Gu Jiaojiao laughed. "You too! Anyway, whether we get in or not, all that matters is that we give it our all."
’It wasn’t just her and Chen Ruoyu taking the exam. Getting in would come down to their own abilities.’
Chen Ruoyu smiled.
’She just loved the vitality that radiated from Gu Jiaojiao. It was so positive and uplifting, as brilliant as sunshine.’
"Alright. We’ll do our best together."
Chen Ruoyu found a seat and sat down.
Yun Hao was a couple of steps behind Chen Ruoyu. He deliberately waited for her to finish speaking before approaching Gu Jiaojiao. As he gazed at her lively eyes and fair, delicate face, Yun Hao pursed his lips.
"Jiaojiao, my bet with Leng Yuan has nothing to do with you. You didn’t have to do this!"
’Yun Hao was convinced Gu Jiaojiao was only taking the exam for Leng Yuan’s sake.’
’He didn’t get it. Leng Yuan was just some villager from the Qingshan Team—what was so special about him? Why wouldn’t Gu Jiaojiao even spare him a second glance after marrying the man?’
Gu Jiaojiao frowned. "What does this have to do with you? You made your bet. Whether or not you can pass depends on your own abilities!"
’She couldn’t understand Yun Hao’s logic. She was taking the exam because she knew she wasn’t cut out for farm labor. What did that have to do with her husband?’
A pang of sadness shot through Yun Hao’s heart at Gu Jiaojiao’s words. ’Even now, why did she have to defend Leng Yuan like this?’
Feeling indignant, he declared,
"Jiaojiao, I’ll make you see that I’m every bit as good as Leng Yuan."
With that, he sat down majestically in his seat.
Gu Jiaojiao shuddered.
’Yun Hao was getting so cringey. Not just cringey—the man had issues. And what did his being impressive have to do with her? Absolutely nothing.’
’Ever since Xu Wenwan drained his luck, the guy had completely changed. He’d become blindly confident.’
Once everyone was seated, the test papers were distributed. This wasn’t an ordinary exam. The questions, designed to gauge their educational level, were rather tricky, and there were also some that asked for personal opinions.
Gu Jiaojiao answered every question, filling the large sheet of paper from top to bottom.
The exam covered two subjects. After Gu Jiaojiao finished writing, she checked her work once, glanced at the time, and turned in her paper early to leave.
’Leng Yuan had said when he left this morning that he would be back early in the afternoon. She had snuck out to take the exam, so she had to get home before he returned.’
Chen Ruoyu was only about halfway through her paper when she looked up and saw Gu Jiaojiao’s retreating figure.
Chen Ruoyu was left speechless. ’She’s already done? That was so fast!’
Yun Hao lifted his gaze and pursed his lips. ’He refused to believe Gu Jiaojiao had finished so quickly. She must have skipped a lot of questions she couldn’t answer. After all, the second test was math. Even *he* couldn’t finish that fast, so how could Jiaojiao possibly have done it?’
After the exam, everyone filed out and immediately started discussing Gu Jiaojiao for leaving early.
When Hu Ziqiang came out of Exam Room 2, he overheard someone saying a test-taker had left after only twenty-some minutes. He looked baffled.
"Someone in your room left after just twenty-something minutes? Who’s that incredible?"
Chen Ruoyu remembered what Gu Jiaojiao had said and didn’t offer an explanation.
Yun Hao, however, figured Gu Jiaojiao wouldn’t pass, and that it would just be embarrassing to bring her up, so he kept quiet.
Seeing that neither of them said anything, Hu Ziqiang assumed they didn’t know the person and let the matter drop.
They waited for a few more educated youths from Exam Room 1 to emerge, and then the group headed back together.
Gu Jiaojiao hurried home. Fortunately, Leng Yuan wasn’t back yet, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang were either fiddling with their toys or looking at their comic books.
Gu Jiaojiao had bought the comics for them the last time the two children went with her and Leng Yuan to the County Town.