Lin Zhexia responded with an “Mm”: “I’m the type of person who remains quite unfazed no matter what happens.”
Chen Lin had thought Lin Zhexia was especially quiet, but hearing this somewhat unconventional response caught her by surprise.
A moment later.
The teacher entered the classroom. Sure enough, after a brief self-introduction, this curly-haired, bespectacled homeroom teacher surnamed Xu began distributing test papers: “One for each person. Fill in your seat number as your student ID. The exam lasts 120 minutes. Hand them in when you’re done, and I’ll grade them on the spot.”
As soon as she finished speaking, someone in the classroom couldn’t help but groan.
Teacher Xu warned: “No talking during the exam. I understand your eagerness to meet new classmates, and I’ll specifically arrange a class meeting period this afternoon for self-introductions.”
The test papers were passed from the first row to the back.
Lin Zhexia held her black pen and, upon receiving the paper, first scanned through all the questions from beginning to end.
This habit was identical to Chi Yao’s.
It was developed under Chi Yao’s influence since childhood. Although her grades weren’t as outstanding as his, her test-taking habits were very similar.
After scanning the questions, she discovered that many problems on the test… she had done during the vacation.
There was even that question Chi Yao was “too lazy to solve,” almost unchanged except for a few numerical values.
“Well then,” Lin Zhexia muttered as she wrote her name in the upper left corner, “I guess I’ll reluctantly forgive you for calling me a shortie this morning.”
After the test, the papers were handed in for immediate grading.
Most people barely reached the passing line, with dismal scores.
Out of a total of 120 points, Chen Lin scored 81 and was a bit distressed after receiving her paper: “We don’t need to take this home for parents to see, right?”
Just as she finished speaking, Teacher Xu called Lin Zhexia’s name.
“Lin Zhexia,” Teacher Xu pushed up her glasses and looked a few more times at the student who stood up when her name was called, “110, the only three-digit score in our class. Very good, keep it up.”
After hearing a series of two-digit scores, the classmates couldn’t help but erupt when they heard “110”: “Whoa, 110.”
“On this devil of a test, someone scored three digits.”
“I thought that 99 earlier would be the class’s top score.”
“…”
Lin Zhexia hadn’t expected to draw attention in class on the first day of school because of her baseline test score.
But being the center of attention wasn’t the most awkward part.
What was most awkward was that Teacher Xu was quite satisfied with her score and asked her to share some thoughts.
Teacher Xu: “Is there anything you’d like to say to your new classmates?”
Lin Zhexia stood beside the podium holding her test paper, her mind momentarily blank, completely at a loss for words.
Under everyone’s gaze, she didn’t know what to think, and finally came up with: “I don’t have much to say. If I must say something, I can only say that you all can learn from me.”
The class fell silent for a moment.
Then someone started applauding: “Awesome!”
When she returned to her seat, Chen Lin couldn’t help but say: “You’re so impressive.”
Lin Zhexia already wanted to travel back in time to strangle her past self from a few minutes ago: “My brain might have been caught in something just now.”
Chen Lin: “Not at all, you looked cool when you were speaking. You truly are unfazed.”
“…” Lin Zhexia couldn’t recall, “Just pretend you never saw that.”
Right now.
She wanted to.
Open her chat with Chi Yao.
And type a string of “Ahhh” into the chat box.
But she couldn’t—no phones during class.
Unexpectedly, she and Chen Lin became more familiar because of this embarrassing incident.
After class, Chen Lin hadn’t fully understood the wrong questions discussed in class.
Lin Zhexia explained them to her once.
Chen Lin took back her test paper and said, “Thank you. Did you have tutoring during the break? Like hiring a private tutor?”
Lin Zhexia thought of Chi Yao’s face, which looked completely unhireable: “Sort of…”
Chen Lin: “Your tutor must have taught quite thoroughly if they covered all these questions.”
“He’s not that good,” since Chi Yao wasn’t around, Lin Zhexia spoke freely, “he’s ugly and has a bad temper.”
Chen Lin: “Huh?”
“And he loves to show off.”
Lin Zhexia finally said: “…Anyway, he’s not that great. It’s mainly because I’m naturally gifted.”
What no one knew was that during the break, she quietly took out her phone.
She opened her chat with a certain person.
And carefully sent a kneeling emoji along with a few lines of text—
[Kneeling]—
Super Invincible Handsome Chi Yao—
You’re awesome—
So glad to have you—
You. Are. My. Dad!!!
And that super invincible handsome person coldly replied with four words—
Keep acting crazy, I’ll block you.