Xia Xiaolan watched the time carefully, knowing the painkiller would take about an hour to take effect.

Writing after taking the painkiller, her hand no longer hurt, though the cast still felt awkward. Xia Xiaolan didn’t immediately try to write quickly – as the doctor had said, she needed to be mindful of aggravating the injury. One painkiller could only last about two hours; to be precise, from pain relief to the return of pain was one hour and forty minutes.

She could barely manage one exam subject – that would have to be enough!

“You can’t take too many painkillers. I’m only prescribing enough for your three days of exams.”

The doctor was very responsible, repeatedly explaining and cautioning her. Xia Xiaolan certainly knew painkillers shouldn’t be taken excessively – aside from addiction risks, they could damage the kidneys. However, taking them for just three days shouldn’t cause major problems.

With Xia Xiaolan’s forceful attitude, Principal Sun and the others couldn’t say anything more.

What use were their worried expressions now? She already had the cast and medications!

Xia Xiaolan didn’t want to dwell on the issue of taking exams with an injured hand – keeping everyone in low spirits was pointless.

“Which examination site am I assigned to?”

Although exam assignments were random, they wouldn’t extend beyond Fengxian City’s boundaries. The principle was proximity – for instance, students from township high schools under Anqing County would take exams in the county, as townships didn’t have exam sites. The fairness principles for college entrance exams were quite rigorous… Any potential fraud usually occurs during the admission letter distribution stage, where some might intercept letters to allow their children to attend university under false identities.

Of course, nobody would try such tactics with Xia Xiaolan, who could potentially rank first in the city.

Too many people were watching her scores – the risk would be too high, and exposure would be immediate.

Principal Sun sighed, “In Hedong County.”

Xia Xiaolan thought this was quite a coincidence – all the troubles seemed to come at once. Everything had been too smooth before; apparently, this was what had been waiting for her.

Why would Anqing students go to Hedong County?

If Xia Xiaolan hadn’t known that even Fan Zhenchuan, had he not been arrested, couldn’t interfere with exam arrangements, she might have suspected a conspiracy.

Principal Sun wore a constipated expression, clearly disapproving of the higher-ups’ decision:

“This year they’re completely mixing up student sources based on the practice exam results. The Provincial Education Department thinks it’s excellent – Anqing students going to Hedong, Hedong students coming to Anqing, several counties exchanging students.”

The Provincial Education Department was out of touch with reality.

While this method would better prevent cheating, taking exams in one’s county meant students could stay in school dormitories or return home, keeping expenses low during the three-day exam period.

Traveling meant unavoidable expenses.

It was also costly for schools – organizing transportation and worrying about students’ overnight accommodation!

Staying at guesthouses wasn’t practical; students taking exams in other counties might arrange to borrow dormitory space from the exam site schools.

Xia Xiaolan received her admission ticket – the exam site was ‘Hedong No. 1 High School’… Well, that was Liang Huan’s school, and where Fan Zhenchuan’s son attended. Neither would be taking the exam, and they should be on summer break by now.

Having already been careless once, Xia Xiaolan really didn’t want another setback. She decided to have Li Dongliang return immediately from Pengcheng.

There was still time – it was only the 5th.

When Principal Sun asked how she would get to the exam on the 7th, Xia Xiaolan thought about that dreary place in Hedong County and, not trusting guest houses, said she’d follow the school’s arrangements.

“Whatever arrangements are made for others’ accommodation, I’ll do the same. No special treatment needed.”

How could that be possible?

Even in dormitories, while others stayed in shared rooms, Xia Xiaolan would need a single room.

Or perhaps they could arrange for a teacher’s dormitory room from the partner school?

Principal Sun looked at Xia Xiaolan’s casted hand and worried, wishing he could take her injury in her place.

“Right, what about the people who crashed into you? They can’t just get away with recklessly riding their bikes in the street!”

Principal Sun belatedly remembered that Xia Xiaolan had been injured by others. Did those people know who they had hit? What was there to show off about riding a broken bicycle? In Principal Sun’s mind, all of them together weren’t worth one of Student Xiaolan’s fingers!

Sun Tian had witnessed the ‘accident’ and seen Ge Jian fight those people. She knew there was more to this ‘accident’, or Ge Jian wouldn’t have reacted that way.

Her chest heaving, she wanted to tell Principal Sun, but saw Xia Xiaolan wink at her – don’t tell? But why?

Sun Tian held back her words and heard Xia Xiaolan casually brush off Principal Sun’s concern:

“What’s done is done. Even if you broke their hands, it wouldn’t instantly heal my injury… Let’s just drop it.”

…

Drop it?

If it was truly an accident, Xia Xiaolan could only grudgingly accept it – blame it on bad luck.

But if it was intentional, letting it go would make her Saint Xia, not Xia Xiaolan! The anger burned in her heart – thinking about how those people tried to deliberately break her hand made her want to take a club and shatter all their limbs, an eye for an eye!

She hadn’t told Principal Sun because even reporting them to the police station would be hard to prove.

They could insist it was an accident, claim her wrist fracture was from falling, and in the chaos after the collision – someone holding her shoulders, someone stepping on her hand, someone pretending to help while blocking the view – even Sun Tian hadn’t seen clearly, and Ge Jian only called out when he heard her cry of pain.

These people must be experienced in such acts, and in making excuses too.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t distrust the police station’s fairness, but Zhao Gang’s case was a precedent – imprisoning Zhao Gang was meaningless when those who orchestrated it went unpunished.

This time, she would handle it herself!

After spending most of the day at the hospital getting X-rays, bandaging, casting, and testing painkillers, it was quite late when they returned to No. 1 High School’s entrance.

When Xia Xiaolan mentioned she hadn’t eaten, Madam Huang hurried over, inviting her to eat at the new shop.

Principal Sun and the others dispersed – they weren’t waiting around expecting Xia Xiaolan to treat them to a meal, were they?

Chen Qing seemed to have something to say. Seeing his concerned expression, Xia Xiaolan felt touched and finally made a decision.

“I encountered some difficult problems while reviewing the other day, quite typical question types. It’s not convenient today, but I’ll tell you tomorrow since you’re also taking the exam in Hedong County.”

Chen Qing wasn’t concerned about questions at all. “No rush, no rush. You should write less now. Should I head in first?”

Xia Xiaolan nodded. Finally, after seeing everyone off, she followed Madam Huang into the new shop. This new shop was in “Zhang Ji’s” original location. The layout hadn’t changed much, though it had been simply refurbished with new tables and chairs, giving it a fresh appearance.

The name had changed too – now it was “Xinxin Snacks.”

Xinxin was Madam Huang’s daughter’s name, but Xia Xiaolan didn’t pay much attention to that. Ge Jian led her to the backyard, where upon opening the door, she saw several people bound hand and foot lying on the ground. After several hours under the July sun, they were barely conscious.

Xia Xiaolan looked at her casted hand, “Leave one untouched for now, break the others’ hands first – right at the same spot where I’m injured!”