Chapter 149: Chapter 149: Thinking of the College Entrance Exam Already?

He bent down and squatted, placing his hands on Shanshan’s shoulders.

"Don’t, don’t, don’t, Shanshan. Don’t go messing around with stuff like this. Dad can handle it himself."

"From now on, no matter who asks you to do something that could hurt you, you are not to agree to it. Do you understand?"

"Dad! Where is your mind going?"

Shanshan broke free from his grasp and took a step back.

"I’m just making a wish, not calling down lightning or summoning ghosts. What’s so harmful about that?"

She finished speaking, closed her eyes, and began muttering quickly under her breath.

Then, she suddenly opened her eyes, leaned forward, and gently tapped his forehead with her fingertip.

A clear thought transferred directly into his mind.

It was a clue, pointing to an overlooked surveillance blind spot, and a name.

Ling Anxun was stunned.

He looked down at his daughter, his expression complicated.

A few seconds later, he suddenly laughed out loud.

"That’s my girl! You’re really your dad’s little lucky star!"

He scooped her up and spun her in a circle, his tone instantly much brighter.

"In that case, Dad needs to get going. I can’t put this off any longer."

He put her down and turned to grab his jacket.

"Tell Grandma later that I won’t be back for dinner tonight."

With that, he bolted out the door.

The door was yanked open and slammed shut with a heavy THUD.

Inside the house, only the sound of the wind rustling the curtains remained.

Shanshan took two steps after him, but the door had already slammed shut. He was gone without a trace.

She stopped in the entryway, her small, bare feet on the cold floor tiles.

She looked up at the peephole; the light in the hallway outside was on, but it was empty.

"Hmph! If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve just kept my mouth shut until tomorrow!"

She leaned against the window, gazing toward the garage exit downstairs until her eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

’But the cat was out of the bag, and there was no point in regretting it.’

He finally came home that night.

Shanshan, wearing her pajamas and yawning, had almost fallen asleep on his bed.

She had originally planned to wait for him to come back and give him a piece of her mind.

But she was too sleepy, so she drowsily crawled under his covers.

His pillow smelled like his clothes. She took in the scent, her head tilting against the headboard as she drifted off to sleep, not even noticing when her doll fell to the floor.

Hearing the soft click of the door opening, she immediately opened her eyes and spoke out in the dark room.

"From now on, no matter how busy you are, you have to take care of yourself. Otherwise, I’ll never help you again, and I mean it!"

Go for a walk outside with them?

’Not a chance.’

To Shanshan, such a suggestion had no appeal whatsoever.

She had not the slightest interest in outdoor activities.

So, Shanshan had no choice but to stay cooped up at home.

She passed the time quietly, reading and doing homework with her Fourth Brother.

The atmosphere in their home was always peaceful, and the light in the study was soft.

Ling Zhiwei sat on one side of the desk, raising his head from time to time to glance at his little sister, who was absorbed in her writing.

The pen in his hand slowed, his attention completely captured by the young girl beside him.

Shanshan’s movements were steady and swift.

Ling Zhiwei was dumbfounded, his eyes as wide as saucers.

He’d long since stopped working on his own problem set, his gaze drifting toward Shanshan again and again.

She wasn’t doing regular homework, but the advanced enrichment problems the teacher had assigned.

The difficulty of the problems even exceeded the scope of a regular exam.

Yet she solved them with almost no hesitation.

Ling Zhiwei tried to keep up with her pace but found that before he could even finish reading the problem, she had already turned the page to the next one.

’Is she even doing homework at this point?’

What was even more unbelievable was that her approach to certain controversial problems was identical to the analytical methods found in university textbooks.

’At this rate, you couldn’t even copy the answer key fast enough to keep up with her!’

Ling Zhiwei couldn’t help but lean closer to see what she had written.

This kind of performance was far beyond the abilities of a normal high school student.

But as it happened, Shanshan got everything right, even problems that teachers would argue endlessly about.

Several teachers in the physics department had once argued for an entire class period over a single comprehensive mechanics problem.

But Shanshan, after writing down the standard answer, added two extra pages of supplementary notes.

Her explanation was concise and accurate, free of any unnecessary fluff, compelling everyone who saw it to admit it.

She was right.

After making short work of her assignments,

Shanshan finally had time to open her favorite book.

It was a theoretical book about introductory topology.

The cover was slightly worn, obviously having been read over and over.

She closed her workbook and gently pushed it aside.

Then she adjusted her posture to let the light fall better on the book’s pages.

The concepts covered in the book were not easy, but she read it smoothly, occasionally stopping to jot down a few notes.

She hadn’t read more than a few pages when she suddenly looked up, her eyes locking onto Ling Zhiwei, who was secretly watching her.

The moment their eyes met, Ling Zhiwei felt a chill run down his spine.

Ling Zhiwei was so startled he nearly jumped out of his chair.

He jerked back, the legs of his chair letting out a harsh SCRAPE against the floor.

His pen fell from his hand and rolled under the desk.

He was too flustered to pick it up, his face and ears burning.

He hadn’t done anything wrong, but under Shanshan’s direct gaze, he stammered,

"W-why did you suddenly look at me?"

He subconsciously reached up to scratch his hair, only to realize the gesture made him look even more guilty.

"Fourth Brother," Shanshan blinked, "classes, homework, exams... all this stuff is such a waste of time. Should I just go take the college entrance exam? Then I could learn something actually interesting."

Ling Zhiwei’s jaw dropped.

’Shanshan has only been in high school for a few days!’

’They haven’t even finished the first Chapter, and she’s already thinking about the college entrance exams?’

This was completely outside the normal academic trajectory.

"You... what did you say?"

He finally squeezed out a complete sentence, but his voice cracked.

He stared at Shanshan’s face, hoping to see even a hint that she was joking.

"The college entrance exam," Shanshan frowned. "Fourth Brother, you’re so young. You can’t be going deaf already, can you?"

As she spoke, she actually reached for Ling Zhiwei’s wrist.

"I’m not deaf! I mean you... you’ve only been in high school for a few days! And you already want to take the college entrance exam? That’s just... that’s absurd!"

He knew Shanshan was smart, but he also knew that the college entrance exam wasn’t something you could pass just by being smart.

It required a whole system of accumulated knowledge, the result of three years of high-intensity training.

But now, the situation was completely reversed, and he had become the one holding her back.

He never would have thought that the entire family would be even more emotional about it than he was.

"Your brother has a point. You’re still little, and Grandma doesn’t want to see you buried in a pile of books all day. Don’t you want to run and jump in the park, play hide-and-seek with other kids?"

Grandma gently stroked Shanshan’s hair, her eyes filled with tender affection.

She hoped Shanshan could have those kinds of memories, not just ones of exams and scores.

"No."

Shanshan didn’t even lift her head.

"They’re too boring. The things they say and do are all silly."

’Rather than waste time, I’d rather do something truly valuable.’

She rejected them flat out. Her family took turns trying to persuade her, using every method from gentle coaxing to persistent nagging.

’But Shanshan knew in her heart that they meant well.’

’Besides, there’s only a year and a half of high school left. I can just grit my teeth and get through it.’

’As long as I persevere for a while longer and stick to the current pace, I can finish my studies without any problems.’

’At least in everyone else’s eyes, this path is the stable, safe one.’

But this line of thinking didn’t last long.

As time went on, that forced resolve began to waver.