After Shangguan Wan'er's initial surprise faded, she quickly regained her usual aloof and calm demeanor. She gracefully picked up her chopsticks and began to eat daintily.
Feeling flustered by the undisguised adoring gaze from the person beside her, Lin Jingxing mechanically picked at her food for a couple of bites before standing up to leave.
However, after taking just two steps, she felt a weight in her hand.
Looking down, she saw a cup of milk tea.
"Extra pearls, half sugar, with added taro paste. If you don't like it, I have seven-tenths sugar and full sugar options too."
Lin Jingxing stiffly turned her head to see the rumored actor, dressed in his school uniform, holding a milk tea bag in each hand like a delivery person.
Her mouth twitched severely. Lin Jingxing accepted one of the cups and handed it to Shangguan Wan'er, who was walking over.
"Sister Wan'er, Actor Gu is treating everyone to milk tea, this one is for you!"
At the same time.
Lin Jingxing had once again become the center of attention.
"OMG! What's going on? The actor is buying milk tea for a nobody? Am I dreaming, or has this world gone mad?"
"Actor Gu, blink twice if the production team is controlling you!"
"Just a passerby, I feel Actor Gu's doting gaze isn't fake, but he's an actor, so it could be staged according to the script."
"It must be staged! If Actor Gu wanted a girlfriend, he'd only need to snap his fingers, why would he debase himself like this?"
"Does anyone else find his seemingly cheap affection incredibly amusing?"
"I don't. I just think that Lin Jingxing is ungrateful. Relying on her rich father, she's humiliating our Actor Gu. Get her off the show, get her out of the entertainment industry!"
Soon, topics like #LinJingxingGetOffTheShow# and #LinJingxingGetOutOfEntertainment# stormed the trending lists again.
Meanwhile, the variety show recording continued.
After dinner, the baseline test scores of everyone were finally released.
The science paper had a total score of 750. Deducting 30 points for the English listening section, which wasn't conducted, the actual full score was 720.
With the entire process being live-streamed by cameras, the true academic levels of the guests were revealed. Of course, this was a selling point designed by the production team. Although it seemed like they were exposing their weaknesses, they had all received hefty recording fees. Moreover, the production team would compensate in other ways, so the guests passed off their scores with laughter.
However, when it came to Shangguan Wan'er, the host specifically read out her scores in each subject. Except for Chinese, where she scored full marks, her scores in other subjects were in the single digits.
Just as the host was about to say something more, Lin Jingxing exclaimed, "Sister Wan'er, you're amazing! Chinese was always my weakest subject! Sister Wan'er, you actually got full marks! If this were ancient times, Sister Wan'er, you'd be a top scholar!"
Lin Jingxing's effusive praise interrupted the host's rhythm, forcing him to move on. Unexpectedly, Lin Yuyan scored a high mark of 690. Lin Jingxing was surprised, but outwardly, she smiled and joined the others in offering congratulations. "Shouldn't she be considered the daughter of the male and female leads? But if Lin Yuyan truly had such exceptional talent, why would she need to collude with the production team beforehand to memorize answers?"
As Lin Jingxing muttered, suspecting something fishy, the host announced Actor Gu Qing's score. 701 points. Although this score was unbelievably high, considering it was Actor Gu, everyone found it to be within reason. Lin Jingxing secretly glanced at the score sheet in Gu Qing's hand. She remembered that when she handed in her paper, Gu Qing still had a page of complex math problems left to solve... Thinking of something, she quickly walked to the podium, looked at Gu Qing's paper, and wore an expression of "just as I suspected."
"Classmate Lin Jingxing, is there something wrong with Actor Gu's paper?"
"Nothing's wrong, I just think if Actor Gu had handed in his paper a few minutes later, scoring full marks wouldn't have been impossible."
After speaking, Lin Jingxing ignored the man who was smiling without any actor's pretense and returned to her seat. Following the director's instructions, the cameraman filmed Gu Qing's test paper page by page. Only then did everyone understand the meaning behind Lin Jingxing's words.
"Mom, why am I watching my phone kneeling? Because a poor student like me only deserves to kneel!"
"So, Actor Gu didn't get the questions wrong, but he couldn't write down the calculation results for the last page of the math problems and lost points for incomplete working?"
"I wonder if the scoring teacher's hand trembled when grading. The answers were all correct, but the working had not a single word written!"
"But I remember Actor Gu handed in his paper early. If Actor Gu knew the answers, why didn't he write them completely?"
"Actor Gu just didn't want to write anymore! Or perhaps, at that moment, there was something more important than finishing the test!"
"What was it? Chasing his girlfriend? You know, the person who handed in their paper before Actor Gu was..."
The barrage of comments came to an abrupt halt as if by prior agreement.
At this moment, trainee Jiang Yunting cheerfully asked the host what the remaining person's score was. With the bet still in place, everyone's attention was immediately drawn. However, the host's expression was slightly unnatural, though he quickly recovered. Out of curiosity, Jiang Yunting went to the stage to look at the test paper and was stunned.
"Oh my god! Is this real?"
The camera immediately zoomed in. Except for Chinese, where she lost two points, all other subjects were full marks. In other words, Lin Jingxing's score was 718! Seeing everyone look at her with surprise or disbelief, Lin Jingxing humbly waved her hand, "Just a usual performance. It has nothing to do with foreign education, it's just that I'm too outstanding, what can I do!"
There was no exaggeration in this statement. As the biggest villain in the entire book, her intelligence was unmatched. The author herself admitted this, so scoring full marks wasn't a big deal. After all, the male and female leads could become criminals outside the law in this society. What was impossible?
Just as Lin Jingxing was increasingly feeling that this world was messed up, a questioning voice suddenly sounded in her ear: "No, this is impossible!"