To be outshone by a slacker today, and that slacker being none other than Lin Mo, of all people—
That feeling was indescribable in its misery.
Seeing that no one refuted him, Wei Qingguo continued, "I hope you will all move past this extreme mindset. Show your classmates a little more encouragement and a little less suspicion."
With that, he began to explain several key knowledge points from the recent test paper.
After the class ended.
Wei Qingguo packed up his teaching materials and said, "Lin Mo, An Youyu; the two of you, come to my office."
Lin Mo nodded, stood up, and walked toward the front.
An Youyu looked a bit dazed as she followed Lin Mo out of the classroom.
Wei Qingguo glanced at the two of them. "Follow me."
Just as they had taken two steps, Lin Mo felt someone tugging at his clothes. The corners of his mouth curled upward.
An Youyu hurried to Lin Mo's left side and looked at Wei Qingguo's back. "Why did Teacher Yan call us to the office?"
Thinking of the look Wei Qingguo had given An Youyu just moments ago, Lin Mo made an uncertain guess. "Probably, maybe, perhaps your score-capping stunt has been discovered."
"Ah?"
An Youyu panicked, standing frozen in place at a complete loss.
Lin Mo asked, "What did you get on the Chinese test last time?"
"68 points."
"Not this time, I'm asking about last time."
"68 points."
Lin Mo rubbed his forehead. "Big sis, this is Chinese we're talking about. Is your score-capping really this precise?"
If he remembered correctly, on last week's math test, An Youyu's score had also been 68.
Did she have some kind of special obsession with that number?
An Youyu kept her head down. "I left the multiple-choice questions in the second section blank, left the final reading comprehension and the essay blank, and got everything else right. That adds up to 68 points."
"..."
At that moment, Lin Mo was utterly speechless.
Score-capping to such an art form?
Now he'd seen everything!
The two walked into the teachers' office, and Wei Qingguo pointed to two wooden stools in front of his desk. "Both of you, sit down."
Not far away, Yan Shiming looked up with a puzzled expression. "Old Wei, did these two little rascals do something wrong?"
"Not quite."
Wei Qingguo smiled kindly. "Teacher Yan, your class is up next. Do you mind if I borrow these two little ones for a single class period?"
"Since Old Wei is asking, how could I refuse?"
Yan Shiming readily agreed, picked up his teaching materials, and stood to leave.
A look of lingering curiosity crossed Wei Qingguo's aged face. He swept his gaze over Lin Mo before finally letting it rest on An Youyu.
"Student An, shouldn't you explain something to your teacher?"
Chapter 14: True Skill!
"E-Explain... what?"
An Youyu kept her head down with a guilty conscience, her faded canvas shoes nervously kicking the floor to hide her inner tension.
Wei Qingguo's slightly cloudy eyes flashed with sharp intelligence. "I may be old, but I'm not senile yet."
"On both the last test and this one, you got every single multiple-choice question in the second section wrong, and you left both the final reading comprehension and the essay completely blank. Yet, your final scores ended up identical."
"Don't tell me this is just a coincidence. I don't believe in such coincidences in this world."
An Youyu remained silent.
Lin Mo could feel that the moment Wei Qingguo finished speaking, the girl's entire body had instantly tensed up.
At this point, he felt it necessary to step in and rescue An Youyu.
"Teacher, I know a little bit about the inside story."
"Oh?"
For a moment, both Wei Qingguo and An Youyu looked at Lin Mo.
Only, their gazes were somewhat different.
Wei Qingguo's look was filled with curiosity, while An Youyu's carried a hint of pleading.
Lin Mo smiled calmly, leaning sideways toward An Youyu. "Go wait outside. Leave this to me."
An Youyu hesitated, glancing back three times with every step as she left the office.
Once outside, she nervously wrung her fingers. "It's over. If I'd known, I wouldn't have tried to slack off. Now there's no way I'll ever be able to explain this clearly."
A few minutes later, Lin Mo's voice drifted out from inside the office.
"Little Yuer, come in."
Looking terrified, as if facing a formidable enemy, An Youyu stepped back into the office.
The anticipated scene of interrogation did not materialize. Instead, the look Wei Qingguo gave her carried a hint of affection.
Noticing An Youyu's utterly bewildered expression, Lin Mo chuckled softly. "Come over and sit down. I've already explained everything clearly to the teacher. Don't be scared."
Wei Qingguo chimed in, "Student An, my tone was a bit harsh just now. Let me apologize to you first."
"N-No, it's not the teacher's fault; it's mine."
Faced with Wei Qingguo's sudden apology, An Youyu, who had just sat down, waved her hands repeatedly and shrank her neck back. "I'm sorry, Teacher."
Lin Mo gently reassured her, "The teacher isn't blaming you. Put your mind at ease."
The warmth radiating from his neck caused An Youyu's face to flush instantly. Like someone touching a live wire, she quickly pulled her body away.
Wei Qingguo glanced at Lin Mo, his mouth twitching.
This punk really knew how to take advantage of the situation!
"Ahem—"
"Student An, in a moment, I'm going to give both you and Lin Mo a test paper each. No more hiding your true abilities this time. Understood?"
"Understood."
An Youyu's voice was very soft, just like a child who had done something wrong.
Wei Qingguo said no more. Raging through a nearby folder, he pulled out two test papers and handed them to the pair.
"You have one class period. Student An will stay here with me, and Lin Mo, go take your test at Teacher Yan's desk."
Lin Mo nodded, took the test paper, and sat down at Yan Shiming's desk.
In truth, he knew Wei Qingguo's intentions very well.
It was nothing more than verifying the authenticity of today's test scores while getting a sense of An Youyu's true proficiency.
Once she started the problems, An Youyu seemed like a completely different person. With her intense concentration, an aura of quiet confidence radiated from her.
Lin Mo, on the other hand, wore a blank expression, resembling a machine built solely for solving problems.
Wei Qingguo picked up a newspaper and sipped his tea with a faint smile.
In the blink of an eye, over half an hour passed.
An Youyu flipped the test paper over and quietly put down her pen. "T-Teacher, I'm done."
"So fast?"
Extremely surprised, Wei Qingguo put down the newspaper, took An Youyu's test paper, and began to grade it.
The more he read, the more astonished he became. When he reached the final essay, he widened his eyes in disbelief.
After reading it a second time, he finally put the paper down with obvious reluctance. "A fine piece of writing! A truly fine piece of writing!"
With that, Wei Qingguo couldn't help laughing aloud. "To think that a shallow puddle like No. 2 High School could actually hatch a golden phoenix! I've really struck gold this time!"
An Youyu was so heavily praised that she felt rather embarrassed. Not knowing how to respond, she simply kept her head down and remained silent.
Lin Mo walked over holding his test paper. "Teacher Wei, do you suppose that besides a golden phoenix, there might also be a true dragon around?"
"A true dragon?"
Wei Qingguo looked Lin Mo up and down. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about yourself, would you?"
"Of course—"
"A true dragon who scores 18 points in math? Forget a dragon, you're closer to a maggot!"
Lin Mo stumbled on his feet, his expression turning deeply awkward.
An Youyu, who had been keeping her head down, suddenly looked up. Her voice was soft, but filled with absolute conviction. "Teacher, Lin Mo has very strong learning capabilities. You shouldn't judge him based on a temporary score."
The protectiveness in her words was painfully obvious.
Wei Qingguo shot Lin Mo an exasperated glare. "What kind of love potion did you feed this girl?"
Lin Mo bowed his head slightly. "Teacher, this is called mutual appreciation."
An Youyu wanted to explain, but had no idea what to say.
Wei Qingguo's gaze fell back onto the test paper. It took him less than two minutes to calculate Lin Mo's final score.
143 points!
"Not bad."
Wei Qingguo affirmed this high score. "To improve your Chinese score by this much in such a short time is truly rare. It seems you've put in a lot of effort lately. Keep it up."
"Thank you for the affirmation, Teacher."
Wei Qingguo's tone shifted. "Don't get cocky. Your score is fine, but compared to Student An, it lacks a certain spiritual energy. You should take every chance you get to ask Student An for guidance."
Lin Mo's mind raced. "Since the teacher recommends it, why don't we sit together? That way, it would facilitate our communication."
What did it mean to push your luck and climb right up the pole?
Behold, this was it!
Wei Qingguo's face stiffened. "I don't even want to expose you. Are you doing that to study?"
"Of course I am."
Lin Mo's expression remained entirely unruffled. "Didn't you just tell me to seek guidance from Student An, Teacher? My suggestion is simply to fulfill your instructions."
Even with Wei Qingguo's good temper, he was nearly laughed to anger by Lin Mo's shameless behavior.
"Don't even think about it!"
"Teacher, don't be in such a rush to refuse. You can analyze the pros and cons first. If the pros outweigh the cons, you'd have no reason to refuse such a good thing, right? Isn't that how logic works?"
"Don't try to hoodwink me, kid."
Wei Qingguo gave a meaningful smile. "If you want to sit with An Youyu, go negotiate with your head teacher. Anyway, I'm not getting mixed up in this."
"By the way, let me remind you—Teacher Yan doesn't have nearly as good a temper as I do."
Lin Mo gave a dry cough and dropped the subject.
The meaning behind Wei Qingguo's words could be summed up in two words:
No chance!
He glanced at An Youyu's test paper and asked in surprise, "Teacher, why hasn't Little... Student An's paper been graded?"
Originally, Lin Mo had wanted to call her Little Yuer, but unfortunately, he'd received a kick under the table, forcing him to change his form of address.
"Whether it's graded or not doesn't matter."
"Huh?"
Lin Mo was puzzled.
Looking at the neat handwriting on the test paper, Wei Qingguo sighed with emotion, "There are no mistakes. What is there to grade?"
Chapter 15: Half and Half
"There are no mistakes, what is there to grade?"
Lin Mo froze, but quickly grasped the meaning behind the words. "Can Chinese even get a perfect score?"
To Lin Mo's puzzlement, Wei Qingguo asked with a smile in return, "Why couldn't it?"
"But..."
Before Lin Mo could finish, Wei Qingguo interrupted, "It's not that Chinese can't get a perfect score; it's just that, relatively speaking, getting a perfect score in Chinese is much harder than in other subjects."
"I can't find a single place to dock points in Student An's answers on this paper. Whether it's the handwriting, the reading comprehension, or the final essay, it can be called flawless."
At this, he said with a face full of gratification, "It's been a long time since I've seen such a near-flawless set of answers. It's a feast for the eyes."
"Is it really that exaggerated?"
Whenever someone praised An Youyu, Lin Mo was happy from the bottom of his heart.
He just didn't quite understand; Wei Qingguo's reaction truly seemed a bit abnormal... To be precise, "exaggerated" was the right word for it.
"Teacher, I scored 143 points. Even if Student An got a perfect score, there's only a 7-point difference between us."
"That's right. On the surface, it's indeed just a 7-point gap."
Wei Qingguo didn't refute Lin Mo's point, but his next words plunged Lin Mo into silence.
"The reality isn't like that. Student An Youyu scored 150 points because the paper only has 150 points total, whereas your score of 143 simply means that's the limit of your capability."
Hearing this, a flash of hidden amusement crossed Lin Mo's eyes. This girl seemed even more formidable than he had anticipated.
An Youyu sat quietly, not chiming in at all during the exchange.
Wei Qingguo put away the two test papers on his desk. He glanced first at Lin Mo, then let his gaze fall on An Youyu. "I'll be speaking to Teacher Yan about this matter."
A single sentence instantly made An Youyu nervous again.
Sensing this, Wei Qingguo quickly explained, "Don't worry, I guarantee Teacher Yan won't give you any trouble. But you're not allowed to pull a stunt like this again in the future. Young people are meant to shine brightly; hiding your light is not something someone your age should be doing."
"Mm."
An Youyu let out a sigh of relief.
Having admonished An Youyu, Wei Qingguo turned to Lin Mo. "You need to frantically cram your math. With such a severe bias in your subjects, it's going to be very hard to get into a top university."
"Teacher, the first step for any slacker staging a comeback is to become someone with lopsided subjects. Once one subject takes flight, a comprehensive explosion will follow."
Seizing the opportunity, Lin Mo brought up his previous request. "That's why I suggested wanting to share a desk with Student An. She can help me a lot. You really should reconsider this suggestion."
"Who knows? Your decision might just give No. 2 High School another top student headed for Qing University."
He appealed to reason and emotion, even adding a touch of bewitchment.
Wei Qingguo was old and shrewd; how could he be so easily fooled? He replied directly, "Go talk to Teacher Yan. As long as he agrees, I have no objections."
Lin Mo gave a sheepish smile.
Go talk to Yan Shiming?
Forget it!
When he returned to the classroom, it was just in time for the end of class.
Seeing the two of them return together, quite a few students couldn't help whispering among themselves.
"Hey, what do you think Teacher Wei called Lin Mo and An Youyu in for?"
"What else could it be? They definitely got chewed out!"
"Chewed out? Lin Mo miraculously scored such a high grade this time. How could he possibly get chewed out?"
"An Youyu's score seems to have been really low."
"Normal. She looks that good, she can just make a living with her face; just like me."
...
Annoyed, Zhou Wenhao snapped his book shut and glared at the boy who had just boasted.
The boy's face was covered in youthful, beautiful acne, making Zhou Wenhao feel a bit sick to his stomach. "Can you gossip somewhere else? The classroom is a place for studying, not for you to gossip!"
The boy wasn't one to take Zhou Wenhao's attitude lying down, and immediately snapped back, "Class is over, what business is it of yours?"
"Aren't you just carrying a torch for An Youyu anyway? Too bad it's completely one-sided!"
"You..."
Furious, Zhou Wenhao recalled how close Lin Mo and An Youyu had been getting lately, and a strong sense of unwillingness surged in his chest.
In terms of looks, he didn't consider himself inferior to Lin Mo.
His academic scores tossed Lin Mo eight streets behind.
So why did An Youyu choose to interact with Lin Mo and ignore him?
He refused to accept this!
If Lin Mo were actually more impressive than him, he wouldn't feel quite so miserable. The crucial point was that Lin Mo was inferior in every single way.
Zhou Wenhao clenched his fists as a plan began to brew in his heart.
With that thought, he fumbled around inside his desk, slipped a paper-wrapped object into his pants pocket, and hurried out of the classroom.
By noon, the classroom was once again left with only Lin Mo and An Youyu.
Lin Mo was staying behind this time not to snatch An Youyu's lunch, but to study. Time was precious, and he had to seize every single minute and second.
Studying in itself was a simple yet difficult thing; as long as you could ignore the distractions, effort would always yield rewards.
Suddenly, a pink lunch box appeared on the test paper, accompanied by An Youyu's voice.
"Here, for you."
An Youyu's gaze carried a hint of tension. She was afraid Lin Mo would refuse, because the lunch box contained leftover food from yesterday.
Lin Mo raised his head. Viewed from this angle, An Youyu was bathed in sunlight, her wisps of dark hair looking as though they had been dusted with a layer of golden powder, and her delicate collarbones were faintly visible beneath her fair neck.
He gave her a deep look before opening the lunch box. "Yesterday's leftovers?"
"Mm."
An Youyu explained timidly, "These were kept in the fridge. They haven't gone bad; they're safe to eat."
Lin Mo looked up. "If you give me your lunch, what are you going to eat?"
"I... I'm not hungry."
As she spoke, An Youyu lowered her head again.
This was a personal habit of hers; every time she lied, she would subconsciously pause.
As it happened, Lin Mo knew this habit of hers. A smile played at the corners of his mouth. "Thanks, Little Yuer. But my appetite isn't very good today; I reckon I can only eat half. I'll leave the other half for you—no turning your nose up at it."
An Youyu shook her head. "No need..."
Lin Mo ate fast. In a minute or two, he had polished off half the food. "Thanks, Little Yuer."
An Youyu wanted to correct the nickname "Little Yuer," but remembering how her protests had failed the past few times, the thought vanished instantly.
She took the lunch box back to her desk, and lost in some thought, shallow dimples faintly appeared on both sides of her rosy cheeks.
For the entire rest of the afternoon, Lin Mo frantically hammered away at his exercise books until the end-of-school bell rang.
He put down his pen, shook his sore right hand, and lazily stretched his back.
Gu Fan slung his backpack over his shoulder with a rather complicated expression. "Brother Mo, is studying like this actually fun?"
Hearing this question, Lin Mo straightened up and looked over toward An Youyu's desk. "Gu Fan, I need to correct you on something; your way of framing this isn't right."
"What's not right about it?" Gu Fan asked, uncomprehending.
"People have a purpose before they do anything. Take playing video games, for example—didn't you already decide how many stars you were going to rank up by the time you were halfway to the internet café?"
At this, Gu Fan was completely stumped.
Lin Mo continued, "It's just that playing games is full of uncertainty. You can't control the final outcome because your skill level can't break through the game's various limitations."
"Studying is different. As long as you're willing to put in the effort, you will definitely get a return. The size of the return depends entirely on the amount of effort you invest."
"You shouldn't evaluate whether something is 'fun' or 'not fun'; you should evaluate whether it's 'worth it' or 'not worth it'."
"Take staying up all night to play games, for instance. You get emotional comfort and a fleeting thrill, but you sacrifice an entire day's energy. To trade a whole day for a momentary, meaningless joy—do you think that's worth it?"
"I..."
Gu Fan opened his mouth. For some reason, he always felt a sense of unfamiliarity when looking at Lin Mo right now.
Lin Mo met Gu Fan's gaze. "My reason tells me that what I'm doing right now is worth it."
Gu Fan remained silent for a long moment before finally speaking, "Brother Mo, I've been instructed."
Previously, when he called Lin Mo "Brother Mo," it had carried a greater or lesser degree of teasing.
This time, the title of Brother Mo was spoken with absolute sincerity.
Lin Mo stood up and patted Gu Fan's shoulder. "There's still time. Everything is still salvageable."
Gu Fan's eyes flickered, and then rapidly turned incomparably firm. "Thanks, Brother Mo."
Lin Mo smiled and watched Gu Fan leave.
Only after even the students on duty had cleared out did An Youyu begin packing up her things. Instinctively glancing toward the back of the classroom, she realized that Lin Mo had somehow moved and was now sitting right behind her.
"Hello, Little Yuer."
Lin Mo leaned forward, his smile seeming to gather all the light in the classroom together. His deep eyes were like a black hole, emitting a fatal attraction.
An Youyu froze, as if she had been hit by a binding spell.
The refreshing sweetness of a watermelon lies in the very first bite, but a heart-fluttering pulse happens in a single instant—it was a heartbeat just like iced orange soda in the summer...
Chapter 16: Conflict
After a long while, An Youyu realized her distraction and panicked, turning around. "W-Why haven't you left yet?"
"Waiting for you."