As time passed by it was soon the day for the exams and as usual Wan Zhi awoke early and began to prepare. Over the past two months, he had maintained the same routine of getting up early, preparing, and then going to school where he would maintain a pace of constant study and lasses, after the day he would return and clean himself up before he ate and studied until midnight before going to bed.

Because of this constant rhythm, he was able to focus well and the things he had reviewed had been imprinted into his mind. He was sure that he would have no issue in passing the exams he just hoped that everything went well enough so that he would lead ahead by a good amount. The only thing different about this day was that his usual absentminded mother had awoken early and prepared with him before setting off.

Her usual state of childlikeness had been overcome by the importance of his exam, just like it had been over the years. It was different from his last life where she had become distracted by the presence of that old fox and his demon sons that rained hell on them. He ignored that and steadied his mind, he didn’t need any mistakes, and if he wanted to change the trajectory of his life then the outcome for the exam mattered the most.

The parent and child duo left the hostel and went towards the bus, as he looked around it was clear to see that the other families in the hostel placed as much importance on this exam as he did. Maybe in his last life, someone had worked just as he did to get the prize money that would change the lives of their families and in this life, he clearly intended to snatch that chance from them.

But even as he knew this he didn’t care, he would do anything it took to prevent the outcome of his last life from happening a second time. As he cleared his head they arrived at the school and were met with the sight of family members sending their children into the school as they waited outside for them. His mother came up and hugged him tightly and placed a kiss on his head, though she couldn’t come up with anything to say he knew that this was her way of wishing him the best.

He gave her a nod and then went into the school, using the numbers assigned he found the class he was set to take the exams in, the class position wasn’t too bad since it was based on his usual grades. As he reached they were already students in the class doing some last minutes review while some just sat around and waited, he put his things away and sat down, closed his eyes, and then started to review everything in his mind.

A half an hour later the exam invigilators entered the room, he opened his eyes and took out his things for the exams, and waited for the papers to be passed out. When the paper was placed on his desk it was faced down and the students were told not to raise it up until the teacher said to. After the papers were passed out the invigilators took their positions and a time was set on the teacher's table, the exams had started.

For the next three days, Wan Zhi was completely focused on the exams and gave no care to anything else, because of that Yin Zi was responsible for taking care of his needs. It was something she had done alone since his birth so it wasn’t too hard for her the only change was that she needed to purchase food. Wan Zhi for some reason couldn’t stomach the food his mother made and this made Yin Zi confused but since she couldn’t figure it out she put it at the back of her mind.

Only Wan Zhi knew the reason he didn’t eat his mother’s cooking since his return was because, after his return to the Wan house, the first young master had used his own mother’s hands to poison him. As usual, he was happy to eat his mother’s cooking even though it wasn’t the best, but a few hours later he ended up in the hospital on the verge of death, it was only his mother that had come to see him.

The old fox never once came and the first and second master found delight in his suffering, the doctor had said it was his mother that had poisoned him. Of course, he wouldn’t believe it so he pleaded for his mother not to be taken away and because he was the victim they let go of the case. It was only years later that he would know the truth of the matter but it didn’t matter what he knew since his life had already come to an end.

As he walked over to his mother who had been waiting for him patiently since he entered the exam his thoughts swirled. He knew because of his choice to stay away from that old fox and his den many things that would happen in the future had changed and the outcome for him and his mother was not set in stone. She was no longer the foolish white rabbit that would follow all the commands of the old fox and as long as he could keep her away from them then he could trust her.

But even then the things that she had done would never change, they would always remain engraved in his soul and as such even though he accepted her presence things between them could never remain the same.

“Zhi’er let's go eat cake.” Yin Zi spoke in her soft voice as he reached out and took her hand.

He gave a slight nod and they walked not too far away and bought a milk cake, he broke it in half and watched as she happily ate her half. But when she wasn’t looking he tossed it away and then gave her a soft smile as his eyes flashed with a trace of insanity.

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