Chapter 48: She Let Out a Soft Chuckle
There was little emotion visible on the young girl's fair, delicate face, yet a faint light seemed to shine in the depths of her clear eyes.
Her voice was gentle, her tone almost friendly, carrying the earnest manner of someone sincerely asking for another person's opinion. She was impeccably polite—
And what she said happened to hit exactly where it hurt.
Yet the moment their eyes met, Teacher Huang—who had genuinely been planning to stay and proctor Class One's exam—felt an inexplicable chill run through him. Before he could understand where that instinctive retreat came from, he had already taken a step backward. Realizing what he'd done, he hurriedly steadied himself.
Standing a pace away, he scrutinized her uncertainly.
Long before Mu Xiangxiang's name became famous among the students, it had already been familiar to Yingcheng's teaching staff. She had been specially recruited with the title of third-place scorer in City A's high school entrance examination, receiving waived tuition and a full scholarship. She was beautiful and, by all rights, should have been one of the school's star students. Strangely, however, during the past year and a half, she had left only a vague impression on most teachers.
At least in Teacher Huang's memory, the image of her remained frozen at the end of last semester, when she had been called into the faculty office after exam results were released.
Back then she wore glasses and had long black hair. She looked exceptionally docile. When informed that her exam papers would be returned several days later than everyone else's, she had clearly guessed what was happening, yet she neither questioned nor protested as most students would have. She merely pressed her lips together, stood there pale-faced for a long while, and finally nodded softly. "Okay."
So compliant that comforting her had seemed unnecessary.
But now… Something felt different.
The atmosphere gradually solidified under her awkward proposal. It was one thing for Teacher Huang to suspect Class One's results and volunteer to stay and supervise. It was another thing entirely for the accused party to actively request supervision—while also dragging two school administrators into it. That was humiliating.
Director Liu from the Admissions Office, who had been standing by and smoothing things over without speaking, also began to feel uncomfortable. After all, he'd only come to help an old teacher make inquiries and play the good guy. He had no desire to get caught in the fire himself. So he immediately stepped forward with a laugh to defuse the situation. "All right, all right. Child, what are you saying? Teacher Huang was just asking casually. He didn't mean what you're thinking, so don't take it to heart. And besides, if three teachers are sitting around you, how are you supposed to focus on the test? This mock exam is very important. It affects the parent-teacher conference later. Don't fool around with your grades."
He had plenty of experience dealing with students, especially from his admissions work, and he knew Mu Xiangxiang's personality well. To his disappointment, however, the girl who had always been so easy to handle seemed like an entirely different person today. She ignored the way out he had offered and merely shifted her gaze toward him.
Adults always assumed children couldn't see through them. But Mu Xiangxiang understood everything.
There was little emotion visible on the young girl's fair, delicate face, yet a faint light seemed to shine in the depths of her clear eyes.
Her voice was gentle, her tone almost friendly, carrying the earnest manner of someone sincerely asking for another person's opinion. She was impeccably polite—
And what she said happened to hit exactly where it hurt.
Yet the moment their eyes met, Teacher Huang—who had genuinely been planning to stay and proctor Class One's exam—felt an inexplicable chill run through him. Before he could understand where that instinctive retreat came from, he had already taken a step backward. Realizing what he'd done, he hurriedly steadied himself.
Standing a pace away, he scrutinized her uncertainly.
Long before Mu Xiangxiang's name became famous among the students, it had already been familiar to Yingcheng's teaching staff. She had been specially recruited with the title of third-place scorer in City A's high school entrance examination, receiving waived tuition and a full scholarship. She was beautiful and, by all rights, should have been one of the school's star students. Strangely, however, during the past year and a half, she had left only a vague impression on most teachers.
At least in Teacher Huang's memory, the image of her remained frozen at the end of last semester, when she had been called into the faculty office after exam results were released.
Back then she wore glasses and had long black hair. She looked exceptionally docile. When informed that her exam papers would be returned several days later than everyone else's, she had clearly guessed what was happening, yet she neither questioned nor protested as most students would have. She merely pressed her lips together, stood there pale-faced for a long while, and finally nodded softly. "Okay."
So compliant that comforting her had seemed unnecessary.
But now… Something felt different.
The atmosphere gradually solidified under her awkward proposal. It was one thing for Teacher Huang to suspect Class One's results and volunteer to stay and supervise. It was another thing entirely for the accused party to actively request supervision—while also dragging two school administrators into it. That was humiliating.
Director Liu from the Admissions Office, who had been standing by and smoothing things over without speaking, also began to feel uncomfortable. After all, he'd only come to help an old teacher make inquiries and play the good guy. He had no desire to get caught in the fire himself. So he immediately stepped forward with a laugh to defuse the situation. "All right, all right. Child, what are you saying? Teacher Huang was just asking casually. He didn't mean what you're thinking, so don't take it to heart. And besides, if three teachers are sitting around you, how are you supposed to focus on the test? This mock exam is very important. It affects the parent-teacher conference later. Don't fool around with your grades."
He had plenty of experience dealing with students, especially from his admissions work, and he knew Mu Xiangxiang's personality well. To his disappointment, however, the girl who had always been so easy to handle seemed like an entirely different person today. She ignored the way out he had offered and merely shifted her gaze toward him.
Adults always assumed children couldn't see through them. But Mu Xiangxiang understood everything.
She knew that if anyone else in her class had scored 740 points, neither last semester nor today would the school administrators have so readily allowed Teacher Huang to pressure them.
Just like Fang Lingli's year-long bullying campaign against her. Even the janitors knew about it. Her homeroom teacher, Teacher Wang, had intervened several times under the guise of coincidence. Did these administrators—people with far more authority than Teacher Wang—really know nothing?
Unlike hired teachers who were powerless against wealthy students like Fang Lingli, they could have helped her with minimal effort.
Yet this same Director Liu, who smiled kindly during scholarship ceremonies and spoke such pleasant words—as though he genuinely cared about her future—had done nothing. He simply pretended ignorance. After all, compared to a wealthy girl like Fang Lingli, or a long-serving teacher like Teacher Huang, Mu Xiangxiang was merely a poor scholarship student with excellent grades.
Her weight on the scales was negligible. No matter how the conflict ended, the flames would never reach an administrator like him.
Director Liu felt increasingly uncomfortable under her clear, penetrating gaze. It was as though someone had stripped him naked in public. After a moment, he looked away first. Mu Xiangxiang returned her attention to her original opponent. Beneath her calm exterior, anger surged. "Teacher Huang," she asked, "you agree to it, don't you?"
Crushed beneath an unfamiliar pressure, Teacher Huang found himself momentarily speechless. "I..."
The school bell suddenly cut him off. At the same time, a young male teacher from Class One entered carrying a stack of exam papers. Seeing the tense atmosphere, he immediately stopped. "...What's going on here?"
Without taking her eyes off Teacher Huang, Mu Xiangxiang noticed from the corner of her vision that the entire class was closely watching. Standing in the doorway and blocking everyone's path, her heart pounded with a sharp determination she had never felt before. Without turning around, she raised her voice. "Can a few people go find three chairs for the teachers?"
"Whooooaa—!"
The response was immediate. The students of Class One became excited as though it were New Year's. Several boys literally climbed onto desks and jumped out the windows, rushing toward the faculty office nearby.
"Wait—"
The vice principal, Director Liu, and Teacher Huang were all stunned. Before any of them could stop it, the boys were already racing back. Ignoring the shouts of teachers outside— "You little brats, what are you doing?!" —they triumphantly dragged several chairs back with them. Cheering all the way, they flooded into the classroom. Not only did Teacher Huang, Vice Principal Deng, and Director Liu get chairs, but so did Homeroom Teacher Wang and the male teacher who had just arrived.
The male teacher stared blankly at the chair pushed into his hands. "...What exactly is happening here...?"
Mu Xiangxiang curled her lips slightly and lifted her arm. "Sit."
After two seconds of bewilderment, the teacher awkwardly stood beside the chair, looking at the three administrators and fellow teacher now seated in the aisle. "Vice Principal Deng, Director Liu, Teacher Huang... what exactly is this about?"
Though he'd technically gotten what he wanted, Teacher Huang somehow felt like a duck being forced onto a perch. His face alternated between pale and green. Vice Principal Deng and Director Liu exchanged glances. Both could see the ominous feeling reflected in the other's eyes.
Mu Xiangxiang's emotions stirred briefly. She withdrew her gaze from the classmates who had responded so enthusiastically to her request. Then she walked to the podium and gathered up the pile of exercise books that, in a sense, belonged to her. Looking at the bizarre solutions and equally bizarre mistakes filling the pages, she answered calmly in place of anyone else: "They'll all be staying to supervise the exam today."
"Huh?" The vice principal and admissions director supervising an exam together while squeezed into the aisle? What kind of arrangement was that? A public demonstration class?
After a moment of panic, the male teacher decided the best course was simply not to think about the administrators. He clapped his hands and addressed the students. "All right then. Let's welcome our school leaders for today's supervision. Everyone, take your seats and clear your desks. We're now beginning the second-semester unified examination for the entire eleventh grade. The first subject is mathematics."
As Mu Xiangxiang returned to her seat carrying the exercise books, Teacher Wang stopped her. The usually stern woman's face was filled with worry. "Mu Xiangxiang, why would you..."
Since the argument began, she'd never found a chance to interrupt. Before she knew it, Mu Xiangxiang had somehow locked in the supervision arrangement. She was frustrated by the decline she'd seen in the girl's homework performance, yet also worried that a moment of recklessness might make the slander appear true. In her anxiety, she hardly knew what to do.
Mu Xiangxiang merely smiled at her. On that familiar face, the smile seemed strangely unfamiliar. Yet it carried a calm confidence powerful enough to reassure others. "Don't worry, Teacher Wang. I won't disappoint you."
As she approached, an invisible pressure seemed to accompany her. Teacher Huang slowly turned his head to follow her movement, astonished to discover that he was actually feeling nervous in front of a student.
Dozens of eyes in the classroom—including those of the proctors—were subtly focused on her. Ordinarily, Mu Xiangxiang would have felt deeply uncomfortable under such scrutiny and done everything possible to make herself invisible. Today, however, she felt almost nothing.
She simply lowered her head and looked at the freshly distributed exam paper. The scent of fresh ink drifted faintly from the pages.
She didn't move for a long time. Elsewhere in the classroom, after their anger faded, her classmates gradually began to feel nervous.
Lin Long, one of the class representatives, had arrived early and happened to glimpse the exercise book Teacher Huang had been waving around. To be honest, she found it difficult to believe that a workbook containing so many mistakes could truly belong to Mu Xiangxiang. After being classmates for so long, she had never doubted Mu Xiangxiang's academic ability. Yet her neglect of schoolwork since the semester began had been impossible to ignore. The moment class ended, she'd run to the basketball gym. During lessons, she'd prop a textbook in front of her face and stare into space. Nobody saw her carrying worksheets and practice books around solving problems anymore. Even her daily class notes were being copied for her by Luo Yong, the boy sitting behind her.
"Oh my god..." Gao Yan whispered anxiously from a corner of the room when Mu Xiangxiang still hadn't picked up her pen. "This exam is harder than last semester's final. What if Mu Xiangxiang is actually stumped?"
"Hard to say. She's been playing basketball every day. I really haven't seen her studying."
"Damn, Teacher Huang is still sitting there watching her. If she actually bombs this..."
The students sank into growing panic. What if Sister Xiang actually capsizes in a gutter this time? As the young people became increasingly agitated, the person at the center of it all gradually became calmer instead.
Before the exam even began, Teacher Huang had already noticed the increasingly hostile looks coming from the two administrators beside him. Seeing Mu Xiangxiang act so confident about the upcoming test only made him more uneasy. What he feared most was being proven wrong and dragging the principal and director down with him in public embarrassment. Now, seeing Mu Xiangxiang sitting there without writing a single answer, his heart—which had been hanging in suspense—finally began to settle.
He let out a cold snort. Combining this with what he had seen in those exercise books, he slowly straightened his slightly hunched back.
The next second, however, the slender girl who had been doing nothing but repeatedly flipping through the test paper suddenly revealed another smile he had never seen before. Her demeanor changed.
A profound calm settled over her.
The subtle expression in her eyes and at the corners of her mouth could perhaps be described as— absolute confidence in victory.
*****
Mu Xiangxiang felt fortunate.
Yingcheng's curriculum moved much faster than No. 12 High School's, and they didn't even use the same textbooks. When she had first switched bodies with Qiao Nan, she had considered this problem and shamelessly asked him to bring back that day's class notes and lecture recordings every day. At the time she had felt guilty about it. Looking back now, it was probably one of the smartest decisions she had ever made in her life.
More than thirty percent of the content on this exam paper—written by Yingcheng's teaching staff—covered material that No. 12 High School, especially an ordinary class like Class Nine, wouldn't reach for at least another two months. Another five to ten percent wasn't even included in No. 12 High School's textbooks. Though Mu Xiangxiang's self-study abilities were exceptional, even she couldn't guarantee she could handle all of it easily without preparation.
She read through the entire paper at least three times. Only after confirming that every question was within her grasp did she finally reach for her pencil case.
And in the next moment, everyone watching her direction learned what it meant to be—
swift as a dragon in flight, completing everything in a single flourish.
*****
As the homeroom teacher of Class Two—a fellow honors class—and a mathematics teacher himself, Teacher Huang had been teaching for nearly fifteen years. He had produced countless outstanding students. Honors classes were full of geniuses who understood concepts instantly. Even so, this was the first time in his life he had seen someone answer an exam like this.
Mu Xiangxiang was simply too fast. In the blink of an eye, she had already completed a long stretch of multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. Her expression remained calm. Her state of mind seemed relaxed. As her pen moved, she appeared not to think at all.
Many questions required only a few seconds of mental calculation before she immediately wrote down the answer. Occasionally she would pull over a sheet of scratch paper, but only to wipe excess ink from the tip of her pen.
By the time many of her classmates—who had started answering much earlier—had only reached the second major problem section, she casually flipped a page, pulled several geometry tools from her pile of stationery, and moved on to Question Four.
Everything seemed effortless. As though the entire paper consisted of nothing more difficult than multiplication tables and simple arithmetic.
Yet no one knew this exam better than Teacher Huang. He had been one of its authors. To accurately assess the entire grade's academic level, Yingcheng had intentionally made this mock exam even harder than last semester's final. The questions covered material beyond the textbooks. Some involved formulas so complicated that even teachers would get headaches looking at them.
How could an eleventh-grade student possibly solve them so easily? Wasn't this approach to answering questions far too careless?
Staring blankly, he watched the girl use her slender hand as a ruler to measure lines on the paper. Almost unconsciously, he reached over and pulled away one of the completed sheets from her desk. He unfolded it and checked.
Question One—correct.
Question Two—correct.
Question Three, Four, Five...
This one… The fifth fill-in-the-blank question from the end. She had solved it entirely in her head? Without even using scratch paper?
The solution steps for that equation alone should fill half a page! How had she managed to calculate it mentally?!
Beside him, Vice Principal Deng noticed his stunned expression and couldn't help leaning over to look. He quickly inferred how Mu Xiangxiang must have solved the problem. After a moment of shock, he grabbed the paper and spread it on the desk. "This question..."
Mu Xiangxiang was drawing an arc with her compass. "Hm?"
"...Where are your solution steps?"
"Isn't that a fill-in-the-blank question?" She glanced in the direction he was pointing. Her tone and expression were astonishingly matter-of-fact. "For fill-in-the-blank questions, you just write the answer. Why would I need solution steps?"
Vice Principal Deng opened his mouth. He couldn't process her logic. "...Because the answer doesn’t require the steps to solve the problem, you don’t write the steps?"
Mu Xiangxiang raised an eyebrow. "What else?"
“If you don't write the steps, how did you get the answer?”
Mu Xiangxiang: “Mental calculation!”
Vice Principal Deng: "............"
He stared at the endless chain of formulas in the question. After a long silence, he handed the paper to Director Liu. "You look."
Director Liu accepted it. Having heard the exchange between the vice principal and Mu Xiangxiang, the moment he saw the problem, he remembered exactly why he'd accompanied Teacher Huang here in the first place. Suddenly his face burned with shame.
He opened his mouth, intending to find an excuse to leave. But Mu Xiangxiang, who was working on a major problem, seemed to anticipate his intention. She turned and looked directly at him. "Teacher, I haven't finished the exam yet."
"..." Director Liu glanced at the vice principal, who also looked increasingly uncomfortable sitting there. He wiped sweat from his forehead. "Well, um—"
Before he could finish, Mu Xiangxiang curled her lips slightly. Her expression remained calm and serious. "If you leave now, my class and I will never be able to clear our names."
Meeting her gaze and recalling Teacher Huang's earlier accusations, Director Liu suddenly felt overwhelmed by shame under the watchful eyes of the entire classroom. Breathing became difficult.
His backside had barely risen a few millimeters from the chair when the vice principal suddenly grabbed him and yanked him back down. Startled, he turned. Vice Principal Deng shot a dark look at the still-dazed Teacher Huang and sat upright like a pine tree. "Stay put."
Teacher Huang blankly picked up the exam paper Director Liu had set down. For a long moment, he couldn't recover from the previous conversation. He stared at the answers. Finally forcing his eyes away from the paper, he happened to glance at a nearby student who had just begun the second page. As the student turned the sheet, a large blank answer area on Page Three became visible.
Hope suddenly rekindled in his heart. That's right! What was there to worry about? There was no way Mu Xiangxiang could reproduce her previous score. This time, Yingcheng's mathematics teachers had filled the exam with traps. Take the major problem on Page Three. They had deliberately adapted it from a notoriously difficult college entrance exam question from another province. The original exam setter had badly misjudged high school students' abilities. The final problem had essentially become a variation of an IMO finals question. In the entire province, only a handful of students had solved it.
A question of this caliber existed solely to crush students' confidence. Forget eleventh graders. Even graduating seniors would likely be helpless against it.
Thinking this, he watched as Mu Xiangxiang rapidly finished Page Two and flipped to the true main course of the exam.
Teacher Huang wiped away sweat. At last, he thought, he could relax a little.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when— A few seconds later, after reading the question, Mu Xiangxiang casually pulled over a sheet of scratch paper and began writing. After only a few brief calculations, she started copying results directly onto the answer sheet.
One line.
Two lines.
Three lines.
Finished. She prepared to turn the page.
Teacher Huang: "???"
He stared blankly at the huge blank space they had deliberately left on Page Three. Before his brain fully processed what was happening, the words burst out of his mouth: "Wait!"
Everyone who heard the voice turned to look.
Mu Xiangxiang stopped writing and raised her eyes. Teacher Huang stiffened under her gaze. Turning his head, he saw that both school administrators were also looking at him with unmistakably displeased expressions. Gritting his teeth, he still forced himself to ask, "That question just now... how did you solve it?"
"Which one?" Mu Xiangxiang flipped back a few pages. The mere three lines of calculations on the third page were almost painful to look at. She met his eyes as they filled with astonishment, the corners of her lips curling upward. "This one?"
Many nearby students, whose attention had already been drawn by Teacher Huang, instinctively glanced over. Someone cried out, "Whoa! Sister Xiang! You actually solved the third function problem?"
"Holy crap, I accidentally looked at it while flipping through the test earlier. My head still hurts from just seeing it."
"Seriously. I can't even understand a single equation."
"Which problem?" Hearing this, the vice principal reached over, borrowed another student's unfinished second test paper, flipped to the third page, and scanned it. His brows immediately furrowed. What was going on? Had this exam gone way beyond the syllabus?
Putting aside whether a high school student could solve a problem like this—even if someone did know how, they'd probably need knowledge extending into university-level mathematics and wear out half a pen before working it out.
Including a question of this level in a standardized exam seemed a little excessive.
Before he could voice that opinion, however, a soft chuckle sounded nearby. "Instead of asking me how I solved it," Mu Xiangxiang said lightly, "why don't you just look for yourself?"
He looked up. Mu Xiangxiang had casually spread her test paper open before Teacher Huang. He froze, then fixed his gaze on the answer.
Since the exam had begun, Teacher Huang had spent much of the time in a daze. At long last, he finally saw the few sparse lines filling what had previously been an almost blank answer area.
There was no need to wait for grading. One glance was enough.
It was correct.
Teacher Huang sat there blankly, utterly stunned. The method Mu Xiangxiang had used—written down with almost no hesitation—had already gone completely beyond the scope of high school mathematics.
But how...? How was that possible? How could that be possible?
After a long silence, the vice principal abruptly stood up. "Old Liu," he said to Director Liu beside him, "there's no need to stay. Let's go."
Director Liu glanced at the shell-shocked Teacher Huang beside him and let out a long sigh. From the moment the exam had started, every passing minute had made him feel more uncomfortable. Now, standing before a room full of students and the young girl before him, he felt as though he were sitting on pins and needles just thinking about why they'd come in the first place.
"Wait." Mu Xiangxiang frowned and stopped them.
The vice principal turned back to look at her. Meeting those clear, transparent eyes, he gave a slight shake of his head. "Don't worry. I'll make sure your class gets an explanation for what happened."
With that, he shot Teacher Huang a cold glance, snorted, and strode away.
The two seats beside Teacher Huang suddenly became empty. Hearing that dismissive snort, Teacher Huang's mind reeled. At a complete loss, he could only look pleadingly toward the familiar Director Liu for help.
Thanks to him, they'd both made complete fools of themselves in front of the students—even dragging the vice principal down with him. There was no way Director Liu had any interest in helping him now. Without another glance, he hurried after the vice principal.
The classroom remained quiet for a moment. Then it exploded into an uproar. The commotion was quickly suppressed by the teacher supervising the exam.
In the silence that followed, every pair of eyes settled upon the one person left behind.
Teacher Huang slowly raised his head, feeling as though countless needles were pricking his back. He frantically avoided the mocking and disgusted looks surrounding him. Instead, he found himself looking straight into a pair of crystal-clear eyes.
Those eyes were calm and still. The anger that had once burned within them had faded. In its place, an unmistakable strength had finally taken shape.
Their owner narrowed them ever so slightly as she looked steadily at him. Her long lashes trembled. Her voice was gentle and soft. But her words landed like a slap across his face.
“This is only the first exam today."
*****
In the end, Teacher Huang left. Keeping close to the wall, he practically fled as the bell signaling the end of the exam rang.
“Don't worry, Teacher Huang.”
The students of Class One watched his retreating back with open disdain. Even Lin Long, the gentle female class committee member who was normally mild-tempered, spat in the direction he left. Afterward, she turned back with an expression full of admiration.
Mu Xiangxiang simply gathered up her things calmly after he was gone. Facing the countless similar gazes around her, she slowly swept her eyes across the familiar faces surrounding her. After a long silence, she said, "I'm going to the restroom."
"You don't look so good," Lin Long said worriedly, noticing her pale lips. "Are you feeling sick? I'll go with you."
"It's okay. I'm fine." The feeling of someone asking to accompany her to the restroom was strangely unfamiliar. Looking into those eyes filled with nothing but kindness, Mu Xiangxiang paused. Then she smiled softly. "But... thank you."
For some reason, Lin Long's face turned slightly red. Watching Mu Xiangxiang walk away, she couldn't help nudging Gao Yan with her elbow. "Hey... have you noticed? Mu Xiangxiang hasn't cursed once today. She seems... really gentle."
Inside the restroom, Mu Xiangxiang lowered the toilet lid in one of the stalls and sat on it, covering her eyes.
She stayed there quietly for a very long time. Only shortly before the second exam began did she wipe away the tears on her face. She opened the stall door, walked to the sink, turned on the faucet, and bent over to wash her face.
The icy tap water splashed across her skin, clearing her mind. Her fingertips trembled slightly. She slowly raised her head and looked at the drenched face reflected in the mirror.
Her forehead. Her eyebrows. The bridge of her nose. Her lips. Everything beneath her water-beaded eyelashes was so familiar. Until she saw her eyes. Still faintly red.
Within those pupils shone a sharpness unlike anything she had ever possessed before.
Mu Xiangxiang stared at her own reflection. For a long, long time. So long that the bell outside rang once again.
At last, the corners of her lips lifted. She brushed her wet bangs back with one hand, straightened up, and slightly raised her chin toward the mirror.
Then she let out a quiet laugh.
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