Rebirth of the Supreme Immortal Emperor-Chapter 429 - 426: Entering the Gate of my Longing, Understand my Sorrow of Longing. [First Update]

Chapter 429: Chapter 426: Entering the Gate of my Longing, Understand my Sorrow of Longing. [First Update]

On Yan Mountain Peak, after shattering Li Lingtian’s undefeated myth, Li Chen returned to Donghua.

The final strike, Burning Sky, left his True Yuan depleted. The first thing he did when he got home was to seclude himself to heal his wounds.

Seven days later, Li Chen emerged from seclusion!

But he always felt that he had forgotten something.

When he saw the date on the calendar, June 8th, he was stunned on the spot.

No wonder he always felt he’d forgotten something—it was the high school exams!

Although he missed the exams on the 7th, he hurried and managed to make it in time for the tests on science and English on the 8th.

Half a month later, the high school exam results came out.

Li Chen was absent for the Chinese and Math exams, scoring zero points in both. However, he got full marks in English and 294 in science, totaling 444 points, ranking him over 100,000th in the province.

Ye Chuxue got a total of 712 points, 3 points higher than last year’s top science student in Jiangnan Province.

But even so, she didn’t win the top honor—she was second place.

The real top scorer was a girl named Lan Huanxi. With a total of 715 points and full marks in both English and Math, she set a thirty-year record since the restoration of the high school exams in Jiangnan Province, aptly called a super scholar.

On the day the exam results were announced, Lan Huanxi’s Cloud Mist Village was boiling over with excitement.

Whether it was national affairs or the whims of worldly society, it mattered little to these villagers; they only cared about their own people, their own matters.

Lan Huanxi becoming the province’s top scorer was the talk of the town.

No one would have imagined that the dilapidated Lan Family would produce a golden phoenix.

Villagers who once looked down upon them and relatives who hadn’t visited for many years started coming by, all enthusiastic as can be.

There were even peculiar relatives who wanted to set Lan Huanxi up with a match, but she rejected them all.

"Once you’ve experienced the vastness like the Canghai, all else is like Qingcheng, insignificant in comparison."[Note 1]

After seeing someone like Li Chen, as vast as the Canghai, other men, no matter how excellent, were like the stream outside the door to her—hardly catching her eye.

She wanted to see Li Chen and share the good news with him.

But when she came down to Cloud Mist Mountain Villa and saw Ye Chuxue, graceful like an immortal, she would always feel ashamed and just gaze from afar. Linger at the foot of the mountain, hesitating and wavering.

Other people were beautiful white swans, and she was just an ugly duckling.

At the thought of this, a bitter smile would form at the corners of her lovely lips.

Others were unaware of the bitterness in Lan Huanxi’s heart, seeing her only as a golden phoenix about to fly out of its nest, evoking their envy and admiration.

Deans from Tsinghua, Beijing University, and Hong Kong University travelled long distances, hoping to lure this golden phoenix to their gardens, even offering extravagant incentives like full scholarships and free overseas studies.

Yet, against all expectations, she gracefully declined all these prestigious universities, choosing Jiangnan University in her own province, citing her need to take care of her ailing parents.

Upon hearing this news, people sighed with regret, yet praised her filial piety and noble character.

Not a single person knew that she just wanted to be closer to someone, content even with just watching from a distance.

Although July was the height of summer, the nights in the mountains remained somewhat cool.

Lan Huanxi sat alone by the window, under the incandescent light a physics monthly test paper before her. Besides her handwriting, it also bore Li Chen’s elegant and free cursive script.

It was this test paper that had her burning the midnight oil till dawn, tirelessly supporting her journey to this point.

Suddenly!

The wind began to blow; the branches of the parasol trees gently swayed and rustled against each other. In the quiet night, it was particularly jarring.

The illiterate wind, like a mischievous child, flipped the pages of a book for no reason.

This was the "Complete Tang Poetry," Lan Huanxi often used for poetry appreciation.

As she came to the page that had been turned, the girl’s tears could no longer be held back, pouring out and staining the pages with spots.

"Enter my gate of longing, know my suffering heart’s song.

Long for love, long for remembrance, brief longing feels endlessly long.

Had I known such pain from the start, I’d wish we’d never met, and done no wrong."[Note 2]

"Hey, why are you crying?"

Just then, a voice that haunted Lan Huanxi’s dreams suddenly came from outside the window.

Lan Huanxi suddenly felt her heart skip a beat and hurriedly looked up.

This was a face with distinct edges and corners, topped with a crescent moon-like smile above the corners of his mouth.

She couldn’t believe her eyes and rubbed them vigorously once more.

When she looked again, the figure was still there!

The person was none other than Li Chen.

"What are you staring at me for? Don’t recognize me anymore?"

Once Lan Huanxi was sure it wasn’t a hallucination, she was wildly overjoyed, which left her a bit flustered.

"You, you, how did you get here?"

Li Chen shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just bored and wandering around!"

"Oh right, I almost forgot to congratulate you, for taking the top spot in our Jiangnan’s college entrance exam!"

Hearing Li Chen’s praise, Lan Huanxi felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey. It seemed that with these words, no matter how much hardship and fatigue she endured, it was all worth it.

Lan Huanxi shyly smiled and asked, "How many points did you score? It shouldn’t be any less than mine, right?"

Li Chen curled his lips and said, "An unlucky number, 444 points!"

Lan Huanxi looked surprised: "Ah, that shouldn’t be. You study so well, how come you only got 444 points?"

Li Chen casually said, "I overslept on the 7th and missed two subjects!"

Lan Huanxi nodded in realization, then suddenly her eyes widened: "You mean to say, with just science comprehensive and English, you scored 444 points?"

Li Chen nodded and said, "Yeah, English 150 points, science comprehensive 294 points, add them together and it’s 444 points!"

Lan Huanxi blinked and asked, "The science comprehensive test was so difficult this time, how did you get 294 points?"

Li Chen shrugged and said, "What’s so difficult about that? Just missed writing one multiple-choice question and there you have it!"

Lan Huanxi blushed with embarrassment; as a super scholar, facing someone as abnormal as Li Chen, she truly felt somewhat inferior.

She had been struggling and diligently practicing nearly a thousand questions every day, and yet she only scored 276 points on the science comprehensive. Meanwhile, Li Chen could miss out on a multiple-choice question and still get 294 points.

"Oh right, what about her?" Lan Huanxi, playing coy, cautiously asked.

Li Chen looked puzzled: "Her? Who?"

Lan Huanxi bit her lip and said, "You know, the very pretty girl who is often with you!"

Li Chen suddenly understood and said, "Oh, you mean Chuxue. She didn’t score as high as you, just 3 points less!"

Lan Huanxi said, "That’s also pretty awesome!"

After speaking, she seemed to remember something and asked, "You scored 444, which university are you planning to apply to?"

"Jiangnan University, I believe I mentioned it to you before?"

Lan Huanxi stared with her bright expressive eyes, puzzled, "But don’t you need over 600 points for Jiangnan University? How are you going to get in with 444 points?"

Li Chen nonchalantly said, "That’s no problem at all. If they dare not to accept me, you believe me, tomorrow I’ll smash their school gates!"

Hearing Li Chen talk with such domineering confidence, Lan Huanxi was shocked at first and then covered her mouth, giggling.

Li Chen reached out and tapped Lan Huanxi’s fair forehead, saying, "That’s better, you look good when you smile!"

Lan Huanxi nodded vigorously, saying, "Good, then I’ll often smile for you to see!"

Li Chen smiled but didn’t respond.

Soon after, he glanced at the moon hanging from the willow branches and said, "It’s getting late, you should go to sleep early. I should head back too, good night!"

Lan Huanxi wanted to stop Li Chen from leaving, but the words reached her lips and she swallowed them back, simply saying softly, "Good night."

She watched Li Chen’s figure disappear into the vast night and then ran to the vanity mirror. Looking at herself in the mirror, she smiled sweetly.

That one smile, devastatingly beautiful, eclipsed the moon and shamed the flowers.

What a pity, with no one to appreciate it!

...

Note 1 from Yuan Zhen’s "Lisao"

Note 2 from Li Bai’s "Autumn Wind Words"

This Chapter primarily paints Lan Huanxi as someone who comes from a farming family. Kind-hearted and strong, her thoughts are delicate and sensitive. Just like life’s many forms, the characters in books are the same. Otherwise, if only the protagonist acts pretentiously and faces challenges, the story would seem very pale and weak.