Cheng with Shen which means “god” or “deity” probably out of respect for his abilities as a top student.**
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