Chapter 83: Crushing Jiang Qian into Despair for the 2nd Time

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Crushing Jiang Qian into Despair for the 2nd Time

Those words snapped them out of their daze. The three girls blinked in unison, staring at the retreating back of the other girl. Once she disappeared from sight, they simultaneously turned their heads back to Lin Zhengran.

Han Wenwen was the first to speak, her tone gentle. "Lin Zhengran, you sure are lucky."

The Little Fox practically bared her claws, her face brimming with murderous intent.

It was only because Lin Zhengran’s standing completely overpowered these three on a daily basis. Any ordinary guy would never have survived this first-day-of-school standoff.

After this minor scuffle, they headed into the school together to register and prepare for their first placement exam that afternoon.

Meanwhile, after the girl named Jiang Qian walked onto the campus, her assistant—a girl named Fang Meng—walked up behind her with a gentle reminder.

"Qianqian, the placement exam starts this afternoon. If you’re feeling nervous, you can rest for a while during the lunch break."

Jiang Qian continued walking forward and replied coldly, "There’s no need. The placement exam is only slightly harder than the high school entrance exam. For me, nervousness doesn’t even factor into it."

"Then we’ll do as you wish. Besides, that student named Lin Zhengran was probably just lucky."

"It doesn’t matter. I don’t care."

Having grown up with Jiang Qian since childhood, Fang Meng remembered how this second young miss had stayed up late last night cramming for this very exam. She honestly didn’t know what to say. It was ridiculous how someone who cared so deeply about winning always acted completely indifferent to victory or defeat.

The afternoon placement exam lasted much longer than expected.

Before the exam, Lin Zhengran had assessed the abilities of those three and figured they would likely end up in the same class. None of them believed him.

Xiao Heqing clenched her small fists, burning with fighting spirit. "I’m going to do my absolute best! I’ll fight to get into the same class as you!"

Jiang Xueli puffed out her chest confidently. "I was always in the upper-middle of the pack in middle school! I’ll definitely get into the top class."

Although the Little Fox didn’t want to admit it, she knew her own skill level well enough. "Maybe I’ll perform beyond my usual limits?"

Lin Zhengran decided not to burst their bubbles. "Good luck, you three."

Everyone took their assigned seats as directed by the teachers. After finding his spot, Lin Zhengran was surprised to discover that the girl sitting next to him was the same long-haired girl from that morning. After all, her beautiful yet aloof face left quite an impression.

Sitting at her desk, Jiang Qian took out her gel pen. She cast a curious and surprised glance at Lin Zhengran.

She thought, "Isn’t this that boy named Lin Zhengran? He looks exactly like his photo."

Most teenage boys would be too intimidated to lock eyes with a beautiful girl, but as someone living his second life, Lin Zhengran obviously wasn’t afraid of staring down a young girl. Jiang Qian was even less afraid. And so, the two of them simply stared at each other in utter silence for a brief moment.

It wasn’t until the exam officially began that they finally withdrew their gazes and started answering the questions.

The young girl felt absolutely certain that she would never lose to anyone. After briefly scanning the test paper, the corners of her lips curled up slightly. She thought, "The placement exam is nothing special after all. Getting first place with questions like these will be a breeze."

However, she failed to notice that Lin Zhengran was practically scribbling down the answers with sheer boredom. He had memorized these concepts flawlessly back in the third grade. Since high school questions followed fairly fixed patterns, his brain didn’t even bother to process them.

It was pure muscle memory.

Of course, aside from these two, everyone else treated the exam as if they were treading on thin ice.

At that moment, Xiao Heqing was chewing on the end of her gel pen, finding the questions incredibly difficult.

Jiang Xueli was sweating profusely, shocked to find questions she had never even seen before in her life!

Han Wenwen rested her cheek against her hand, having given up completely. She muttered to herself, "Studying really isn’t like playing video games. If you don’t know it, you don’t know it. There’s not much luck involved."

After several grueling hours of battle, the exam concluded.

Outside the testing room, Lin Zhengran watched the three girls walk out looking rather dejected. He asked curiously, "How did it go? You all look pretty unsatisfied."

The three girls looked at each other and sighed in silent unison. Their dreams were shattered.

Sure enough, when the school’s class rosters were posted, Jiang Xueli, Han Wenwen, and He Qing were indeed placed in the exact same class.

Meanwhile, upon arriving at his own assigned classroom, Lin Zhengran spotted that familiar, aloof girl, as well as the girl with the side ponytail who always followed her around.

The placement exam results were announced a few days after class divisions were finalized. A teacher taped the ranking sheet to the wall.

The students quickly crowded around to check their scores. Lin Zhengran simply took a single glance and dismissed it from his mind.

Unsurprisingly, he was ranked first.

As for Jiang Qian, she had been standing there early on, staring intensely at the ranking sheet. Disbelief filled her cool eyes, and her red lips were pressed into a tight line.

Even her assistant, Fang Meng, had her eyes wide open in a rare display of shock. She murmured, "Second place, Jiang Qian. First place... Lin Zhengran. And this time, it’s not just a point difference in Literature. There’s actually a gap in Math too... Aside from Literature, this guy scored perfectly on everything else again."

Jiang Qian’s delicate hands slowly clenched into fists.

Fang Meng asked, "Qianqian, are you okay? Maybe he was just lucky again."

Jiang Qian turned her head to look at Lin Zhengran, who was sitting by the window, reading a book in boredom. Remembering their stare-down in the exam room that day, she let out a breath, almost as if trying to deceive herself.

She loosened her fists, walked away from the ranking sheet, and returned to her seat.

"What could possibly be wrong? I’m perfectly fine. It’s just a trivial placement exam. Perhaps he just has an absolute talent for studying, that’s all."

The young girl continued to ramble, "Besides, I focus on being well-rounded. Military training starts in a few days anyway, and I heard there’s going to be a sports competition. I highly doubt someone who excels at academics would also have an advantage in sports."

Fang Meng agreed. "That’s true. Someone with good grades definitely has to read a lot, and reading a lot naturally means less time for physical training. Someone like you, Qianqian, who balances studying, sports, and piano every single day, isn’t even in the same lane as someone who only specializes in one thing."

Sitting at her desk, Jiang Qian stared out the window with her aloof eyes. "So, there’s no reason to care if my grades aren’t as good as someone else’s." Suddenly, she emphasized her point, "I don’t care about it at all."

Military training officially began a few days later.

The school distributed the uniforms, and the first-year high school students embarked on their rigorous two-week military bootcamp.

The sports competition Jiang Qian had mentioned took place a week into the training. To encourage physical fitness and a sense of unity among the students, the school organized a series of intense athletic events.

The boys and girls were separated. The very first event was the sprint, and Lin Zhengran stood on the sidelines watching.

As he observed the participating girls, all sporting ponytails and waiting at the starting line, he noticed that Jiang Qian’s gaze was particularly resolute. It was the kind of look that made it seem like she was betting her life on the race—a determination to win at all costs.

However, the girl genuinely possessed the skills to back it up. Lin Zhengran could tell just from her starting posture that she had absolutely received professional coaching.

She pulled ahead of everyone right from the start, taking an unsurprising first-place lead.

The P.E. teacher clicked his stopwatch. "Wow! Jiang Qian ran incredibly fast! Her time is fourteen point three-five seconds! If she shaved off just one more second, she’d qualify as a third-tier national athlete. Even the boys would struggle to get a time like this!"

Hearing her time, Jiang Qian breathed a sigh of relief. Standing nearby, Fang Meng was also holding a stopwatch. She smiled at Jiang Qian, signaling that it was a great run and that she was guaranteed to win this time.

The next event, naturally, was the boys’ sprint.

While the other boys were completely fired up for this kind of athletic event, Lin Zhengran was extremely nonchalant. He had tested it out back in his small hometown. The system’s so-called "strength increase" applied to his leg strength as well. Back when he was at level forty, his all-out sprint for a hundred meters clocked in at three point seven seconds.

Of course, that was in the past. Now that he was at level forty-nine, he was undoubtedly even stronger.

However, Lin Zhengran had no interest in running that fast. Otherwise, his beautiful, peaceful high school life would vanish entirely. He just needed to hold back a little bit.

At the sound of the P.E. teacher’s starting signal, Lin Zhengran bolted forward at lightning speed.

He was visibly leagues faster than the other boys. Both the P.E. teacher and the rest of the students were completely dumbfounded.

When he crossed the finish line, the teacher instinctively cursed as he stopped the stopwatch, unable to hold back his shock. "Holy shit... Eleven point one-one seconds? Your name is Lin Zhengran, right? With a little proper training, you could make the national team!"

Lin Zhengran was rather speechless upon hearing his time. He thought, "Why did I still run so fast? I was already taking it so easy."

Standing off to the side, Jiang Qian listened to his time and stared blankly at the spot where he had just sprinted past.

Fang Meng gripped her own stopwatch, rendered entirely speechless by his shocking display. All she could do was mutter under her breath, "This guy is seriously amazing. It seems he isn’t just good at studying... He’s really handsome too."