After Xi Shaoyuan left, Zhou Xiu took the lunchbox to wash it.
Liu Mei asked nervously, “Xiu’er, has Young Master Xi left?”
She whispered, “Your dad needs to stay in the hospital for two weeks this time. We’re really lucky he helped cover the costs. The medical bills are over ten thousand yuan…”
Zhou Cheng added, “Xiu’er, take my bank card to the bank and withdraw the money to pay back the young master of the Xi family.”
Zhou Cheng thought of the six thousand yuan he won from the lottery earlier. Money that comes from luck like that always seems to find its way to other expenses.
The money in the bank card was Zhou Cheng’s hard-earned savings, and when Zhou Xiu held it, it felt heavy in her hands, making it difficult to find the right words.
At that moment, the system spoke up, guiding Zhou Xiu: [Tell them you bought health insurance for them. This time, 70% of the medical expenses can be reimbursed. The remaining three thousand or so, you can cover with the scholarship you’ll receive for the upcoming exams.]
Zhou Xiu frowned slightly, a look of doubt crossing her face.
She remembered that her parents didn’t have health insurance.
The system, as calm as ever, continued: [I’ll handle it now. But this time, the money will indeed be deducted. Don’t worry, the social insurance is real. After this, any medical expenses will be reimbursable.]
[Ding—System balance recalculated. 10,386.8 yuan successfully deducted and transferred to Xi Shaoyuan’s account.]
Back at home, the box where Zhou Xiu stored her money instantly lost a thick stack of cash.
Zhou Xiu felt warmth in her heart as she followed the system’s instructions and explained things to her parents.
Zhou Cheng and Liu Mei were overjoyed and didn’t doubt her, as their daughter had always been resourceful and responsible since she was a child.
“There’s really something this good? Xiu’er is doing so well, not only excelling in her exams but also earning a scholarship,” Zhou Cheng said, smiling so broadly that he couldn’t close his mouth.
He was filled with pride, even the pain in his leg seemed to lessen.
“Xiu’er is so thoughtful, getting us insurance,” Liu Mei added.
Zhou Xiu returned the bank card to her father. “You don’t need to touch the money in the card.”
But Zhou Cheng still handed the card back to his daughter, sternly saying, “Xiu’er, you earned the scholarship; use it to buy some notebooks or clothes. Your dad still has some money.”
Zhou Xiu didn’t argue and accepted the card, then left the hospital with the lunchbox.
…
On Monday, Xi Shaoyuan noticed that Zhou Xiu had indeed transferred the medical expenses to him via bank transfer. He raised an eyebrow, staring at the 10,386.8 yuan on his phone in silence.
This amount was just pocket change to him, not even worth mentioning. If it weren’t for the transfer notification, Xi Shaoyuan would have completely forgotten about it.
However, for Zhou Xiu, this sum of money was substantial. When the system deducted the amount, Zhou Xiu felt a twinge of pain. She looked at the now thin stack of cash in her money box, frowning slightly.
Zhou Cheng’s leg was indeed injured. Zhou Xiu felt uneasy about letting him continue working on construction sites. Moreover, in Zhou Xiu’s dream, Zhou Cheng had also suffered from a serious illness after breaking his leg.
Now, she was even more determined not to let him do heavy work anymore. This made the upcoming scholarship all the more important for Zhou Xiu.
For the poor, money always seems to fall short.
On Tuesday afternoon, during two consecutive self-study periods in Class 24, Mr. Wang knocked on the window beside Zhou Xiu, signalling her to open it.
He handed her a test paper with a smile and said, “Zhou Xiu, since your class has two consecutive self-study periods, take this test seriously.”
“Once you’ve finished, hand it in to me in the next classroom.”
Hua Xu, who was memorizing her lessons, saw Mr. Wang give Zhou Xiu a test paper, and didn’t know whether to feel sorry for her or to laugh.
The other slackers in the class looked on with a mix of envy and fear at this special treatment.
The teachers from the top classes were terrifying, always handing out test papers for their students to work on.
Zhou Xiu closed her chemistry textbook and began working on the test. During the self-study period, she nearly nodded off while writing.
Due to Zhou Cheng’s leg injury, both Liu Mei and Zhou Xiu had to take turns staying at the hospital overnight to care for him.
After finishing the test, Zhou Xiu reviewed it briefly. It was a weekly test paper from the Rocket and Winner classes. These two classes were the school’s guarantee for key admission rates, so they were closely monitored from the start of sophomore year, with weekly tests that were about as difficult as the final exams.
Zhou Xiu finished the test before the end of the period and handed it in to Mr. Wang.
Mr. Wang efficiently graded the tests from both classes during the third period and then distributed them.
When Zhou Xiu received her test, she glanced at her score—135 points. Although not a low score, it didn’t satisfy her. She had carelessly selected the wrong answer on a multiple-choice question, losing five points.
She carefully reviewed the answers and corrected her mistakes.
The next day, Mr. Wang reviewed the test in the Rocket class and took the opportunity to praise Lu Lingshan.
“Lu Lingshan performed well in this test. She acknowledged her shortcomings and made great strides.”
As usual, Xie Cheng ranked first with 145 points. Xu Haobo came in second with 143 points. But the third place was a surprise—Lu Lingshan.
Xie Cheng and Xu Haobo were consistently strong in math, so their scores didn’t cause much reaction. However, Lu Lingshan’s 140 points left the Rocket class students astonished. Within just half a month, she had sharpened her focus, constantly working on practice tests.
Although she had been criticized by Xie Cheng, she quickly caught up.
She was like another Zhou Xiu, proving that hard work really paid off and that diligent students were truly admirable.
Especially when someone as beautiful as Lu Lingshan also worked so hard—it was even more impressive.
Some students in the Rocket class secretly took pictures of Lu Lingshan’s test paper and posted them online, describing just how hardworking she had been over the past month. The underclassmen were deeply inspired by this motivation just before the final exams.
“Sister Lu truly deserves to be called a goddess.”
“Beautiful, smart, and virtuous—truly a model student.”
Some students in the Rocket class whispered, “Xie Cheng shouldn’t have said that about Lu Lingshan.”
“And comparing her to Zhou Xiu, that was too harsh.”
“Zhou Xiu only scored 135 points this time,” someone mentioned offhandedly.
Lu Lingshan smiled modestly and said, “Xie Cheng was right. He woke me up.”
“I’m grateful for his guidance.”
As she spoke, she glanced at Xie Cheng.
Xie Cheng, who had been napping on his desk, hadn’t heard a word of the conversation.
After class, Qi Yaguang carried her math workbook to the Winner class and passed by Class 24. She glanced at Zhou Xiu, who happened to be sitting by the window in the first row.
Through the corridor window, she saw Zhou Xiu resting her chin on her hand, studying. Qi Yaguang said, “I heard you only scored 135 points this time?”
“Zhou Xiu, have you gotten too arrogant after being praised by Mr. Wang so often? Let me tell you, don’t get complacent. I’m expecting you to do well in the finals. Even Lingshan scored 140 points this time, and everyone will be bringing their A-game for the finals. Our classmates won’t go easy on you.”
Hua Xu responded on behalf of her desk mate, “Just wait for the honour roll to come out. Why are you so concerned about Xiu’er?”
Hua Xu genuinely felt that Qi Yaguang had a strange obsession with Zhou Xiu.
Every time there was a math test, she always knew Zhou Xiu’s score. Even Hua Xu didn’t keep track of Zhou Xiu’s scores as meticulously, but she felt that Qi Yaguang probably remembered them better than anyone.
These top students were terrifying.
Bored, Hua Xu scrolled through Weibo and stumbled upon more comments from Lu Lingshan’s fans.
After Qi Yaguang left, she asked Zhou Xiu, “Is Lu Lingshan really that good at math? Why are they hyping her up so much?”
Zhou Xiu yawned tiredly and replied, “She’s decent, I suppose. I haven’t paid much attention.”
Hua Xu, seeing that the finals were approaching, noticed that Zhou Xiu had been napping a lot at her desk lately. She gently patted Zhou Xiu’s head.
“Don’t stay up so late at night. You’re more productive during the day.”
Zhou Xiu didn’t bother explaining her family situation to Hua Xu, who had misunderstood.
She nodded, “I know, I’ll take care of myself.”
There was only one more week until Zhou Cheng would be discharged. Although staying up late at the hospital made it hard to get a good night’s sleep, Zhou Xiu could catch up on rest during the day.
After reviewing her mistakes several times, Zhou Xiu sighed.
If she performed like this in the finals, there was no way she could secure the math scholarship.
Zhou Xiu knew her own abilities well. Xie Cheng was currently an insurmountable challenge, and Xu Haobo’s level was slightly higher than hers.
If the exam difficulty was moderate, especially with a slightly higher calculation load, the outcome could still vary.
Ideally, those two would take first and second place, and Zhou Xiu would come in third. That way, she could still win the scholarship.
But now, even Lu Lingshan had become a dark horse, joining the top ranks. The difficulty of this test was indeed high, slightly tougher than the monthly exams.
Scoring 140 points was impressive, making Zhou Xiu slightly surprised at Lingshan’s abilities.
The scholarship might not mean much to them, but it was of great significance to Zhou Xiu.
If Zhou Xiu made another mistake in the finals and missed out on the scholarship, she would be heartbroken.
Sitting next to her, Xu Qing remembered their agreement about the finals.
He noticed that Zhou Xiu had been yawning a lot in class lately, always looking sleepy, and he frowned.
…
After finishing her conversation with Zhou Xiu, Hua Xu continued to scroll through Weibo, growing increasingly irritated by what she saw.
During the last school sports meet, Zhou Xiu had won several first-place titles, beating out Lu Lingshan in multiple events. She also aced the math test, scoring full marks. As expected, Lingshan’s fans hadn’t hesitated to bring Zhou Xiu into their comments this time.
“The girl who supposedly excelled in math and sports—what’s her score now? It seems like she’s faded into obscurity with no follow-up.”
“She’s even more disgusting, trying to tarnish the goddess’ reputation.”
Hua Xu tracked down the source of the comments and demanded that the Rocket class students delete the original post.
She then took to her friend circle to vent her frustration: “Why can’t Lu Lingshan just shine on her own? Why does she always have to drag Xiu’er down?”
Zhang Qi explained in the comments, “You don’t know? Your class’s Zhou Xiu is one of Mr. Wang’s favorite. Lu Lingshan was criticized by him not long ago and was even subtly encouraged to drop out of the Math Olympiad class.”
Hua Xu: “…”
So Mr. Wang not only loved giving Zhou Xiu extra test papers but also managed to stir up a good amount of resentment against her.
Xu Qing commented, “What’s Zhou Xiu been up to lately? She seems exhausted during class.”
Hua Xu didn’t know either, so she replied in private, “Maybe she’s just really stressed about the exams, staying up late to study?”
Xu Qing shook his head, sensing that while Zhou Xiu was diligent and hardworking, she wasn’t the type to sacrifice sleep for grades. She wouldn’t stay up all night just to improve her scores.
But soon, Xu Qing figured out what was going on.
A few days later, while Xu Qing was heading home in his car and passing by the People’s Hospital, he happened to glance out the window and saw Zhou Xiu carrying a lunchbox into the hospital.
Xu Qing passed this route every day after school, but it was the first time he had seen Zhou Xiu here.
He got out of the car, intending to call out to Zhou Xiu and ask her what was going on.
But before he could catch up to her, she had disappeared. After a short while, he found out which ward Zhou Xiu had gone to.
In the hospital room, Zhou Xiu’s father, limping, was complaining, “I’m not crippled.”
“I’ve told you I can go home already. Having you and Xiu’er taking turns looking after me—it’s too much trouble! Xiu’er has her finals coming up, and I can’t even sleep properly knowing you’re staying up all night for me.”
Zhou Xiu replied with a smile, “But what if something happens to you in the middle of the night without us here? Want to stay for another month?”
“Just hang in there a little longer, Dad.”
Xu Qing raised an eyebrow, finally understanding the situation, and left the hospital.
That night, when Zhou Xiu took out her textbooks to start studying, she was surprised to learn that the hospital had increased its night shifts due to the increase in orthopaedic patients caused by slippery winter roads.
Her father’s ward now had a male nurse on night duty, who was especially attentive—helping Zhou Cheng to the bathroom, turning him over, changing his dressings, all with meticulous care.
The next night, Zhou Xiu was sent home by her father to get a good night’s sleep.
**Nomad: Who do you think is the male lead? Xu Qing or Xi Shaoyuan…. Vote down below!!!**
**Nomad: Hi everyone, many of you may have noticed that some novels haven’t been updated for a while. I struggled to regain access to my account after my site went down, which took some time to resolve. I’m also in the process of moving the website to a different hosting plan, which I’ve been handling manually in the background. This has taken up a lot of my time, but I’m almost done. You might notice the website going down for a few hours now and then while everything gets sorted. Sorry about that!**
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