Chapter 12: Mid-Term Exam Results Are Out

June 28, 3 a. m.

Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong were already awake, but still lying in bed, not getting up to wash up.

"We've been to Wei Dongrong's place, and we've seen the apartment your uncle owns," Lin Xiuhong turned to her husband. "What's your thought now?"

"I can't say much about Wei Dongrong's side," Li Guohong frowned. "We've seen that land ourselves."

"The location is quite remote, in the northern part of Yinjiang District, almost bordering the national highway."

"Right now, we're just unsure."

Lin Xiuhong nodded along: "According to Wei Dongrong, Yinjiang District plans to focus development on that area; once the buildings are finished, sales won't be a problem."

"I was thinking—if that's true, wouldn't the potential of the house near Fuyi Middle School be even greater?"

"After all, there's Qianjiang University over there."

Li Guohong paused, then continued: "But with Wei Dongrong's side, it's purely an investment—the house itself has little to do with us; we're just earning interest."

"If we buy your uncle's apartment, whether we profit or lose will be entirely tied to housing prices."

"We haven't heard anything about the subway these past few days, and we don't know if Li Luo's words are reliable."

And when Li Luo was mentioned, Lin Xiuhong's expression softened slightly; thinking of her son's recent changes, her heart warmed.

But then she furrowed her brow, worried: "Today's the 28th—I remember the results come out this morning, right?"

"Right," Li Guohong remembered, reminded by her, then chuckled. "If this kid actually gets into Fuyi Middle School, shouldn't we just buy your uncle's house outright?"

"You really believe him?" Lin Xiuhong rolled her eyes. "Sure, he's been more sensible lately, but he only had Xiang Xixi help him review the day before the exam—he's lucky if he passes any of the low-scoring regular high schools."

"I was just saying that," Li Guohong shook his head. "You've got to have some hope, right? What if?"

"Exams aren't buying lottery tickets," Lin Xiuhong sighed. "If he'd just been sensible all three years of junior high and studied more with Xixi, I'd have no doubt our son could get into Fuyi Middle School."

"But who made him so disobedient before?"

"All I hope now is that after entering high school, he turns his life around, studies hard, and asks Xixi for help more often."

"Xixi is such a good kid," Li Guohong couldn't help but sigh. "Ying Chanxi really raised a wonderful daughter."

"Yes," Lin Xiuhong agreed. "Lately, Xixi's been attending Fuyi's summer prep class, and your son's been going over to her house every day to play computer games. That's exactly how the gap between people forms."

"It's summer—some relaxation is fine," Li Guohong chuckled. "Look, Li Luo's been helping us at the shop every morning too." He patted his wife's shoulder and got out of bed. "Alright, get up."

In the neighboring bedroom, Li Luo also got up on time, washed up, and went with his parents to help at the breakfast shop.

Li Luo himself felt fine, but Lin Xiuhong was distracted all morning.

She kept picking up her phone to check the time, only putting it down again once she confirmed it wasn't yet ten o'clock.

When it was nearly nine, the shop's customers began to thin out, and Li Luo took his mother's phone to log into his QQ.

At this moment, their Class 3-5 group chat was very lively.

【Shao Heqi】: Don't forget the graduation ceremony at 3 p. m. today—arrive early at school to check in, then we'll gather for dinner at Jiangnan Restaurant in the evening; Teacher Zhang and others will join us too.

【Shao Heqi】: The mid-term exam results will be available at 10 a. m. —might come a few minutes early. If you're anxious, you can start calling at 9:50.

【Zhao Rongjun】: Received.

【Xu Yinghuan】: What did you receive? Big bro, you're already in Fuyi's summer prep class!

【Jin Yuting】: So jealous—I don't even know if I'll pass.

Li Luo skimmed through the messages but had no desire to post; he only confirmed the time of the school graduation ceremony.

The other classmates weren't talking much either.

Aside from those top few students, only a handful of indifferent kids were joking around in the group.

Everyone else was nervously waiting for the 10 a. m. verdict, too tense to chat.

Just as it neared ten o'clock, Ying Chanxi, who didn't have class on weekends, wandered out of her house and found Li Luo at the shop.

"You're here so early?" Li Luo glanced at Ying Chanxi. "It's not mealtime yet—want fried noodles?"

Ying Chanxi shot him a look and muttered under her breath: "You know damn well why."

"Xixi's worried about your results," Lin Xiuhong tapped Li Luo on the back of the head. "Is it ten yet? Can we call now?"

"A few minutes left—what's the rush?" Li Luo wasn't nervous at all; he already knew the exam content in advance.

Even without the answer key, he'd already estimated his score roughly after finishing the test.

For Chinese, since he wasn't sure about a few reading comprehension questions and the essay score, and wasn't certain he'd get full marks on other questions, he estimated around 100+.

For math, even with Ying Chanxi's help, he was completely stuck on the last multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions.

For the final big question, he solved the first two subparts, but the last one was way beyond the syllabus.

Even though he'd seen Ying Chanxi solve a similar problem, he couldn't replicate the solution steps or sequence.

When it came to this kind of math problem, not knowing meant not knowing.

He could only scribble down partial solution steps, hoping to scrape some process points.

Even so, he estimated his math score would be around 110.

As for English, the written section was easy—just knowing every word and having pre-memorized fixed phrases made it no challenge.

Even the listening section, thanks to his Memory Palace records, after expending considerable mental effort to reconstruct them, he'd prepared in advance.

So as long as he didn't lose too many points on the essay, he might score over 115.

Politics and history didn't need mention—even if he lost points from carelessness, his total would still be above 45.

Science, however, included many physics and chemistry concepts, and since he had to review science and English the night before, he didn't have enough time.

So he hadn't been able to properly ask Ying Chanxi about some difficult problems.

This might result in a lower score, but with a full mark of 180, Li Luo estimated at least 140+.

Adding it all up, Fuyi Middle School's cutoff was definitely well within reach—likely by dozens of points.

Li Luo had originally wanted to hold back, since such a dramatic score increase would be too conspicuous.

But thinking of how proud his parents would look when he got this score, Li Luo couldn't hold back—he gave his absolute best in the exam hall.

Who cares if they suspect me? First, grab the points!

No one could possibly guess he had been reborn and possessed the Memory Palace ability.

【Zhao Rongjun】: Aren't you home? I'm at your door looking for you, but you're not there.

As Li Luo sank into thought, a message arrived on his QQ.

【Li Luo】: I'm at my shop. Why are you coming here?

【Zhao Rongjun】: Oh, then I'm coming over.

【Zhao Rongjun】: I've got nothing to do this weekend. Your high school entrance exam results are out soon, so I thought I'd come check on you.

【Li Luo】: So the elite in early admission is here to crush the underachiever?

【Zhao Rongjun】: I'm just concerned about you.

The two chatted casually on QQ.

In less than two minutes, Zhao Rongjun arrived at the shop entrance and stepped inside.

"Auntie, hello."

"Little Jun, come sit." Lin Xiuhong waved him over. "Why not stay for lunch with Xixi?"

"Oh, thanks, Auntie."

"Don't be so formal."

Although Li Luo often skipped studying to play basketball with Zhao Rongjun, Lin Xiuhong had never dared to blame Zhao Rongjun.

After all, Zhao Rongjun had consistently ranked in the top thirty schoolwide—surely it was Li Luo who had corrupted this good student.

Lin Xiuhong was baffled: her own son made friends like a pro—having Ying Chanxi, the class monitor next door, and Zhao Rongjun as a close buddy—yet why was he so useless?

If he could absorb even a fraction of his friends' talent, he wouldn't barely scrape past the regular high school cutoff.

"Sigh…" Li Luo looked at Ying Chanxi and Zhao Rongjun sitting across from him and sighed. "You two are sitting here—I won't even dare to show off now."

After all, with their level, if they actually took the high school entrance exam, their total score would be at least 580.

Ying Chanxi's level was even above 600.

Even if Li Luo had a cheat, he couldn't outscore these exam gods.

Thinking of this, Li Luo felt a dull disappointment and quickly reopened the class group on QQ.

Two minutes remained until ten o'clock, but some classmates had already successfully dialed the score inquiry number.

【Oh no! Total score only 450—will I even make it to No. 2 High?】

【This is over… I didn't hit the regular high school cutoff—I'm dead meat from Mom.】

【I got 505! Could I possibly get into Affiliated No. 1 High?】

【Affiliated No. 1 is unlikely—its cutoff has never been below 505 in recent years.】

【What did the vice monitor get? What about the study committee member? Let the underachievers see!】

【Shao Heqi】: Checking now, wait a sec.

【Xu Yinghuan】: 520~ Should be safe now?

【Shao Heqi】: My score's out: 554, ranked 87th in the district. Not bad—just normal performance.

His tone was casual, but every word screamed: "Aren't I awesome? Praise me now!"

His classmates promptly flooded the chat with admiration and emojis, puffing Shao Heqi up like a balloon.

"Looks like scores are out now." Zhao Rongjun saw the frenzy in the class group, noticed the chat log had scrolled past 99+, and hurriedly reminded Li Luo.

"Hurry up!" Lin Xiuhong, hearing scores were available, slapped Li Luo's arm. "Call now! Are you trying to kill me with nerves?"

"Don't rush." Li Luo slowly entered the score inquiry number, then pulled his admission ticket from his pant pocket.

After the line connected, he recited his admission ticket number.

"Done." Li Luo hung up after receiving confirmation. "The SMS will arrive soon."

"How long will it take?" Lin Xiuhong grew more anxious, her heart pounding.

"If it's fast, it should come in one or two minutes." Li Luo said this, sensing his mother's tension—his own heartbeat, once calm, now quickened slightly.

Ying Chanxi, who had been sitting outside the counter, now stood up, walked around to the inside, and leaned close to Li Luo, eager to see his score the instant it appeared.

Li Luo simply placed his phone on the table and waited silently for the verdict.

At that moment, Li Guohong emerged from the kitchen with a plate of fried noodles, delivered it to the customer at top speed, then dashed behind Li Luo like a whirlwind, eyes locked on the phone screen.

The entire family, plus the two non-examinees, fixed their gazes on the phone.

Half a minute later, the phone suddenly vibrated, and an SMS popped up from the top of the screen.

"Quick! Open it!" Lin Xiuhong slapped Li Luo's arm excitedly, then covered her eyes. "You look first—you look! Xixi, tell me if it's good or bad!"

Ying Chanxi reached out and tapped open the SMS.

It clearly displayed Li Luo's scores—

Candidate: Li Luo.

Admission Ticket Number: xxxxxxxx

Chinese: 110 points

Mathematics: 112 points

English: 114 points

Science: 142 points

Politics and History: 47 points

Physical Education: 30 points

Total: 555 points

District Rank: 86th

At the string of numbers before her, Ying Chanxi widened her eyes, her mouth slightly open, momentarily speechless.

"Chanxi, how is it?" Lin Xiuhong asked anxiously, still不敢 looking at the score sheet.

"Mmm…" Ying Chanxi instinctively swallowed, feeling her throat tighten, her head slightly dizzy, as a tremendous joy bloomed in her mind, "Li Luo… he scored… extremely, extremely well…"