Chapter 456

Mu Xi played on her phone, extremely bored, "What else did you sign up for?"

Yu Ci was enthusiastic, "Foreign language lecture, this afternoon."

Several people were silent for a moment; the foreign language lecture doesn't test grammar or vocabulary, those were tested yesterday; today it's about on-the-spot response and oral expression.

Yu Ci is good at both; Mu Youyu recalled the previous foreign language exam scene, where the teacher had him give an impromptu speech on the topic "My Dream."

He stood up and delivered a fluent opening, vivid and engaging, and the audience listened with relish.

The teacher waited silently for the conclusion, then after a long pause asked, "So what is your dream?"

Yu Ci earnestly gave an answer that didn't match his actual thoughts: "To become a salted fish."

The teacher fell silent.

For the later foreign language lecture, Mu Youyu decided not to watch, afraid she would laugh out loud and affect his performance.

Jiang Liangjin, on the other hand, had little reaction, only saying, "Come on."

The younger sister wasn't going, and Mu Xi also didn't plan to go; she didn't participate in the evaluation at all.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for Mu Youyu's first signed-up event, the art appreciation exam; Song Lujing's alarm also went off, and they went together with a few people.

Art appreciation is Mu Youyu's strong suit.

The exam was held in Nan Feng's Art Building; the test paper printed several paintings, requiring the examinee to write the artist, creation date, art movement, and an analysis of no less than two hundred characters.

Mu Youyu glanced at the pictures, picked up her pen and began writing; Jiang Liangjin sat beside her and also started writing.

Mu Xi and Song Lujing didn't intend to score these points; they thought it useless, just tagging along for fun.

Mu Xi flipped the test paper back and forth twice, then on the blank area of the answer sheet drew a circle, and beneath it two arcs, forming a smiley face.

He examined his work, felt the smiley's expression matched his current mood perfectly, then contentedly put down his pen, leaned back in the chair, and closed his eyes to rest.

Song Lujing found an empty seat and sat down.

Next was Jiang Liangjin's signed-up business negotiation assessment; the scores came out, and seeing his perfect score, several people were not surprised.

Jiang Liangjin had followed Jiang Su in and out of various business settings since childhood, absorbing influence; this year he also took charge of the Jiang and Shen families, gaining far more practical experience than his peers; for him this course was merely a formality.

After the two-day comprehensive literacy exam, several people's chosen subjects all earned decent scores.

Yu Ci scored above 8 in everything except horsemanship; he stared at the grade sheet for a while, then sighed, "If not for that horse, I could have gotten a 9."

Gu Xingnan softly spoke up beside him, following his answer that day: "It was just hungry."

Yu Ci glared at him, "Can you stop speaking for it?"

Gu Xingnan didn't speak again.

Mu Youyu, Jiang Liangjin, and Mu Xi had signed up for many items and were quite satisfied with their results.

In Class 1, some people wished they could clone themselves to attend every comprehensive literacy assessment.

The results of the second mock exam would be released next week; the school gave two days off to let them relax.

… Actually those two days were the weekend.

The weekend came quickly; when Mu Youyu woke up, it was already 9:30, and her message box had several unread notices.

Jiang Liangjin sent a photo of his breakfast.

Lin Ning sent a long string of voice messages, almost all sixty-second clips.

Mu Youyu could tell from the length that it was ranting; she replied with voice messages like "Good heavens, how could he do that?" and "He's utterly useless," etc.

Lin Ning instantly replied: 【Exactly, I said so!】

After Mu Youyu replied to the others, she tidied up and went downstairs; Mu Xi was sitting on the sofa looking at her phone, heard the footsteps, lifted her head, and said, "Morning."

"Morning, Second Brother." Mu Youyu sat opposite him, the maid served breakfast, she took a bite of a sandwich and asked, "What's the plan today?"

Mu Xi said gently, "This afternoon, Big Brother told us to go to Big Sister-in-law's house for a meal; he said she would personally cook."

Mu Youyu paused her action, "Big Sister-in-law cooks?"

She didn't know that Big Sister-in-law could cook.

Mu Xi's expression subtly changed, "Yeah, Big Brother said that, and told us to bring A Jin along."

The two exchanged a glance and didn't continue the topic.

After finishing breakfast, Mu Youyu went back to her room and drew for a while.

The manuscript for "When Rain Falls on the Fingertips" had already accumulated several chapters; she flipped through it, felt some panels' storyboarding unsatisfactory, and started over from the beginning.

Nuomi lay at her feet, tail slowly sweeping back and forth; occasionally he lifted his head to glance at her, confirm she was still there, then went back to sleep.

By noon, having drawn, Jiang Liangjin came to pick her up; Mu Youyu changed into a jacket and went out.

Upon arriving at the Yan residence, several cars were already parked at the gate.

Jiang Liangjin recognized one as Mu Xin's, with Song Ze-yi in the driver's seat; another car looked unfamiliar, its license plate not local.

Mu Youyu glanced at the unfamiliar car, said nothing, and pushed the door open to get out.

Mu Nian stood at the doorway, unusually casually dressed; seeing his sister, his expression softened considerably, "Youbao's here, come in quickly."

Mu Youyu called "Big Brother," then ran to Mu Xin's side.

After walking a few steps inside, she smelled a strange odor, as if something had burned or too much spice had been added.

Her steps paused; she glanced back at Jiang Liangjin.

Jiang Liangjin also smelled it, his expression unchanged, merely following behind her without stopping.

Upon entering, they discovered many elders inside.

The Yan family's living room was a bit smaller than the Mu family's, cozily furnished, with a few plates of fruit and snacks on the coffee table, clearly prepared in advance.

As soon as Mu Youyu entered, Mother Yan came forward, took her hand and looked her up and down, "A Youyu's here, let Auntie have a look—have you been tired lately? I haven't seen you come visit Auntie!"

Mu Youyu obediently greeted, "Auntie, I'm fine; school's been having exams lately."

Mother Yan shook her head repeatedly, still not comprehending, "What's the point of exams? These are useless; you're a girl, you don't need to work as hard as those boys; let Ah Nian arrange an International College for you later, and let the boys bear the hardship of study."

Mu Youyu was used to it, and couldn't blame the Yan family's younger generation for being spoiled; she merely replied, "I understand."

The brothers and Jiang Liangjin didn't answer.

"So obedient." Mother Yan looked at her more and more satisfied, holding onto Mu Youyu's hand and not letting go, "Your eldest sister-in-law got up early this morning to prepare, saying she'd show you a trick."

Mu Youyu's smile paused for a moment, and she didn't respond.

Father Yan came out of the study, saw Mu Youyu and Jiang Liangjin, also smiling, "Everyone's here? Sit down quickly, sit down, don't stand."

Mu Youyu sat down beside the sofa, Jiang Liangjin took a seat next to her, Mu Xi and Mu Xin sat on the other side, both of them hardly speaking.

Several younger members of the Yan family also came, some a bit younger than Mu Youyu, some about the same age, sitting on the opposite sofa, occasionally glancing over furtively, then quickly averting their gaze.

Mu Youyu noticed one of them, a little girl with twin tails, looking at her with admiration, and she smiled back at her.