Chapter 86: Chapter 86: You Controlled Your Score?

When Mei Lili saw Xue Rui peering through the window, she shot him an annoyed glare, a silent threat warning him not to come in.

Xue Rui shook his head. He didn’t want to draw everyone’s ire right now, so he just went back to his classroom and sat down.

After a full class period of yawning, he finally made it to the break.

"Today’s homework is the practice problems at the end of the Chapter."

Xue Xiaying assigned the students their homework, then left the classroom with her lesson plan in hand.

Xue Rui stretched lazily. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gu Muxue walk listlessly past the back door of the Class Two classroom, a dazed look in her eyes.

"Muxue, what are you spacing out about?" Xue Rui got up and blocked Gu Muxue’s path.

"Xiaorui, I’ve been busy writing some music lately. I’m heading back," Gu Muxue said quickly.

"Xiaorui?" Xue Rui was a little surprised.

Only then did Gu Muxue realize she had called Xue Rui by his nickname.

’It must be because my mom has been whispering "Yaoyao, Xiaorui" in my ear lately.’

"What, am I not allowed to call you that?" Gu Muxue furrowed her brow and feigned annoyance.

A trace of panic flashed in her eyes; she was afraid Xue Rui wasn’t happy with being called that.

"Oh, sure you can." Xue Rui didn’t really mind.

It was just that he’d never heard someone outside his family call him that. Usually, only his elders did.

"I’m heading off then."

The corners of Gu Muxue’s mouth turned up unconsciously. "Xiaorui" felt much more intimate than his full name, Xue Rui.

’Are all artistic types this intense?’ Xue Rui muttered to himself.

’That day, I only whistled a short tune, and it led to all this.’

It was already the afternoon activity period. Usually, by now, he would have already left campus with Lin Ruoxi to avoid Chen Tingting’s harassment.

"Lin Ruoxi, wake up."

Xue Rui gave Lin Ruoxi’s head a little shake.

"Mmm... What is it?" Lin Ruoxi rubbed her eyes.

"If you keep sleeping like this, what’s going to happen to your grades?" Xue Rui said seriously.

He had studied seriously before and knew that with science subjects, if you miss one part, it’s very difficult to catch up later.

Lin Ruoxi had been sleeping through class for a week.

"It’s fine..." Lin Ruoxi mumbled drowsily.

Just as Xue Rui was about to give Lin Ruoxi a lecture, he noticed Xue Xiaying beckoning to him from the back door of the classroom.

Xue Rui was puzzled. ’I haven’t done anything wrong recently, so why is my aunt looking for me?’

The two walked to the end of the hallway. Because a teacher was there, the other students didn’t want to come close, as if an invisible wall had formed between them.

"Spill it. What did you do?"

Xue Xiaying stared at Xue Rui, her gaze icy and silent.

Xue Rui realized in an instant that Xue Xiaying was trying to bluff him.

If it had been a student with weaker mental fortitude, faced with such a look from their homeroom teacher, they probably would have confessed everything they’d done recently.

However, this trick was useless against Xue Rui. He met Xue Xiaying’s gaze directly for a moment.

"Aunt, what could I have possibly done?" Xue Rui said with an innocent look.

After a long moment, Xue Xiaying patted Xue Rui’s shoulder. "You’ve done well."

She had seen the recent changes in Lin Ruoxi; the girl now dared to show her face openly and was communicating much more with her classmates.

As for his little enterprise of leaving campus like a day student, she pretended she hadn’t seen a thing.

"Why has Lin Ruoxi been so listless lately?" Xue Xiaying asked.

"That, I wouldn’t know." Xue Rui shook his head.

Xue Xiaying frowned. "It had better not have anything to do with you."

"..." Xue Rui didn’t feel like explaining.

’I can’t just say Lin Ruoxi is addicted to the internet, can I?’

’And if I did, it really would have something to do with me.’

"The main reason I called you out here is that I want you to persuade Lin Ruoxi. I want her to join the training program and sign up for next year’s Math Olympiad," Xue Xiaying said earnestly.

"Lin Ruoxi?" Xue Rui was astonished.

"Aunt, is Lin Ruoxi that good at math? Can’t we find anyone else in our class?" Xue Rui asked.

Xue Rui guessed, ’Xue Xiaying probably wants to add an achievement to her professional resume.’

’Could it be that she’s giving Lin Ruoxi "special treatment" because she wants something from her?’

’But I’ve seen her grades; her scores in every subject are very balanced.’

’No single subject is particularly outstanding, but she has no weak points either, which is why her total score ranks second.’

’Gu Muxue’s high scores are in English and Chinese, putting her at first place overall.’

’Strictly speaking, neither Lin Ruoxi nor Gu Muxue are the right material for a competition-track student.’

’Below those two, there are lopsided talents who score 60 in Chinese but get full marks in math—those are the real competition students.’

"She’s been controlling her scores," Xue Xiaying said with a smile.

"Huh?" Xue Rui’s face was a question mark.

"I looked at her exam papers from last school year. Every time, she supposedly couldn’t solve the final problem."

"But I caught her slip-up. On one problem, she had written out the entire solution, only to cross it out. And she used differentiation..."

Xue Xiaying was about to say more, but then she figured that at Xue Rui’s academic level, he most likely wouldn’t understand.

"In short, her true abilities are far beyond what her report card shows."

"Advanced math?" Xue Rui muttered.

"You know about it? Then I won’t explain any further. Just try your best to persuade her. This is for her own good, too."

Xue Xiaying shot Xue Rui a surprised glance.

’My nephew really has been studying hard.’

Xue Rui clicked his tongue in amazement. ’Lin Ruoxi has already studied advanced math?’

’No wonder she said "it’s fine" earlier.’

’But how could she have learned it? My guess is she taught herself.’

’She learned it all on her own? Is she a math genius?’

’If that’s the case, then Aunt Xiaying’s behavior isn’t strange at all. Principles can always be broken for a genius.’

’Because at her level, there’s simply no need for her to attend math class...’

"I heard from the homeroom teacher that you’ve been controlling your scores on exams?" Xue Rui said, sitting down next to Lin Ruoxi.

A flash of panic appeared in Lin Ruoxi’s eyes. She stole a glance at Xue Rui, only to find him staring straight at her.

"Mhm," Lin Ruoxi nodded.

Lin Ruoxi was naturally bad at lying, so faced with Xue Rui’s questioning, she simply admitted it outright.

’Why, though? How did she find out?’

Lin Ruoxi had never imagined that Xue Xiaying would analyze her exam papers in such detail.

Xue Rui propped his chin on his hand, recalling the award certificates he’d seen at Lin Ruoxi’s house. They were almost all for "Second Place."

’I know why,’ Xue Rui thought. ’If you get first place, you attract all kinds of attention.’

’Although first and second are only one spot apart, the honor that comes with them is completely different.’

’With Lin Ruoxi’s personality, taking second was the safest option. She could get the scholarship money without attracting too much attention.’

"You... you’re making me feel awful," Xue Rui said, covering his face.

’In my past life, I worked myself to death, and I think the highest I ever ranked was top thirty in my grade.’

’And yet, Lin Ruoxi’s second-place rank is something she got by deliberately holding back.’

The sheer gap between people made Xue Rui despair.

"I... I’m sorry," Lin Ruoxi apologized instinctively.

But as soon as she apologized, Lin Ruoxi grew even more flustered. Every time she apologized, Xue Rui would scold her.

The thought of being scolded by Xue Rui again made tears well up in her eyes uncontrollably.

Just then, Guo Qingqing stood at the podium, slapped the surface, and shouted:

"It’s our class’s turn to repair desks and chairs this afternoon! Anyone with a problematic desk or chair, take it behind the cafeteria for repairs now."

Xue Rui reached out and shook Lin Ruoxi’s desk, nearly knocking the books on it to the floor.

He frowned. He had barely used any force, yet the desk wobbled far too much. He looked down and saw that one of the screws on Lin Ruoxi’s desk was missing and the joint was horribly worn out.

And her chair was clearly uneven, with a piece missing from one corner.

"This beat-up?" Xue Rui muttered. His own desk and chair were practically new.

Because Hedong Second Middle School was short on funds, desks and chairs were repaired whenever possible. Only when they were beyond repair would they be replaced.

As for choosing desks, there was a certain amount of "scheming" involved.

At the beginning of the school year, students who arrived early would often pick a newer set for themselves, while those who came late could only choose from the worse ones.

But there were also some students who thought they were clever and would secretly swap their desk and chair with someone else’s when the classroom was empty.

And there was a logic to choosing their targets.

They usually picked shy, introverted students, because those kinds of people would just silently suffer the injustice and not make a fuss about it.

As for whether Lin Ruoxi’s desk and chair had been swapped by someone, Xue Rui didn’t know.

Because even if Lin Ruoxi had a choice, she would have chosen the worst one anyway.

"Let’s go. I’ll help you carry it."

As he spoke, Xue Rui moved the books off the desk, picked it up with one arm, and started walking out.

Lin Ruoxi followed behind Xue Rui with her head down, carrying the chair.

Xue Rui glanced back and saw Lin Ruoxi’s eyes were red. ’This girl... honestly,’ he thought. ’It’s just carrying something, and she’s so moved she’s about to cry.’

’A girl like this is too easy to fool. I can’t let anyone else snatch her away.’

...

The two of them followed the main group to the area behind the cafeteria.

Behind the cafeteria was a semi-open workshop filled with all sorts of repair tools. Sparks from welding flashed from time to time, making one’s eyes ache.

The students were lined up there, chatting and laughing with their classmates.

Xue Rui looked at Lin Ruoxi’s chair, which was missing a corner. He walked over with the chair and asked the repairman.

"Sir, it’s broken this badly. Can we get a new one?" Xue Rui asked.

’A chair with a corner missing isn’t even worth repairing,’ Xue Rui thought. ’Even if it were fixed, it wouldn’t be comfortable.’

"The new ones are in the warehouse. I can’t give you one without a note from Director Li. Go find your homeroom teacher."

The maintenance man said without even turning his head, a wrench in his hand. He didn’t even glance at the chair Xue Rui had brought.

Another maintenance man walking by glanced at the chair in Xue Rui’s hand and chuckled.

"I’ll find you a better old chair in a bit."

Xue Rui was speechless. ’Another old one?’

"No thanks. Where is Director Li’s office?" Xue Rui asked.

"It’s that one in the back. Room 107 is Director Li’s office. He should still be there," the maintenance man said with a smile.

Desks and chairs were naturally the responsibility of the logistics department, and Li Jianfeng was the director of logistics.

Xue Rui remembered Li Jianfeng vaguely. Last time, because of the incident with Qiu Mengze, he had even slipped him a few packs of cigarettes.

"There’s always someone who wants a new one. It’s not like they can’t be used after a few repairs."

"You think Director Li is that easy to talk to? Last time, a teacher from the third year got into a huge argument with him and still didn’t get one."

"Didn’t they just end up getting a few old ones from us and leaving?"

The two repairmen muttered to each other. They clearly didn’t think anyone could get a note from Director Li.

Xue Rui overheard their conversation. ’This kind of thing is perfectly normal,’ he thought.

’It isn’t a personal failing of Li Jianfeng’s. Anyone in his position would do the same.’