Chapter 33: Chu Nan's Score

Chu Nan hurriedly said, "What?! I can't perform on stage. I still have to prepare for the college entrance exam; where would I find the time for a performance?"

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Don't you really want to go up and give it a try?"

"No, I'm not interested."

"Then why were you interested when you made that bet with them the other day?"

Chu Nan replied nonchalantly, "I only sang that day because of you."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiaonan immediately turned her head away. "You... regardless, just come with me to meet my teacher first. If you don't like it, you can refuse then."

"Forget it, can't you just tell her no yourself?"

"But I already promised her." Zhou Xiaonan said, her eyes shifting evasively. "Fine, fine, I'll go tell her. Don't be angry."

Chu Nan paused. "Wait a minute, why did you agree on my behalf?"

"I told you not to be angry, you stingy person. I'll just go and tell her, won't that be enough?"

"Who said I was angry? I just find it strange that you agreed for me."

Zhou Xiaonan spoke honestly, "Because I think it's quite meaningful to perform on stage one last time during high school, so I took the liberty of agreeing for you. Besides, I truly think you sing very well; it would be a shame not to perform on stage. But most importantly, I have a selfish motive..."

"A selfish motive? What is it?" Chu Nan asked.

Zhou Xiaonan took a deep breath. "I want to see you looking radiant on stage..."

"Also, I want to take photos of you." She didn't say the second half of the sentence, of course.

Hearing this, a ripple stirred within Chu Nan's heart. "Alright, I'll agree, but I have one condition."

"What condition?"

"I won't accept any rehearsals. Either I go straight on stage when the time comes, or you don't need me at all."

"Fine, then come with me to see her now, shall we?"

"Sure," Chu Nan agreed.

"Then it's settled. Hehe. By the way, have you finished buying the properties?"

Chu Nan hurriedly said, "Almost, two more are in the process of title transfers. Don't worry, the money won't be shorted; I will definitely pay you back by the end of this year."

"Hmph! If you can't pay it back, you'll be my slave for life!" However, Zhou Xiaonan didn't really care about that, as the song *Dislocated Time* was about to be released. They had signed a profit-sharing contract with a fifty-fifty split, and she was confident the song would earn them millions...

"Alright, in that case, this humble one shall serve his master for life, hehe." As he said this, Chu Nan swept a lewd gaze over Zhou Xiaonan, focusing especially on her chest.

"You pervert, don't even think about taking advantage of me. I'm leaving!"

"Take care!" Chu Nan said with a chuckle.

"You're really not going to see me off? My hands are tired; help me carry this stool."

"It's just one stool, it's not like you can't carry it yourself."

"Stop with the nonsense, just help me when I ask you to. You have no self-awareness at all..."

Hearing this, Chu Nan felt a tremor in his heart.

Why did he feel that the more Zhou Xiaonan spoke like this, the more it sounded like she was interested in him?!

"Impossible, how could someone like Zhou Xiaonan fall for a poor loser like me?"

...

All the students knew that by Thursday, the results of the mock exams would be coming out one after another. Many had even heard rumors the day before that certain subjects, like English and liberal arts history, had already been graded.

In reality, grades shouldn't come out that quickly, but since teachers hadn't been lecturing lately, they had plenty of time to grade the papers.

During the first and second periods this morning, which were English, the English teacher, who hadn't appeared in days, walked into the classroom carrying a large stack of test papers.

Seeing this, most students felt a mix of excitement and anxiety. Of course, a small portion of students remained indifferent. These students were either top-tier academic achievers or those who had completely given up; the former were confident, and the latter didn't care about the outcome either way.

The old Chu Nan would certainly have been indifferent, and the current Chu Nan remained so as well—though the former was out of apathy, while the latter was truly calm.

For Chu Nan, this English exam was hardly difficult at all. Aside from one part of the listening section where his mind wandered and he wasn't certain of the answer, he could guarantee that the accuracy of the rest was over 99%. This was the powerful confidence of someone who had mastered two foreign languages.

Of course, this didn't mean that knowing English guaranteed a perfect score; even if you brought a native speaker to take a high school English exam in this country, it would be hard to get a perfect score.

The English teacher, Lin Qi, didn't waste any time. He just smiled and said, "Everyone performed quite well this time. Of course, the test we prepared was slightly easier than the actual college entrance exam, maybe about five points lower in difficulty. If you subtract five points from your score, that's basically your college entrance exam grade. Alright, come up and get your report cards. Same rule as always: from lowest to highest."

"Wu Yong, 87."

"Zhao Lei, 89."

"Zhang San, 90."

"..."

"Damn! Don't call my name, don't call my name, don't call my name!" At this moment, Yang Jingtian gripped his hands tightly, head bowed, muttering to himself.

"Why are you so nervous, Old Yang?"

"How can I not be? This is practically the college entrance exam! Wait, your English is usually worse than mine, why aren't you nervous?!" Yang Jingtian asked, bewildered.

"My English is worse than yours? Are you mistaken?"

"Isn't it? You get a hundred and ten at most, while I at least occasionally manage to cross 120!"

Chu Nan nodded. "Well, this time I should get at least 140."

"If you don't brag, you'll die, won't you?" Yang Jingtian couldn't help but curse.

Chu Nan just smiled without saying anything; his goal was simply to help the guy relax.

"Yang Jingtian, 111."

Upon hearing his score, Yang Jingtian stiffened. He looked at Chu Nan instinctively. Could the teacher have made a mistake? I got 111, and they still haven't called Chu Nan's name. Could his score really be higher than mine?!

"Yang Jingtian, come up and get your paper."

"Com... coming!"

As Yang Jingtian took his paper, he sighed while glancing at Chu Nan. When the teacher reached scores in the 120s and still hadn't called Chu Nan's name, Yang Jingtian couldn't believe it. Usually, those who scored in the 120s were the class's English elites. How could Chu Nan, with his mediocre grades, compare to them?!

"Old Chu, tell me the truth, did you hand in a blank paper?" Yang Jingtian suddenly had a revelation.

Chu Nan paused, then laughed and scolded, "Are you sick? There are so many multiple-choice questions; even at my worst, I wouldn't hand in a blank paper. Besides, what good would that do me?"

"That's not right. Could you really have scored over 120 or 130?!"

"Didn't I tell you? I'm aiming for 140 minimum!"

"Holy crap, if you don't score 140, I'll be your father!" Jealousy makes people ugly; Yang Jingtian was truly terrified that his deskmate would score 140 and surpass him.

"Son."

"You!"

Watching the stack of papers in the English teacher's hand getting smaller, Yang Jingtian actually felt relieved. He couldn't help but grin, "Old Chu, there are only a few papers left. Don't lie to me; you must have handed in a blank paper, and since you got a zero, the teacher is too embarrassed to read your score out loud."

"Yang Liuqing, 141."

"Zhang Hao, 143."

"Wu Bo, 144."

"You don't mean to tell me you scored higher than Yang Liuqing and Zhang Hao, do you?"

"Chu Nan... 149."

Hearing this, Yang Jingtian's entire face seemed to freeze. He couldn't move at all, only his open mouth continued to exhale, looking quite ridiculous...