Chapter 196: The Exam
Gu Jiaojiao looked up and saw Su Shuochi in his wheelchair, drenched in sweat. "You went to work out this early?"
"Mhm," Su Shuochi said with a sweet smile.
Gu Jiaojiao frowned. "Your treatment hasn’t even started yet. You don’t need to exercise this early, do you?"
"I want to get back on my feet as soon as possible..." Su Shuochi said, his voice tinged with emotion.
He just didn’t dare stay by his wife’s side while he was wide awake. The moment he looked at her, he would start to have *ideas*.
But Gu Jiaojiao didn’t know what was going through his mind. She thought he was just anxious to stand again.
Feeling a pang of sympathy, she comforted him, "Don’t be in such a rush! I’ll perform the surgery for you after the college entrance exams are over."
"Jiaojiao, I’m really not in a hurry, and I’m not worried about any delays!" Su Shuochi said, looking at Gu Jiaojiao with deep affection.
The passion in his eyes was almost enough to melt her.
Gu Jiaojiao felt uncomfortable all over under his gaze and couldn’t help but close her eyes, avoiding his searing look.
"Alright, then. Just make sure you exercise gradually. Don’t go for too long, and don’t overexert yourself."
"Okay, okay. Honey, you should get up, have breakfast, and get ready for class. Gao Xiangming will drive us later to drop you off at the school gate."
When Su Shuochi saw his wife close her eyes and refuse to look at him, he immediately urged her to get up.
Gu Jiaojiao couldn’t win against him. Besides, she knew Su Shuochi’s personality. If he wanted to get back on his feet quickly, she might as well let him.
She got up and headed for the bathroom. Just as she reached the door, she heard Su Shuochi say, "Jiaojiao, your exam is today. Don’t be too nervous."
Gu Jiaojiao froze. "Nervous about what? I wasn’t even thinking about it, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I’m actually starting to feel a little nervous."
"My bad, my bad. If I’d known you weren’t nervous, I wouldn’t have said anything," Su Shuochi said teasingly.
He believed her, because he had also forgotten that his wife’s exam was today. He had simply woken up early because he couldn’t help himself.
Who would have thought that when he left the room, he’d see Grandpa Gu and his father-in-law pacing in the living room.
Seeing him, they asked in surprise, "Shuo Ci, were you too nervous to sleep too?"
"Yeah." ’Does wanting to kiss my wife the moment I see her count as being nervous?’
"Shuo Ci, you don’t need to be so nervous either. Jiaojiao’s grades on her mock exams are always so good..."
It was only after hearing his father-in-law’s words that Su Shuochi remembered today was the day of the college entrance exams.
Since it wasn’t fully light out yet, Su Shuochi had said that talking in the living room would disturb Jiaojiao’s sleep.
So they went out to the courtyard to exercise. They stayed there until the sun was fully up, and when Jiaojiao still hadn’t woken, Grandpa Gu sent him in to wake her.
After the couple washed up and came out, they saw Grandpa Gu and Mr. Gu sitting upright in the living room.
Mrs. Gu and Eldest Brother Gu were busily serving a wide variety of breakfast dishes. Today’s spread was particularly lavish.
Mr. Su, Su’s mother, Second Brother Gu, and Su Qinchun had gone out early in the morning to sell buns. When there was money to be made, they were there, come rain or shine.
Su Qinchun had two days off from school because of the exams. She was a bit of a money-lover and wouldn’t pass up any opportunity to earn some cash.
After breakfast, Grandpa Gu spoke, his old face set in a serious expression.
"Jiaojiao, don’t be too nervous. Just treat it like one of your usual mock exams.
The exam paper represents knowledge. Filling it out diligently shows your respect for that knowledge.
Whether you do well or not isn’t really that important. But a person must never disrespect knowledge.
Knowledge allows our civilization to advance, our country to become strong and prosperous, and ensures we are no longer left behind and beaten down.
In the past, many, many people yearned for knowledge but never had the chance to learn. So, every one of us must cherish the opportunity we have to study."
"Grandpa, Dad, Shuo Ci, don’t worry. I’ll focus on the questions and I won’t be nervous."
Gu Jiaojiao said with a radiant smile. The feeling of being cared for was a sweet burden.
In her past life, she had taken college entrance exams, graduate school entrance exams, doctoral exams, and certification exams. She had gone through countless tests, big and small.
In the beginning, she too had experienced the pre-exam jitters, the excitement during the test, and the anxiety afterward.
Although many years had passed, she had been through it all before, so she truly wasn’t nervous in the slightest.
The days of the college entrance exams, no matter the era, were always a dazzling spectacle. All the students waited eagerly for this wonderful moment.
Gao Xiangming had already started Gu Jiaojiao’s car. Grandpa Gu and Mr. Gu both wanted to go along to see her off.
"Grandpa, Dad, you really shouldn’t come. It wouldn’t be good if we ran into Sheng Yueyue at the school gate."
It wasn’t that Gu Jiaojiao was afraid of Sheng Yueyue; she just genuinely didn’t want her grandfather and father to take her.
Su Shuochi and the others had errands to run, and driving back and forth to drop her off would be a real waste of time.
"Jiaojiao, what’s the big deal about running into Sheng Yueyue? If she does poorly on the exam, is she going to blame..."
Mr. Gu couldn’t finish his sentence. If Sheng Yueyue really did poorly, would she blame them for being bad luck?
"Dad, it’s exactly what you’re thinking. If Sheng Yueyue doesn’t do well, she’ll definitely say that running into you two put her in a bad mood and that’s why she failed."
Gu Jiaojiao was really pulling out all the stops to keep her grandpa and dad from taking her.
But she never would have dreamed that Sheng Yueyue had no intention of taking the exam seriously at all.
After hearing Gu Jiaojiao’s reasoning, Grandpa Gu and Mr. Gu gave up on the idea of taking her to school.
They walked her to the courtyard gate, reminding her again and again about what to pay attention to during the exam. Even long after Gao Xiangming had driven the car far down the road, the father and son still hadn’t gone back inside.
When Gu Jiaojiao arrived at the school gate, she saw it was crowded with parents. The students had almost all gone inside already.
Mr. Sheng and Mrs. Sheng were also standing not far away. Gu Jiaojiao had spotted them from the car but didn’t go over to say hello.
Mrs. Sheng’s eyes were fixed on Sheng Yueyue’s retreating back, so she didn’t see Gu Jiaojiao.
Mr. Sheng, however, did see Gu Jiaojiao. It was the first time he had seen her since the big shots from the Imperial City had left.
It had only been a week, but to him, it felt like a very long time!
He wanted to go over and offer a few words of encouragement, but he was afraid of affecting Jiaojiao’s mood, so Mr. Sheng remained where he was.
He had thought Grandpa Gu and Mr. Gu would come to see Jiaojiao off, but as it turned out, neither the father nor the son had come.
Even Su Shuochi didn’t get out of the car; it just turned around and left.
Mr. Sheng started to overthink things. How could he have known that this was all Gu Jiaojiao’s doing?
Regardless of how worried the parents outside were, the exam papers were already being distributed to the students in the examination hall.
Gu Jiaojiao took the paper and saw that it wasn’t very difficult. She scanned it over carefully but didn’t start writing right away.
Sheng Yueyue, who was in the same exam hall, also received her paper. The moment she opened it, her mind went blank!
The questions were completely different from the ones on the exam in her previous life. The only reason she hadn’t studied hard was that she thought she knew the exam’s content.
This left her dumbfounded. ’Why isn’t a single question the same? It’s only been two years!’
’The Chosen One, scoring a zero? Wouldn’t that make me a complete laughingstock?’
Sheng Yueyue’s eyes darted around. In an instant, she had an idea. A sinister smile spread across her face...