18 Chapter 18: Entering Elite Class A

Early morning.

The self-study period was moved half an hour earlier, and the students complained bitterly. A few of them simply arrived late.

Teacher Sun stood at the classroom door, intercepting the latecomers one by one.

"I forgot that the time was moved ahead!"

"My alarm didn't go off!"

"Blame my mom, she insisted on making me breakfast, and that made me late."

Zhao Yi was also late. His excuse was quite unique, "I ran to school but miscalculated the time."

"Why didn't you take a bike?"

"Exercise!"

Teacher Sun stared at Zhao Yi for a while, but eventually begrudgingly let him go. "Yesterday... nevermind. Go in, if you're late again, you'll be punished in the hallway!"

Zhao Yi finally entered the classroom.

After waving to Lin Xiaoqing and Sun Liang, he sat down at his desk, entered the "focused mode", and began to study his chemistry textbook patiently.

This test was a lesson.

Yesterday's comprehensive science exam was incredibly painful. Physics was a tad bit easier, involving formula application, theorems, some analysis, and calculations, but Chemistry and Biology were very different.

These two subjects are full of experiential learning and small factoids. You can't possibly remember everything after just reading the book once. To score high, you need to memorize every fact, and carefully study every experiment.

Continuous reading and learning!

Once you have mastered all the book's content, you'll be able to solve many problems, and you need to do additional exercises to improve further.

Teacher Sun sat on the platform supervising the self-study period. The classroom was quiet, but in fact, only a few students were able to carry on with their studies.

Everyone was waiting for their scores.

The high-ranking students wanted to know their standings in the school; those ranked in the middle were fretting, wanting to know if they got into the elite class; those at the bottom of the ranks also wanted to know how many points they scored.

"Ring~~~"

End of class.

As soon as Teacher Sun stepped out of the classroom, the class plunged into a frenzy.

"When will the scores be posted?"

"Let's go downstairs and check!"

"We will know when they're posted. They're supposedly distributing classes this afternoon!"

"I wonder how I did..."

There were discussions everywhere. Zhao Yi closed his book and simply listened to Lin Xiaoqing chattering away.

"I did well this time. Chinese and English were tough, but Math and Science were a bit better!"

"I estimate I scored above 640!"

"Sun Liang, what about you?"

Sun Liang grimaced, "Whether the test is easy or hard, I always score around 600! My dad said he would buy me an MP3 player if I rank within the top five. There's definitely no chance for that!"

Lin Xiaoqing sympathetically rolled her eyes.

Sun Liang's weak subjects carried a heavy weight; even if English and Chinese were easy, he would just pass, and if they were hard, he wouldn't score much lower.

Similarly,

even if Math and Physics were hard, he would still score high, and if the problems were simple, his score horizon would not be very high.

If math and science problems are simple, he wouldn't be able to pull away from others in his advantage courses, making high ranking not easy to achieve.

"Zhao Yi, what about you? How many marks do you estimate you got?" asked Lin Xiaoqing.

Sun Liang also looked over.

"Maybe more than 500," Zhao Yi guessed a number.

Lin Xiaoqing rolled her eyes again, "501 and 599 both count as 'more than 500'!"

"We'll find out when the results come out!"

Lin Xiaoqing was a bit upset by his attitude, "How come you don't care at all! This is a class placement test, it determines whether you can get into the elite class!"

"Such an important test, and you don't care at all!"

"What's with you? Don't you want to study anymore?"

"You're as useful as a chocolate teapot!"

Zhao Yi was frustrated, "You sound just like my mother..."

"You're just... urgh!" Lin Xiaoqing snapped, turning away in a huff.

Zhao Yi opened his mouth but didn't speak.

Women's minds are really complicated, huh?

How did she get mad?

Makes no sense!

The first period was a math class, and it continued for two periods.

Niu Lianhua walked to the podium with the test papers, called out a student's name, and announced the score along with it.

"Sheng Zhenhua, 71 points."

"Such an easy test, yet you couldn't even score half. I don't know how you studied!"

"Sun Liang."

Niu Lianhua's attitude towards Sun Liang was clearly different. When Sun Liang came forward, she even showed a rare smile, "149 points, just one point from a full score."

"Actually, you should have scored full. You missed a small step in the last question. When Teacher Li was marking, she consulted with me. I just said to deduct one point. After all, you still have the highest score in the grade."

Sun Liang took the paper and went back to his seat.

Zhao Yi couldn't help but tease Sun Liang, "I bet her husband's surname is Sun."

"How did you know that?" Sun Liang was a bit surprised.

"Because you are her true son!"

Lin Xiaoqing burst out laughing after hearing that.

"Lin Xiaoqing!"

"133, good progress!"

A radiant smile blossomed on Lin Xiaoqing's face as she took the paper.

"Zhao Yi! 95!"

"I don't know what luck I had, I barely passed!"

Niu Lianhua's words were dripping with sarcasm.

Zhao Yi didn't need to look at the test paper to know why: He had got all the multiple-choice questions right, yet he only just made the cut?

Okay then!

It can't be helped!

Math class was all about solving problems.

Many of the questions were simple, Niu Lianhua jumped around them, taking only half the class to go through the majority of the problems. Only the last two were challenging.

Only ten minutes into the second class, she had finished discussing the whole test.

The students' attention drifted towards the window.

Niu Lianhua chided sharply, "What are you looking at!" After finishing her sentence, she too went to the window; the score list was being posted on the bulletin board downstairs.

Upon seeing the students' lack of focus, Niu Lianhua simply let everyone study on their own.

The waiting was torturous.

Amid various whispered discussions, the final bell finally rang.

The students bolted out of the classroom.

"The ranking is out!"

"The top hundred make it to the elite class. I really hope I made it!"

"Guess who's ranked first!"

"He Ronghua, of course!"

Sun Liang, dragging Zhao Yi along, was charging downstairs, all the while muttering, "This has to do with my MP3!"

As they rounded a corner, Zhao Yi was bumped from behind, almost falling down the stairs, "Slow down, Monkey! It's not that urgent! You go ahead, I'm not in a hurry!"

"Damn it!"

"Wait 'til your brother gets his bonus, I'll buy you the best one! Don't drag me, go check it out for yourself!"

Sun Liang wondered, "What bonus?"

"It's nothing!"

Zhao Yi brushed him off vaguely, finally making his way to the playground downstairs.

The crowd was immense!

A large group of students were pressing towards the bulletin board where there were only a hundred names.

The first fifty made it to Elite Class A.

The next fifty made it to Elite Class B.

"First place, He Ronghua of Class 1, 661 points."

"Second place, Lin Xiaoqing of Class 3, 653 points."

"Third place, Fang Huanqiang of Class 6, 633 points."

"..."

"Eleventh place, Sun Liang of Class 3, 589 points."

"..."

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"In the forty-ninth place, Zhao Yi of Class 3, 557 points."

"..."

"Is this for real?"

Sun Liang, who had already wormed his way into the crowd, shouted in surprise, "Zhao Yi! You scored 557!"

"Which rank?"

"Forty-nine!"

Sun Liang was wide-eyed, full of disbelief.

Zhao Yi smiled nonchalantly, "It's nothing. I'm going to score even higher next time! How about you, which rank?"

"I am..."

Before Sun Liang could finish, a squeal interrupted him.

"Zhao Yi! Zhao Yi! You made it to Class A!" Lin Xiaoqing rushed over excitedly, "You really did it, we are in the same class!"

"Congrats to you too, coming second place, you've progressed!"

With the corner of her mouth hooked up in pride, Lin Xiaoqing said, "I told you, I did well this time!"

"About that bet..."

With a sinister smile, Zhao Yi teased.

Lin Xiaoqing immediately grabbed Sun Liang, "You say it! Sun Liang is right here!"

"..."

"You'll keep your word, right?"

"Of course!"

Lin Xiaoqing, with the air of 'I'm a person of good character', smirked.

Zhao Yi nodded with a smile, "Well, hold onto that thought. Whenever we're alone together, I can..."

"Zhao! Yi!"

Lin Xiaoqing shuddered, her teeth gritted in resentment, and she threatened with narrowed eyes, "If you want to die, just say it, I'll gladly send you on your way!"

"Ha, ha..."

Zhao Yi quickly took a step back, "Just kidding, you're the boss, you're the boss..."

"Hmph!"

Looking at Zhao Yi and then at Lin Xiaoqing, Sun Liang murmured dejectedly, "My MP3 is gone, can't anyone console me?"