“Did you see it beforehand?”
Su Yuan’s words sounded as if she was asking if Ning Li had cheated in the exam.
Although Su Yuan’s voice was very soft, these words were unquestionably an accusation.
Ning Li reacted as if she had heard some kind of joke and asked, “This is a provincial competition. Where could I possibly have gone to study this paper in advance?”
Even though Su Yuan had asked that question, she still felt that something was off about it.
Even if Ning Li had the thought of cheating, how could she have gotten the exam questions in advance?
On the other hand, how could it be such a coincidence that she had guessed so many questions on the paper?
Based on what Ye Ci told her, they had done many of the questions and papers in their competitive physics class. However, Ning Li had only written less than twenty questions in the notebook that she had given Ye Ci, and most of them had come up in the test.
It was no wonder that Su Yuan was suspicious.
“Then your notes…”
“Didn’t Ye Ci tell you that even though there were only a few questions in the notebook, I purposely expanded each question?”
Ning Li suddenly laughed meaningfully.
“Besides, this would mean that she should also be able to get good results in the exam, no?”
Su Yuan frowned slightly. For a moment, she did not know what Ning Li meant by this.
‘Was she really hoping that Ye Ci would do well in the exam? Or…’
Ning Li did not seem inclined on dwelling on this matter any further, so she turned around and walked away.
Su Yuan’s lips moved as if she wanted to ask something else, but she did not know what to say.
‘Am I just overthinking this?’
…
Ning Li returned to her room, remembered something, and turned on her laptop.
She exported the previously recorded data and did some simple processing, but these were not enough.
Ning Li sat on the chair. In the dimly lit room, only the glowing light of the computer screen reflected on her face.
She rested her cheek on one hand, seemingly in deep thought.
In fact, she really wanted to borrow Lu Huaiyu’s telescope, but it might be a bit troublesome.
However, there was no laboratory on this side of Yunzhou that could undertake this amount of calculation.
She would probably still have to make a trip to the Capital.
Thinking of this, Ning Li rubbed her head in frustration.
After contemplating it a while, she finally turned off her laptop and went to bed.
….
The physics competition had finally come to an end, so every student in the competitive physics class was relieved.
The results would be announced in a week. Thus, the few days in between were one of the rare opportunities for them to take a breather.
Upon getting their results, the top students would then start preparations for the national competition, which would be even more torturous.
Those who did not do so well in the exams would have to concentrate on prepping for the college entrance exams.
Ning Li was so relaxed these days that she even took time to finish the painting that she intended on sending to Yu Pingchuan on Sunday.
Everyone could also see that Ning Li had been very relaxed recently.
On Friday afternoon, Ning Li once again took a leave of absence.
Cheng Xiangxiang looked at the empty seat and snorted.
“The results of the competition aren’t even out yet, yet she acts like she already has a guaranteed spot in Xijing University.”
‘It’s just a competition. Why is she so arrogant? Who’s to say she’ll even make it?’
Several students around her heard this and secretly exchanged glances, but no-one answered her.
In fact, even if Ning Li had not joined the competition and only relied on the college entrance examination, it would still not be a problem for her to get into Xijing University.
There was actually no need for comparison.
Ye Ci wrote some math notes and paused when she heard this.
“I think Sister Ning Li will be able to get good results.”
Cheng Xiangxiang did not want to talk about Ning Li.
“Then you’ll probably do well too, right?”
She noticed that Ye Ci had been in a rather delicate state these days.
She seemed to be happy, but nervous at the same time.
Ye Ci did not appear to be like any of the others after the exam, and Cheng Xiangxiang could not figure out what was wrong.
Ye Ci shook her head. “It’s hard to say.”
Zhou Fei had shown them the answers the day after the exam so they could use them as a cross-reference and predict their scores.
Ye Ci was able to guess her score, but she was not sure how the others did. Thus, she did not know exactly how she would rank against everyone.
…
Heyuan District.
Ning Li had been in the master bedroom painting from afternoon to evening. She finally finished the last stroke.
She stood up and stared at the painting for a while, then exhaled gently.
The next step was to simply pack it up and send it to Yu Pingchuan.
When she walked out of the room and passed by the mirror hanging on the wall, she subconsciously stopped and took a closer look.
Since the last time that Lu Huaiyu had spotted the paint on the side of her ear, she was careful about it.
Lu Huaiyu must have guessed that she could paint, but he did not ask much about it.
Ning Li suddenly recalled the small piece of painting that he had kept in that book.
Was that his painting?
She did not know what exactly was on it, but it seemed precious to him…
Ning Li shook her head and suppressed these mixed thoughts.
….
Sunday.
At 11:00 am, Ning Li took the painting with her and took a taxi to Yu Pingchuan’s place.
The cab stopped at the entrance of the neighborhood, so Ning Li got out of the car and walked towards the familiar building.
The phone rang. The call was from Wei Songze.
Ning Li picked up the call and asked, “What’s up?”
Ever since Wei Songze had won the gold medal in the Huatsing Cup and gotten a guaranteed place in Xijing University, he had started listening to Ning Li’s advice and studied well, improving his results by the day.
That said, it had been sometime since they had contacted each other.
Wei Songze chuckled and said, “Sister Li, I heard that you’ve been taking time off recently. Is it because you’re busy painting?”
Second High and Seventh High students were very close to each other, so it was easy to obtain any type of information.
This was especially true for Wei Songze.
Hearing his tone, Ning Li already knew what he had in mind, so she answered frankly, “Mm.”
“OMG!” Wei Songze was extremely excited. “Sister Li, you finally touched the brush again! Woohoo! Let me see, please? Pretty please!”
“I’m afraid it’s not very convenient now.” Ning Li quickly refused. “I’m almost at Master Yu’s house.”
Wei Songze could hear his heart shatter to pieces.
“Sister Li, are you sending it to Master Yu right after you completed it? No! Why didn’t you tell me beforehand? You should have at least let me see it first! This won’t do…I’m going there now!”
Ning Li looked at the time and reminded him. “It’s almost time for lunch, right?”
Wei Songze immediately stopped whining.
After a while, he cautiously said. “Sister Li, after some serious thought, since this is your first painting in the past six months, it’ll be better if Master Yu sees it first. I’ll just view it later…”
Although Wei Songze wanted to see Sister Li’s painting, he cherished his life more.
Ning Li carried the painting on her back. She went up to the third floor, and raised her hand to knock on the door.
Knock, knock!
“If you say so, then…”
Before Ning Li could finish her sentence, the door to the apartment was opened from the inside.
A familiar, handsome and elegant face appeared from behind the door.
Ning Li’s heart jumped wildly.
‘Lu Huaiyu?! Why was he here?’
When Lu Huaiyu saw that it was her, he seemed to be a little surprised too.
His gaze fell on the painting she was carrying and raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Lili?”
