Chapter 6
The next day, Yuan Luoyi sat in her big brother's car, hugging her schoolbag and yawning. She didn't sleep well last night, with the memory fragments of her 99th life clashing in her brain. She had to get up at 5 AM to finish her homework, and now she was going to morning self-study, both tired and sleepy.
She hated Monday morning self-study. Her resentment was greater than that of an 800-year-old vengeful ghost. Opening the car window, the cool breeze blew, and Yuan Luoyi woke up a bit.
Arriving at school, dragging her heavy footsteps, Yuan Luoyi walked into Class A. As usual, the students avoided her when they saw her.
"Ding ling ling!"
The morning self-study bell rang, and Teacher Su, their homeroom teacher, walked in. She scanned the classroom.
"The monthly exam results are out," she said.
"Most people did quite well, especially Su Xun, who got over 90 points in all subjects."
"But Yuan Luoyi did very poorly on this monthly exam. She got zero points in English."
The classroom immediately buzzed with whispers.
"Zero points?"
"My god, how could that happen?"
"Did she forget to write her name?"
Yuan Luoyi was also very surprised.
Teacher Su continued, "Yuan Luoyi, why did Su Xun get 93 points in English while you only got zero, when you're in the same classroom?"
Yuan Luoyi understood that Teacher Su was bullying her again.
Teacher Su harbored great hostility towards Yuan Luoyi. Facing the terrifying Yuan family, she scorned them and persisted in suppressing Yuan Luoyi.
The principal had advised her to be nicer.
But Teacher Su said, "Let them take revenge on me! I have nothing left to lose!"
So usually, when Su Xun walked into class with a heavy schoolbag, Teacher Su would publicly praise Su Xun for loving to read. When Yuan Luoyi walked in with a heavy schoolbag, Teacher Su would say, "Some people carry so many books every day, but I don't see them learning much."
In Class A's classroom, Teacher Su gave a cold laugh and put the test paper on Yuan Luoyi's desk.
"Take a good look at your test paper. I don't even want to say anything."
Yuan Luoyi glanced at the test paper. Teacher Su's irritable mood when scoring was obvious. The red x's she drew were huge, one after another, a large red patch, like a pending bloody case.
Teacher Su took out another test paper and put it on Yuan Luoyi's desk.
"This is the makeup exam paper. Hurry up and do it now during morning self-study. Try to pass at least, or else you can only go to Class D."
Yuan Luoyi quickly browsed the test paper - one cloze passage, five reading comprehensions, ten translations.
If it was the Yuan Luoyi from before, she would have found these letters and words as obscure as hieroglyphics, completely incomprehensible. But last night, when she recalled her life in England, not only could she understand them, she could even find several grammatical errors.
Yuan Luoyi picked up her pen and started writing, finishing in twenty minutes and handing in her paper.
Teacher Su rolled her eyes. Answering so quickly, she must have just written randomly.
She picked up her red pen to grade it. Tick after tick, her expression changed from disdain to bewilderment, finally to shock as her eyes widened.
She shook her head in disbelief and graded the paper again, still unable to find any mistakes.
"All correct!?"
The Class A students also heard.
"Huh?"
"Just now she got zero points and now everything is correct?"
"She must have forgotten to write her name on the first exam paper!"
Teacher Su's face was black as if she'd swallowed a fly. She couldn't figure out why Yuan Luoyi had suddenly become so outstanding.
She had painstakingly nurtured her niece, Su Xun, who got 93 points in English and was the top scorer. But this Yuan Luoyi, whom she had always denigrated, actually got full marks!
Yuan Luoyi's expression was indifferent.
Thanks to the memories of her 99th life, she no longer needed an English teacher.
Teacher Su said with great reluctance, "Fine, since you got 100 points, you can stay in Class A."
Yuan Luoyi was silent for a long time. She wasn't happy in Class A, because it was too competitive here. Every day was studying, exams, checking rankings - a vicious cycle.
She couldn't make any friends either.
This wasn't the campus life she wanted.
She thought of Su Shi's famous saying:
"In my life, I only care about food and sleep."
"If one day I succeed, I will eat my fill and then sleep, and after sleeping eat again."
If the great ancestor could be so open-minded, so could she. If she was going to die at 18, then she still had seven years left to relax and just barely get by in this prestigious household.
She suddenly recalled another novel she had read before - "Chairman, Stop Chasing, Your Wife is Disheartened and Won't Come Back."
Although the entire novel was extremely cliched, the scene of chasing one's wife at her funeral was truly spectacular. After reading through the night, not only did Yuan Luoyi learn over a dozen greasy domineering chairman quotes, she also learned a precious lesson - at critical moments, she had to strive for her own freedom instead of fantasizing about others.
Yuan Luoyi strode up to Teacher Su's desk and forcefully placed her class plaque on it. "I want to drop out of this class!"
Everyone in Class A looked at Yuan Luoyi in shock.
Another legend was about to be added to Star Galaxy Middle School's history!
After school in the afternoon, holding her class transfer form, Yuan Luoyi was very nervous. She was going to the dreamlike Class D that she had long yearned for!
Her father, Yuan's Father, who highly valued family honor, would definitely not sign it. He might even scold her again.
Her mother, Yuan's Mother, had always doted on Yuan Luoyi and would sign it, but with that fiery temper, she would definitely make a scene at the school.
After wandering the hallway for a long time, Yuan Luoyi arrived at her big brother Yuan Ao's door.
Knock knock knock!
The door opened. Yuan Ao was surprised to see his little sister - this was the first time Yuan Luoyi had actively looked for him.
"What's up?"
"Big brother, can you help me sign this form?"
Glancing at the document, Yuan Ao immediately understood what was going on. He swiftly signed with a pen.
Sneaking a peek at her brother's expression, Yuan Luoyi couldn't figure out what he was thinking. "Is transferring to Class D going to damage the Yuan family's honor?"
Yuan Ao chuckled lightly. "It's fine. Going to school isn't very meaningful for the Yuan family. We have many other ways to learn."
Yuan Luoyi sighed softly under her breath. "Big brother, you're so outstanding that you don't need school. But me..."
Seeing his sister feeling dejected, Yuan Ao's tone gentled. "Before you were three, Father and Mother were very busy. Usually I was the one taking care of you. When you were first born, you were just this tiny."
He gestured with his hands to show the size. "Six pounds, seven ounces, your whole body was soft. When I held you I was nervous, like I was holding a bomb. The nurse looked down on me and wanted to take you back. You suddenly grabbed my thumb very tightly and wouldn't let go. No one dared to use too much force either, so I could only keep holding you."
"So I believe that as long as it's something you want to grasp, you'll definitely be able to grasp it. Even if you've dropped out of Class A, sooner or later, you'll seize back the glory that belongs to you."
Yuan Luoyi didn't know about this. She only remembered that her brother had been studying abroad, and came back when she was 7.
Yuan Luoyi asked, "Then why were you glaring at me so fiercely with murderous intent when you came back?"
Yuan Ao said, "At the time I was staring at Yuan Fa next to you."
Yuan Luoyi suddenly understood what was going on. So that was it! She'd thought her brother disliked her, which was why they were always nervous around each other.