Chapter 53

"Sang Fang's name isn't there."

Shen Baili said, "I see."

She thought for a moment. Once the original story became a world of its own, many details would fall into place on their own.

Sang Ya no longer had any connection to the Xie Family. That was enough.

... Time stopped for no one, and life went on. School kept her busy, and before she knew it, midterms arrived.

Shen Baili liked exams. Not only did they mean three days off, they also let her see how much she had learned.

While Zhu Zhitao braced herself for battle, the three top students—Shen Baili, Qiao Yi, and Sang Fang—were relaxed.

The four of them emerged from their exams in very different states.

Zhu Zhitao looked as if all the life had been drained out of her, her eyes unfocused. The three top students energetically helped her check her answers. She said she didn't want to, but stayed to listen.

Once they finished, she lit up.

"I improved!" Zhu Zhitao said.

"I think I can finally get out of last place!!!"

Her words came true.

After months of hard work, Zhu Zhitao had climbed from last in her class to eleventh from last, an improvement of ten places.

Her overall humanities score put her at twenty-fifth in the class, though math and physics had dragged down her total.

Shen Baili and the others praised her enthusiastically, and Zhu Zhitao was more motivated than ever to study.

Qiao Yi ranked first in their class and second in the school. Lu Mingqian, from the neighboring class, ranked first in the school.

Sang Fang ranked fifth in their class and sixth in the school, comfortably within the top ten. She was quite pleased with her results.

Of the four, Shen Baili had also made