Chapter 9 The First Encounter

  The mid-term exam is coming as scheduled, which can also be considered a big test. The exam will be held in separate venues, with one person per table. The only difference is that after the exam, there will be no holiday, and classes will resume normally. This is also what makes Ji Xinan most conflicted, because the seven-day National Day holiday has not arrived yet.

  But the test still needs to be taken, and it's necessary to take it seriously. When Ji Xin'an answers questions, she does it differently from others. While others start from the beginning and answer the easy ones first, she does the opposite - starting with the difficult ones to practice question types. After finishing all of them, if the scores are similar, she won't bother answering some simple ones at the front.

  Ji Xin'an has always abided by her own principles, being just above average is enough. It's not that she wants to be low-key, but if she's too excellent, there will be too many troubles.

  As expected, when the results came out, Ji Xin was ranked 13th in her class and 89th in her grade. Both Ji Xin and her parents were very satisfied with this result. Her parents didn't understand the situation, but for the old Ji Xin, this was already a big improvement. But Ji Xin herself was satisfied because she had achieved her goal.

  Zou Ze doesn't know if it's intentional or not, just like Ji Xin'an, he got a perfect score on the test and ranked third in the class and tenth in the grade. If it was really intentional, then Ji Xin'an would definitely admire him to death.

  The two first places were still occupied by Yu Yao, and Yu Yao did not have any surprised expression, as if it was a matter of course.

  Ji Xin'an remembered Yu Yao from his past life, who had all the qualities that an excellent girl should have. She was a bit proud and didn't get along with others, but despite her nonchalant appearance, she had a strong desire to be first.

  According to her, Yu Yao has never lost a game from primary school to junior high school, but the impression she gives is that it's hard for others to get close to her. There isn't anyone who is particularly good at getting along with her. From young to old, there has only been one person who is considered a good friend, named Shi Lin, and now they are in the same class.

  Ji Xin'an had also been jealous of her. As a flower in their youth, she not only studied well but was also beautiful, and even by today's aesthetic standards, she is still a stunning beauty who plays the piano exceptionally well. However, Ji Xin'an is quite magnanimous, or you could say big-hearted, and after a good night's sleep, she would forget all about it.

  But now Ji Xin'an wants to learn to play the piano. Although she doesn't admit it in her heart, she has been influenced by her to some extent.

  In their previous life, they were classmates for three years but didn't have a deep relationship, just acquaintances. In this life, she also didn't want to have any deep interactions with her, always feeling that they weren't people from the same world.

  But Ji Xin'an didn't expect that in this life, they would be destined to entangle with each other, and their first encounter came just like that.

  It happened in math class after the mid-term exam.

  Math teacher Xiao Qiulin, like all teachers, would go over the exam papers after the mid-term exams and focus on explaining the questions that most students got wrong.

  When Ji Xin'an got the paper, she saw that all the difficult questions she did were correct, so she didn't want to look at it anymore. As a result, when the teacher was teaching, she also listened with half an ear. Unexpectedly, Xiao Qiulin suddenly called out Ji Xin'an's name, "Ji Xin'an, say the answers to the fifth to tenth fill-in-the-blank questions."

  Ji Xin'an looked down at her test paper, thinking to herself that this was not good. These few questions were extremely simple, so she hadn't even bothered to look at them. At this moment, the teacher asked her a question, and of course, she knew what it meant.

  But now is not the time for explanations, I can only lower my head and say the answers while looking at them.

  "It seems like you can do it, so why didn't you answer? These are all gifts for you to score points, and the whole class only had one question that you didn't even attempt. What's wrong, was it too easy, not worth doing?" As expected, Xiao Qiulin saw that although she had said everything correctly, she was very unhappy with her behavior of not answering during the exam.

  "No, there's no time for that, I started from the back." Ji Xin'an certainly couldn't say yes, or else he would get angry to the point of smoke coming out of his head, so he casually made up an excuse.

  Xiao Qiulin listened to her explanation, although not entirely convinced, but also didn't want to waste everyone's time for her sake, so he only said one sentence, "Next time start from the simple things, these won't take up much time either, sit down!"

  Ji Xinan had just sat down when a voice came from the front right, not loud but just audible to her ears. "You can't even do such simple questions and you're making excuses, saying you started from the back, who doesn't know that even Rong Yao didn't finish the last question, who would believe you?"

  The person speaking is obviously Yu Yao's best friend, Shi Lin, who can be described as the green leaf that complements the red flower. She can't be said to be unattractive, only ordinary, but standing next to the beautiful Yu Yao, she can only serve as a foil.

  She didn't know why she was particularly protective of Yu Yao, but as long as someone did something that wasn't good for her, Shilin would be the first to rush out. In the following years, no matter where Yu Yao went, she would follow. They became classmates who walked together for n years. It's said that after they started working, the two of them were in the same city.

  It's just that if she were to push it back another ten years, Jing Xin An would really suspect that she had yuri tendencies.

  Ji Xin'an didn't pay much attention to her words, but Yu Yao listened and first felt a little downcast, then straightened her back, with an arrogant expression. It seems that she also agrees with her words, always confident, believing that even if she can't do the questions herself, others in the same grade as her will definitely not be able to do them either.

  What everyone did not expect was that when the test paper was about to be finished, Xiao Qiulin called out Ji Xin'an once again.

  "Ji Xin'an, can you share your thought process for the last question with everyone?" Xiao Qiulin looked down at his paper, not even looking up to see what impact his words had on the people below.

  Ji Xin'an stood up, only to feel the puzzled and seemingly hurt and jealous eyes of Yu Yao around her. Ji Xin'an thought this was truly a progress, as in her past life she had never endured jealous eyes, let alone from the person who should not have such eyes.

  Step by step, make this question clear and logical. Let everyone understand it clearly.

  After finishing speaking, Xiao Qiulin gestured to Ji Xinan to sit down, then picked up the scroll and stood up straight, looking downwards. "Did everyone understand?" Some nodded, some replied that they understood. He knew that they should all have understood.

  "This question was set by me, and it may be a bit difficult. I set it to see how many of our classmates can do it. But what makes me extremely disappointed is that out of the 45 students in our class, only Ji Xin'an got it right. The others either didn't even try or only wrote one or two steps before giving up." Xiao Qiulin slammed the papers on his desk and said harshly. "You've all let me down, including those with high scores. You think you can get into our school's high school just by doing something so simple? Let me tell you, it's not that easy. With so many top students in the city, you don't have any advantages at all. If you want to stand out, you need to work hard on the difficult stuff and gain an edge. But what about you guys? You've really let me down."

  Under his rebuke, everyone lowered their heads, and even Zou Ze, who had never been afraid of anything, avoided meeting his gaze.

  At this time, the bell rang for class dismissal. Xiao Qiulin didn't plan to scold them anymore. After gathering his things and holding them in his hand, he said to everyone before leaving: "Everyone write the wrong questions ten times and hand them in tomorrow." He paused, turned his head to look at Ji Xin'an and said to her: "Ji Xin'an, you write twenty times. If I see you making mistakes on such simple questions again next time, I'll punish you to write one hundred times." After finishing speaking, he pushed the door and left.

  Xiao Qiulin left, but the trouble remained. As soon as he walked out the door, Zou Ze looked at her with a face full of admiration and smiled, "Deskmate, you're too amazing! You can actually do such a twisted question, I took a few glances and didn't have any idea where to start."

  "What you're doing isn't that you can't do it, you're just lazy." Zhi Xin An knew that with his intelligence, if he put all his thoughts into studying, he could achieve more than this, but everyone has their own pursuits, and forcing it won't work.

  Zou Ze didn't refute, but instead lowered his head and spoke in a low voice, "Then what's the point of this? If you knew that doing this would lead to such a result, I bet you wouldn't have done it. Right?"

  It seems like they were friends in their past lives, and they really understand each other well!

  The two of them lowered their heads to talk, and the intimate appearance was seen by Yu Yao sitting not far away, who looked at them with a complex and incomprehensible gaze.

  Shirin rolled her eyes in Ji Xin'an's direction and snorted, "What's so great about that."

  Ji Xin'an couldn't help but smile wryly, thinking to herself that it seemed she wouldn't be able to keep a low profile from now on.