After Becoming the Abused Heroine in a Campus Story - Chapter 83: Citywide Top Scorer in Liberal Arts

Chapter 83: Citywide Top Scorer in Liberal Arts

The National Day holiday ended quickly. During that time, Zhou Yuanfei called Zhou Yining several times, but Zhou Yining did not answer. The matter faded away unresolved.

Soon, Zhou Yining and her classmates faced their first midterm exam of senior year. Since they had completed all the courses, the exam followed the standards of the college entrance test.

Zhou Yining performed at her true level this time. On the day the results were posted, One High buzzed with excitement. Many students crowded around the ranking list posted on the side of the teaching building, making it impassable.

Zhou Yining knew her scores in her heart, so she did not rush to check. However, the girls in her class went downstairs to see the scores.

Yu Yang and a few close friends headed straight to the top 20 list for their grade.

They spotted Zhou Yining’s name almost instantly. It was unavoidable since Zhou Yining ranked first, and her scores stood out prominently.

“My gosh, is Zhou-jie even human? Chinese 145, English 150, Math 150, Liberal Arts Comprehensive 289, total score 734. Is this a score a human can achieve?” Yu Yang exclaimed in shock.

“Right, how many points did she lose in total? This is just too unbelievable, isn’t it?”

“With this score, she’s probably the city’s top scorer this time.”

“Amazing.”

Many in the crowd discussed Zhou Yining’s results. After her previous exams, everyone knew Zhou Yining’s academic performance was excellent, so no one doubted her scores.

Yu Yang and her friends had not found their own scores yet, but they sent one person back to inform Zhou Yining.

The girl ran back to the classroom, panting, and shouted as soon as she entered, “Zhou-jie, you got first place in the whole grade with a total score of 734!”

Zhou Yining stayed calm upon hearing the score, as it matched her normal performance. She nodded and said, “That’s about right, my usual level.”

The class, however, was not calm. Many students started discussing excitedly.

“What? 734 points? Is that a score a human can get?”

“Right, she only lost 16 points in total? My goodness, what kind of academic god descended? No need to worship the God of Literature anymore; just worship Zhou-jie instead.”

“Really, she brought so much pride to our Class 19.”

“By the way, what was the second-place score?”

The girl caught her breath and said, “Zhong Yumeng wasn’t here this time. Second place was Zhang Ye with 702, a full 32 points behind Zhou-jie. He got completely crushed.”

“Awesome! I can’t stand that Zhang Ye, always acting cool with a straight face. Now he’s just Zhou-jie’s defeated opponent.”

Zhou Yining was not interested in this. She was curious about Jiang Xianzhi’s score this time.

Zhou Yining stood up to go downstairs. A boy in the class asked, “Zhou-jie, you already know your score. Where are you going?”

Zhou Yining smiled and said, “Downstairs to check.”

With that, she went downstairs. When Zhou Yining arrived, she saw the score list surrounded impenetrably. Many students stood on the outskirts, taking photos of the list and zooming in on their phones to check.

After Zhou Yining went down, many Class 19 students approached her.

“Zhou-jie, amazing, you got first!”

“Of course, our Zhou-jie only takes the fiercest number one!”

Zhou Yining laughed at their enthusiasm. “Help me check where my friend ranks.”

“Who?” someone asked.

“Jiang Xianzhi from Class 1. If anyone sees her score, take a picture for me,” Zhou Yining instructed.

“Got it, we’re on it.” A few boys who loved joining the excitement rushed into the crowd to find Jiang Xianzhi’s score. They found her in the top 100 of the grade.

One boy handed his phone to Zhou Yining. “Zhou-jie, found it. Take a look.”

Zhou Yining took the phone and glanced at it. Jiang Xianzhi’s total score was 625, with Liberal Arts Comprehensive 243, Chinese 124, English 146, and Math 112. This was already a very good result, ranking her in the top 40 of the grade. Especially Jiang Xianzhi’s math score had improved significantly from her previous failures.

Zhou Yining immediately took out her phone, snapped a picture, and sent the score to Jiang Xianzhi.

Zhou Yining: [You did great this time, 112 in Math! (Dog clapping jpg)]

Jiang Xianzhi replied quickly to Zhou Yining.

Jiang Xianzhi: [Teacher Xiao Zhou taught well, hehe. Zhouzhou, you’re amazing, 734 points, as expected of you.]

Zhou Yining: [Of course. (Dog proud jpg)]

While Zhou Yining and Jiang Xianzhi chatted, Zhang Ye approached with a frown.

He looked at Zhou Yining for a while before saying, “Your English score improved so fast?”

Zhou Yining glanced at him. “My English was always good. I turned in a blank paper once and deliberately failed another time. Otherwise, first place wouldn’t have been yours long ago.”

Zhang Ye was almost furious. “Zhou Yining, can’t you be a bit humble?”

“No need. My strength speaks for itself. Why be humble?” Zhou Yining said nonchalantly.

Zhang Ye was left speechless by her retort and returned to class angrily.

In the afternoon, the citywide rankings came out. As expected, Zhou Yining became Nanchuan City’s top scorer in liberal arts. She surpassed the second-place scorer by a full 20 points, securing the city’s top spot with a crushing advantage.

During the afternoon class, Chen Yitong announced the good news.

“In your first major exam of senior year, our class’s Zhou Yining achieved an outstanding score of 734 points, ranking first in Nanchuan City’s liberal arts.”

As soon as Chen Yitong finished, the class erupted in discussion.

“Amazing, citywide first!”

“Right, last year’s liberal arts top scorer in the college entrance exam was from a private high school. Zhou-jie is awesome, bringing so much pride to our school.”

“The school leaders are probably thrilled. A literary star fell from the sky.”

“No kidding.”

Chen Yitong tapped the blackboard to quiet the students. “Other students in our class also made great progress. Keep it up. Our regular class students are no worse than those in the top classes. Zhou Yining set an example for you all. Step up and aim to do better with each exam.”

Zhou Yining listened quietly to this. She was not worried about her grades.

As the weather turned cold, Zhou Yining received compensation from Lin Shaohui, Han Fei, and Lan Guangwen in December.

Lin Shaohui, as the main culprit and over 18 years old, was sentenced to one year and two months and fined 30,000 yuan. Han Fei and Lan Guangwen, both under 18 but over 16, received lighter punishments as accomplices. They were monitored for a period and fined 15,000 yuan each.

In total, Zhou Yining received 60,000 yuan. Adding the 20,000 she had left from before and the 40,000 from her recent manuscript fees, Zhou Yining now had 120,000 yuan. This should cover her college expenses, though she still needed more for living costs and had to keep earning money.

Since Zhou Yining and her classmates were in their senior year, their winter break was shortened. They attended extra classes until late January, only getting a break just before the Lunar New Year.

Once the break started, Zhou Yining and Jiang Xianzhi returned to the Villa District. During the break, their teachers assigned a lot of homework. Zhou Yining and Jiang Xianzhi worked on assignments from the start of the holiday until New Year’s Eve, when they finally took a rest.

Liang Jing saw how hard her daughter studied and felt a bit heartbroken. Her daughter’s grades had improved greatly, scoring 642 in the final exam, which was already excellent among second-generation rich kids.

They originally just wanted their daughter to get into a slightly better university and take over the family business after graduation. However, their daughter was now obsessed with studying, aiming to do even better despite scoring over 600.

Zhou Yining needed no mention. She was Nanchuan City’s top scorer in liberal arts in the final exam.

On New Year’s Eve morning, Liang Jing got up early and went upstairs to knock on the door. She said outside, “Yining, Zhizhi, it’s New Year’s Eve today. No more studying. Your grades are already great. Relax these few days.”

“Got it, Mom,” Jiang Xianzhi said, just waking up and nestling groggily in Zhou Yining’s arms.

Zhou Yining had also just woken up. She checked her phone and saw it was 8:30.

“It’s 8:30, time to get up, Zhizhi,” Zhou Yining said softly.

Jiang Xianzhi rubbed against her and got up obediently. “So sleepy.”

She had been studying with Zhou Yining during the break, which was more tiring than school. She was extremely sleepy every day.

Zhou Yining laughed and held her, gently patting Jiang Xianzhi’s lower back. “Come on, get up.”

“Hmm.” Jiang Xianzhi rubbed against her again before getting up.

After getting up, they went downstairs to help. It was New Year’s Eve, and Liang Jing had given the household staff a break, so they had to cook themselves.

Jiang Shengde and Liang Jing were already busy in the kitchen, while Jiang Yueyi helped wash vegetables.

When Zhou Yining and Jiang Xianzhi came down, they went to the kitchen too.

“Mom, we’re here to help,” Jiang Xianzhi said.

“No need, three people are enough. You two go put up the Spring Festival couplets in the living room. There’s a ladder there, be careful,” Liang Jing said with a smile.

“Okay, let’s go, Zhizhi.” Zhou Yining agreed, took Jiang Xianzhi’s hand, and headed to the living room.

Liang Jing watched their joined hands and shook her head with a smile. The two were quite clingy, holding hands even at home.

In the living room, Zhou Yining got the ladder from the storage room. They changed into thick clothes and went to the villa’s entrance.

Zhou Yining carried the ladder and put up the horizontal scroll first. She pointed at it and asked, “Zhizhi, help me check if it’s straight.”

“A little more to the left. Yes, that’s it. Okay, stick it,” Jiang Xianzhi said, handing up the tape.

After putting up the horizontal scroll, they attached the couplets on both sides and neatly placed the “Fu” character in the center of the door.

Then they went to the courtyard gate, putting up couplets and a “Fu” character there too.

When Zhou Yining carried the ladder back, the kitchen was already cooking steaming wontons.

Liang Jing called with a smile, “Go wash your hands and come eat breakfast.”

“Hmm, we’re going.” Jiang Xianzhi pulled Zhou Yining to wash their hands, then went to the dining room to eat wontons.

Breakfast was wontons with fried dough sticks. Jiang Shengde had just made the dough and fried the sticks, while Liang Jing and Jiang Yueyi wrapped the wontons.

Jiang Shengde smiled at them. “It’s been a while since I fried these. Not sure if they’re good. Xiao Zhou, try one and give your uncle some feedback.”

Zhou Yining enthusiastically picked up a dough stick and took a bite. “Hmm, delicious!”

Though homemade dough sticks were not as fluffy as store-bought ones, they had no random additives and were fragrant fresh from the pan.

Jiang Shengde grinned widely at her praise. Liang Jing glared at him and turned to Zhou Yining. “Yining, try the wontons. Do you like them?”

Zhou Yining quickly took a sip of water and ate a big bite of wonton enthusiastically. “Hmm, very delicious. Is there wood ear in it? It’s crispy.”

“Yes, glad you like it,” Liang Jing said with a smile.

She and Jiang Shengde had worried Zhou Yining might feel down during the New Year, as she had fallen out with her family and could not go home for the holiday, a time for family reunions. But seeing her now, the girl seemed strong, and her mood was unaffected.