chapter 5

Old Li looked very displeased and started scolding me right away.

“It’s bad enough that your grades are poor, but now you’re bothering the top students in Class One. You’re a student-your main job is to study. Stop filling your head with nonsense. Besides, have you looked in the mirror? Do you really think Zhang Jie would be interested in you?”

Teacher Liu frowned and interrupted: “Old Li, don’t scold the child like that.”

“Song Zhaozhao, I’m not here to blame you today, just to remind you that studying should be your top priority.”

I forced myself to explain, “I was just asking him about a problem. I wasn’t thinking anything inappropriate!”

Old Li slammed the table. “Still talking back? If you have trouble, why don’t you ask your teachers?”

I looked at him sharply. “But every time I ask you, you just brush me off in a few words. You never really tried to teach me.”

Old Li flew into a rage and reached out, intending to hit me.

At that time, corporal punishment for students wasn’t considered a big deal.

In the end, it was Teacher Liu who held him back.

That afternoon, my seat was moved to the last row by the door.

In front of me sat two sports students, both 1.85 meters tall. I was completely blocked from view.

It felt like people were secretly laughing at me for being a toad wishing to eat swan meat.

After evening study, Zhang Jie came looking for me.

We’d known each other for almost two months, and this was the first time he had ever approached me on his own.

“Song Zhaozhao, you should come to Class One!”

“Hm?”

His gaze was intense. “I asked around. Each semester, there’s one chance. If you get into Class One, no one will ever get in our way again.”

“Huh?”

His face flushed red, and he quickly explained, “I mean, get in the way of our studies.”

To motivate students, at the end of every semester, the school would swap the top six students from parallel classes with the bottom six students from the three key classes.

I hesitated a bit. “Can I really do it?”

“If not this semester, then next semester.” Under the dim hallway lights, Zhang Jie’s eyes were as bright as stars. “As long as you persist, you definitely can.”

“Song Zhaozhao, I’ll be waiting for you in Class One!”

This final exam was crucial for me.

I needed to be in the top 300 in the grade, or Uncle De would stop supporting me.

But honestly, I wanted even more to get into a key class and secure a better learning environment and atmosphere.

In the days that followed, aside from sleeping, eating, and working part-time, I studied like crazy.

After winter set in, the weather grew even colder.

I couldn’t afford a down jacket. At night, when I studied in the hallway, I had to wear every piece of clothing I owned, constantly pacing to keep warm.

My roommate quietly opened the door and draped her down jacket over my shoulders. “Don’t catch a cold.”

The lightbulb on the balcony of the house across the street had inexplicably been replaced with one many times brighter.

The curtains were tightly drawn, and the balcony light often stayed on all night.

Teacher Wang would snatch the rag from my hands. “Go study in my office. The library’s not busy for the next half month.”

It turned out, as long as you work hard enough,

the world will always show you plenty of kindness.

The days of the final exam were especially cold.

In a rare show of mercy, the school actually turned on the heating.

Before that, the heaters had always just been for show.

I wore so many layers that my back was drenched in sweat.

With all the doors and windows shut tight in the classroom, my head felt a bit fuzzy, and the chilblains on my hands and feet were burning and unbearably itchy.