The renowned “Campus Belle Ning” was named Ning Zixi. She was also a top student, and on top of that, she was stunningly beautiful.

She, Su Jie, and Qian Zheng consistently secured the top three spots in the school.

Qian Zheng was always ranked first.

Su Jie and Ning Zixi alternated between second and third place, though most of the time, Su Jie was second while she was third.

At school, the three of them were well-known figures. In terms of looks, Qian Zheng and Ning Zixi were considered the perfect golden couple. After all, Su Jie was rather plain, with no particular advantage in height, appearance, or family background.

Once, in a moment of reckless impulse, Su Jie wrote Ning Zixi a love letter. She did not respond but instead had someone return the letter to his desk. Somehow, the letter got leaked, causing a huge uproar in both their class and the entire school. For a long time, Su Jie couldn’t even lift his head in embarrassment.

Every time his close friends brought up the incident, he would be mortified.

But now, when someone mentioned it again, he felt nothing. Instead, he smiled, finding his past foolishness amusing. Looking back, he realized that everyone experiences impulsive moments in their youth.

Reflecting on it now, Su Jie neither regretted his past recklessness nor felt the need to restore his reputation.

His current mindset was like that of an adult reminiscing about the naive mistakes of youth—filled with nostalgia for lost innocence, savoring the bittersweet memories.

[Morning Blooms, Evening Memories.]

That was exactly how he felt.

‘How did my mindset mature so much? It’s only been one summer break.’ Su Jie was slightly surprised at his own change in perspective.

Seeing that Su Jie showed no signs of embarrassment, his friends quickly lost interest in the topic.

“Ning Zixi and Qian Zheng are here,” Qi Shuai pointed into the distance.

Sure enough, the golden couple walked side by side. The boy was tall and handsome, while the girl was elegant, graceful, and radiant—yet exuding an aura that made her seem untouchable.

No one knew what they were discussing, but their presence alone drew countless gazes from the students around them.

“That’s Ning Zixi and Qian Zheng, our senior classmates in the third year. They’re the president and vice president of the student council.”

“They really look amazing together.”

The first-year students, in particular, were buzzing with chatter.

“Su Jie, you’ve grown quite a bit over the summer,” Qian Zheng remarked casually as he approached.

Ning Zixi also smiled and nodded. “You’re the student council’s vice president now. After the entrance exam, we have a task for the student council. Stay behind to help us complete it.”

“What task?” Su Jie asked.

“Haoyu Group has installed an AI learning system in our school. The school’s database is now linked with Haoyu Group and connected to numerous global servers. We can access advanced academic knowledge that isn’t available on the regular internet,” Ning Zixi explained. “The three of us will be the first to test it and submit a report to the academic director and principal. Later, we’ll be responsible for guiding the other student council members before rolling it out to the whole school.”

“That sounds good.” The mention of Haoyu Group made Su Jie take notice. If even their school was receiving an AI learning system and sharing data, the company was clearly executing a grand strategy.

Su Jie’s high school was one of the nation’s top institutions, affiliated with a prestigious university. Outstanding students had opportunities to participate in university-level scientific research and experience college life in advance. The school also had numerous direct admission slots, making it the dream destination for middle school graduates across the city.

“We should go register now. The entrance exam is about to begin,” Qian Zheng said, glancing at Su Jie. “This exam is a comprehensive assessment. It’s significantly harder than even the national college entrance exam. The AI system generates questions in real-time from an extensive database, and the school administration has set the difficulty level 50% higher than usual.”

“This exam is city-wide, with multiple schools participating. The results will be compiled and ranked together. The school leadership is taking it very seriously. We three must maintain our positions in the city’s top three rankings—we can’t afford to fall behind,” Ning Zixi said confidently, making it clear that she had done extensive preparation over the summer.

“And that’s not all,” Qian Zheng added. “Haoyu Group has implemented its AI learning system in many high schools, handling everything from question generation to grading. To promote the system, the company has set up a scholarship for the top-scoring student in the city—the prize is a staggering 200,000 yuan.”

“What? That much?” Su Jie was shocked. “Even the champion of the Silk Road Cup essay competition only got 100,000 yuan.”

At the Minglun Martial Arts Academy tournament, the champion’s prize was 500,000 yuan. Su Jie had been determined to win, but unfortunately, he was eliminated in the first round after facing Feng Hengyi and losing in just two punches.

But for a high school entrance exam to offer a 200,000-yuan scholarship? That was astronomical—completely unheard of. Then again, Haoyu Group had deep pockets, and launching a high-profile campaign wasn’t surprising.

“It’s definitely a huge amount,” Ning Zixi nodded. “Haoyu Group probably wants to use this to market their software to schools nationwide. The highest prize before this was from the Xixin Group’s National Poetry Contest, where the grand champion received 300,000 yuan. Unfortunately, Qian Zheng and I both failed to win first place—B City’s Zhang Jinchuan took the title instead.”

“Zhang Jinchuan is indeed formidable,” Qian Zheng said. “I consider him my greatest rival. I aim to be the national top scorer in the college entrance exams, and he is the biggest obstacle in my way.”

It was clear that Qian Zheng had already set his sights on winning the 200,000-yuan prize.

“Haoyu Group offering such a large bonus is actually a test. Two hundred thousand may be a lot for an individual, but for Haoyu Group it’s just a drop in the bucket—and it also earned them a good reputation for supporting education. Moreover, connecting with the school’s data brings many benefits to the group. Young people are the future; their various habits, when analyzed through big data, have significant reference value for the future of commerce. Of course, that’s just one aspect of the plan—there’s also a deeper meaning behind it.

Deep inside, Su Jie’s perspective had already shifted. He pondered carefully, ‘Since Minglun Martial Arts Academy didn’t receive that championship bonus, maybe this time I can give it a try by challenging Qian Zheng.’

Seeing Su Jie silent and lost in thought, Ning Zixi spoke up, “Su Jie, you need to work hard too!”

“Let’s go,” Qian Zheng said with a wave of his hand. “Zixi, you still need to improve your fitness. Has your training this summer really transformed your physique? Our Starshine Combat Fitness Club’s karate coach is pretty good. Let’s practice together after school.”

“It’s really good, though I still can’t master the high-difficulty aerial kick,” Ning Zixi admitted. Su Jie, would you like to join our combat training as well? I’ve been learning karate at Starshine Combat Fitness Club all summer.”

Hearing Ning Zixi’s invitation, Qian Zheng’s eyes flashed with a hint of displeasure.

“Forget it, forget it,” Su Jie remarked, clearly noticing Qian Zheng’s discontent. “If I’m going to train, I’d rather choose Chinese martial arts.”

“Chinese martial arts is all show—it won’t win in the ring. Even if that might not seem patriotic, the fact remains: in competitions, you hardly see any true martial arts,” Qian Zheng said with obvious disdain. “Zixi, that so-called martial arts master who came to our Starshine Combat Fitness Club this summer claimed it was for an exchange, but he actually came to challenge the club—and within three seconds, he was knocked down. You saw it with your own eyes.”

“I did see it with my own eyes. Chinese martial arts might look impressive in movies and novels, but in reality, it’s just average. We need to face the facts,” Ning Zixi waved his hand dismissively.

“Alright, now that you put it that way, I really do want to check out your combat club and learn a thing or two,” Su Jie admitted. Originally, he hadn’t been very interested, but after hearing Qian Zheng and Ning Zixi’s attitudes toward Chinese martial arts, he felt compelled to change his mind.

During the two months he spent training in martial arts at Minglun Martial Arts Academy that summer, Su Jie experienced many revelations. The passion for Chinese martial arts among Chinese people wasn’t very high, yet countless foreigners were eager to learn it one after another. Their perseverance, their dedication to martial arts—it was all truly impressive.

In a few years, or maybe even ten, will Chinese people have to go abroad to learn Chinese martial arts from foreigners? In fact, that’s already the case. Su Jie’s journey with martial arts began with the foreigner Odell.

“That sounds great—I’ll contact you after school,” Ning Zixi said happily. “The three of us training together will be much more lively.”

Qian Zheng forced a smile, adding, “Su Jie, if you join, I’ll get you an 80% membership discount.”

‘That sounds awesome,’ Su Jie thought, having sensed all of Qian Zheng’s little schemes.

“Let’s go get ready for registration and the exam,” Ning Zixi suggested.

The three of them walked into the classroom. In the large lecture hall, simply scanning your face in front of the video screen was equivalent to completing the registration process, after which they took their seats.

The homeroom teacher entered, clutching a thick stack of test papers. “Class, today is both registration and the entrance exam. Now that you’ve entered your senior year of high school, I won’t say much except prepare yourselves for a year of relentless exams. This year is all about exam after exam,” she explained. 

The teacher, Ms. Chen Juan, was highly qualified with top-notch teaching skills, fair in her judgments yet strict. Of course, even the strictest teacher is gentle with her top students. 

Su Jie thought very highly of her—after the previous love letter incident, she even took the time to speak with him sincerely without losing her temper.

“Today’s exam will last one day,” Ms. Chen Juan announced. “Normally, the college entrance exam spans two days, but this time you only have one. If you can adapt to this intensity, then you’ll be as free as a fish in water during the actual college entrance exam. You’ve all seen the information on the school website, right? This entrance exam is sponsored by Haoyu Group, and all high schools in the city will have unified test papers. If someone manages to clinch first place in the city with a total score above 700 points, Haoyu Group will award that student a scholarship of 200,000. However, the overall difficulty of this exam paper is 50% higher than even the hardest college entrance exam paper from previous years. I won’t say more—I expect our class to produce the top scorer in the entire city. Qian Zheng, do you have the confidence?”

“Of course,” Qian Zheng responded as he stood up, clearly standing out among his classmates, before sitting down again with an air of dominance. He had always been the top student; in the two years of high school, no one had ever taken his top spot.

“Hand out the test papers,” Ms. Chen Juan instructed the students at the front to distribute them to everyone, and the exam began.

All the students were well-practiced; as soon as they received the test papers, they plunged into answering the questions with intense concentration.

‘These questions are really difficult,’ Su Jie thought. After scanning through the test paper in ten seconds, various knowledge points began to ferment in his mind, and within twenty seconds he had gauged the overall difficulty of the exam. Yet, these questions posed no problem for him.

During those two months of martial arts training in the summer, aside from English, he hadn’t reviewed much. After returning, he only studied for a few hours, so logically his grades should have slipped. But now, his mind was clearer than ever, and he understood various concepts more profoundly—as if he had suddenly come to a revelation.

Swish, swish, swish!

The fountain pen flowed across the test paper, writing out graceful Chinese characters and symbols.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep