Xiao Youran was very happy to hear Aunt Ning's praise.
It was as if she had received the approval of her future mother-in-law.
She quickly walked over, linked arms with Ning Wanqiu, and said with a smile, "Auntie, you're the one who's really beautiful, looking so young and having such a good temperament. The students in your class are so lucky to have such a pretty teacher every day."
Ning Wanqiu was pleased to hear her words and laughed happily, "Youran, you're exaggerating. I'm already thirty-four, not young at all."
Xiao Youran had always thought Aunt Ning looked young but never knew her actual age.
Now, hearing that Aunt Ning was thirty-four, she was momentarily stunned.
A woman's stated age is, of course, her real age.
If Aunt Ning is thirty-four now, and Xu Xiuwen is eighteen, does that mean Ning Wanqiu got pregnant at sixteen and then gave birth to Xu Xiuwen?
Xiao Youran, as if she had discovered a secret, widened her eyes.
Zhang Ruoshu guessed her daughter's thoughts from her expression and immediately changed the subject, "Wanqiu, neither Youran nor I had lunch today. We're planning to grab a bite at your place."
Ning Wanqiu nodded, "Then wait a bit for me. I'll start cooking now."
"I'll help."
Ning Wanqiu and Zhang Ruoshu walked into the kitchen.
Only Xu Xiuwen and Xiao Youran were left in the living room.
Xiao Youran couldn't remember the last time she was alone with Xu Xiuwen.
She was still immersed in the shock of discovering that Aunt Ning had a child at sixteen.
Now realizing that only the two of them were in the living room, she felt a bit nervous.
What would Xu Xiuwen say to her?
But after waiting for a long time, Xu Xiuwen didn't speak, leaving Xiao Youran disappointed.
Didn't Xiao Xu have anything to say to her?
She was willing to talk about anything with Xu Xiuwen. Didn't he feel the same?
Since starting university, Xu Xiuwen had become much colder.
Although they often texted, she was almost always the one to initiate.
Xiao Youran couldn't help but wonder if Xu Xiuwen no longer liked her and had fallen for someone else.
But then she thought it was unlikely because Xu Xiuwen wasn't close to any other girls.
Xiao Youran thought that Xu Xiuwen might be too busy since the start of school, too preoccupied to think about romance.
He hadn't changed his feelings.
As his childhood friend, she should be considerate, understanding, and give more comfort and encouragement, rather than overthink and be suspicious.
She found a suitable reason for herself.
Xiao Youran decided to be proactive.
So, she started the conversation.
"Xiao Xu, have your final exam results come out? How did you do?"
Xu Xiuwen was momentarily stunned by her question, scratching his head, "You reminded me. The results should be out. I almost forgot."
Xu Xiuwen stood up from the sofa, intending to check his results in his room.
Suddenly remembering Xiao Youran's presence, he turned and asked, "Do you want to come into my room?"
Xiao Youran immediately nodded.
She followed Xu Xiuwen into his room.
The room smelled fresh, with no strange odors.
Xu Xiuwen's computer screen was open to a Word document, showing some novel content he was writing.
He casually closed it, but Xiao Youran still saw it.
The girl widened her eyes and asked in surprise, "Xiao Xu, are you writing a novel again?"
Xu Xiuwen had nothing to hide from her, so he admitted, "Yes, I'm planning to start my fourth novel during the winter break and am drafting it."
During the past few days at home, Xiao Youran had been reading Xu Xiuwen's novels constantly, falling completely in love with them.
Hearing Xu Xiuwen admit it was his fourth novel piqued her curiosity.
She couldn't help but say, "Xiao Xu, can I take a look?"
"Sure, but I've only written a little bit..."
"That's okay, I don't mind."
Xiao Youran was so happy to be allowed to read Xiao Xu's novel that she could barely contain her excitement.
"Alright, I'll show you in a bit. Let me check my results first."
Xu Xiuwen logged into the school website, entered the academic affairs system, and found the grade report for the Software Information major, Class of 2005.
It was easy to find the scores uploaded by the advisor.
The number of students in the Software Information major wasn't large, so he quickly saw his name.
College Chinese, Advanced Mathematics, College English, Ideological and Moral Cultivation and Legal Basis, Computer Basics, College Sports, Military Theory...
There were more than ten courses in total.
Xu Xiuwen carefully examined them and saw that each score was above 90.
He immediately showed a satisfied expression.
It seemed that the last-minute intensive review sessions with top students Tang Weiwei and Cheng Lu had paid off.
Xiao Youran also saw his scores and thought she was seeing things. She rubbed her eyes and looked again.
After checking several times, she realized it wasn't a mistake.
Xiao Youran was so shocked that she was speechless.
Xu Xiuwen noticed her expression and laughed, "Why are you making that face? Can't I get good grades?"
Xiao Youran quickly waved her hands and explained, "I didn't mean it that way."
She was really too surprised.
They were both from the same management and engineering department, with almost identical public courses.
She had studied diligently for an entire semester and got top grades in every subject.
That was normal because she had worked hard.
But Xu Xiuwen?
This semester, Xu Xiuwen had been filming movies, playing in sports matches, and organizing events.
He didn't even attend half as many classes as she did.
Yet Xu Xiuwen's grades were this good.
For a moment, she suspected that Xu Xiuwen had cheated.
Xu Xiuwen could guess what she was thinking just by looking at her expression and said directly, "I never stoop to cheating, you know that. What's wrong? Don't you believe in my abilities?"
Xiao Youran was afraid he'd misunderstand and get angry, so she quickly reassured him, "Xiao Xu, I believe you. Even if others don't believe you, I always will."
Xu Xiuwen nodded and explained, "I really studied hard at the end, and I had help from the top students in our class, so I did well."
Hearing this, Xiao Youran no longer doubted him.
Anyway, she would believe whatever Xu Xiuwen said.
Xu Xiuwen looked at the grade report again, focusing on the scores of his roommates and the girls from 601.
The results were as expected.
In Room 412, except for Jin Haonan, whose scores were generally around 70, the other four roommates each had failed subjects.
Among them, Wang Juncai and Yang Baishan had the most fails, with four each.
Liu Zhihao failed one course, and Shi Xiangming failed two.
Since both the main campus and Jiangling College offered a make-up exam at the start of the new semester, Xu Xiuwen could already imagine his four roommates cramming desperately for the make-up exams when school started. It would be quite amusing.
The situation was completely different for the four girls in Room 601.
Tang Weiwei had only one course with a score of 99, and all the other courses were perfect scores.
This kind of performance was simply astonishing!
When the new semester started and classmates found out about Tang Weiwei's scores, everyone would be shocked.
Of course, it was also possible that some students with home computers had already checked their grades and were shocked right now.