Quan Zhisui treated Wei Shixu to a private dinner after class. She didn't forget him when she treated everyone to milk tea afterwards, focusing on equal opportunity.
During lunch break, the scores for the morning math quiz came out.
Wei Shixu got full marks and ranked first in class, while Zhuge Ying lost eight points and ranked second.
Kong Mingze was last place, and Quan Zhisui second-to-last.
When Zhuge Ying handed the test paper to Quan Zhisui, she was shocked: “How could your score be so low?”
Quan Zhisui was also shocked: “But I answered every question!”
Zhuge Ying fell silent.
Kong Mingze laughed from the side: “You're better off sleeping like me! How did you get grades as bad as mine?”
Quan Zhisui held her forehead: “My grades were pretty good at the Martial Arts School...”
Zhuge Ying didn't know how to comfort her: “Well... keep working hard!”
Kong Mingze was curious again: “Hey, tell me about your time at the Martial Arts School! What else did you do besides martial arts training?”
Quan Zhisui: “Didn't really study much culture classes.”
Kong Mingze was even more curious: “What did you study then?”
Quan Zhisui laid her head on the desk, voice muffled: “Mountain medicine, fortune-telling.”
Kong Mingze: “Huh? What what?”
Quan Zhisui answered robotically: “Esoteric arts.”
“Mountain is self-cultivation and physical training in the tranquil mountains; Medicine is prescriptions, acupuncture, spiritual healing; Fortune-telling like Eight Characters, Ziwei Astrology; Physiognomy like face and land forms, palm reading too; Divination gets complicated – Plum Blossom Divination, Strange Gates Escaping Stems, Da Liu Ren, Xiao Liu Ren... consulting hexagrams and stuff...”
Kong Mingze admired her with starry eyes: “Wow! So you know everything? Can you divine test answers from hexagrams? Just pinch your fingers and calculate it out!”
Quan Zhisui: “I can, but I won't.”
Kong Mingze: “Why not?”
Quan Zhisui rolled her eyes: “That's cheating. These ancestral secrets can't be used for opportunism! Also, borrowing fate for a mere test? Crazy. Could be fatal.”
Kong Mingze jumped in fright: “Oh oh got it, can't mess around! Then read my fortune or physiognomy?”
Quan Zhisui: “No.”
Kong Mingze anxiously asked: “Why not again?”
Quan Zhisui: “My skills are lacking.”
Kong Mingze: “...”
He realized, your strongest skill is fighting. 'Mountain' is the focus of your medicine/fortune-telling/divination training.
Just then, a classmate by the door shouted: “Wei Shixu, someone's looking for you outside!”
Outside, Zhou Chun stood holding a cup of milk tea.
Seeing this, Kong Mingze started heckling: “Ooh, the school hunk is so popular!”
Quan Zhisui asked in confusion: “Did time rewind? I feel like I saw this yesterday.”
Kong Mingze grinned: “Happens every day.”
Quan Zhisui looked at him blankly: “So you do this every day?”
Kong Mingze: “Yup! I'm bored.”
Quan Zhisui: “...”
Indeed, your self-awareness is clear.
...
After calling for Wei Shixu, Zhou Chun anxiously waited outside, nails digging into the milk tea cup until white.
She wasn't blindly impulsive, she came after inquiring about some things.
That girl called Quan Zhisui got second-to-last in class. A failure like her couldn't possibly catch Wei Shixu's eye.
She didn't believe Wei Shixu had such bad taste.
First place and second-to-last had no future together.
She was different. She was class 3's top student, consistently ranking top 5 grade-wide.
Apart from outstanding grades, she had an excellent and clean family background.
Her father was a doctor, mother a teacher. Going further back, her grandparents and extended family were all respectable people without any divorces – extremely stable.
She should be the most popular type.
Moreover, she had partnered with Wei Shixu in the Model United Nations for two consecutive years. They struggled and won awards together!
Zhou Chun was confident that with time, Wei Shixu would be with her from high school to college to jobs and family.
She had a sweet and innocent look, standing there like a picturesque view. Many passing glances were cast her way.
But Zhou Chun only looked at Wei Shixu.
Wei Shixu didn't even lift his head to look at her. He simply raised the milk tea in his hand.
“I have some. Quan Zhisui treated me.”
He didn't even bother facing her to speak.
A classmate by the window relayed: “Wei Shixu says he has milk tea from Quan Zhisui!”
Zhou Chun's expression instantly soured. She heard it clearly without needing relay.
Before leaving, she glanced at the last row again.
That girl called Quan Zhisui was just sleeping on her desk, same as the other failure Kong Mingze.
Zhou Chun’s lips drew tight.
Failures should stay in the failure pile as trash.
...
After a short nap, Quan Zhisui got up during lunch break and took out blank scrap paper to plan a study schedule.
Unlike Kong Mingze's grades, she was at the bottom for not learning most of the test content. The Martial Arts School didn't pressure much academic study. She had only completed freshman year classes, while this math test covered sophomore and first semester junior content.
She also couldn't follow lessons. If this continued, the gap between her and classmates would only grow.
She needed to start catching up on sophomore curriculum first.
Quan Zhisui worked very quietly to not disturb others.
Most of the class was napping. Only two seats were empty – Wei Shixu wasn't there, and neither was Kong Mingze. Who knows where those two disappeared to instead of napping.
After lunch break ended, Wei Shixu and Kong Mingze returned to their seats just in time.
Kong Mingze immediately laid his head down after sitting. He didn't sleep during break, and started yawning as class was about to start.
Quan Zhisui hurriedly asked: “Kong Mingze, do you still have your sophomore textbooks?”
Kong Mingze: “What books? You don't mean textbooks do you?”
Quan Zhisui: “Yes! And test papers, review materials, do you still have them? Let me photocopy.”
She figured Kong Mingze didn't study, so these should be brand new. Photocopying them would allow direct use without having to re-collect problems.
Unexpectedly, Kong Mingze shook his head: “How could I have those? Tossed them long ago!”
Quan Zhisui: “Even the textbooks?”
Kong Mingze nodded: “Yup! Tossed them after exams!”
Quan Zhisui's eyes widened: “What will you do to review as a senior? If you forget formulas and stuff, won't you need to look back at the books?”
Kong Mingze blanked: “I never considered that!”
Quan Zhisui: “...”
She didn't expect Kong Mingze's disregard for studying to be ingrained in his soul.
Quan Zhisui went up to Zhuge Ying in the front row: “Class president, do you still have sophomore textbooks, test papers, and review materials?”
Zhuge Ying immediately understood: “You want to photocopy?”
Quan Zhisui: “Yes, my previous school only taught freshman classes in sophomore year.”
Zhuge Ying thought for a moment: “I do have them, but they might be in my home warehouse. Let me look this weekend and organize them for you?”
Quan Zhisui: “Great, thank you cla—”
Before she could finish, a voice sounded from behind.
“Why didn't you ask me?”
