Chapter 1

Hai Dong Province, Quanji Hotel on Jiangning Road.

A middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses placed his briefcase down and sat on the sofa.

After taking a sip of tea, he dialed a phone number.

"Director Zhou, I've arrived in Xia Hai," the man said, crossing his legs, as he lit a cigarette and inhaled with satisfaction.

"The results come out tomorrow, but the top fifty in the province will be shielded. The earliest you can know is six in the morning the day after tomorrow," Director Zhou said.

"Okay, my phone will be on in the morning. Just tell me then," the man said.

"So, you should go directly to Ning City tomorrow," Director Zhou said. "People from Ji University are already in Ning City."

"Director Zhou, this is what I'm thinking," the man said, sounding very insightful. "There's only one Bai Mingze in Ning City. But in Xia Hai, there are Shi Yi and Chen Yuan, two against one. This way, the probability of getting the top scorer will be higher."

"Probability is probability, reality is reality. Don't overthink it!" Seeing he had ideas, Director Zhou became anxious and said very seriously, "Hai Dong is a very important province. This year's top scorer in Hai Dong might be the national top scorer. It's not easy to have a national exam and then produce a national top scorer who also applies to our school. Do you understand what that means?!"

"It's a national first-person certification, got it. It's better than the school next door," the man said.

"That's right, this isn't just any top scorer. This year's national top scorer will definitely be widely reported. Everyone will be paying attention to which school the national top scorer chooses. If they choose us, our ranking among national universities at the end of the year might even go up a bit, making us better than the school next door," Director Zhou said very earnestly.

"That's just one of the factors in the evaluation, it doesn't completely determine it..."

"But what our admissions office can do is make sure this year's spotlight is all on us!" Director Zhou said. "The top scorer applies to us, the second-highest scorer applies to us, the third-highest scorer applies to us!"

"...That's too unrealistic," the man said, dumbfounded.

*Leader, get a grip!*

*I know you're eager to make headlines.*

*But can you not be so naive!*

*Besides, I'm the one doing the work!*

"Then, Director Zhou, let me discuss something with you," the man said after thinking for a while. "If I get the second and third highest scorers, but lose the top scorer, how will that be counted?"

"The top scorer is more important. It's okay if you give the second and third highest scorers to the other side as long as you get the top scorer...but it would be best if you could get all three for me!"

*Seriously, are you even speaking human language!*

*I'm just one person, am I supposed to create clones?*

"The premise is, national top scorer, understand?" Director Zhou emphasized.

And that meant he already had a sense of priorities.

Although he was greedy and a bit clueless, even if he didn't recruit a large number of students this year, as long as he could get the top scorer, it would be fine.

"Understood, Leader. You can rest now," the man said.

"Okay, go to Ning City tomorrow, don't delay."

"Okay, okay, I'll go tomorrow."

With that, the man hung up the phone with his leader.

Then, he took out a notebook from his briefcase, opened it on the glass table in front of him, and pulled up the grade trend charts of the three students.

He smoked while observing.

In terms of speed of improvement, Bai Mingze was undoubtedly the best.

In terms of stability, it was Shi Yi.

As for Chen Yuan, judging from the situation, it would be difficult for him to even beat Shi Yi, since he had only won once in their past encounters.

Director Zhou was right, the most sensible thing to do was to go directly to Ning City and camp at Bai Mingze's respawn point.

But he had a different opinion.

Compared to Bai Mingze, he felt that Chen Yuan had more of the aura of a top scorer.

Of course, he personally trusted Bai Mingze more.

The reason he said that was purely because if Chen Yuan became the top scorer, his popularity would be more than ten times higher than the other two.

Because he was already an internet celebrity.

And his pretentious remarks and actions during interviews were not just a little bit excessive.

If he became the top scorer, there would be many, many people who would want to settle accounts with him.

If he wanted to make headlines, gain the leader's appreciation, and achieve great success, Chen Yuan's value was obviously much higher.

Even if he wasn't the top scorer, he still had popularity.

What if he got the top scorer?

What was even more crucial was whether he could be certain of success if he "preemptively" recruited Bai Mingze.

Not necessarily.

Some people already had ideas from the beginning. They already had goals from the start.

If Bai Mingze's dream university was Hua Qing, even if the people from Ji University went first, he might not necessarily lose.

But Chen Yuan was different. It was very necessary to recruit him.

Why?

He had a weakness.

His beautiful girlfriend was his weakness.

*Ugh, what are you thinking? I'm not going to threaten his girlfriend.*

Rather, he would use that as a point to conduct inducement-based recruitment.

Xia Xinyu, a girl in the experimental class of Xia Hai No. 4 Middle School, was probably at the level of Hai Dong University.

Generally speaking, even as the girlfriend of the top scorer, her score couldn't be too low if she wanted to get in. But, that depended on how ruthless the top scorer was.

The more outstanding he was, the more points he could get waived.

If Chen Yuan was the national top scorer, waiving forty or fifty points for his girlfriend would definitely be no problem.

But if he also wanted to choose her major, then that would be a bit too much...

Of course, if she was capable enough, the privilege of choosing any major could also be given.

How about this?

660+, he could bring her in and let her choose any major.

645+, she could follow him into Hua Qing.

If he agreed to this, and he was the first to approach Chen Yuan, then the probability of recruiting him would directly reach 99%.

As for Bai Mingze, he didn't think it would be useful to go early.

He had also learned a bit about this person's personality. He was the type who had his own goals.

If Hua Qing was his dream school, then he would just have to connect with him on a personal level when the time came.

Anyway, the logic was simple – even if he went to Bai Mingze the earliest, he might not be able to recruit him. But as long as he could find Chen Yuan the earliest and coax him, he would be able to recruit him.

Moreover, he still had Shi Yi in Xia Hai to look forward to.

That was advantage number two.

He had two advantages, Ji University didn't, that was advantage number three.

He had three advantages, Ji University didn't, that was advantage number four.

He had four advantages, which meant Ji University had four disadvantages, that was a complete victory!

It was all in the bag.

So, why the hell would he go to Ning City?

He would just wait here for the pomelo to ripen.

That's right, he knew about the "pomelo" meme.

Because he graduated from Xia Hai No. 4 Middle School!

And he graduated from No. 4 Middle School, that was advantage number five!

He was winning so hard he'd be stuck in jail.

Honestly, if the higher-ups hadn't forbidden it, he would have already wanted to contact Chen Yuan...

There was no other way, he would compete fairly and wait for the results!

………

"Mua mua mua mua."

Before checking their scores, Chen Yuan and Xia Xinyu hugged, kissing each other to cheer each other on.

And as they were kissing, Chen Yuan, feeling good, suggested, "Why don't we play a game before checking the scores?"

"..." Xia Xinyu's face turned red, and she patted Chen Yuan's shoulder. "Stop it, I'm nervous."

*So I'll put in effort from behind, and you'll lie down to check the scores?*

*Do you think I would say something like that?*

*You underestimate your Yuanzi!*

"Just kidding, don't be anxious." Since they weren't going to play a game, Chen Yuan had to pull up his pants.

"Can we get in now?" Xia Xinyu asked curiously.

"It's always super laggy at this time of year. It might be faster if we use a computer," Chen Yuan said.

"But we don't have a computer..."

"Then should we ask Zhou Fu to help us check?" Chen Yuan said.

"Ah, no, no. I want to be the first to know. What if I don't do well...呸呸呸 (Pei pei pei - Spitting for good luck) , quick 呸呸呸 (Pei pei pei - Spitting for good luck)!"

*Okay, spit it into my mouth.*

"Okay, then let's wait for the scores to come out," Chen Yuan said.

*Or I can help accelerate from behind.*

"Okay, let's start checking," Xia Xinyu said.

"Okay, here we go."

Chen Yuan nodded.

The two of them sat at the desk, using Xia Xinyu's phone, opened the website for checking scores, entered their admission ticket number and password, and started checking.

Then, it started spinning...

What could he do about it?

Chen Yuan wondered if his superpower could help check the scores.

Then, he realized he really didn't have the ability to check scores.

*Damn it, Chaozi, since you're worried about what superpower to refresh, why didn't you just give me a superpower that allows me to see everyone's college entrance exam scores?*

*Damn!*

But this waiting period was really difficult to endure.

Chen Yuan even started to overthink things.

Then, his breathing suddenly became uneven...

"You, what's wrong?" Seeing Chen Yuan, who was so nervous that he was having difficulty breathing, Xia Xinyu panicked.

"I'm so nervous, why aren't the scores coming out yet..." Chen Yuan held Xia Xinyu's hand, feeling a little scared.

"It's okay, they'll be out soon. Don't be afraid, good boy," Xia Xinyu said, stroking Chen Yuan's head, trying her best to comfort him.

It was her own score, but Chen Yuan was so panicked. He really loved her too much.

But it was so scary to watch. He needed to calm down!

Holding Chen Yuan's hand tightly, Xia Xinyu tried her best to soothe this somewhat worrying boy.

Then, she saw Chen Yuan's eyes widen.

"What?" Xia Xinyu asked, full of confusion and nervousness.

"The scores are out!" Chen Yuan said, full of surprise.

But soon, it turned into joy.

Then, he gave Xia Xinyu's cheek a hard peck.

Xia Xinyu was stunned, then looked at the phone screen. Then, the next second, she bit Chen Yuan's cheek, pulling it hard, wishing she could eat him whole.

"Ahhhhh!" Xia Xinyu immediately smiled, put her arm around Chen Yuan's shoulders, and kissed his face crazily, kissing him very passionately and happily.

This was probably the happiest she had been since high school, besides becoming Chen Yuan's girlfriend.

This feeling was refreshing from the bottom of her heart.

Because her efforts and dedication had been rewarded.

And before the college entrance exam, she had even experienced a scary accident like insomnia, so being able to get such a score now was a complete pleasant surprise.

"You're so amazing, wifey. You're truly my pride!" Chen Yuan hugged Xia Xinyu, genuinely feeling proud of this girl.

"Of course, hubby." Xia Xinyu kissed Chen Yuan again and then looked back at the phone screen.

669 points.

That was Xia Xinyu's score.

This score was the highest she had ever gotten.

How high was it?

Note that she didn't have any extra points.

If she did, then the score would be 679.

And last year's admission score was about 689, which meant that if she had ten extra points, she would only be one step away from Hua Qing and Ji Universities.

At this moment, she was only twenty points away from Hua Qing and Ji Universities.

It could be said that even if she was mixed in with the students at those schools, no one would be able to tell that she wasn't strong enough to be there.

After all, there were so many locals, and she was still much stronger than most of the locals.

Now, it really wasn't awkward at all.

Plus, she had Chen Yuan, such a high-scoring player...

It was going to be very easy to negotiate!

"Oh, our Xinyu is so smart, she did so well on the exam, she's really amazing." Because he was happy, Chen Yuan suddenly hugged Xia Xinyu and gave her a big princess carry.

"I'm so happy, baby..."

Xia Xinyu, lying in Chen Yuan's arms, looked at Chen Yuan, so moved that she couldn't help but shed tears.

Only she knew how hard she had worked along the way.

In order to study, she had even given up living with her beloved Chen Yuan, all for the sake of gaining that one or two points.

Now, she had done it.

Originally, her combat power was only at 630, but in this last year, she had improved by a full 40 points.

Wasn't she also a very talented player!

However, when she was being carried onto the bed by Chen Yuan, Xia Xinyu was stunned for a moment. Fearing that he would take his clothes off too quickly, before she could even speak, he covered her mouth, so Xia Xinyu quickly said, "Honey, you haven't checked your score yet!"

"What's the point of checking my score? Let's wait until it comes out tomorrow morning," Chen Yuan said.

"Let's check it anyway."

"I don't want to check..."

"Oh, check it!"

Xia Xinyu suddenly became anxious, stared at Chen Yuan, and said very earnestly, "Let me feel at ease!"

"Okay, then let's check it."

Chen Yuan didn't really feel like knowing such a score, because it was meaningless. But Xia Xinyu cared a lot, so he decided to cooperate.

With that, the two of them sat on the bed, Xia Xinyu nestled in Chen Yuan's arms, watching the phone together.

After entering the admission ticket number and password, it started spinning...

Finally, the result came out.

0 points.

Then, there was a line of small print below: This student's score is in the top 50 in the province, and the score information has been shielded.

"See, if it wasn't for this, then I would really have no face," Chen Yuan said.

"So cool!" And looking at this score, Xia Xinyu was really impressed. "I want to send our scores to my aunt..."

"Okay, baby, have a good chat with your aunt."

Chen Yuan stroked Xia Xinyu's head, smiling as he spoke, while thinking about something.

Honestly speaking, Xinyu's score was really too high.

But with this score, it meant that they had more bargaining chips.

With a score of 670, she might be able to get into a major with a cutoff score of 700+.

So, if someone came to negotiate with him tomorrow, the most important condition would be to let Xinyu and him go to the same major.

As for who to agree to...

He would agree to whoever came first!