Proving One’s Worth

The days passed one by one, and the monthly exams arrived as scheduled.

Before the first exam in the morning, Wang Cheng somehow got his hands on several sticks of incense. He bowed several times toward Lu Huaizhi with an expression of utmost piety. “Top Student, protect me! Just give me the scraps of your scores for each subject.”

“You’re dreaming quite beautifully,” Qi Sizheng ruthlessly shattered his fantasy. “It’ll be a miracle if you even pass with a 30 in each subject.”

When he was tutoring Wang Cheng, he discovered that Wang Cheng’s foundation wasn’t just poor—it was nonexistent. Most of his previous test scores were the result of lucky guessing, whereas Lu Huaizhi had nearly aced Math and English last time.

Even the “scraps” of those scores would be harder for Wang Cheng to achieve than reaching the heavens.

Wang Cheng covered his ears, refusing to accept the cold reality. “I don’t care. I’ve already bowed. Even if I can’t make it, my brother will.”

He had heard that Shi Sui had been letting Lu Huaizhi go to his house for tutoring lately. With the grade’s rank one student providing face-to-face coaching, Shi Sui’s grades were bound to skyrocket.

Wang Cheng grabbed his scratch paper and pen, turning to ask Shi Sui, “Are you ready? Exam Room 8 is a bit far; we need to head out early.”

For every monthly exam, seating was arranged by rank. Room 8 was full of the bottom-tier students, while Qi Sizheng and Lu Huaizhi were in Room 1.

Shi Sui was checking his backpack. Since someone he didn’t know would be sitting at his desk all day, he had to make sure they wouldn’t mess with his bag or stuff anything strange inside.

Like a pink envelope appearing out of nowhere.

After confirming everything was fine, Shi Sui stuffed the bag into the desk, grabbed his stationery, and was about to leave with Wang Cheng when Lu Huaizhi called him back.

“Take an extra pen refill.” Lu Huaizhi handed his own to Shi Sui. “Yours is almost out of ink.”

Shi Sui took it and waved a hand at him. “Gone.”

On the way, Wang Cheng kept glancing at the refill in Shi Sui’s hand. After a while, he couldn’t help but speak up. “Shi Sui, I’ll trade you two refills for that one in your hand. What do you say?”

Shi Sui glanced at him. “Reason.”

“That’s the Top Student’s pen!” Wang Cheng said. “It’s been blessed!”

Wang Cheng was about to reach out to trade, but before he could touch it, Shi Sui stuffed the refill into his pocket, guarding it tightly. “No deal.”

Then he stepped into the exam room and found his seat.

Wang Cheng followed him, preparing to raise the stakes, but a girl’s voice came from the door. “You guys are testing in Room 8?”

Tao Lingwei stood at the back door, smiling. “I just happened to be passing by.”

Because Shi Sui and Wang Cheng had poor grades, they were seated near the back door. Tao Lingwei spotted them immediately.

Shi Sui nodded at her. Tao Lingwei merely gave a greeting and walked away.

Wang Cheng asked in confusion, “Isn’t she in the first year? What is she doing in the second-year building?”

He leaned out of the classroom to look and saw Tao Lingwei talking to someone at the window of Room 6.

Chi Qing was in Room 6. He would ask later who Tao Lingwei was looking for.

Temporarily suppressing his gossipy heart, Wang Cheng pulled back his gaze only to see Shi Sui playing with his pen. When the girl came by just now, Shi Sui hadn’t even looked her in the eye.

Wang Cheng’s tone was complicated. “Are you a blockhead? You didn’t even grasp such a good opportunity. Now look, she’s not interested in you anymore.”

Shi Sui spun the pen in his hand without looking up. “Oh.” His attitude was completely dismissive.

“Why are you so dense?” Wang Cheng frowned.

Tao Lingwei was considered the grade beauty of the first years and had a good personality. If she took an interest in Shi Sui, he’d clearly be the one benefiting, yet this kid’s attitude was cold as ice.

Wang Cheng asked, “What kind of person do you actually like?”

The motion of Shi Sui spinning his pen stalled. Lu Huaizhi’s face inexplicably surfaced in his mind.

Sitting side by side in front of the coffee table, drinking from his cup, his lips moist…

Clack. Shi Sui’s pen slipped and fell to the floor.

“Like my a*s.” Shi Sui picked up the pen, his face expressionless. “The exam is starting. Go back to your seat and stop messing with my train of thought.”

Wang Cheng narrowed his sharp, gossipy eyes. “Shi Sui, are you hiding something from me?”

This reaction clearly indicated something was up. And he didn’t know anything about it?!

“Could it be the person from the sports meet who wrote the cheer-up draft as a love letter!” Wang Cheng slapped the table excitedly. “Holy f*ck, I knew that person had a chance!”

Shi Sui: “?”

Fortunately, the proctor interrupted Wang Cheng’s wandering thoughts. “You in the back, didn’t you hear the bell? Get back to your seat!” Wang Cheng was forced to stop his gossiping.

Shi Sui struggled to calm his mind. He told himself he only thought of Lu Huaizhi because the tutoring material had been important.

What did Lu Huaizhi tutor him on again?

Shi Sui scribbled a few lines on the scratch paper, his face stiffening. Great. He couldn’t remember a single thing.

The monthly exams lasted for two days, and results would be out before school ended on the third day.

Since today was Friday, during the last self-study period, Wang Cheng was already celebrating. “Are we going to the internet cafe for an all-nighter? I’ve already booked the seats.”

Shi Sui gave a dismissive hum, scribbling with his pen.

Lu Huaizhi replaced the scratch paper Shi Sui had poked through with a new one. “You can break the top 400.”

As each subject’s test paper was handed back, he took a rough look at the problem types. He had explained many of them to Shi Sui and emphasized many point-earning areas. Based on Shi Sui’s usual feedback, he had absorbed at least a third of it.

As long as he performed normally during the exam, it would be fine.

And Shi Sui clearly performed very well. After finishing the last science comprehensive exam, he couldn’t suppress the slight curve of his lips.

In the Teachers’ Office.

Tian Hongjun looked at the results, his face blooming into a smile.

The office was filled with congratulations. “Old Tian, your class really did it this time! How did they improve so much? They jumped straight to fourth in overall class ranking!”

One must know that Class 3 usually hovered around eighth or ninth place, with sixth being their previous best.

Tian Hongjun said modestly, “Not at all, it’s all the students’ own hard work.”

Despite his words, he was the first to print out the grade ranking list, highlighting the names from his class in the top twenty with a red marker and placing it prominently on his desk.

“This Lu Huaizhi got full marks in several subjects again—rank one in the grade. Qi Sizheng did well too, ranking fifth.” The teacher next to him was incredibly envious. “Old Tian, do you have a secret? Don’t hide it!”

Class 3 occupied seven spots in the top twenty. It was impossible for other teachers not to be jealous.

Furthermore, the headteachers of the top five classes in the overall monthly ranking received a 5,000 yuan bonus.

Tian Hongjun smiled and waved it off. “No, I told you, they did it themselves.”

the positive pressure Lu Huaizhi brought to the class far exceeded his imagination. Occasionally, when he patrolled the halls during breaks, he would see Lu Huaizhi bowing his head over problems. Qi Sizheng was gradually influenced, and the effect rippled outward.

During every self-study period, their class was definitely the quietest.

Even Wang Cheng, who usually sneaked snacks, was reading.

Tian Hongjun, having shown off enough, was about to take the two ranking lists to the classroom when he was blocked by another teacher who had been silent. “Teacher Tian, don’t you think there’s a problem with your class’s results?”

The smile faded from Tian Hongjun’s face. “Teacher Jiang, what do you mean by that?”

Teacher Jiang was the headteacher of Class 8, which ranked sixth in the overall class results this time.

He took the class ranking list from Tian Hongjun’s hand and pointed at the scores of the last few rows. “You should be the most familiar with your own class’s performance, right?”

“In the last monthly exam, three of the bottom five students in the grade were from your class. Now, they’ve all suddenly rushed to the front?”

Class 3 indeed had many top students, but they also had many bottom-tier students. This time, however, the bottom-tier students had all performed exceptionally well, pushing Class 3’s overall ranking to fourth.

Teacher Jiang showed the grade sheet to the other teachers. “Everyone knows the troublemakers in Teacher Tian’s class, but look at their scores.”

“Wang Cheng is rank 437. Even more ridiculous is Shi Sui.” He circled Shi Sui’s score and marked it with a red question mark. “He jumped from dead last to rank 358.”

“I have reason to suspect someone leaked the questions, or these people cheated.” The office suddenly fell silent.

After a while, someone tried to smooth things over.

“Teacher Jiang, that’s not right. Only teachers know the questions. How could a teacher leak them?”

“But Shi Sui’s score is indeed problematic. Could it be cheating?”

As soon as those words were spoken, Tian Hongjun denied it without hesitation: “Impossible!”

His voice was very loud, and his face was red with anger. The other teachers didn’t dare speak for a moment.

Tian Hongjun had seen Shi Sui’s recent hard work. This result was what Shi Sui deserved. He couldn’t let Shi Sui’s previous bad record erase his current efforts.

While the two sides were at a stalemate, Dean Deng Weiben, who had received the news, hurried back from outside.

“What’s all the shouting about?” Deng Weiben’s face was grim. “Just call Shi Sui here and ask.”

Tian Hongjun wanted to stop him, but he was glared back into silence by Deng Weiben.

When Shi Sui arrived, he saw the crumpled grade sheet on Tian Hongjun’s desk and the large question mark over his score. He immediately knew why he was there.

His shoulders, which had been tense with anticipation for his results, suddenly slumped. A self-mocking smile crossed his lips. He leaned against the wall with one hand in his pocket. “What is it?”

“Stand up straight for me.” Tian Hongjun was already angry. “Take your hand out of your pocket!”

Shi Sui slowly withdrew his hand, but his posture remained incredibly lazy.

Tian Hongjun was about to lecture him properly when Lu Huaizhi suddenly called out “Reporting” at the office door.

“Why are you here?”

Lu Huaizhi entered and stood beside Shi Sui. Instead of answering Tian Hongjun’s question, he asked, “Are the teachers doubting Shi Sui’s results?”

It was easy to tell from the teachers’ expressions.

Lu Huaizhi looked down at the grade sheet on the desk and read aloud, “Rank 358…”

“Shi Sui, you did it!” Lu Huaizhi turned to look at Shi Sui, his knuckles lightly brushing against Shi Sui’s clenched fist. “Impressive!” It was a very sincere praise.

Shi Sui, who had been maintaining a cold face, hid his hand behind his back. Being called “impressive” by Lu Huaizhi, who took rank one, felt weird.

Shi Sui’s fist slowly relaxed. He looked down at his shoelaces and didn’t speak.

Teacher Jiang clearly knew Lu Huaizhi. He frowned and said, “Did you give him the questions? Did you cheat together?”

Shi Sui’s relaxed expression tightened instantly. He snapped his head up and looked coldly at Teacher Jiang. “You’re full of sh*t.”

Tian Hongjun’s temple twitched. “Shi Sui! Watch how you speak to a teacher!” But he had to admit, Shi Sui had spoken for him.

Before Teacher Jiang could explode, Tian Hongjun struck first. “Teacher Jiang, even if you have a huge prejudice against my students, you can’t just frame them out of thin air.”

Deng Weiben also frowned. “I trust Lu Huaizhi’s character.”

“Teacher, I also trust Shi Sui’s character.” Lu Huaizhi looked calmly at Teacher Jiang. “If you believe that successfully predicting the questions counts as cheating together, then I have nothing to say.”

Deng Weiben asked, “You predicted the questions for Shi Sui?” Tian Hongjun: “That’s correct. Lu Huaizhi has been tutoring Shi Sui lately.”

“That still doesn’t prove anything,” Teacher Jiang insisted stubbornly.

Lu Huaizhi glanced at him and suddenly asked, “Teacher, is your class ranking sixth overall this time?” Tian Hongjun had mentioned several times that there was a bonus for the top five. Looking at Class 3’s results, making the top five was very likely.

It seemed Class 3’s results had blocked someone else’s path.

Teacher Jiang froze and blurted out, “How did you know?” The rankings had just come out, and the teachers hadn’t had time to announce them yet. How did Lu Huaizhi know so accurately?

But as soon as he said it, he realized something, and his face turned incredibly ugly. The other teachers also looked a bit embarrassed.

Lu Huaizhi, a high school student who hadn’t even entered society yet, had seen through their petty conflicts of interest so clearly.

“Enough, let this matter go,” Deng Weiben said to smooth things over. “Shi Sui, Lu Huaizhi, go back to your classroom.”

A trace of mockery flashed in Shi Sui’s eyes. He had just started to walk when Lu Huaizhi grabbed his hand. “We aren’t leaving.”

Lu Huaizhi’s grip was very tight; Shi Sui couldn’t break free immediately.

Is this guy crazy? There are so many teachers here!

But Shi Sui was afraid that pulling away too hard would draw more attention, so he ended up standing there stiffly, letting his hand be held.

Lu Huaizhi pulled him back and stared at Teacher Jiang. “I don’t want to hear other classes discussing how our results were obtained through cheating later. Rather than ending this unclearly, let’s make it clear now.”

“Shi Sui’s highest score this time was in Physics, 63 points. That should be the subject you find the most problematic, right?”

No one spoke.

Lu Huaizhi looked at Teacher Jiang.

“Yes,” Teacher Jiang grit his teeth. “I’m the Physics teacher, and this test paper wasn’t simple.”

“Fine.” Lu Huaizhi nodded. “Find another test paper that hasn’t been used, and we’ll do it again.”

He finished and looked at Shi Sui. “Is that okay?”

If Tian Hongjun had suggested this, Shi Sui would have refused without hesitation. Initially, he would have done the same with Lu Huaizhi, but as soon as he looked up, he crashed into Lu Huaizhi’s dark eyes—

He had never seen Lu Huaizhi so serious, with an expression that even looked a bit angry.

Finally, Shi Sui muttered two words, “Whatever.” He hadn’t cheated anyway.

Teacher Jiang spoke up immediately, “The school just happens to have a batch of unsealed papers. Let’s take out the Physics one.” He absolutely didn’t believe there wasn’t something fishy going on between these two.

“I have a request,” Lu Huaizhi said. “The final big problem on the Physics paper must be similar to the one on this test. That was the problem I predicted for him, and it was his biggest point-earner.”

Deng Weiben nodded. “Fine. The last question will be a variation.”

The test paper was brought over quickly, and Lu Huaizhi finally let go of Shi Sui’s hand.

Shi Sui’s palm was sweaty. He found an empty seat in the office, secretly wiped his palm on his pants, and looked up to see Lu Huaizhi also sitting down with a test paper.

“This has nothing to do with Lu Huaizhi.” Shi Sui looked at Tian Hongjun. “Why does he have to take it too?”

He had seen Lu Huaizhi’s score as soon as he walked in—rank one again, with a perfect score in Physics.

And that annoying teacher said the monthly exam wasn’t simple. If Lu Huaizhi messed up this time, wouldn’t they be unable to explain themselves even if they were right?

Tian Hongjun also felt it was unnecessary. “Huaizhi, why don’t you just wait with us?”

“I’ll take it with Shi Sui.” Lu Huaizhi didn’t find this a glorious process, and he didn’t want Shi Sui to face it alone.

As Teacher Jiang prepared to start the timer, Lu Huaizhi spoke again: “What if our scores don’t change?”

“Then it proves you didn’t cheat,” Teacher Jiang said impatiently.

“No, you need to apologize to Shi Sui,” Lu Huaizhi said in a steady tone. “Because of your baseless suspicion, we have to rewrite a test. You need to admit you were wrong.”

Shi Sui’s hand holding the pen tightened. He looked up through the gaps in the teachers’ piles of homework and lesson plans to look at Lu Huaizhi.

Lu Huaizhi didn’t show the slightest fear while confronting the teacher. Even while sitting, his aura wasn’t suppressed. He looked a bit cool.

Teacher Jiang was about to argue when Deng Weiben slapped the table. “Deal.”

“If Shi Sui completes the paper,” Deng Weiben glanced at Teacher Jiang, “you won’t be allowed to participate in the bonus evaluation for the rest of the year.”

The punishment was set. Shi Sui and Lu Huaizhi buried their heads in the problems.

This time, Shi Sui’s mind was even clearer than during the actual exam. He skipped the problems he couldn’t do and made sure the ones he could were filled with point-earning steps. As for that final varied big problem, he solved it very smoothly.

In less than 40 minutes, Shi Sui finished the paper.

After a quick check, Shi Sui raised his hand. Lu Huaizhi also raised his hand to indicate he was finished.

The results came out quickly. Lu Huaizhi: 110 points, perfect.

Shi Sui: 70 points. Seven points higher than his monthly exam score.

This time, Tian Hongjun didn’t praise Lu Huaizhi first. Instead, he patted Shi Sui firmly on the shoulder. “Good job!” His eyes turned a bit red after he finished speaking, and he turned around to rub them.

Shi Sui had grown up.

With the results out, Teacher Jiang seemed to check Shi Sui’s paper several times. After confirming the score was correct, his face turned pale. Under the gaze of the other teachers, he apologized to Shi Sui with great frustration: “Sorry, I misunderstood you.”

He then made an excuse about having something to do and scurried out of the office.

Having successfully cleared his name, Shi Sui didn’t forget to ask Tian Hongjun for his grade sheet, planning to show it to his grandmother later.

He stuffed the sheet into his pocket and walked back to the classroom with Lu Huaizhi.

It had been a while since school let out, and the corridor was empty.

Shi Sui’s pace was much lighter. He looked at the empty classrooms on the right, then at the setting sun in the sky, his eyes darting around restlessly.

“Happy now?” Lu Huaizhi curved his lips. “When you first entered the office, I thought you were going to punch the teacher.” His fists had been clenched so tightly.

His face had also been terrifyingly grumpy.

“They brought it on themselves,” Shi Sui snorted. “But you really didn’t need to take the test with me.” Lu Huaizhi wouldn’t have been suspected; that Teacher Jiang was just lashing out blindly.

Getting into a dispute with a teacher would only ruin Lu Huaizhi’s mood.

But the feeling of having someone take the test with him wasn’t bad either. Shi Sui didn’t say that part.

It was too selfish.

Lu Huaizhi looked at their nearly synchronized footsteps and smiled. “I wanted to stay with you.”

Shi Sui gave him a strange look but didn’t think too deeply about it.

“Your predictions are really accurate. Predict some for me next time too?” Shi Sui said. “I’ve never felt so good doing problems in an exam room before.”

The new refill Lu Huaizhi gave him was almost out of ink from his writing.

Lu Huaizhi remembered something and paused. “Shi Sui, actually, I predicted more than just that one problem.”

Shi Sui also stopped and turned to look at him. “?”

“Actually, on that test just now, I’d explained the first big Physics problem to you before. It was an original question this time.” Lu Huaizhi recalled. “It was that night when I predicted the pulley problem. I explained it three times before you understood it.”

“But you got it wrong again just now. You didn’t even get the first small part. Why?”

Lu Huaizhi’s tone held no accusation, only pure confusion.

They were explained on the same day, and he had emphasized it to Shi Sui, yet the results for the two problems were worlds apart.

“That night of the predictions—” Shi Sui followed his lead to recall. His gaze slowly moved down, landing on Lu Huaizhi’s lips.

The lips were thin and pale, just like that night, though this time they didn’t have the moistness of having just drunk water.

It felt like after Lu Huaizhi had drunk from his cup that night, his brain hadn’t been able to fit any more knowledge.

Fck!* When he realized what he was looking at, he hurriedly pulled his gaze away.

He must be going crazy.

Seeing Shi Sui’s pace suddenly quicken as he overtook him, Lu Huaizhi instinctively grabbed his hand and looked up in confusion. “What’s wrong?” Why such a sudden reaction?

Being caught, Shi Sui was forced to stop.

With his heart tangled like a mess of yarn, Shi Sui even forgot to shake the other’s hand off.

Lu Huaizhi looked into Shi Sui’s eyes and asked again, “Was there a problem with how I taught that day? Or did I do something wrong?”

Shi Sui suddenly felt something was off. Had Lu Huaizhi discovered something?

“That night!” Shi Sui struggled to ignore the heat rushing to his face, maintaining his usual cold exterior. “What else could it be? You must have taught it terribly.”

After speaking, Shi Sui belatedly pulled his hand back and stuffed it into his pocket.

He turned his head away and quickened his pace, passing Lu Huaizhi. He didn’t slow down until he was sure Lu Huaizhi couldn’t see his face.

Then, with a grumpy face, he wiped his sweaty palm on the inside of his pocket. Is this person’s habit of getting handsy ever going to get better?