"That wheelchair of Ye Qianying's is pretty noticeable. Every time I pass by the next class, I can see it. Do you think she really got disfigured, wearing that scarf all the time?"
"Definitely not, don’t listen to the rumors. I was there the day Gao Lan'er lifted her veil—Ye Qianying’s face is perfectly fine, even prettier than before, with this incredible aura. I asked someone from the next class, and apparently, she hurt her leg during a vacation, and her face had an allergic reaction, so she can’t be exposed to wind for now. I swear, she absolutely, definitely isn’t disfigured."
"Right, now that you mention it, I remember. There was a discussion on the school forum before—Ye Qianying must’ve been getting private tutoring at home. Otherwise, how could she dare to make that bet with Xing Yuwei?"
"I think it’s not just Xing Yuwei now. Didn’t she make some bold claim about surpassing Qi Yuanwen too?"
"Really?! I never expected that. I’m getting more and more curious. Do you think if I asked her for her tutor’s contact, she’d give it to me…?"
The gossip drifted closer, then faded away with the girls’ laughter and the sound of their retreating footsteps.
Only when their voices had completely vanished did Qi Yuanwen step out from the corner.
He strode forward, his expression unreadable, ignoring the voice calling after him. He walked briskly for several steps before stopping abruptly, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
Xing Yuwei hurried after him, her face tinged with frustration.
"Yuanwen, what’s wrong?"
Qi Yuanwen turned sharply, his dark eyes stormy.
"Did you hear what they were saying? Is this the outcome you wanted?" His brows furrowed. "I told you not to meddle in Ye Qianying’s affairs. When you handed me that card to sign, you never said it was for her!"
Stunned by his outburst, Xing Yuwei paled slightly. She bit her lower lip, her delicate features taking on a fragile, pitiable look.
"I thought you’d want to send her well-wishes, Yuanwen." Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, yet she held his gaze unflinchingly. "Ever since the opening ceremony, you’ve been thinking about her. You even glance at her whenever she passes by."
"..."
Qi Yuanwen’s defensiveness wavered. "You’re mistaken. I haven’t been thinking about her at all."
He repeated the words several times, his voice growing firmer. With a cold laugh, he added, "Besides, who would spare a thought for Ye Qianying? She’s just a spoiled, arrogant rich girl with no brains. I was just surprised—her face used to be revolting, so how did it recover so fast? That’s all. It’s not what you think."
Xing Yuwei’s tears turned into a smile. "Really?"
"Of course." Qi Yuanwen’s tone was resolute. "Even before her so-called disfigurement, I never paid her any attention."
As if to prove his point, he took Xing Yuwei’s hand, gripping it tighter than usual, their fingers tightly intertwined.
"What about her bet with us for this exam…?"
Disgust flashed in Qi Yuanwen’s eyes, his aloof expression—the one that had half the freshman girls swooning—returning in full force.
"She’s delusional if she thinks she can compete. That has nothing to do with us." He scoffed. "She’s not even worth comparing to me. Before she could dream of surpassing me, she’d have to get past you first."
Among the 1,500 freshmen, the gap between the top 60 and the bottom 300 was over a thousand ranks—not something a little studying could bridge.
As for Qi Yuanwen himself? He was consistently in the top ten.
Unless she was dreaming, the idea of Ye Qianying surpassing him was laughable.
No matter how eagerly the students anticipated, dreaded, or resisted it, the exams arrived right on schedule, indifferent to their emotions.
That morning, not a single word about "exams" was spoken at the Ye family’s breakfast table.
Eldest brother Ye Tiao silently slid a plate toward Ye Qianying, bearing a perfectly round fried egg. "Eat the egg, eat the egg."
Ye Hehan, however, nearly blundered. "Wait, little sis, isn’t today your—"
Before he could finish, second brother Ye Jiao stomped on his foot under the table.
Ye Tiao, as if deaf to the sibling scuffle beside him, simply placed another soft-boiled egg in front of Ye Qianying. "Eat the egg, eat the egg."
Ye Hehan barely stifled a yelp. Realizing his mistake, he forced a bright smile.
"Actually, isn’t today the release date for that new platinum bag all the girls love? Haha, I don’t really get it, just asking."
Ye Jiao smoothly took over. "Oh? Then don’t worry, little sis. When you get home today, I guarantee your closet will have every new bag waiting. Next time, just tell your second brother in advance."
Ye Tiao, ever diligent, dropped a third boiled egg onto Ye Qianying’s plate. "Eat the egg, eat the egg."
Ye Qianying: "..."
She pushed a basket of steamed buns toward Ye Hehan as consolation, thanked Ye Jiao for his generosity, and resignedly speared the boiled egg with her fork.
"Big brother, high school exams are scored out of 150," she reminded him dryly.
Ye Tiao paused, clearly having forgotten. After a long moment, he nodded solemnly.
"Then wait a bit, little sis. I’ll have the kitchen prepare a pot of blackfish soup for you."
Ye Jiao and Ye Hehan both facepalmed in unison.
——
In the exam hall, Ye Qianying was seated by the corridor-side window.
Passersby could see her, veiled and propping her head up, clearly uncomfortable.
When Xing Yuwei and Qi Yuanwen walked by, Xing Yuwei even paused for three seconds.
"It looks like she isn’t prepared."
Qi Yuanwen didn’t even glance over, merely scoffing. "Expected."
Meanwhile, Ye Qianying was wholly focused on her conversation with the system.
"I can’t do this. I’m way too full."
The system sighed. "...You can do it, host. A little bowl of blackfish soup won’t defeat someone as resilient as you."
Though an absurd reason had left her feeling unwell, the moment the exam papers were handed out, Ye Qianying reflexively snapped into focus.
The first exam was Chinese. As the native language subject for all students, the most delightful aspect of Chinese was that no matter whether your answers were right or wrong, you’d always feel like you did well.
The entire exam spanned two days—Chinese and science subjects on the first day, followed by math, liberal arts, and English on the second.
By the end of the first day, some students had already emerged from the exam hall with gritted teeth, grumbling about how difficult the science section was as they packed up their things.
But when the second day concluded, many didn’t even have the energy left to complain.
This was downright inhumane—how could the math exam be so hard?
Heaven have mercy, they’d slacked off the entire holiday, forgetting most of the key concepts, only for the test to cover every single topic—and in the most obscure, tricky ways possible!
Xing Yuwei was naturally one of these students. After the exam, seeing Qi Yuanwen’s utterly confident expression made her heart sink with unease.
Logically, she should have been completely prepared for this test.
But throughout the break, Xing Yuwei’s mind hadn’t been on studying at all. And during the last-minute cramming week after school started, she’d been busy with other things—interviews, TV appearances…
There was a ten-point short-answer question on the math paper, one based on a problem type she’d definitely practiced before. The crucial step to solving it had been right on the tip of her tongue, yet just out of reach.
In the end, Xing Yuwei had no choice but to scribble down a random answer.
Qi Yuanwen took her backpack and asked softly, “How’d it go?”
Xing Yuwei forced a calm, composed tone. “Of course, no problem.”
“As expected.” Qi Yuanwen nodded. “This test wasn’t hard, but it tested how solid your foundation is. I doubt Ye Qianying did well.”
“…”
Hearing that, Xing Yuwei’s chest tightened inexplicably, a flicker of panic rising in her.
It took her a beat too long to stammer out a reply. “Ah… yeah, I—I think so too.”
After the exams came a weekend break.
Over those two days, the teachers worked overtime grading papers, and by Monday, most of the scores were freshly released.
The first subjects to be graded were handed back to each class.
Because of the bet between Ye Qianying, Xing Yuwei, and Qi Yuanwen, students from both classes were laser-focused on their scores.
The first score to come out was politics.
The liberal arts section consisted of three subjects—politics, geography, and history—each worth 100 points.
Politics had many subjective questions, so scoring well required hitting the key points. In this subject, Ye Qianying aced all the multiple-choice questions, scoring 93, while Xing Yuwei reportedly missed one, landing at 89.
As for Qi Yuanwen… everyone knew he was a science-track student, so scoring in the low 80s was already impressive.
After politics came English.
If Ye Qianying had done poorly in English, it would’ve been an insult to her years abroad. Her essay was flawless, earning full marks—she only lost 1.5 points on a single cloze passage, where she’d mixed up English and German grammar in a momentary lapse.
A classmate quickly did the math. “Ye Qianying, you’re already 16 points ahead of Xing Yuwei!”
Xing Yuwei, in the neighboring class, had clearly heard the news. She smiled dismissively, setting the English score sheet aside with practiced ease. “No worries, there are still nine subjects left.”
But no one could see how her fingers, hidden under the desk, had twisted themselves into tight knots.
As the scores for history and geography rolled in, with Ye Qianying topping each subject, Xing Yuwei could no longer keep her composure.
The whole class knew about their bet, so with every new score, people stole glances at Xing Yuwei’s expression.
Her smile stiffened imperceptibly.
Four subjects—four whole subjects—and she hadn’t beaten Ye Qianying in a single one.
Meanwhile, the neighboring class erupted in deafening cheers, the noise spilling through the windows and doors straight into Classroom Sixteen’s ears.
—“Did she surpass Xing Yuwei?”
—“Way past! She’s been ahead the whole time. Now she’s beating Qi Yuanwen by over twenty points!”
Xing Yuwei’s desk mate cautiously tried to comfort her. “Hey, Yuwei, don’t…”
“I’m fine.” Xing Yuwei forced a weak smile, her voice slightly unsteady. “There’s still the science scores, right?”
Yes, the science scores. Clinging to this lifeline, she bolstered her own confidence: Science could create huge gaps in scores, and it was harder to earn points. Ye Qianying had always been terrible—there was no way she could handle science.
Coincidentally, at the same time, the system was asking Ye Qianying about her academic track.
It projected a glowing screen before her eyes—a Florence Nightingale rose chart displaying the time she’d spent studying each subject.
“Host, your recent study time for math, physics, and chemistry has clearly doubled that of history, geography, and politics. Are you planning to pursue science?”
