Chapter 332: Campus Scholar System (4)

Two athletic stars helped her move this semester's textbooks and supplementary materials; they were two thick stacks that not only filled the desk cubby but also piled high on the desktop.

Xie Yang thanked them: "Thanks! I'll treat you to milk tea later."

Zheng Ziyi gave a cheeky grin, pulled his chair over, and sat down beside her: "No need for milk tea. Can the new classmate tell us about daily life at International High School? Do you really not have to attend classes?"

Du Huaiyao in the front row also curiously turned his head around.

Xie Yang organized the books and supplementary materials she would need for the next class while answering his curious question: "Of course I have to attend classes, but the textbooks used are different, so I didn't bring them."

"So that's how it is."

Of course, that was not how it was.

She simply hadn't found the original owner's textbooks in the classroom.

But there was no need to say that.

Doesn't a poor student need to save face?

At this moment, the bell for the end of class rang, and the math teacher for the next period walked in holding a stack of test papers: "Those who need to use the restroom, go quickly. This period we will do a set of last year's mock exam papers from Hujiang District."

A chorus of wails erupted in the classroom, but wailing aside, their movements to clear their desks and head to the restroom were not slow.

It seemed they were already accustomed to the subject teachers occasionally using the ten-minute break for exams.

Xie Yang did not go to the restroom; she was preparing for the exam.

Jiang Yinian was twirling his pen and glanced over inadvertently, discovering she was earnestly peeling the wax seals off the tips of several gel pens.

"..."

How did a transfer student end up like a first-grade primary school student starting school?

The schoolbag was new, the textbooks were new, the pencil case was new, and even the writing pens were still sealed with wax and unused?

"Desk-mate, lend me a piece of scratch paper."

Xie Yang peeled off the wax seals and wanted to test the ink flow of these pens, only to find she had no scratch paper.

Sensing Jiang Yinian's gaze, she simply asked to borrow some from him.

"..."

Jiang Yinian found an unused piece of scratch paper from his desk cubby and handed it to her.

"Thanks."

After Xie Yang took it, she tested every pen; the ink flow was perfect!

However, once the test papers were handed out, she felt it wasn't perfect anymore.

Are the mock exams for senior year this difficult these days?

Many questions looked familiar, but she didn't know how to do them.

Xie Yang bit on her pen barrel, unable to start writing.

Thinking back, before she was bound to the Saint System to perform Tasks, in that life, she was also a science Scholar at a key high school.

It was just that her past glory, placed in the present... was no longer worth mentioning.

Too much time had passed; she had truly forgotten everything.

So much so that, aside from using the elimination method to guess on the multiple-choice questions, she begged to be excused for being helpless with the other question types.

When handing in the paper, seeing her test paper with the long-form questions almost entirely blank, the math teacher was so angry his lips trembled.

He could already foresee the class average for next week's monthly exam being dragged down by several percentage points.

But what could he say?

Her father had donated a twenty-million-yuan Shiyan Lou to the school; never mind just failing to answer the long-form questions, even if she had handed in a completely blank paper, he couldn't do anything to her.

The principal had to greet her with a smiling face; could he, a mere subject teacher, kick her out of the Experimental Class?

Jiang Yinian also saw his desk-mate's disastrous test paper, and for some reason, he found it a bit funny.

Seeing her earnest preparations before the exam, he had thought her grades might be okay, but he hadn't expected... *cough*.

After the math exam, there was a physics pop quiz.

Xie Yang relied on vague memories to do a few questions, but for those questions with higher difficulty and more complex knowledge points, she still forgot them to the point of not knowing where to start.

The physics teacher had likely already received news from the math teacher and was mentally prepared; he smiled kindly at her and comforted her: "It's fine, there's still over half a year left. As long as you focus on your studies from now on, there is still a lot of room for improvement."

"..."

After the physics pop quiz, the bell for the end of the school day rang.

Boarding students and some students participating in evening self-study rushed out of the classroom to the Canteen to eat, while day students also packed their bags in twos and threes, preparing to go home.

Xie Yang remembered Song Shu saying he would come to pick her up after school, so she didn't linger and walked out of the classroom carrying her schoolbag.

Jiang Yinian, who was still packing his bag, raised his head and glanced at her back. When his gaze retracted and landed on her desk, he discovered the math and physics textbooks were missing. Had she taken them home to cram?

"God Nian, going back together?"

Du Huaiyao finished packing his bag and waited for Jiang Yinian to leave together.

Their homes were in the same direction, a thirty-minute bike ride, with twenty minutes on the same route.

Neither of them attended evening self-study; Jiang Yinian often had part-time jobs, while he had signed up for an off-campus competition tutoring class, which had lessons every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and on weekends.

Actually, according to his thinking, wouldn't it be fine to just ask God Nian to tutor him?

Which time had God Nian not been first in the school's internal selection for the physics, chemistry, and biology competitions? That way, God Nian wouldn't have to go outside to find part-time jobs.

But his mother didn't agree, insisting that the teachers at the competition agency were top-tier graduates from 985 universities and had rich experience in supplementary teaching. Jiang Yinian's grades were good, but being excellent oneself didn't mean one knew how to teach.

There was another reason, which his mother hadn't said to his face, but he had once inadvertently overheard his parents' conversation:

They said they were worried Jiang Yinian would hold back and refuse to reveal his bottom-of-the-box problem-solving techniques. After all, they were both senior students, and there was a competitive relationship.

Because of this reason, Du Huaiyao always felt guilty toward God Nian.

"God Nian, are you still working part-time this semester?"

The two of them pushed their bicycles out of the school gate one after the other, and Du Huaiyao couldn't help but ask:

"There's less than a year left; won't this delay your revision? I know you're saving up for university tuition and living expenses, how much are you still short? If it's not enough, I can lend you my New Year's money."

"No need." Jiang Yinian shook his head, swung his long legs, mounted his cheap second-hand mountain bike, and pedaled far away in one go, "I have a part-time job tonight, I'm in a rush, I'm leaving first."

Du Huaiyao watched him disappear around the corner and sighed silently.

God Nian... sigh, if his father were still around, his mother wouldn't have remarried.

It's not like now, where only he and his grandmother are left at home.

I heard his grandmother's health is very poor; she has to take seven or eight kinds of medicine every day and occasionally has to go to the hospital for treatment.

God Nian not only has to support himself but also has to bear his grandmother's medical expenses.

Sigh...

On that side, Xie Yang had already returned home.

Yun Sao, who is responsible for three meals a day, saw her return and busily brought the food to the table.

Xie Wenteng and his wife went back to their hometown to pay respects to their ancestors these past few days; otherwise, how could they not accompany their daughter for such a big matter as transferring schools?

But even though they didn't show their faces, they didn't make any fewer phone calls.

Just like that, as soon as Xie Yang arrived home, she received a video call from Xie Ba.

"Yang Yang, home already? I heard from Lao Song that you transferred to First High School at two this afternoon and attended classes there for half a day; how does it feel? Are you tired?

I asked a friend about it this afternoon; First High School is good in every way, except the Canteen food is a bit poor, and you have to queue to eat; if you go late, there aren't many dishes left.

What era is this, why do you still have to fight for food? No! Dad will talk to the principal tomorrow and have them improve the Canteen; my daughter has to eat lunch there for a year."

Xie Ma Deng Youmei also squeezed into the frame: "And the dormitory; we were right to choose day-student status, but there should at least be a place to nap at noon, right? How tiring it is to sleep slumped over a desk. In this regard, International High School is better, one apartment-style dormitory per person; I heard First High School has six-person rooms, if someone snores, can the others even sleep? Lao Xie, why don't we buy an apartment next to the school for our daughter to nap in?"

"That's a good idea! We might as well hire an auntie to cook lunch for our daughter."

Xie Yang: "..."