In the three months leading up to the High School Entrance Exam, Liang Mei’s house became their study headquarters.
Every weekend, the four of them would rush over to Liang Mei’s place with a week’s worth of questions, and after their intense study sessions, they’d leave with new insights to reflect on for the next week.
The knowledge framework for the High School Entrance Exam was clear and straightforward, not as deep or complex as the College Entrance Exam.
In high school, the knowledge structure was so detailed that it reached every nerve ending of the framework.
If it were the third year of high school right now, Liang Mei wouldn’t waste time and money hanging out with them like this.
But back then, it was precisely in those last three months that she was spurred on by Yushi’s constant reminders and managed to get into the Normal School.
If she’d had this kind of support at the time, she wouldn’t have aimed for the Normal School—she would’ve gone for Tancheng instead.
Under the all-around supervision and encouragement of the other three, Li Yingqiao’s study plan was: Li Yingqiao focused on Chinese, Zheng Miaojia was in charge of social sciences, Gao Dian was responsible for “seal-style” clapping, and Yu Jinyang handled the rest of the subjects.
This was as effective as a weight-loss bootcamp—the results in the first month were remarkable.
The mock test papers that Yu Jinyang photocopied for her used to be covered in so many X’s that every time Liang Mei explained a paper, she had to hold her philtrum to keep from despairing.
Now, she only needed to grab Li Yingqiao’s philtrum to stop her from getting too smug as she went over the test.
But patching up Li’s knowledge gaps was like a physical exam—you really don’t know what’s wrong until you get an X-ray.
Once you do, you realize Li Yingqiao is like a piece of Swiss cheese, full of holes.
Her knowledge structure was as scattered as her second great-uncle’s bones—once the formulas and theorems were broken apart, she couldn’t put them back together.
Liang Mei knew very well that “chicken blood” motivation could only be administered intermittently.
Once the initial excitement faded, Li Yingqiao was like a mudflat after the tide went out—her true lazy nature was completely exposed.
“Hand it over,” Liang Mei said sternly, reaching out to Li Yingqiao.
“The High School Entrance Exam doesn’t test detective work. What’s the use of watching two hundred episodes of Kudo Shinichi (Conan)?—It’s not going to help you, so what are you doing? Are you planning to murder the proctor or something?”
She gave her a fierce glare.
“Fine, if you’re not killing anyone, then hand it over.”
The others froze like cicadas in winter, sneaking glances at Liang Mei.
There was no way she was going to hand it over.
Li Yingqiao ignored them, quietly stuffing the borrowed manga back into her bag, then slouched down and began absentmindedly working on the Shiyan Middle School mock questions Yu Jinyang had copied for her.
Liang Mei wasn’t about to give up.
She slapped the table again, determined to confiscate it.
Li Yingqiao stuck out her neck, refusing to give it up.
Liang Mei shifted her gaze to Yu Jinyang, shooting him a look to get him to act as the enforcer.
Yu Jinyang sighed silently and reached out his hand without even looking up.
Good things never came his way, but all the trouble did.
Sure enough, after painstakingly going over the test with her, as soon as he stepped outside, Li Yingqiao’s expression changed.
Without a word, she ambushed him from behind, landing two heavy punches on the shoulder strap of his backpack, right on his scapula—she hit so hard he almost tumbled down the stairs.
“Traitor! I’m here to deliver justice on behalf of the people!”
“Enemy of the people!”
“You mole!”
“Yu Traitor! You sinister little man! Give me back my Conan! Give me back my book!”
“Besides, it’s not even mine, I borrowed it from someone else. I don’t care, you have to buy me a new one.”
Li Yingqiao chased after him, unleashing a rapid-fire barrage of words that made Yu Jinyang decide to hide out in the boys’ restroom.
But Li Yingqiao, fuming, her mind filled with thoughts of her confiscated book, was determined to stick to him no matter what, and followed him right in without a second thought.
Luckily, the restroom was empty at that moment.
Yu Jinyang reacted quickly, spinning around and bracing his arm against the door frame, blocking her way as he lowered his head to warn her: “Li Yingqiao, are you even looking where you’re going?”
Li Yingqiao snapped out of it, her peripheral vision suddenly catching sight of a urinal.
She instantly realized what was happening, and, embarrassed and angry, punched him hard in the chest.
Yu Jinyang grunted, rubbing his chest that now throbbed dully, sucking in a breath and saying, “…Fine, next weekend I’ll go home and get it for you. I have the whole set. Now stop following me, I need to use the restroom.”
“Really?”
Li Yingqiao’s eyes lit up like car headlights on high beam in a tunnel.
When it came to changing expressions, Yu Jinyang thought if he could turn her mood swings into a calendar, it’d have over three hundred and sixty-five days a year.
“Really, for real.”
He nodded so hard his head looked like a windshield wiper in a hurricane.
He’d only been trying to avoid her, but now he genuinely needed a break.
Li Yingqiao still lingered, her eyes suspiciously scanning him up and down.
“Why do I not believe you?”
“So what do you want?”
He was starting to run out of patience.
“I’ll go to your house with you today to get it.”
“…You just want to see how it ends, right?”
He gave a cold laugh and shot her a look.
Just then, Yu Jinyang caught sight of an adult man approaching from a distance out of the corner of his eye.
He immediately spun Li Yingqiao around and pushed her outside without hesitation.
“Did you finish your test paper? How dare you try to bargain with me here?”
“You’re even more annoying than Teacher Liang!”
Li Yingqiao turned her head and glared at him.
“Come on, you’re only worth ten bucks, so stop bossing around someone worth ten thousand, okay?”
“…Li Yingqiao,” he said, pushing her over to the bushes at the side, tightening the strap of his bag on one shoulder, resisting the urge to smack her round head, “Is your brain still in its shrink-wrap? Want me to help you open it up and rewire it? Is this how you calculate your net worth?”
“None of your business—”
“Are you going or not?”
“I’m going, I’m going,” he suddenly nudged her toe lightly with his own, then jerked his chin in the direction of the approaching bus, commanding, “About face, your bus is here.”
Li Yingqiao slowly turned halfway, then looked back, still unwilling to let it go, and confirmed with him, “Don’t forget next weekend.”
“Pfft.”
Yu Jinyang replied with a blank face, but his voice suddenly rose, more lively than ever, “Come on, ten thousand bucks, run for it, quick quick quick!”
“…Are you crazy?!”
Li Yingqiao boarded the bus, unable to resist turning back to yell at him.
Yu Jinyang laughed so hard in the restroom he almost couldn’t stand.
When he came out, he saw Li Yingqiao still standing stiffly at the bus stop.
He felt a sinking feeling as their eyes met.
“Told you to run, but you didn’t listen. Missed your bus, huh?”
He washed his hands and said.
“Yu Traitor! Hmph!”
Li Yingqiao ground her teeth, clenching her fists so tight they cracked.
“You believe I’ll really bite you right now?!”
“What’s your problem? I just finished in the restroom,” Yu Jinyang gave her a warning look, then glanced at his watch, finally sighing helplessly, “Fine, I’ll wait with you for the next one.”
So they waited until it was dark.
The sky slowly dimmed, and one by one, the streetlights flickered on along the road, casting a warm yellow glow like scattered egg yolks, flowing all the way to the end of the street.
Li Yingqiao watched until her eyes grew blurry and her stomach rumbled with hunger.
She tugged at the sleeve of the person beside her, who was leaning shoulder to shoulder with her, and said, “Yu Traitor, do you have any money?”
Yu Jinyang was just worrying about how he’d get home.
He’d left in such a rush that morning he hadn’t brought his wallet or his phone, couldn’t even make a call, and no one was coming to pick him up.
He said, “If I said I didn’t, would you believe me?”
Sure enough, she puffed out her cheeks, “Stingy.”
He slung his backpack over to her.
“Don’t believe me? Search for yourself. If you find even a dime, I’ll eat it.”
Li Yingqiao wasted no time grabbing it and started rummaging through—test papers, test papers, more test papers.
How could a past life be so plain? This life, all she ever dealt with was test papers.
“What the—”
From the mess of crumpled papers, Li Yingqiao pulled out a sheet that was thicker and sturdier than the rest, standing out from the flimsy test sheets.
Rich people really did have better things—even their paper was finer and thicker.
She couldn’t help but pull the paper out under the yellow streetlight, curiosity getting the better of her.
The handwriting was wild and messy.
She assumed it was just his scrap paper and wasn’t interested, about to stuff it back—
Yu Jinyang’s face changed instantly.
With lightning-fast reflexes, he snatched it back.