Habit was a terrifying thing.
When everyone had grown used to Li Mu Yang coming in dead last in the entire school, someone suddenly jumped out and announced that this time Li Mu Yang had come in first—not first from the bottom, but first from the top. Not first in the school, but first in Xifeng, first in the Empire. It truly overturned people's understanding and made it very hard to accept for a while.
Li Sinian had finally managed to convince her parents to believe that their precious son had achieved something extraordinary and accomplished a truly remarkable feat.
"Mu Yang—" Luo Qi's eyes brimmed with tears as she gripped Li Mu Yang's arm tightly. Her voice choked with emotion as she said, "You really came first in the Empire! You can go to Xifeng University—you can finally go to Xifeng University. We don't have to beg anyone. My son did it all by himself—"
"Mom, I can't go to Xifeng University." Li Mu Yang gave a bitter smile.
"You can't go? Why can't you go? Even coming first in the Literary Examination isn't enough to get into Xifeng? What kind of students does Xifeng admit every year? This is a rigged scheme. They must have manipulated things behind the scenes. I've seen far too many things like this—no, I'm going to Tiandu. I'm going to demand an explanation from them." Luo Qi was extremely agitated. It was one thing for her son not to have done well, but to do well and still be unable to attend Xifeng was simply too much bullying. Although she disliked, and even hated, the Lu family, she would still swallow her pride, kneel before them, and beg for mercy if that was what it took to vent this grievance on her son's