Chapter 52 The College Entrance Exam

Chapter 52 The College Entrance Exam

At first, Lin Yao thought that Shi Yu was just lashing out at her on a whim.

She could understand it.

Shi Yu, so proud and accomplished, always seemed to have everything come easily to him. Despite his family's recent fall from grace, he had enjoyed a smooth ride for most of his life. It was only natural that he couldn't accept being rejected by her right away.

After all, she had always been avoiding him, and when he said he wanted to talk after the competition, she deliberately hid at the celebration party to evade him.

Her intention to avoid him was too obvious.

Shi Yu probably understood her refusal very clearly now.

So he was finding ways to make things difficult for her.

Lin Yao had a plan.

Shi Yu was the protagonist in the story; she couldn't offend him. Even if he was petty, she would be magnanimous. Let him vent his anger; once he got over it, everything would be fine.

But... things didn't go as Lin Yao had expected.

What did "venting his anger" mean? There was no such thing.

Every day, without fail, Shi Yu would appear at her door with a stack of test papers and study guides. He would highlight key points, forcing her to catch up on the physics she had missed, and even for other subjects, he would assign her practice tests and create new ones for her.

Lin Yao tragically discovered that Shi Yu's temper was endless.

"Are the more outstanding boys really that petty?"

"What are some ways guys retaliate after being rejected?"

"If you reject the school heartthrob and get retaliated against, what should you do?"

"Yao Yao, are you playing badminton in the next PE class?" Shi Nian's voice interrupted Lin Yao, who was hiding in her desk, searching for answers on Zhihu.

She quickly closed the search page and looked up.

Lin Yao: "Sure, I..."

Before she could finish the word "play," Shi Yu's cold voice cut in— "No, she's taking leave from PE."

Lin Yao: ? ? ?

Who said she was taking leave from PE?

The pressure of the second semester of Grade 11 was already mounting. There would be no PE classes in Grade 12, and this rare break was precious. How could Shi Yu...

Lin Yao's inner resistance was strong, but in reality, she could only bite her lip and look at Shi Yu, not daring to say a single "no."

Seeing that Shi Yu showed no sign of relenting, she pitifully turned to Shi Nian: "Shi Nian... look at Shi Yu, he's bullying me again..."

This used to be an effective tactic.

If she couldn't handle Shi Yu, surely Shi Nian could.

Shi Nian: "Shi Yu, pushing Yao Yao too hard isn't good. Why don't we let her join us..."

"Aunt Xia said I'm in charge of Lin Yao's studies." Shi Yu's indifferent gaze turned stern. He took out the review materials he had marked and placed them on Lin Yao's desk, tapping the table with his finger: "Work through these during the next class."

Lin Yao's face instantly fell.

Ignoring her, Shi Yu looked at Shi Nian: "Sis, you wouldn't want Yao Yao to fail to get into a good university, right?"

He rarely called Shi Nian "sister," only in formal and serious situations.

Shi Nian: "..."

Lin Yao: "..."

One sentence silenced both of them.

Lin Yao attempted to utter a few words to mend the moment, yet Shi Nian's hand had already alighted on her head: "Yao Yao, you...keep going."

Lin Yao bit her lip and lowered her head, sobbing softly.

Once Shi Nian and the other classmates left the classroom, only Shi Yu and Lin Yao remained.

Suddenly, Shi Yu took out a tissue and wiped the top of her jet-black hair.

Lin Yao, engrossed in her studies, looked up: "What's wrong?"

Shi Yu put the tissue away indifferently, his dark eyes sweeping over her beautiful face, the deep ink in his eyes fading, "Nothing, there was something dirty."

"Oh." Lin Yao didn't suspect anything and continued working on her problems.

...

Under Shi Yu's strict and almost obsessive supervision, Lin Yao's grades improved at an astonishing rate.

She had always been diligent in her studies, but her exceptionally poor physics scores had held her back. Now, with Shi Yu helping her with physics and monitoring her other subjects, her improvement was inevitable.

After the final exams, it was the last summer before Grade 12.

On this summer afternoon, Shi Nian went to Qi Yanye's house for tutoring.

Xia Tingnan was shopping with friends, and Lin Xiong was at the repair shop.

Only Lin Yao and Shi Yu were home.

Shi Yu was pressing her to do problems at the desk.

Although the young girl usually complained nonstop, she was actually very cooperative with Shi Yu when it came to studying, even though... she had been dragged out of bed by Xia Tingnan at 5 a.m. this morning to study.

"I'm done... you can check it now, I'll rest for a bit. Don't check too quickly, okay?"

Lin Yao placed the test paper in front of Shi Yu and rested her head on her hands, which were folded on the desk, trying to catch up on sleep.

Shi Yu was so scary; he made her get up at 5 a.m. every day to study and only let her sleep at 1 a.m. at night.

She initially thought Shi Yu was deliberately tormenting her, but when she learned from Shi Nian that Shi Yu had been following this schedule since high school, she couldn't bring herself to complain anymore.

People who did better than her worked even harder. What right did she have to complain?

"Lin Yao, wake up..." Shi Yu's low, clear voice echoed in her ear.

Lin Yao turned her face to the other side, unwilling to open her eyes. "Mmm... why are you checking so fast? Can't you let me sleep a little longer..."

Shi Yu's voice remained cool and calm as he gently patted her shoulder. "Get up."

Lin Yao: ...

Perhaps the pressure had reached its limit. Even though she knew Shi Yu was doing this for her benefit, she still felt suffocated. Lin Yao turned around and looked up, ready to vent her frustration, not caring if it meant a confrontation with Shi Yu.

"Don't you let anyone breathe, Shi Yu? You're really..."

She lifted her head, her dark eyes glistening with sadness and grievance, her red lips about to unleash her anger.

But her gaze froze when she saw the screen of Shi Yu's phone.

"This, this is..." Lin Yao's eyes widened in disbelief.

Her beautiful eyes trembled as she looked between Shi Yu and the phone, unable to speak for a long time.

Shi Yu wasn't angry that he almost got scolded by the young girl.

The black-haired youth merely smiled faintly, his sharp jawline lifting slightly as he said, "You ranked 18th in the year-end exams. Congratulations, Lin Youyou."

Lin Yao's eyes instantly welled up with tears, and they rolled down her cheeks. "..."

"Why are you crying?" Shi Yu raised his hand, his distinct fingers casually wiping away the tears from the corner of her eye.

Those deep, dark eyes revealed an emotion he had never shown before.

He knew it.

His little green tea was amazing.

"I... I actually... made it into the top 20 in the grade. Shi Yu, am I dreaming?"

Lin Yao laughed through her tears and cried through her laughter.

Ever since she entered No. 3 Middle School, no matter how hard she tried, she had never achieved such a good score.

In the last exam, she was absent.

In the one before that, she was still in the top 50.

Excluding the last exam, her ranking jumped from the top 50 to the top 20. This kind of improvement was something she had never dared to imagine.

Most importantly, Lin Yao felt for the first time that she had the ability to break free from the tragic plot of the original story.

She felt less panicked and less afraid.

She could actually progress step by step to this level.

Even if someone told her she would take the college entrance exam tomorrow, she wouldn't be as anxious.

Because Lin Yao knew that her achievements were earned through her own efforts, and no one could take them away.

"If you think you're dreaming, do you want to call Big Shi to confirm?"

"No, no need. I... I'll just look at it myself."

Lin Yao took the phone and carefully examined it again. She saw that her physics score had improved significantly, and all her other subjects had higher scores compared to the previous exam, allowing her to rank in the top 20.

"It feels like a dream. I can't believe I achieved such a score..." She murmured to herself, still struggling to digest the unprecedented joy.

Suddenly, Shi Yu asked her, "Do you think this score is enough?"

"What?" Lin Yao looked up, puzzled.

Sitting at the desk, Shi Yu turned his head and said, "Lin Yao, do you want better results?"

Lin Yao: ...

His eyes grew darker. "Do you want to get into Capital University?"

Both of them sat facing each other at the desk, looking into each other's faces.

At that moment, Lin Yao felt as if she saw another vast world in the depths of Shi Yu's dark, deep eyes.

She suddenly felt like she had heard a similar phrase before, but couldn't recall where.

But it was Capital University... a place she had never dared to dream of before.

The girl's voice trembled slightly as she nervously spoke, "...Yes. I want to go to Capital University."

Shi Yu smiled. "Good, I'll help you."

After that day, the relationship between Lin Yao and Shi Yu changed.

From a cat-and-mouse dynamic where they studied together, it turned into a situation where the mouse followed the cat all day, afraid of missing out on anything.

Even the routine of Xia Tingnan digging Lin Yao out of her blankets at 5 AM every morning became a scene where Lin Yao and Shi Yu appeared at the breakfast table together promptly at 5 AM every day.

The new term of senior year began.

The first change was that many students from Class 13 had to leave due to significant improvements in their end-of-term exam scores.

Lin Yao and Shi Nian returned to Class 1 of senior year once again.

On the day they left Class 13, Lin Yao felt very reluctant.

She packed up her things, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and looked back repeatedly. The Class 1 she had once longed for seemed less important to her now.

However, the classmates waved at her and wished her success, hoping she wouldn't return to Class 13 anymore.

She sniffled and moved upstairs with Shi Nian.

The moment they returned to Class 1 of senior year, Lin Yao saw many familiar faces.

There was her old friend Qiu Xueer, the class president Gu Xizhou, and many other classmates she had spoken to or not spoken to before.

Gu Xizhou, as always, led the applause to welcome them back.

But Lin Yao didn't try to please her classmates or maintain popularity by chatting with everyone as she used to.

She quietly found a seat and sat down with Shi Nian.

Seeing this, the class president slightly frowned but said nothing, just asking everyone to continue studying.

Qiu Xueer, sitting behind, slowly lowered her head.

The study schedule in senior year was the most intense.

Lin Yao still woke up at 5 AM every morning to study under Shi Yu's supervision.

After school, she rushed home, even more eager than Shi Yu to start studying, and several times, it was actually Shi Yu who forced her to rest, only allowing her to go to bed late at night.

On weekends, Lin Yao still went to Qi Yanye's house to take supplementary classes with the classmates from Class 13.

Only then did she feel relaxed, as if the accumulated stress throughout the week was relieved during these weekend sessions.

A year passed quickly.

During this year, the students from Class 13 gradually left; some went to art exams, some prepared to study abroad, and some moved to the front classes and were too busy.

In the last half of the year, their weekend supplementary classes finally came to a halt.

During the New Year, Xia Tingnan made dumplings, and Lin Yao, Shi Nian, and Shi Yu each found a 'golden ingot' with a coin inside their bowls.

Lin Xiong took them to light fireworks along the riverbank and burned paper offerings, telling the departed Shi Mo and Song Li that they were all doing well.

When school resumed in the new year, the biggest surprise was that Lin Yao saw Qi Yanye in Class 1 of senior year.

This school bully, perhaps a late bloomer or due to Shi Nian's high-quality tutoring, managed to enter the top 30 in the final semester.

By then, Lin Yao had already stabilized at the top 10 in the grade.

Soon, June arrived.

The college entrance exam came as scheduled.