No. 37 Longing Fades with Every Footstep
The following days, almost every teacher who entered the classroom would ask, “Is Yi Yao here? Which one of you is Yi Yao?”
“Excellent, a perfect score. Keep up the good work.”
“Impressive. I never realized we had such a talented student in this class. We even increased the difficulty of the physics exam this time, and you still managed to get a perfect score.”
“I already noticed you during the last quiz, and you didn’t disappoint me this time either. Yi Yao, 148 points in English. You lost two points on the essay… Don’t look at me, I didn’t grade the essays.”
My scores caused a stir in every class.
The exams were indeed difficult, but not for me, someone who had already taken them once, attended review sessions, been reborn, and dedicated countless hours to studying. Solving those problems felt like a skilled bartender effortlessly mixing drinks. The answers just flowed out of me, barely requiring any conscious thought.
Chinese, math, English, physics, chemistry, biology, politics, geography—I scored a total of 708 out of 750, with perfect scores in all subjects except for the English essay, where I lost two points, and history, which I had missed.
The second-highest score in the grade, 630 points, belonged to a student in the top class, just as I remembered.
During the class meeting, the homeroom teacher spent half the period praising me for bringing honor to the class, emphasizing how my scores had significantly raised the class average, and urging everyone to follow my example.
Only I knew that my scores alone couldn’t have raised the average that much.
Before this, “I” and Lan Zhuoyue had consistently been at the bottom of the grade.
With the last-place student gone, and the second-to-last student now in first place, the average score naturally increased.
In a way, it was a bittersweet victory.
At the end of the meeting, the teacher expressed her regret over my refusal to retake the history exam.
“I’m confident that if Yi Yao maintains this level of performance in the next monthly exams, without cheating or missing any exams, she has a good chance of becoming the top scorer in the city for the high school entrance exam.”
She beamed at me, then, in an unprecedented move, dismissed the class early. “That’s all for today. Class dismissed.”
The faint sound of the bell marked the end of another school day.
I neatly stacked my exam papers, put them in my bag, and walked out of the classroom. I saw Tan Lijiang and Liang Tong rushing past me, their faces lit up with excitement.
“Hey, Yi Yao, come on, let’s go rub it in Class 12’s faces.”
“What?”
“Weren’t those guys acting all high and mighty this morning?” Tan Lijiang grinned, slinging his arm around my shoulder. “Let’s see what they have to say now.”
Just then, the teacher in the next classroom dismissed her class, and a horde of boys, carrying their lunch bowls, poured out of the room. Among them were the two boys who had confronted Tan Lijiang and Liang Tong earlier.
“Hey! You two, don’t run away! Let’s talk about those exam results!”
They ran even faster.
“Haha, that’s what I’m talking about!”
Tan Lijiang flipped them off, then turned to me. “Yi Yao, I, Tan, am truly impressed. You’re good at everything, fighting and studying. From now on, I’m your follower. Just tell me if you need anything.”
Liang Tong chimed in. “Yeah, Yi Yao Jie, I’m at your service.”
I chuckled. “If you don’t hurry to the cafeteria, you’ll miss out on the good food.”
It was a common problem in every school: the best dishes were only available to those who were fast. Teachers often ran overtime during the last period, turning the quest for a decent dinner into a ruthless competition. You needed good timing, good luck, good stamina, and a shameless attitude.
“Shit! I almost forgot! Let’s go!”
Tan Lijiang and Liang Tong snapped out of their daze. “Yi Yao, you should go eat too.”
“Okay.”
I waved at them and headed towards the stairs.
I had been waiting for this day for a long time.
Both Yi Yao and I.
The old Yi Yao had always been ashamed of her grades, avoiding her mother at the hospital, her answers evasive whenever asked about her studies.
Now, having inherited her memories, I felt a surge of joy, knowing I had achieved the results she had always dreamed of.
It was something I had taken for granted in my previous life.
Something that should have been ordinary had become a source of unexpected happiness.
It seemed that, as I grew accustomed to this body, I was also being assimilated by its memories.
But I didn’t resist.
These were the traces of Yi Yao’s existence in this world, and I was determined to preserve them.
“Dad, are you at the hospital?”
After dropping off Huang Yingdie at her complex, I called my father.
“Yes. You’ll have to make your own dinner tonight.”
His voice sounded less melancholic than in recent days. “By the way, are your exam results out?”
“Yes. I’m heading over now. I want to show Mom my scores.”
“Don’t… don’t…” He panicked, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Do you know what I told your mother? I said you were consistently in the top ten in your class. If you show up with your real scores, you’ll give her a heart attack!”
“It’s fine. I got first place in the grade. Mom won’t be angry.”
“First place? Wait, daughter…”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes. Gotta go.”
I hung up and pedaled towards the hospital.
I hadn’t felt this lighthearted since graduating from university.
In my previous life, even with my good grades, my father had discouraged me from visiting my mother at the hospital, claiming it would affect my studies.
Many people in this world didn’t realize what truly mattered.
Family, friendship, kindness—these fundamental human connections were often only cherished when they were lost.
There was no conflict between getting bad grades and spending time with your loved ones.
I arrived at the familiar hospital ward, my backpack slung over my shoulder. I almost burst into tears when I saw my mother, but my father’s words stopped me.
“Yi Yao, you’ve lost so much weight.”
“What?”
Although being called “thin” was usually a compliment for a girl, I was still struggling to adjust to my new identity. “I’ve been eating properly.”
“Silly child.”
My mother, her left hand hooked up to an IV drip, was eating her dinner. She beckoned me with her other hand. “Come here and let me see you. You scared us with those news reports.”
I pulled up a chair and sat beside her bed. “I’m fine now.”
“You call this fine? You were stabbed!”
She lifted my shirt and examined the wound, then sighed in relief. “Thankfully, there’s no scar. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to find a husband.”
Same ward, same bed, same mother, different conversation.
“Here’s my checkup report.” My father handed me a document. “See? Everything’s normal. Your dad is healthy!”
I took the report, pretending to understand the scribbled medical jargon, and chuckled awkwardly. “I was just worried…”
Something wasn’t right. Why were his results normal?
Was he lying, or had my presence somehow altered his fate?
If his illness wasn’t triggered now, how could it possibly progress to a terminal stage in five years?
“By the way, daughter, your monthly exam results should be out, right?”
My mother asked, bringing up a sensitive topic.
“Yes, they are.”
I placed my backpack on the bed and opened it.
She took out the test papers one by one, her voice weak. “What did you score?”
“Perfect scores in all subjects except for English, where I got 148, and history, which I missed.”
“Pfft…”
My father, who was drinking water, spat it out. “Yi Yao… cough, cough, what did you say?”
“I said…”
I sighed inwardly and repeated myself. “Perfect scores in all subjects except for English and history. 708 points. First place in the grade.”
“Wow, such high scores! Your daughter is amazing!”
An elderly man in the next bed, also a leukemia patient, sat up and gave me a thumbs-up. “You’ve raised a good daughter.”
“Don’t listen to her nonsense. This girl is full of tricks.”
My father snatched the papers from my mother, put on his reading glasses, and scrutinized them. “Let me see… If these aren’t perfect scores, you’re in big trouble when we get home… Chinese… 90 points for the objective questions plus the essay… a perfect score on the essay? Wait, Yi Yao, is this really your paper?”
His expression shifted from indifference to seriousness to shock. He stared at my name, clearly written on the paper, his hand trembling.
“How many… perfect scores were there in your class for Chinese?”
“Just mine.”
“Was it an open-book exam?”
“No.”
“What was the total score?”
“750.”
“So, you scored over 700 even after missing an exam?”
“Yes.”
Our conversation drew the attention of everyone in the ward.
I knew most of these patients. I remembered their illnesses and their death dates. But as before, I was powerless to save them.
All I could do was prove to my parents, to everyone, that miracles were possible.
“You didn’t cheat, did you?”
He meticulously examined each paper, then calculated the total score three times, his disbelief evident.
“Yi Yao.”
“Yes?”
“Tell me, how did you do it?”
“I studied every night, paid attention in class, and diligently took notes and did my homework.”
“That’s not enough to explain such a drastic improvement.”
I pulled out my report card from my bag and handed it to him. “See? I fulfilled my promise.”
Leave a Reply to RenFrost Cancel reply