Chapter 155: Chapter 155: Center of Attention

The proctor froze, stunned. Seeing her calm expression, he assumed she couldn’t answer the questions and had simply given up.

But he quickly realized her expression didn’t fit that assumption.

Shanshan’s demeanor was natural, showing no signs of frustration or impatience.

Such composure was beyond what you’d expect from a typical student.

He glanced at the exam as he took it. The handwriting was neat, and the answer sections were completely filled out. His heart skipped a beat.

He stood rooted to the spot, watching Shanshan skip out of the classroom, and it took him a long moment to snap out of his daze.

There wasn’t a single blank space on the test; even the bonus question was answered in full.

He quickly flipped through a few pages and found almost no signs of corrections.

By the time he collected himself, Shanshan had already vanished around the corner of the hallway.

Even more baffled than him was the gaggle of reporters waiting outside.

They were just there for some routine shots of the first students to leave, hoping to spin a story about whether finishing early affects one’s score.

They never expected the first person to walk out would be a girl who looked particularly young.

As the first student to leave the exam hall, Shanshan instantly became the center of attention.

In a flash, a swarm of microphones and cameras closed in on her.

The reporters pushed forward, their questions overlapping as voices rose from all directions.

"Miss! What did you think of this year’s exam? Was it difficult?"

"You’re the student from Mechanism Middle School who skipped a few grades, aren’t you? Is taking the exam early stressful? How confident are you?"

"I heard you won an award in the Science Olympiad. Are you aiming for Qingbei this time?"

The questions came one after another, with barely a pause in between.

The microphones were nearly shoved in her face, and Shanshan instinctively pulled back.

She took a deep breath, waiting for a brief lull in the noise before speaking.

"The questions were fine, not too difficult. I think I should be able to get into the school I want."

She finished with a smile, revealing a pair of faint dimples.

Her attitude left the reporters momentarily speechless.

The tense, almost confrontational, atmosphere of their questioning instantly dissipated.

Several veteran reporters exchanged glances.

Hearing her response, many of the reporters believed her on the spot.

’Could this year’s exam actually be that easy?’

Photojournalists were already busy reviewing their shots, looking for the most compelling angle.

Another was on the phone with their editor, pitching "Fastest Submission in Exam History" as the headline.

But when the main wave of students finally emerged, a quick survey revealed that wasn’t the case at all.

Many students complained they didn’t have enough time for the science section, and the essay prompt for the language arts portion was notoriously tricky.

One student from an honors class shook his head, saying at least a third of the questions were outside the scope of what they had studied.

As a result, when the papers came out the next day, several outlets took Shanshan’s "not too difficult" quote, blew it up in bold, and ran it with a headline.

The front-page photo was a shot of her glancing back with a smile as she left the exam hall.

Cao Daqiang finished reading the newspaper and let out a snort of laughter.

The local morning news was on TV, and the anchor had just gotten to a segment about the previous day’s college entrance exams.

"Hah, this girl is getting way too full of herself. She’s got some nerve."

"What’s so funny?"

Kang Yueyue walked over with a fruit platter and casually settled onto his lap as if she’d done it a thousand times.

She was in her loungewear, her hair tied back in a messy ponytail.

She placed the platter, filled with neatly arranged orange slices, between them.

"Here, take a look for yourself."

Cao Daqiang leaned away from the fruit and unfolded the newspaper again.

"Someone at her level dares to say it wasn’t difficult? I bet she doesn’t even grasp how complex the questions were."

He handed the paper to her.

Kang Yueyue scanned the article and blinked, her tone hesitant.

She recalled seeing a message in the parents’ group chat a few days ago. It said the average score on the mock exams for the entire grade at Mechanism Middle School hadn’t even met the cutoff for a first-tier university.

In comparison, the very fact that Shanshan was taking the exam early was already unusual.

"Well, she did skip several grades to take the exam early. Maybe... she’s actually got the skills to back it up."

"You’re too soft-hearted, always worried about offending people. We’ll just wait and watch the drama unfold."

Cao Daqiang snorted, crumpled the newspaper into a ball, and tossed it toward the trash can.

He missed. The wad of paper hit the rim and rolled onto the floor.

From the kitchen came the DRIP... DRIP... of a faucet that hadn’t been fully shut, but neither of them moved to fix it.

Those waiting to see the Ling family make fools of themselves didn’t get their show.

The Ling family, however, packed their bags the day after the exam, rented a car, and took off for a vacation in another province.

Ling Anxun couldn’t get away from work, so he would have to join them a couple of days later.

As for Shanshan, she set off with her aunt and a few of her older brothers and their wives, hitting the road in high spirits.

This place was completely different from Beijing. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but an endless range of mountains.

The peaks rose and fell, stretching to the horizon with no end in sight.

Shanshan, being a Little Golden Dragon, felt as if she’d entered her own backyard the moment she stepped into the forest. She bounded along, unable to contain her energy.

She darted her head left and right as she followed the path. When she spotted a wildflower, she plucked it and tucked it into her hair. When she saw a stream gurgling over the rocks, she crouched down to splash her hands in the cool water.

Even Ye Ruoling and Ling Zhiwei, the most experienced hikers among them, could barely keep up with her.

Ye Ruoling pressed a hand to her forehead, panting for breath as sweat beaded on her temples.

Ling Zhiwei wiped the sweat from his neck as he walked.

The two of them exchanged a helpless glance and had no choice but to quicken their pace to catch up.

"Shanshan! Slow down! Wait for us!"

"Ow, my legs are about to give out! Ruoling, give me a hand, I can’t take another step!"

A few others were helping the two elders, who ambled along unsteadily at the back of the group.

The mountain path was uneven, and some spots were covered in slippery moss.

Hearing the laughter and birdsong drifting from up ahead, they all smiled, feeling relaxed and carefree.

The elders leaned on their canes, their faces creased in gentle smiles.

The entire group was stretched out into a long line.

Shanshan, leading the pack, scrambled up a crooked osmanthus tree in a few swift movements.

The tree grew on a slope, its trunk leaning over with branches extending sideways.

She was incredibly nimble, using both her hands and feet.

She reached a high branch in moments and, after finding her footing, waved down at them.

When Ling Zhiwei caught up, he saw her standing on her tiptoes, reaching for the yellow fruits that clustered at the top of the tree.

The fruits were round and plump, hanging from the branches in dense clusters.

Shanshan reached for them a few times but couldn’t quite get a hold, so she shimmied a little higher.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don’t do that! You’ll fall!"

"Hey, thief! Who said you could steal our fruit! Get down from there!"

Rushing forward at the same time as Ling Zhiwei was a man in navy blue work overalls.

He wore a ridiculously flashy little hat, but his face, when it hardened, was terrifying.

He ran incredibly fast, reaching the base of the tree in just a few strides. Without a word, he began to shake the trunk violently.

The tree swayed violently. Leaves RUSTLED, and fruit rained down.

Terrified, Shanshan clung to the trunk, nearly losing her grip and falling.

Her body swayed with the tree, and the branch beneath her feet CREAKED ominously.

She was left dangling in mid-air, her face white with fear.

"Are you insane? My sister is still up there! Stop it!"

Ling Zhiwei’s voice cracked as he screamed.

Hearing the commotion, the rest of the group came running up.

Ling Antao dropped his walking stick and rushed forward.

Ye Ruoling helped the elders hurry forward.

The rest of the family also pushed forward to see what was happening.

The man was shoved aside, and her brother carefully lifted Shanshan down from the tree, holding her securely.

Ling Zhiwei supported her waist with one hand and held her back with the other.

Once her feet were safely on the ground, he bent down to check if she was hurt.