While washing up, Jiang Chan frowned deeply at those thick bangs. Finding a hair tie in a drawer, she quickly swept all her bangs up, revealing a pair of phoenix eyes.
With all the original owner’s features visible, she looked much more pleasing to the eye. The trace of gloom that had originally clung to her had vanished too.
When Jiang Chan finished washing up and came out, the living room was empty. Only a stack of banknotes lay on the dining table, with bowls and chopsticks scattered messily across it.
The original owner would surely have cleaned everything up long ago. Jiang Chan merely glanced at the table, took the money and two steamed buns, and left. She had just counted it. After paying tuition, she would have twenty yuan left. What could twenty yuan buy?
Jiang Chan pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek and stood there with a mocking smile. Just as she went out, the Route 811 bus arrived. She dropped in a coin and sat in the back row.
Lian Shuguo and Wu Xiuzhen were probably both accompanying Wu Jin to register by now. She was the youngest, yet she had been completely forgotten. Ha. What a loving family they were.
The bus was crowded, almost entirely with students and parents. At this hour, most were taking their children to register. Compared with the others, surrounded by attention, Jiang Chan looked rather pitiful all alone.
Jiang Chan ignored the discreet looks people cast her way. The Lian family had a car, but in the original owner’s memories, she took the bus to and from school every day, while Lian Shuguo drove Wu Jin every day.
It had never occurred to Lian Shuguo and Wu Xiuzhen to wonder whether letting a small child take the bus alone was safe enough. The more Jiang Chan reviewed the original owner’s memories, the more she felt that parental favoritism was truly cruel.
Lian Shuguo and Wu Xiuzhen had both remarried. Lian Shuguo had brought his son, Lian Yanbin, into the marriage, while Wu Xiuzhen had brought her daughter, Wu Jin. The original owner, Lian Qiao, was their child together.
Neither Lian Shuguo nor Wu Xiuzhen was entirely bad. Because they were a stepfather and stepmother, each treated the other’s child especially well. Their own daughter, Lian Qiao, however, was thoroughly neglected.
Even at home, Lian Qiao, the youngest, had to give way to Lian Yanbin and Wu Jin, lest those two children suffer the slightest grievance. Jiang Chan summed up this warped family as yours, mine, and ours.
I treat your child well, and you treat mine well, but both of us neglect our child together. The original owner, Lian Qiao, was that “ours.” Even thinking about it made Jiang Chan feel like shedding tears for her.
Lost in thought, Jiang Chan reached her stop. As soon as she got off, she saw Lian Shuguo and Wu Xiuzhen standing before the honor roll, both looking immensely proud.
A mocking smile tugged at Jiang Chan’s lips. Wu Jin’s grades were fairly good. She had made the top hundred on the honor roll in the previous term’s final examinations. The two of them had come to check her ranking and, along the way, listen to other people’s praise.
Jiang Chan should have gone to the office to pay her tuition, but halfway there, she turned on her heel and headed for the principal’s office instead.
At noon, Lian Shuguo kept urging Wu Jin to eat. “Have some more. You’re in your second year now, so your studies will become even more demanding. We’ll have your mom make more good food for you.”
Wu Jin smiled. “Dad, I’ve already eaten plenty. You should eat too. These chicken wings are your favorite.”
Lian Yanbin had returned to university, leaving just three people at the table. All three had ignored Lian Qiao as though it were perfectly natural. Halfway through the meal, Wu Xiuzhen seemed to remember her at last. “Oh, why hasn’t Lian Qiao come back from registering yet? What’s going on with that child?”
Lian Shuguo frowned. “Why bring that girl up? She’s this old already. Doesn’t she know the way home? And she’s far too lazy. She didn’t even wash the dishes after breakfast this morning.”
Wu Xiuzhen then began complaining to Lian Shuguo about Lian Qiao. In short, everything was wrong with her. She was inconsiderate, disobedient, and so on.
Wu Jin lowered her head and ate without saying a word.
What was Jiang Chan doing? She was taking examinations at school. When she found the principal’s office, the principal happened to be meeting with the academic affairs director, and she walked right in.
When they heard that Jiang Chan wanted to take a grade-skipping examination, both found it especially absurd. She had only just entered her first year of high school, and she was already planning to move into her second?
Both were in their forties or fifties and wanted to take her down a peg. The academic affairs director therefore brought the second-year Placement Test papers to test Jiang Chan on the spot.
Jiang Chan was not afraid in the slightest. As a top student, studying was her primary occupation. At first, they had thought a young girl had come to cause trouble. But as Jiang Chan answered the questions and the subject teachers marked her papers, both their expressions grew serious.
Making such a promising student attend her first year again would waste her time. She should skip a grade and take the college entrance examination as soon as possible. The second-year teachers also grew excited. They had only come to mark some papers, but seeing Jiang Chan’s flawless answers, every one of them became animated.
Who would complain about having too many good students? Especially the two advanced classes, Class One and Class Two, whose students were mostly in the top hundred on the year’s honor roll. Everyone wanted to pull Jiang Chan into their own class.
In the principal’s office, the teachers of Class One and Class Two were both extremely excited, fighting to claim Jiang Chan. The principal and academic affairs director were troubled too. Both were homeroom teachers of advanced classes, and they could not favor either one.
In the end, the difficult decision was passed to Jiang Chan. She looked up. “May I ask which teacher’s class Wu Jin is in?”
One teacher had a good memory. “She placed ninety-eighth in the year in the final examinations. She’s in our Class Two.”
So they knew each other. It looked as though Jiang Chan would choose his class. The teacher could barely contain his delight.
Jiang Chan was decisive. “Then I’ll go to Class One. I look forward to learning under you.”
The homeroom teacher of Class One was stunned by this sudden windfall. “Huh? Oh, of course, of course. I’ll take good care of you. Lian Qiao, are you planning to board at school or commute?”
Jiang Chan openly made her family look bad. “I’d rather board. Things aren’t very good at home. When I go back, I can’t focus on studying.”
“Boarding is good. Very good. Don’t worry, Lian Qiao. We’ll definitely arrange a dormitory with a strong atmosphere of learning for you.” The academic affairs director nodded repeatedly. He liked Jiang Chan’s forthright manner.
“Here’s what we’ll do. In view of your outstanding results, our No. 2 High School will award you a three-thousand-yuan scholarship and waive all accommodation and living expenses. If anything in your daily life is troubling you, just come straight to me.”
The academic affairs director exchanged a glance with the principal, and the two reached an understanding. The director immediately gave Jiang Chan a thick red envelope. She accepted it with a beaming smile. “Thank you, Principal and Director. I’ll study hard!”
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