Chapter 42-Part 3

The girl speaking was named Jin Xiaoxing, and her mom was a history teacher in the second year of 4th Middle School.

This midterm exam was a joint exam with schools in the district, so the final papers were corrected by teachers from different schools together. This was to ensure fairness in scoring, as correcting papers also had its intricacies.

Some teachers were strict, deducting points for formatting and neatness.

But some teachers were lenient. Even if a student wrote only the word’solution,’ they would still give two points.

Generally, after correcting the papers, teachers from each school would have a rough idea of the results. After all, this time the ranking was a combined ranking with schools from the entire district, not just No. 4 High School.

Jin Xiaoxing said with a bitter face, “I told my mom that the math test paper was particularly difficult this time. As a result, she scolded me, saying that our school not only had someone score full marks in math but more than one.”

“What kind of monster is this? A perfect score in math, I wouldn’t dare to dream that even in my dreams.”

“Same here. I wish I could get ninety.”

Someone was curious. “Xiaoxing, do you know who scored full marks?”

“I guess it’s those students from Class 1 and Class 2, probably Han Jialiang. He has been in the top three of the grade.”

“As long as it’s not Xue Yirou, that woman really loves to show off.”

Finally, someone said, “Forget it; it’s definitely not someone from our class.”

Class 8 had a pretty poor average score in the last monthly exam, and this test paper was indeed a bit difficult. It was likely to drag down the overall grade average again.

Before long, during the morning self-study session, Teacher Qiao entered the classroom.

When he stood at the front door, everyone immediately pretended to be seriously reading their books, until his gaze looked somewhat complicated as he glanced toward the back row of the first group.

At this moment, Ji Ran was still sitting obediently in her seat, but Shen Zhi’s seat was empty.

He always entered the classroom by checking the situation first.

Just as the class bell rang, Shen Zhi walked into the classroom with a bag of yogurt, swinging it casually. He had just sat down when Teacher Qiao walked over.

He pointed at Ji Ran’s desk and gently tapped it. “You two, come over here for a moment.”

So, in front of everyone’s eyes, Ji Ran and Shen Zhi were called away by Teacher Qiao.

As soon as they left, various discussions erupted in the classroom.

“Why did the head teacher call them?”

“I don’t know, is it because of Tang Zhenpeng’s thing?”

“Could be.”

“But do you think it’s possible that the head teacher found out they’re dating early?”

“What? Ji Ran is dating Shen Zhi? Why don’t I know? When did this happen?”

“Anyone with eyes can see the subtle sparks between them. Don’t you agree, Wen Qianxia?”

Suddenly called out, Wen Qianxia blinks and immediately shakes her head. She didn’t know; she really didn’t know. Most importantly, she was afraid of saying the wrong thing and having Shen Zhi find out. She feared this big shot might actually take drastic measures against her.

However, Ji Ran and Shen Zhi seemed quite calm when they were called into Teacher Qiao’s office.

It was as if they had a sense of realization: “Oh, I knew the teacher would call us.”

Teacher Qiao was the math teacher for Class 8, so his office was also the math grade group office. As they entered, the other math teachers in the office all turned to look at them.

Their eyes were filled with an indescribable complexity. Until he spoke softly, “The reason I called you both here is because of the mid-term exam. You two…”

At this point,teacher  Qiao seemed to be a bit unsure of how to continue.

Then he opened the drawer and took out two test papers. The test papers of the other students in Class 8 were neatly arranged on the desk, except for these two, which were placed in the drawer.

When he received them earlier, his hands were shaking.

He spread the test papers on the table, and both Shen Zhi and Ji Ran looked down at them involuntarily. Shen Zhi’s test paper was on the left, and Ji Ran’s was on the right.

In the score column of the two test papers, a number was clearly and distinctly written in red pen.

150!

Ji Ran couldn’t help but glance at Shen Zhi, and in each other’s eyes, they both saw a certain understanding that was not so unexpected. It was as if they were saying, “Oh, you also got a perfect score.”

It was a tie.

Teacher Qiao’s mood was genuinely complicated at this moment. Which teacher wouldn’t want their students to achieve good results? However, when a student who was previously not good at academics suddenly transformed into an academic genius—no, let’s be honest, into a learning god—teachers would feel a particularly bewildering sensation.

Especially for Shen Zhi, the transformation was just too dramatic.

Just as teacher Qiao was considering how to break the news, Shen Zhi suddenly spoke, “Teacher, has the overall ranking been released?”

The overall ranking? Teacher Qiao was a bit stunned, but he nodded sincerely. The rankings had indeed been released.

Shen Zhi asked, “Can I take a look?”

After a moment of contemplation, Teacher Qiao whispered, “I can show you, but there are still some things to handle right now…”

However, he thought better of it and pulled out another sheet from the drawer.

Immediately, Ji Ran looked over. The first thing she noticed was the top row of the sheet because that was the position for the first in the grade.

As she looked, she saw the first two rows clearly, in an order she hadn’t seen before.

The name in the first row was Shen Zhi. The name in the second row was Ji Ran.

She took a deep breath and continued to look at the scores.

Shen Zhi: 710 points.

Ji Ran: 709 points.

The boy next to her suddenly chuckled. “I did quite well; I got over seven hundred points.”

Ji Ran: “…”