Chapter 23
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Volume 1 + Chapter 23: Surging Undercurrents
There were still more than two weeks until the midterm exams. The atmosphere in Class 6 of the first year of high school was growing increasingly tense. One of the desks in the classroom was completely surrounded by students, and the desk at the center of this crowd belonged to Ouyang Qianxue and Bai Yuxuan.
“Hey, Ouyang, can you go over the key points in chemistry with me?” a girl leaning on Ouyang Qianxue’s left side said.
“Hey! I was here first! Ouyang should help me review the key points in biology!” the girl on his right tugged on Ouyang Qianxue’s arm as she spoke.
“Help me first!” The surrounding students also started crowding in.
Because Ouyang Qianxue was sitting very close to these girls, and since they were all pushing and squeezing to be next to him, there was quite a bit of physical contact.
But Ouyang Qianxue was an extremely innocent person. Ever since he was little, aside from his younger sister, he had never had physical contact with other girls. Now he was surrounded by a group of girls, constantly being touched, which made him blush deeply.
“Ouyang, how about you explain how to study liberal arts subjects to me first!” One girl, seeing that she couldn’t squeeze in, simply hugged Ouyang Qianxue from behind.
“Ugh!” At that moment, Ouyang Qianxue clearly felt the softness pressing against his back. His face flushed even redder, and soon enough, steam practically came out of his head.
“Hey! That’s enough, all of you.” Just as Ouyang Qianxue was at a loss, Bai Yuxuan spoke up beside him.
“Don’t think you’re the only ones who need to study!”
Her icy tone immediately caused the girls to scatter. After speaking, Bai Yuxuan buried her head back in her book.
“Sorry, Ouyang. We totally forgot that you also need to study. We were just thinking of ourselves,” the girls around Ouyang Qianxue all apologized sincerely.
“Well, explaining things to others is also a way to reinforce my own learning… just, please don’t make it so overwhelming.”
“Yes! We’ll definitely be more mindful from now on!”
“I didn’t expect Ouyang to not only have outstanding grades and artistic talents, but also to be such a kind and gentle person!”
“Yeah, it’s like she’s an angel!”
“Haha… that’s a bit much, don’t you think?”
Just then, the bell signaling the start of class rang, and the girls, somewhat reluctantly, returned to their seats.
“Even though you’re super annoying, I still have to thank you for helping me out just now,” Ouyang Qianxue whispered to Bai Yuxuan when no one else was paying attention.
“I only spoke up because their chatter was bothering me. Also, I don’t want to see you lose to me in the upcoming competition again for some weird reason.”
“I won’t lose this time! I’ll definitely beat you!”
“Oh really? I hope you at least make it interesting for me this time,” Bai Yuxuan replied, then ignored Ouyang Qianxue and returned to her book.
At that moment, Ouyang Qianxue noticed that the book in Bai Yuxuan’s hands was no longer a college-level textbook, but a high school-level exam prep guide. It seemed she was finally taking things seriously.
“Looks like I need to step up too!” he said, opening a notebook and carefully writing down every detail the teacher mentioned. When the teacher covered easier material or content he had already reviewed, Ouyang Qianxue would take out a reference book to study further.
At the end of the school day, Ouyang Qianxue went to the Go club.
“Yo? Don’t you have midterms coming up? How do you still have time to visit me?” The club president looked surprised when she saw Ouyang Qianxue.
“I came to ask for a favor. Can you lend me last semester’s midterm exam papers? I want to understand the question format better.”
“Sure, but your grades are already amazing. Do you really need to go this far?”
“Well, this is Sakura Academy after all. Studying here is like rowing upstream — if you get complacent, you’ll quickly fall behind.”
“That’s true. Still, that doesn’t sound like something you would say. I always thought you had a pretty chill attitude toward studying, like you only did it because you enjoyed it. But since you’re asking me personally, I’ll go find them for you.”
“Thanks, senpai.”
“Aww, no need to be so polite with me!”
Meanwhile, in the dormitory, Wang Qian was anxiously waiting.
Click — the door lock turned, and Ouyang Qianxue walked in.
“You’re finally back!” Wang Qian immediately ran up to him.
“I didn’t understand anything in class today! The teachers were talking way too fast. I can only rely on you now,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Sigh, I knew you’d be like this. Don’t worry. I just asked the Go club president for last year’s test papers. I was just about to make some exam predictions — I’ll prepare a set for you too.”
“Haha, I knew you’d come through! With you around, I can slack off again!”
“What are you saying?” Ouyang Qianxue gave her a bonk on the head.
“Even if I make predictions for you, you still have to study properly. Otherwise, I’ll tattle to your aunt!”
“Yesss…” Wang Qian held her head, looking all pitiful.
At the same time, in a small town not far from Xijiang City, there was a boiler factory owned by Xijiang Boiler Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Bai Group — a large-scale company involved in boiler design and manufacturing.
In the factory area, a man in a suit was speaking with the person in charge.
“Since your company has been doing well financially in the past two years, the higher-ups want you to expand operations. Here’s the funding — take a look.” He handed over a file.
“Wait, this funding isn’t nearly enough!” The person in charge looked at the document again and replied.
“If it’s not enough, find a way for yourself. If we did everything for you, what would we need you for? Even a pig could do your job in that case.”
“But I really can’t think of any way to raise more money. We still haven’t paid off the loan from last year’s expansion, and now we can’t borrow anything new.”
“You really are as useless as they said up top. Lean in.” The man in the suit whispered something into his ear.
“What?! That’s illegal!”
“What are you so afraid of? Don’t you know that in Xijiang City, the Bai family is the law? Just do as you’re told. Those departments wouldn’t dare investigate you.”
