[Reward 1000 RMB for achieving top 10% in each subject in final exams.]
[Reward 500 RMB for achieving top 5% in class in monthly exams.]
[Reward 500 RMB for learning 5000 English words; 10 RMB for memorizing each English text.]
[Reward 500 RMB for mastering all required Chinese texts in the standard high school curriculum.]
[Reward 500 RMB for mastering the ability to solve math problems from the standard high school math curriculum.]
[Reward 500 RMB for mastering all required chemistry formulas and principles in the standard high school chemistry curriculum.]
[…]
[Random rewards for various competitions.]
[Random rewards triggered in daily life.]
The sound of notifications kept ringing.
The system threw out numerous rewards, expecting to see Zhou Xiu frown under the pressure. Instead, she pursed her lips, eyes shining with satisfaction.
She buried her head and began scribbling her schedule, listing tasks she could accomplish, and setting a new study plan.
System: […..]
……
On Monday, a photo quietly went viral on Weibo. The caption read: [Oh no, it feels like love.]
The photo was taken secretly but with high quality. It showed a boy in a sports shirt sitting on stairs, sweating profusely, pouring mineral water over his head.
His hands holding the water bottle were particularly long and slender, with well-defined knuckles. The 500ml water bottle looked as delicate as a perfume bottle in his hands.
Under the winter sunlight, the boy’s side profile was handsome and clean, his gaze as pure as mineral water.
A tear mole at the corner of his eyebrow shone brightly.
[Ahhhhh, awsl! What kind of hands are these, hand fetishists are crying!]
[His looks are at least a 9, he’s stunning even without makeup!!!!!]
[Is this a new ad for Wahaha?]
[Oh no, I feel my heart flutter.]
[Is this a trainee? He looks unfamiliar, probably a pure amateur.]
[Someone please tell me his name.]
[I know the answer, I raise my hand! He’s not a trainee or a celebrity. The background of the picture is the teaching building of Fourth Middle School in Province C. This handsome guy is from Fourth Middle School! He should be the school heartthrob!]
This Weibo post quietly gained a “new” tag on the hot search, with tens of thousands of likes.
Yude Middle School students, upon seeing this Weibo post, silently forwarded it to the person in question.
“Yuan Shao, is this you?”
In the early morning, Xi Shaoyuan, still drowsy and lying on his desk, opened his sleepy eyes and clicked on the post. “Beautiful, my ass.”
He efficiently filed a report.
Xi Shaoyuan grumbled, “I’m clearly 188 cm tall, broad-shouldered and mighty.”
After two periods, Xu Qing walked past the window and reminded Xi Shaoyuan, “Shaoyuan, remember to check Weibo.”
Xi Shaoyuan opened Weibo, and his sleepiness vanished instantly.
In the neighbouring Class 25.
Du Feiyang excitedly told Tan Ming, “Yesterday, your goddess seemed to have confessed to Brother Yuan.”
“Can you stop talking? Yesterday, I saw Xu-jie seemed to go on a date.”
Tan Ming, immersed in the pain of unrequited love, retaliated against Du Feiyang with a deadly blow.
Tan Ming’s goddess was Lu Lingshan, while Du Feiyang secretly liked Hua Xu.
Du Feiyang, feeling attacked, clutched his chest in disappointment and sulkily returned to his seat.
Lately, Xu-jie had become more gentle, showing signs of being in love.
Du Feiyang pulled himself together and tried to chat with Xu Qing, “Math Rep, what did you mean by what you said to Brother Yuan?”
Xu Qing avoided the question and closed his eyes to rest.
The dejected Tan Ming opened Weibo, glanced at the trending topics, and aimlessly clicked around.
He stumbled upon a lower-ranking trending topic and clicked on it, only to find a glaring photo of his rival, Xi Shaoyuan.
In that moment, it felt as if the line between the two dimensions had been blurred.
The trending topic was titled “Oh no, it feels like love.”
What a trashy title, Tan Ming couldn’t help but scoff.
He exited the page, clicked it again, exited, and clicked it again in stubborn disbelief.
Why could someone get so famous just by showing their hands? Tan Ming was utterly deflated.
After a while, the trending topic suddenly disappeared.
Like an inconspicuous wave quickly swallowed by the sea.
This small event, however, sparked heated discussions at Yude Middle School.
“Did you know Brother Yuan was trending this morning because of his looks?”
“I had no idea. Wow, is my Brother Yuan that incredible? Should I start selling his photos?”
“Honestly, if my Brother Yuan wasn’t so terrifyingly fierce, he’d have been swarmed by now,” said a girl from Class 25.
During lunchtime, Lu Lingshan, the class belle of the Rocket Class, pushed a homemade lunch box in front of Xi Shaoyuan and clingingly sat beside him, trying to feed him several times.
Clearly, she had also heard about the trending topic, which made her pursue Xi Shaoyuan even more fervently.
The cafeteria buzzed with lively discussions.
At the same time, Hua Xu and her three friends were having lunch.
Hua Xu, surrounded by gossip, irritably said, “So annoying, everyone knows about their dating life now. What’s so great about getting Xi Shaoyuan?”
“Yu Qingyan, please stop mentioning Lu Lingshan. I don’t want to hear her name anymore. She can chase whoever she wants, it’s none of my business.”
“Look at Xiuxiu. Xiuxiu never gossips about these things. Wait, Xiuxiu, what are you doing?”
Hua Xu looked at Zhou Xiu, who remained calm and seemed detached from the world. Zhou Xiu was slightly bowed, mumbling to herself, completely undisturbed by the outside noise.
Hua Xu leaned in to listen to what Zhou Xiu was saying and caught the words:
“Unspoken sorrows and hidden resentments arise, at this moment, silence speaks louder than words… The silver vase suddenly breaks and water bursts forth, iron steeds clash and swords ring out.”
Hua Xu was startled, looking at Zhou Xiu as if she were an alien.
Wait, wasn’t she only betting on math with Mr. Huang?
Why was she memorizing Chinese literature?
Why was she reciting Chinese in the cafeteria?
“If you’re so busy, you can go ahead. Don’t wait for us,” Hua Xu said.
Having finished her lunch, Zhou Xiu nodded at Hua Xu’s suggestion, took her lunchbox, and went to the sink to wash it.
The trio, abruptly abandoned: “…”
When Zhou Xiu returned to the cafeteria after washing her lunchbox, she glanced at the centre of attention nearby.
Xi Shaoyuan hadn’t eaten dinner yet and was talking on the phone, with a girl in a school uniform sitting beside him.
The girl had very fair skin, a slender figure, and a sweet, coquettish demeanour that was charming even to Zhou Xiu as a fellow woman.
She tried to get close to Xi Shaoyuan and kissed him on the cheek, only to be unceremoniously pushed aside by him.
Zhou Xiu recalled that Xi Shaoyuan had told her to stay away from him if they met at school.
Pretending not to see, Zhou Xiu walked around them.
……
After school in the afternoon, Zhou Xiu went to the track to exercise.
She ran laps while reciting her lessons. After half an hour, she had memorized an English text.
[Ding—10 RMB reward for memorizing an English text.]
Halfway through her run, Zhou Xiu encountered Xu Qing.
Xu Qing slowed his pace to match hers, his scholarly nature prompting him to correct her pronunciation of a few words.
“Your /p/ /t/ /k/ /s/ /t/ /f/ /o/ sounds aren’t quite right. Repeat after me.”
Xu Qing’s pronunciation was perfect, with an authentic Oxford accent.
Zhou Xiu, her tongue thick, repeated the sounds several times after him.
Xu Qing suggested, “Listen to recordings more often. Next time you run, wear headphones and listen. It’s very effective.”
Zhou Xiu had long wanted to buy a phone but was short on money.
She nodded, genuinely grateful, “I will. Thank you.”
Xu Qing nodded slightly, quickened his pace, and gradually distanced himself from Zhou Xiu.
Back at the Xi family home, Zhou Xiu put the scarf in her backpack and went out to sell it second-hand.
She had learned from classmates that with the original receipt, she could sell it quickly at a good price.
Zhou Xiu went to a second-hand market and received 3,600 yuan for the scarf. She then went to a mall and picked out a phone and headphones for herself.
With her new phone, Zhou Xiu eagerly started listening to English audio.
Before long, Zhou Xiu heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.
“Brother Yuan, you must not have had dinner yet?”
Lu Lingshan’s voice came through.
The voice quickly approached Zhou Xiu’s door, “Is someone staying in your guest room?”
Zhou Xiu had forgotten to lock the door, and she frowned in annoyance.
Lu Lingshan came from a wealthy family, as did Xi Shaoyuan. They were a golden couple, blessed by many in Zhou Xiu’s dream. Only “Zhou Xiu’s” pursuit of Xi Shaoyuan was seen as unattractive and troublesome.
Zhou Xiu had already started a new chapter in her life and had no desire to get involved in their relationship.
With a click, the door was opened.
Lu Lingshan walked into the Xi family’s guest room and found it clean, with only a few textbooks on the table, showing no signs of occupancy.
Xi Shaoyuan, seeing Lu Lingshan enter Zhou Xiu’s room without permission, felt his irritation peak.
With a bad temper, Xi Shaoyuan followed her in, impatiently grabbing Lu Lingshan’s hand, trying to pull her out.
“Who told you to come in here without permission?”
But as Xi Shaoyuan stepped into Zhou Xiu’s room, he noticed there was nothing inside. The room was spotless, just as it had been when she first moved in.
There were no traces of Zhou Xiu, even though she was already home. The room was so empty it was as if she had never existed.
However, Xi Shaoyuan knew she was home because he had seen her shoes at the entrance.
With tightly pressed lips, Xi Shaoyuan angrily pushed Lu Lingshan out of Zhou Xiu’s room.
After a while.
Xi Shaoyuan returned to Zhou Xiu’s room and gently opened the wardrobe, where he found the girl quietly looking down, her thumb scrolling through her phone, the light illuminating her chin.
She was sitting on the disarrayed clothes and sheets she had just packed.
Xi Shaoyuan’s expression grew complicated as he stood in front of the closet, looking down at Zhou Xiu and asking, “What’s the meaning of you hiding from Lu Lingshan like this?”
His voice carried deliberate mockery and coldness, like an emotionless machine, ridiculing her for trying to deceive herself.
He removed her earphones, and the clear sound quality of her new phone played a fluent female voice:
“D. The price of the shirt is nine pounds fifteen pence.”
The sudden loud volume startled both of them.
For a moment, Xi Shaoyuan was stunned.
Immersed in her English lesson, Zhou Xiu finally removed her other earphone, looking up and asking, “What are you doing?”
Xi Shaoyuan turned his face away, coldly asking, “What’s the meaning of you hiding from Lu Lingshan?”
After a pause, he crossed his arms and said, “Let me guess, you like me so much that you feel guilty when you see Lu Lingshan?”
He paused again and said indifferently, “Zhou Xiu, your actions are causing me a lot of trouble.”
“My mom is willing to support you, hoping you will cherish the opportunity to study…”
Zhou Xiu turned off her phone’s English audio, interrupting him.
“I have no interest in you, so please stop emphasizing it repeatedly. If you keep insisting, I might start thinking you like me.”
Zhou Xiu scoffed as she stepped out of the closet.
For a moment, Xi Shaoyuan was stunned.
He couldn’t believe the girl who barely reached his chest would say something so shameless. Him, like her?
He turned his head, gritting his teeth, “Who likes you?”
“Zhou Xiu, stop being so self-absorbed. You should really believe that.”
Zhou Xiu glanced at him coldly, then pulled out her test papers from her backpack and started working on them.
Seeing the cold fire in her eyes, Xi Shaoyuan felt as if he was seeing this little girl angry for the first time.
He stared at her for a few moments, surprised by her fiery demeanour, and then left Zhou Xiu’s room, looking a bit dazed.
Downstairs, Lu Lingshan approached Xi Shaoyuan as soon as she saw him. She blinked her eyes and asked:
“Brother Yuan, who were you talking to upstairs? Tell me, there was a girl up there, right?”
Seeing her, Xi Shaoyuan coldly drove her out of the Xi family home.
“I don’t want to see you again.”
Lu Lingshan, feeling wronged, asked, “What did I do wrong? Brother Yuan, I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad, okay?”
“Are you deaf? I told you to leave.” Xi Shaoyuan said irritably.
……
With the monthly exams approaching, Zhou Xiu seized every moment to prepare, not wasting a single second.
Getting the top score in the class would earn her a reward from the system, something she was determined not to miss.
Xi Shaoyuan noticed that after being reprimanded, Zhou Xiu became much more discreet. She was like an invisible person, leaving early and returning late, and even though they lived under the same roof, they rarely saw each other.
Of course, the village girl wouldn’t invite him to eat with her either.
Xi Shaoyuan felt relieved to have resolved this potential issue.
Time flowed like water, and finally, the much-anticipated December monthly exams arrived for Zhou Xiu.
To prevent cheating, the seating arrangements for the exams were completely randomized this time.
In the teachers’ office, the teachers chatted about Zhou Xiu. One teacher jokingly asked, “I heard Zhou Xiu has a bet with Mr. Huang. If she does well in this monthly exam, he’ll let her return to his class, right?”
“Why bother arguing with a student?”
Mr. Huang wasn’t worried about Zhou Xiu achieving good results at all.
He said disdainfully, “This student is very defiant. Do you think she can do well? Nowadays, students have their heads in the clouds, and as a teacher, I need to teach her some lessons.”
Before the exam, Hua Xu patted Zhou Xiu’s shoulder, “Good luck, give it your all in the math exam.”
Zhou Xiu nodded.
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