Su Meimei was unusually eager for the exam results, often asking the class monitor for updates.
Many in the class teased her, asking if she had been studying in secret, hoping for a dramatic debut.
She simply smiled and didn't say a word, her eyes fixated on Song Yitang, who was busy solving problems at her desk.
Anyone with a discerning eye could sense the tension between Song Yitang and Su Meimei.
Song Yitang didn't care; in her heart, the outside opinions were incomparable to her own future.
In fact, she was also very nervous, fearing she wouldn't break into the top ten, and somewhat uncertain.
Amid high expectations, the homeroom teacher Mou Guangrong entered the classroom with the Chinese papers and a glass water cup in hand.
"Looking at Old Niu's expression, seems like he's quite pissed."
Two people behind Song Yitang discussed.
Indeed, the next second, Mou Guangrong slammed the papers onto the lectern, sending chalk dust flying everywhere.
"Are some people intent on giving up completely?"
He paced back and forth on the lectern, his expression one of deep disappointment.
Finally, after letting off steam, he took a deep breath to compose himself.
"Out of twenty-five people in the class, only twelve passed."
As soon as he spoke, the crowd below began to buzz with whispers and discussion.
"Quiet! Everyone be quiet!"
"To talk when you scored this poorly? Better to spend that time reading your books instead!"
Mou Guangrong was infuriated; across the three classes in the grade, his had the lowest pass rate.
Just now, in the office, the grade director was recording scores, and he hadn't dared to breathe loudly!
"Now, I will call the names of those who should come up and collect their papers."
Ordinarily, he would announce scores as well, but to avoid further annoyance, he decided to skip this step.
"Su Meimei."
Su Meimei sprang up with such force that it drew attention.
She walked proudly to the lectern like a peacock strutting her stuff.
Chinese was one of her best subjects, and the only one in which she outperformed Song Yitang.
Mou Guangrong's face turned green with disgust, and he taunted, "I bet your parents regret bringing you into this world."
Su Meimei took the paper and saw the score of 60, her smile freezing instantly.
"How is this possible? I at least pass in normal times."
Seeing her doubt him, Mou Guangrong felt even more irritated.
"Always look for the problem within yourself first!"
"Next, Song Yitang."
Mou Guangrong's stern face immediately brightened with joy, and he loudly announced, "Our class's top score, you've shown significant improvement this time. It's clear you've studied hard at home."
"Everyone, take a good lesson from this!"
Song Yitang went up to receive her paper and caught sight of the red 105 score, her face lighting up in that instant.
She couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth from rising.
Seeing Song Yitang's 105 points, Su Meimei's eyes nearly bulged out.
"I don't believe it!" she blurted, swiftly snatching Song Yitang's paper.
She scanned the paper back and forth, her eyes burning as if trying to bore holes through it.
After class, a group of people surrounded Song Yitang, asking her to show them her paper under the guise of "studying"—in reality, they just wanted to find any marking errors.
No one dared to believe that someone who used to be at the bottom could become the top of the class after just one winter break.
Song Yitang, tired of their hollow praises, was just about to grow calluses on her ears when the bell for class saved her.
As the day went on, the results for each subject had been announced.
While Song Yitang was tallying her scores during the evening self-study, the homeroom teacher called her to the office.
Seeing Song Yitang leave the classroom, the room erupted into chaos.
Su Meimei led the charge in rifling through her desk drawer, pulling out all of Song Yitang's test papers.
"Impossible, how could she be the first in our class?"
Xue Qing, the class monitor sitting in the first row, frowned. Although he knew it wasn't right, he too was genuinely curious.
Has someone ranked at the bottom truly taken over the first place in their class?
He suppressed the desire to gossip and sat in his seat, eavesdropping on Su Meimei's conversation.
"Let me see, I can't believe it."
"Me neither, let me look at her math test paper."
"I want to see the language arts one."
"Physics for me!"
Seven or eight people started to scramble for the test papers.
Szzzt—
Roommate Xu Xiao and Su Meimei looked at the test paper torn in half in their hands, their eyes widening in shock.
The next second, they hurriedly stuffed the other half back to the other person in a panic.
"It wasn't me!"
"It wasn't me!"
Both of them denied loudly at the same time, desperately arguing it wasn't their fault.
Seeing the mess they'd made, the others quickly put down the papers and scattered back to their seats, pretending as if nothing had happened.
"Teacher, you called for me?" Song Yitang knocked on the office door.
Inside, seven or eight teachers looked up in unison, and upon seeing Song Yitang,
both the physics and chemistry teachers started to praise, "You did well this time, it's evident you put in the effort."
"Yes, keep studying hard, the college entrance exam is coming up soon!"
Even the usually reserved math teacher, surprisingly enough, started praising someone.
"Not bad, your approach to solving the problems is both innovative and more correct, did someone teach you?"
The math teacher adjusted his glasses, looking at the solutions transcribed onto his notebook.
They really were much more concise than the ones he taught.
"Yeah, there's an educated youth in the village with good grades."
Li Qianjin, someone with brawn rather than brains, temporarily assumed the role of the one with good grades.
"Do you know your ranking for this exam?" Mou Guangrong, upon seeing the ranking list, was so thrilled he almost kissed every teacher in the office.
He didn't even give Song Yitang a chance to guess.
Mou Guangrong gestured the number eight with his hands, happily saying, "Eighth place, the Bodhisattva has finally opened her eyes, there comes a day when one of my students breaks into the top 10."
"Weren't you asking for a guess? You ended up saying it yourself," teased the language arts teacher from the side.
Song Yitang was also slightly surprised upon hearing this, it felt somewhat unreal.
On the way there, Song Yitang was apprehensive and even afraid of being accused of cheating due to improving too quickly.
But seeing the class teacher's expression, Song Yitang felt confident that the top 10 ranking was secured.
"You did well this time, keep it up!" Mou Guangrong smiled so widely his eyes nearly disappeared, then became stern, "Now is the sprint phase of senior year, focus on your studies!"
"And that Su Meimei, since you two are close, you should guide her more."
"Teacher, my focus is entirely on my studies now, I have no time for others."
Expecting Mou Guangrong to get angry, Song Yitang was surprised to see instead a look of relief, as if to say, "Finally, you've come to your senses."
Mou Guangrong was truly happy, talking non-stop while holding on to Song Yitang.
The math teacher stood up with the test papers and called out, "Come to my evening study session next period, let's go."
On the way back to the classroom, Wang Lei, the math expert, couldn't help but voice his inner doubts.
"Can you roughly explain your problem-solving methods?"
Song Yitang paused, then nodded and simply narrated them as they were taught in the online course.
"Well said. I will integrate some of your methods into my teaching so that everyone can grasp them faster."
After the two entered the classroom, the atmosphere became very awkward.
Especially since Su Meimei was too guilty to meet Song Yitang's gaze, Song Yitang felt that something was amiss.
Immediately looking into the desk drawer, there was indeed evidence that someone had rummaged through it, stuffing the test papers messily inside.
"Who did this?"
Su Meimei kept her eyes forward, not daring to look directly at Song Yitang.