Li Zheng, however, did not let his emotions show; he simply flattened out his report card silently, saying nothing throughout.
Liu Yue felt it was boring and immediately grabbed her grades to ridicule someone else.
Sitting in his seat, Li Zheng examined his report card and fell into deep thought.
[Name: Li Zheng]
[Student Number: 20170423]
[Chinese: 91 points, ranked 134]
Without a doubt, his Chinese performance was abnormal; under normal circumstances, he was always within the top 60.
[Math: 117 points, ranked 13]
Compared to his 30th place in the final exam last semester, this was an extraordinary performance in this month's test.
Unexpectedly, just this score could get him this far ahead. It seemed that this month's math test was indeed difficult.
[English: 114 points, ranked 39]
Normal performance, nothing much to say.
Next, physics, chemistry, and biology were not yet integrated into a comprehensive science test; they were still on a separate hundred-point scale.
[Physics: 92 points, ranked 9]
Stable improvement, not bad.
[Chemistry: 57 points, ranked 176]
Damn.
He didn't pass.
He dropped more than 60 spots compared to before.
Indeed, the main topics of this semester—thermal effects and electrolysis—were completely confusing to him. Memorizing the content was already challenging, and once the questions changed form, he was immediately lost.
With this ranking in front of him, even without the system, Li Zheng would definitely start to fight hard against chemistry.
Next...
[Biology: 81 points, ranked 32]
Normal performance.
[Total Score: 552, Grade Rank: 51, Class Rank: 3]
Sigh...
It was very clear.
This was a humiliating score, an utterly disgraceful rank.
He couldn't even hold onto second in the class.
Jiang Qinghua usually organized activities and played basketball, spending much less time studying than him.
Yet, even so, he still surpassed him.
Efforts needed to be doubled.
No, quadrupled twenty-eight times.
Li Zheng silently opened his pen case and stuffed the report card into the transparent compartment.
This way, he could see this humiliating result every time he used his pen case.
Suddenly, an annoying voice came from his side.
"Hmm? ~~~~"
Lin Yujing, holding her rocket-shaped water bottle, returned after getting water and was now craning her neck to look at the report card in the pen case.
Li Zheng's face turned red as he hastily zipped up the pen case.
Damn it.
She was the last person he wanted to see it.
"Tsk~" Lin Yujing turned her head and casually tossed her own report card.
As if on purpose, the report card landed perfectly on the table in front of Li Zheng.
Although Li Zheng didn't want to look, he was still visually polluted.
[Name: Lin Yujing]
[Student Number: 20170101]
[Chinese: 139 points, ranked 1]
[Math: 147 points, ranked 1]
[English: 142 points, ranked 1]
[Physics: 99 points, ranked 1]
[Chemistry: 100 points, ranked 1]
[Biology: 94 points, ranked 1]
[Total Score: 721, Grade Rank: 1, Class Rank: 1]
You gotta be kidding me...
Too... too... too...
Too damn spectacular.
So dazzlingly spectacular that it made one comfortable.
And that blinding perfect score in chemistry.
How on earth did she manage those godawful formulas and reaction conditions?
She's like a god, with hydrogen, helium, lithium, and beryllium all her kin, huh?
And that 700+ total score.
Clearly ahead by a landslide.
Utterly despair-inducing.
Lin Yujing waited for a long time before extending her hand to lightly pick up her report card.
She gave it a flick in front of Li Zheng.
"~~~"
"..."
After admiring enough, she finally left comfortably.
Li Zheng stared dazedly at Lin Yujing, his expression somewhat out of control.
Damn it.
Clearly, he wasn't competing for anything.
All through freshman year, we were at peace.
Why suddenly, did she become so irritating?
Lin Yujing returned to her seat, carefully opened a crack in the window, gently adjusted her shirt, and then comfortably sat down, unscrewing the rocket-shaped water bottle cap to slowly pour herself a cup of hot water.
The gentle breeze came and morning sunlight gently graced the room.
She finally regained her previous arrogant posture.
Her entire being was reconciled again.
She lifted the rocket head, brought it slowly to her lips, but suddenly thought of something. Turning back, she glanced at the indignant Li Zheng, gently raised her hand, and traced a five and a one in the air with her finger. Finally, she smiled and toasted: "Ching~~~"
Argh...
Li Zheng was about to throw up.
Also, what was "Ching"? How did she make that sound?
Swallowing carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, and neon all at once?
Doesn't matter, I just want to punch her.
Come to the basketball court if you dare!
Luckily, a greasy and hairy figure soon suppressed Li Zheng's urge to vomit.
"Hey, who would have thought?" Liu Xin sat down steadily, smiling as he waved his report card in front of Li Zheng, "Brother Li, I've improved."
Li Zheng scratched his head.
Had he fallen to the point of being mocked by Liu Xin?
Liu Xin, open-minded as always, straightened his report card and held it out to Li Zheng: "Give me some comments, Brother Li."
[Name: Liu Xin]
[Student Number: 20170444]
[Chinese: 52 points, ranked 263]
[Math: 37 points, ranked 264]
[English: 49 points, ranked 263]
[Physics: 22 points, ranked 264]
[Chemistry: 3 points, ranked 264]
[Biology: 48 points, ranked 258]
[Total Score: 211, Grade Rank: 263, Class Rank: 44]
Look at his student number, how auspicious.
The competition with the 264th rank was quite fierce.
One must admit, from the perspective of the class average score, Lin Yujing's contribution was completely offset by Liu Xin's presence.
As Teacher Hu's chronic headache, it wasn't easy for him to advance to the second year.
"It's a pity," Liu Xin said, pursing his lips with some pride, "If it weren't for chemistry being too hard, I could've ranked one spot higher."
"Don't make that face or Teacher Hu will have another episode," Li Zheng hurriedly said, "Lower your head, look a bit more dejected."
"What's there to be dejected about? I moved up a place."
"No, bro, I think that guy missed a few exams."
Liu Xin just waved his hand: "Doesn't matter, at least I could sit through it. That counts as a skill too."
Alright.
This mindset was something worth learning.
Li Zheng composed himself again, determined not to look at Lin Yujing.
Fine, one last glance.
Hmm? She had placed a bunch of pens on her desk and was fiddling with them.
What was this about?
Having scored first, was she performing some kind of sacrificial ritual to the Wenqu Star?
Quickly, Lin Yujing, like arranging matchsticks, assembled the pens into—
51.
Only then did she contentedly turn her head back, squinting and smirking: "Ching~~"
Damn it, I shouldn't have looked!
Ding-a-ling~~
Almost simultaneously with the bell, Hu Chunmei barged in, slamming the teaching materials on the podium.
Boom! Bang! Bam!
Next came her severe gaze.
Like beams of light, it swept across the classroom, leaving no survivors.
Things had just improved slightly yesterday, but seeing all the results this morning had made her irritable again.
"How should I teach??"
"Tell me, how should I teach???"
"At the end of last semester, I said you were mid-low in the rankings, and with a bit of effort, you could improve."
"You certainly didn't disappoint me."
"Bottom of the science class!"
"An average score difference of 3.7 points with the second last place!"
"Were you sent by the heavens to aggravate me?"
"Mud can't support a wall, and dogs can't change their habits..."
"No, no, the Education Committee doesn't allow us to say that now."
"I need to take a breather..."
She clutched her heart, her breathing becoming heavier.
Finally, she pulled out a chair and sat down.
Her tone gradually lost its strength.
"Parent-teacher conferences are about to start; you don't care, but how should I explain this to your parents?"
"Sigh..."
She couldn't even muster the strength to scold anymore, ending with a sigh.
The previous tirades, everyone was used to.
But this sigh genuinely stung many people.
"Teacher Hu... I'm trying my best..." Liu Xin said with his head down.
"You... you... you..." Hu Chunmei pointed at him, her index finger trembling for a long time but ultimately fell short of words, "I don't care about you anymore, do as you wish."
In this sorrowful atmosphere, Hu Chunmei suddenly noticed something.
On the ground next to Liu Xin and on his desk, there were piles of books.
It looked like a flood control dam; it completely obscured whoever was sitting there.