Is someone looking for her?

Who would come to school looking for her – was it her mother bringing something?

When Liang Huan reached the school gate, she saw a young woman dressed simply, with a kind smile:

“Are you a student Liang Huan? I’m Fan Han’s housekeeper. I’d like to ask you something.”

Fan Han’s housekeeper?

Liang Huan didn’t know what she wanted.

The woman kept smiling, “Your cousin is marrying Mr. Fan soon, right? First, let me congratulate you. You see, I’ve worked for the Fan family for several years since Fan Han’s mother was still alive. Now that Mr. Fan is marrying your cousin, there’ll be a new mistress in the house. I’d like to know about her preferences… to prepare in advance and practice my skills.”

Liang Huan was stunned.

The Liang family wasn’t prestigious enough to have a housekeeper, and since Liu Fang didn’t work, she handled all the housework.

Housekeepers were this dedicated? Even inquiring about the future mistress’s preferences in advance.

A housekeeper must act according to their employers’ attitudes, which made Liang Huan increasingly believe how much the Fan family valued her cousin. She wanted to help, but she only saw Xia Xiaolan once every few years and didn’t know her preferences.

Liang Huan wanted to exploit this connection, so how could she reveal that she wasn’t close to Xia Xiaolan?

They weren’t close now, but they would be.

Her mother never took her on trips to the provincial city, and Liang Huan was impatient. She had been eager to see her uncle’s Blue Phoenix clothing store, and couldn’t wait for her mother to take her anymore – she had just promised several classmates they’d go to the provincial city this weekend.

Xiao Yu’s appearance was particularly deceptive, and Liang Huan didn’t think anyone would dare impersonate the Fan family’s housekeeper in Hedong County. She nodded generously:

“My sister has so many preferences, how could I remember them all? Why don’t you ask her yourself? I’m going to the provincial city to see her this weekend.”

Xiao Yu looked delighted, “Really? Thank you so much, student Liang Huan!”

Xiao Yu maintained a very humble attitude, flattering Liang Huan with several compliments, making her very happy.

She repeatedly begged Liang Huan to keep it secret, saying if others knew, especially the Fan family, they might think her incompetent and send her back home.

“Student Liang Huan, I need this job.”

Xiao Yu’s voice was almost choking, and Liang Huan felt as if she had the power to control someone’s fate. Her vanity thoroughly satisfied, she readily agreed to keep the secret.

What harm could it do? Having a housekeeper try to please Xia Xiaolan – Liang Huan couldn’t bring herself to curry favor with her cousin, so having someone do it for her was perfect, wasn’t it?

Watching Liang Huan’s retreating figure, Xiao Yu lowered her eyes to conceal her thoughts.

She’d heard that the Liang family had wanted to marry Liang Huan into the Fan family, but Fan Zhenchuan hadn’t been interested, so nothing came of it. What a pity – if it had been Liang Huan marrying in, what would Xiao Yu have to worry about?

She wondered what kind of person Liang Huan’s cousin was.

Xiao Yu decided to investigate personally.

Without an omniscient perspective, Xia Xiaolan knew nothing about what was happening between the Liang and Fan families.

She was focused solely on her studies, waking up at 6 AM every day, washing up, eating breakfast, and then reciting famous Chinese literature passages or political questions until about 7:20 AM when she would cycle out.

She’d reach the Commercial University library around 7:50 AM. She’d wait outside for a while, planning her day’s review, until the library opened. Her timing was perfect – oversleeping was never an issue, and she always arrived early at the library, so how could she not get a seat?

Though Xia Xiaolan had only been studying at the Commercial University library for two days, she had already caused a stir among the male students.

Third-year high school students had pressure to get into university, but what pressure did university students have? Though academics weren’t easy, it wasn’t as intense as for exam candidates. Many students were dating in university – their hormones couldn’t all be channeled into literature and academics, and some boys would stop in their tracks at the sight of a pretty girl.

And Xia Xiaolan was exceptionally pretty.

These university students didn’t harass every attractive girl they saw; they were particularly subtle, hoping to move Xia Xiaolan with poetry and romance.

By the third day, someone had left poetry at her usual seat.

Xia Xiaolan had little literary sense; she exuded the air of a science girl through and through.

She appreciated modern poetry even less – what was all this stuff? Reading it wouldn’t improve her Chinese scores. Instead of discussing how to write poetry with others, she’d rather memorize more Chinese texts! She threw the poems in the trash. She was incredibly serious every day, just studying and solving problems in the library’s study area, occasionally standing up to find materials on the shelves. Her life was monotonous and dry… no, for a beautiful girl, it wasn’t called dryness, but dedication.

She looked good even while doing practice problems.

Since she hadn’t accepted anyone’s love letters, it meant everyone still had a chance.

Because they’d seen Xia Xiaolan talking to Zhuo Na at school, people soon found out about her situation. So she was a junior preparing for university entrance exams – no wonder all her books were high school textbooks.

A junior was fine – what if she got into Commercial University this year?

Coming to study at the Commercial University library showed she liked the school. Poetry didn’t work, good looks didn’t work, and shiny shoes and crisp shirts weren’t as good as knowing… They’d all been through the college entrance exam and knew how important it was. Before getting into university, the junior probably wouldn’t give the opposite sex a second glance.

But academically excellent ones were different.

What use was literary talent and poetry? Could they still remember chemical formulas? Were physics theorems still clear in their minds?

First-year students had the advantage – second and third years had forgotten some high school knowledge, but first-years had just taken the entrance exam last year and remembered formulas and theorems clearly. Poor students? Why sit next to the junior if you’re struggling academically? x

At first, Xia Xiaolan didn’t realize that the seats around her were reserved for the capable. When she got stuck on a problem and frowned in thought, someone would quietly walk past her.

After a while, someone passed her a note.

Xia Xiaolan thought it was another inexplicable poem, and she had no patience for that right now.

But it wasn’t poetry – it was the solution to the practice problem.

It included the solving approach and relevant knowledge points. Xia Xiaolan looked up; everyone around seemed frustrated except for one short male student who looked quite pleased.

Did he solve this?

Xia Xiaolan glanced at him, and the short student’s face turned bright red.

Xia Xiaolan smiled gratefully at him, and he nearly floated away.

Bah, you’re not the only one who can solve problems – we know how to do it too, we just didn’t get the chance!

The group of male students wanted to punch the short guy who’d shown off first. Junior, look at us – I’m good at math, I’m excellent at physics, my chemistry is outstanding… Starting with this note, Xia Xiaolan gained many free tutors.

These teachers didn’t want money, crowding in the library, just waiting for Xia Xiaolan to choose them.

The girls’ dormitory treated this as a joke. When it reached Zhuo Na’s ears, she remained silent for a long time – individual businesspeople were indeed the shrewdest, this was exactly Xia Xiaolan’s plan, and the male university students were too naive. Senior Gong was already caught by Xia Xiaolan, and now she was extending her claws toward others!