ATLAS TRANSLATES

In the shifting light and shadows, while their faces weren’t clear, the person’s presence was remarkably strong. Even from this distance, they seemed unapproachable and commanded respect.

Sensing the gaze from behind, that person turned to look in their direction.

Song Min and Bai Shaoqi were no strangers to important figures.

They had met the Yin family in Jiangjing, including Old Master Yin, and Bai Shaoqi had even met Director Jian.

Yet even so, through the flow of traffic, they could feel the man’s overwhelming presence. It wasn’t gentle at all – like prey being watched by an alpha wolf, it made their spines tingle.

This was a major intersection with long red lights. Finally, the light turned green.

Only after the driver made a turn did Song Min and Bai Shaoqi’s spine-tingling sensation fade away.

“Who was that?” Bai Shaoqi breathed a sigh of relief, looking in the rearview mirror with an unreadable expression.

Such presence was rare.

Song Min pressed his lips together. “Probably someone from the Xu family.”

He had heard that the Xu family had an eldest young master at Jiangjing University.

The car returned to the Bai residence, and the Song family also got out to greet Bai Qiming.

As soon as Bai Shaoqi returned, the servants and butler in the courtyard put down their work to greet her. Everyone now held her in high regard.

“Dad,” Bai Shaoqi handed her coat to Butler Bai and took out a wet wipe to clean her hands methodically. Looking down, she said, “We saw sister on our way back.”

Bai Lian?

“Her?” Bai Qiming nodded. He was drafting a list and gestured to Bai Shaoqi, “Come look at this. Are there enough people invited to the banquet, or did we miss anyone?”

For this celebration banquet, he had invited not only the Bai family but also Guo Yueqing’s maiden family.

Bai Qiming didn’t mention Bai Lian further, and Bai Shaoqi smiled without saying more.

After their discussion, Bai Shaoqi returned to her room to continue practicing piano.

Butler Bai stood quietly behind Bai Qiming. “We’re not going to Jiahao anymore?”

Originally, Bai Qiming had planned to go to Jiahao to ask Bai Lian about Vice Chairman Zhou’s matter, but now…

The impact of Bai Shaoke becoming Professor Jiang’s student and Bai Shaoqi getting Principal Luo’s invitation was significant for Bai Qiming.

“Never mind,” Bai Qiming shook his head after a long pause.

At Jiahao Hotel.

In Bai Lian’s room, she took a shower after returning. Jiang Fu Li lazily touched the purple clay teapot on the table in the small living room – the water was still hot.

The service was decent.

He stood up straight and gathered the simplified notation sheets scattered on the table, putting them away properly.

There was also a TV in the lobby. After organizing the notation sheets, he casually leaned against the sofa, turned on the TV, and started activating memberships one after another.

Bai Lian finished her shower and came out wearing loungewear. She held a clean towel over her hair and leaned expressionlessly against the doorframe, watching him activate memberships.

Jiang Fu Li rested his chin on his hand, his slender fingers pressing his phone, smoothly scanning to make payments.

Only when he sensed something was off did his phoenix eyes glance to the side.

Bai Lian was casually leaning against the doorframe, fingers pinching the towel carelessly placed on her head, looking at him with an ambiguous smile. Fresh from the shower, her dark eyes were still misty.

She just looked at him sideways with an expression that seemed to say “go ahead, why aren’t you continuing?”

Jiang Fu Li: “…”

Young Master Jiang, who had been quite dashing while making payments but became dejected when caught, quietly put down his phone and noticed she was still wringing her hair. “Why aren’t you using the hair dryer?”

He walked to the bar counter and took out a black hair dryer from the cabinet below.

Bai Lian didn’t care to use a hair dryer. The weather was hot, and it would dry quickly after toweling. She wasn’t particularly sensitive to cold either.

But Young Master Jiang eagerly plugged in the dryer.

He even brought her a chair. Bai Lian reluctantly sat down, letting go of the towel. Her waist-length hair fell down the brown chair back and over her white clothes.

Jiang Fu Li stood behind her for a while, seemingly waiting for a moment before turning on the hair dryer and gently parting a strand of her black hair.

He quietly dried her half-damp hair.

The room was very quiet. The curtains were open, showing the traffic and city lights outside.

Jiang Fu Li methodically continued drying.

“Turn up the heat,” Bai Lian crossed her legs and folded her arms, casually commanding.

Jiang Fu Li: “…”

He silently turned up the heat.

Little Bird Jiang would definitely be jealous.

The next morning.

Bai Lian returned to Xiangcheng with Jiang Fu Li.

Director Jian came down to see her off, talking about Yan Luge’s matter. Jiang Fu Li stood by the car with his phone, only occasionally glancing over. His expression was aloof, keeping people at a distance.

Old Hu, who stood beside Director Jian, didn’t look at him. Only when the black car drove away did he turn to Director Jian, “Do you know the person with Miss Bai?”

He knew who Director Jian had come for this time, and it seemed the Director had gained something – his mood was noticeably good.

“Never met him, but…” Director Jian watched Jiang Fu Li’s car disappear, lost in thought, “His surname is Jiang.”

Jiang was a common surname in Jiangjing.

They just didn’t know if this Jiang was the one they knew about.

At four in the afternoon.

Bai Lian arrived at Qingshui Street.

Jiang Fu Li returned with her. Director Chen and Ji Heng had gone fishing and hadn’t returned yet, with Jiang He following behind them.

Bai Lian put her suitcase in her room and opened the door to the small room.

The Longevity God jade she was preparing for Ji Heng hadn’t been polished yet.

Jiang Fu Li walked around the courtyard and joined her in the small room, immediately noticing the unpolished jade on the machine table.

It looked very similar to the piece he had received.

“What’s this…” Jiang Fu Li lowered his eyes.

Bai Lian kicked over a small stool and sat down, turning on the machine to start polishing. “It’s a Longevity God for Grandfather.” She carefully held up the jade piece to show Jiang Fu Li its details. “Do you think I’ve improved?”

As Liang Zewen’s last disciple, she had excelled in the four arts back then.

She could paint the Longevity God well, but carving it wasn’t quite as lifelike.

However, having already carved a jade qilin, her technique had become much more skilled. The lines were fluid, and even though it wasn’t polished yet, the immortal peach carved on the yellow jade seemed like the perfect finishing touch.

While not comparable to professionals, it was still a stunning piece among amateur works.

“No,” Young Master Jiang critiqued sharply, “not as beautiful as mine.”

Bai Lian really wanted to hit him with the jade.

Director Chen returned shortly after.

June 23rd.

Today, the national college entrance exam results would be released.

When Bai Lian woke up early, she saw “999+” messages in Class 15’s group chat.

Class 15 rarely woke up this early.

She put down her phone and went outside to wash up.

Outside, Grandfather was already sitting at the stone table with breakfast beside him, holding his phone in one hand and a pipe in the other. He gestured to Bai Lian: “Breakfast is ready.”

“Grandfather, you’re up so early today?” Bai Lian finished washing up and took a cup of water to drink slowly.

She was surprised.

Ji Heng was on the phone with Shen Qing. Hearing Bai Lian’s words and seeing her completely calm expression, he paused, “Your college entrance exam results come out today.”

“Oh.” Bai Lian sat across from him, slowly picking up a bun to eat.

For more latest popular novels, check out 6.9 Book Bar!

She responded lazily.

Calm and confident.

Ji Heng: “…”

He stopped talking to Bai Lian and instead took out a piece of paper from his pocket with the phone number for checking college entrance exam results.

For the national college entrance exam, there was only one website for checking scores, which would definitely crash.

The phone lines might not get through either. This was Ji Heng’s first time checking college entrance exam results for someone. He had gotten the number from Jiang Fu Li, and after so many days, he had memorized it by heart.

The morning passed slowly.

Ji Heng brought out his embroidery frame and sat on the stool to embroider a few stitches of Chinese cabbage.

A moment later, he got up and took the watering can to water the few flowers in the courtyard.

In the room, Bai Lian’s door was open. She sat at the guzheng, with simplified notation sheets beside her. While her phone kept flashing with messages, she remained casual and relaxed.

After watering the flowers, Ji Heng listened to the intermittent guzheng sounds from Bai Lian’s room, and his mood also became peaceful.

At exactly ten o’clock.

Ji Heng didn’t look at the string of numbers but called the score-checking number.

The line was busy. He patiently dialed again and again. After five minutes, he finally got through.

He squinted and reported Bai Lian’s exam number and ID number.

From the phone came a mechanical voice-

[Chinese: 0 Mathematics: 0 …

Total score: 0]

Something wasn’t right. Ji Heng frowned and checked again. The voice still reported “0”. The usually slow and unflappable Ji Heng felt like hitting someone for the first time.

Even if Bai Lian’s scores weren’t good, given her previous performance, they shouldn’t be “0”, right?

The intermittent guzheng sounds continued from the room.

Ji Heng’s phone rang – it was Ji Shaojun, probably calling to ask about Bai Lian’s results.

He hung up and went to his room to call Jiang Fu Li.

Jiang Fu Li answered just before the call would have disconnected. He was quite surprised, putting down the documents in his hand and gesturing for those around him to leave. He walked out of the computer room, “Do you need something?”

“Young Jiang,” Ji Heng frowned, “why are all of Ah Lian’s scores zero?”

His voice was clearly anxious.

He knew how hard Bai Lian had worked.

Sometimes when he got up at night to use the bathroom, her light was still on.

Jiang Fu Li realized today was results day. He paused, slowly explaining to Ji Heng: “It’s not zero. To prevent schools from fighting over student resources and excessive marketing of top scorers, scores for the provincial top fifty are hidden until the 26th.”

“You mean… Ah Lian scored in the provincial top fifty?” All Ji Heng could focus on was “provincial top fifty.”

Although Xu Zhiyue had mentioned that Bai Lian’s math scores were very good and she could get into Jiangjing University through special admission, when Ji Heng actually learned that Bai Lian had scored in the top fifty, he still felt dizzy.

Meanwhile.

At Xiangcheng No. 1 High School.

Since after the college entrance exam, the principal and senior year teachers hadn’t slept well. Today when results came out, the principal arrived at the computer room early.

The score cutoffs would be released with the results, and the school needed to calculate the admission rates for first-tier and second-tier universities.

Lu Lingxi also arrived early.

When she arrived, the ashtray beside the principal was already full of cigarette butts. Seeing her, the principal naturally greeted her: “Teacher Lu.”

Once the college entrance exam results were released, they would also be synchronized to the school.

At exactly ten o’clock, some teachers couldn’t help but call their star students to ask about their exam results.

The principal, vice principal, and director of teaching all stood behind the technician, waiting for him to retrieve their school’s exam results.

“Bai Lian, Ning Xiao, and the others’ results probably won’t come out today,” the principal slowly told Lu Lingxi while watching the frozen computer screen. “Those three should be in the provincial top fifty.”

The provincial top fifty scores were temporarily withheld.

Nearby, Tang Ming’s homeroom teacher came over with his phone, clearly excited, “I asked Tang Ming, his score is hidden.”

Tang Ming had the lowest scores among the three, and if his scores were hidden, the other two were definitely in.

“Our school has at least three students in the top fifty, not counting Chen Zhu,” the teaching director held his thermos, his face creasing with a smile. “Principal, those three banners you prepared are good.”

These past few days, the principal had been teased several times about secretly preparing banners.

The principal held his cigarette, relaxing after hearing about Tang Ming’s hidden score. He spoke with Lu Lingxi, “Teacher Lu, have you asked Bai Lian and Ning Xiao for their estimated scores?”

Lu Lingxi shook her head, about to speak when Class 8’s homeroom teacher, who was staring at the screen, suddenly spoke up, “Principal, you might not have prepared enough banners.”

“What?” The principal suddenly looked down at the computer.

Half an hour had passed, and the college entrance exam results had been pulled up.

On the fluorescent computer screen, on the first page, six names were marked with asterisks-

Bai Lian, Ning Xiao, Yang Lin, Tang Ming, Chen Zhu, Lu Xiaohan.

Everyone could guess about Bai Lian, Ning Xiao, and their group of three, Chen Zhu was also predictable as he was originally a top student-

“No,” the principal pointed at Yang Lin’s name, his finger trembling, almost breaking his voice: “She- where did these two come from? Especially this Yang Lin, how did she score higher than Tang Ming?!”

How the hell did their Xiangcheng No. 1 High School suddenly produce another prodigy?

(Principal lying down for victory needs votes~)