Qin Jiao was curious about this herself. As the two of them rode their bikes home, she asked Shen Yi, "How did you manage to get the exact same score as me?"

Shen Yi looked up, squinting slightly in the sunlight.

He said, "You definitely got a perfect score in English, and in Math too. That means the only subject you’d likely lose points on is Language Arts. All I had to do was make sure I aced every other subject."

He made it sound so easy, but it was incredibly difficult. Even Qin Jiao herself wasn’t a hundred percent certain she could guarantee perfect scores in every subject besides Language Arts.

But Shen Yi’s voice was soft, yet exceptionally firm, as he said, "I believed you could do it."

In fact, back when the scores were released, he had gotten a call from Sun Guotao. The first thing he did wasn’t to ask for his own score, but to ask for Qin Jiao’s.

Once he confirmed Qin Jiao’s score, as well as the university and major she was applying for, he went and registered for the exact same ones.

He hadn’t told Qin Jiao any of this before.

After a long moment, Qin Jiao finally said, "Shen Yi, is it because you feel guilty for what happened in our last life that you’re trying so hard to be good to me in this one? You’re just tossing out compliments like they’re free, aren’t you?"

"No. You really are that good." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Qin Jiao fell silent again before saying softly, "It’s not like you haven’t seen what I was like before."

"Every version of you is wonderful."

’This guy is just determined to praise me.’ Qin Jiao felt there was no point continuing this conversation. Fortunately, they weren’t far from home. Besides, she figured Feng Dayong would be paying them a visit tonight, and they had a lot to prepare for.

Shen Yi knew her family needed to prepare, so he didn’t dwell on it. But he wouldn’t be going to bed early tonight, either.

When Qin Jiao came home with her acceptance letter and her parents learned that their daughter was the provincial top scorer, Qin Zhonghui and Su Yun were ecstatic. Su Yun immediately called her parents and brothers to share the good news. Qin Zhonghui grabbed the phone from his wife to also tell his own parents back in Three Families Village, as well as his older brother’s family.

Su Yun said, "What are you telling your parents for? It’s not like they’ll be happy about it."

Qin Zhonghui chuckled good-naturedly. "Whether they’re happy or not is their business. I’m happy, that’s what matters. My daughter got into a prestigious university, and as the top scorer, no less! Do you realize? In all these years, no one from our village has ever gotten into a prestigious university. The year before last, the Old Li family’s kid got into a technical college to become a teacher, and everyone was incredibly envious."

And North City University... that was leagues better than a technical college.

Su Yun thought about it and had to agree. Her father-in-law and mother-in-law had never cared for girls. She still remembered when she had just given birth to Xiao Jiao: her father-in-law had immediately turned and left, while her mother-in-law only pretended to help for a day before leaving as well.

If her own mother hadn’t rushed over from so far away to care for her, Su Yun would have likely suffered from numerous postpartum health issues.

Then later, when Xiao Shi was born, her in-laws didn’t even bother to show up at all.

Fortunately, by that point, Su Yun had become much stronger and didn’t hold out any hope that her in-laws would come to help.

She nodded. "Fine. Go ahead and call. Call the village’s general store directly, and let the whole village know!"

"Okay!"

Sure enough, in no time at all, the news had spread. Not just throughout Three Families Village, but even to the neighboring villages—everyone knew they had produced a top scorer bound for a prestigious university!

Old Mrs. Qin went out for a stroll, and everyone she met congratulated her. She was completely bewildered. "Congratulations for what? Our family hasn’t had any happy news recently."