“142, darn it, Xu Yin scored 142!” Someone in Class 12 exclaimed.
Several classmates gathered around, wide-eyed, crowding around Xu Yin’s desk. At this moment, Yan Ningchuan also received his answer sheet; it displayed an even more astonishing “148!”
“You two are unbelievable!”
The whole class erupted in excitement, as if they had achieved such scores themselves.
The “unbelievable” duo, upon receiving their papers, instinctively began reviewing their mistakes.
Xu Yin had an error in a fill-in-the-blank question, and the rest of the points were lost in the complex questions. Yan Ningchuan only made a slight mistake in the last major question, with the rest being correct, leaving minimal corrections in red pen on his paper.
Xu Yin picked up the paper, studied it for a moment, then leaned towards the side. Yan Ningchuan also leaned in, and the two began discussing.
In the short time it took the math class representative to distribute the papers, they almost resolved all of their respective mistakes and arrived at the correct answers.
Xu Yin sighed, “I need to be more careful when solving problems.”
“Improvement with each attempt is what matters. We still have time,” Yan Ningchuan said gently, “You did well this time.”
Xu Yin smiled.
Indeed, this time showed a significant improvement compared to the previous exam. Xu Yin wasn’t overly ambitious; as Yan Ningchuan had mentioned, progressing with each attempt was sufficient.
With this in mind, he jokingly added, “Thanks to the class leader for the assistance.”
Yan Ningchuan laughed.
Other classmates, after receiving their papers, began lamenting the return to reality. Seeing Xu Yin and Yan Ningchuan’s scores, the psychological gap was too significant!
The math class representative jokingly scolded, “Did you even look at your scores from before? Dreaming of achieving 140? Dream on!”
After this scolding, everyone choked, looking at their papers again. They realized, considering their previous levels, scoring this high on such a challenging exam seemed like a dream!
Someone finally asked, “Teacher, what’s the average score this time?”
The math teacher, still cheerful, responded, “The grade average is 90.8, and our class average is 93.”
Upon hearing these two numbers, the entire class was greatly surprised. The anticipation of a low average score this time was palpable, and everyone guessed it. However, their class average surprisingly exceeded the grade average by more than two points?! Not to mention math, they have never achieved this in any subject!
Class 7.
After the math class representative finished distributing the papers, the math teacher stood in front of the podium, silent for quite some time.
The class atmosphere was heavy, especially after hearing that Xu Yin from Class 12 scored 142 this time. The entire class was dumbfounded.
Keep in mind, even Ye Xunran only scored 135!
Xu Yin actually scored better than Ye Xunran, how is that possible? Just last month, he was ranked around 150!
Ye Xunran looked at his own test paper, biting his lip.
Choosing the wrong question that shouldn’t have been wrong, with major errors in the solution, undoubtedly, he messed up this time.
In fact, he knew that his mind was somewhat absent during this exam…
And Xu Yin scored 142 this time?
He was somewhat dazed.
Xu Ling had been daydreaming since returning to her seat.
The math teacher took a sip of tea, finally breaking the silence, saying, “You’ve received your papers. The difficulty this time was indeed high, but you didn’t perform well. The grade average is 90.8, our class average is 91. I’ve noticed that whether it was before the exam or during the last few days, you seemed eager to compete with Class 12. So, I’ll tell you about Class 12’s average score this time.”
Hearing this, the entire class had a bad premonition.
The next moment, the math teacher pointed emphatically at the podium and said, “Class 12’s average score this time is 93!”
The entire class was shocked, followed by an uproar!
Class 12 has always been the bottom class in the science department, yet their average score this time is two points higher than ours?! How is that possible!
No one believed it, and whispers began circulating.
“No way…”
“How is this possible…”
“Could they have miscalculated the scores…”
Little Curly looked at the prominent “91” on his paper, tightened his hands, and trembled slightly.
“Don’t doubt it. What’s there not to believe? How come those with lower grades can’t strive for improvement and achieve significant progress? Where does your confidence come from?” The math teacher expressed frustration, “In three years of high school, it’s all about forging ahead. If you don’t move forward, you’ll fall behind. In senior year, everyone will only become more competitive. You shouldn’t be wasting time on irrelevant matters!”
This reprimand caused each student in Class 7 to lower their heads.
What were they thinking about?
Mostly, it was about the incident where they foolishly stood up for Xu Ling, only to be slapped in the face and ridiculed by the entire school!
But before this, they never thought they would be surpassed by Class 12, a supposedly “trash” class!
After the class, some in the class were unwilling to accept it and went out to inquire. Upon returning, their expressions became even more despondent.
“Yan Ningchuan had the highest score, 148.”
“Damn, is he sick? How did he even manage that!” Someone looked at their own score just above 100, utterly unable to comprehend.
“Even Lin Jia scored 98 this time… and Wang Feifei got 100.”
A group of people were stunned.
Who are these two? Known for their lack of interest in studying and idleness, yet this time, they scored higher than the class average!
Little Curly sat in his seat, listening to their conversation, stiff for a while, his face turning red.
Xu Ling, sitting in the back row, was also at a loss. He hadn’t absorbed anything the math teacher said during the entire class; his mind was filled with his own 97 and Xu Yin’s 142, overwhelmed with shame.
In a daze, the bell for the next class rang.
Little Curly shook himself, realizing it was now Chinese class!
Chinese was his strong subject; he shouldn’t do poorly this time!
Gathering his spirits, he eagerly awaited the arrival of the Chinese teacher.
The Chinese teacher entered with brisk steps, handed the papers to the Chinese class representative, and instructed them to distribute them.
Seeing her like this, they probably didn’t perform too poorly, right?
The entire class breathed a collective sigh of relief, and someone couldn’t help but ask, “Teacher Xie, how did our class and Class 12 perform this time?”
The Chinese teacher expressed surprise, “I heard from Teacher Shen that you were competing with Class 12. I didn’t expect it to be true?”
That student remained silent.
Originally, the desire for victory didn’t need to go this far, but Xu Ling was the one who initiated the inquiry, and the result was like this. Naturally, they felt a bit indignant.
Taking a sip of tea, the Chinese teacher said, “Your average score is two points higher than Class 12.”
Upon hearing this, Class 7 was delighted, and there were even small cheers!
Math was just an exception; this was their usual state when compared to Class 12!
Their confidence finally returned a bit.
The Chinese teacher chuckled, “Satisfied? Although you performed better than Class 12 this time, it’s just average. On the other hand, I heard that Class 12 had significant improvements in all subjects.”
Some students secretly scoffed; anyway, no matter what, as long as they performed better than Class 12 in the next few subjects, it would be fine!
While chatting about the exam situation with a few students at the podium, Xu Ling received his paper, scoring 125.
Not reaching 130, Xu Ling was momentarily stunned, but… it was still acceptable. After all, the exam was quite challenging! He breathed a small sigh of relief and a smile appeared on his face.
Lifting his head, he made eye contact with a classmate in the front row. Perhaps noticing his good mood, the classmate kindly asked, “So, Teacher Xie, how did Xu Yin do this time?”
The Chinese teacher might not have known why this student specifically asked about Xu Yin’s performance.
Asking about the class average was one thing, but she didn’t appreciate inquiries about individual scores. She replied lightly, “Why bother with other people? If you’re curious, ask Xu Yin yourself after class.”
With that, she began discussing the papers.
Although the Chinese teacher didn’t reveal much, Xu Ling glanced around. The scores of the surrounding classmates were generally around 105, and even Ye Xunran only scored 120. Calculating, in this vicinity, his score was the highest.
He immediately became excited, not knowing his ranking in the whole grade with this score. Xu Yin must surely be surpassed by him!
When the class ended, he couldn’t wait to ask his classmates to find out. The result, however, left him with a subtle expression on his face.
A nervous gulp, “How much did Xu Yin score?”
“…Xu Yin seems to have gone crazy this time,” the classmate scratched his head, lowering his voice involuntarily due to astonishment. He continued unbelievably, “Xu Yin got first place in the entire grade for Chinese, 145.”
“Impossible!” Xu Ling stood up, shouting in disbelief.
In reality, Xu Yin has always enjoyed high school life.
He didn’t dislike middle school or even elementary school.
Despite how tiring and stressful others might find this period, Xu Yin felt it was the most fulfilling time of his life.
His mind wasn’t cluttered with unnecessary thoughts. Every day was filled with knowledge points, assignments, and exams. When he received his scores after exams, there was a sense of accomplishment. Not extremely joyful, but quite satisfying.
He calmly corrected the mistakes on his Chinese paper with a score of 145.
Yan Ningchuan, glancing over, repeatedly observed.
Noticing it, Xu Yin lifted his lips without looking up, “What are you doing? Feeling unsatisfied?”
Yan Ningchuan: “…”
Yan Ningchuan: “No.”
He looked back at his paper with a score of 141, his brows furrowed.
After finishing the last word, Xu Yin raised his head, turned slightly, rested his arm on the back of the chair, and half-smiled, “Starting to have a desire to win against me?”
Yan Ningchuan froze.
Xu Yin chuckled, took Yan Ningchuan’s paper, and said, “Your essay is too structured, our scores mainly differ in the essay. Your approach is more stable, less likely to fluctuate. My style, on the other hand, can either impress or disappoint the grading teacher, leading to more significant score variations.”
Yan Ningchuan’s essay was a typical argumentative piece, well-researched and deeply accumulated.
While Xu Yin… had a more free-spirited writing style, relying on intuition. If it pleased the grading teacher, the score could be exceptionally high; otherwise, it would be just average.
This time, he was lucky to receive a full score in the essay. According to the Chinese teacher, all the Chinese teachers in the entire senior year group liked his essay a lot. Some even made copies to share with students from other classes.
Of course, within their own class, Xu Yin had already read it.
At this moment, only he and Yan Ningchuan in Class 12 were still discussing the exam papers. Others were energetically calculating Xu Yin’s ranking after this mid-term exam. His scores were truly impressive!
Yan Ningchuan looked again at Xu Yin’s essay, his features softened.
Xu Yin’s essay was quite extraordinary; as per the Chinese teacher, it had even developed a unique literary style. Between the lines, one could sense his personality and thoughts. It truly reflected the person he was, giving a gentle and refreshing feeling.
Yan Ningchuan earnestly remarked, “You could become a writer.”
Xu Yin was momentarily stunned.
Yan Ningchuan turned his head, looking at Xu Yin, “Your writing has a strong artistic sense.”
Xu Yin twirled his pen, pondered for a moment, then slowly expanded his smile, “Hmm… Your idea is not bad either.”
Life can offer many choices.
Now reflecting on this topic, Xu Yin felt his heart was filled with ease and freedom.
It’s great to be alive.
He couldn’t help but sigh.
Four classes in the morning, with two remaining: biology and physics. However, although the exam papers for the three science subjects were separate, the answer sheets were combined. Therefore, when it came to the biology class, students received their scores for the integrated science subjects.
The difficulty of the integrated science subjects this time was exceptionally high, with a total score of 300 points. The grade average was only 196.7 points, and their class average was 197.5 points, once again surpassing the grade average!
Class 12 was exhilarated, and Lin Jia, who had been lifeless before the exam, changed his demeanor, boldly declaring, “After class tomorrow, I’ll treat the whole class to hot pot!”
“Hooray!”
“Lin Ge is mighty!”
The whole class erupted into cheers.
Xu Yin’s total score for the integrated science subjects was 260, a bit lower but still decent given the overall scores this time. However, as he looked at the mistakes in his paper, he wasn’t entirely satisfied. Some errors were due to carelessness, while others reflected gaps in his knowledge.
Yan Ningchuan scored 295, ranking first in the grade. It was said that the second-place student trailed him by more than ten points. He was undeniably the science king, setting a remarkable standard.
The journey in the field of science still stretched ahead.
Xu Yin sighed and earnestly began organizing his mistakes in the error notebook.
In the afternoon English class, students received the scores for their last subject.
Xu Yin: 146, Yan Ningchuan: 148!
At this point, everyone’s total scores for this mid-term exam were revealed. Xu Yin had 693, while Yan Ningchuan secured 732!
Even the teachers were astonished by this surprise. They were accustomed to Yan Ningchuan’s “king” status. When the exam was straightforward, his total score could easily stabilize above 740. Even in challenging exams or unfavorable conditions, his score never dipped below 700. Hence, his performance this time was considered a regular display.
However, as usual, the second-best student in Class 12 would typically have a considerable gap, often sixty to seventy points. But this time, Xu Yin scored 693!
Although there was still a difference of almost forty points from Yan Ningchuan, given Yan Ningchuan’s academic prowess, few could come close to his scores. Yet, Xu Yin had only been catching up for half a semester!
Achieving such results in just half a semester raised questions about what he could achieve by the time of the college entrance examination.
It was unimaginable.
The teachers were thrilled; they never expected Xu Yin to be such a promising talent.
Why did his grades suffer before? It was because of the influence from home! Even though Xu Yin’s father married the stepmother when he was in the second year of high school, his parents’ relationship had already deteriorated when he entered high school!
This child had been completely affected by family issues. Now, he had distanced himself from his problematic father and devoted all his energy to studying, leading to this remarkable improvement!
Tsk, tsk, tsk, a problematic father could be so dreadful, causing a student who could have entered a prestigious university to struggle at the bottom of the class!
For a moment, the teachers felt an overwhelming sense of empathy, harboring strong resentment towards Xu Qunzhi.
When this class ended, anxious students from various classes had already rushed to the teachers’ office to await the rankings.
It wasn’t until the last class in the afternoon ended that the rankings were finally revealed…
In Class 7, the class monitor walked into the classroom, plugged a USB drive into the podium computer, and said, “I’ve brought the rankings. If you want to see them, come up and take a look.”
The entire class fell silent.
As Teacher Xie had mentioned, their overall performance in this exam was mediocre. Later, they inquired about the results of the Integrated Science and English exams and learned that Class 12 had performed well in both.
In English, the two classes’ average scores were close, with Class 7 slightly ahead.
However, in Integrated Science, Class 12’s average score was a whole three points higher than theirs…
They hadn’t even had the chance to celebrate the fact that they outperformed Class 12 in Chinese when the following reality struck them, leaving them speechless.
“Could our class end up at the bottom of the grade this time?” someone whispered.
“…I’m not so sure,” came the uncertain response.
Normally, teachers wouldn’t calculate which class had the highest or lowest total average scores. Class 12 was known for having consistently low average scores in each subject, making it clear to everyone that they were the bottom class.
But this time was different. Class 12 had shown improvement, and it was no longer a given who would be at the bottom.
The students in Class 7 felt a deep sense of discomfort.
They admitted that since the beginning of the school year, they had been quite lax. Even though they were in their senior year, they seemed unable to muster a sense of urgency.
After the incident with Xu Ling, they felt like everyone in the school regarded them as fools, and their mentality became even more unstable, leaving them with little motivation to study.
However, they hadn’t expected that in just a month or two, Class 12 would catch up, while they plummeted so quickly…
Xu Ling stared at the podium, his heart pounding rapidly.
After being disappointed by the results in Mathematics and Chinese, he didn’t dare to inquire about Xu Yin’s scores.
But later, when the scores for the remaining two subjects came out, he felt it was still okay—208 in Integrated Science and 124 in English. Could he catch up? Could he?
Xu Yin couldn’t possibly cover all six major subjects in such a short time, right? It would take a lot of effort to achieve this level. It’s impossible, absolutely impossible, Xu Ling repeatedly emphasized to himself in his mind.
Upfront, the small curly-haired student sat with his head down, visibly tense.
Finally, one student couldn’t bear it.
He stood up and walked briskly to the front.
The projector was still on, and the computer desktop was projected onto the screen.
He said, “I just opened it.”
No one answered, but everyone stared at the front projection.
He double-clicked on the file, and the computer lagged for two seconds but finally opened.
A densely packed spreadsheet appeared in front of everyone, displaying the rankings of all the students in the grade’s science class.
The first column showed names, followed by rankings, and then individual subject scores and rankings.
There was too much content, the font was too small, and the zoom level was too low—it was hard to read at once.
He directly increased the zoom level of the spreadsheet, zooming in to 150, and the entire table became clear to everyone.
First place, without suspense, was Yan Ningchuan, with a total score of 732.
Many people silently clenched their teeth, silently cursing him as a freak. As they looked further…
Huh?
They were stunned.
There was no name of Ye Xunran!
Since the beginning of high school, in countless exams, Ye Xunran had always secured the steady second place.
After the scores for Ye Xunran came out this time, everyone knew it wasn’t good, a bit too low. It was estimated that he might lose the second place, but they assumed he would still be in the top five at least…
But there was none!
As they continued to scan, Ye Xunran’s name was nowhere to be found!
Due to the initial shock, they didn’t dare to inquire about the situation in other classes later. Little did they expect that several top-performing students from other classes had unexpectedly scored high this time!
The class became restless, and many turned to look at the stiff-faced Ye Xunran. After turning back, they anxiously continued to read…
Sixth place, seventh place, eighth place…
Suddenly, someone exclaimed.
Xu Ling’s pupils contracted suddenly, and then everything went black before his eyes.
On the spreadsheet, it was prominently listed…
Ninth place, Xu Yin, 693 points!
Xu Yin had actually scored 693 points this time, ranking ninth in the entire grade!
Class 7 exploded!
“How is that possible!”
“No way!”
“He scored just over 150 last time!”
“Is this a mistake?”
Some people hurriedly examined Xu Yin’s scores in the last two subjects, jaws dropping.
In such a difficult Integrated Science, he scored 260, and that was his lowest score among the four subjects!
And in the English test from hell, he directly scored 146! This score is insane; did he go crazy like Yan Ningchuan?
The student at the podium’s hands trembled. After a moment of silence, he adjusted the zoom level to 120, squeezing more content onto the page.
Two other students hurriedly ran up, quickly scrolling down to check the rankings.
Ye Xunran, sixteenth place!
He had dropped to sixteenth place!! A whole fourteen places!
In the back row, Ye Xunran slowly closed his eyes.
On the podium, as classmates continued to scroll down, familiar names kept appearing—students from Class 12 and Class 7, intermingling.
However, there was still no sign of Xu Ling’s name, continuously absent…
Xu Ling stared blankly at the projection until a classmate scrolled past one hundred names, and only then did he see his own name.
Xu Ling, 198th place, total score 554.
554 points, which was already the fifteenth position in Class 7 this time, but in the entire grade, Xu Ling was ranked directly in the 198th position.
Suddenly, the entire class fell into silence.
Xu Ling’s fingernails dug into the palm of his hand.
He lowered his head, his whole being on the verge of exploding!
After the stunned silence, Class 7 erupted into chaos. The three students on the podium gritted their teeth and continued to scroll down, reaching the rankings beyond two hundred…
Various names were swept past.
At a certain moment, the little curly-haired student at the podium trembled.
Wang Feifei, 304th place.
Lin Jia, 324th place.
And him… he was only 335…
The little curly-haired student choked, directly collapsing onto the desk, in complete despair!
The entire Class 7 was in shambles!
Just by looking at the rankings, it was evident that Class 12 had really outperformed them by a lot!
They were surpassed by Class 12!
