OEBSAS |Chapter 13

Yuying Primary School’s teachers were incredibly efficient. In just one night, all the test papers for the three subjects had been graded.

The first class in the morning was math. The math teacher carried the test papers onto the platform, said not a single word of nonsense, and directly told the class rep to hand out the papers.

After everyone had received their papers, the math teacher said with emotion, “The overall results this time are a little better than last time, especially classmate Chen Baizhou, who improved a lot this time, scored full marks, and tied for first place with classmate Shao Xian and classmate Hao Lu. I hope you keep it up.”

Hao Lu was the math class rep. She wore her hair in a ponytail and looked neat and pretty. After hearing that, she even turned back to glance at Shao Xian and Chen Baizhou.

This was the first time Chen Baizhou had been praised in front of the whole class, but he felt no ripple in his heart at all.

“You did very well.” Looking at the bright red 100 on his test paper, Shao Xian genuinely felt a bit of a sense of accomplishment.

Chen Baizhou turned to look at him, and could not help but curve his brows and eyes into a smile.

He did not need other people’s praise, he only needed Shao Xian’s affirmation.

It was just that, in places the two of them did not know about, many classmates were whispering among themselves, saying that he had copied Shao Xian’s paper during the exam, which was why he scored full marks.

Otherwise, with his previous barely-passing grades, how could he improve so much all at once?

Chen Baizhou did not hear the rumors, and even if he had, he would not have cared.

After the math teacher, the Chinese teacher and the English teacher both praised him too, and he had already become the object of discussion among the whole class.

After school at noon, Aunt Sun brought lunch over, and Qian Wenjie happily came to mooch a meal.

“Xianxian, Chen Baizhou, I heard you two got full marks in math, full marks in English, and nearly full marks in Chinese. Is that true?”

Shao Xian did not even lift his eyelids, and while eating he asked, “What else did you hear?”

Qian Wenjie looked at Chen Baizhou, a little hesitant to speak.

“That Chen Baizhou copied my test paper?” Shao Xian picked the green peppers out of the dish and smiled.

Could the plot not be a little fresher? What were these elementary school kids thinking about all day?

“You guys know about it?” Qian Wenjie hurriedly stopped Shao Xian from throwing away the green peppers, and without the least bit of disgust,夹 them into his own bowl. “You don’t like eating green peppers, so why didn’t you tell your family?”

Shao Xian paused. Seeing him eating so happily without any qualms, he forced down the goosebumps and said, “My family doesn’t allow picky eating. I always secretly throw them away each time.”

“Your family is so strict.” Qian Wenjie sighed, then said, “I believe Chen Baizhou definitely didn’t copy, but other people don’t believe it, though.”

As he spoke, he turned to look at Chen Baizhou. He had originally thought he would see a face full of grievance, but instead the other party seemed as if he had not heard anything at all, still lowering his eyes and eating his food slowly.

Was he really not caring, or was he pretending not to care?

“The final exam seats will be separated. By then there’ll be no way to cheat, and everyone will see what’s what for themselves.” Shao Xian actually had not expected Chen Baizhou to be this calm.

If it were an ordinary kid who had been wrongly accused, he would have been too upset to bear it already.

So, as expected of Fu Baizhou’s juvenile form?

The day passed peacefully. With Shao Xian covering for him, no one dared come looking for Chen Baizhou to cause trouble.

At eight in the evening, after Qian Wenjie finished his homework with the two of them, he could not help saying gloomily, “Our teachers are different, and the questions they assign are different too. I feel like I’m being excluded.”

Before Shao Xian could answer, he heard him say with fresh energy again, “When I get back, I’m definitely going to beg my mom to transfer me to Class One next semester!”

“Then our homework will probably still be different.” Shao Xian also did not intend to keep hiding things from his little buddy anymore.

Qian Wenjie was confused. “What do you mean?”

Even Chen Baizhou, who had been quietly doing problems the whole time, stopped writing and looked at Shao Xian.

“I’m planning to skip a grade.”

As soon as Shao Xian finished speaking, Qian Wenjie could not help letting out a miserable howl. “Skip a grade? To sixth grade?”

Chen Baizhou’s expression was hidden in the dark, impossible to make out clearly.

“Yeah. If you want to do the same homework as me, then let’s make up lessons together during summer break and skip a grade together. Chen Baizhou, you too.”

Shao Xian had no intention of charging alone into sixth grade. He wanted to take his two little buddies with him.

Before Qian Wenjie had even made up his mind, Chen Baizhou immediately smiled. His eyes were dazzling, like gemstones shimmering with blue light, very beautiful.

“Okay, I’ll skip a grade too.”

The child’s words sounded like a solemn promise, quietly landing in Shao Xian’s heart. After he and Chen Baizhou looked at each other for several seconds, he suddenly felt a little awkward, so he shifted his gaze and asked the dumbfounded Qian Wenjie, “What about you? Have you decided?”

Qian Wenjie wore a mournful face. “I haven’t even learned the fourth-grade material well yet.”

“Then you’ll always be one grade below us,” Shao Xian hit him mercilessly, “If Chen Baizhou and I skip grades in middle school too, then it won’t just be one grade.”

This childhood friend of his wasn’t stupid, he just did not want to spend effort studying. Yet even so, he had managed to stay in the same class as him all this time, which showed how smart he was.

If he could be pushed a little, maybe there would even be a surprise.

“No way!” Qian Wenjie decisively refused to be left alone. “I’ll make up lessons with you guys during summer break. If that works, I’ll tell my mom I want to skip a grade. She’ll probably be very happy.”

If a child could skip a grade, that meant they were a little prodigy, and parents would have face too.

At nine in the evening, Chen Baizhou returned to the Chen family home.

Unexpectedly, Chen Changjian was actually at home. He was sitting on the sofa, looking straight at Chen Baizhou.

Bai Meijuan sat beside him, looking somewhat uneasy, and there was even a hint of blame in the way she looked at Chen Baizhou.

“I think you’ve gotten so used to staying at the Shao family that you don’t want to come back anymore, huh?” Chen Yu mocked while peeling an orange.

Chen Baizhou closed the door and stood in the entryway.

“Xiaoyu.” Chen Changjian spoke sternly in warning, and Chen Yu immediately shut his mouth.

The living room fell into silence, with only the male and female leads on the TV confessing their love crazily in the rain.

“Why are you standing there?” Chen Changjian softened his expression and waved Chen Baizhou over. “Come sit. Dad has something to ask you.”

Chen Baizhou paused. He suddenly felt a bit nauseated, but his face was still calm and still.

After he sat down, Chen Changjian said kindly, “I heard your grades have improved quite a bit.”

“Isn’t it just because he copied Shao Xian’s paper? As expected, that bastard…”

Chen Changjian looked at Chen Yu again, successfully stopping his nonsense.

“Xiaozhou, grades are important, of course, but the road has to be walked step by step, you know?” The man wore a smile, but there was not the slightest warmth in his eyes. “Dad isn’t blaming you. I just hope you won’t take the wrong path.”

Chen Baizhou listened in silence, barely able to restrain the churn in his stomach.

Just staying here one more second, he felt like the nausea would multiply.

Back when he had first arrived at the Chen family, he took a perfect score on both subjects in his first exam and wanted to get Bai Meijuan’s praise. He wanted to prove that he was not useless.

But what awaited him was two days and two nights in the storage room.

The storage room was very cramped, and the light was broken. He cried for a long, long time, and before he knew it he had passed out. When he woke up, he saw Bai Meijuan with tears all over her face.

He had thought Bai Meijuan was worried about him, and his heart had even leapt a little because of it, but what she said afterward made him fall into an abyss.

“Baizhou, can you help Mom? Can you please not score so well?”

He did not understand why, but he had to agree. Because the one who had locked him in the storage room was this woman in front of him, crying miserably.

Later, when he was a little older, he overheard Chen Yu bragging to others.

Chen Yu liked to go everywhere and publicize his own “great achievements.”

He said, “How would that bastard dare get a high score? If he got a high score, Bai Meijuan wouldn’t be able to get by.”

The Chen family only needed one outstanding heir. Chen Changjian would absolutely not allow a child with no blood relation to steal the spotlight from his biological son.

He had never actively abused Chen Baizhou, but he was the one at the root of it all.

Bai Meijuan could only choose to sacrifice her own son for a life of wealth and vanity.

For years, Chen Baizhou numbly adapted to this disgusting way of survival. He kept thinking that once he grew a little older, he could earn money with his own two hands, and then he could leave the Chen family.

But he had not expected that the ray of sunshine in the darkness would come earlier than he had anticipated, and be even warmer.

“Baizhou, say something!”

Chen Baizhou had remained silent the whole time. The fake smile on Chen Changjian’s face gradually disappeared. Seeing this, Bai Meijuan felt a jolt in her heart and hurriedly urged him.

“If I do badly, it’ll be humiliating.”

He did not want to disappoint Shao Xian, but now he was shamelessly borrowing Shao Xian’s name to excuse himself.

He was really too weak.

“What’s humiliating about that?” Chen Changjian thought it was just a child’s pride acting up, and smiled kindly. “Grades aren’t important. What’s important is being honest.”

“He’s the Shao family’s second young master.”

Chen Baizhou’s lightly spoken sentence successfully shut Chen Changjian’s mouth.

He was the one selling his stepson, and now he was also the one trying to make the Shao family’s second young master’s training partner look bad.

“Even so, you still can’t copy…”

Chen Baizhou’s lips curved. “As long as he’s happy.”

He did not want to waste breath explaining. Since they were convinced that he had cheated, then let them keep thinking that way. He did not care at all.

As long as Shao Xian believed him, that was enough.