Chapter 569: Ying Chanxi

This year's final exams at Fuyi High School will be held from January 4 to January 6, lasting three days.

After the exams, the 7th is Saturday; school ends at noon, and club activities are scheduled for the afternoon.

But Gao San students have already left all clubs and mostly go home early to rest.

After a weekend of grueling work, the teachers successfully finished grading all papers before Monday; by Sunday afternoon, each class's score list had just been released.

In the office, Ding Xiang glanced at the Gao San Class 8 score list, then couldn't help exclaiming in disbelief: "Really?"

"I double-checked the papers—no grading errors," Kong Jun said, chuckling and shaking his head. "They've been neck-and-neck before; it's normal for one to pull ahead occasionally."

"True enough."

…

On Sunday evening, students began returning to Fuyi High School to prepare for evening self-study.

Li Luo brought Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng slowly to Gao San Class 8's classroom.

Just as they put down their bags, someone shouted from the classroom door.

"Final exam results are out!"

Hearing this, students who were usually highly sensitive to grades bolted out like runaway horses—zip!

Li Luo and the others didn't care much about the scores; their only goal was Qianjiang University, and as long as their scores were sufficient, that was fine.

Yan Zhusheng's provincial unified exam results had already been released, far exceeding her academic performance.

Getting into Qianjiang University's Music College was now a sure thing.

But Xu Yinghuan still cared deeply about her own results—she was still on the borderline, so the moment she heard the scores were out, she immediately dragged her best friend Yan Zhusheng downstairs to check.

Seeing the look Yan Zhusheng cast as she was pulled away, Li Luo had no choice but to stand up too.

Then, the six-member study group simply walked together, taking advantage of the time before evening self-study began, following the crowd downstairs to check the final exam results.

Class 8 was on the third floor; by the time they reached the first floor, the announcement board was already packed with students from the first and second floors who had arrived early.

Many people, after seeing their own rankings, automatically glanced at the list of the top ten students nationwide.

Seeing the same familiar names again, they lost interest and walked away.

But some noticed something odd and burst into exclamations.

"Holy shit!"

"Really?"

"Just one point difference."

"A point is still a point!"

"Is this the first time in three years?"

"Insane, holy shit—I thought this would last until the end of Gao San."

The noise in front of the announcement board grew louder.

Zhang Guohuang and Zhu Yufei from Class 8 had already squeezed to the front row; they first checked their own rankings, then looked at the very top.

The next second, both of them instinctively shouted, "Holy shit!" just like the others had done.

"Didn't the monitor come?" Zhang Guohuang turned to ask.

"They're here, I think." Zhu Yufei was taller; he stood on tiptoe slightly among the crowd, glanced toward the staircase, and quickly spotted Li Luo's group: "Over there!"

Zhang Guohuang strained to follow Zhu Yufei's direction, caught sight of Li Luo and the others, and was about to shout loudly.

But Xu Yinghuan also spotted them at the same moment and called out first: "Zhang Guohuang! Check my ranking! Did I make the top hundred?!"

Zhang Guohuang's words were cut off by Xu Yinghuan; he had to search for her score first.

"You're 92nd this time!"

"Yes!" Xu Yinghuan jumped up in excitement upon hearing she made the top hundred, hugging Qiao Xinyan and Zhao Rongjun, "Top hundred! Next semester I'll aim to improve more—I can go to Qian Da with you guys!"

Li Luo and the others nearby smiled, happy for Xu Yinghuan.

But soon, Zhang Guohuang shouted again: "Monitor! Come take a look! Huge surprise!"

"Huh?"

Li Luo paused slightly at Zhang Guohuang's words.

A huge surprise?

It was just a final exam—what surprise could there be?

Probably Ying Chanxi first again, him second.

As he thought this, a flash of insight struck Li Luo's mind—he guessed the possibility.

The next second, he turned to look at Ying Chanxi beside him.

At the same moment, Ying Chanxi looked at him with the same realization.

Both understood—Li Luo couldn't help raising an eyebrow; Ying Chanxi frowned slightly, disbelieving, and stepped forward.

Li Luo and Ying Chanxi both had high reputations among Gao San students.

For Ying Chanxi, people mainly admired and respected her as a beautiful genius girl.

For Li Luo, emotions were far more complex.

Over the past two years, Li Luo had become a legend at Fuyi High School.

Although many didn't understand how much money online novels could make, when the production team of "Little Joy" came to film on campus, everyone learned that Li Luo's novel had sold its copyright—and they knew he'd made a lot.

At least a million-level fortune.

A Gao Zhongsheng, still not in university, had already made big money.

That alone would be enough—but he also ranked among the top in school, and in recent major exams, he'd consistently held second place in the grade, just behind Ying Chanxi.

Worse still, he was also entangled in unclear relationships with both Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng—the two girls every boy in school secretly considered campus goddesses.

Rumor had it he was also close to Xu Youyu, last year's senior.

And thinking of the three female leads in this guy's novel, I Am Really Not a Star.

Tsk.

It's like they stepped straight out of a novel.

So when Li Luo and Ying Chanxi walked toward the notice board, their classmates instinctively stepped aside.

Zhang Guohuang and Zhu Yufei, seeing this, couldn't help but murmur in awe.

They'd barely squeezed their way through the crowd.

But these two simply had a path cleared for them right through the crowd, straight to the front of the notice board. Thus, Li Luo and Ying Chanxi stood effortlessly before it, their gazes fixed directly on the top position.

On the grade ranking list, at this very moment, it boldly declared—

Rank 1: Li Luo, 723 points

Rank 2: Ying Chanxi, 722 points

At this moment, even Li Luo felt a brief daze, as if in a dream.

He had often imagined one day surpassing Ying Chanxi.

But Ying Chanxi was simply too stable in this regard; even with Li Luo's Memory Palace, once his total score exceeded seven hundred, it could no longer give him a decisive edge.

After all, everyone makes mistakes sometimes—Ying Chanxi slipping up once was understandable.

But when Li Luo snapped out of this brief joy, he realized one thing.

Before the final exam, Ying Chanxi had apparently had a small private argument with Yan Zhusheng.

The reason was that Yuan Wanqing was coming to their place for the New Year again, and this time Yuan Wanqing had declined the Spring Festival Gala invitation, staying in their hometown even on New Year's Eve.

!

Ying Chanxi seemed to have some resistance to this.

If this caused her to make a small mistake during the exam, it would be entirely understandable.

Thinking of this, Li Luo found himself unable to feel truly happy; his expression returned to calm, and his head began to ache again, wondering how he'd clean up this mess for Ying Zhicheng.

Meanwhile, Ying Chanxi beside Li Luo showed little change in expression upon seeing her second-place ranking.

Although she had been the top student since middle school, never losing the position until now—until Li Luo took it from her for the first time.

But in previous major exams, Li Luo had always been just a few points behind her; she'd already sensed it coming.

As for this time… she had indeed made a small mistake.

After the exam, when comparing answers, she misread a number in the stem of a simple math problem and chose the wrong option.

Normally, such a small error could be caught easily with a quick review after finishing the test.

In the past, Ying Chanxi would never have made such a mistake.

But this time, after finishing the test, she lacked the mood to review, leading to this basic error.

A multiple-choice question was worth four points; if counted, she would have been three points ahead of Li Luo—roughly the same as before.

But losing was losing; Ying Chanxi didn't care about it.

"Why are you staring at me?" Ying Chanxi noticed Li Luo's gaze and turned to ask, "Aren't you happy? You finally beat me once."

"I am happy," Li Luo looked at Ying Chanxi, saw her expression was unchanged, and felt slightly relieved, "but you've always been first—I just want to be considerate of your feelings."

"Fake," Ying Chanxi snorted. "Just this once. I won't give you this chance again."

"One time is enough," Li Luo chuckled, then leaned down close to Ying Chanxi's ear and whispered teasingly, "You said if I beat you once, you'd grant me any request unconditionally—still counts, right?"

The sudden warmth of his breath made her ear tingle; with so many classmates watching, her cheeks flushed instantly. She stepped back half a pace and whispered, "Let's go back to the classroom."

The classmates around them were already used to this level of intimacy between them and paid no mind.

Qiao Xinyan and Zhao Rongjun, after checking their own rankings, followed Li Luo and the others toward the classroom.

Along the way.

Many were discussing the change in the top rank.

In other grades, this would be normal—top rank often changes hands.

Even Xu Youyu hadn't always been first; he'd occasionally slipped.

But Ying Chanxi was different.

Since this cohort entered high school, Ying Chanxi's name had never budged from the top spot.

For Li Luo to take first from her now was the first time in two and a half years.

Not just students were talking about it—even many teachers found it fascinating.

Li Luo had added another chapter to his legend.

"Class president, what are your thoughts after winning first place in the grade?" Xu Yinghuan cheerfully raised her hand, holding it out like a microphone toward Li Luo.

"Same as always—it's not the Gaokao champion," Li Luo waved his hand, calm and indifferent.

But once back at his seat, Li Luo couldn't wait to poke Ying Chanxi's back.

"What?"

"I didn't finish what I said earlier. Was your promise real or not? Are you scared?"

"You're the one who's scared!" Ying Chanxi snorted, turned to Li Luo, straightened her petite chest, lifted her chin, and said, "A single unconditional favor? Say what you want—go ahead."

"Well… I need to think about it carefully," Li Luo, seeing she had no intention of backing out, stroked his chin and studied her from head to toe, sinking into deep thought.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ying Chanxi noticed his suspicious gaze and instinctively crossed her arms, "Don't you dare ask for anything weird."

"What kind of weird thing?" Li Luo raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"I-I mean…," Ying Chanxi's mind flashed with some images unlikely to pass review; her cheeks flushed crimson. She stammered, unable to speak, then finally blurted, "That kind of thing is just not allowed."

"If you don't say it, how am I supposed to know what it is?"

"Ugh, you're so annoying—just decide already!"

"I'll keep it for now," Li Luo chuckled. "I'll tell you when I think of it."

"What's that?" Ying Chanxi pouted; she disliked owing others, "So when will it be?"

"Before the New Year," Li Luo said casually.

At the mention of "New Year," Ying Chanxi froze, instantly falling silent.

Li Luo noticed her reaction and dropped the subject, instead saying, "Classes end this week for winter break—I'm going to Tianhe City with Youyu for the annual meeting. You and Zhusheng should come too."

"Oh, oh oh..." Ying Chanxi snapped back to attention, nodded after hearing Li Luo's words, then asked, "What about Uncle Li and Lin Yi? Are they going too?"

"They're traveling alone this year, not joining us," Li Luo said with a smile, "Just the four of us."

"Oh." Ying Chanxi nodded in understanding, turned back around, and muttered under her breath, "What do you mean 'just the four of us'?"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!"

Watching Ying Chanxi's turned-back figure, Li Luo reached out and brushed his fingers along her ponytail.

Soon after, Ying Chanxi leaned back against the chair, letting Li Luo play with her hair.

(End of Chapter)