Chapter 307: It’s time to show the real skills (second update) _1
The door opened to reveal an elderly man and a young girl.

The old man held a smoking pipe, and his face was deeply lined with wrinkles; this must be Ji Mulan’s father. Xu Wenyao bowed slightly, “Grandpa Ji, hello, I am Xu Wenyao.”

Then he looked towards Bai Lian.

It was not cold in Xiangcheng during winter. She was neatly dressed in a school jacket, her dark hair secured with a wooden hairpin, and a white backpack draped over her shoulder, embroidered with a lazy cat.

One hand held a milk tea, the other a mobile phone, as she lazily looked at her phone with her head lowered.

Xu Wenyao’s voice was gentle, “Hello, Student Bai.”

Bai Lian slowly lifted her head, her response succinct, “Hello.”

She didn’t say much but was indeed as polite as Xu En had described.

Xu’s assistant also stood nearby, respectfully greeting her, “Miss Bai.”

The group took their seats.

Xu Wenyao was no less skilled at warming up the conversation than Xu En. He smiled and found a topic of interest to Ji Heng, “I know there’s a national treasure embroidery piece from Jiangjing, the Imperial Jiangjing Scenery…”

At the mention of this, Ji Heng paused.

Then he looked at Xu Wenyao in surprise, his expression softening considerably, “It’s rare for young people nowadays to be aware of such things.”

While the two were talking, Ji Mulan didn’t interject.

Because she knew even less about embroidery than Xu Wenyao did.

Bai Lian was scrolling through her phone. Jin Kai had sent her a photo; he had finished cleaning the martial arts training ground, ordered a batch of weapons, and was discussing interior renovations.

Enrollment would begin in half a month, but the training ground didn’t need any refurbishing and could be lent out to those in need for some extra income.

“A few classmates are coming over for dinner this weekend, right? Your aunt and uncle need to shop for groceries beforehand.” During the meal, Ji Heng brought up the matter and asked Bai Lian.

“About eight,” she said.

It was just Weng Qi, Ning Xiao, and a few others.

“Her,” Ji Heng looked at Xu Wenyao and explained, “she scored forty in chemistry in the monthly exam. Her classmates wanted her to treat them.”

Bai Lian’s chemistry scores had been almost zero all semester. This was the first time she’d scored forty.

Not just the students from class 15, even the chemistry teacher wanted to join the public celebrations, but he was too aloof.

Ji Mulan gripped her chopsticks tightly.

Scoring forty out of a hundred brought an indescribable sense of shame.

She kept her head slightly lowered, feeling fortunate that only Xu Wenyao was present today, as opposed to Xu Family’s old lady or someone else.

“By the way,” Xu Wenyao smiled and picked up a printed document from beside him, finally taking the opportunity to hand it to Bai Lian, “this is a summary of high school key points prepared by Zhiyue. I hope you find it useful.”

Bai Lian took the summary of key points from Xu Wenyao.

She was somewhat surprised.

It was mostly key points in science and math, which suggested Xu Wenyao knew she had switched from a humanities to a science track.

“Thank you for your trouble,” Ji Heng raised his glass to Xu Wenyao in gratitude.

Xu Wenyao breathed a sigh of relief, realizing he had passed Ji Heng’s test, “It’s what I should do. I’ll still be here for a few days; which subjects are you weakest in?”

He was implying that he wanted to give Bai Lian tutoring lessons.

Hearing this,

Bai Lian looked up, “…Thank you, but it’s not necessary.”

Indeed, she was currently catching up on biology and chemistry.

But young man, please spare yourself the effort.

“Wenyao, don’t listen to her,” Ji Mulan, who had been quiet until now, looked coldly at Bai Lian, “Wenyao is a student at Jiangjing University. Having him tutor you is something many people can’t even ask for.”

Then, turning to Xu Wenyao with a smile, she said, “Wenyao, I hope you take good care of her.”

“If you really have nothing to do,” Bai Lian crossed her legs, lifted her head slightly, and looked at Ji Mulan with a half-smile, “can’t you just squat by the front gate instead?”

Ji Mulan was speechless.

This time Ji Heng didn’t interrupt either.

Xu Wenyao sensed some tension; it seemed Bai Lian and Ji Mulan were not on good terms, so he remained silent.

Ji Heng had drunk a bit more today and, before seven o’clock, Xu’s assistant escorted him home. With the atmosphere between Ji Mulan and Bai Lian not sitting well, Ji Mulan left with Ji Heng.

Bai Lian seemed to be heading to the library.

She and Xu Wenyao were at the door seeing off Ji Heng when Xu Wenyao offered Bai Lian the meeting gift and asked, “Are you sure you don’t need tutoring? I heard from Xu’s assistant that you want to apply for Jiangjing University.”

Xu Wenyao had always been an excellent student and was adept at socializing from a young age, but in front of Bai Lian, he found none of his social skills useful.

Understanding Ji Heng’s preferences was easy, and Bai Lian’s interests supposedly lay in studying…

But despite skirting around academic topics for so long, Bai Lian seemed utterly uninterested.

Do you still want to apply for Jiangjing University?

Bai Lian twirled her phone, opening her mouth lazily, “Someone else is tutoring.”

As she spoke, a car slowly came to a stop across the street.