After signing up for driving school, Xue Rui stayed at home for a night, pulling his mom aside to chat about anything and everything.

’In truth, this is all just to lay the groundwork. As long as I stick by Mom’s side long enough, Ren Qunfang will soon find me annoying and urge me to go out and have fun...’

「The next day.」

Lin Ruoxi had already written out the final English exam from memory. As arranged by Director Wang, any students who wanted to could come to school today to estimate their scores.

Because the invitation had a somewhat mandatory feel to it, and since the students hadn’t yet made other plans, basically all the students from the science stream classes showed up.

Technically, they had already graduated. The third-year high school students no longer had to abide by the school’s disciplinary rules, so many were just wandering around the campus idly.

The teachers’ office was packed with students asking if their answers were correct.

Qiu Mengze wandered around the school before sitting down at the office entrance and sighing, "Sigh, Qin Tong isn’t here."

Lin Ruoxi had only memorized the science stream exams. The only parts that overlapped with the arts stream were Chinese and English, so not many arts stream students came.

Xue Xiaying had also brought Lin Ruoxi to school.

Lin Ruoxi didn’t need to estimate her score—she was the one who had written down the exam questions. Coming to school today was Xue Xiaying’s arrangement.

"Rui, gather our class’s students in a bit," Xue Xiaying said.

"We’ve already graduated. Why gather everyone?" Xue Rui was a little confused. ’Is Xue Xiaying going to lecture us about something again?’

’That’s a bit too naggy...’

"No, it’s not that. Some of the students who dropped out or transferred before... they told me they wanted a graduation photo. I was thinking, since most people are here today, we could take a new one," Xue Xiaying explained.

Xue Rui nodded slightly. ’My aunt is still so kind,’ he thought, ’not wanting any former classmates to have regrets.’

In truth, when they started their third year, because Hedong Second Middle School’s reputation and student pool weren’t very good, some students were transferred to other schools by their parents, while others simply stopped attending altogether after the academic proficiency exams.

But the graduation photo had been taken before the exams, and only currently enrolled students could be in it, so the picture only had a mere twenty or thirty people...

"I can pay for the photo," Xue Xiaying said.

She wasn’t sure if some students would disagree, so she decided to pay for it herself to avoid causing any conflict.

"No need, I’ll arrange it," Xue Rui said with a smile.

Xue Xiaying patted Xue Rui on the back. Xue Rui’s relationship with his classmates was quite good, and she trusted him a lot.

Xue Rui and Lin Ruoxi sat by the office door. He had nothing to do at the moment, so he sent a copy of the answers Lin Ruoxi had written down to Gu Muxue.

Gu Muxue’s reply was almost instantaneous: Where did you get the answers?

Xue Rui replied: Lin Ruoxi memorized them. Go estimate your score.

After a brief silence, the girl sent back an "OK" emoji.

Xue Rui put his phone back in his pocket. He had also estimated his own overall score last night. It was around 560, about 20 points higher than his last exam.

He was already very satisfied with this result.

’Still, an extra 20 points isn’t all that useful. It’s not like it’s an extra 200 points.’

"Lin Ruoxi, the teachers in the office just calculated your score. You should be over 740. A great performance," Director Wang said with a smile.

He had actually anticipated it for a while, but hearing the actual score still made him quite excited.

The title of top science student was in the bag.

Xue Rui rubbed his chin. ’I probably contributed at least a point or two to that score.’

’I guess I’m someone who changed the identity of the top scorer. I don’t know who it was last time, but this year, it’s definitely Lin Ruoxi.’

"I didn’t want to score this high," Lin Ruoxi said in a small voice.

Xue Rui nodded. He knew what Lin Ruoxi was thinking.

’It’s true, scoring too high can attract trouble. Tutoring centers and the like are one thing.’

’But what about the media?’

’What about the Qingbei admissions offices?’

Lin Ruoxi wasn’t interested in the title of top scorer, but the school wanted that prestige for student recruitment.

He thought about it. ’It’s really just a temporary craze. Once the Gaokao season is over, few people will care who the top scorer was.’

’As long as we lie low during this period, and with the school running some interference, everything will be fine after the university application period ends.’

’Besides, I already have a plan to take the little missy out of Hedong City then.’

"Xue Rui!" Li Qiang shouted loudly.

He had intended to run over and sling an arm around Xue Rui’s shoulders, but when he saw the ridiculously beautiful girl next to Xue Rui, he held back his usual antics.

"Li Qiang, Zhang Feng?" Xue Rui said in surprise.

’Wow, everyone actually came,’ he thought. These guys were all his former dorm roommates, who had later either dropped out or transferred.

"There’s more. Yan Weidong came too, but the security guard won’t let him in because he dyed his hair," Li Qiang said, pointing to the school gate.

Xue Rui’s eye twitched. ’When did he become one of those flashy try-hards?’

’After graduation, I basically never saw these guys again in my past life. This time, because the little missy memorized the answers, it’s ended up bringing all our old classmates together...’

"I estimated my score. It should be around 480," Li Qiang said, looking excited.

"Mine’s not low either, 460."

"The test was easy this year. The score cutoffs might go up a lot," someone said worriedly.

Xue Rui didn’t join their discussion, instead preparing to go to the school gate to bring Huang Mao in.

"Xue Rui," Huang Mao waved.

The old security guard said, "You know Xue Rui?"

Xue Rui shook his head. "I’m a good student. I definitely don’t know anyone with dyed-blond hair."

The guard waved his hand dismissively. "Scram, scram, scram."

"It’s me, Yan Weidong," Yan Weidong said, his expression frozen in a daze.

’How could he forget two years of being classmates just like that?’

"Uh, Student Lin Ruoxi? Do you recognize me?" Yan Weidong asked, deliberately lowering his voice.

He wasn’t very familiar with Lin Ruoxi, only knowing that she was exceptionally beautiful and used to do some "business" with the day students.

The little missy was incredibly nervous. She remembered very clearly that Xue Rui had told her to stay far away from "blondies" and not to associate with people like them.

Seeing Lin Ruoxi’s flustered appearance, the old security guard picked up the man catcher from the guardhouse.

"Take one more step and I’m calling the police."

"Brother Rui, hurry up and say something for me!" Yan Weidong was getting more and more anxious, wishing he could just rip the blond hair off his head.

Xue Rui, having had his fun, smiled and handed the guard a cigarette. "Uncle, he’s a student from our school. Teacher Xue asked them to come."

The old man took a drag from the cigarette and said to Huang Mao, "Why didn’t you say so earlier?"

Yan Weidong’s face was a picture of confusion. ’Didn’t I just say that? You’re the one who wasn’t listening!’

"Come on in," Xue Rui said.

Seeing Yan Weidong walk in with his head of blond hair, Lin Ruoxi shrank back and hid behind Xue Rui.

Yan Weidong nodded awkwardly. How could he fail to see the relationship between these two?

"Hello, Sister-in-law," he greeted Lin Ruoxi.

Lin Ruoxi’s expression froze. ’What does that form of address mean...?’

’An older brother’s wife is called Sister-in-law...’

’He called Xue Rui "Brother," so does "Sister-in-law" refer to me?’

"H-hello, I recognize you," Lin Ruoxi said blankly, but she still took a step back.

Yan Weidong felt a pang of hurt. Before he dyed his hair blond, Lin Ruoxi would never have acted like this.

’Is this because of my hair?’

’Dying my hair blond might attract girls out on the streets, but a good student like Lin Ruoxi avoids it like the plague...’

"Alright, hurry up and get in for the photo, then scram before Director Wang gives you a beating," Xue Rui said with a chiding laugh.

...

After the students finished estimating their scores and came out of the office, Xue Rui called his classmates over for a graduation photo, thus completing the task Xue Xiaying had given him.

"It’s about time for lunch. Let’s go out for a meal," Yi Bing suggested.

The students were eager. This would be their first and last class meal together.

With a mix of emotions, no one actually refused.

The students walked along the sidewalk in twos and threes, the girls holding hands and chatting.

Yi Bing stood on the roadside, analyzing which restaurant would be the tastiest.

Yan Weidong lit a cigarette, puffing his chest out and holding his head high as he smoked, as if afraid someone might not notice him.

Some of the boys would occasionally jump up to grab a handful of leaves from the high branches.

Yi Bing suddenly said, "I want to go to a university in the south. I hear they have a lot more to eat there."

Qiu Mengze looked at him, bewildered. "With your score, even getting into a vocational college will be a stretch."

"My dad says it’s the participation that counts, and that I should just have fun with people my age," Yi Bing said, completely unconcerned about his Gaokao score.

"What’s the difference between a Tier 1 and a Tier 2 university?"

"I don’t know. Tier 1 is better than Tier 2."

Xue Rui scratched his head as he listened. The school only taught students how to get high scores, not how to plan their careers.

Moreover, he felt that these students seemed to think that getting into college meant the end of all their worries.

Many of them looked at Lin Ruoxi with eyes full of utter envy.

’But the thing is, I’m a rich second-gen kid! Many of these classmates have been to my family’s restaurant. Why are they envious of her score but not my money?’

This couldn’t help but remind him of a classic question from the future: getting into Qingbei versus getting one hundred million yuan.

"Mengze, if you had to choose between getting into Qingbei and getting one hundred million yuan in cash, which would you pick?" Xue Rui asked.

Without a second thought, Qiu Mengze answered, "Qingbei, of course."

"Did you get kicked in the head by a donkey?" Xue Rui was taken aback. ’Do students these days really have no concept of money?’

’You can only brag about Qingbei for a few years. After you graduate and start working, very few people will care where you graduated from. You won’t even have many opportunities to show off.’

’A diploma from Qingbei won’t help you as much in life as a hundred million yuan.’

’In the future, even elementary schoolers would know the right answer, yet Qiu Mengze actually chose Qingbei.’

Qiu Mengze was instantly displeased. He started grabbing other classmates and asking them the same question. "Guo Qingqing, Qingbei or a hundred million, what do you choose?"

"Qingbei."

"What about you, Li Qiang?"

"Qingbei."

...

Xue Rui was floored. The same question, posed at different points in time, yielded completely different answers.

The vast majority of students chose Qingbei.

"Am I the shallow one?" Xue Rui asked himself, but then he shook his head.

The short video craze hadn’t taken off yet. These students hadn’t been exposed to a world overflowing with materialism, and their understanding of the world was still incomplete.

To them, Qingbei, which they only knew from the mouths of their teachers and elders, was the ultimate goal in life.

It was as if getting into Qingbei meant having everything.

But in reality, wasn’t this just another form of shallowness?

"Yi Bing, which one would you choose?" Xue Rui asked with a smile.

Yi Bing grinned mischievously. "The hundred million, for sure. Even if I got into Qingbei, I’d never graduate. Even my academic proficiency exam scores were padded."

"HAHAHA!"

Yi Bing’s honest answer made the classmates roar with laughter.

Suddenly, the little missy tugged on the corner of Xue Rui’s shirt and stood in front of him.

The other students’ expressions were full of surprise. What was Lin Ruoxi going to do?

They could sense that the relationship between these two was not ordinary...

’Could it be... a graduation season confession?’

’Is Lin Ruoxi going to confess in front of the entire class?’

Under everyone’s expectant gazes, Lin Ruoxi squatted down and reached out to tie Xue Rui’s shoelaces.