CHAPTER 53: THE CANNON FODDER SISTER OF THE HEROINE (PART 5)

Early in the morning, the entire family sat around the table eating breakfast. Jiang Sheng had an unpleasant expression, kept frowning while chewing the pancake, and made loud slurping sounds with the congee, clearly unhappy.

And yet, there was someone oblivious who continued to fan the flames.

"Dad, I want to go to school."

Jiang Sheng continued drinking his congee, clearly not intending to respond to her.

Jiang Lai was relentless and simply sat beside him with a small stool, repeating over and over.

"I want to go to school, I want to go to school, I want to go to school."

"Go to school my foot! With your grades, if you could even match a fraction of your sister’s, I’d send you to school!"

Jiang Lai wasn’t deterred and kept on chanting.

"You send me to school, and I promise to study hard. If I don’t make it into the top ten of the class by the end of the term, I’ll come back home."

"Pfft..."

Jiang Qiuhe, who was also drinking congee, couldn’t help but laugh, tapping Jiang Lai on the head with his chopsticks.

"With that brain of yours, top ten in the class? I’d bet it’s more like bottom ten!"

Jiang Lai directly pushed his chopsticks away and continued to promise.

"Anyway, just let me try for a semester. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll come back home and get married to He Xing."

"Come on, Dad, just let her try. What can a young girl do if she doesn’t study? It’s not good to get married too early either."

As expected, Jiang Qu, who had been silent, spoke up to support her.

Her words carried weight, and Jiang Sheng looked at Jiang Lai with a face full of helplessness.

"If you, girl, were half as worry-free as your sister, I’d live a few more years."

"Don’t worry, Dad. Once I get into a good college, you’ll be so happy you might just live to a hundred."

Jiang Sheng glared at her.

"Smooth talker. If you don’t do well in the exams, you’re coming back home to get married!"

"Alright, Dad!"

And just like that, Jiang Lai was able to get back into school, thanks to some connections with relatives in the county, and was placed into the first year of County No. 1 High School.

Since everyone had already started school over a month ago, by the time Jiang Lai joined, they were almost done with half of this semester’s books.

She was placed in the last row, which was full of boys who loved to sleep in class, fool around, and cause trouble. Sitting right next to Jiang Lai was the class’s most problematic student, whose grades were poor, refused to be disciplined, and had a bad temper. Teachers didn’t like him, classmates feared him, but because of his strong connections, even the principal couldn’t do anything about him, and teachers were instructed to try and ignore his presence as much as possible.

As soon as Jiang Lai sat down, she opened her textbook to study. She had thought that the material in this era might be a bit easier, but it turned out to be just as hard as it was decades later, especially math, which gave Jiang Lai a headache.

She needed to catch up, and she had to start keeping pace now.

During classes, she could understand some of what the teacher was saying, but ultimately it would still come down to practice.

The math textbook provided by the class had been almost entirely flipped through by Jiang Lai in a single day. She could remember most of the formulas, and to remember them more firmly, Jiang Lai spent a lot of time working backward through the formulas, memorizing all the derivation processes by heart.

In this way, she became the most diligent student in the class, but her first monthly exam results were not ideal, only placing her in the middle of the class.

However, despite having fallen so far behind, she was still able to maintain a middle-ranking level, which earned her the admiration of her classmates, and the teachers liked her because after every class, the first thing Jiang Lai did was rush to each subject’s teacher’s office with questions.

"This place is where students often make calculation errors because there is a condition that many students overlook, which is why you can’t work backward to the correct result."

Jiang Lai suddenly realized, nodded repeatedly, and after jotting down the key point, she asked the math teacher again.

"Teacher, is there a place near the school that sells reference books? I’d like to buy some materials for practice."

"Reference books... yes, there are. The bookstore behind the school has them, and this approach of yours is very correct. Some people don’t agree with the ’sea of questions’ strategy, thinking that learning should be done in a relaxed manner, but math is different. The more problems you solve, the more confident you become, and when you get to the exam hall, your ability will surely be stronger than students who don’t practice. Jiang Lai, although your current math level is only in the lower-middle of the class, I believe that as long as you continue to study this way, your math grades will rise quickly!"

"Thank you, teacher!"

Jiang Lai, clutching her textbook, left the teacher’s office, and in the hallway, students who saw her whispered among themselves.

"That’s her, always running to the office, yet her grades are just average."

"Some people are like that, no matter how hard they try, it’s useless. They’d be better off finding good study methods."

"I heard she’s the younger sister of Jiang Qu from the second year. She dropped out before and now transferred back to continue studying."

"Jiang Qu? The one who’s in the top ten of her grade?"

"Yeah, the sisters don’t look alike at all. Jiang Qu is fair and pretty, but Jiang Lai has dark skin and is a bit chubby."

Little Buding repeated the things he overheard to Jiang Lai, and his tone was full of mockery.

"Chubby girl, stop eating."

Jiang Lai was in the canteen, gnawing on the white bread she brought from home, exclusively focused as she drank the three-cent egg soup, all while pondering the big problem she just solved.

Little Buding saw her in that state and found it boring.

"You’ve become such a nerd."

"Shut up and don’t disturb my studying."

"Jiang Lai, really? Your task is just to get into a college, but you’re acting like you’re aiming for Tsinghua or Peking University."

Jiang Lai raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a problem?"

"Whoa, are you really aiming for Tsinghua or Peking University? You know there hasn’t been a single student from this county who got into either of those schools in years, right?"

"Yes, but it’s getting close."

Jiang Lai’s confidence left Little Buding speechless, marveling at how such a self-assured person could exist.

"Is it worth it? Who are you competing with?"

Jiang Lai thought for a moment and shook her head.

"None of your business."

"Sure, I won’t meddle, chubby girl. But don’t worry, our prize is the most beautiful little village flower, and you’ll get to see it soon."

A week quickly passed, and on the weekend, Jiang Lai had to go home.

Originally, Jiang Sheng instructed the sisters to return home together after the break, but after Jiang Lai finished packing and went to find Jiang Qu at the bike shed, Jiang Qu was gone, leaving behind only a bicycle. Jiang Qu’s classmates informed Jiang Lai.

"Your sister said she went back with someone else and for you to ride the bike home yourself."

Jiang Lai frowned, looking at the tall bicycle in front of her, feeling a bit troubled.

"What are you looking at?"

"I don’t know how to ride a bike."

"..."

So, Jiang Lai not only had to walk back, but she also had to push a heavy old-fashioned bicycle in her hand.

She started pushing it back at half-past five in the afternoon, and by seven o’clock, when the sky turned dark, the night breeze chilled her, causing a shiver all over, yet she was still only halfway home.