Chapter 31 - Doubt

Chapter 31 - Doubt

The teachers raced against the clock and managed to mark all the test papers during the weekend. On Monday, the results of the very first monthly test were released. But these results caused a considerable stir.

The student representative, Lin Qian, who had defended the No.1 throne for years now, actually lost it. Not only did he unexpectedly lose 1st place, but he didn’t even make it to the top ten. He slipped down all the way to the 20th place, which can only be called middling if you were in the top class.

Also, the person who took the No.1 spot was surprisingly Huo Yerui.

As soon as these results were announced, the entire school was at an uproar. Hong KeYi, who was the homeroom teacher for the top class, immediately had a talk with Lin Qian.

Hong KeYi’s heart was burning with anxiety. It hadn’t been long since Lin Qian’s university recommendations were sent out to get audited, yet there was already a considerable decline in his results. This was very troubling to both the school and herself personally.

But compared to Hong KeYi’s apprehension, Lin Qian seemed a lot calmer.

In all honesty, not only was Lin Qian calm, he was even relieved. In fact, his performance this time was a lot better than he expected. According to his review plans, getting in the top 50 in this first test would’ve been pretty good already.

Thanks to his lingering regret from failing the college entrance exams in his last life, Lin Qian had always focused on maintaining a good learning headspace, even after university. He participated in a lot of work-study seminars, and even got a postgraduate degree. It was only because of all this hard work that Lin Qian managed to adapt to high school knowledge so quickly in this life.

As long as he could maintain this pace and not trip up, Lin Qian was confident in breaking through the top five in next month’s test.

But Hong KeYi obviously wouldn’t be able to understand this. Seeing Lin Qian calm in front of her, she couldn’t sit still. She directly asked what her heart had been speculating all this time. “Don’t tell me…you spent so much time with Class 8 students, that it impacted your studying?”

Initially, when Lin Qian wanted to help his fellow classmates, Hong KeYi was quite supportive of the idea. But if helping others was affecting Lin Qian’s own grades, then she was determined to knock some sense into Lin Qian.

What’s more, when Hong KeYi looked at the test results for the students they were tutoring, she saw that they hadn’t made any progress at all.

Lin Qian had been exposed to society longer than Hong KeYi at this point, so he knew what she was thinking. Lin Qian immediately smiled and answered: “It has nothing to do with them. I was just unlucky this time. I’ll definitely do a lot better in next month’s test.”

Hong KeYi felt that Lin Qian still wasn’t taking matters seriously, so she solemnly said: “Lin Qian, do you think that since your recommendation is already being processed that you can relax?”

Lin Qian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “That’s really not it…”

Hong KeYi interrupted him. “To tell you the truth, the school sent out two recommendations.”

Lin Qian froze. Hong KeYi thought that he had gotten scared, so she quickly changed her tone and tried to appease him. “You have the advantage though. As long as nothing happens, the recommendation will definitely be yours. I didn’t think it was necessary to let you know, but now results in this test…if this continues, I’m afraid…”

Hong KeYi didn’t finish, but her expression got the message across.

Lin Qian smiled and replied: “I understand, Ms. Hong. Thank you for reminding me.”

Hong KeYi finally received a positive response. Relived, she said: “Good. From now on, you don’t need to do make-up lessons for those Class 8 students. Tell Xu Yao and them too. Although their results didn’t go down this time, I’m afraid that next time&#k2026;”

“Miss Hong, I know. You don’t have to worry.” Lin Qian answered.

Hong KeYi was a little skeptical. Her intuition was telling her that Lin Qian wouldn’t be doing what she said. So she continued to convince him: “Lin Qian, you’re still young. There are some things you don’t understand quite yet. It’s better to listen to adults for now, or later…”

Hong KeYi started babbling. From studying to the workforce, she analyzed the importance of Lin Qian’s senior year. Lin Qian didn’t interrupt her. He patiently waited for her to finish and even brought Hong KeYi a glass of water while she was in the middle of her tirade.

Hong KeYi became really thirsty. After taking a sip of the proffered glass, she suddenly lost interest. In the end, she said: “I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like you’ve changed a lot.”

In the past, Lin Qian was a bit more prideful, and his temper wasn’t quite as gentle as it was now. Especially last year when he would often fight with Class 8. But now, as if reborn overnight, Lin Qian’s behavior had somehow mellowed out. But what truly shocked everybody was his act of shaking hands with Zheng PingQing. To be honest, even Hong KeYi had been astonished.

Lin Qian didn’t answer her query and instead asked: “That other student being recommended, is it Huo YeRui?”

Hong KeYi violently coughed, having swallowed her saliva wrong. Lin Qian passed her a tissue. “Teacher, why are you so excited?”

Hong KeYi finally stopped coughing and asked: “How did you know?”

Lin Qian replied: “Well, he did get first place in this exam. I just guessed.”

Hong KeYi gave him a skeptical look, but she couldn’t fault his logic, so she could only say: “Student Huo’s results this time was pretty good, and the school did also recommend him, but your evaluations are much better…”

Hong KeYi became flustered. She didn’t want Lin Qian to worry, but she didn’t want him to relax either. Hong KeYi didn’t know what to say, and her mind was going in circles.

Lin Qian wasn’t worried about his university recommendation, though. Or to be more precise, he simply didn’t care.

As an individual who miraculously went back in time, everything else was simply icing on the cake. It didn’t matter to Lin Qian if he doesn’t get the recommendation. No matter what, his new life will be better than his last.

But just because he didn’t care about the recommendation doesn’t mean he can tolerate other people scheming and taking it unfairly.

When he came out of the office, Lin Qian immediately told Zheng PingQing what he had learned from Hong KeYi.

Zheng PingQing, like Lin Qian, didn’t pay much attention to what was happening with the university recommendations. However, compared to Lin Qian, Zheng PingQing was definitely more stingy. “That Huo YeRui, who does he think he is? In what way is he eligible for a recommendation?”

Lin Qian could somewhat guess what Zheng PingQing was thinking. “Well, he did end up getting it in our last life.”

After their legendary brawl in their last life, Lin Qian and Zheng PingQing had been consumed by their hatred and anger for each other. And along with the mess that happened with their families, they had no time to think about anything else. Especially Lin Qian, who had been ordered to study at home for three months, effectively cutting him off from any school news. All this meant that both Lin Qian and Zheng PingQing neither cared nor knew, who exactly was it that ratted them out in the first place.

But this time, that tragedy had been prevented. Therefore, Lin Qian thought that barring any accidents, the problem with his college recommendation had been solved. But this sudden increase of recommendations made Lin Qian and Zheng PingQing realize that there might have been some details that they had ignored in their last life.

“Now that I think about it, it was kind of strange.” Lin Qian commented. Back when he was a student in his last life, he was inexperienced and was ignorant of many things. But the Lin Qian now had been toughened by the many unspoken rules of society and could now navigate through human interactions with prowess. Lin Qian could now tell that there was something strange happening.

Zheng PingQing was thinking similarly. “Right. That brawl was one thing, but with your outstanding grades, it’ll be impossible for you to actually lose your recommendation to Huo YeRui.”

Thinking about it, the fight in their last life had been between two small groups, and it didn’t affect other classes. It had happened at a critical time for the seniors, and even students from the top class had been involved. Under normal circumstances, the school would’ve tried to contain the situation as much as possible. But somehow, the situation had been blown up, and this ultimately affected the entire school’s enrollment rate.

“And another thing,” Lin Qian said, “Huo YeRui’s results in this test is way higher than his usual average.”

Zheng PingQing understood. “I remember his grades suddenly soaring around this time. He suddenly started consecutively winning first place in several monthly tests. He wouldn’t have gotten the recommendation otherwise.”

Lin Qian and Zheng PingQing looked at each other, realizing that maybe the chaos in their last life wasn’t wholly due to their impulsiveness and childishness.

Zheng PingQing raised a clenched fist. “He better behave, or else…”

Lin Qian raised a brow. “Or else what?”

“He’ll see that my boyfriend isn’t one to be trifled with.” Zheng PingQing sneered.

Lin Qian: “…I had the random notion that you were going to say you’d ice him and make his family go bankrupt.”

Zheng PingQing answered: “If you want me to do that, then I’ll go and mend my relationship with my dad and try my best to inherit the family business as soon as possible.”

Lin Qian: “…no need.”

Before they knew it, they were already outside the small office they usually had their tutoring sessions in. They saw Xu Yao standing by the door, looking at them with a complicated expression.

Zheng PingQing chuckled and said to him: “You look like you want to persuade my boyfriend about something.”

Xu Yao: !!!!

Just how unbridled is this person!

Lin Qian gently pushed Zheng PingQing away: “Go, go, you go on ahead.”

Zheng PingQing leaned towards Xu Yao and stressed: “No saying bad things about me, no advising against me, no saying that homosexuality is bad. Anything else is at your discretion.” Then he swaggered into the small office.

Xu Yao looked towards Lin Qian. He opened his mouth, hesitated, then slowly started: “You…”

Lin Qian smiled. “No saying bad things about him, no advising me against him, no saying that homosexuality is bad. Now, what do you want to say to me?”

Xu Yao: “….”

The author has something to say:

Xu Yao: What do you want me to say???

Wait, Hong KeYi is a lady? Lol I didn’t even know. It’s hard sometimes to tell whether someone’s a lady or a man, especially if they’re a small character…

But looking through the previous chapters, I managed to keep Hong KeYi gender-neutral, so that’s nice.

Also Lin Qian and Zheng PingQing having absolutely no shame