USWHC -Chapter 273 I Don’t Want to Take the Exam! (Part 3)

“Huaihuai, dinner’s ready~~!” Zhu Jie shouted excitedly.

Huaihuai heard her from inside the room and immediately rushed out. “You’re back! Sister, are you alright?” she said, circling around Zhu Jie and looking her up and down repeatedly.

“I’m fine! Why wouldn’t I be?” Zhu Jie replied with a surprised expression.

Seeing that Zhu Jie had returned perfectly safe and sound, Huaihuai became so emotional that tears welled up in her eyes. “I thought you might not come back! Do you know how worried I was while cleaning the kitchen just now? There were white misty things all over the stove and the floor. I thought that flower-petal leaf soup of yours had grown mold! If someone drank that stuff, they’d beat you to death!”

“Flower-petal leaf soup?” Zhu Jie couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s the raw material I use to make soap. Of course it’s not meant for drinking!”

“Soap?” Huaihuai still looked completely confused.

Zhu Jie deliberately kept it mysterious. “In a while, they’ll be selling it in our town. Come on, let’s eat roast chicken!”

“Roast chicken?” Huaihuai became excited at once. “You’ve got money again?”

“Of course! Look!” Zhu Jie pulled out a thick stack of banknotes. “I sold my soap formula for five hundred taels! I spent a few taels just now buying food, and there’s still more than four hundred and eighty taels left!”

Ji Yi watched her acting smug and triumphant. She had just been robbed not long ago and still hadn’t learned her lesson, yet here she was even reporting the exact amount of money. Wasn’t she afraid thieves might start eyeing her again?

“What are you standing there for? Hurry up and put the food down. I’m starving!” Zhu Jie shouted noisily, ordering Ji Yi around.

Looking at her exaggerated, self-important manner—as if she had just accomplished some world-shaking feat—Ji Yi felt even more annoyed. Honestly, the money you earned is all my money!

“Where should I hide the money?” Zhu Jie muttered while eating. “I can’t put it in the clothes chest anymore. That place isn’t safe.”

She seemed to be pondering a very serious problem. But was this really something she should be announcing out loud?

“Ah! I’ll put it at the very bottom of the wardrobe! That’ll definitely be safe!” Zhu Jie slapped the table and laughed. “I’ll dig out a hidden compartment there—then it’ll be foolproof!”

Ji Yi’s face instantly filled with black lines. Heh. If you didn’t say it out loud, it might have been foolproof. Now that you’ve said it, it’s practically fool-proofed for thieves!

Ji Yi rolled his eyes toward the sky, looking extremely disdainful.

Huaihuai, meanwhile, simply lowered her head and continued eating as if she hadn’t heard Zhu Jie talking to herself. The world seemed quite peaceful.

“I’ve already registered you for the exam. In three days you can go take it!” Zhu Jie suddenly changed the topic.

Ji Yi instantly felt another wave of despair. I still have to take it after all! Why was his fate so tragic? Did she have any idea how many brain cells it cost him to take such an exam? Even intentionally doing badly wasn’t that easy!

“These next two days you’ll study intensively—no sleep, no rest!” Zhu Jie even began issuing orders.

“Pfft—” Ji Yi nearly spat out blood on the spot.

Wait… spitting blood?

Ji Yi’s eyes suddenly rolled thoughtfully. Why hadn’t he thought of that earlier?

“Ah—this is bad! Sister, this is bad! Brother Ji Yi, he… he…” Huaihuai rushed into Zhu Jie’s room like she had gone mad.

Hearing her frantic shouting, Zhu Jie’s eyes lit up for a moment, though she pretended to speak lazily. “What’s wrong with you? Look how frightened you are.”

“Sister… Brother Ji Yi—he’s coughing up blood!” Huaihuai’s voice trembled as she spoke.

The moment Zhu Jie heard this, her eyes widened. He made it this serious? She immediately rushed out of her room, not even bothering with Huaihuai who had come to report the news, and ran straight toward Ji Yi’s room.

There she saw Ji Yi lying weakly on the bed, looking miserable as he lamented, “Why is my life so bitter? The exam is right around the corner, and now I’m coughing up blood! Looks like I’m not destined to become the top scholar after all.”

Hearing him rambling like that, Zhu Jie couldn’t help but sneer. Honestly, the one who ranks last in class still dreams about becoming the top scholar? I never had such high expectations.

Not becoming the top scholar was fine, but not taking the exam at all wouldn’t do. After all, she still hoped Ji Yi could at least pass the xiucai examination. In the life plan she had designed for him, that was the most basic requirement for his future.

“I heard you coughed up blood?” Zhu Jie asked with concern.