I Alone Am Immortal: My Rebirth and Leisurely Cultivation

Chapter 9: The Middle School Entrance Exam Begins

The books on most of the desks in the classroom had been cleared out, and the setting sun slanted through the freshly cleaned glass windows, bathing the empty classroom in an amber glow.

Gradually, it seemed to become an old photograph, frozen in time after Li Yan closed the door.

I took one last look at the classroom, even though I'll be back in a few days to take graduation photos, get my diploma, and maybe even my acceptance letter.

But after experiencing it once, Li Yan's feelings about the fleeting nature of time and the irretrievable loss of youth became clearer.

He turned around and looked at Jiang Yingzhu, who was waiting outside.

"Let's go."

Jiang Yingzhu nodded, still full of enthusiasm, not taking tomorrow's important matter seriously at all.

"Let me tell you, our exam rooms are actually next to each other, so don't finish your exams and run off first."

"Okay." Li Yan said indifferently, glancing at her expression, and then tactfully added:
Didn't your uncle call you?

"Uncle? Who is that!" Jiang Yingzhu's face, which had been carrying a faint smile, suddenly became calm.

"Call him Old Deng!"

Li Yan touched his hair. He wasn't blond, but he had no choice but to do it this way.

Did Old Deng call you?

"Why bother calling? I turned off my phone a long time ago. He can come or not, it's up to him."

Li Yan smiled but didn't say anything. He knew it was just a girl's awkward little thoughts.

However, he remembered that Uncle Jiang really didn't come on the day of the high school entrance exam because his daughter resisted.

Li Yan remembered this very clearly, because on that day, his childhood sweetheart, who had always seemed so cool and carefree in his memory, cried.

Regarding Uncle Jiang and Xiao Qingmei's situation, he naturally sided with Xiao Qingmei.

But now that he's started over, he can't let his childhood sweetheart get hurt so many times again.

Trying to persuade Jiang Yingzhu will only backfire; you have to stroke the little plum in the right direction.

So, after dinner, while Jiang Yingzhu went home to take a shower, Li Yan went back to his room and took out his Meizu phone.

This was bought with the reward money from the whistleblower report; I also got a phone card while I was at it.

The prize money was a little over ten thousand yuan, which he and Jiang Yingzhu split in half.

Their relationship wasn't complicated; they broke up just like that, laughing and joking.

After returning home, Li Yan took out his prize money and asked his mother to help him open a bank account.

When he took it out, it startled his parents. After explaining, Li Yan felt that his father's eyes were very strange for the next few days.

However, these are all secondary issues. Apart from not being able to bring the phone to school, his parents don't restrict him from playing with it.

When I dialed Uncle Jiang's number, a mature and elegant female voice answered.

"Hello, who is it?"

Li Yan raised an eyebrow. Goodness, there's a reason why his childhood sweetheart is ignoring Lao Deng.

"Ahem, hello, I'm Jiang Yingzhu. If you need anything, please contact her father. My name is Li Yan."

After he finished speaking, he faintly heard a man's question coming from the other side.

"It's someone named Li Yan, do you want me?"

The woman's soft, casual words made one frown.

But then, Jiang Ye's voice came through the receiver.

"Xiao Yan, that was my secretary just now. She's just being inconsiderate."

I think you're just being immature.

Li Yan thought to himself that he now understood why Jiang Yingzhu never called him first.

However, he wasn't there to mock Old Deng.

"Uncle Jiang, did you know that Zhuzhu is taking her high school entrance exam tomorrow?"

"I know, I know, her phone is off, she won't let me go, this kid, sigh~"

"I feel he wanted you to come, Uncle Jiang."

After a pause, before the other party could confirm with delight, Li Yan's tone became slightly impolite.

"You can only come alone."

Jiang Ye didn't care about his tone; he had been ridiculed quite a bit over the years.

"Okay, Xiao Yan, Uncle believes in you. Where is your exam venue, and when?"

"Never mind, I'll drive over tomorrow and take you to the exam venue."

Hearing the excited voices, Li Yan sighed and reminded him:

"Uncle Jiang, please don't drive a car that someone else has been in."

As long as Jiang Ye doesn't give up on remarrying, Li Yan estimates that Jiang Yingzhu will never truly reconcile with her father.

The only thing to do is to discipline Old Deng more and prevent him from causing trouble for Little Green Plum.

He didn't intend to persuade Jiang Yingzhu to accept it.

In fact, he had met Jiang Ye's mistress in his previous life; she was a young woman in her early twenties.

To anyone else, the woman was after his money, and that proved to be true later on.

But Jiang Ye doesn't think so.

To put it bluntly, we're all adults.

Since Jiang Ye has made this choice, he must bear the fact that those close to him will not accept it.

"Okay, okay! I understand, Xiao Yan, thank you for your trouble." Jiang Ye said repeatedly on the phone.

"Okay. That's all, Uncle Jiang. It's getting late, I'll hang up now."

"it is good."

······
The next day, Li Yan got up early and washed up. Then he heard his mother calling from the kitchen:
"Hurry up, go call Zhuzhu for dinner, then I'll take you to the exam hall."

"Ah."

Li Yan took the key at the entrance, turned left after leaving the house, stopped after two steps, and opened Jiang Yingzhu's door.

I arrived at the bedroom door and knocked.

"Zhuzhu, get up and eat."

"."

Li Yan shrugged, pushed open the door, and felt a blast of cold air hit him.

Jiang Yingzhu lay on the bed, wrapped in an air-conditioning blanket, with only her small feet, which looked like they were carved from mutton fat jade, showing. Her toes moved slightly, as if she were greeting Li Yan who had come in.

"Get up, you lazybones."

"Hmm. Just five more minutes of sleep, just five minutes."

"My mom made stir-fried pork with noodles, looks like there'll be only enough for me." "Eat! You can have it all!"

Even the stir-fried pork couldn't get up, so Li Yan had no choice but to unleash his ultimate move.

She reached out and touched a pair of delicate little feet, wiggling them a few times.

"Hey, hahaha, what are you doing!"

Li Yan grabbed her slippery foot and continued to tickle her.

"Get up, get up!"

"Ooh goose goose goose goose~~~"

Jiang Yingzhu let out a goose-like cry and suddenly pulled her legs forcefully into the quilt, like a shrimp pupa.

Then she was thrown up by the impact, her ears half red, her eyes glazed over as she stared at Li Yan.

"You wait! I'm telling you, you're finished, I'll let you know."

"Is that so? I'll be waiting."

Li Yan raised his hand and patted her head, smoothing down her high-statured tuft of hair.

He left the bedroom amidst someone's wide-eyed stare.

Throughout breakfast, Li Yan noticed Jiang Yingzhu's eyes darting around; she was definitely up to no good.

He didn't expose her, and was even more looking forward to the scene of her meeting her father.

Li Yan glanced at his phone. He had received a message from Uncle Jiang earlier, saying that Uncle Jiang had arrived quite some time ago.

"Once we've finished eating, let's get ready and then head out." Ms. Fang put away the tableware in the kitchen.

Taking advantage of this time, the two brought their admission tickets and stationery.

"Is everything ready? Did you bring your pencil? Is it a 2B?"

"Hehe, I brought 2B." Jiang Yingzhu grabbed Li Yan and said with a grin.

Li Yan rolled his eyes; all her things were in his bag.

“Okay, let’s go.” Ms. Fang nodded with a smile.

The three of them went down the residential building, turned a corner, and saw a familiar car at the entrance of the community.

The silver-gray van's paint is mottled, and even though it has just been waxed, it still looks like it's covered with a layer of old time that can't be washed away.

It seemed as if there was still a lot of dust on it.

"That's... Old Jiang's bread, isn't it?"

Ms. Fang confirmed that Jiang Yingzhu's father used to run a street stall, often using a bread van to buy goods.

In the past, the two families would also use this car for any events they had.

I remember they even borrowed money when they bought it!
During that period, the Jiang family lived a very frugal life in order to repay the debt, and Jiang Yingzhu's mother also suffered a health breakdown as a result.

Jiang Yingzhu bit her lip, stood still, and gripped Li Yan's sleeve tightly, as if she wanted to tear it apart.

She remained motionless, staring at the car with a blank expression.

Li Yan, being pulled along by her, simply stood still.

Just then, the driver's seat of the van opened, and Jiang Ye, a burly man with a square face and a big smile, got out of the vehicle.

He still carried the bandit-like air of his past life, yet he approached the three of them like a simple-minded boy, rubbing his hands together.

"Sister Fang, let's go take your kids to the high school entrance exam together. I'll drive you there."

Jiang Ye greeted Fang Qingye first, and Ms. Fang responded with a smile, but still did not move, instead keeping an eye on Jiang Yingzhu.

She and Jiang Yingzhu's mother were good friends, and she also disapproved of Lao Jiang's behavior.

So whether or not to ride in this car depends on Zhuzhu.

Jiang Ye, too, looked at Jiang Yingzhu with a hint of unease.

"Zhuzhu, get in the car, I'll take you to your exam."

Jiang Yingzhu kept a cold face and didn't say a word.

The atmosphere instantly became somewhat somber.

Li Yan didn't say anything, letting his sleeve be pulled.

Anyway, he called Lao Jiang over so that Xiao Qingmei wouldn't be upset, and he didn't care whether Lao Deng was upset or not.

"Zhuzhu, the exam is coming up soon if we don't leave. It's okay if you're angry with me anytime, but today is an important day, so don't get flustered."

"Just pretend I'm not your dad, I'm a sports car driver."

Jiang Ye spoke in a low voice, his eyes earnest.

Jiang Yingzhu avoided his gaze, her eyes sweeping over the passenger seat of the van.
The spot where my mother's hand-woven cushion always sat was now empty, yet spotless.

Perhaps he really did persuade her, because Jiang Yingzhu's cold expression softened slightly, and she stopped being so rigid.

I won't ride in a car that someone else has ridden in.

"No one else, no one else," Jiang Ye quickly said.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yingzhu's lips moved, but she didn't speak. Instead, she let out a soft hum.

The three people who knew her all changed their expressions, and Jiang Ye immediately looked at Ms. Fang.

"Sister Fang, Xiao Yan, get in the car! Don't stand there."

Li Yan blinked, knowing that his childhood sweetheart was concerned about her image.

So he let Ms. Fang go first, then set off himself, pulling Jiang Yingzhu to the car with him.

Jiang Yingzhu didn't struggle and was just pulled along like that.

Once in the car, Li Yan saw Jiang Yingzhu look around, her nose twitching slightly before her expression softened and she sat down quietly.

Once everyone was seated, Jiang Ye took on the role of driver, constantly trying to find topics to talk about.

Every time she tried to get close to Jiang Yingzhu indirectly, it was always ended by a single sentence from her.

Before long, we arrived at our destination, No. 2 Middle School.

"Alright, you don't need to come at noon. We won't be going back at noon."

After getting off the bus, Jiang Yingzhu glanced at him, still with a bad expression, and asked with a suspicious look in her eyes.

"Who asked you to come?"

"Nobody's here, Zhuzhu. How could I not come on such an important day?"

"Heh, nobody told you you dared to come? It couldn't be that woman, could it!"

No one knows a father better than his daughter. Jiang Yingzhu knew that her father was a straightforward person, so she was easily fooled by that woman.

Therefore, given her almost complete resistance and lack of communication, it's highly likely he won't come to accompany her during her high school entrance exam.

"No, no!" Jiang Ye exclaimed anxiously, "Hey, it's Li Yan."

Li Yan: ? ? ? ? !
(End of this chapter)