Xia Xiaolan’s winter jackets and duck-down coats finally broke into Shangdu’s market during the sharp temperature drop.

She and Li Fengmei sold out their remaining stock, with word-of-mouth spreading from one to ten, ten to a hundred. People wanting to buy duck-down coats tried to purchase the sample coats they were wearing – but joking aside, selling the clothes off their backs in this weather could be fatal. Though this money-maker Xia Xiaolan refused to sell hers, Li Fengmei was bold enough to fetch her cotton-padded jacket from home, let the customer wait, and sell the warm duck-down coat right off her back.

Well, if her aunt had sold hers, how could the niece refuse?

Even after selling their display samples, people with money couldn’t buy any more stock.

“It’ll take at least three days. You want to leave a deposit?”

What courage these people had, willing to leave deposits with street vendors! Though it was just 5 or 10 yuan each, Xia Xiaolan didn’t even have a fixed store – these people were truly trusting.

She gradually collected deposits from over ten people, writing receipts for each and leaving Grandmother Yu’s address.

Since her stall location wasn’t fixed, she worried these people would search the whole city when the goods arrived, so she simply had them pick up at that address.

The men’s winter jackets sold well, as did the women’s duck-down coats… Female customers didn’t much like the thick nylon outer layer of the winter jackets. Men found the winter jacket style more dignified – it was originally mountaineering wear, easy to move in, and perfectly met male customers’ needs.

Xia Xiaolan made a brief appearance at Anqing No.1 Middle School before heading south again.

This school visit was to collect homework to do at home. Why did teachers like her? Besides good grades, Xia Xiaolan was especially capable. In her free time, she’d stake out Shangdu No.1 Middle School’s gate – the provincial capital’s best school for college admission rates. What was she waiting for? To buy test papers from graduating students at the provincial key school. Perhaps because of her pretty looks, or her generous payment, her request for extra copies of the test papers was granted.

She obtained Shangdu No.1’s complete science track secret practice tests, completing one set herself and giving another to Teacher Wang from her grade.

Teacher Wang was almost moved to tears:

“You paid to print these yourself?”

Shangdu No.1 never shared resources. Every school in Yunan Province competed in the college entrance exam. Even Anqing No.1 couldn’t compare with the special-grade teachers at the provincial key school. Whether for predicting exam questions or analyzing the college entrance exam, Shangdu No.1 was several levels above little Anqing No.1.

These secret papers from Shangdu No.1 were truly “secret” – teachers like Wang from other schools couldn’t obtain them.

The students who printed papers for Xia Xiaolan were too trusting, never expecting that she would selflessly share papers she’d paid for with her school. Even the most generous students would keep secrets about the college entrance exam. The admission cutoff wasn’t fixed – would the same score work every year? No, it depended on how many students all national universities would admit from Yunan Province that year, with lines drawn accordingly. For county key school students, seriously working through one set of provincial key school practice tests could raise scores by an incalculable amount – at least 10 points on average!

Anqing No.1 Middle School had several hundred graduating and repeat students. If each improved by 10 points, wouldn’t that just create more competition for oneself?

When facing life-changing opportunities, people often show their selfish side.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t being selfless – she just felt that whether Anqing No.1 students improved their scores wouldn’t affect her exam results. She was already in the grade’s top ten, with only a few students at Anqing No.1 who could compete with her… She planned to score above 550 points, allowing her to choose her preferred university more freely.

550 points might not get her into Huaqing or Jing University, but she’d get into better schools than “Beijing Normal College.”

Even if she couldn’t attend Huaqing or Jing University, getting into Beijing Normal would probably infuriate Xia Ziyun – of course, Xia Xiaolan’s life wasn’t just about feuding with Xia Ziyun, but she’d sworn to get justice for the original owner. At least she couldn’t let the Xia family’s golden phoenix live too comfortably!

Xia Xiaolan wanted to seize this reincarnation opportunity to live better than her previous life while also avenging the original owner – why not accomplish both goals at once?

With a target of 550 points, most students at the county school weren’t her competition. Their improvement by 10 or 20 points wouldn’t affect the bigger picture.

Seeing Teacher Wang so moved, Xia Xiaolan felt sharing Shangdu No.1’s secret papers was right.

Gaining the school’s goodwill would reduce many troubles – participating smoothly in next year’s exam was Xia Xiaolan’s goal!

Teacher Wang insisted the school reimburse Xia Xiaolan for the test papers. Though not much money, it still needed approval. As a result, Xia Xiaolan met the school’s leadership – Principal Sun came to praise her, telling her to focus on studying and that the school would help with any living difficulties.

Principal Sun wasn’t just talking – he had the finance office refund her previous tuition:

“You should speak up when you have difficulties. Study hard – you’re a student of noble character. Your cousin Xia Ziyun is also excellent. You should learn from each other and progress together…”

Well, the first part sounded nice, but she wasn’t interested in learning from Xia Ziyun.

Teacher Wang and Principal Sun thought she was very poor, not knowing this 18-year-old rural female student was nearly a “ten-thousand-yuan household.” Although 40% of her earnings belonged to her uncle’s family, her assets breaking 10,000 yuan was inevitable.

Xia Xiaolan was truly embarrassed to accept the returned tuition. To avoid trouble at school, she hadn’t worn her fashionable plaid wool short coat, and her pale yellow duck-down coat had been bought right off her back. Her current cotton-padded jacket, though without patches, was faded at the elbows and collar. Yet she still bought provincial key school papers from her pocket – no wonder Teacher Wang was moved and Principal Sun thought she had good character despite poor family conditions.

“I can’t accept this tuition. Please give it to students who need it more.”

Xia Xiaolan left these words and practically fled.

After a while, Principal Sun sighed heavily:

“Like her cousin, she has strong self-respect!”

The county school mimeographed the practice tests.

Though they were science track questions, Chinese, Math, and English were common subjects for both tracks, so art students could use them too. When teachers distributed the papers, they mentioned these were Shangdu No.1’s internal tests, so students naturally treasured them. In Xia Xiaolan’s class, Teacher Wang specifically named her, strongly praising her selflessness.

Once this class knew, the whole grade knew.

Though Xia Xiaolan rarely came to school or attended classes, she was quite famous.

Students spread rumors that she and Chen Qing were a couple. Chen Qing’s explanations fell on deaf ears – after all, Xia Xiaolan only associated with him. Only because she appeared rarely at school, like fleeting glimpses, and because students were overwhelmed by college entrance exam pressure, had no confession or pursuit incidents occurred.

Hearing the papers come from Xia Xiaolan, classmates all smiled at Chen Qing.

Chen Qing repeatedly explained he and Xia Xiaolan were just fellow villagers, but nobody believed him.

At this moment, he felt both anxious and inexplicably pleased. Xiaolan’s willingness to share the secret papers showed her noble character, and within this selflessness, she had given him separate English study methods – didn’t this suggest he held a special place in her heart?

Chen Qing held the distributed practice papers, their stinky printer’s ink seeming to carry Xia Xiaolan’s essence.