Some time later, the day of the School Closing Ceremony arrived.
“Sweetheart, are you confident about this Quarterly Exam?”
Hua Yan asked with a beaming smile as she led the pink-haired girl toward the Academy.
She had asked the same thing on the day of the exam a few days ago.
Back then, Hua Xiangrong had been brimming with confidence, patting her little chest as she promised to take first place.
Hua Yan had been overjoyed for the past few days.
She hadn’t just bragged to every parent she knew; she had also bought the little girl plenty of new toys.
On the day the Quarterly Exam ended, she and Yun Xuechang had even gone out of their way to cook a grand feast for Hua Xiangrong.
“Uh… it was… it was okay, I guess…”
Hua Xiangrong’s eyes darted around shiftily.
Hua Yan’s curiosity was piqued by this sudden change in attitude.
‘Wait, looking at Rongrong like this, isn’t she the spitting image of me back then? Right before my own exam results came out, telling Grandmother I did great…’
She felt a faint inkling that something was wrong.
‘Perhaps I’m overthinking things. Didn’t the Master praise Xuechang and me for teaching Rongrong so well the other day?’
She comforted herself internally.
Of course, she knew that if Rongrong was well-taught, it wasn’t mostly her own doing. It was thanks to the “Yun Xuechang” from the other world.
‘I wonder what “she” in that world did when she discovered Rongrong was gone… She must have loved Rongrong dearly, too. She’s likely been grieving for a long time…’
At the thought of the other Yun Xuechang potentially weeping over her lost child, Hua Yan’s heart suddenly constricted. Her grip on Hua Xiangrong’s hand tightened involuntarily.
She turned to look at the person beside her—the Yun Xuechang of this world—who was holding Hua Xiangrong’s other hand.
“Yan’er, what is it?” Yun Xuechang asked softly, noticing her gaze.
“It’s nothing. I just wanted to look at you.”
The inexplicable discomfort in her heart caused Hua Yan to blurthe out words she would normally never say of her own accord.
Seeing the preciousness and concern in the red-haired girl’s eyes, Yun Xuechang was momentarily stunned.
“Hmph.”
“I say, if you two want to be all lovey-dovey, go do it at home. Do you have to block the entrance?”
A cold voice sounded from the side. The group turned to see Ji Ling, dressed in black robes, standing there.
She was leading a nervous Ning Shiliu, whose rabbit ears were drooping.
“Our apologies, Elder Ji.” As usual, Yun Xuechang was the first to yield, stepping aside to clear the path.
“Hmph.”
Ji Ling strode into the Academy. Ning Shiliu stole a glance at her, then looked back at Hua Xiangrong, mouthing the word “sorry” before hurrying after her guardian.
“Let’s go in as well.”
Hua Yan watched their retreating backs before turning to speak.
“Okay.” x2
The family of three then entered the Academy. Passing through a nearly imperceptible ripple in space, they appeared inside a spacious Great Hall.
The hall contained sixty desks and several prayer mats arranged neatly, exactly the size of a single class.
The Xiaoyao Sword Sect’s Academy naturally contained its own pocket dimension, much like Hua Yan’s Spirit Boat.
“Will all students and parents please take your seats.”
Many parents and children had already arrived. The Academy’s old Master stood on the front podium, holding a talisman. A clear, steady guiding voice drifted out from the talisman.
Led by Hua Xiangrong, Hua Yan and Yun Xuechang moved through the crowd to her desk. There, they saw—
A grim-faced Ji Ling, sitting at the very next desk.
This was inevitable, as Hua Xiangrong and Ning Shiliu had always been close friends and sat together.
“Tch.”
Ji Ling glanced at Yun Xuechang, who had taken a prayer mat from Hua Yan and was squeezing onto the same bench as Hua Yan and Hua Xiangrong.
She gave a light snort but said nothing more.
Once everyone was seated, the Master judged that the time had come. He tucked away the talisman and cleared his throat.
“Ahem. It is truly a wonderful occasion to have all parents and students gathered here together…”
A dull, sleep-inducing speech began to drone on. Below the stage, Hua Xiangrong almost wondered if this Master was the reincarnation of her principal from her previous life—even the speaking style was identical, just converted into a literary, classical version.
To her left, Hua Yan was also yawning. To her right, however, Yun Xuechang sat perfectly straight, listening intently like a model disciple.
“Next, I shall announce the results of this Quarterly Exam…”
‘Here it comes!’
The drowsy Hua Yan snapped to attention. She sat up straight and looked toward the stage with anticipation.
‘Rongrong said she was going to take first place! My daughter is so ambitious; I have to listen closely!’
Hua Yan, who had never received a single shred of honor or praise in her own Literary Courses, was beaming.
It was as if she were the one about to go up and receive an award rather than her daughter. Her back straightened even further.
Beside her, Yun Xuechang turned her head and blinked at Hua Yan’s excited expression.
“First place—”
Hua Yan’s mouth curled into a wide grin, her heart full of expectation.
“Xue Qiu! 100 points!”
‘Eh?’
‘Who’s that?’
Hua Yan’s smile froze instantly. A burly man in the crowd laughed loudly, walking up to the stage to accept the exam paper from the Master.
He cupped his hands in greeting to the familiar parents who were congratulating him. A tall, thin boy followed beside him.
“Second place—” the Master continued to read.
‘Fine, even if she didn’t perform her best, second place isn’t bad.’
Hua Yan comforted herself, lowering her head to give Hua Xiangrong a reassuring look: ‘It’s okay, kid. Second is great too.’
For some reason, the pink-haired girl acted as if she hadn’t seen the look at all, her gaze drifting toward Yun Xuechang’s side instead.
“—Ning Shiliu! Ninety-nine points!”
Beside them, Ji Ling stood up. She went on stage to collect the paper and gave a stiff nod to the congratulating parents.
On her habitually gloomy face, the corners of her mouth were twitching with a smile she couldn’t quite suppress.
She glanced at the now-stiff Hua Yan. Somehow, Hua Yan managed to read a clear sense of smugness in those sharp eyes.
“Third place—” the Master continued his roll call.
‘Whatever, whatever. Third place is also very good.’
“—Li Dong! Ninety-eight points!”
A middle-aged woman holding a folding fan covered her mouth and smiled as she stepped onto the stage. She thanked those around her gracefully, followed by a quiet boy.
“Fourth place—”
‘Actually, the top five is still very impressive!’
“—Zhang Meimei! Ninety-six points!”
A middle-aged man in fine silk rose and walked steadily to the stage.
“Sixth place—”
‘The top ten. The top ten would be wonderful!’
“Eleventh place—”
‘Top twenty isn’t bad either!’
“Fifty-first place—”
Hua Xiangrong felt Hua Yan’s expression beside her growing darker and darker. She herself was trembling, on the verge of tears.
‘099! If you had helped me cheat, would I have ended up like this?!’
[Host, cheating is not advisable. The System cannot provide assistance in such matters.]
099’s voice echoed in her mind.
‘Then you should have said so earlier! If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bragged so much in front of Mother and Mama!’
‘Waaaaah… looking at Mother’s face, my dinner tonight is definitely going to be a bamboo switch stir-fry…’
[Host, I assumed that since you spent nearly half the semester reading yuri novels and manga in class, you would have anticipated your grades.]
099 replied drolly.
‘I thought I could count on you! Who knew you were so unreliable! How am I supposed to know all this “thou art” and “cultivation world” knowledge?!’
Hua Xiangrong’s suffering was beyond words. She had assumed that with the System’s help, getting a perfect score would be easy.
That was why she had confidently puffed out her chest in front of Hua Yan and Yun Xuechang, promising to take first place.
Who could have known that on the day of the exam, 099 would refuse to help no matter what?
This left her—a top-tier performing arts student with a 600-point score in her previous life—staring blankly at a paper full of classical prose and cultivation theory.
Only her math was a guaranteed full score; the rest was mostly guesswork or left blank.
“Fifty-seventh place—Hua Xiangrong! Thirty-two points!”
The moment the rank was announced, a slender hand gripped Hua Xiangrong’s shoulder. She turned her head stiffly, meeting Hua Yan’s “smiling” face.
“Rong-rong~”
The red-haired girl’s voice was sickeningly sweet.
“So this is what you told me… first place? Hmm?”
“That… Mother… let me explain…”
Hua Xiangrong squeezed out a smile, trying to struggle.
“Save it! I invented all those tricks when I was your age! We’ll settle this properly when we get back!”
“Ugh.”
Yun Xuechang went up to collect the exam paper. She walked back and looked at the fuming, hands-on-hips Hua Yan, then at the cowering, pitiful pink-haired girl. She blinked.
‘It seems… what Yan’er said before wasn’t quite right either?’
‘Rongrong’s grades… actually seem a bit more like mine when I was little?’
……
That night on Mianyun Peak.
“I’ll teach you to lie! I’ll teach you to brag! I’ll teach you to fail so miserably! I’ll teach you to slack off in class!”
Hua Xiangrong’s sobbing wails, accompanied by the crisp thwack of a bamboo switch, drifted lazily across the entire mountain peak.