Chapter 62: The Crooked Education

At Xuanxuan’s fervent insistence, kindergarten was firmly out of the question. After a thorough discussion between Moke Lianhao and Moke Yihe, followed by a careful assessment of Xuanxuan’s current academic abilities, they concluded that as far as elementary-level mathematics was concerned, Xuanxuan had no difficulties whatsoever. Her grasp of language arts was decent, apart from her less-than-elegant handwriting and a lack of foundation in idioms and certain traditional knowledge; otherwise, she was doing well. However, in subjects like science, moral education, physical education, art, and music, she possessed not even the most rudimentary knowledge.

Moke Lianhao couldn’t help but feel that Xuanxuan’s previous teacher had led his daughter terribly astray. Xuanxuan herself was helpless; those basic facts everyone in the Federation seemed to know were completely foreign to her. That was precisely why she wished to learn more alongside Moke Weihao and the others.

In the end, Moke Lianhao made the executive decision: Xuanxuan could only enroll in first grade, and she had little choice but to acquiesce. Tong Wan consoled her, saying that if her grades were outstanding, she could always skip a grade. Xuanxuan could only compromise.

For her safety, an entire week passed before Xuanxuan officially entered elementary school. Unlike Moke Weihao and his peers, however, Moke Lianhao would come to pick Xuanxuan up at noon every day to bring her home for lunch.

Already literate, Xuanxuan would openly read her own books during class. She finished all the textbooks for her grade in short order and promptly requested to advance a grade. Elementary textbooks, intended for children only a few years old, were hardly challenging, and Xuanxuan was already literate. In less than a week, she requested to move up to second grade; within another week, she asked to be promoted to third grade.

Both Moke Yihe and Moke Lianhao could only sigh in resignation. Even as the top military academy in the Federation, they couldn’t simply do as they pleased. After two consecutive grade jumps, the school administrators might well suspect they were making sport of the system.

Moreover, Xuanxuan had never taken any formal exams, and Moke Lianhao had hoped to avoid drawing too much attention to her. Yet now, avoiding notice was impossible.

So, Moke Yihe and Moke Lianhao decided to have Xuanxuan stay home for a month, with Tong Wan tutoring her through all the elementary school material. Both Tong Wan and Moke Yihe, having used Xuanxuan’s “life elixir,” looked much younger than before. Tong Wan, previously retired, now found herself with time on her hands.

Tutoring Xuanxuan was the perfect way to pass the days. Every day, she also drilled Xuanxuan in penmanship.

In less than a month, Xuanxuan finished all the elementary school textbooks. Though her strengths were glaringly uneven, she had, at the very least, completed the curriculum.

Xuanxuan had originally hoped to remain at home for the fun of it—her days free and easy, with time to surf the StarNet or tinker with mecha designs online. But when it came to actually attending junior high, Moke Lianhao refused to agree.

After much thought, Moke Lianhao truly considered allowing Xuanxuan to attend school alongside Moke Weihao and Moke Weihan. He could explain away her presence as youthful stubbornness, insisting on tagging along with her brothers. Besides, at her young age, when even kindergarten was out of reach, few would question the Moke family for pulling some strings.

Whether Xuanxuan attended school just to play or otherwise didn’t matter; above all, the Moke family hoped she would make friends and gain opportunities to interact with others.

Thus, two months after leaving kindergarten, Xuanxuan once again set foot through the school gates—this time entering directly into fifth grade alongside the Moke brothers.

As one of the finest elementary schools in the Federation, the students here were already well-mannered and mature by fifth grade, most being fifteen or sixteen years old. Xuanxuan felt little pressure keeping up with them, though one thing did irk her: on her second day in the class, the golden-haired boy, Ezra, transferred in as well.

On his very first day, he made it a point to challenge Xuanxuan. She couldn’t fathom why Ezra felt the need to provoke her, nor did she bother to respond, which only made the golden-haired boy even more incensed.

Previously, Ezra had been furious upon seeing Xuanxuan hugging a stranger; after learning that the person was Zhan Yu, he secretly resolved to surpass Zhan Yu—after all, how could even a chubby little kid prefer Zhan Yu over him?

Soon after, he heard Xuanxuan had enrolled in first grade. He had hoped to ask her about it, but before long, she advanced to second grade—two grades below him. Ezra prided himself on being a prodigy: at eleven, he had entered fourth grade and was the same age as Moke Weihao and the others.

But to hear that Xuanxuan, at only six, had already entered second grade—this spurred him to even greater efforts. He had planned to jump straight to the second semester of fifth grade at the beginning of the next academic year, but unexpectedly, Xuanxuan, after just a month at home, had entered sixth grade directly.

Ezra could hardly accept this. If the Moke family’s children could do it, then so could he. He begged his father to let him skip to sixth grade. His father, eager to shine in the family, saw his son’s achievements as far more important than any of his own, and immediately contacted the principal to have Ezra transferred into Moke Weihao’s class.

The first thing Ezra did upon entering the school was to challenge Xuanxuan: she could make it to sixth grade, so could he. Hmph—let’s see who comes out on top at the end-of-term exams. Besides, sixth grade was followed by the entrance exams for secondary school.

He was determined to outshine all three of the Moke siblings and claim the top spot.

Xuanxuan felt no pressure at all. As the best elementary school in the Federation, the academic demands were considerable. Ezra, having skipped grades, had to work even harder and had no time to bother her. She was perfectly content with that.

Even though many classmates were curious about her—or even jealous and resentful—the presence of the fiercely protective Moke Weihao and Moke Weihan meant Xuanxuan remained blissfully unaware.

From time to time, Ezra would make a show of asserting his presence, boasting about today’s exam, yesterday’s quiz, or last week’s competition. Inevitably, one of the Moke brothers would take him down a peg, but that never dampened his enthusiasm; he returned every time undeterred.

Xuanxuan’s grades remained extremely lopsided: she scored perfect marks in math, but hovered just above passing in every other subject.

Moke Lianhao often considered contacting Xuanxuan’s teachers to ask how his daughter could have been “trained” so strangely.

Lately, though, Xuanxuan had devoted all her time to studying mecha, completely forgetting her earlier promises to her father about providing potion formulas and training new talent.

----------

P.S. A book by Kele—highly recommended: “The Fallen Ghost Lady’s Hard Life.” And another by Gege’s mother: “A Multitude of Husbands, A Multitude of Beasts.”