That same Sunday, Zhao Youyue did something extremely rare. She actually showed up for evening self-study, the fluorescent lights of the classroom hummed with a sterile energy that mirrored the rising tension of the students.
After all, the final exams were only two days away. Although she usually coasted along when it came to her studies, she knew that once the exams approached, it was time to get serious. She couldn't keep slacking around anymore. Her behavior perfectly embodied the saying about ignore prayers all year but suddenly clutching the Buddha's feet at the last moment. She sat at her desk, the cold air from the corridor occasionally swirling around her ankles, and pulled out her review materials.
When it came to exams, Zhao Youyue wasn't particularly good at solving difficult problems. However, she was excellent at crushing the easy ones. She made sure not to lose points on simple questions through sheer negligence, and none of her subjects had obvious weaknesses that could drag her overall average down.
Because of that, her exam scores were always stable. They rarely fluctuated dramatically, regardless of the difficulty of the test.
Take her Chinese composition as an example.
She couldn't produce essays that stunned the graders the way the talented Han Leng could with his sharp prose and unique insights. Yet thanks to her delicate and neat handwriting, along with an exceptionally clean answer sheet, she still managed to secure respectable scores. Her writing usually followed a rigid, unyielding formula: one main argument, three supporting points, and overused examples of famous figures that every grader in the province had already heard countless times.
The essay section was worth seventy points in total.
When Han Leng performed normally, he could score sixty. If he exceeded his own high expectations, he might even reach sixty-five, though his messy script often worked against him.
Zhao Youyue's essays, on the other hand, had never scored below fifty-eight. Of course, she never achieved exceptionally high scores either. Her results hardly fluctuated at all. In reality, her writing ability was probably worth around fifty-five points; however, the neat presentation and organized layout created such a positive first impression that the graders subconsciously raised her score.
Lao Qiu had never asked Zhao Youyue to read her essays aloud in class.
There was simply nothing remarkable about them. Her prose was ordinary to the extreme, lacking any spark of original thought. However, he often displayed her answer sheet on the projector as a positive example for the rest of the class. He would point at the screen with his laser pointer, encouraging everyone to learn from Zhao Youyue's tidy handwriting and meticulous organization. That was one of the few ways she managed to stand out in the academic environment.
Lao Qiu even joked that if Han Leng practiced his messy handwriting and made his paper look cleaner, getting a full score on the essay might actually be possible for him.
Sometimes he couldn't help complaining about Zhao Youyue's writing as well, his brow furrowing as he looked at her latest draft.
"Can you stop using Han Xin, Sima Qian, Newton, Edison, and Shi Tiesheng every single time? Can't you find some fresher examples to support your points?"
On the surface, she always accepted Lao Qiu's suggestions enthusiastically, nodding her head with a look of feigned realization.
But when the actual exam time came, she stubbornly stuck to the exact same formula. Since the method consistently earned decent scores without any risk, she felt there was no reason to waste mental energy memorizing new examples that might not be as reliable.
Lately, she had been looking forward more and more to obtaining the ability called "Xu Jing Possession."
As long as Xu Jing became a classic character in the hearts of the readers, she would be able to summon that presence in reality and gain that obsessive, unwavering dedication to studying. Otherwise, she could only concentrate for twenty minutes in class before her mind drifted away and she began staring blankly into space, her pen held motionless over her notebook.
That feeling of wasted time bothered her.
It was a frustrating lack of productivity. Even playing on her phone would have been more worthwhile to her than that empty daydreaming. Unfortunately, she wasn't bold enough to use her phone during class. That maneuver was simply too difficult to execute under the watchful eyes of the teachers.
But if she activated the possession ability, none of those problems would exist.
She had already experienced the terrifying focus of Xu Jing inside the manga world. Xu Jing's obsession with studying was almost identical to Zhao Youyue's own obsession with her phone. If Xu Jing couldn't study, she would feel restless and uncomfortable, like a fish pulled out of the water and left to gasp on the sand.
If she remembered correctly, today should also be the day the final chapter of Pure Love was released to the public.
Now it was simply a matter of waiting for the story's influence to slowly spread through the fan communities. Once that happened, the question was whether Xu Jing could truly become a classic female character in the readers' hearts.
Before the evening self-study officially began, the students had a short period of free time after dinner. Some returned to the classroom early to organize their desks, while others used the opportunity to go back to their dormitories and take a quick shower so they would feel more refreshed during the long study session ahead.
During that interval, a sudden, jarring burst of noise erupted in the corridor outside the classroom. It was a chaotic mix of shouting and the sound of bodies jostling against each other. It quickly attracted the attention of many students who were already in the room.
At this time, Zhao Youyue's seat had been moved to the row near the side window that looked out into the corridor. She wasn't sitting directly beside the glass, though. Jiang Qing sat between her and the window. Originally, her seat had been on the innermost side of the classroom next to the exterior window. Every two weeks, the seating arrangement rotated according to group assignments.
Her current seat was actually very dangerous.
Lao Qiu was a crafty teacher who loved strolling past the classroom from behind, his footsteps silent on the linoleum, as he secretly observed the students through the windows. If she played with her phone too boldly, there was a very high chance she would be caught on the spot.
Whenever her seat was in the first group by the corridor window, she suffered the most. For two entire weeks, she had to endure morning reading sessions without touching her phone, pretending to study diligently while her fingers itched for the screen. When she sat in the second group, she remained extremely cautious. Only when she moved to the third or fourth group could her personal radar system work properly. With Jiang Qing's help as well, she finally dared to play with her phone without any restraint.
Originally, Zhao Youyue had no interest at all in the commotion happening outside.
She planned to treat the upcoming evening self-study session seriously. She wanted to review all the material from the first semester of tenth grade and redo the problems recorded in her mistake notebook. The hardest questions would probably still leave her confused during the actual exam, but she could at least guarantee accuracy on the easy and moderately difficult ones.
Her goal for this final exam was simply to rank within the top twenty of the class rankings.
That was why she used the free time before the study hall officially began to enjoy her phone thoroughly. After satisfying her digital cravings, she would settle down and study properly.
As for why she came to school instead of studying in the comfort of her own home, the answer was simple.
The classroom had a much better learning atmosphere. At home, she couldn't control her hands; she would inevitably pick up her phone and play until bedtime, then regret it afterward while worrying that her final exam results would collapse into a disaster.
In the classroom, however, Lao Qiu's sneaky patrols forced her to stay disciplined. Because she always felt a certain instinctive awe toward him, she could push herself to study seriously.
For her, studying was truly a difficult and taxing task.
That was why she wanted the "obsession with learning" ability so badly.
And that day was finally drawing closer.
Just as she ignored the noise outside and continued playing on her phone, her deskmate, Jiang Qing, suddenly tapped her shoulder, her eyes wide with curiosity.
With a surprised tone, Jiang Qing said, "It looks like Jiang Chao is being surrounded by several boys from our class. Xu Haitao is leading them. Aren't they supposed to be good friends?"
Only then did Zhao Youyue put away her phone, slipping it into her bag with a practiced motion.
She looked toward the corridor outside the classroom and saw four or five boys from their class surrounding Jiang Chao near the metal railing. Their expressions were filled with a mix of genuine anger and deep, visceral grief. Xu Haitao looked especially furious, his face flushed red and his fists clenched as if he might punch Jiang Chao at any moment.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chao kept muttering under his breath, his voice thin and reedy.
"I was really stupid. Really. I only knew that Su Li..."
Like the endlessly lamenting Xianglin Sao from literature, he repeated the words again and again, his gaze fixed on the floor.
His face looked completely lifeless, as if he had lost all reason to keep living.