Chapter 15

The battery dropped to a precarious two percent.

Without thinking, Rong Jin quickly opened Baidu Maps and searched for the route from the villa to Shangyun Taoist Temple.

Though Shangyun Taoist Temple was in the suburbs of B City, it was actually so remote it was almost in T City. It required transferring two subway lines and then a bus. Taking the bus directly meant three transfers.

Rong Jin memorized the route, then refreshed Xiao Qiangwei’s Weibo twice more but found no new messages.

Besides Shangyun Taoist Temple, she knew nothing else. What exactly was she supposed to do there?

Two minutes later, the screen flashed, and the phone shut down completely from low battery, turning into a total brick. Rong Jin tossed the phone onto the edge of the bed. She felt truly sleepy now and pulled the covers over her head to sleep.

She wasn’t sure if it was because her soul had possessed Su Xijing’s body, but lately, she kept dreaming about those old messy things from before.

Rong Jin watched it all coldly. Another dream.

To motivate the students, Yucai Private High School always had the Discipline Director—nicknamed Mediterranean Sea—personally write the rankings for major exams with a brush pen on red-backed paper with black characters, posting them on the bulletin board for a full month until the next exam rankings changed.

Two weeks after the start of school, the Grade 1 baseline exam. The high school freshman bulletin board.

A dense crowd jostled in front of the big red paper.

“Holy shit, who’s this first place? Not human—this is insane! Which class?”

“I must be seeing things. Full score 1050, she got 1045?!”

“Only five points off perfect. As expected of our great Yucai—god tier! This breaks Yucai’s baseline exam record, right??”

“Study god! A living study god! What’s her name?”

“Let me see—she’s Rong Jin! I remember she got first in the city on the entrance exam to get in!”

“Word is, this year’s city entrance exam first place was a perfect score.”

“No way!!! Perfect score!!!”

“Aaaah, as expected of our Rong Bro! Beautiful, wild, and a study god!”

“Did Rong God sleep through class today? Yeah, she slept through four classes straight.”

“Hahaha, can’t envy that—no way to envy it. This must be the gap between people…”

“What about second?”

“Second’s badass too! 1012! Holy crap, over a thousand points is that casual now??”

“Nah, look at third—910. It’s just that the study gods are too godlike…”

“Who’s second?”

“Su Qingqiu. I know her—she transferred in a couple days ago, sits next to Rong God, super pretty!”

…

The class bell rang, and the crowd scattered like birds and beasts, hurrying back to class.

Grade 1 Elite Class.

The math teacher was lecturing on the monthly exam papers. Rong Jin yawned, the freshly handed-out math test spread on her desk with a bright red perfect score of 150. The seat next to her was empty—the pretty new classmate hadn’t come to school today. Her math paper was also spread out on the desk: 143 points.

Rong Jin glanced at the podium and yawned boredly again. She started folding paper airplanes out of her math test. She sat right by the window, and the math paper turned into four paper airplanes in her hands. She huffed on them and launched them out the window. One after another, they flew into the air, caught by a breeze and soon vanishing from sight.

Rong Jin gazed at the clouds outside. She’d slept through the four morning classes; now in the last one, she wasn’t sleepy anymore.

Suddenly, a piece of chalk flew at her. Rong Jin dodged nimbly, and it hit the wall, rolling into the corner with a clatter.

They’d just cleaned that corner during class duty last time, and now it was piling up with new chalk bits.

The math teacher stormed over with her test paper in hand, fuming: “Rong Jin! What are you doing!”

Rong Jin kept a straight face. “Teacher, I’m listening to class.”

The math teacher snapped, “Then where’s your test paper?!”

The paper had already become airplanes in the sky, but Rong Jin stayed utterly calm. Right under the math teacher’s nose, she swiped Su Qingqiu’s test paper: “Right here, Teacher.”

The math teacher nearly stumbled from anger.

But she’d gotten a perfect score, so there wasn’t much to say. The math teacher glared: “Come up here and explain the solution to the last question.”

Rong Jin replied, “Sure, Teacher.”

Rong Jin went up, chalk in hand. Without a second thought, she started writing—her board work flowing like water and clouds. The classmates below exclaimed in awe. She finished the last stroke, tossed the chalk stub, and the class erupted in applause and cheers.

The solution was flawless, the logic crystal clear—simpler and more understandable than the model answer. Even her brush-like chalk handwriting was dashing and free-spirited. And she’d barely listened, still playing with airplanes just moments ago.

“Alright, back to your seat.” The math teacher could only sigh.

Being this smart—who knew if it was a blessing or a curse.

Even up to the second-to-last class in the afternoon, Su Qingqiu still hadn’t shown up.

Rong Jin found it odd and kicked the back of her own desk, asking, “Where’s Su Qingqiu?”

The girl behind her, Xia Yu, jolted awake from her nap: “What’s up, Rong Bro?!”

Rong Jin patiently repeated, “Where’s Su Qingqiu?”

“How should I know? She hasn’t been to class all day.” Xia Yu looked up at the chemistry teacher on the podium, then whispered, “But I heard her family… isn’t simple.”

Rong Jin asked, “How so?”

Xia Yu leaned in mysteriously. “The Su Family—you know, the famous Su Family. Ever heard of Su Corporation, Rong Bro?”

Xia Yu’s family was fairly wealthy—half elite—and she’d crammed into the Elite Class through connections, picking up plenty of rich-family gossip along the way.

Rong Jin thought about it. Yeah, she’d heard of it.

One of the towering Twin Towers in the CBD Center had “Su Corporation” carved in huge letters on top, gleaming gold in the sunlight.

Xia Yu continued, “Not just that—I heard the Su Corporation chairman just divorced last month. Less than half a month later, he brought in a new wife.”

Rong Jin didn’t get it. “What does that mean?”

Xia Yu got excited gossiping: “Su Qingqiu’s her dad’s illegitimate daughter from outside. Her mom just got promoted to official wife, so they brought her into the house…”

Before Xia Yu finished, a piece of chalk flew straight at them. Rong Jin dodged, and it nailed Xia Yu right on the forehead.

Xia Yu collapsed dramatically.

The chemistry teacher on the podium was furious: “What are you two whispering about! Xia Yu! Come up and solve this problem!”

Xia Yu grimaced: “Teacher, I can’t do it. Why’d you only hit me? Rong Bro wasn’t listening either.”

The chemistry teacher: “Can’t do it and you don’t listen? Think you can take first in the grade?!”

Xia Yu: “…”

If she wanted first in the grade, she’d have better luck jumping off a building now to reincarnate sooner.

The last class of the afternoon was schoolwide self-study.

The Elite Class students were all scribbling away furiously; the room was pin-drop silent.

Su Qingqiu’s seat was still empty. Xia Yu spun a pen and poked Rong Jin’s back: “Rong Bro, wanna go game?”

Rong Jin was bored out of her mind. Without thinking: “Let’s go.”

They slipped out the back door quietly. Once outside, Xia Yu took a deep breath: “I was suffocating. Fresh air! Back to that game hall from last time?”

Rong Jin: “Yeah.”

School wasn’t out yet, so the front gate was no-go. They had to scale the wall.

In the northwest corner of Yucai High School, a hidden spot under the wall led to a narrow alley, and beyond that, a street full of food and fun. Xia Yu clambered up the uneven pits in the wall with difficulty: “Rong Bro, this spot’s kinda hard to climb…”

Next to her, Rong Jin took it three steps at a time, grabbed a protrusion, pulled herself up, and was on top in a second.

Xia Yu: “…”

As expected of Rong Bro—top scores in all nine subjects from language to PE.

Rong Jin sat on the wall, looking at the sky.

Clear weather, cloudless skies. End of September, autumn not yet here—everything perfect.

She glanced down and suddenly locked eyes with a pair of deep black ones.

Cold and clear, utterly still.

Xia Yu finally hauled herself up: “Rong Bro, whatcha looking at…”

She followed Rong Jin’s gaze and gasped: “Su Qingqiu? What are you doing here?”

Rong Jin and Xia Yu jumped down from the wall.

Su Qingqiu looked at her. Rong Jin brushed the dust off her clothes and asked, “Why didn’t you come to class today?”

She actually had a good feeling about this new desk mate.

Pretty and clean, bright and translucent, with a cool detachment—like a fairy just descended to the mortal world.

Su Qingqiu’s dark eyes fell on her.

She didn’t think she knew Rong Jin well and didn’t like overly familiar people.

She said, “Had an exam. Got permission to skip.”

Xia Yu asked curiously, “What exam? Anything going on lately?”

Su Qingqiu replied flatly, “Piano Grade A.”

She’d just finished the exam; the driver was taking her back to school. It was nearing dinnertime, so she planned to grab a bite here first, then return for evening self-study. Hearing noises from the alley, she’d come to check—and run right into Rong Jin.

Xia Yu: “…”

What kind of people were these? Su Qingqiu was only fifteen, right?

Rong Jin smiled: “So, fellow who just aced Piano Grade A—wanna come game with us?”

Su Qingqiu looked up in surprise.

Right, class wasn’t over yet.

Su Qingqiu asked, “You two skipping class?”

With Yucai Private High School’s strict management and elite students—even walk-ins came to study hard—skipping wasn’t common.

Xia Yu scratched her head awkwardly: “It’s just self-study last period. No biggie.”

Rong Jin didn’t see skipping as an issue and asked again: “Wanna go game?”

Su Qingqiu’s eyes fixed on her; Rong Jin caught a hint of subtle disapproval.

“No thanks, classmate Rong Jin. I’m going to eat, then study.” She paused, then added, “I hope you study properly too. Don’t waste energy on irrelevant things and squander the full scholarship and tuition waiver the school gave you.”

Rong Jin: “…”

She’d gotten in fee-free as city first, plus a 100,000-yuan annual scholarship from the school. Not only did her education cost nothing, she even earned money.

But how did Su Qingqiu know?

Before she could ask, a commotion erupted from the alley mouth. Seven or eight punks had gathered there, all turning to stare at Rong Jin in unison.

“Boss, it’s her. She hung out at our spot for two weeks, winning cash every day. We’re about broke—she wouldn’t stop.”

“Yeah, yeah. You know our stuff, boss—can’t win forever! She’s gotta be cheating!”

The punks closed in on the wall corner.

Xia Yu panicked and stepped back: “Rong Bro, what do we do?”

In the crisis, Rong Jin still clarified to Su Qingqiu: “I’m not gambling—just arcade games.”

Su Qingqiu: “…”

Yeah right, arcade games my ass.