Chapter 8  : First in the Level

When Old Liu stepped into the classroom, the bell for the first class had yet to ring.

He placed the thick stack of papers on the rostrum and said, “Subject rep, come distribute the papers!”

The entire classroom instantly fell silent. Xue Xi sat in the last row and watched as her classmates all stretched out their necks. As the subject representative distributed the examination scripts, intermittent sounds of gasp and sighs could be heard from every corner of the room.

The subject representative, Zhou Zhen, was studious and frail-looking. He wore a pair of thick glasses. He moved toward Xue Yao’s table and passed her script over.

Someone asked curiously, “How many marks?”

Checking her score, Xue Yao answered in a light-hearted and proud tone, “127 marks.”

“The questions were so hard, yet you actually scored so highly?”

She feigned humbleness. “Nah. I’m still lacking when compared to Fan Han.”

“How can you compare yourself to Fan Han? He has been receiving uncountable awards from mathematics competitions since he was young! Still, you and he are truly a match made in heaven. Both of you have such good grades…”

Xue Yao seemed accustomed to the surrounding gasps and praises. She lifted her chin and subconsciously peered at the last row.

She asked hypocritically, “Zhou Zhen, hurry and see how my cousin scored, alright?”

Zhou Zhen flipped through the papers and did not spot Xue Xi’s. Instead, he saw Fan Han’s first and hurriedly picked it out. He was about to pass it to Fan Han when…

On the rostrum, Old Liu said, “For this mathematics paper, the only full-marks student in the entire level is in our class!”

“Wow!”

“Isn’t Fan Han too incredible?”

While everyone was gushing, Fan Han silently heaved a sigh of relief.

During the examination yesterday, there were quite a few that he was unsure about. Looks like I did it all correctly…

“Congratulations, Fan Han! You are amazing!”

Xue Yao’s voice rang beside him.

He looked up at her with a smile.

When he returned home yesterday and was informed that his arranged marriage partner had been changed to Xue Yao, he had let out a breath of relief. For a person like him, only the best and most outstanding girl could be matched!

marks… Mhm, it hits the passing mark!

At this moment, Zhou Zhen landed his paper on his table right in front of him.

He instinctively looked at the scores and his smile froze. 138? What’s wrong? Did I receive the wrong paper?

While everyone was still confused, Old Liu sucked in a deep breath and said the following, “Let us congratulate student Xue Xi! Her foundations in mathematics are very solid. Even though the questions this time around were exceptionally hard, her results are also totally unexpected! It is a whole 12 marks higher than the second place, Fan Han!”

In the next instant, it felt as if a pause button had been pressed on the entire classroom. A perfect silence prevailed!

After a full two seconds, everyone then turned to look at the girl in the last row in unison.

Fan Han widened his eyes in shock and disbelief. When he turned back to look at the girl, he saw her slowly look up. Her eyes started to focus on him. A meaningful smile slowly crept up her lips as she silently mouthed the words, “Still manageable.”

Fan Han’s cheeks instantly blazed, as though someone had given him a tight slap!

Similarly, Xue Yao also froze and all she could think of was: How can this be?! How can it be?!

…

“End of class!”

Old Liu finished reviewing the examination paper right at the ring of the bell that signified the end of class, and he promptly exited the classroom.

In the next moment, the classroom instantly exploded with noise.

Screech!

It was the sound of a chair being dragged against the floor. The person seated in front of Xue Xi turned around and leaned against her table as though she had no bones. “Hey, Xue Xi, right? I’m Qin Shuang!”

The girl had a head of pink hair and her makeup was exaggerated, as though she came from a 2D world. She was chewing gum and even blew out a bubble right after saying this.

Xue Xi looked at her curiously, then replied, “Hello.”

Qin Shuang whipped out her phone when she received a reply and babbled loudly, “Everyone in our school’s forum is now debating whether Fan Han can keep his Number One position! Ha ha, I have always disliked Fan Han and Xue Yao, those two. They always act so arrogantly. What is there to be proud of when all they have are slightly better grades?”

Xue Xi: “…Oh.”

An overly familiar and talkative person—this was her first impression of Qin Shuang.

Qin Shuang did not mind her uninterested reply and continued on her own, “I heard that the Fan family reneged on your arranged marriage because they felt that your results were terrible? Then, can you clinch Number One in overall results? That way, you can give him a tight slap on his face!”

“…” And a gossipy one.

The next class was Literature. As she was the subject representative, Xue Yao’s first instinct when she received the papers was to look at Xue Xi’s marks. When she saw the marks written on top, she immediately let out a breath of relief.

She intentionally walked over to pass the paper to Xue Xi and coincidentally heard Qin Shuang say this.

Hence, she said, “Fan Han excels not only in mathematics. He excels in every subject.”

With that, she passed Xue Xi’s paper over to her. “102 marks. Cousin, looks like your grades are severely imbalanced. You already have a 30-mark difference from Fan Han in one subject and you still have a pipedream of being first? Stop dreaming!’

Pak!

Qin Shuang’s chewing gum bubble burst. She cocked her head at Xue Yao. “I don’t know if Xue Xi will score better than Fan Han, but it will definitely be higher than yours. Where does your pride come from?”

Rendered speechless, Xue Yao only retorted back after a short pause, “As the first from the bottom, you would, of course, not feel any pride.”

“No.” Qin Shuang grinned. “I’m proud to be the first from the bottom.”

Xue Yao: “…”

She turned around and left huffily.

The teachers had burned the midnight oil last night marking the papers and individually collated them today. The ranking and scores were finally out when afternoon classes ended.

After the grade reports were pasted on the wall in front, everyone squeezed to take a look the moment classes ended.

Xue Xi did not partake in this, though. To her, things such as grades were not important. Hence, she picked up her bag and walked out the door.

In the classroom, Fan Han and Xue Yao had not left. They were packing their bags as they eyed the front of the class. While both of them held themselves in high regard and deigned to squeeze with the crowd, they were still extremely curious about the ranking this time around.

When most of the crowd had dispersed, Fan Han finally walked over. His gaze landed on the utmost left column of the first row. Alas, he, who had hogged the first spot usually, was currently in a different spot.

He was stunned.

Beside him, Xue Yao was going bonkers…

…

…

At 6:30 PM, the car slowly drove through the Xue family’s gates.

Xue Xi moved to open the door the moment the car stopped, but a piercing voice sounded. “Are you very happy?”

She paused, only to see that Xue Yao’s eyes were red and brimming with tears. The latter shouted, “You pretended to be a dimwit to see me and Fan Han make a fool out of ourselves. Are you satisfied now?”

Xue Xi was taken aback.

Is this person’s brain fine?

Before Xue Xi could reply, Xue Yao had already alighted from the car and ran into the mansion.

When Xue Xi alighted and followed her path into the living room, she immediately heard Old Lady Xue’s anxious voice. “Yaoyao, what’s the matter?”

Not speaking a word, Xue Yao ran upstairs and locked herself in her room.

Old Lady Xue was anxiously and worriedly circling outside her door. “What happened? Why are you suddenly crying…”

“Oh, right. The results are out today. Did Xue Xi bully you out of jealousy because you scored better than she did?”

Xue Xi, who had just walked in: “…”