The entrance exam results for the elite class were released, taking less than a day, and even the rankings were quickly compiled.
Liu Tanxiong, the class monitor, affixed the printed class rankings and the overall elite class rankings to the edge of the blackboard with magnetic clips.
Five sheets of A4 paper were densely covered with text.
During the break, the students, who had been bustling with noise, suddenly fell silent.
Qin Zixin peered forward, her gaze fixed anxiously on the blackboard, feeling as though the grade sheet exuded an ominous aura.
Even from across half the classroom, it made her uneasy.
Just then, Fang Bixian entered through the front door after using the restroom.
He merely glanced at the grade sheet as he passed, and upon seeing that he had made it into the top hundred of the elite class and the top ten of his own class, he let out a joyful “Oh!”
Seeing someone approach the results, the students below surged forward en masse.
Zhang Wanbai also went to see, and Qin Zixin, steeling herself, reluctantly followed.
It took her a long time to find her name, nestled at the very bottom of the list.
She had ranked 55th in her class, scoring exactly 315 points.
Among the 220 students in the elite class, she was 219th, indicating immense room for improvement.
No, she truly had made progress, having climbed a full rank higher than her middle school entrance exam placement.
Although she had known early on that Nanshi High was a den of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and had harbored no illusions about her performance after slacking off, Qin Zixin still felt utterly devastated.
Before the results were out, she could have buried her head in the sand like an ostrich, continuing to play on her phone.
But now, with the scores released so swiftly, she hadn’t even had time to concoct an excuse to fob off Tang Yuyu.
Before the Gaokao reforms in Su Province, the total score was based solely on the three main subjects: Chinese, Mathematics, and English.
Prior to the second-year class divisions, Chinese was worth 160 points, Mathematics 160, and English 120.
After the division into arts or science streams, an additional paper, worth forty points, would be added to either Chinese or Mathematics, bringing the total score to 485 with the five points from the ‘mini-Gaokao’.
Given a total score of 440, even her 317 points wouldn’t be considered poor.
In other key high schools in Su Province, scoring above 300 in the first year was certainly indicative of a top student.
The highest score in her class belonged to Lu Zude, who achieved 371 out of 440, placing him 62nd in the entire grade.
[Tsk, even the class’s top scorer didn’t make it into the top fifty.
Are those students in the Rocket Class just too formidable?]
[Why are you ‘tsking’?
Do you even have the right?
Look how far behind you are from others, and you still have the nerve.
Go look at Yang Qichao; he scored 395.
Even if he didn’t write an essay for Chinese, he’d still beat you by at least ten-odd points!]
[Holy crap, Cha-zi scored what? 395?!
Damn, second in the grade… Damn!
The first in the grade scored 417, a hundred points higher than me.
What a beast!]
Qin Zixin’s almond-shaped eyes widened dramatically, her vermillion lips parting slightly.
[System, why are you so useless?
Look, even someone like Zhou Xinshu, who doesn’t have a system, scored a full hundred points higher than me.]
[You’re just a coward, utterly useless.
You spend all day playing games, messing around, and getting involved with all sorts of dubious things.]
[Isn’t that because *you’re* useless?
Can’t you just give me some skill, like photographic memory or something?
I feel like I’m always forgetting things lately.]
Qin Zixin let out a ‘tsk’ and wondered who had ranked last in the entire grade.
[Don’t bother looking.
The actual last place scored fifty-odd points lower than you; they didn’t take the math exam, only Chinese and English.
*You* are the true last place.]
[Holy crap?! What am I going to do?]
[What do you mean, ‘what to do’?]
[How am I going to explain this to Mom, of course!
This exam is definitely a disaster.]
The System felt its blood pressure begin to rise.
If she only considered her rank, Qin Zixin was doomed.
However, a thought suddenly struck her: she had entered the elite class with the lowest score!
And looking at the current rankings, she wasn’t even last anymore.
This could only be called ‘progress that wasn’t particularly obvious’!
Convinced by her own logic, Qin Zixin broke into a foolish grin.
Standing beside her, Zhang Wanbai was once again wiping away tears.
The sound of her weeping made Qin Zixin’s scalp prickle.
[This girl never stops whimpering, does she?
I hope she doesn’t fail an exam someday and decide to jump off a building.]
[She ranked thirty-third; she probably hasn’t ever scored this poorly.
Tsk, if you had half her self-discipline, you wouldn’t be last.]
Qin Zixin couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
[If I cried, you’d definitely say I was faking it, so what’s the point of crying?
Instead of whimpering, I’d rather find some fun.
It’s just an exam, is it really that big a deal?
I’m last, and I haven’t even said anything.]
[Are you proud of being last?
I think you’re asking for a beating!]
Qin Zixin didn’t dare reply.
She had already considered that she was highly likely to be last, as her performance in previous middle school entrance exam simulations had barely qualified her for Nanshi High’s regular classes.
Her placement in the elite class was akin to a single rat dropping falling into a bowl of rice porridge.
[Tell me, if I tell Tang Yuyu that my grades are better than when I first enrolled, will I avoid a beating?]
[You can slowly tell Tang Yuyu about your ‘great progress.’
When she asks for your rank, just say you’re in the top three hundred of the grade.]
The elite class only had… Qin Zixin’s vision suddenly swam.
The elite class didn’t even have three hundred people in total.
These results would definitely be sent via text message; how could they not specify the total number of students?
She imagined Tang Yuyu asking her that evening, with a dangerous smile that already knew the answer, how many points she had scored and what her rank was.
Then Qin Zixin would try to change the subject.
Then Tang Yuyu would smile and tell Qin Zixin to lie face down on the bed.
Then Mom would instruct Qin Zixin to stick her backside up on the bed.
Then Qin Zixin’s backside would be blooming with welts.
[No, don’t think about what comes next.
It’s too terrifying.]
The little rascal shivered involuntarily.
****
Sometimes, Qin Zixin was like a stubborn donkey, only understanding how to move forward after a harsh crack of the whip.
To say she performed exceptionally well on the entrance exam would be unrealistic.
Even if she had merely placed in the top fifty of her class, it would have been cause for celebration.
However, she was truly the last place, a fact that offered no joy whatsoever.
That evening, she didn’t even dare leave the school gates.
Instead, she ate dutifully in the cafeteria, specifically dragging Yang Qichao along with her.
She served herself a portion of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and some greens.
Normally, mealtimes were perfect for secretly scrolling through her phone, but now she was too anxious.
She couldn’t even bring herself to browse her favorite online forums.
The thought that Tang Yuyu might forgo her evening shift at the late-night snack shop, staying home solely to ambush her due to her ‘excessive room for improvement’ in the exam, left Qin Zixin so worried that she lost her appetite.
After a few desultory bites, she pushed her plate away.
A growing sense of gloom settled in the girl’s heart as her chopsticks idly pushed around the half-eaten food on her tray.
Yang Qichao’s appetite was as robust as ever.
His tray was piled high with food, overflowing at the edges.
He ate like a pig rooting for scraps, completely unconcerned with his image in front of Qin Zixin.
Qin Zixin could already envision Tang Yuyu asking Yang Qichao’s mother about ‘Cha-zi’s’ score.
The answer would be ‘almost four hundred,’ which, under her mom’s ’rounding up,’ would magically become a full four hundred.
Then, looking at her own score, just over three hundred, it would be ’rounded down’ by Tang Yuyu to a mere three hundred.
What was initially ‘only’ a difference of several tens of points had now become a gaping hundred-point chasm.
Qin Zixin felt a pang of regret.
‘If Yang Qichao had also flunked, then that evening, facing Tang Yuyu, she could have told her: ‘Mom! Yang Qichao flunked too!”
Perhaps then, the beating she received might be a little lighter.
Before, when they weren’t in the same school, she could just ignore his superior scores, out of sight, out of mind.
If Tang Yuyu used him as an example, Qin Zixin only needed to be stubborn.
But now, in the same grade, with weekly unified exams, the peer pressure instantly mounted.
Qin Zixin’s gaze was filled with resentment as she stared at Yang Qichao, who was still eating with gusto across from her.
Yang Qichao was at an age where he easily got hungry, and he habitually ate a lot.
Even though the cafeteria offered generous portions at affordable prices, he would still spend around twenty yuan per meal.
His plate would be piled high with meat and an extra-large serving of rice, making his tray look like a small mountain.
The more Qin Zixin watched, the more annoyed she became, and the more resentful her gaze grew.
[System, the pigs back home eat just like him.
Eat, eat, eat!
Then they’re slaughtered for Lunar New Year, and their innards go into the soup!]
Qin Zixin’s mind was a flurry of internal complaints.
[His eating habits are like a pig’s, but your *scores* are like a pig’s.
At least pigs grow more meat when they eat a lot.
If you eat more, you’ll just waste electricity playing games.
Don’t worry, your mom will definitely beat you to death tonight.]
The System’s usual taunts continued.
After all, the stubborn girl’s skin was as thick as a city wall; she wouldn’t easily be provoked by a few harsh words.
Yang Qichao looked up, his face a picture of bewilderment, and met her gaze without a word.
This, unexpectedly, made Qin Zixin feel a little awkward.
“What are you staring at?”
The moment Qin Zixin opened her mouth, a classic Northern phrase escaped.
Yang Qichao’s eyes were unfocused.
“Ate too fast, feeling a bit ‘carb-drunk’.”
“Why don’t you just eat less?
Don’t go throwing up halfway when you climb six floors later.”
“How could I?”
“Cha-zi, eating this much, you must have to go to the bathroom several times a day, right?
If you only go once, that toilet’s definitely getting clogged!”
“I’m eating.”
“Cha-zi, why don’t you try holding it in?
Hold it for two days.”
“I’m eating.”
Qin Zixin flashed the mischievous, impudent grin of a ‘little devil’.
“Well, *I’m* not eating!
I’ve lost my appetite, you see.”
As she spoke, the girl’s slender, jade-like fingers idly toyed with the food on her tray, chopsticks still in hand.
Yang Qichao watched her with her cheeky, adorable expression, a look he had seen on her face since they were very young.
She always smiled like that, and every time she did, it made him want to tease her mercilessly.
Yet, she remained utterly oblivious to how captivating she was in that moment.
Yang Qichao stared, momentarily stunned, but quickly regained his composure.
He continued to shovel rice into his mouth impassively, mumbling indistinctly.
“I saw your scores.
They were corrected this afternoon.
The guy from Class Three who scored over seventy in math isn’t last anymore; *you’re* last.
The revised scores weren’t printed; they were sent directly to the parent chat group.”
“Huh?
What parent chat group?”
“You didn’t know parents have a chat group?
There were two exams during the holiday, and the results were sent directly to parents via MMS.
Auntie Tang was even added by my mom.”
Qin Zixin was dumbfounded by what she heard, a wave of powerlessness washing over her, giving her a sensation akin to weightlessness.
[I’m done.
What kind of pressure tactics are these?
I just messed with him a bit, and he threatens me?
Mom didn’t even say anything.
This was hidden too well, damn!
This is terrifying.]
[Don’t use that as an excuse!
You’re in high school now; it’s time to buckle down!
Just tell me, if you could score in the top two hundred, would you be afraid of Tang Yuyu?]
“Actually, you shouldn’t be too scared, Auntie Tang probably…”
Ignoring whatever Yang Qichao and the System continued to say, Qin Zixin’s mind was consumed by the dread of an impending beating that evening.
[Regretting not coming for tutoring during the holidays now, aren’t you?
Learning is like sailing against the current; if you don’t advance…]
The System was delivering its usual sermon, while Yang Qichao was trying to comfort her.
With both ‘voices’ speaking simultaneously, Qin Zixin had no mind to listen.
She simply felt utterly wronged and miserable.
Qin Zixin gazed at the scrambled eggs with tomatoes and greens, now a chaotic mess from her unconscious stirring.
She had absolutely no desire to eat anymore.