Ye Qianying actually ranked first in the entire grade!
The moment this news spread, it caused an explosive reaction among the students and faculty.
Students buzzed with discussions, while the teachers—who had seen their fair share of surprises—were left utterly stunned. After all, no matter how experienced they were, they had never witnessed such a dramatic leap.
Jumping from the bottom 300 to the very top of the grade, surpassing over 1,200 students in between—was this student bulldozing her way through the rankings?
Teachers weren’t unfamiliar with dark horses. It wasn’t unusual for a bright student to rise from the bottom of the grade to the upper-middle after a single semester of hard work. But vaulting straight from last place to first? That was downright ruthless.
This wasn’t just a dark horse anymore—clearly, this girl was a unicorn in disguise.
In the faculty office, the first-year teachers huddled together, staring at the grade ranking list with dazed expressions.
Meanwhile, Teacher Deng, the homeroom teacher of Class 15, looked like he had just caught a golden pie falling straight from the sky.
He had been recruited from a neighboring city just last year, and now, in his very first batch of students, he had produced such an outstanding result. It made him stand a little taller, his back straighter than ever.
Of course, given Ye Qianying’s unbelievable ranking—one that defied all conventional teacher wisdom—some educators couldn’t help but voice their doubts.
One teacher cautiously hinted at the possibility of cheating, only for Teacher Deng to immediately jump to his student’s defense without hesitation.
"How could this be cheating? Our student isn’t first in just the humanities or the sciences—she simply didn’t lose points in any subject, so she ended up with a perfectly ordinary overall first-place ranking."
All the teachers: "…"
Average-looking Tom Cruise? Just a regular old top scorer?
Bro, listen to yourself. Does that even sound like something a human would say? The way you put it makes it sound even more suspicious!
Finally, a female teacher who had invigilated Ye Qianying’s math exam spoke up in Teacher Deng’s defense.
"I supervised her during the math test… Given her current situation, the school specially assigned her to the front and center seat for convenience. Everyone knows how visible that spot is from the teacher’s desk—there’s no way she could have pulled any tricks. I watched her the entire time, and she didn’t make a single suspicious move."
The reason the female teacher emphasized this was because, not long ago, a neighboring school had been embroiled in a major scandal.
During college application season, a graduating student from that school claimed his exam papers had been switched. The story made it onto the provincial evening news that very day, and for the next month, it became a national talking point. But in the end, all investigations pointed to one simple truth: the student had just performed poorly.
However, local teachers had heard more whispers behind the scenes.
That student had consistently ranked near the top of his grade—which was why his parents had the confidence to demand a government investigation. But who would have guessed that most of his previous exam results had been achieved through cheating?
With today’s technology, answer-searching apps were everywhere. As long as a student could evade the invigilator’s gaze, any score was possible.
That graduating student had maintained a spot in the top 60 for two whole years using these methods. There had been close calls, but since he was always seated at the front, some invigilators never suspected a high-achieving student of cheating, while others simply turned a blind eye. Over time, he even convinced himself that he was genuinely brilliant.
But cheating in the national college entrance exam was too serious a risk. Too scared to repeat his usual tricks, he ended up scoring over 200 points lower than usual. When his parents pressed him for answers, he found himself trapped in his own lie, and the whole mess spiraled into a public spectacle.
Though the school’s archived surveillance footage from past exams had been deleted, secrets like this never stayed buried. While he had fooled many teachers, he couldn’t hide the truth from his classmates. In the end, his family gained nothing from the ordeal and had to slink away in disgrace, sending him to repeat his final year at an ordinary high school.
With this cautionary tale fresh in mind, schools in the area had tightened exam discipline. Shenji High, being well-funded, went the extra mile by installing signal jammers capable of blocking an entire building during tests.
The recent subject-based assessments were no small matter either. Every teacher had invigilated strictly, ensuring no cheating—whether through notes, whispers, or phones—could take place.
So when one teacher dared to suggest foul play, the invigilators immediately stepped forward to vouch for Ye Qianying’s integrity.
They might not remember every student, but how could they forget Ye Qianying? Her presence was unmistakable, especially seated right at the front. Any teacher who claimed not to have seen her clearly needed their eyes checked.
The skeptical teacher, young and hot-headed, didn’t take kindly to being contradicted. Seeing so many colleagues defend Ye Qianying, he muttered under his breath,
"Like she even needs to cheat—she’s a Ye…"
The moment those words left his mouth, the entire room turned cold—not toward Ye Qianying, but toward him.
What was he implying? That the teachers had leaked exam questions to curry favor with the school board member’s child?
This wasn’t just a question of student ethics anymore—it was an outright accusation against the exam-setting teachers themselves.
Some educators turned away in silence, while one blunt-tempered teacher, Teacher Xu, confronted him head-on.
"I can’t speak for other subjects, but I guarantee the history exam papers never left my hands. If anyone doubts it, they’re welcome to check—my office has surveillance, and the school’s system logs every file access. Everything’s documented."
Seeing tensions rise, another teacher quickly stepped in to mediate.
"Alright, alright, Teacher Xu, cool down. This is a good thing—the student did brilliantly! With the upcoming mock exams being inter-school, our school might just outshine the others for once."
The young teacher, who had only meant to vent, hadn’t expected to stir such a hornet’s nest. Flustered, he scrambled to backtrack.
"I was just speaking offhand—I didn’t mean it like that…"
He awkwardly rubbed his hands together before trying to smooth things over with Teacher Deng.
"Teacher Deng, you’ve really lucked out with this student, huh?"
Teacher Deng merely smiled, radiating satisfaction, and chose not to respond.
The comment reeked of envy—why bother engaging? Having a top-ranking student in his class was worth enduring a little sourness. The more others seethed, the sweeter his victory felt.
As for the storm that had just swept through the faculty office, Ye Qianying remained blissfully unaware.
She was surrounded by the roaring excitement of Class Fifteen. If not for her wheelchair, her friends would have eagerly lifted her up and tossed her into the air.
As the class that had been secretly labeled the "problem class" and the "rich kids' class" all year, Class Fifteen had endured far too much frustration.
No wonder students from other classes always made snide remarks about them—comments like, "The girls only care about looking pretty," "The boys just want to show off," "What can you expect from spoiled rich kids?" or "All their energy goes into causing trouble."
In the last final exams, not a single student from Class Fifteen had even cracked the top fifty in the grade.
But this time, their "Sister Ying" had taken first place in the entire grade. How could they not feel a surge of pride?
So what if the girls love beauty? Our Sister Ying is the school belle.
So what if they come from wealthy families? Try comparing your bank account to Sister Ying’s—she could bury you in stacks of cash.
So what if their energy goes into mischief? Who had a wilder middle school experience than our Sister Ying… Well, okay, maybe that last one wasn’t the best argument.
In any case, Class Fifteen was amazing. Sure, their grades weren’t great, but they had someone among them who was top-tier—and they were united! They cherished their high-achievers, unlike other classes where the top students were always scheming against each other.
Then again, it wasn’t like Class Fifteen had any other top students besides Ye Qianying.
The newly crowned dark horse, Ye Qianying, cleared her throat lightly. "This first place was a bit of a coincidence."
After all, she had studied humanities in her past life, and this time around, she had focused on conquering the sciences. The combination left her with no weak spots, giving her an advantage before the split between arts and sciences.
Lian Deng immediately chimed in, "That’s our Sister Ying for you—always humble, always modest!"
Mu Pan quickly followed, "Come on, we’ve known each other forever. No need to hide it—you’re a genius!"
Zhan Lulu refused to be outdone, "My Qianying isn’t just first in the grade—she’s number one in my heart too!"
"...But next time, I’ll earn that first place fair and square," Ye Qianying finished calmly, and the flurry of praise around her gradually quieted.
Zhan Lulu and Mu Pan exchanged glances, while Lian Deng continued clapping like a seal, oblivious. "Yes! Sister Ying, I love how bold you are."
Mu Pan thought to himself, Perfect. I bet Ye Qianying loves how dumb you are.
Seizing a moment when Ye Qianying wasn’t paying attention, he and Zhan Lulu locked eyes for half a second before slipping away to huddle in a corner.
"This is bad," Mu Pan muttered gravely.
Zhan Lulu nodded in agreement. "You’re right. The last time Qianying was this serious was back in middle school..."
"Second year. She couldn’t beat that single-player game, so she set up ten high-end gaming laptops and mechanical keyboards at home and invited us over every day after school to help her grind."
As he recalled those memories, Mu Pan’s expression darkened with the trauma of being dominated by that cursed game.
Zhan Lulu’s face was equally grim, as if she sensed something even more merciless than the game’s developer lurking ahead.
Something deeper, more terrifying, unspeakable…
"I have a feeling this time, Qianying’s going to stack ten piles of workbooks, hire ten tutors, print ten sets of past exam papers, and invite us over for a joyful study session."
They couldn’t bear to say more—just the thought was enough to bring them to tears. Mu Pan and Zhan Lulu sighed in unison.
Suddenly, Mu Pan straightened up, his gaze fixed outside the window. "Wait, is that Qi Yuanwen? Why’s that bastard heading our way?"
Zhan Lulu’s expression sharpened. "He’s definitely here for Qianying."
Tall and long-legged, Qi Yuanwen strode forward with purpose. Before Mu Pan could even open the window to call out to him, Qi Yuanwen had already crossed the threshold of Class Fifteen.
His movements were swift and decisive, so much so that he had passed two rows of desks before anyone realized who he was.
Someone in the chaos shouted, "Someone from Class Sixteen is here!" and in an instant, half the class’s eyes locked onto Qi Yuanwen.
Ignoring the mixed reactions, Qi Yuanwen kept his expression stony as he marched straight to Ye Qianying’s desk.
He didn’t speak, didn’t offer a greeting—just stood there silently, almost as if he were challenging her.
But only Qi Yuanwen knew just how complicated his emotions were at that moment.
Finally, beneath the increasingly frantic pounding of his own heartbeat, Ye Qianying lifted her head at a leisurely pace.
Even under the scrutiny of half the class, Qi Yuanwen remained unfazed—yet the moment Ye Qianying’s veiled gaze met his, his lips pressed into a tight line.
"You needed something?" Ye Qianying tapped her workbook with her pen, signaling she had other things to attend to.
Qi Yuanwen took a barely noticeable deep breath. "You did well this time."
"Thanks. I’ll do even better next time."
If not for the veil obscuring her eyes, Qi Yuanwen would have seen the faint impatience in Ye Qianying’s gaze.
She still had a problem to solve.
It was a homework assignment from Teacher Zhong—a single question requiring three different solutions. The final problem was so difficult that Ye Qianying had managed two approaches and was halfway through a third using linear algebra before realizing she was missing a key condition.
Qi Yuanwen seemed momentarily at a loss for words, so he followed the tip of Ye Qianying’s pen to the handwritten problem.
"This is an Olympiad-level question," he said after reading it once or twice. His eyes flickered with something unreadable before he finally muttered, "Try residue class partitioning and proof by contradiction."
Ye Qianying didn’t move.
For some reason, Qi Yuanwen relaxed slightly, his usual arrogance creeping back. "Don’t understand? Your foundation’s too weak for competition math right now. Watch—you should..."
His words died halfway.
Ye Qianying flipped to a page of scratch paper beside her, where the problem’s solution was neatly written out—complete with proof by contradiction and residue class partitioning.
The handwriting was elegant, the logic flawless, every step perfectly aligned with the scoring criteria. Even if Qi Yuanwen had written it himself, he couldn’t have done better.
Ye Qianying said nothing, but that sheet of paper spoke volumes for her.
Blood roared in Qi Yuanwen’s ears, his face flushing crimson.
"I—I meant to say..."
If there were a machine that could read minds, it would have shown Qi Yuanwen’s brain working at unprecedented speed.
Half a second later, he grasped at the flimsiest of excuses—one that barely salvaged his dignity but felt like a lifeline in that moment.
"I misspoke earlier... you should have used Mersenne primes for the derivation." Qi Yuanwen secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, immensely grateful for that extension problem he'd solved a few days ago.
Yet before any sense of superiority could surface within him, he watched as Ye Qianying wordlessly flipped to the second scrap of paper—this time without even bothering to lift her head.
It was still the answer to the same problem, but this time, the solution employed precisely the Mersenne prime approach.
This was the very definition of "teaching fish to swim," of overestimating one's abilities, of brandishing an axe before Lu Ban himself.
Witnessing this scene, Qi Yuanwen froze on the spot, utterly dumbstruck.
Only now did he truly understand why Xing Yuwei had chosen to flee in humiliation after the exam results were announced.
Ye Qianying tapped her notebook twice with the tip of her pen, this time making her question more explicit.
"What do you want?"
Qi Yuanwen spoke slowly. "About that bet..."
As he said this, an inexplicable surge of hope rose in his chest: hadn't Xing Yuwei's bet stipulated that Ye Qianying stay away from him? Now that Ye Qianying had won, if she were to defy the terms instead... then he...
Well, accepting such terms wouldn't be so difficult, would it?
Qi Yuanwen stared fixedly at Ye Qianying, his expression unreadably complex, watching as she seemed to pause momentarily, as if only just remembering the matter.
His heartbeat quickened.
"I have no conditions. Just one request for you and Xing Yuwei." Ye Qianying gave the boy before her a cool, dismissive nod. "Stop bothering me. As you can see, I'm busy."
She genuinely had no time to spare. Her studies were demanding, her schedule packed. Wouldn't it be better to focus on lifting her friends up with her? Why waste energy playing childish games with this couple?
Caught off guard by her response, Qi Yuanwen instinctively took a step back.
The girl before him had already buried herself in her work again, indifferent to whatever reaction he might have.
This time, Qi Yuanwen saw it clearly—her tone, her words, her actions—all radiated an aloofness that kept others at arm's length.
Back when he'd impulsively asked her out, he'd spent every day hoping she'd have the decency to break up with him quickly. Now that his wish had been granted, all that remained was a hollow, unplaceable sense of loss.
"...Understood." Qi Yuanwen muttered. "I won't disturb you further."
Step by step, Qi Yuanwen slowly retreated from Classroom 15.
This time, he could no longer ignore the peculiar gazes around him.
Though not a single classmate in 15 had spoken, Qi Yuanwen could feel the silent mockery in their eyes.
From the start, he'd underestimated Ye Qianying, dismissing her as a spoiled, immature rich girl. Every action of hers had been filtered through his prejudiced lens.
When he'd learned about the online clash between Xing Yuwei and Ye Qianying, he'd done nothing, thinking the young mistress needed to be taken down a peg. Later, when Ye Qianying extended the bet to include him, he'd deemed her arrogant and deserving of a harsh reality check.
Who could have predicted that when the results came out, the ironclad truth would punch him square in the face? Only then did he realize it was he who'd been the frog at the bottom of the well, blind to the vast sky above.
Now the entire grade knew about the bet between her, Qi Yuanwen, and Xing Yuwei—and the entire grade knew she'd taken first place.
This was truly... truly...
Four words suddenly surfaced in Qi Yuanwen's mind: you reap what you sow.
After these nine-subject exams, the first-year students would be reassigned classes.
The thirty-three first-year classes were now evenly divided into three streams: one for humanities, two for sciences.
Fewer students chose liberal arts, so the first eleven classes became humanities-focused. From Class 12 onward to Class 33, all were science-oriented.
Though student numbers fluctuated, most class structures remained intact. Fewer than ten students left Class 15, and Ye Qianying's close friends all stayed.
For newcomers, Class 15 was a new environment to adapt to. But for most original members, the dozen or so new faces simply brought fresh energy to the group.
Among the new students, one stood out particularly.
Dou Xinran—top scorer in the science stream placement exams, a consistent top-five academic powerhouse.
But he carried another identity that starkly contrasted with Class 15's reputation: he was a scholarship student from an impoverished background.
On his first day carrying his bag into Class 15, some classmates even asked the teacher if there'd been a system error in his placement.
Class 15—Shenji High's infamous playground for rich kids, the "money-burning class." How could a straight-A scholarship student not feel out of place here?
Dou Xinran ignored all such speculation.
Serious and composed beyond his years, his handsome features hadn't yet sharpened to their full intensity, but his eyes already held a maturity born of hardship. Clearly, his family's struggles had forced him to grow up fast.
On his first day in Class 15, Teacher Deng hesitated briefly over the roster before decisively assigning him as Ye Qianying's desk mate.
"You're both top students—perfect for mutual improvement." Beaming at his two newfound gems, Teacher Deng radiated paternal warmth. "As desk mates, you can look out for each other too."
The arrangement was deliberate, and not just for academic reasons.
Dou Xinran's financial situation was no secret—his family struggled more than most. In a class swimming with privileged kids, he stood out like oil in water. Teacher Deng worried he might face bullying, hence the placement beside Ye Qianying.
After all, Ye Qianying's popularity in class went without saying, backed by a loyal circle of friends. In Class 15, her approval essentially guaranteed Dou Xinran's smooth integration.
With years of teaching experience, Teacher Deng understood the delicate social ecosystems of teenagers. If the class were a martial arts world, teachers were the "authorities." Matters like ensuring classmates treated Dou Xinran well were better handled peer-to-peer—official intervention might backfire, even invite more exclusion.
Seating Dou Xinran beside Ye Qianying carried subtle undertones of paying respects to the local "power."
Ye Qianying recognized this immediately. Through Teacher Deng's kindly smile, she glimpsed the shrewdness honed by years of classroom management.
But some truths are best left unspoken—a philosophy China has refined over millennia.
Having a top student as a desk mate isn’t so bad, especially when that student is Dou Xinran—not only does he excel academically, but he’s also exceptionally good-looking.
His features are sharp and refined: slender brows, thin lips, and a bone structure that carries an air of severity. On most people, such traits might come across as cold or unfeeling, but Dou Xinran’s intense focus softens the harshness of his appearance. On him, those sharp features only enhance a quiet, almost latent intensity.
Yet, once Ye Qianying actually got to know him, she quickly realized her new desk mate was far from aloof—in fact, he was surprisingly shrewd.
After a brief self-introduction, Dou Xinran spoke his second sentence to her since they’d met.
"Need someone to do your homework for you?"
The question caught Ye Qianying completely off guard, and she let out a startled "Huh?"
"Copywork for Chinese and English is 100 per subject, math and sciences are 50 each. Prices double on weekends. A weekly package for science subjects is 270, a monthly subscription is 1,000 flat. For an extra 20%, I’ll tailor it to your skill level. Handwriting imitation service costs double, and there’s a ‘buy three, get one free’ deal for all six subjects."
As he spoke, Dou Xinran’s gaze slid past Ye Qianying and landed on the pair sitting behind them—two students who had been eavesdropping intently since he’d taken his seat.
"First-time promotion—everything’s at trial prices today. Care to give it a try?"
Ye Qianying could only watch as her new desk mate successfully locked onto his target clients, sealing an illicit transaction right under her nose.
With practiced ease, Dou Xinran pulled a QR code from his bag and slapped it onto the desk. His tone was warm and inviting, a stark contrast to his cool, expressionless face—yet somehow, it didn’t feel out of place. "That’ll be 150. If you don’t like WeChat Pay, there’s an Alipay code on the back. Show me the confirmation once you’re done."
