Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  She had been through rebirth, her comprehension skills and receptive abilities should be stronger than her peers.

  More importantly, she had a goal in mind, hence she would put in efforts to work towards her goals. It was normal for her to improve gradually.

  But it was different for Zhu Baoguo. He was not the least bit interested, he was dragged into studying by Qiao Nan.

  He did not put in much effort yet he made tremendous improvements. Compared to her, Zhu Baoguo had the talent for studying.

  “Come, explain to me how to solve this problem.” Zhu Baoguo lifted his chin, proud of Qiao Nan’s surprised expression.

  “Alright, let’s bring out your Mathematics book first. Let’s go through some knowledge points before we talk about the solutions.”

  The second lesson was Chinese. As compared to the joyous expression on Teacher Chen’s face, Teacher Lee only looked slightly better than last time. “Hand out the papers, have a look and do some reflection.”

  Obviously Teacher Lee’s words was directed at Qiao Nan.

  “Teacher Lee, I will give out the papers.” Zhao Yu smiled. She scored lower than Qiao Nan for Maths, but judging from Teacher Lee’s expression, she definitely scored better than Qiao Nan!

  She was all thrilled to hand out the papers. She still remembered that previously Qiao Nan scored 85 points while she scored 89 points.

  “Alright, take them.” Teacher Lee passed the papers to Zhao Yu.

  Zhao Yu knew which group the students belonged to. She only had to hand the papers to the person sitting in the first row and they would pass down the papers. She was quite efficient in handing down the papers.

  While handing out the papers, Zhao Yu saw her results—88 points, it was not too bad, though her result last time was higher by one mark.

  She finally reached Qiao Nan’s papers. As soon as she saw Qiao Nan’s name on the papers, her eyes searched for the results. Her smile froze on her face. 92 marks?!

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  Zhao Yu was stunned, she stopped handing out the papers and started to flip through Qiao Nan’s paper. She couldn’t believe that Qiao Nan would score above 90 marks for her Chinese in such a short period of time. The teachers must have made a mistake.

  She saw that Qiao Nan’s essay had the same score as before, only one mark was deducted from the essay. On the other hand, five marks was deducted from Zhao Yu’s essay. Looking at Qiao Nan’s essay, she felt as if she was being slapped on the face.

  “Zhao Yu, this is Qiao Nan’s paper. Aren’t you going to give them out? The student who sat in front of Nan Nan saw that Zhao Yu stood frozen on the spot with Qiao Nan’s papers and made no move to hand them out. The student said out of impatience, “No matter how you stare at it, Qiao Nan scored 92 points for her Chinese, it couldn’t be wrong.”

  The student’s accusation made a defeated Zhao Yu flush in embarrassment.

  She clenched her fist and tried to contain the tears swimming in her eyes. She handed out the rest of the papers in silence and returned to her seat.

  She did not hear a single word of what Teacher Lee said thereafter.

  When the school bells rang, Zhao Yu sat bent motionless over her desk.

  When it was time for lessons, her desk mate Zhou Lei noticed that Zhao Yu’s eyes looked red and puffy, as if she had just cried.

  Zhou Lei twitched his lips. What was there to cry about? She must be sick.

  Like the last time, the results for the three subjects were out.

  As compared to last time, Qiao Nan’s total score for the three subjects had increased by 20 points. Her ranking in the level had jumped to the top ten, and she was ranked among the top three in her class. She had gotten back on track, to her usual standard.

  “You are really awesome.” Zhu Baoguo was all excited at Qiao Nan’s results. No wonder his grandpa would get him a peer to coach him. He never imagined that Xiao Qiao would do so well for her exams.

  “It was average.” Qiao Nan was not really happy. She could have these results as it was only junior high exams.

  If the exams were on the combined knowledge points of the three years of junior high school, she had no idea how she would fare.

  Qiao Nan’s focus was on the combined exams, not on the exams right now.

  The results for the common tests did not matter. What was more important was the final results for the middle school exams.

  “You are too modest.” Zhu Baoguo patted Qiao Nan on her shoulder. “Your father and your mother will be thrilled to death when they know of your results.”

  If he could have the same results just once, his grandpa and grandma would be extremely happy.

  Zhu Baoguo grew frustrated at the thought of his cousins. They would always bragged about their results in front of him, teasing him for being a slacker.

  At first, Zhu Baoguo detested top students like Qiao Nan.

  But during that time, he heard that Qiao Nan’s results was dropping, moreover she was his life savior, hence he agreed to having her as his tutor.

  If Qiao Nan had been a top student all along, Zhu Baoguo might have just thanked her for saving his life, and rejected the idea of taking tutoring lessons from her.

  “Thrilled to death?” Qiao Nan was amused at this. Her father would be thrilled, as for her mother it would mean death to her. If she put the two expressions together, it would be “thrilled” to “death”.

  Zhu Baoguo had no idea what Qiao Nan was smiling about. He thought that she was just happy.

  That night when she reached home, Qiao Dongliang asked about her results. Ding Jiayi pricked her ears and listened carefully.

  When Qiao Nan told them of her results, Qiao Dongliang was thrilled, while Ding Jiayi pulled down her face and gave Qiao Nan a disdainful stare.

  But Ding Jiayi had been warned by Qiao Dongliang umpteen times. This time she did not bad mouth Qiao Nan. She snorted disdainfully and went to prepare dinner.

  Zijin would be back two weeks later. She would definitely do better than Qiao Nan.

  It was of no use to do well in junior high, what was important was to do well in high school.

  Doing well in junior high would only get you into a good high school. But doing well in high school could make sure you enter a good college. Upon entering a good college, one could be ensured of a high paying job.

  “Nan Nan, you have done well this time. How about Zhu Baoguo?” Qiao Dongliang was concerned about Zhu Baoguo after he was done asking about Qiao Nan.

  “He is pretty smart. He gave the correct answers for all the questions that I taught him.”

  “How much did he score?”

  “He did not pass.”

  “This will not do.” Qiao Dongliang frowned. “Nan Nan, since you are tutoring Baoguo, you must make sure you do a good job and help him to improve his results. It’s not good enough that you do well, you must make sure that Baoguo had good results as well. You should know Grandpa Lee took great care of me in the past. You have to repay the debts on my behalf. You have to make sure that Baoguo does well in his exams as well, do you understand?”

  Qiao Nan pursued her lips, looked at Qiao Dongliang for a while and replied coldly, “I understand.”

  “Nan Nan, I know that you might find it difficult. But I have my own difficulties as well. You can spend the weekend tutoring Baoguo. You do not need to help out at home. During the weekdays you can make use of your time to study. You must juggle your time between both and place the same importance on these two tasks.”