"Tomorrow, make sure to take the exercise book in order to complete some practice questions." Li Qianqian reminded sternly. It seemed that she was taking the role of a teacher quite seriously.
"Got it." Ye Hao didn't arrogantly think that he had mastered highschool mathematics just because he had a good memory. It was always necessary to properly integrate knowledge if one wanted to have a stable foundation.
"See you tomorrow, then." Li Qianqian cleaned up and sorted her books and utensils.
"How about I take you home?" Ye Hao proposed after thinking for a while.
"No need." Li Qianqian shook her head gently.
“Ah, okay then. G’night.”
Ye Hao watched through the transparent glass window as her swaying figure disappeared behind the corner and melded into the night. He sipped the rest of his soda and shook the cup, causing the ice cubes to clink together.
Opening the cap, he saw eight ice cubes circling in the bottom. One was almost completely melted, leaving a remainder of seven intact.
Less than eight weeks until the college entrance exams, uh. I need to work harder!
...
It could be said that the efficiency of the No. 2 Middle School was relatively good.
The very next morning, the class teacher, Professor Xu Li, walked into the class while carrying a stack of test papers.
The students suddenly quietened down, and their eyes were fixated on Professor Xu Li, to be more precise, the test papers in her hand.
"This bout of monthly exam scores were not bad." Professor Xu Li swept the whole class with her eyes as she spoke slowly, "This is good progress for the class as a whole."
Placing the papers atop the podium, she announced loudly, "Zhou, 145 points."
Immediately, all the students’ attention was focused on a gentle-looking young man wearing thin glasses. His uniform was neat and his aura seemed scholarly; simply a one-of-a-kind student amongst the boys.
Zhou Xian, the leader of the second class!
Zhou Xian flicked his glasses with his middle finger, reflecting a blinding gleam of light throughout the classroom. Noiselessly, he made his way up to the podium to collect his test paper.
"This time, your math ranks second in terms of score." Professor Xu Li said gently as she motivated, "Next time, try to get another two or three points."
"This student understands." Zhou Xian replied calmly.
"Zhou Xian is really domineering." The students discussed in hushed whispers.
"How did he score 145 points and not get ranked at the top??"
"Maybe it's Lan Xiao Die?"
"It must be her. Who else could it be, Ye Hao?"
“Hahaha, stop it! You’re killing me over here.”
“Don’t make me laugh. If anything, he’ll be first starting from the bottom. No one can take his place.”
Zhou Xian returned to his seat, his test score the main topic of discussion.
"Yi Gan, 128 points." Professor Xu Li handed over a test paper to another student, "Good work, this time you’ve improved more than five times over."
“...”
"Xia Ming, 131 points."
"Zhou Shuai, 115 points." It didn’t take long for Professor Xu Li to call Zhou Shuai’s name.
Hearing his name being associated with the score of only 115 points, Zhou Shuai’s face couldn’t help but turn into that of a bitter gourd.
"Zhou Shuai, if you continue to mix with a bad influence like Ye Hao, it will be hard for you to get admitted into a good university." Professor Xu Li said as she handed the test paper to Zhou Shuai.
Ye Hao felt as if Professor Xu Li’s words stirred the air to give him an invisible slap across the face.
Absolute disrespect. No restraints!
He watched as Professor Xu Li eyed him with eyes filled with disgust and contempt.
Zhou Shuai didn't say anything, only taking his test paper before silently returning to his seat.
When Zhou Shuai noticed that Ye Hao didn’t utter as much as a single peep, he poked him with his elbow, "I say, you alright?"
"I’m in a bad mood right now." Ye Hao clenched his fists but his facial features didn’t change in the slightest.
"Don't take that old hag’s words to heart." Zhou Shuai laughed comfortingly, “Look at me, at most I will fall out of key class, but I’m still fine, aren’t I?
"You haven't dropped out of key class even after so many months of exams. You still think I would believe your fart words?" Ye Hao rolled his eyes at Zhou Shuai.
When Zhou Shuai was about to refute, Professor Xu Li's voice rang out deliberately for all to hear.
"Ye Hao, 38 points."
The students immediately keeled over in unrestrained laughter, their eyes gloating at his misfortune.
Ye Hao stood up calmly.
Usually, the students wouldn’t have been so unbridled in their laughter, but someone resurfaced the matter of him challenging Professor Xu Li to a bet of getting into the top six universities. As this information got passed around, the students were already holding in a belly full of laughter ready to explode at any time.
After Professor Xu Li handed the test paper to Ye Hao, she asked mockingly, "Are you still sure you can be admitted to the top six universities?"
"Well—"
Xu Li laughed involuntarily, "Are you kidding me?"
Ye Hao didn’t bother to reply to her but returned to his seat quietly.
Zhou Shuai wanted to console Ye Hao but didn’t know what to say. He could only sigh weakly.
Ye Hao didn't continue to listen to the rest of the announcements as he had already heard his name and collected his paper. Instead, he opened a high school maths exercise book and started reading.
Ye Hao couldn’t afford to waste any time wallowing in self-pity if he wanted to get into the top six universities.
After giving out the results, Professor Xu Li walked through the test paper briefly and explained the problems one by one. However, Ye Hao still couldn’t comprehend a lot of things.
In the end, he returned to reading his exercise book and building his foundations.
When the class bell rang, another older teacher came in with a batch of test papers.
The old teacher had a kind smile on his face as he spoke in a husky voice, "I know what you are all waiting for so I shall start immediately. Listen out for your names.”
"Xia Ming, 76 points."
"Tang An, 68 points."
"Zhou Xian, 78 points."
Zhou Xian wore a somber expression as he returned to his seat.
"I guess even people like Zhou Xian have their weaknesses. For him, it’s the liberal arts."
"Zhou Xian would have long gone to the first class if it wasn’t for the burden of the liberal arts."
The students’ whispers made Zhou Xian feel extremely uncomfortable but he had no way to stop their chatter or to refrain from hearing.
"Zhou Shuai, 90 points." As the old teacher called Zhou Shuai's name, the students turned to look at him in awe.
Because this was the first time in history that somebody actually managed to score a ninety.
Zhou Shuai took his paper with both hands, his eyes squinted in happiness.
"You don’t have to worship me so fervently, brother." Zhou Shuai said jokingly.
"Who will be worshiping who in the end has not necessarily been decided yet." Ye Hao said as a-matter-of-factly.
Ye Hao had long known that Zhou Shuai's liberal arts scores were good. It could be said that the reason he didn’t drop out of key class was because of liberal arts.
"Can you still score higher than me?" Zhou Shuai was unconvinced.
At this time, the old teacher who was reading the names suddenly paused for a while, surprised to see Ye Hao’s performance. After a while, he finally announced,
“Ye Hao...98 points.”
The students went into a sudden uproar. Faced with the dubious looks of his classmates, Ye Hao wore a serene expression on his face.
“This historical question is quite unique. Take note of it for next time.” The old man pointed out.
Ye Hao took the test paper and glanced through it to see where he went wrong.
“Also, that fill-in-the-blank question is very strange; it’s not mentioned in the history textbook. If it wasn’t for those issues, you could’ve gotten full marks. Fight for full marks next time!” The old teacher patted Ye Hao's shoulder and encouraged.
"Thank you for teacher’s guidance. I will work hard." Ye Hao nodded.
Even when Ye Hao returned to his seat, there were still many watching him with different expressions.
"I say, let me see that," Zhou Shuai grabbed Ye Hao's test paper. He carefully checked it over then asked incredulously, "How did you do it?"
"I memorized the textbook." Ye Hao smiled lightly.
"Aren’t you babbling nonsense? How could you do that in the short amount of time you were given?" Zhou Shuai asked speechlessly.
"Well, do you think there is a shortcut to learning history?" Ye Hao threw the history paper aside before picking up his textbook, once again starting another reading spree.
Zhou Shuai looked at Ye Hao for the second time and felt that he had changed immensely.
Soon, all the test results were given out. The rest of Ye Hao’s scores were as follows.
Chinese: 125, English: 65, Geography: 97, Biology: 92, Politics: 93, Physics: 52, Chemistry: 62.
Zhou Shuai calculated Ye Hao's total score and summed it up to be 722 points while his total score was only 718 points.
Just when Zhou Shuai’s face displayed astonishment, so did Professor Xu Li’s, who was currently looking at the ranking chart.
"How can this guy suddenly get a score of 722 points? It’s unreasonable." Professor Xu Li thought and soon came to an unexpected conclusion, "Well Ye Hao, you dare to cheat openly in front of me?"
Her guess was actually reasonable.
One should know that Ye Hao's score was only 460 points six months ago.
However, Ye Hao went into a coma for half a year and the results had suddenly skyrocketed to 722 points?
Who in their right mind would believe this?
Thinking that she had the cat out of the bag, Professor Xu Li stood up and walked towards the classroom, her heart filled with evil intentions.
After pushing open the door, she stared at Ye Hao who was sitting in the back row while reading, "Ye Hao, you stand up for me!"
Ye Hao, who was previously minding his own business, stood up with a frown, “Professor Xu Li, what seems to be the matter?”
“Ye Hao, you really disappoint me. As a student of the No. 2 Middle School, don’t you know that it’s bad to cheat on your exams?!"
Prove it?