No. 11 Fleeting Warmth
“Yi Yao… 150 points.”
As if worried the class hadn’t heard her clearly, the teacher, still dazed, repeated my score, her eyes fixed on the grading machine.
Silence.
A deathly silence.
For ten long seconds, the classroom was so quiet that you could hear the chirping of birds outside.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, illuminating the aisles between the desks.
Liang Tong, the group leader, was so stunned that he didn’t even notice he had dropped his water bottle.
“Clang!”
The bottle hit the floor, spilling its contents and jolting everyone back to reality.
“What did she say?”
“One hundred and fifty points?”
“Wait, did I hear that right? Isn’t that a perfect score?”
“Crab Jie repeated it twice. You heard right. I heard right. It’s definitely one hundred and fifty.”
“Has the world gone mad, or have I?”
“I don’t know, but I think Tan Lijiang is about to lose it.”
The commotion in the classroom finally roused Tan Lijiang from his daze. He rushed to the grading machine, his face pale. He stared at the three clear digits on the display: 150. In disbelief, he pulled out my answer sheet and scanned it again.
“Beep.”
150 points.
“You can try as many times as you like. The result won’t change.”
I leaned against the podium, striking Yi Yao’s signature pose from the Black Dragon Society’s headquarters, my hands casually tucked in my pockets. “You lost, Tan Lijiang.”
“Impossible! This is impossible!”
He grabbed my answer sheet and frantically compared it to his own, his body trembling. “Question one, A. Question two, C. Question three, D… BCADD…”
I waited patiently as he checked all 150 questions, one by one.
“Can I have my answer sheet back now?”
“No! This can’t be real! You cheated!”
He clenched his fist and swung at me. But he, a boy who spent all his time studying and rarely exercised, was no match for me. I easily caught his arm and twisted it behind his back.
“Fighting in school will get you demerit points, Tan Lijiang.”
I maintained my calm demeanor, looking down at him. “It’s just an apology. You resort to violence just because you lost a bet? Are you even a man?”
His score of 140 confirmed my belief that I could change this world.
Even if it was just a slight emotional shift caused by me, his score was indeed lower than in the parallel world I came from. That was a fact.
The butterfly effect: a butterfly flapping its wings in South America could, through a chain of events, cause a typhoon in Asia.
Let the storm rage.
Yi Yao, you gave me a second chance at life. I’ll give you a better world.
“Tan Lijiang!”
Ms. Pang finally snapped out of her shock and pulled him away from me. “I’m so disappointed in you!”
“Teacher! She cheated!”
He pointed at me accusingly.
“I watched her finish the test in thirty minutes. Tell me, how did she cheat? Are you suggesting I gave her the answers beforehand?”
“Thirty minutes?”
“It would take at least five minutes to guess all 150 questions, plus another ten minutes to fill in the answer sheet. Damn!”
“She’s been hiding her true abilities!”
“Crap, I remember giving her the stink eye before. Is it too late to suck up to her now?”
“It’s just one test. You think she can get this lucky every time?”
You’re all getting a little too excited.
Ignoring Tan Lijiang, who was speechless after being reprimanded by Ms. Pang, and the rest of the class, who were now buzzing with excitement, I retrieved my answer sheet and calmly returned to my seat.
Nothing stayed the same forever.
Not relationships, not people’s hearts.
Liang Tong was one of the most disliked students in our class. He often snitched on his classmates to the homeroom teacher, earning him everyone’s scorn.
But I knew that after entering high school, he, the model student who had won countless awards in junior high, would become the biggest troublemaker in his class, skipping class, going to internet cafes, and getting into fights. Despite being scolded by the teacher almost every day, he would gradually gain a group of “brothers” at school.
That’s how people were. When they reached the end of one path, with nowhere else to go, they would choose another, even more extreme path.
“Way to go, deskmate!”
“Yi Yao, you’re the best! I have mad respect for you!”
As I sat down, not only Lan Zhuoyue, but even the two quiet boys in front of me turned around and gave me a thumbs-up.
I smiled and nodded politely.
Although I knew they were mostly impressed because I had put Tan Lijiang in his place.
The bell rang, signaling the end of the second period.
“Those who haven’t handed in their answer sheets, do so now. Yi Yao, come to my office.”
As expected, Ms. Pang summoned me to her office.
“Another heart-to-heart with the teacher, huh? But this time, it’s probably a good thing.”
Lan Zhuoyue, beaming with pride after scoring a hundred thanks to my answers, couldn’t stop grinning.
“Let’s hope so.”
I gave him a weak smile, put away my answer sheet, and left the classroom. As I arrived at Ms. Pang’s office, I bumped into our homeroom teacher, who was returning from her break.
“Failed another test?”
She looked at me with disdain, her beady eyes scanning me from head to toe. She snorted and entered the office ahead of me.
I didn’t have much of an impression of this homeroom teacher. In my past life’s memories, she would be transferred to another school in a month or so. She had contributed little to our class. The new homeroom teacher, on the other hand, would be a force to be reckoned with…
“Yi Yao, you need to wake up.”
She sat down at her desk, took a sip of water, and looked at me condescendingly. “What are you going to do with your life with such terrible grades? I know your family isn’t well-off. I understand you’re pretty, but don’t let your lack of knowledge lead you down the wrong path…”
I knew what she meant.
Pretty girls, even those with bad grades and no job prospects, could always find happiness by marrying a rich man.
Many considered this the “wrong path.”
I vaguely remembered overhearing a conversation between my female colleagues in my past life. They were discussing how some of their pretty and educated friends had the opportunity to marry rich and powerful men but were instead attracted to good-looking, well-educated boys from prestigious universities who worked at renowned companies, worked late hours, and went to the gym. They thought these boys were ambitious and had potential… Five or six years later, those girls were filled with regret.
But I wasn’t like those girls.
I would achieve happiness through my own efforts.
I didn’t need their pity or prayers.
“Yi Yao, don’t just stand there. Have a seat.”
After waiting for about three minutes, Ms. Pang finally arrived, her face beaming. “Are you thirsty? Let me get you some water.”
She pulled out a chair for me, then went to the water dispenser and poured me a glass of water.
“Xiao Wu, what’s going on?”
The homeroom teacher stared at her in confusion. “What did she do this time?”
“Good things, heh, good things.”
Ms. Pang pulled out a test paper from her desk and handed it to me, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Yi Yao, take a look at this test paper. What are the answers to the first five questions?”
I glanced at the paper and instantly rattled off the answers. “ACCBA.”
“Oh my god…”
Ms. Pang was ecstatic. “Yi Yao, does this mean your previous test scores…”
“Were all random guesses.”
My answer both amused and exasperated her.
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I felt like it.”
I didn’t know how to explain it, so I decided to play dumb. No one would question a good thing, right?
“Well… can you promise me you won’t do that again? Please take your exams seriously from now on.”
Her gaze was completely different from before.
Sunlight streamed through the window, reflecting off the glass on the water dispenser.
The air conditioner hummed tiredly.
“Okay.”
I replied calmly, finishing the water she had given me.
“Hey, Xiao Wu, what are you two talking about?”
The homeroom teacher was completely lost. “Did she fail again?”
“No, no, Liu Jie. Do you know what Yi Yao scored on the English test?” Ms. Pang patted my shoulder, her voice filled with pride. “150 points! A perfect score!”
The homeroom teacher still didn’t understand. “What do you mean? Were there 300 multiple-choice questions this time?”
“150 questions. A perfect score. Let me put it this way.” Ms. Pang cleared her throat and announced, as if showing off a new toy, “She got first place!”
“First place?!”
The homeroom teacher choked on her water. “Did you give her the answers?”
“No! I’m telling you, Yi Yao…”
As the two teachers were about to launch into a debate, I stood up.
“Excuse me, I need to get back to class.”
“Wait.”
The homeroom teacher called out to me as I turned to leave.
“Yi Yao…”
I cut her off, knowing what she was about to say. “Don’t worry. I’ll do just as well in my other subjects.”
The sudden change in their attitude made me uncomfortable. Yi Yao’s past memories of sadness and loneliness flooded my mind. I just wanted to get out of there.
It was like someone who had been trying to kick you out of their house suddenly offering you candy and begging you to stay.
I was used to such fickle behavior.
In the corporate world, people only cared about your performance.
You could be the most hated person in the company one day, then become the most popular the next after closing a big deal and earning everyone a bonus.
I didn’t expect school to be any different.
“Beyond the endless stretch of dreams, lies a journey through a cold and unforgiving world.” Perhaps this was what Yi Yao wanted me to understand.
We were strangers now.
