Chapter 157: The Provincial Capital

It was presumably the first mock exam, and parents attached great importance to it, which was why housewives who usually stayed idle at home had tagged along...

Every year, college entrance examination reforms sparked more concern among ordinary people than financial and fiscal reforms, which showed just how critical the national exam was.

Although some parents occasionally muttered complaints under their breath, and some students still retained their rebellious and stubborn streaks...

Sui Yi stood quietly and watched for a moment, intending to push her bicycle through the school gates.

Suddenly, someone called out.

"Hey, Sui Yi, which classroom are you assigned to for the exam?"

Seeing Sui Yi, the other students from Number Two High School who had been assigned to take the exam at Number One High School looked delighted, and a few ran over to greet her.

Sui Yi responded to each of them, took out her admission ticket to check, and said, "Class Four, Second Year."

"Ah, I'm in Class One, Third Year. What a tragedy!"

"Same here..."

These people either smiled or frowned, their expressions exceptionally vivid. Sui Yi stood nearby and smiled quietly as well. Fortunately, knowing that Sui Yi was never much of a talker, they soon bid her farewell...

As soon as Sui Yi walked away, some parents nearby pulled their children over and began bombarding them with questions.

This was probably due to Sui Yi's striking appearance and refined temperament.

However, upon hearing that she had placed tenth in the previous joint examination, the parents firmly cemented the title of "academic prodigy" upon her head.

——————

In Class Four of the second year, Sui Yi did not expect to run into acquaintances.

Not just one, either.

Su Ziyi and Bai Lingshuang.

The two academic heavyweights of Number One High School.

Plus Sui Yi, another academic powerhouse...

The meeting of the three instantly ignited the classroom atmosphere. Many students from both Number One and Number Two High Schools cried out in excitement. As for the students from Number Three High School, a few of them seemed to have seen Sui Yi before—such as Wang Pu's classmates—and their expressions at the moment were quite complicated...

However, the emotions of these people quickly synchronized.

Ding-a-ling, the bell rang.

The exam began!

Su Ziyi smiled at Sui Yi and gave a wave of his hand, meaning "good luck."

Sui Yi responded with a faint smile.

——————

The first test was Chinese, which could be considered the most time-consuming exam, yet it also put the least pressure on students. Because with Chinese, you could always rely on your own understanding to piece together some words and fill the blanks, whereas subjects like mathematics were far too brain-wracking.

Therefore, everyone was relatively relaxed during the first session.

An hour later...

A teacher had just glanced at the stopwatch and written the numeral one on the blackboard. Already, someone stood up, placed their answer sheet on the podium, slightly nodded to the other proctor, and walked out.

The two teachers: "..."

As Sui Yi walked down the corridor, she encountered other examinees who were also emerging from various examination rooms.

These students handed in their papers quickly as well, arms slung over each other's shoulders, smiling and chatting. Suddenly, all of them turned their heads.

Bah, a girl?

"Ha, beauty, daring to hand in a blank paper so blatantly, you've got some nerve..."

Before Sui Yi even walked close, someone tried to flirt with her. Sui Yi raised her eyes and glanced at the speaker, causing the man to freeze in place. Then, the entire group fell silent as they watched her walk down the corridor.

After a long while, these people finally let out a breath of relief.

Luckily they hadn't provoked her into anger...

"Brother Zheng, who is this person? So badass!" asked someone who was clueless, chewing on a toothpick.

"Just make sure you don't mess with her... In a place like Nanxun, even if all of us teamed up, we couldn't afford to provoke her. Show some respect when you see her from now on~~"

Usually, these guys were full of glib flattery whenever they saw a pretty girl, but there were always exceptions.

For instance, Yan Qingwu, Sui Yi, and Lin Chuxia.

Otherwise, the consequences would be much like what happened to Zhang Yang and his crew—

Not even a high school diploma would be within their reach!

One session down, a lunch break, and the afternoon tests would follow.

The process lasted for two days.

Aside from the howling and wailing of some students, the worried expressions of others, and the relaxed joy of those forming cliques to play basketball...

The exams went quite smoothly on the whole.

Even more so for Sui Yi.

Except that she had added another legend to her name.

The legend of handing in test papers in record time.

Word had it that in one particular examination room, there was a student who always submitted her paper the absolute split-second the rules allowed, acting even more professional than the delinquent ringleaders who turned in blank sheets.

Consequently, her reputation spread far and wide among the students and teachers alike. As for the parents... while waiting at the gates, that young lady always emerged all by herself, looking solitary...

Two days concluded, followed by a two-day break.

When exiting Number One High School, Su Ziyi called out to Sui Yi, asking if she wanted to go out and hang out somewhere...

"We can also call Yu Hang and the others to go mountain climbing or have a barbecue together, or else just stroll around a bookstore," Su Ziyi said gently and politely.

Sui Yi shook her head. "I have things to attend to over the next two days, so I'm afraid I won't be able to make it."

With that, she walked away.

Su Ziyi felt puzzled. Attend to things? Where was she going?

——————

On Saturday, at the waiting hall of the Nanxun Town Railway Station. Because it was a tourist town, it had to cater to visitors from all over the country, and the surface appearance certainly had to be kept up. Therefore, Nanxun possessed a railway station, and its waiting hall was constructed quite nicely. Although slightly quaint, it was also concise and elegant, keeping up with some urban trends. At this moment, inside the spacious hall, lines of red text scrolled across the electronic display screen, broadcasting the arrival and departure information of trains...

Among the rows of seating beneath the screen, Sui Yi stood out unmistakably in a crowd of people wrapped up round and round in heavy winter gear, wishing they could wrap themselves in quilts. She was traveling light, wearing a backpack, light blue jeans, flat canvas shoes, a white shirt, and a simple leather jacket.

She stood out just as much among the female white-collar workers and young students present.

Looking at the ticket in her hand, Sui Yi lightly furrowed her brows. It was nine o'clock in the morning. It took about three hours to get from Nanxun to the provincial capital, which was considered quite long. Still, she had struck lucky; this was the very last ticket, otherwise she would have had to wait for the next run departing at one o'clock in the afternoon, which would get her there very late...

Actually, if one wanted to go to the provincial capital, long-distance buses were also an option, though the travel time was extremely long—nearly five hours. Most people preferred taking the train, and train travel was considerably more relaxing, to boot.

It was just that the ticket price was a bit higher.

Soon, the broadcast announced that Sui Yi and the other passengers should proceed to check their tickets.

Nanxun was not the originating station; it was merely a stop along the line. When Sui Yi walked in, many people were already sitting leisurely in their seats, chatting and laughing, gazing out the window, or pointing at things outside...

Sui Yi found her seat and sat down. The moment she sat down, she noticed that the three people nearby who had been chatting animatedly instantly fell quiet.

Raising her eyes, she saw that the two people opposite her were staring straight at her, and the person beside her was clearly doing the same.

Sui Yi gave them a slight nod of acknowledgment.

The atmosphere remained quiet. Sui Yi's backpack was small and seemed to contain hardly anything, yet she still lifted it and placed it in the luggage rack overhead, even though the bag held several thousand yuan, multiple bank cards, her ID card, and more...

Sui Yi was not the type of person to proactively strike up conversations with strangers, so the moment she sat down, she pulled out a magazine and began to flip through it.

After a little while.

"Hello," the fresh-faced young man sitting opposite, who looked like a college student, greeted Sui Yi.

Since someone had initiated a greeting, Sui Yi naturally would not ignore it. She replied to him, her tone neither overly enthusiastic nor cold.

Seeing that Sui Yi was not difficult to get along with, the fresh-faced young man and the honest-looking man beside Sui Yi began chatting back and forth in a few casual sentences.

There was also a woman among them of above-average appearance and fashionable attire. She glanced at Sui Yi a few times and only chimed in whenever the fresh-faced young man spoke.

As they talked, Sui Yi gradually gathered some information about them.

These three were all students at Jiangdu University in the provincial capital. The fresh-faced young man was named Xu Nan, the honest-looking man was Wang Kai, and the fashionable woman was Qi Yu. All three were freshmen just over twenty years old. Taking advantage of the school holiday, they had arranged to travel to Lijiang together... and now that the break was coming to an end, they were on their journey back...

Universities offered a relatively high degree of freedom, and it seemed as though they were releasing all the pent-up frustration from over a decade of test-oriented education. Groups of college students traveling everywhere were extremely common, so Sui Yi did not find it strange. However, Jiangdu University was immensely famous within the province and stood as the absolute best institution of higher learning. The fact that these three could pass the exams to enter Jiangdu University showed that their academic scores were undoubtedly exceptional.

No wonder they spoke with such pride and self-confidence regarding their university.

Since Sui Yi had learned their backgrounds, they naturally learned a few things about Sui Yi as well—such as her name and the fact that she was a high school student...

She looked very youthful, though her temperament carried a touch of coolness and composure quite unlike a naive, bewildered high schooler.

"Oh, you're only eighteen? So young... but you look very mature and sensible," Xu Nan said with a smile.

"Yeah, if I didn't know Sui Yi's age, I really would have thought she had already stepped out into society. I wonder how your grades are, Sui Yi? If your grades aren't good and you just run around playing instead, failing to get into university, it'll be really tough for you when you step out into society later..." Qi Yu rarely ever addressed Sui Yi directly, but she suddenly interjected with this remark.

These words caused Xu Nan's expression to shift slightly. Wang Kai, who had originally appeared honest and simple, also caught the unusual smell of gunpowder in the air and wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.

Sui Yi acted as though she hadn't detected the hidden needles in the other woman's words. She merely gazed down at the magazine on her lap and responded with a faint, light sound: "Mhm."

Mhm, and nothing more.

Neither Xu Nan nor Wang Kai knew how to salvage the awkwardness; since they couldn't pick up the thread of the conversation, they simply stopped talking.

Qi Yu glanced sidelong at the simple clothes Sui Yi was wearing and let out a cold snort.

Country bumpkin...

——————

Three hours later, it was already noon. As early as eleven o'clock, many passengers had already taken out food to satisfy their hunger. The two young men, including Xu Nan, did the same. Taking advantage of this moment, Xu Nan seized the opportunity to speak with Sui Yi and offered her some food, but Sui Yi politely declined... Which earned her another sideways glare of disdain from Qi Yu.

Amidst Qi Yu's occasional sharp and eccentric barbs, Wang Kai endured all the way to the terminal station. When exiting the train doors, he let out a huge sigh of relief. Turning his head, he saw Sui Yi casually slinging her backpack over her shoulder, her gaze sweeping calmly over her surroundings. Not far away, Xu Nan was still being pestered by Qi Yu to help carry her luggage...

"Sorry about that. Qi Yu likes Ah Nan, so she's very hostile toward other girls. Actually, she's not a bad person at heart," Wang Kai's sudden apology caused Sui Yi to turn her head and look at him. She shook her head, her voice soft and serene: "It's fine."

With that, she walked away.

Without ever looking back.