Chapter 42

When Ji Ran returned home, Aunt Zhao had not rested yet and seemed to be waiting for her at the door. Seeing her return, Aunt Zhao immediately asked in a low voice, “Miss, are you having midterm exams tomorrow?”

Ji Ran had never mentioned the midterm exams to Aunt Zhao, but she was surprised that Aunt Zhao knew about them.

So she nodded. “Yes, how did you know?”

“Just now, Miss Jiang came back and asked me to prepare a late-night snack for her. She said she needed to review for tomorrow’s exam.” Aunt Zhao seemed displeased.

It wasn’t about Miss Jiang asking her to prepare a late-night snack; it was about Miss Jiang coming back to stay.

Since Jiang Yi was sent to live on campus, she didn’t return home for the first two weekends, possibly out of anger or something. Later, whether it was because of Jiang Liqi’s coaxing or for some other reason, she started coming home every weekend.

But compared to meeting her at home every day in the past and now seeing her once a week, Ji Ran was quite satisfied.

Aunt Zhao whispered, “Do you need to eat a late-night snack? But don’t stay up too late studying for the exam tomorrow, or you’ll be tired.”

Ji Ran replied, “You should go to bed early after preparing the late-night snack.”

“Okay, okay.” Aunt Zhao nodded repeatedly. She hesitated for a moment, but then leaned close to Ji Ran and whispered, “I think something is off with Miss Jiang this time. When she came back, a driver went to pick her up, and she was carrying a suitcase.”

A suitcase?

“Is she planning to move back?” Aunt Zhao was quite worried.

To be honest, ever since Ji Ran kicked Jiang Yi out, not only the housekeeper but even the driver felt a sense of relief. That girl was really too arrogant. Once she gained power, she treated everyone like servants, and no one liked her.

Moreover, Aunt Zhao was one hundred percent on Ji Ran’s side and definitely didn’t want Jiang Yi to move back.

Ji Ran smiled and said, “Don’t worry, she won’t.”

If she could make Jiang Yi move out, she could also make sure Jiang Yi couldn’t move back.

After this midterm exam, Ji Qingli would realize that her life had indeed been greatly affected by Jiang Yi. Now that she moved out, Ji Ran even found that her exam scores were normal.

Ji Ran hadn’t noticed that she was suddenly looking forward to this midterm exam.

The next day, probably due to the exams, everyone didn’t have to attend morning self-study at school. So when Ji Ran arrived at the school gate, there were only a few students scattered around.

However, many people were walking while looking down at the materials in their hands.

The first subject was Chinese, and memorizing poems was a stable way to score points. Anyone who dared to lose points on this topic might find the Chinese teacher chasing them all the way to their hometown.

In the final mobilization before the exam yesterday, the Chinese teacher specifically emphasized this.

She also threatened the whole class that she would personally check each student’s work. Anyone making a mistake would have to copy it a thousand times.

Ji Ran’s exam room this time was still in the second-to-last exam room, but the position of the last seat in her exam room became the first seat in positive order.

Although she scored full marks in the last English exam, her scores in mathematics and comprehensive science subjects were quite low, calculated in the tens or twenties.

Although there were some underperforming students at 4th Middle School, the overall academic level was indeed not bad.

Otherwise, the admission rate wouldn’t be so high.

However, this time was still quite similar to the last time. Just before the exam, Shen Zhi walked into the classroom wearing a black down jacket. There was a fur edge on the hat of his down jacket, which somewhat softened his sharp and indifferent temperament.

It felt a bit fluffy, especially cute.

The moment he entered the classroom, it was still unusually quiet. Tang Zhenpeng had not yet been discharged from the hospital after being beaten and was said to be unable to participate in this midterm exam. Although for some underachievers, not being able to participate in the midterm exam might be a relief.

But this incident was indeed quite frightening.

Although no one said it openly, many people privately speculated that this incident was related to Shen Zhi.

After all, Tang Zhenpeng was beaten by Shen Zhi before the incident happened. People were privately guessing whether it was because Tang Zhenpeng called his parents, and Shen Zhi, out of shame, secretly found a dark alley to beat Tang Zhenpeng again.

While the teacher had not arrived yet, students in the last exam room were making their final preparations.

But some were taking the opportunity to gossip.

Like Ji Ran, who clearly heard a boy and a girl sitting behind her discussing Shen Zhi’s matter.

The girl whispered, “Do you think it’s true that Shen Zhi sent the senior from the third year to the hospital?”

“That’s definitely true. That senior was a good student in his class. He offended only Shen Zhi before the incident. If not him, who else could it be?”

The boy spoke with a particularly confident tone, as if he had been at the scene and had personally seen Shen Zhi beat Tang Zhenpeng.

The girl asked with some confusion, “Then why wasn’t Shen Zhi arrested? I heard people on the online forum say that Shen Zhi’s friend clarified for him, saying that he didn’t really beat the guy.”

“Of course, his friend would speak up for him. Have you ever thought about Shen Zhi’s background? The police wouldn’t dare to arrest him. Honestly, even though I’m not a top student, I don’t fight or cause trouble. This kind of person is just relying on their family’s wealth.”

The girl burst into laughter.

“I think you’re just jealous. Even if Shen Zhi doesn’t have money, he still looks so handsome.”

So good-looking, the girl turned her head to look at Shen Zhi sitting in the classroom across from them. They were in the first group, and Shen Zhi was in the last group. This was why they dared to discuss him so openly.

From this distance, unless they had exceptional hearing, it was impossible to hear anything.

The boy disdainfully interrupted, “You girls just love handsome faces. What’s the big deal about being good-looking? He’s still just…”

Ji Ran didn’t want to get involved, but she found the man irritating as he continued to speak. So she took off the hat on her head, turned around, and looked back, asking calmly, “Classmates, are you having a happy discussion?”

She arrived quite early, but her face was already quite famous in the grade. Every new student coming in would glance at her for quite some time.

In the end, Ji Ran got impatient and covered her head with the hat attached to her down jacket, sitting on the chair and reading a book.

The two people behind her arrived later, and although they didn’t know who was sitting in front, the fact that Ji Ran and Shen Zhi were deskmates in Class 8 wasn’t a secret. Almost everyone who loved browsing 4th Middle School’s online forums knew about it. It even made Ji Ran feel like every move she made in this school was being observed by someone.

When the two people behind her saw her, especially the boy looking at her, he instinctively said, “Ji Ran.”

Ji Ran’s few candid photos had become quite famous on the forum. Although the original post had indeed been deleted, many people had privately saved it. Besides, boys also liked to discuss topics related to girls.

Ji Ran was the recognized school flower of 4th Middle School, and now there were few people who didn’t know her.

Hearing the boy calling her name, Ji Ran nodded. Okay, since they knew her, everything was still manageable.

She glanced over and whispered, “If you’re so interested in my deskmate, how about I call him over for you? We can chat together.”

This remark was too harsh.

The girl behind her turned pale in fright and immediately begged in a low voice, “Classmate Ji Ran, we were wrong; we won’t say anything anymore.”

They dared not speak anymore.

Ji Ran just didn’t want to hear their nonsense anymore, and she didn’t really want them to do anything. After hearing this, she nodded faintly and said, “If you don’t want to talk, be quiet and prepare for the exam.”

Implicitly: Shut up, you gossiping pair.

Soon, the invigilator walked into the classroom with the exam papers, and the reminder that the exam was about to begin was broadcasted in a timely manner. Many students who were still outside the exam room quickly entered.

In fact, except for this little incident in the first Chinese exam, Ji Ran’s exams these days had gone quite smoothly.

For many students, the only difficulty was probably the content of the exam; the difficulty of this set of papers was not low, especially after the math exam, when there was almost a widespread sense of despair.