Chapter 142: Is It Not Enough To Move You?
Someone curious asked.
After spending some time with Ning Li, they would find her quite approachable.
As long as no one offended her, she would not do anything extreme. She barely even talked or argued with other people.
She would also help other people with their homework from time to time. It was quite a rare quality for a third-year high-schooler.
Everyone’s schedule was similarly packed and all the students should be spending time on themselves rather than other people.
Helping other people with their homework was a waste of time. One might even get overtaken in future exam rankings or even the entrance exam itself.
Therefore, many of the students tended to keep their knowledge to themselves. They would either shake their heads and say no, or simply explain the question with a vague answer.
Ning Li was different. If the student who asked for her help could not understand it the first time, she would go on to explain it a second time and even provide several answers as references.
She was an extremely rare person.
Therefore, many of the students in class looked at her differently.
They had been scared of her at first but were impressed by her outstanding results and generosity, and it had only been just a little over a month that they had known her.
Ning Li said, “I did okay.”
Okay? Okay again?
Lin Zhouyang’s face twitched.
“I remember the last time you said you did okay, you got 737…”
Everyone else was speechless.
They should not have asked Ning Li that question in the first place.
It was then that Pei Song came over.
Lin Zhouyang moved closer and asked, “Brother Pei, are you confident that you will be able to reclaim your throne?”
Ning Li’s arrival had dethroned him from first place, which meant that he needed to study harder this time just to regain his rightful place.
Pei Song did not answer.
Ren Qian tapped Lin Zhouyang’s shoulder and said heavily, “Whether it’s first or second, Brother Pei is always good. If you have the time to be worried, why don’t you worry about yourself? Can you even be in the top 50 this time?”
Lin Zhouyang himself usually did great in other subjects except for English. It was because of English that he was always ranked as one of the lowest in class.
“Oh, we called you for a game yesterday but you didn’t show up. Where did you go?”
Lin Zhouyang looked away awkwardly.
No one knew he had gone to the art exhibition with Ye Ci yesterday.
He glanced at Ye Ci but she was studying. It looked like she had not heard the conversation, or maybe she had heard it and did not care.
Lin Zhouyang’s awkward feeling died down a little bit.
Ye Ci did not seem to realize that yesterday had been their first outing together alone.
Ye Ci had not even looked at the paintings at the art exhibition. She had gone upstairs to greet the artists and teachers. The next thing he knew, she had gone home because she claimed she was feeling unwell.
Maybe Lin Zhouyang was overthinking. He looked away and jokingly punched Ren Qian.
“I’m not as free as you people! I finally got some time to sleep. Why would I go out and sweat with you bunch of testosterone?”
Ye Ci did not react to what she heard at all.
It was then that Sun Huihui came in.
The class went silent upon her arrival.
Everyone knew Sun Huihui had tried to trap someone in the janitor’s room but had fallen into her own trap in the end.
Many students had started to despise her for that.
She had gone with the cheapest way to get revenge. No matter who she had tried to trap, it must have been one of her classmates. If it was one of her classmates, she could have tried to solve the conflict by talking to the person instead of potentially hurting that particular classmate.
All the other students stayed away from her. They believed that if they offended her, she might take revenge on them using similar ways.
It was safer for them to keep their distance.
The other girls who used to be close with Sun Huihui looked at her differently as well. They kept their distance and did not greet her like usual.
Sun Huihui noticed the difference as she stepped into class.
She tightened her lips and reacted bitterly. She quietly walked to her seat.
Ye Ci wanted to talk to Sun Huihui, but Cheng Xiangxiang tugged at her arm with a look.
Cheng Xiangxiang seemed to be trying to say, “Everyone despises Sun Huihui for what she did, so why would you want to talk to her now?”
Sun Huihui sat behind Ye Ci and Cheng Xiangxiang.
When she sat down, Ye Ci hesitated for a moment before ultimately turning around.
“Huihui, you look rather pale. Are you feeling okay?”
Sun Huihui was having a fever.
She had been locked in the janitor’s room for a whole night and scolded terribly by her mother after her schemes had been exposed.
The pressure on her had increased, which then made her fall ill since that night.
There were even two puncture wounds on the back of her hand from receiving injections.
She looked at Ye Ci gratefully and answered with a slightly hoarse voice, “I’m feeling better already.”
“Great.”
Ye Ci nodded and turned around.
Sun Huihui could not help but glare at Ning Li.
Even though she had no evidence to prove that Ning Li had been the one who pushed her in, she had to have been the one!
If not for Ning Li, she would not have ended up like this.
She had already been in Second High for a few years, but this was the first time she had been isolated and hated by others.
Ning Li had beautifully cut ties with the incident as if she had nothing to do with Sun Huihui being locked up.
Sun Huihui was certain Ning Li was the one who locked her in the janitor’s room.
The more she thought about it, the worse she felt.
As though she noticed Sun Huihui’s glare, Ning Li looked up.
Her gaze was as cold and sharp as ever and a single glance caused Sun Huihui to flinch.
Her cold gaze reminded Sun Huihui of that night, the sour memories floated into her mind.
Loneliness, fear, and despair.
The emotions rose in her heart and caused her to quiver.
She quickly looked away nervously.
…
“Ning Li, did you watch the live show from G&S yesterday? The designer was awesome!”
He Xiaochen exclaimed with both her hands curled up in excitement.
Ning Li looked at her with a slight surprise.
“Are you interested in fashion as well?”
He Xiaochen was a role model student. She studied hard and worked hard for her exams.
Ning Li had not expected her to be interested in such a fancy show.
He Xiaochen said, “Of course! I’m a Rose!”
Rose was the name given to Tang Wei’s fans.
“You like Tang Wei?”
“Yeah!”
Ning Li looked her up and down.
“You don’t strike me as one.”
He Xiaochen chuckled.
“I’m just an amateur fan. I don’t really follow her but I’ll buy the things that she endorses. Unfortunately, Tang Wei wasn’t that popular before the show and she barely has any endorsement. But now with G&S’s show, her popularity has risen to the next level!”
It was great news for the Roses.
He Xiaochen was excited but when she mentioned G&S, she sighed like a deflated balloon.
“Unfortunately the dresses of G&S are too expensive. I can’t afford them.”
Ning Li smiled. “Just do what you can. Tang Wei got the chance to stand on the stage because she deserves it.”
He Xiaochen nodded.
“Many people asked about the designer but G&S did not reveal a thing. Not even the netizens could find anything about this mysterious designer. I really want to meet her and kneel down at her feet! Sigh, I wonder what kind of godly hands must she have to sew a beautiful dress like that.
Ning Li, you don’t look excited at all. Isn’t Flower & Moon captivating enough for you? You’re not moved by the astonishing designs?”
Ning Li went silent for a moment before she said, “It’s okay, I guess.”
Chapter 143: Praise Me Please
He Xiaochen could tell Ning Li was completely uninterested.
“Okay. You are already beautiful. If you wore that dress, I’m afraid my eyes would get overwhelmed.”
He Xiaochen then took out her phone and stared at a picture of Tang Wei in that dress.
Ning Li rubbed the area between her brows helplessly.
…
“This just in!”
A boy hurriedly came into the class, looking excited.
“8 out of the top 10 students in the combined midterm are in our school and they are all from our class!”
Second High was the best public high school in Yunzhou and the first class was the best of the best.
The school had been outstanding in all other previous combined exams as well. However, no other school achievements had been as astounding as being able to secure 8 out of the top 10 spots.
“And, I heard that the first and the second places in all of Yunzhou are the first and second places in our school!”
When the class heard the boy’s announcement, they turned towards a certain direction in class.
The situation somehow felt familiar.
Lin Zhouyang asked, “Who got first and second place?”
The boy shook his head. “I don’t know yet but the results are coming out later.”
Even though the boy had not named the first and the second places, everyone already knew who they were.
A while later, the announcement was posted on the notice board downstairs.
There were three extra columns at the back.
The first one was the class ranking, the second one was the year ranking and the last one was the city ranking.
A large number of students gathered around the notice board.
“Hurry! See who got first place! I’m placing my bet on Brother Pei!”
“I think it’s Ning Li again! She got a perfect score in general science! She’s no longer human, she’s God!”
“Stop pushing! I’m trying to have a look!”
Those who were in front were pushing each other as they tried to get a look at the names.
“The first place is Ning Li!”
The crowd gasped.
“Again?”
“Does it mean Brother Pei got second place again!? Noooo!”
The guy who got a clear look at the ranking read out the scores.
“141, 150, 150, 300… A total of 741! No.1 in class, year, and city!”
The group fell into a strange silence when they heard the score.
The score was inhuman!
It felt like God was trying to punish them, mere humans, with ridiculous scores.
“WTF? I’ve seen such a ridiculous score before! I’m done!”
“If you don’t know, ask. Do you think she would get bored with her perfect score?”
“I don’t know if she would get bored but I know I am.”
“What about Pei Song? How much did he score?”
“2nd place, Pei Song. Let me see… 139, 149, 150, 297, total 735. No.2 in class, year and also the city.”
Another ridiculous score that discouraged everyone.
“The 3rd place is He Xiaochen, 717. No.3 in class, year, and city as well.”
“They are just one placement apart but it’s a difference of 20 points.”
The difference was considered huge.
The news got back to the first class right away.
Ren Qian saw his score and sighed. He had gotten 4th place in his year but 5th place in the city.
He had not expected He Xiaochen to overtake him this time.
‘Is it because she’s been sitting beside Ning Li and somehow got her divine knowledge?’
He glanced at Pei Song but the man did not seem overly concerned about getting only No.2.
In fact, 735 was Pei Song’s highest score ever.
Ning Li was just ridiculous.
“Brother Pei, I remember you two were only 6 points apart from each other during the monthly test, right? What a coincidence,” Ren Qian smiled.
Lin Zhouyang saw his 2 digit English score. He had mixed feelings because the two inhuman Gods behind him got a full score in English.
“Which retard spread rumors about Brother Pei and Ning Li being in a relationship?”
If they were in a relationship, how could they possibly score so high?
Could it be that a genius multiplied by another genus equaled two ridiculous high scores?
Soon, the whole class got their results.
He Xiaochen was happy with her third place.
‘I got third place! I’m one step closer to my goddess!’
She even took a picture with her result paper and said, “I’m going to send this to my parents. They will be so happy!”
Ning Li thought of something and looked at her. “Xiaochen, please lend me your paper when you are done.”
“Ah, okay.”
He Xiaochen took a picture before she gave it to Ning Li.
Ning Li also took a picture of the paper.
“I didn’t know you cared about placement, Ning Li. I thought you were already so good and getting No.1 is a piece of cake for you,” He Xiaochen joked.
Ning Li had shocked everyone when she got first place during the monthly test but she had barely reacted to her achievement.
He Xiaochen believed that Ning Li had absolute confidence in herself.
Whether or not she looked at the results, she would always get first place.
Therefore, He Xiaochen found it surprising when Ning Li took a picture of her result.
Ning Li grunted softly in reply.
Pei Song glanced at her and noticed that she had sent the picture to someone.
It was definitely not her mother, so it must be someone else.
He looked away before he went out of class.
…
“Lil Ci, what’s your result?”
Cheng Xiangxiang had been traumatized by her previous results, so she dared not look at her results for the time being.
Ye Ci said, “I’m going to have a look now. Do you want me to look at yours?”
Cheng Xiangxiang nodded nervously.
Ye Ci consoled her. “Don’t worry, you will do better than last time.”
Cheng Xiangxiang chuckled helplessly. “I’m not you.”
Ye Ci smiled and went out to take the result paper.
When she got the paper, she started to look for her name.
As she moved down the list, the smile on her face faded.
She was looking at the class result, which was arranged according to the class placement.
She did not see her name in the top 10, not even the top 20.
Chapter 144: Ask If You Don’t Understand
She continued down the list and finally saw her name in 45th place.
Ye Ci. 125, 121, 140, 266, a total of 652. Class 23rd, year 40th.
She looked at the column in disbelief. She thought she had seen it wrongly.
She had always been top 5 in class and top 10 in year since her first and second year.
She had thought that she had simply missed the mark the last time and done poorly but this time, her results had surprised her even more. She had fallen out of the top 20 and done even worse than the monthly exam.
She did not even have to look at the city placement.
All the others who scored 700 and above were only a few points apart from each other. Her score was in the 600 range and the competition was fiercer than the 700 range.
A lot of them might have the same score or a difference of only 1 point.
This must be the worst attempt in her entire life.
The shock came suddenly and hit Ye Ci hard. She felt chills run down her spine.
Cheng Xiangxiang noticed Ye Ci was frozen to her spot, from being stunned. She even noticed the fear and shock on the girl’s face.
She asked curiously, “Lil Ci, what’s wrong?”
Ye Ci recovered from her shock. She wanted to smile and say she was fine but her lips froze and she could not smile.
A strange feeling came over Cheng Xiangxiang and Ye Ci’s reaction scared her.
“What’s wrong? Is it because of my result?”
She moved closer and started to look for her name on the list.
She started from the bottom, hence she was able to find her name quickly.
She got 43rd place in class. She got the last place in class, similar to the previous monthly exam but fortunately, she had passed Mathematics.
Cheng Xiangxiang breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank god. The paper was so hard, I think the teacher will spare me this time. Lil Ci, how about you?”
When she saw Ye Ci’s name on the list, she too was shocked.
She finally understood why Ye Ci was stunned.
Ye Ci’s placement was probably her worst attempt in any exams.
Cheng Xiangxiang did not know what to say. She wanted to console her friend but could not find the appropriate words.
It was then that someone else came over to have a look.
“Ye Ci, can I have the paper?”
Ye Ci gave the paper away and sat back down in silence.
Cheng Xiangxiang did not know how to react as well.
She carefully glanced at Ye Ci and said softly, “Lil Ci, are you okay? Do you think there’s a problem with your score? Why don’t we go to the teacher’s office and check it out?”
Ye Ci did not move at all. She had actually had a bad feeling during the exam. She had failed to answer many of the questions and had not been sure of the answers that she wrote.
She had known that she would not score too high but she had hoped to be lucky.
Never had she thought that she would get such a poor score.
“It’s okay,” she said without looking.
It would only embarrass her more.
Cheng Xiangxiang was at a loss for words.
She herself was not an excellent student to begin with. Whenever she did badly in her exams, other than being scolded by the teacher and her parents, she barely cared about her scores.
Ye Ci was different. She had been under-performing since the monthly exam and she had done even worse this time. She must be devastated.
“Lil Ci, don’t dwell on it. It’s just the way it is, there will always be times where you will miss the mark.”
Ye Ci stared at her book but her eyes were out of focus.
Even if she missed the mark, she should not have missed it this far. She knew something was wrong with her studies.
The competitive Physics class was pressuring her and it had distracted her a lot.
If this continued…
However, when Zhou Fei had asked her to think about it carefully, she insisted on staying.
If she dropped out now, it would not look good on her.
How high had Ning Li scored?
<ol start=”741″>
89 points higher than herself.
Her arms and legs were cold but her face was red as if she had been slapped on the face.
The others in the class had noticed Ye Ci’s poor performance this time and the ridiculous fall in placement. There was already small talk among the students.
“I saw that Ye Ci got only 23rd in class. What’s wrong? She’s not performing as usual.”
“Really? She used to be the top scorer, what caused the drop?”
“This isn’t the first time. She did poorly the last time as well but this time… On the contrary, Ning Li is really stable with her performance.”
Lin Zhouyang kicked the chair of the boy who had said that.
The boy glanced at him for a moment and kept quiet.
Ye Ci tightened her lips.
…
The results for the other subjects came back one after another.
During the afternoon’s self-learning class, Geng Haifan called Ye Ci to the teacher’s office.
“Ye Ci, your results are less than ideal this time,” Geng Haifan said.
More precisely, Ye Ci was the only one in class who had shown a drastic fall in her results.
Not only Geng Haifan, but the other teachers were also shocked at her performance as well.
Therefore, Geng Haifan became the first teacher to call her to the teacher’s office.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
Ye Ci was considered a bright student, even by first class standards. The drastic fall of her results worried Geng Haifan because he was in charge of the first class.
Ye Ci looked down slightly. “I’m sorry, Mr. Geng, I… I’m not performing well recently.”
Geng Haifan asked, “Are there any difficulties with your family?”
Ye Ci shook her head.
If it was not her family and she had been performing decently in class, what had caused the fall?
Ye Ci had always been stable with her scores but she had done poorly in both the monthly test and midterms. If this continued, she would only plunge deeper into the abyss.
Geng Haifan sighed. He knew the result had shocked Ye Ci as well.
“I know you are busy with the competitive Physics class. It’s a lot of pressure. If you cannot handle it, go home and talk to your family and see what suits you best.”
He was being euphemistic but Ye Ci knew what he was trying to say. He wanted her to drop out of the competitive Physics class.
She felt discouraged. Everyone seemed to look down on her. No one believed that she could maintain both her studies and the competition. Even her teacher wanted her to drop out.
Why had no one told Ning Li to drop out? Why her alone?
Could it be that Ning Li was better than her?
If it was true, she would never drop out of the competitive Physics class.
“Thank you, Mr. Geng, I know what to do.”
Geng Haifan said, “I remember that you are also trying to go to Xijing University right?”
Ye Ci was slightly surprised. “Also?”
“Yeah, Ning Li is also aiming to go to Xijing University,” Geng Haifan said with a smile.
Ye Ci reacted bitterly.
“Actually, given your previous performance, there’s a high chance that you will get accepted. You have a solid foundation as well. You need to summarize what you are good at and adjust your condition. You can still catch up, it’s not too late.”
Given her current score, she would never get into Xijing University.
Ye Ci nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Geng, I understand.”
Knock, knock.
The sound of knocking came from the door.
Geng Haifan looked at the entrance and smiled brightly.
“Oh, Ning Li. Come in. I have something to talk to you about.”
Ning Li came in and stood beside Ye Ci.
Geng Haifan looked at the two of them before he said, “Ye Ci’s result fell drastically this time. I’m thinking that since the two of you are living together, if Ye Ci is facing some problems in her studies, maybe you can help her a bit. What do you think about that?”