High School Entrance Exam Top Scorer

After turning off his phone, Liu Chang'an walked leisurely towards the Juyuan residential area. Although he had never been to An Nuan's home, he knew exactly which building, unit, and floor her apartment was in.

Who hasn't secretly looked at some of the personal information of the girl they like?

Liu Chang'an bought a bottle of orange juice, dried his hair, and then went to the Juyuan Garden residential area. Downstairs from An Nuan's house, he leaned against the wall, intending to finish the orange juice first.

"Young man, are you hungry? Would you like some steamed buns?"

Liu Chang'an was stunned for a moment when he saw a plump woman hand him a hot, Baymax bun.

This is Professor Ling, An Nuan's neighbor. Liu Chang'an had met him once when Liu Chang'an and An Nuan were walking home hand in hand, and Professor Ling and Han Zhizhi saw them.

Liu Chang'an took the bun, and since he was a little hungry, he ate it. It turned out to be a meat bun from De Garden, fragrant, soft, white, and big.

"Eat slowly, I have more here." Professor Ling saw that Liu Chang'an was eating quickly and handed him another one.

Liu Chang'an accepted it as well.

The second steamed bun was quickly finished. Professor Ling was surprised by Liu Chang'an's appetite, but seeing the young man's tattered clothes, she guessed he was starving and generously handed him a bag full of meat buns, saying, "Take these, eat slowly, don't choke."

"Professor Ling, thank you, but you don't need to," Liu Chang'an said.

"You know me?" Professor Ling was taken aback and became somewhat wary. She was willing to do good deeds, but she didn't want to be taken advantage of.

"I'm An Nuan's boyfriend, not a beggar. I just got into a fight today and my clothes got dirty," Liu Chang'an explained.

Professor Ling looked Liu Chang'an over, both surprised and amused. "I was wondering why this young man looked so familiar. Are you alright?"

"It's nothing." Liu Chang'an shook his head.

"Then... then go find An Nuan. An Nuan and Zhizhi are both at home." Professor Ling nodded, standing still. She had misunderstood earlier. Firstly, Liu Chang'an was dressed in rags, and secondly, the way he seemed so engrossed in drinking orange juice reminded Professor Ling of a picture of a homeless man happily drinking leftover beverage from someone else's empty drink bottle against a backdrop of fireworks.

Liu Chang'an went upstairs to knock on the door himself, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Professor Ling standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking around.

An Nuan opened the door and was startled to see Liu Chang'an dressed in tattered clothes.

What's wrong with you?

An Nuan saw Professor Ling standing downstairs looking around, smiled awkwardly, and quickly pulled Liu Chang'an into the living room and closed the door.

"I got into a fight with two people, a black man and a white man, who said they wanted to study me. Of course I didn't want to, so I killed them both and threw them into a well," Liu Chang'an said briefly.

"Oh my god! My mom's home!" An Nuan saw that Liu Chang'an seemed to be alright. As for how he got into the fight, they could talk about it later. She couldn't let him spout nonsense here, lest her mother find another reason for her to break up with Liu Chang'an.

"Hi, beautiful girls." Liu Chang'an greeted Zhang Taole and Han Zhizhi, who were watching her from the living room.

"Hi, Prince Beggar," Zhang Taole said enthusiastically.

Han Zhizhi shook her head and sighed, then turned to An Nuan and asked, "Should I go back and get him some clothes to change into?"

"No need." An Nuan pointed to the separate sofa chair. "Sit down. I don't mind him, and he probably wouldn't want to wear other people's clothes anyway."

An Nuan had noticed this too. Although she and Liu Chang'an often shoved each other when they were still friends, he didn't actually like any physical contact with others. Could someone like that wear other people's clothes?

"That's very impolite of you to say it like that. You should have said, 'Don't get her clothes dirty,' that would be more tactful," Liu Chang'an added to Han Zhizhi. "Don't get your father's clothes dirty."

Han Zhizhi rolled her eyes at Liu Chang'an.

"We don't need such fake politeness." An Nuan ran to the washroom, grabbed her towel, wet it, wrung it out, and handed it to Liu Chang'an. "Here, wipe yourself off."

Liu Chang'an held the towel, smelled the familiar fragrance, and looked at An Nuan.

"Mine!" An Nuan blushed slightly.

Liu Chang'an then took a towel to wipe his face. In fact, both An Nuan and Liu Yuewang had this fragrance, so it was difficult to tell them apart.

At this moment, Liu Yuewang came out.

Unlike the three girls who were all dressed in casual shorts and t-shirts, Liu Yuewang was originally wearing a silk camisole dress at home. However, when she heard An Nuan say that she had invited Liu Chang'an, Liu Yuewang had to change her clothes. She wore a navy blue silk cheongsam with intricate openwork lace design on one shoulder and up to the chest. The same lace material covered her snow-white upper arms, and her slender and tall figure was beautiful and moving with the swaying of the cheongsam hem. At first glance, the cheongsam appeared to be slit up to the waist, but in fact, the lace connected the white lining to the slit, which only went up to a little above the knee, revealing her shapely legs.

Without a doubt, Liu Chang'an recognized this work, with its distinctly designer style in both design and craftsmanship, as Weng Simei's "Explanation."

"Liu Chang'an?" Liu Yuewang frowned slightly upon seeing Liu Chang'an, her eyes revealing a mixture of surprise and gentle concern befitting an elder. "Where have you been wandering from?"

Liu Yuewang unconsciously picked up her phone, then put it down again. Liu Chang'an felt that she was controlling the urge to send a message.

"He got into a fight, but a man fighting isn't necessarily a bad thing. It means he has the courage to raise his fist for his family in dangerous situations. You know, in many cases, just talking isn't enough," Liu Chang'an said immediately, to prevent her from having thoughts like, "My boyfriend got into a fight today, should I break up with him?"

"That's true." To Liu Chang'an's surprise, Liu Yuewang didn't pick a fight with him just because he was Liu Chang'an. Liu Yuewang nodded, "Boys these days are getting more and more effeminate. But anyway, you must remember to protect yourself. That's the most important thing. Only fight if you can't beat someone. If someone is strong, of course you should run away first. There's nothing shameful about that."

An Nuan breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed she wouldn't have to face her mother's nagging today. It was rare for her to agree with Liu Chang'an's actions again. You see, she had previously advised An Nuan to break up with Liu Chang'an because he was a little slow to reply to An Nuan messages.

Women are so fickle and unpredictable, An Nuan thought to herself.

Liu Chang'an noticed that Liu Yuewang was fiddling with her phone for a while, deliberately looking up at the ceiling. Liu Chang'an thought to himself that he would probably still receive the photos that Liu Yuewang had secretly taken.

"An Nuan, go get the first-aid kit and see if he's injured anywhere," Liu Yuewang said to An Nuan after putting away her phone.

"No need, I'm not hurt." Liu Chang'an waved his hand. "We were just joking around when we fought. It looked like a big fight, but I just punched him a few times."

"Are you really alright?" Zhang Taole looked Liu Chang'an up and down and reported, "I heard Liu Chang'an is quite a fighter; several members of the school basketball team can't beat him."

"Where did you hear that from?" An Nuan grinned at Zhang Taole. Is this a good point? And she's even spreading it around.

"Ma Benwei got beaten up last time too. Speaking of which, Liu Chang'an, you seem to get into fights everywhere?" Han Zhizhi said, suddenly realizing.

"You two!" An Nuan said, hands on her hips, "I'm going to shut you up in a minute!"

"What are you protecting?" Liu Yuewang patted An Nuan's shoulder with her soft hand. "I didn't say anything. Huang Shan also told me that Liu Chang'an isn't the type to cause trouble. You know why he got into a fight. I can't be bothered with your business."

After saying that, Liu Yuewang swayed back to her room, only telling An Nuan to let her know when her grades came out and not to disturb her lunch break.

"How many faces does your mother have?" Liu Chang'an was neither moved nor felt any understanding from his girlfriend's mother. He thought that Liu Yuewang would probably send a few messages during her lunch break, expressing her other opinions on the "boyfriend's" fight.

"She's not going to pursue it, and you still have a problem with that?" An Nuan said irritably.

Liu Chang'an naturally had no objections.

Liu Yuewang was, after all, an elder. Although Zhang Taole and Han Zhizhi felt no pressure in front of her, once she left, the atmosphere became more relaxed, and Zhang Taole and Han Zhizhi started chattering again.

"Almost there, almost there, it's almost two o'clock." Zhang Taole held her phone, looking at the WeChat public accounts she followed.

"My mom said if I don't do well on the exam, she'll send me abroad." Han Zhizhi was also a little nervous. As an intellectual family, they were naturally prepared for studying abroad. In fact, many senior high school classes had already decided on their destinations before the college entrance examination.

"She was just joking. I overheard her telling my mom about it last time, saying that our values aren't fully formed yet and we're easily corrupted. She said that if we go abroad, we might be led astray. She even said that a colleague saw a professor's daughter using drugs outside a nightclub, and who knows what kind of scum she's become." An Nuan sighed regretfully. "That girl she was talking about, I used to call her 'sister.' When we were little, people always said how outstanding she was and that we should learn from her. Now she's become 'scum' in the eyes of the elders..."

"Actually, she was just unlucky to run into someone she knew. Many people who spend a few years abroad trying to integrate into the local circles do the same thing—they'll do anything, no matter how bad, and then come back to China all high and mighty." Han Zhizhi held up one finger. "Of those who go abroad, only about one in ten stays true to their original intentions. I'm definitely that one."

"I wouldn't dare, I feel like I can't handle it." Zhang Taole shook her head.

The world is changing too fast. Liu Chang'an hasn't left this land for a long time. He would like to go out and travel again, but he doesn't have any urgent desire to. In the end, it still comes down to the same thing: human nature and human heart, depravity and desire. These things are not new. It's just a matter of more or less, restraint or indulgence.

"Where's your phone?" An Nuan noticed Liu Chang'an sitting there, as if he was only there to accompany them to check their grades, and that he had no intention of checking his own at all.

"It's off," Liu Chang'an said nonchalantly. "You check first, then help me check later. Anyway, you remember my exam information."

"Pah, I don't remember." An Nuan glanced at Zhang Taole and Han Zhizhi, then snorted.

While An Nuan was nervous, she stopped arguing with Liu Chang'an, but insisted on squeezing onto the same sofa chair with Liu Chang'an and wouldn't let him change his position.

"Ah, time's up!" Han Zhizhi jumped up.

"Investigate immediately!"

"I dare not investigate further!"

What if he jumps?

"No, no, I estimated the score, it's probably pretty close."

The three girls were chattering away. Liu Chang'an picked up the remote control, wanting to watch TV, but An Nuan stopped him.

They were shouting and yelling; several minutes had passed since 2 PM, and they still hadn't started checking.

Liu Chang'an simply turned on his phone and put it on silent. Just then, Gao Dewei called.

"The results are out. I checked mine, and I checked yours and An Nuan's too." Gao Dewei began calmly, then his tone turned surprised. "I'm not the top scorer in this year's provincial college entrance examination."

Liu Chang'an was not entirely surprised, after all, he was only the fifth in the world, and the world was vast, with many talented people emerging.

"Who is that?" Liu Chang'an asked.

"Do you remember Li Xiaoyu, who shaved his head and scored 652 in the college entrance exam when we went to take the test in our second year of high school? That's him! I really didn't expect it!" Gao Dewei exclaimed with great admiration. "He got the top score in the college entrance exam without any bonus points, a full three points higher than me. He's not some guy who actually thought he was the top scorer after getting some ethnic minority bonus points."

"That's impressive. You did well too. It's nothing. In the battle for the top scorer, nine parts skill and one part luck are essential." Liu Chang'an wasn't exactly offering consolation; he was just stating the facts. Gao Dewei didn't seem like someone who needed comforting.

"Our total scores for math and science are the same," Gao Dewei said happily, as if he had just remembered something.

"What a coincidence, I reckon my Chinese and English scores are much lower than yours." Liu Chang'an had a rough idea of his own score. Since Gao Dewei was only three points behind the top scorer, and his scores in math and combined science were the same as his, then it was only a matter of Chinese and English.

"The Chinese teacher probably didn't understand the ideas you expressed in your essay because they weren't sophisticated enough. English is pretty useless; it's just for finding information and speaking. Math and combined science are the subjects that truly reflect your level, and we're still on the same level," Gao Dewei said dismissively. He had read Liu Chang'an's essays before and admired them greatly because Gao Dewei himself couldn't write the kind of nonsense Liu Chang'an wrote.

"How did An Nuan do on the exam?" Liu Chang'an asked again on An Nuan's behalf.

"Gao Dewei, don't tell me, I want to investigate myself!" An Nuan suddenly grabbed Liu Chang'an's phone, covering the receiver warily.

"Okay, okay, you and Liu Chang'an did about the same, but you lost more points in math, almost 130... and your Chinese and English scores..."

An Nuan hung up the phone. That Gao Dewei, really! An Nuan leaned against Liu Chang'an and shook his shoulder vigorously, "You help me investigate!"

After saying that, An Nuan knelt on the sofa chair, leaned on Liu Chang'an's back, and nervously watched Liu Chang'an enter her candidate information into the query interface.

Liu Chang'an shook his head. This was truly incomprehensible. What difference was there between this and her investigating on her own? Women were truly foolish and incomprehensible creatures.

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