CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 40: PICKING A FIGHT (SECOND UPDATE)

"It seems... should... maybe... yes." Yang Qingqing thought seriously, she couldn’t remember her primary school days, but during middle school, Zhang Tingyu’s fame was known to everyone in the school. Not only was she beautiful, but she also had exceptional grades, and moreover, her father was rumored to be the secretary of Wangjiang County.

Therefore, during middle school, Zhang Tingyu always had a superiority complex, looking down on everyone.

"Then, we really should have a comparison," Tang Yue muttered to herself.

Yang Qingqing didn’t hear her clearly. She originally wanted to use this to dissuade Tang Yue and to comfort her that it was okay to lose, but who would have thought that it would instead ignite Tang Yue’s competitive spirit?

Even though she wasn’t concerned about being the top of the grade, if she could be first, why would she settle for second?

So, by the time of the second monthly exam, which was also the midterm exam, Tang Yue’s grades once again surpassed Zhang Tingyu, shocking the teachers at Wangjiang First Middle School.

Tang Yue’s papers, especially her essay, were scrutinized by several teachers. Some believed it was too much to give full marks. Surely, they should deduct a point or two.

But when they looked at the papers, the first thing that caught their eye was the beautiful regular script writing, refined and smooth, without any corrections or alterations – done in one go.

From the beginning to the end of the essay, it read as if one was perusing a model answer.

In both Chinese and math, her scores were perfect, not to mention English, which was also full marks.

This caused a stir among the people of Wangjiang First Middle School.

Full marks in math, they could understand, but Chinese? Even if everything else was correct, what about the essay?

Even if the essay was well-written, shouldn’t some points be deducted?

After the midterm exams, at a large assembly, Tang Yue’s essay was read out loud, silencing all the skeptical students.

All the students looked up to Tang Yue in admiration, though some were tinted with envy and jealousy.

Among them, Zhang Tingyu felt this the most. This time, she also had full marks in math, and ninety-nine in both English and Chinese. She thought she had done very well, but who would have thought...

Tang Yue couldn’t help but touch her nose, feeling as if she was being looked at like a monkey on show. She thought that maybe during exams, she really should deliberately answer a few questions wrong.

After her rebirth, her memory was too sharp, able to recall anything at a glance and never forgetting what she learned. It was like having a natural cheating device. Plus, with her diligent effort, acing the exams was inevitable.

Now, if she wasn’t worried about shocking everyone too much, she would want to skip a grade. She had already mastered all the knowledge of Senior High School. With the remaining time, her favorite thing to do was to immerse herself in the library, browsing various books, or drawing fashion design drafts. Though not needed now, who knew when they would come in handy?

After this midterm exam, everyone became even more anxious, especially since Tang Yue had scored full marks and still studied harder than they did. This set off a wave of ardor for studying.

"Zhang Tingyu, you’ve done very well already, but how can you compare to someone who got full marks?" Zhang Minmin said with a sigh, though the comforting words from her lips carried a hint of schadenfreude.

Usually, Zhang Tingyu was superior and academically excellent. Back at home, she was often reminded by her parents, "Look at Tingyu, and then look at yourself."

Now, seeing Zhang Tingyu’s defeated appearance made her ecstatic.

"Don’t gloat, I will definitely surpass her," Zhang Tingyu pursed her lips. In terms of studies, she was always persistent and competitive. How could she tolerate being worse than someone else?

As a result, Zhang Tingyu invested even more in her studies.

Back home, Zhang Tingyu didn’t even practice the piano, which puzzled Mrs. Zhang. She asked, "Tingyu, why are you always reading books or doing homework lately? Don’t you practice the piano?"

"Mom, I need to get full marks, don’t bother me," Zhang Tingyu said without even lifting her eyes, diving back into a sea of questions.

Outsiders saw her as someone who excelled in everything, but her beautiful handwriting took her a long time to practice since she was young.

And her academic achievements—although she was smart, she couldn’t score so highly without serious study.

"Tingyu, are you competing with someone again?" Mrs. Zhang was used to this but curious, who could be so formidable in exams that Tingyu felt compelled to get full marks?

*

"Wow, uncle, we really made a good amount of money these two months," Tang Yue excitedly looked at the pile of money, which was earned by Tang Mingli over these days. She said, "You wouldn’t be able to make this much even if you worked a whole year in a restaurant, right?"

"Not even half," Tang Mingli was feeling somewhat elated recently. He said, "Xiao Yue, I’m thinking about changing to a bigger house. This place is close, but too small. Look, we’re almost running out of space because of all these goods."

Tang Mingli pointed at the pile of goods taller than a person. If this continued, the small room would simply become a storage space.

"That’s true," Tang Yue nodded in agreement but then said, "Uncle, instead of renting, I think we should buy a house. Look, the New Year is coming. If you save up a bit more, maybe we could buy a house after the New Year."

Tang Mingli furrowed his brows and said, "Why buy a house? It takes a lot of money to buy a house. If all the money goes into buying a house, then I won’t have any left, would I?"

"But you’d have a house," Tang Yue couldn’t help blurting out. In the future, the housing prices in Wangjiang County would keep rising. She remembered that there would be a new tourist development in Wangjiang County.

"A house can’t be eaten," Tang Mingli said with annoyance. At the time, most houses were allocated by one’s unit, and there weren’t many people who bought houses privately.

"But a house is for living," Tang Yue almost wanted to talk about the future skyrocketing housing prices. With the ability now, it would be good to buy as many units as possible since they would all be money in the future.

"Let’s talk about it later," Tang Mingli didn’t have much interest in buying a house.

Tang Yue tried to persuade him, "Uncle, think about it. In the future, more and more people will come to the county, right?"

"It’s hard to say," Tang Mingli was uncertain.

Tang Yue resisted the urge to roll her eyes and continued persuading him, "In the future, if there’s an opportunity in the city, who would stay here? If you think about it, if you can’t make money at home but can in the county, would you choose to stay in the county or the village?"

"The county," Tang Mingli replied without hesitation.

After he graduated, wasn’t he unable to make money at home, only managing that small plot of land every year, which is why he preferred to endure hardship in the county rather than go back to the village?

"Then think about it, if everyone wants to come to the county, where will they stay?" Tang Yue guided him step by step.

"When more people want a place to stay, and the units can’t allocate enough houses, then what do you think will happen?"

"Buy a house," Tang Mingli, also clever, got it immediately.