Shen Xingruo forced Lu Xingyan to take the self-admission application form, supervised him as he filled it out, and ensured he gathered a series of required documents. Among these documents were several short essays that needed to be written by Lu Xingyan himself. Shen Xingruo guided him in crafting these essays, aiming to portray him as someone who, despite his mediocre grades, strives for improvement and possesses a lively and well-rounded personality.
After completing all of this, Lu Xingyan was once again coerced into attending the rigorous self-admission training sessions.
At the end of March, Lu Xingyan, along with other students, went to participate in the Tomorrow’s Star self-admission written test at Xing University. Initially, he approached it with a tourist-like mindset, never expecting it to pass, so he remained relaxed throughout the process. However, after finishing the test, Lu Xingyan had an inexplicable feeling that he would pass—most of the questions seemed familiar to him, either because they had been covered in the self-admission classes or because Shen Xingruo had discussed similar topics with him.
A few days later, the results of the written test were announced, and Lu Xingyan had indeed passed. There were forty spots available for self-admission, and Lu Xingyan ranked sixty-ninth among the top eighty scores.
When Lu Xingyan shared the announcement in his friends’ WeChat group, everyone was shocked! Li Chengfan exclaimed, “Dude! You passed the written test for Xing University’s self-admission! Is there another person with the same name and surname as you?”
Lu Xingyan replied, “Open your eyes wide, it’s Lu Xingyan from Mingli High School. Who dares to have the same name and surname as me at Mingli?”
“Xu Chengzhou?”
“What the hell, Xu Chengzhou! Weren’t we supposed to go abroad together? And now you’re heading to a 985 university?!”
Zhao Langming added, “I just got 400 points in the monthly exam, and you quietly passed the written test for Xing University!”
“I’m not lacking in brains, no, I’m lacking a girlfriend who ranks first in the grade.”
“No, you’re lacking brains.”
“What?”
“We’re done.”
When Lu Shan and Pei Yue heard the news, they couldn’t believe it either. Pei Yue was particularly anxious and called Lu Xingyan to interrogate him when Lu Shan wasn’t around, asking if he had cheated. It was only after Shen Xingruo explained from the sidelines that Pei Yue reluctantly believed that Lu Xingyan had indeed passed the test through his abilities—or rather, she believed it was luck that helped him scrape through the test.
Lu Xingyan was fed up with the whole situation.
After all, deep down, Lu Xingyan also believed this.
As for the interview, Lu Xingyan felt he didn’t stand much of a chance. The interview accounted for half of the overall assessment, along with the written test. How well would he have to perform in the interview to secure one of those forty spots? It seemed nearly impossible.
So on the day of the interview, he approached it with the same tourist-like attitude.
Well, at least he’d have more stories to tell when bragging, right?
Before the actual interview began, Lu Xingyan didn’t realize he had a significant advantage.
People are naturally inclined to feel more favorably toward attractive individuals. This fact couldn’t be ignored. With his tall, handsome appearance, Lu Xingyan’s presence likely left a positive impression on the interviewers, even if only slightly.
Of course, his main advantage was his fearlessness and his ability to talk.
Most of the students attending the self-admission had good grades, but their schools hadn’t placed much emphasis on developing their communication skills. When they entered the interview room and felt the pressure from the professors, even the bravest ones started trembling. It was a miracle if they could understand the questions, let alone answer them.
While waiting outside, Lu Xingyan noticed several girls coming out with red eyes. He couldn’t help but wonder how harsh the teachers were to make someone cry during an interview. It seemed quite uncivilized to him.
He silently prepared himself to retaliate with a barrage of insults against their ancestors if anyone dared to berate him.
But when he went in, he found out it wasn’t like that at all.
Shen Xingruo hadn’t gone with him to take the written test, but she accompanied him to Xing University for the interview, which happened to be on a Sunday. While Lu Xingyan was being interviewed, she found a nearby café to study.
When Lu Xingyan came out and found her, she immediately asked, “How did it go? What did the interviewers ask you? Did you answer everything?”
Lu Xingyan was extremely thirsty, so he ordered a drink and finished it before replying, “It wasn’t much. I just introduced myself, and they didn’t ask many specific questions.”
He recalled, “There was an English teacher who asked me in English about my personality, and I was stunned for a while before I realized she was asking about my character. I couldn’t remember a few words in my mind, and after thinking for a while, I just said I’m pretty nice.”
Shen Xingruo looked a bit skeptical.
But Lu Xingyan continued, “Then the teacher wasn’t done yet. She said in my self-introduction, I wrote that I have an outgoing personality, but I seemed a bit introverted. I had forgotten what ‘conservative’ meant at first, and it wasn’t until she said ‘outgoing’ that I understood what she was talking about.”
“I originally wanted to be honest and say my English is poor, but then I had a clever idea, you know? I said that I was pretty outgoing before entering this room, but I became introverted after entering. Those teachers laughed at that.”
“Another teacher asked me what TV shows or movies I usually like to watch. I thought to myself, if I mention those high-end ones when they ask me for specifics, I won’t be able to answer. So I said I recently watched a Korean drama, the one you like, ‘Girl.'”
Shen Xingruo raised an eyebrow.
“A female teacher had also watched that drama, so she asked me about my feelings while watching it. I just made up a bunch of stuff, saying that although it lacks profound philosophy, as an idol drama, it’s successful in making people laugh and cry along with telling a complete story.”
“It’s like how we should approach life and work, not aiming too high and trying everything, ending up not being good at anything. We should be down-to-earth and realistic.”
He really could… twist everything to be about being down-to-earth and realistic.
Lu Xingyan also mentioned a few questions the interviewers asked, and as Shen Xingruo listened to his retelling, she felt reassured by how witty his responses were.
Lu Xingyan remembered something else, “Oh, and you won’t believe this! There was a piano in the interview room. When they saw that I listed playing the piano as one of my hobbies, they asked me to play, can you believe it? And I played two pieces.”
When Shen Xingruo was compiling his materials, she felt that besides having a somewhat developed athletic ability, he didn’t have many redeeming qualities. So she wrote downplaying the piano as one of his hobbies.
Shen Xingruo was always meticulous in her work. Since she wrote it down, she felt he should be able to play at least a little.
Before the interview, she quickly taught Lu Xingyan two simplified piano pieces. One was “Dream Wedding,” which she had played before, and the other happened to be the theme song of the Korean drama, which was originally based on the prelude of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. She modified the melody to create an easy-to-play piano score, which, coupled with Lu Xingyan’s improvisation, made him appear quite adaptable.
Lu Xingyan only seriously learned because he could have physical contact with Shen Xingru. In reality, he thought this skill would never come in handy. But life often surprises us. What helped him score high in the interview were these two piano pieces.
In mid-April, when the self-admission results were announced, Lu Xingyan once again barely made it through the admission process, ranking forty in the written and oral exams combined.
Coincidentally, the other male candidate who was eliminated with him had ranked in the thirties in the written exam and had prepared quite thoroughly for the interview. However, he had listed several classic novels in his preferences, which he had never read. When asked by the interviewers, he couldn’t answer at all. What’s worse, he had also listed playing the piano as a hobby, but in reality, he couldn’t play at all. When asked to play a piece, he didn’t even know where middle C was, and the whole interview turned chaotic.
When deciding on the last candidate, the teachers were relatively satisfied with Lu Xingyan’s performance. Although he still had a lot of room for improvement in his grades, his good character, sincerity, diverse interests, and quick wit were exactly what their “Tomorrow’s Star” program needed—a talent with potential!
After hearing about this from his relatives who were professors at Xing University, Lu Xingyan was a bit incredulous and said to Shen Xingru, “Am I just incredibly lucky?”
His luck was indeed remarkable. Just a little more pressure on the piano and he would have collapsed.
But Shen Xingruo didn’t think so. “It’s not just luck. You were seventy percent prepared, so you could make use of that thirty percent luck.”
So, it’s like this —
That doesn’t seem entirely wrong.
But once the exams were over, Lu Xingyan didn’t think much about it. Because he was quite self-aware. Considering his current level, he still had a long way to go before reaching the standards for admission to a top-tier university.
Xingcheng is a city of extremes, with stark winters and scorching summers, yet the transitions between spring and autumn are less distinct. Winter had barely passed when it felt like spring had quietly slipped away.
In early May, as the sun grew stronger, the atmosphere in the senior high school building became increasingly tense and oppressive. It was common to find students hiding in the restroom, crying from the pressure.
The stack of calendar pages hanging by the blackboard had gradually dwindled to a thin layer, with jagged edges and tiny scraps of paper left at the uneven bindings, trembling lightly in the warm breeze of early summer.
Meanwhile, the results of the second mock exam were released.
Although Shen Xingruo had consistently held the top spot since transferring to Mingli High School, this time she experienced a drastic drop, plummeting from first to fourth place in her grade.
Everyone was shocked. It was as surprising as Lu Xingyan scoring a 530 on the mock exam!
All the classmates who knew Shen Xingruo well came to comfort her.
Even Wang Youfu talked with her.
Shen Xingruo was Mingli High’s best hope for reclaiming the title of top scorer in the liberal arts division this year. This conversation needed delicate handling — it had to be gentle to avoid adding pressure while also providing the necessary guidance. It was truly challenging.
Wang even quietly prepared a Word document and memorized it before speaking to Shen Xingruo.
“Shen Xingruo, it’s not a big deal that you didn’t do well this time. The teachers have complete faith in your abilities.”
“The biggest issue this time was with math. Both I and Teacher Liang reviewed your test paper. It’s not that you didn’t know how to solve the problems; you just didn’t finish them.”
Shen Xingruo nodded.
During this round of mock exams, she got her period, and her stomach was hurting. Combined with the hot classroom, she was genuinely irritated. Glancing at the math questions, she found the initial ones relatively easy, so she left them for later and focused on the final major question. She ended up dedicating an entire page to the last question. By the time she finished, time had run out, leaving two and a half math questions unanswered. It was indeed a mistake. She also didn’t put much effort into the liberal arts paper, missing out on several details in some questions, and losing points that she shouldn’t have.
After leaving Wang Youfu’s office and heading home that evening, she received another round of scolding from Lu Xingyan.
Perhaps Lu Xingyan had been holding back for a while, but he finally found an opportunity to return the same kind of harsh words she often threw at him.
“Are you a woodlouse? Just because the question is phrased differently, you can’t answer it?”
“What kind of answers are these? You only wrote three sentences for the political science question. Do you think every word you say is precious? I think you’re just babbling nonsense.”
“You’re so generous in the math exam, leaving two and a half major questions unanswered. Did you think the land prices on the math paper were cheap, so you decided to reserve them for building your own house?”
“Just because you’ve been at the top of the class for a few exams, you think you’re already in outer space!”
Shen Xingruo paused, then calmly put down her pen and glanced at him.
“I think you won’t need a girlfriend after the college entrance examination. You’re so good at talking; why not just date yourself? Wouldn’t that be great?”
Lu Xingyan was momentarily speechless.
“I’ll now demonstrate a one-second ‘shut up’ for you.”
She mimicked zipping her mouth shut with her fingers.