Chapter 595: Let Mom Drive the Car

On Sunday evening, the return-to-school time for Fuyi Middle School.

When Li Luo arrived at the teaching building with Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng, the first-floor notice board was already packed with students.

Only two days had passed since the second mock exam, and the results were already out.

But since the notice board only displayed the school-wide rankings, most students glanced once and left, hurrying back to their classrooms to wait for their homeroom teacher to bring the full second mock ranking list.

Li Luo and the two girls weren't particularly concerned about their own scores.

Yan Zhusheng was now consistently around 110th place—a truly impressive result for an arts candidate.

As for Li Luo and Ying Chanxi, they had both secured first and second in the grade so many times it was routine, and their lead over the rest was too wide to close through mere effort alone.

"Zhusheng!" Xu Yinghuan, who was checking the rankings at the notice board, noticed them approaching and waved enthusiastically, "Xixi is first again! Li Luo, you're still second!"

"Second is second—why say 'old second'?" Li Luo rolled his eyes and walked over with Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng.

The surrounding students instinctively stepped aside as they approached.

Li Luo glanced at the notice board—he didn't need to check his or Ying Chanxi's rankings.

Qiao Xinyan had also scored ninth in the entire school—impressive.

Zhao Rongjun was thirty-first, another improvement.

As for Xu Yinghuan, she ranked eighty-third this time, failing to break into the top eighty as she'd hoped, but her progress was still obvious.

If she kept pushing, her chances of getting into Qianjiang University would keep growing.

"One hundred twenty-eight," Yan Zhusheng found her rank, slightly unhappy. "I dropped twelve places."

"Looks like you haven't been studying lately," Li Luo tapped her head with a smile. "Still taking school exams?"

"Just one left," Yan Zhusheng said. "I'll finish them all before month's end."

As an arts candidate, Yan Zhusheng had to take not only the provincial unified exam last year but also individual school entrance exams at her preferred colleges.

Although she was determined to enter the Music College of Qianjiang University to stay with Li Luo and the others.

But Yuan Wanqing's logic was simple: you still need safety options, so she arranged for Yan Zhusheng to take school exams at several well-known music colleges across the country.

Once all the school exams were over, Yan Zhusheng would fully return to the regular high school student rhythm and focus seriously on the college entrance exam.

During this period, she had to attend private tutoring every weekend and occasionally take leave to fly elsewhere for school exams—so her second mock score slipping slightly was perfectly normal.

"With your current score, even if you dropped to three or four hundredth place, getting into Qianjiang University's Music College is still more than enough," Li Luo ruffled her hair. "Come on, once your last school exam is done, I'll help you study with Xixi."

Saying this, Li Luo led them upstairs, walked into the classroom, dropped their bags at their seats, then stood up and headed toward the fifth-floor office—his usual visit to Kong Junxiang.

At that moment, Kong Junxiang was chatting merrily with other teachers in the office, his face beaming.

But when he saw Li Luo knock and enter, his smile faded slightly.

Watching Li Luo approach his desk, Kong Junxiang sized him up, then couldn't help sighing.

"Teacher Kong, you were smiling just now—why the sigh now?" Li Luo asked, puzzled.

"Because of you, of course."

"I'm such an outstanding student—what's there to worry about?" Li Luo boasted shamelessly.

"Exactly—because you're too outstanding," Kong Junxiang shot him a look, then slapped a score sheet onto his desk. "Take a look yourself."

"What's wrong?" Li Luo picked up the sheet curiously—it listed the class eight scores and rankings for this exam.

Unlike the notice board downstairs, this sheet included not only the school-wide rankings but also each student's rank among all students in the second mock exam.

Over forty schools participated in this second mock exam, totaling roughly thirty thousand students.

Li Luo glanced at the ranking on the sheet.

He was eighty-ninth.

Ying Chanxi? Seventh.

Below her was Qiao Xinyan, who ranked ninth in the school—but her overall rank in the second mock was already beyond eight hundredth place.

"What's the issue?" Li Luo asked, puzzled. "Aren't Xixi and I doing well?"

"Precisely because you're doing too well," Kong Junxiang glared. "In the second mock, the higher your rank, the closer it is to your actual college entrance exam ranking."

"If you crack the top hundred in the second mock, it means you can compete for Tsinghua or Peking University even with bare scores."

"With Ying Chanxi's competition awards, getting into Tsinghua or Peking is effortless."

"And yet the two most promising students in the entire grade are going to choose Qianjiang University under my watch."

Saying this, Kong Junxiang felt a pang of grief.

He'd already been pained by just Ying Chanxi—but now Li Luo, clinging to her side, had also surged upward in scores.

Originally, Kong Junxiang thought Li Luo would be around three to five hundredth in the province—fine for Tsinghua or Peking, but he'd just be at the bottom; better to go to Qianjiang University and land in the elite class.

If he planned to build his career within the province, Qianjiang University's resources might not be much worse than Tsinghua or Peking's.

But this score… Kong Junxiang stared at Li Luo's eighty-ninth place and winced.

Only this kid didn't seem to care.

"Oh well," Li Luo cheerfully set the score sheet down and patted his homeroom teacher's shoulder. "Our Fuyi Middle School is after all an affiliated school of Qianjiang University."

"So isn't it natural to send top talent there?"

"Suppose Xixi outperforms herself in the college entrance exam and wins the provincial top scorer title."

"Then she deliberately chooses Qianjiang University—wouldn't that news be more sensational than a top scorer going to Tsinghua?"

Kong Junxiang listened to his nonsense and was speechless.

But he'd long known these two had no interest in Tsinghua or Peking, so he just suffered the pain.

When he'd pulled Ying Chanxi from Class One's Sun teacher and moved her to Class Eight, he'd already prepared for this.

"Teacher Kong, if there's nothing else, I'll head back," Li Luo picked up the class eight score sheet, signaling to leave. "I'll take this back to the class."

"Go ahead," Kong Junxiang waved him off, then added, "Tell your classmates I'll come by during the first period of evening self-study to briefly discuss the second mock exam."

"Got it."

Li Luo nodded in agreement, took the score sheet back to class, posted it on the notice board beside the blackboard, walked up to the podium to repeat Master Kong's words, then returned to his seat.

After sitting down, he gently poked the back of Ying Chanxi in front of him, just as he had before the second mock exam.

"What?" Ying Chanxi turned to look at him.

"Guess what your total ranking is this time in the second mock?"

"How would I know?" Ying Chanxi glanced at Li Luo. "You're smiling so broadly—did I make the top ten?"

"Our little Xi Xi really has extraordinary talent—how is your head so smart?"

"You're being disgusting with all that flattery." Ying Chanxi wrinkled her nose, then asked, "So what's my exact rank?"

"Seventh." Li Luo no longer teased, holding up seven fingers. "That's basically seventh in the whole province."

"Only seventh?" Ying Chanxi frowned, looking unsatisfied. "I thought I might make top five."

"Ask Master Kong later if he has the full list and scores," Li Luo said. "Let's see how many points the top scorer got."

"What about me, class monitor?" Qiao Xinyan beside Ying Chanxi asked curiously. "How many did I get?"

"You got 866," Li Luo said. "Not bad."

"I made the top thousand!" Qiao Xinyan was pleasantly surprised, quite satisfied with the ranking.

But Ying Chanxi cared more about Li Luo himself: "So what about you? You only scored four points less than me—what's your rank?"

"I'm nowhere near our grade's divine scholar, Ying," Li Luo shook his head with a sigh. "Don't even mention it."

"Are you looking for a beating? Spit it out." Ying Chanxi glared at him.

Li Luo smiled—he loved seeing Ying Chanxi throw a little tantrum.

"I'm 89th," Li Luo shrugged helplessly. "I can't even match your decimal points. Four points cost me over eighty places."

Everyone says one point cuts a thousand in the Gaokao, but at Li Luo's level, one point only cuts twenty people—that's already few.

"What about me? What about me? What about me?!"

Xu Yinghuan's voice assaulted Li Luo from behind.

The notice board beside the blackboard was already packed; clever Xu Yinghuan didn't bother squeezing in there—she ran straight to Li Luo.

Li Luo glanced at her, then at Zhao Rongjun who followed behind, and said calmly: "Our Brother Zhao did pretty well too—his total rank is 2389."

"What about me?!" Xu Yinghuan complained. "I asked first!"

"Your suspense is the biggest, so I had to save it for last," Li Luo chuckled. "Zhusheng is 6955, and Yinghuan…"

"How much? How much?"

"You did pretty well—ranked 3783rd," Li Luo finally stopped hiding it. "If we calculate by provincial Gaokao rankings, you're already at the top 5000 level."

"Wuhoo!" Xu Yinghuan burst into cheers, jumping up and down, then threw her arms around Zhao Rongjun's neck. "Am I awesome? Am I awesome?!"

Zhao Rongjun turned red from being choked; after struggling free, he said: "Don't get too excited—you still need to keep it up. If you can improve a bit more before Gaokao, it'll be even more secure."

"Alright, alright, I know," Xu Yinghuan patted Zhao Rongjun's shoulder, lifting her chin. "I won't get arrogant—I know about staying humble."

"Your chin makes that statement utterly unconvincing," Yan Zhusheng reminded her.

"Zhusheng, shut up—my score's way higher than yours now," Xu Yinghuan grinned. "I'm not bottom of the class anymore."

"Top 5000 in the province doesn't guarantee Qianjiang University," Yan Zhusheng delivered the precise knife. "But since I'm taking the arts route, I'm already almost guaranteed in."

"Enough, enough," Li Luo waved his hand to cut them off. "Just keep working hard."

…

After the second mock exam, Xu Yinghuan studied with renewed vigor.

Li Luo and Ying Chanxi simply reviewed the driver's license material, then signed up for the theory test on the weekend and both passed smoothly.

Both were smart; Li Luo had the advantage of his past-life driving skills, and he passed the practical test—Part II—in just half a month.

When April arrived, Butler Liu formally submitted his resignation, terminated his contract with his former employer, and signed a new contract with Li Luo.

From then on, Butler Liu became Li Luo's personal butler; his first task after joining was to take over all the details of Li Luo's house purchase.

April 1st, Saturday afternoon.

After school, Li Luo brought Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng home.

Xu Youyu was already waiting there.

Also present were Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong.

Once everyone had arrived, Li Luo smiled, waved his hand, and said: "Let's go—check out the house."

Li Guohong took one car, Xu Youyu another; the six of them departed from Bihai Lanting and soon arrived at Sky Ridge Elegant Residence.

Butler Liu and the real estate agent had already been waiting at the underground garage entrance.

As Li Luo and the others got out of the car, Butler Liu immediately stepped forward to greet them.

Li Luo had previously brought the three girls to view this house, but Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong had not seen it yet.

So this visit was mainly for his parents to take a look.

Li Luo arranged for Butler Liu to lead the way, with his parents following behind as he gave a brief analysis of the house's pros and cons.

"Is this neighborhood only accessible via the underground garage?"

After walking around, Lin Xiuhong asked curiously: "I remember when we visited Xu Yinghuan's place—they're also in this neighborhood, right?"

"The outdoor area is also walkable," the agent quickly said. "But motor vehicles are restricted from entering the outdoor section—only electric bikes and bicycles are allowed."

"I see," Lin Xiuhong stood on the fourth-floor balcony and peered toward the neighborhood entrance. "So just walking out of here feels quite far."

"Then just drive," Li Luo smiled.

"Where would I get a car?" Lin Xiuhong rolled her eyes. "Your dad treasures his car so much—he never lets me drive it."

"I mean buy your own car."

"One car in the family is enough—I don't need one," Lin Xiuhong shook her head. "I can't just buy a car just to make leaving the neighborhood easier?"

"Well, not necessarily," Li Luo followed her logic, then added, "But since Xi Xi and I are getting our licenses, I plan to get each of us our own car."

"That's fine." Hearing that Li Luo had bought a car for her and Chanxi, Lin Xiuhong had no objections at all; she nodded and said, "You've gotten your driver's license—you really should have a car."

"But Chanxi hardly ever drives, especially after summer vacation ends and she starts university—this car will just sit idle." Li Luo guided gently, "Then you can drive it for her; otherwise, it'll just gather dust if left unused."

"This..." Lin Xiuhong was momentarily confused; she blinked, feeling that indeed made sense, "What does Chanxi say?"

"Of course it's fine." Ying Chanxi smiled sweetly beside her, "Aren't you always letting Aunt Cui drive your car? It's no problem at all for you to drive mine."

(End of Chapter)