Chapter 25: The Cheating Plan

During lunch break, after completing her assignments, Xu Muyan decided to relax for a bit, preparing herself for the afternoon classes. Wen Jing, sitting nearby with nothing to do, teased her:

"Yanyan, look at Chu Bai. He seems like a completely different person, studying so hard. Are you getting nervous?"

"Stop teasing me. Just thinking about it makes me upset." Xu Muyan rolled her eyes.

"Haha, your dad's a real character. Who does that to their own daughter?" Wen Jing laughed.

"Exactly," Xu Muyan agreed.

"But don't worry. Even if Chu Bai wins, you don't have to keep your promise. What could he do, force you?"

"Of course, I plan to back out. Just because someone says to keep your word doesn't mean you should gamble with your happiness. Besides, I'm not planning on dating anyone before the college entrance exams."

"So what's there to worry about?" Wen Jing asked.

"Chu Bai is so self-centered. He doesn't consider other people's feelings. If he does win and I refuse, he'll definitely cling to me. He might even let the whole class know, and then I'll be mortified."

Xu Muyan rested her head on her hands, feeling exasperated.

"You've got a point," Wen Jing nodded.

Just then, Wang Haoran returned from outside and overheard their conversation.

"What are you two talking about?" he asked casually.

"Nothing, nothing!" Xu Muyan quickly shook her head like a rattle.

"There's definitely something. Come on, spill," Wang Haoran prodded.

"Yanyan made a bet with Chu Bai that if he scores in the top ten, she'll be his girlfriend."

As soon as Wang Haoran asked, Wen Jing, of course, spilled the beans.

"Jingjing! This was supposed to stay between us. Why'd you tell him?" Xu Muyan was embarrassed and upset.

"Sorry, Yanyan." Wen Jing apologized, but she was thinking to herself that it wasn't her fault. Last night, when Xu Muyan was venting on the phone, Wang Haoran overheard everything. How could she be blamed?

But since it was a secret, Wen Jing didn't say anything more.

"Forget it. What's done is done." Xu Muyan sighed, but she made sure to remind Wang Haoran:

"You have to keep this a secret. Don't tell anyone else."

"I'm not the type to blab. You can trust me," Wang Haoran reassured her.

"Don't worry about it. Chu Bai is just cramming. There's no way he, as a poor student, could suddenly become a top student," Wen Jing consoled Xu Muyan.

"You're right!" Xu Muyan nodded firmly.

"In a normal exam, he definitely wouldn't stand a chance. But what if he… cheats?" Wang Haoran suggested out of nowhere.

"He… wouldn't, would he?" Xu Muyan's recently calmed nerves suddenly tensed up again.

"I think this was Chu Bai's plan all along. He set a trap for you, intending to cheat to improve his score," Wang Haoran led Xu Muyan's thoughts in a particular direction:

"Think about it. Wasn't he incredibly confident when he made that bet with you?"

"Yes, yes! He was very sure of himself!" Xu Muyan was getting more and more uneasy.

"That's right. Even top students can't guarantee they'll rank in the top ten. So where does a poor student like him get the confidence?" Wang Haoran questioned.

"Yeah, I should've realized it earlier!" Xu Muyan now fully believed that Chu Bai planned to cheat. However, she still held onto a bit of hope.

"But cheating isn't that easy, right? Bringing cheat sheets wouldn't improve his score that much."

"Do you really think cheating is just about bringing cheat sheets? What if he buys the exam answers and bribes the proctors?" Wang Haoran suggested.

"What… that's possible?" Xu Muyan was stunned.

As a top student, she had never even considered cheating, so she had no idea about these tactics.

Seeing Xu Muyan's worried expression, Wang Haoran felt it was time to push further. He casually said:

"Of course, this is just my guess. Maybe he doesn't have such plans. Anyway, I have other things to do."

With that, Wang Haoran turned to leave.

"Wait."

Xu Muyan, in a panic, quickly grabbed his hand.

Wang Haoran stopped and looked at her.

Xu Muyan blushed and quickly let go of his hand, pleading softly:

"Can you help me?"

"Well…" Wang Haoran pretended to hesitate.

"Please?" Xu Muyan, for the first time, acted coquettishly.

"Alright, I'll give it a try," Wang Haoran "reluctantly" agreed.

"Thank you! I'll treat you to some milk tea later!" Xu Muyan beamed at him with a sweet smile.

**[Ding! Xu Muyan's favorability toward the host increased by 10 points. Current total favorability: 40. (Very close)]**

**[Ding! You have influenced the plot's direction and earned 200 villain points.]**

"Wow, I actually gained favorability points!"

Seeing the system notification, Wang Haoran was secretly pleased. He was already planning to stop Chu Bai from cheating. Helping Xu Muyan was just a side benefit. Gaining favorability points from her was a delightful surprise.

——

The days quickly passed.

The senior students were shuffled and randomly assigned to new exam rooms and seats.

By Friday afternoon, they had all received their exam room numbers and admission tickets and were familiarizing themselves with the exam locations.

These exam rooms were originally classrooms for younger students, but they had been temporarily repurposed for the exams.

On the door of each room, the schedule of exams and the names of the proctors were posted.

The students orderly entered their designated exam rooms and found the seats marked with their names and student numbers.

The proctors handed out practice English listening tests. Soon, the audio began playing through the classroom speakers.

Chu Bai's seat was at the very back of the last exam room, a position he found ideal.

With his X-ray vision, he could see through the walls and desks, giving him a view of nearly 150 students' answer sheets.

Of course, this was just a practice test, so Chu Bai didn't bother cheating now. Instead, he focused on identifying the top students' locations.

For Chu Bai, this was easy. The top students of each class were regularly praised at school assemblies, so their faces were very familiar to him.

Out of the top ten students in the entire school, Chu Bai located three, including one who was consistently in the top three.

Don't underestimate the school's top ten students. The rankings at Shuize High School were highly competitive. Historically, those who made it into the top ten were nearly guaranteed to get into the country's most prestigious universities.

In their class, Xu Muyan and Wang Haoran were just barely in the top ten in the entire school.

As long as he could copy from these three students, Chu Bai was confident he would secure a top ten spot in his class.

Xu Muyan was destined to become his girlfriend!

"Haha…" Chu Bai was so excited that he could hardly wait for the day the exam results were announced.

"What's so funny? Why aren't you listening to the audio? Instead, you're sitting there daydreaming and giggling!" 

Chu Bai's odd behavior caught the attention of the proctor.