Chapter 86: Chapter 85: Do You Want Me to Pass You the Answers?

’Something about that didn’t feel quite right.’

Xu Su couldn’t quite put her finger on it, so she just nodded, and the two of them walked back to the dorm side by side.

「A few days later.」

After accepting Xi Zirong’s watch, Xu Su didn’t wear it for several days.

Only after Xi Zirong brought it up did Xu Su reluctantly put it on her wrist.

She was starting to realize that Xi Zirong seemed to have really taken her words—’Don’t be so timid’—to heart.

The once-gentle and polite Xi Zirong was gradually becoming more assertive with her.

Oftentimes, Xu Su would deliberately say something inflammatory to try and drive him away, but Xi Zirong would just pretend he didn’t hear and keep coming over to talk to her.

Sometimes, Xi Zirong would “coincidentally” appear as Xu Su was leaving the cafeteria after a meal and hand her a can of soda. Of course, he was socially adept and never forgot to bring one for Huang Feng and Qian Jia, too.

Other times, he would come over to her desk in the classroom and mark key points in her textbook, acting with the same natural air he had when he tutored her last year.

For the sake of winning this semester’s scholarship, Xu Su had no choice but to let him be, watching as he scribbled notes and highlighted sections in her textbook.

Then she would create her study plan based on the key points he’d marked.

After this happened a few times, rumors about the two of them “getting back together” began to spread.

However, building on the “puppy love” news from last year, this rumor of them getting back together didn’t cause much of a stir.

After all, a student’s main job is to study. Aside from a bit of idle gossip over meals, no one was going to waste real energy on scandalous news.

The days trickled by. As June arrived, the weather grew hotter. The third-years had finished their college entrance exams, and the teachers for each subject were “free” again. The Rocket Class teachers slowly returned to their positions.

First High School didn’t require students to wear their uniforms every day, so now on campus, you could see some fashion-conscious girls starting to wear dresses.

Even Huang Feng had dug out her new summer clothes to wear. Only Xu Su still wore her school uniform every day.

She had simply switched from the autumn uniform to the summer one.

With about ten days left until the final exams, the academic atmosphere in the class began to tense up.

At that moment, the changes to the scholarship system, which had been rumored among students for months, were finally made official by the school.

Previously, only the top fifty students in each grade level could earn a scholarship spot at First High School. That hadn’t changed; it was still the top fifty who were eligible.

The leadership at First High School seemed obsessed with the “top fifty” ranking. Perhaps in their eyes, only those in the top fifty could be considered outstanding students worthy of a reward.

The number of spots hadn’t changed, but the scholarship amount for each tier had increased significantly.

The award amounts were different for the three grades.

For the first-years, first place in the grade received a prize of five thousand, the top three received three thousand, the top ten got twenty-five hundred, the top twenty got two thousand, and the top fifty got one thousand.

And the scholarships for the second and third-year grades were even higher than the first-years’.

After Teacher Wu announced the scholarship changes in class, the students in the Rocket Class started studying as if they’d been shot full of adrenaline.

This was more than double the previous scholarship money!

Some students with better sources also heard that a donor had a say in the new scholarship reward system.

There was also a rumor that this “social entrepreneur” had donated a lump sum of five million to First High School.

Five million!

It wasn’t just the Rocket Class that was excited. In the other first-year classes, every student with even a remote shot at it was determined to study hard and break into the top fifty.

Whether or not they could have a good summer vacation depended on the results of this final exam.

Xu Su no longer had time to wonder if the donor was Zhou Mochen. The moment she learned the scholarship money had doubled this semester, she threw all her energy into studying.

When she occasionally ran into a problem she couldn’t understand, she would even take the initiative to ask Xi Zirong for help. She even completed a few practice tests he had made himself.

Xu Su felt even more nervous about this exam than last year’s final.

Xu Su had originally planned to get a part-time job over the summer to earn a few hundred yuan for living expenses.

But if she could get the three-thousand-yuan scholarship this time, she could go back to the countryside and spend the summer with her grandmother.

Three thousand yuan would be enough to cover her living expenses for the next semester. She wouldn’t even need Xu Weiping and his wife to pay her tuition, and she’d still have money to spare.

Perhaps because he knew the current Rocket Class students would be split up for their second year, Teacher Wu held a special pep talk during evening self-study two days before the final exams.

Teacher Wu said, “This final exam is the last exam of your first year. Next year, some of you will be assigned to other classes, and I don’t know if I’ll still be able to teach you then.”

“We’ve been together for a year. I want you all to be in your best form and ace this exam! Even if you get reassigned to other classes for your second year, you’ll still be students from the Rocket Class. No matter where you end up, your teachers will be paying close attention to you. Don’t bring shame to the Rocket Class name.”

The friendships forged over a year, the familiar classmates and teachers… knowing they would soon have to leave their class because of the track division hadn’t seemed like a big deal. But after hearing Teacher Wu’s words, many of the students who had chosen the liberal arts track started to sob.

That included Huang Feng, who had chosen liberal arts.

She was already regretting it. She hugged Xu Su tightly and started to cry. “Can I apply to come back? I don’t want to leave.”

Xu Su didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She patted Huang Feng’s head, comforting her. “Class One isn’t that far. If you miss us, you can come shout for us anytime. And besides, we’re still in the same dorm, even if we’re not in the same class.”

Amidst an atmosphere thick with both competition and sorrow, the first-year final exams arrived as scheduled.

This time, Xu Su was assigned to the same exam hall as Xi Zirong.

When she saw the familiar figure to her right, Xu Su was stunned for a long moment, only snapping out of it when Xi Zirong gave her a brilliant smile.

Xi Zirong held up his pencil case and said with a grin, “Want me to pass you the answers during the exam?”

The students from other classes nearby, who were eagerly eavesdropping on the drama, all gasped. ’So this is what the grade’s number-one study god is like when he’s in love? So intense! How can he talk about cheating so openly?’

Only Xu Su’s lips twitched as she shot him a glare. “Just focus on the exam. You pretend you don’t know me, and I’ll pretend I don’t know you.”

’Pass me the answers? Hilarious.’

Xu Su was confident in her own abilities. While she couldn’t guarantee a spot in the top three, she was at least fifty percent sure she could make it.

Even if she slipped up, she’d land in the top ten at worst.

With grades like that, why would she ever need to risk cheating?

Xi Zirong was just teasing, of course. Xu Su had noticed that he’d been enjoying teasing her a lot lately.

After one exam was over, Xu Su quickly ran to the bathroom. When she came back, she found Xi Zirong sitting in her exam seat.

He was holding her scratch paper and looking at it.

Xu Su: …

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