Chapter 53: Chapter Fifty-Three: Heaven Should Favor the Kind

After the results were announced, the top ten students each received a certificate.

In later times, almost everyone had one, but in this era, it was a “real thing” that could make a mother happy for days.

Then came the distribution of papers, problem explanations, and vacation—except for the remedial class, all other students could go home to help their parents with New Year preparations.

Even the remedial class students weren’t required to attend classes; they came and went freely, with instruction provided as needed.

After all, in this era, high school students were considered half the household labor force—during summer and autumn harvests, they were even given leave to work the fields!

After the chaos, it was already four in the afternoon. Seeing Li Ye and the others leave the classroom, Jiang Xiaoyan quickly packed her things and followed, head down.

She had seen Li Ye’s grim expression, but had had no chance to explain all afternoon, and now her heart was in turmoil.

I only wanted to rank tenth—how did I end up first?

How did I end up first?

But before Jiang Xiaoyan reached the door, Jin Shengli blocked her path.

“Jiang Xiaoyan, stay a moment—I’ll go over these few problems with you. You may be first, but you didn’t solve these questions we did—teaching and learning benefit each other...”

Jiang Xiaoyan instinctively stepped back several paces, keeping distance from Jin Shengli’s beaming face, as if wary of a mud monster that might soil her pants.

Jin Shengli’s smile froze, and he awkwardly said, “Jiang Xiaoyan, what’s this? Mixing with Li Ye and those underachievers will hold you back.”

“The top ten have decided to form a study group—we’ll help each other improve. We’re all classmates...”

“I... I still have to cook!”

Jiang Xiaoyan dodged Jin Shengli and bolted, vanishing down the corridor in a flash.

You want me to listen to your explanations? Go to hell!

You got two major questions wrong—why even write them on the paper if you didn’t know how to solve them? Now I had to write two extra problems—I don’t even know how many scoldings I’ll get tonight!

Help each other? We’re all classmates?

Why didn’t you ever treat me like a classmate before?

Pfft, you think I’m stupid?

Jiang Xiaoyan caught up with Li Ye and, once inside the second grain store’s storage room, silently began chopping vegetables and cooking.

Today’s dish was sour cabbage fish—she’d already eaten it twice recently and had mastered the steps, no longer needing Li Ye to direct her.

But just as Jiang Xiaoyan began scaling the fish, Li Ye walked over.

“You go light the stove—I’ll prep the fish slices.”

The sour cabbage fish recipe Li Ye taught Jiang Xiaoyan was from a small northern town in the future: using grass carp, bean sprouts, sour cabbage, and other ingredients—plentiful, filling, and full of flavor.

Jiang Xiaoyan hesitantly handed him the knife and quietly went to light the stove and prepare the bean sprouts.

She was afraid—afraid Li Ye would see her as a burden.

After learning she’d scored 345, Jiang Xiaoyan felt joy for only an instant.

Because if she’d written down all the questions she’d skipped, she could have scored over 390.

In past years, that would have guaranteed admission to a junior college and edged close to university.

But then Jiang Xiaoyan was overcome with panic.

I told you to aim for tenth—why did you get first? Think you’re special?

Don’t you know how glaring first place is?

Didn’t you get noticed by Jin Shengli the moment results were announced?

We’d only just settled down for a few days—and now you’ve stirred up trouble again?

Jiang Xiaoyan kept her head down, rinsing bean sprouts. After a long silence, she finally whispered an apology: “I’m sorry... I’m sorry, Li Ye... I’m sorry to everyone.”

Li Ye chopped the fish, swiftly peeling off the flesh and slicing it, saying, “There’s nothing to apologize for. No one expected this—it’s hard to control.”

“Only you made the top ten—use ‘lucky guesses’ as an excuse. But there’ll be trouble—you’ll have to handle it yourself.”

Jiang Xiaoyan quickly looked up. “Okay, whatever trouble, I can handle it.”

Li Ye said, “People will come to pry information out of you or ask you to explain problems—you need to learn to say no.”

“Say no?”

Jiang Xiaoyan, with her timid nature, was truly bad at refusing.

Li Ye looked at her and said, “I’ll teach you a trick: whenever someone asks you to explain problems, lead them astray—give them wrong answers.”

“What?” Jiang Xiaoyan was stunned, and so were the others.

Li Ye explained: “When you explain problems, give nine wrong answers and one correct one—nine false, one true. After a few tries, no one will want to ask you again.”

“........”

“Hahahaha~”

The classmates burst into laughter. Jiang Xiaoyan bit her lip, embarrassed, her eyes growing misty.

“Sometimes I wonder... Li Ye... why do you help me so much? I have nothing... I can only thank you...”

“........”

Hu Man and the others, who had just been laughing, fell silent.

Before, when they studied with Li Ye, they’d merely felt good about themselves—thinking their studies were improving, that they were slowly heading toward university.

But it was still just hope, speculation, an estimate.

Now, the truth lay before their eyes.

Jiang Xiaoyan had surpassed Xia Yue and Jin Shengli, taking first place in the final exam.

But the real first place wasn’t Jiang Xiaoyan—it was Hu Man. Hu Man’s actual score had already exceeded 400.

It all felt like a dream.

Just a month ago, Hu Man and the others had been lost about the future—even in their wildest dreams, they hadn’t dared imagine a 400-point score.

Her dream was to score 350, just to touch the junior college threshold—if not, she’d go to a vocational school and become an official.

But now... what even was a vocational school?

Not even a dog would go!

Everyone had hidden dozens of points. If we added them all up, everyone had already reached the junior college threshold.

Everyone—including Wen Leyu—had gathered around Li Ye, staring at him... making him uneasy.

Girls’ quiet glances were one thing—but Li Dayong, Fu Yingjie, Yan Jinbu—what’s with your intense, glowing stares, you big men?

Isn’t that disgusting?

“You ask why I help you?”

Li Ye asked himself, then turned to Hu Man: “When He Weiguo and I clashed, why did you help me?”

Hu Man blinked. “I was class monitor of Class Two—I had to speak fairly. He Weiguo was a thug—everyone knew his character.”

Li Ye nodded, then asked the others: “When I clashed with Xia Yue and Jin Shengli, why did you side with me, argue with them, even fight them?”

Han Xia and Fu Yingjie exchanged glances and answered honestly: “Because... you helped us! You gave us practice problems and explained them!”

Li Ye pressed: “But I gave problems and explanations to everyone in the class too.”

Yan Jinbu, usually silent, spoke up: “Because they were selfish—only took, never gave thanks.

We argued with them... we fought for justice, for principle, for conscience.”

“Ah, that’s well said,” Li Ye said, surprised, looking at Yan Jinbu. “You never say a word, but you’ve got depth in there!”

Yan Jinbu scratched his head, embarrassed, and fell silent again.

Li Ye said seriously: “It’s conscience. I believe those with conscience deserve heaven’s favor more than those without it—those clever, scheming, self-serving types.”

“If only one person can go to university, it shouldn’t be the one with the highest score—it should be the one with the most conscience.

Because only such a person... will remember his roots, remember the common folk who gave him life and raised him,

Not just chase promotion and wealth, caring only for his own interests, ignoring others’ suffering.”

This was one of Li Ye’s original reasons for helping Hu Man and the others: let the kind-hearted get into better universities, and let Xia Yue and his kind go to hell.

“Li Ye... you said that so well.”

Several girls had tears in their eyes. Their simple hearts now looked at Li Ye differently.

Wen Leyu glanced coldly and said dryly: “Isn’t the pot burning?”

“........”

“Oh no, it’s burnt! Quick, add water!”

“Hahahaha~”

The atmosphere in the storage room quickly warmed. The bean sprouts and sour cabbage released a rich aroma, piled in a large aluminum basin.

Li Ye placed the sliced fish on top of the basin, sprinkled on various seasonings, then heated chili oil and drizzled it slowly, spoonful by spoonful, over the top.

Back then, grass carp were pure, natural, large, and cheap.

Because there was no oil! Fish without oil was too fishy.

Forget steamed fish—people with empty stomachs couldn’t stomach such delicacies.

Tender fish flesh met the scalding oil, curling and releasing fragrance.

The hot oil seeped through the fish slices into the bean sprouts below, blending pungent aromas that made Hu Man and the others’ mouths water.

Everyone grabbed their bowls and gathered around the aluminum basin, waiting for Li Ye’s signal to eat.

A month of meaty dinners had made them used to this scene—like a litter of puppies huddled around a food bowl, adorable.

“Woof woof woof~~”

The big yellow dog at the door suddenly barked wildly.

Li Ye paused, waved his hand.

Li Dayong and the others moved swiftly, carrying the small blackboard and scattered papers into the inner room, then locking and bolting the door.

Li Ye picked up several fish heads and walked to the door, tossing them casually to the wary Da Huang.

Da Huang whimpered twice, lowered its head, and began crunching the fish heads with loud bites, its fluffy tail wagging with obsequious delight.

It was no longer the same Da Huang from a month ago.

Li Ye had given it far too much; its self-respect had long been corrupted by sugar-coated artillery—leftover bones and scraps.

In an era when even people struggled to eat, daily meals rich with grease and meat were more than any dog could resist.

Li Ye opened the gate to the small courtyard and found Professor Luo outside.

Professor Luo was sniffing the air, swallowing saliva.

“What are you cooking? It smells so good!”

After speaking, he likely felt it was unseemly and quickly handed Li Ye a parcel.

“Here, your parcel—it came from Daosheng. Did your novel get published?”

Li Ye took it casually, tore open the parcel, and inside was indeed a brand-new novel.

【Sigh, last life I wrote web novels and flopped; this life... I’m finally a writer.】