Chapter 367

Today was a cloudy day, with no sun and the wind cooler than usual.

Just like the students' moods.

After happily playing for a semester, they were about to face the final exams and realized, oh no, it's too late, their textbooks were still brand new, they didn't know anything, yet exams were coming.

If it were before, Li Weijin would have been one of those last-minute cramming party members, only starting to study right before the exams. He would quickly flip through the books, hoping the teacher would circle the key points. Some nice teachers did circle some key points, but others would tell you that the whole book was important and you should figure it out yourself.

Of course, even after studying the teacher's circled key points, the exam content was not necessarily covered there...

But in the second half of the semester, to prevent excessive hair loss from studying too hard, Li Weijin shaved his head. Now he had no such worries, studying with Xiaoqi every day. It was a bit strenuous at first, but now he could barely keep up with her pace. Though not in the top ten, he definitely wouldn't fail.

Looking at classmates who used to happily play games now urgently reviewing with worried expressions, he felt quite satisfied.

As for Xiaoqi, the final exams posed no difficulty at all. She had been diligently studying and reviewing all along, even studying ahead of the class.

After the art exhibition, Xiaoqi directly gifted the painting meant for Ms. Su to her.

She explained the price mix-up.

Su Shuyu accepted the painting. She really liked it herself. Firstly, she genuinely enjoyed it. Secondly, this painting that she didn't particularly like someone else almost bought for over a million yuan had just been auctioned for two million. Though she could afford it, she never expected this young girl to be so generous as to gift it to her.

In the painting, not only was her appearance beautiful, but her actual looks didn't compare to her youthful depiction. Yet there was a spirit, the confidence she had aspired to in her youth, an invincible aura that would remain even through the years. Having weathered frost and rain, her eyes still held warmth.

She hung this painting directly in the tea room where she received guests.

Xiaoqi also studied French here.

Upon seeing this painting, Su Li gifted Xiaoqi a week's worth of breakfast and fruit.

Until Li Weijin confronted her, asking what was going on - she clearly knew Xiaoqi was his girlfriend, was she trying to become the third party?!

Su Li...did have thoughts of wedging herself in, but she only bought the breakfast and fruit in hopes that Xiaoqi would paint a portrait for her...

Xiaoqi was amused and promised to paint for Su Li, asking her not to buy any more breakfast or fruit, as it made her anxious.

After Xiaoqi gifted the painting to Ms. Su, their relationship seemed to improve. Not only could she park in Ms. Su's garage, but they sometimes swam together. Ms. Su even gave Xiaoqi a back door - in addition to her own final exams, she could simultaneously take the second-year courses.

Xiaoqi even mentioned wanting to learn shooting, and Ms. Su said she knew a place and could introduce her, though the final exams would be too busy this semester, perhaps next semester.

It seemed that for people to get along, there was no absolute good or bad, only give and take. Effort leads to gain, not just in personal endeavors but in interpersonal relationships too.

Xiaoqi's dorm mates got along better than others because they were all honest and willing to contribute to each other.

With final exams approaching, school club activities dwindled, giving Ren Hua University a rare studious atmosphere.

Xiaoqi's routine didn't change much - she didn't study harder like her peers, nor did she rest and stagnate. She attended classes, audited others, did evening self-study, took electives, learned Portuguese and French, and self-studied Japanese and Korean.

Xiaoqi was quite proficient in Japanese and English, a bit weaker in Korean. She had just begun learning Portuguese and French, one class per week, still at the beginner stage. She found French a bit easier, as Ms. Su was an excellent teacher who excelled at everything she did.

In her free time, Xiaoqi ran, practiced calligraphy and painting, and continued other hobbies.

Ever since the art exhibition, Xiaoqi had grown quite popular in Meng City. She occupied the hot searches on headline news for several days.

Although some doubted it was fabricated, others found that the bidder was the renowned Olde Cui, a celebrated figure in China's painting and calligraphy circle who actually went to buy someone else's work.

Some remained skeptical and tried to purchase the paintings, but the prices just kept rising without any being sold.

Word was that this painter only gifted her works, not sold them.

The few missing paintings at the exhibition had all been given away.

And new ones were continuously added.

While people lamented the gifted paintings, they eagerly anticipated the new additions from this evidently rapidly improving, exceptionally young painter.

Other famous painters either invested heavily or reached great age before fame, often becoming renowned only after death when their works became precious. A young, famous painter like Su Xiaoqi was extremely rare and quite accidental.

All this frenzy from the outside world meant nothing to Xiaoqi.

Her time on Douyin was limited to one hour under youth mode, with the password set by her roommates unknown to her.

She was usually quite disciplined, rarely reaching the one-hour limit. Sometimes when lazy she might use the full hour before the automatic cutoff reminded her.

In her free time, she played games like Honor of Kings, teaming up with Li Weijin and sometimes her roommates, making a full five-person team. However, Xiaoqi lacked gaming talent and was dreadfully bad at it.

Since Li Weijin's rank was too high to team with the low-ranked Xiaoqi, he would switch to a smurf account to play with her.

So while others were dying from the pressure of final exams, the seemingly relaxed Xiaoqi could still play games.

Of course, she wasn't actually relaxed, her schedule was quite full as evidenced by her studies.

Li Weijin initially struggled a bit, but studying with Xiaoqi and being quite intelligent himself with a high IQ, he quickly caught up to a pace that even surprised Xiaoqi.

It made Xiaoqi feel she wasn't some genius, just hardworking enough to make up for it.

Influenced by Xiaoqi, her roommates also studied extremely diligently.

The usually lazy Yun Shu spent half as much time reading novels compared to high school, surprisingly driven in college.

Mi Er mainly didn't want to fall too far behind her dorm mates and feel left out, forcing herself to study hard.

Wei Cheng's goal was simpler - she wanted the scholarship money, so she strived to rank in the top three.

Those most affected weren't actually Xiaoqi's roommates, but the second-year students of Information Management Class 1.

None other than a new couple of first-year underclassmen who would regularly appear, attending their major classes.

Initially assumed to be a couple sneaking around to date, though the classroom was an odd choice of venue - unless they felt the most dangerous place was the safest, given Ren Hua's strict rules.

But this couple appeared weekly, for major classes no less.

More ridiculously, when the teacher called on the girl once, the class snickered in anticipation of a show.

Those who hadn't been paying attention may not have understood the question, but that didn't stop them from watching the spectacle.

To their shock, the girl stood up and answered confidently, the teacher nodding in satisfaction as she responded flawlessly to further questions they couldn't even comprehend...

What the heck??

Then they realized that these sophomore students were actually taking advanced courses early, and would be taking the same exams as them. If they ended up scoring lower than the underclassmen, that would be embarrassing!!!

The professors for the three major courses all warned that the final exams would be more difficult, so everyone should prepare accordingly.

Although the academic atmosphere at Enhua wasn't intense, it would still be quite tragic if they were outperformed by a couple of freshmen.

As a result, the sophomore Information Management class suddenly became much more diligent. The evening self-study sessions were almost always full, surprising their class advisor: these kids were actually putting in effort as sophomores?! Su Xiaoqi maintained a regular routine. She only went to the equestrian club once a week now due to finals, and there weren't many events happening recently. Ever since Su Xiaoqi won the dressage championship, the club had become quite famous, acquiring many new horses and VIP clients. There were also more work-study students, and Wei Cheng, who had started earlier and was hardworking, had become the work-study leader, earning an even higher wage than before, which made her happy.

Li Weijin was in a similar situation, though his previously bald head wasn't completely bare anymore: he had grown some stubble, short prickly hair that was really fun to touch, like a little hedgehog.

Su Xiaoqi often couldn't resist reaching out to... feel it.

Whenever she did this, the normally aloof Li Weijin's collarbones would flush red.

This was a secret that Su Xiaoqi had only recently discovered. In the past, they had rarely sat so close together, and she had never paid much attention to what lay beneath his collar.

But one time, he wore a rather alluring robe made of grey silk. After shaving his head, his clothing style had changed, becoming more ethereal.

The kind of robe that could easily garner over a million likes for a simple walking video.

This robe had a lower neckline, and when Su Xiaoqi scratched his head that day, she noticed that despite his calm, serious expression, his collarbones underneath the V-neckline had flushed a bright red, standing out vividly.

His skin was so fair that the reddened collarbones were impossible to miss.

At first, Su Xiaoqi thought he might be having an allergic reaction somewhere.

But after a few more occurrences, she realized that whenever she got close to him, or sometimes accidentally spoke near his ear, or brushed against him, his collarbones would redden, burning bright red... while his face remained completely serious and composed.

It was truly very (adorably) (flustering).

Time flew by as quickly as Li Weijin's hair had grown out of its shaved state.

Finals arrived as scheduled.

Su Xiaoqi took exams for her own major as well as the three major courses for sophomores.

As for her elective, Spanish, she naturally performed excellently.

Since finals ended right before the break, the results were released extremely quickly: almost immediately after a day of rest following the exams.

Unsurprisingly, Su Xiaoqi ranked first in her class and year again.

Li Weijin's performance was decent this time, with no failing grades to make up. He ranked 15th in the class and 39th in the year, showing rapid improvement.

Wei Cheng finally secured 2nd in the class and 3rd in the year.

Yun Shu was 3rd in the class and 4th in the year this time.

Mi Er ranked 4th in the class and 7th in the year.

Su Xiaoqi's dorm had really dominated, sweeping the top four ranks in the class.

For the year level, 2nd place went to the same student from Information Management Class 3 as last time. Previously, her score was 32 points behind Su Xiaoqi's, but this time, although still lagging behind, the gap had narrowed to only 17 points.

Initially, she felt a little smug... not knowing why she was so pleased about being 2nd place. But she thought that since the gap had narrowed, she would definitely be 1st next time with a bit more effort.

Then she heard that Su Xiaoqi had actually taken the major course exams for sophomores, participating in three of their major courses and ranking 1st in all of them, basically slapping the sophomores in the face.

Li Weijin had also taken them and managed to pass, which was unbelievable even to himself.

The sophomore major course results didn't count for rankings, but 1st place was still very prominently displayed.

Su Li had also made great progress this time, ranking 16th in the class and 41st in the year.

She had been planning to boast to her aunt, but then realized that Li Weijin ranked 15th... 15th, just one spot above her!! Ugh!!

As for Chu Yu, during the midterms she had ranked in the 30s in the class, claiming it was due to poor health. But this time for finals, she couldn't use that excuse again, and ended up ranking 47th in the class... dropping over 10 more places??

However, she didn't feel hurt enough to cry this time, because she knew everyone in the dorm was busy packing, and no one, being all girls, paid her any attention.

Su Xiaoqi was excitedly packing her bags. She hadn't been home all semester, and would finally be returning. She wondered if her parents would even recognize her after such a drastic change, or if they would be startled by her transformation.