After meticulously reviewing the answers on two English exams, Su Qingyan confirmed they were flawless. Finally, she couldn't hide the shock and disbelief in her eyes.

Shi'an High School, located in a neighboring county, is, like Yunan High School, a top provincial school. The English exams from Shi'an's last two practice tests were even slightly harder than those at Yunan.

Typically, most students at Shi'an average three to four mistakes on these types of cloze tests. However, for Su Qingyan, recognized as both the campus beauty and a top scholar, consistently ranking in the top three, sometimes even first, making a single small error on a preposition was unusual.

Yet, here was her little desk-mate, who had somehow managed to score perfectly on every question in two different cloze tests!

The rare look of surprise softened Su Qingyan’s normally frosty demeanor as she scrutinized Lin Ran with a mix of confusion and doubt.

Something didn’t add up…

In her previous life, she knew this person quite well, and she’d even gone through all of his journals. Her impression of her "little desk-mate" was that his grades had taken a nosedive from the second semester of sophomore year, nearly to the bottom of the class. His English scores usually hovered around 80 out of 150 points.

How could he achieve a perfect score so easily? And in just twenty minutes?

Meanwhile, Lin Ran, looking completely relaxed, seemed to be enjoying her uncharacteristic look of astonishment.

"Believe me now?" he asked.

For the first time since her rebirth, he managed to get the upper hand over his aloof desk-mate. He allowed himself a moment of satisfaction.

But to Su Qingyan, his words sounded like a subtle provocation. Her eyebrows shot up, and her once-ice-cold, billion-dollar CEO persona flared back to life.

“You cheeky little thing.”

“Trying to challenge me, huh?”

“Bring it on!”

With her usual calm, she nodded and said nonchalantly, “Not bad. These two exams were pretty easy.” She then pulled out another English test paper from her workbook, covering her own cloze test answers with tape before handing it to him. As she looked at Lin Ran, her tone remained as cool as ever. “Try this one.”

Lin Ran met her gaze, and for a moment, an almost playful competitive spark flew between them. He raised his eyebrows and smiled.

“No problem.”

…

Once again, Lin Ran began writing, flying through the answers at an incredible pace. After only ten minutes, he casually handed the third test back to her.

“Be careful. If you don’t check your work, you might regret it,” Su Qingyan remarked with a calm expression, quickly taking the paper and inhaling sharply. She peeled back the tape covering her answers and began comparing his work to hers.

The comparison didn’t take long. In no time, Su Qingyan confirmed that, once again, he had scored a perfect result. She drew a sharp breath, her shock deepening—he had done it again!

One perfect score could be chalked up to luck or familiarity with the test. But a second?

This third paper wasn’t even a teacher-assigned exercise; she had found this particular English competition paper to challenge herself. It was far more difficult than a regular practice test, full of complex, convoluted sentences designed to confuse. Even at her level, she had fallen into its traps more than once.

Of the 15 questions, Su Qingyan herself had missed three. For the more advanced students in her class who typically scored between 120 and 130 in English, it wasn’t uncommon to miss five or six on a test of this caliber.

But somehow, Lin Ran had completed this incredibly difficult test in just ten minutes—with a perfect score.

She couldn’t help but look at her desk-mate again, now fully astonished. Her mind was blown. Was this really the same desk-mate she thought she knew? The one who often wrote in his journal about struggling with cloze tests, complaining they were too long and too difficult?

How had he suddenly transformed into a competition-level English whiz?

…

Lin Ran, unaware of Su Qingyan’s inner turmoil, felt invigorated and at ease after finishing the third exam.

Competition paper? It’s no big deal.

It had been years since he’d tackled high school exams, but his well-honed skills were still intact. Lin Ran didn’t know that Su Qingyan had read every journal entry he’d ever written in his past life. But even if she had, she couldn’t possibly know—

After failing his college entrance exams, barely managing to scrape past the cutoff for a second-tier university, his parents had poured their savings into helping him afford a place at a modest university. Seeing their graying hair weighed heavily on Lin Ran’s heart and filled him with regret, driving him to turn his life around once he entered college.

He studied harder than ever, took on part-time jobs, and even tutored others. By the time he graduated, he had spent three years working as a teacher at a well-known educational center, quickly rising to become one of their top tutors, specializing in high school subjects.

With such a wealth of knowledge and experience under his belt, Lin Ran returned to high school prepared, facing these tests as if reuniting with old friends.

Or perhaps, with a touch of swagger, it was more like descending to conquer from a higher plane.

After passing the English test, Lin Ran moved on to Chinese, Math, Politics, History, and Geography. For the classics in Chinese literature that every high school student is supposed to memorize, he recited them flawlessly and fluidly, barely pausing for breath.

Math required a bit more effort, but he could still solve the most challenging final questions from other schools' midterm papers, scoring at least 80% on them. As for the liberal arts subjects like Politics, History, and Geography, he was completely at ease, analyzing and answering with precision.

At one point, Su Qingyan, who was comparing his answers to the standard key, perked up with a rare, excited tone: “This one’s wrong!”

The next second, Lin Ran glanced at the answer key and casually replied, “The key is wrong.” Su Qingyan looked more closely and realized he was right—the answer key had an error.

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Soon, a thick stack of real test papers piled up like a small mountain on the desk. Lin Ran, having passed every test flawlessly, leaned back in his chair with a calm and confident air, even crossing his legs leisurely. Simple. Done.

With his three years of experience as an outstanding, all-around tutor in his previous life, and having worked his way through countless practice tests, these high school exam questions felt trivial. It was as if he was a grandmaster from a martial arts novel, wielding his skills with ease—one stroke to conquer all.

The questions were as easy to him as slicing through butter. Of course, some knowledge had faded with time, but as long as he had a bit of time to refresh, his bold claim to the homeroom teacher to raise his score by 200 points by the next exam didn’t seem impossible.

He glanced at his desk-mate, the typically icy Su Qingyan, who was now staring at him in shock. Raising his brows, Lin Ran asked, “Believe me now?”

Inwardly, his tiny cartoon self was gleefully grinning, hands on hips, laughing triumphantly. After a whole day of being dragged around and bested by her, he’d finally turned the tables. Satisfaction!

…

Su Qingyan finally snapped back to reality, trying to regain her calm, cold demeanor. She nodded slightly. “Hmm. Not bad.” But she couldn’t help giving him a thorough once-over, her curiosity getting the best of her. “How did you suddenly get so good at studying?”

Lin Ran was ready for this question. He had already prepared his answer while working through the exams, and he delivered it smoothly without a hint of hesitation. “It’s not really sudden. I’ve actually been secretly working hard, studying and catching up for a while now,” he said casually. “Just waiting to impress everyone with my scores on this next test.”

It might have sounded a bit unconvincing, but it was more plausible than telling her he was reincarnated. Even if he spoke the truth, there was no way she’d believe it.

Su Qingyan seemed half-convinced, scrutinizing him from head to toe. Secretly studying and cramming? If that were true, how had she missed it? She’d read every entry in his journal, so why would he hide it even from himself?

After a moment’s thought, she accepted his explanation. After all, it was the only reasonable one. What other explanation could there be? Her little desk-mate wasn’t a time traveler too.

…

Seeing Su Qingyan accept his explanation, Lin Ran smiled. “In that case, I shouldn’t need to trouble you for tutoring. I’ll handle my review on my own.”

Su Qingyan hesitated briefly, then nodded, though her emotions were mixed. On the one hand, she was thrilled and relieved. If Lin Ran had stayed at the bottom of the rankings as in the past, they’d inevitably end up at different universities after graduation, making a long-distance relationship unavoidable—a prospect she wasn’t too happy about. But now, it seemed this worry had vanished!

Inwardly, her little cartoon self was gleefully celebrating, looking at him with pride and admiration: Oh wow, my little desk-mate! Turns out you were hiding all this talent! My taste is impeccable—he’s a hidden genius!

On the other hand, though, she felt a pang of disappointment. Originally, she had planned to use tutoring as a way to spend more time with him, guiding him through difficult problems. She’d even imagined the little excuses she’d have to gently squeeze his cheeks or ruffle his hair here and there. But now it seemed like this lovely vision was slipping away…

Of course, Su Qingyan, the top-ranked beauty and academic ace of Yunan High School, wasn’t one to give up. She quickly came up with a new plan, her eyes lighting up with a spark of inspiration. Got it!

Later, during the final self-study session that evening, Lin Ran was casually flipping through his history textbook, underlining key points with his pen. Suddenly, he caught a whiff of a faint fragrance. He looked over and saw Su Qingyan leaning closer, her expression as cool as always. Her tone was calm and detached.

“Busy?” she asked. “If you’re not, help me with this question.”

She pushed an English test paper towards him, pointing to a reading comprehension section. “I’m struggling with this part.”

A question mark slowly appeared over Lin Ran’s head. Huh? He almost doubted his hearing. Did his desk-mate, the top student and beauty who was always in the top three, just ask him for help?

He took a closer look at the reading passage. It didn’t seem difficult at all—pretty average, the kind that at least ten, maybe even twenty classmates could solve without issue.

“Are you serious?” he asked, confused.

Su Qingyan remained calm and collected. “Yes. I don’t understand it.”

Lin Ran was baffled. Had he somehow underestimated this passage? Was there a hidden trick he hadn’t noticed? Determined, he focused again, scrutinizing the passage thoroughly.

Meanwhile, Su Qingyan watched him bury himself in the work, a sly grin spreading across her mind’s eye. If the mountain won’t come to me, she thought, then I’ll go to the mountain.

If she couldn’t tutor him, then she’d make him tutor her.

Nicely done, Su Qingyan! she thought.

Lin Ran never intended to trouble his seatmate, the campus belle. But after showcasing his true academic abilities, he found the tables had turned, and now, he was the one facing a bit of a dilemma.

“Lin Ran, I don’t understand this question.” “Got a moment? Can you help me with this history question?” “Is this a polyphone? I can’t remember.” “Why is the answer to this multiple-choice question C?”

Answering these questions and providing guidance was something Lin Ran didn’t mind at first. Yet, as he patiently analyzed and explained each problem, he couldn’t shake the strange feeling that Su Qingyan’s attention wasn’t fully on the papers. Every now and then, he sensed her gaze lingering on him, as if she were more interested in watching him than focusing on the questions. But whenever he quickly looked up, he only saw her calm, collected expression, fully concentrated on her study materials, as if she had never been distracted.

But the moment he resumed explaining, that peculiar sensation returned, as though he was being quietly observed again. Another quick glance up, and once more, he found her looking innocently focused on the questions, raising her head only to say, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to continue?”

“...It’s nothing,” Lin Ran muttered, uncertain and a little defeated.

This subtle, unexplainable game continued for the rest of the evening. Tonight, Su Qingyan was unusually enthusiastic, relentlessly passing question after question to him without any pause. When she called for his help for what felt like the hundredth time, he couldn’t help but point to the space at the top of her paper, exasperated, “That’s the student ID section!”

“Oh, my mistake,” Su Qingyan replied, unphased, flipping to another question. “How about this one?”

Lin Ran could only stare, speechless, before giving up and picking up his pen to continue explaining.

Then, just as he reached for the pen, Su Qingyan reached out at the same time, and their fingers accidentally brushed against each other. She instinctively clasped his hand, probably a momentary lapse in control.

Frozen, Lin Ran looked at her, puzzled. She remained unbothered, her tone as cool as ever, “I grabbed the wrong thing. I just wanted to hand you the pen.”

Lin Ran looked down at his hand still held in her grasp and raised an eyebrow. “Maybe... you could let go now?”

“Sure,” Su Qingyan said calmly, releasing his hand immediately, though her inner thoughts were quite the opposite.

“Oops, Su Qingyan! How could you be so clumsy? Let’s try again next time!”

By the end of the study session, Lin Ran was worn out. When the final bell rang, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Tutoring Su Qingyan had left him more exhausted than doing ten of his own papers would. But just as he was getting ready to leave, she picked up yet another study guide and started to pass it to him.

“Oh, and there’s also—”

Lin Ran sprang to his feet as if he’d been jolted. “School’s over! Time to go home!” In the blink of an eye, he packed his things, flung his backpack over his shoulder, and bolted out the door like a gust of wind.

Su Qingyan could only smile at his hurried retreat. Silly boy, what’s he rushing off for? I’m not going to eat him up!

But as she finished packing her things and prepared to follow, she was stopped by a classmate calling from behind.

“Su, wait up—”

She paused and turned, spotting Zhou Hua, the class representative for English. He was also the guy who had taunted Lin Ran earlier in the day during their homeroom teacher’s lecture.

Suppressing a hint of impatience, Su Qingyan asked with a distant look, “What is it?”

Seeing that she’d stopped to talk, Zhou Hua’s face lit up with eagerness. He approached and said, “I just wanted to advise you… I know the teacher assigned you to tutor Lin Ran, but he’s a lost cause. Spending so much time on him will only hurt your own study time. You shouldn’t waste your energy on someone like him.”

As he spoke, Zhou Hua thought he was being thoughtful and considerate. But Su Qingyan’s expression only grew colder. Her gaze turned icy as she interrupted, “Are we close?”

“Uh… I…”

Before he could finish, she continued, her tone even frostier, “First off, the teacher didn’t assign me to tutor Lin Ran. I volunteered to do it. And secondly…” Her eyes swept over him with a cool indifference. “My business is none of your concern. We’re just classmates, Zhou. So please, respect that boundary.”

Then, without waiting for his reply, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and strode out of the classroom.

“B-but… aren’t you and Lin Ran just classmates too?” Zhou Hua stammered behind her, desperate to get the last word.

Su Qingyan stopped, looked back, and gave him a light, dismissive glance. “It’s different,” she replied coolly. “He and I—well, we’re seatmates.”