Chapter 128: Fear of being dominated by a Ying scholar [3 updates]

Silence, still silence.

Ying Zijin stared at the back of her answer sheet, silent for a full five minutes.

The student beside her had been on guard against Ying Zijin copying his answers, and when he caught a glimpse, he naturally noticed.

It seemed Ying Zijin had given up on herself, not even wanting to copy anymore, just starting to daydream.

And she still bet with Lu Fang?

Just like this?

He sneered softly, full of disdain, and then bowed his head to continue writing his own paper.

Meanwhile, Ying Zijin, emotionless, put down her pen.

She needed to retract her previous thought.

An essay question in the Chinese language exam was designed precisely to counter her existence.

Eight hundred words, asking for her life.

She wouldn’t write it.

Ying Zijin looked up at the clock above the blackboard, there were still more than two hours before the end of the exam, enough to get some sleep.

She took two soft earplugs from her pocket, put them on, and buried her head in the crook of her arm.

The girl’s actions didn’t attract the attention of other Elite Class students, after all, sleeping during an exam was no longer strange to them.

Since the exam didn’t prohibit sleep, the invigilator didn’t remind her.

In previous cohorts of the Elite Class, there was an “Academic God” who would always sleep for an hour during the tests, then wake up to complete the paper.

And even so, he was first in every subject.

But could Ying Zijin compare with this “Academic God”?

When she slept, it was just a waste of time.

When there were thirty minutes left until the end of the exam, the invigilator walking by the girl glanced at her out of habit.

Upon noticing that she hadn’t even written the essay question on her answer sheet, he stopped.

He looked at the question, and indeed, this time the Chinese essay topic was really hard.

It was very possible that she didn’t even understand the question, let alone go off-topic.

But not writing a single word meant giving up the chance; even writing a title would get two points.

Since the answer sheet was pressed under Ying Zijin’s arm, the invigilator also didn’t know how well she did on the front side.

But he also noticed that there wasn’t a trace of work on the paper; it was as clean as it had been before the seal was broken.

Not to mention other questions, but for the first question, a discussion on textual reading, shouldn’t there be some annotations?

This major question was worth only nine points, but many students could only score up to three.

The invigilator sighed and shook his head as he walked away.

Ying Zijin slept until the end of the exam.

When exiting the exam room, Zhong Zhiwan, who had held back for two and a half hours, finally spoke up, “Cousin, did you stay up late last night? How could you sleep so long during the exam?”

Ying Zijin didn’t turn her head or listen to what Zhong Zhiwan was saying; she walked away directly.

She truly didn’t want to spend another second with some of the students in the Elite Class.

Zhong Zhiwan’s smile stiffened.

“Zhiwan, don’t be so eager to please,” said the girl next to her, linking arms with her, “Just let her sleep. When she loses the bet, won’t she have to apologize to you in front of the whole school? Why do you bother asking after her?”

Zhong Zhiwan pursed her lips and said nothing, “Let’s go, we have a math exam this afternoon.”

For the Elite Class students, math was of paramount importance.

No one knew where the teachers who set the math questions for the Elite Class came from; every time the questions were so psychotic they wished to never see math problems again in their lives.

Last semester’s final math exam only scored Zhong Zhiwan 112 points.

This time, in order to improve her grade, she specially asked her older brother for math problems from the Imperial Capital University’s math department.

Zhong Zhiwan looked at the girl’s departing figure and smiled.

The math exam was so difficult; could Ying Zijin even understand the questions?

She was certainly overzealous.

And indeed, Ying Zijin still slept for a long time during the math exam at half-past three in the afternoon.

When the end-of-exam bell rang, she picked up two pens and left the classroom straight away, not staying for an extra minute.

Once the girl had left, the students of the Elite Class became restless.

“I’m dying of laughter, did you see? Ying Zijin actually finished the math paper in thirty minutes. I’m guessing she was just scribbling nonsense on the answer sheet,” one said.

“I thought she was going to cheat, but it turned out she didn’t even attempt the questions. I won’t even mention how hard this math exam was,” another commented.

“It was truly difficult, especially the last two major problems. I didn’t understand at all what the questions were asking. I just wrote down some formulas, hoping the marker would give me some points,” one admitted.

“Zhiwan!” Lu Fang shouted, approaching energetically, “Do you think the math exam was hard?”

After two consecutive exams, Zhong Zhiwan was in a good mood and entertained Lu Fang, “I should be able to score above 125 points.”

Scoring those points on the Elite Class’s math paper was indeed a high score.

“Zhiwan, you’re so amazing,” a girl said enviously. “I mean, coming from such a wealthy family and still working so hard, I really admire you.”

If she were the daughter of a wealthy family, where would she find the motivation to concentrate so much on studying?

“Coming from a wealthy family isn’t the result of my own efforts,” Zhong Zhiwan smiled faintly. “My grades make my grandfather happy.”

“After Labor Day, when the results come out, you should show your grandfather both your and Ying Zijin’s grades,” another girl suggested. “Without comparison, there’s no harm done.”

Zhong Zhiwan said nothing, just packed up her things.

After all, Ying Zijin’s total score wasn’t even comparable to hers in a single subject.

**

Meanwhile, Ying Zijin had already left the campus.

Fu Yunshen knew she had been tired lately, with exams and all, so he had been driving to pick her up.

He turned his head to look at her buckling the seat belt. “How was the exam today?”

“Hmm,” Ying Zijin leaned back in her seat, “pretty tiring.”

She had even gone through her math paper a second time while writing it.

Because she habitually used formulas not even taught in college mathematics, that’s why it took her as long as thirty minutes.

For tomorrow’s comprehensive science test, she needed to restrain herself a bit.

“Then get some sleep early tonight, stop surfing the internet,” Fu Yunshen raised his eyebrow. “Yaoyao, are you confident about passing?”

At those words, Ying Zijin’s expression froze for a second. “I am for Chinese.”

“If you can pass Chinese, it means you’re improving quickly,” Fu Yunshen ruffled her hair. “I knew it, our little one is incredible at anything she seriously sets her mind to.”

Ying Zijin thought about it. “I was quite serious.”

So serious that she wrote explanations for all the math essay questions.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Yaoyao, don’t worry about the bet,” Fu Yunshen turned the steering wheel. “Even if you really didn’t pass, you still have your brother.”

Ying Zijin rested her hand on her head and glanced sideways, her phoenix eyes slightly lifted. “I’ve already agreed to it, just for fun.”

The reason she had taken on Lu Fang’s bet was that she had already arranged it with Fu Yunshen.

“Hmm?” Fu Yunshen’s tone rose at the end. “Does brother already have such a big ‘Charm’?”

“No,” Ying Zijin methodically inserted the straw into her milk tea cup, “it’s the good-looking female celebrities.”

“…”

Alright then, the kid is just as unsentimental as ever.

Fu Yunshen chuckled, his expression relaxed, “Kid, one subject passed, one good-looking female celebrity.”

Ying Zijin lifted her eyes, seemingly intrigued. “What about a perfect score?”

“A perfect score?” Although Fu Yunshen hadn’t thought she could score that high, he replied, “If it’s a perfect score, brother will give you an entertainment company.”

He turned his head, his voice tender. “Just do your best and don’t feel too much pressure.”

**

The next day.

Because of the promise Fu Yunshen had given her, Ying Zijin arrived at the classroom ten minutes early.

This intrigued the students of the Elite Class as well, but they didn’t really pay much attention to it.

They estimated that Ying Zijin’s Chinese and math scores, at best, would hardly reach the teens. Even if she really did her best on the comprehensive science, what difference would it make?

Lu Fang was excited, struggling to contain his laughter.

Soon, he would make Ying Zijin apologize to Zhong Zhiwan in front of the whole school.

There were two invigilators for each exam, switched out each time randomly.

As soon as He Xun entered, he spotted the girl sitting in the middle and couldn’t help frowning.

He was aware of the bet too.

It could only be said that Ying Zijin was too confident in her abilities, to think of comparing her test scores with those of the Elite Class students. As for the outcome, did it even need to be thought about?

He Xun didn’t look further, starting to distribute the exam papers with the other invigilator.

But when he handed out the paper to Ying Zijin, he was particularly quick, clearly not wanting to linger a second longer.

The comprehensive science exam was only two and a half hours long with extremely difficult questions, and the time was far from sufficient.

As the exam bell rang, all the students, including Zhong Zhiwan, started working on their papers frantically.

Ying Zijin first unfolded her test paper and looked it over to make sure there wasn’t a single question that required too much penmanship before she began to write.

Her pace was quick, ten seconds per multiple-choice question.

Within minutes, she was on the physics experimental problem.

As He Xun was checking to ensure that students had written their names and student numbers, he intended only to glance at Ying Zijin briefly as he passed her.

But when he saw her just glance at the test paper and carelessly fill in the answer sheet, he couldn’t hold back.

“If you’re just scribbling down anything, you might as well not take the exam,” he said.

As he spoke, He Xun reached out to pull the paper from her hand.