Chapter 65: The Style of the School

The vice principal kept his word and actually dragged the two fighters out by force.

They didn’t come back all night.

Li Heng drifted into sleep as he weighed his chances of winning the top scholarship.

“Ding dang ding… ding dang ding…”

At exactly 6:20 the next morning, the wake-up bell rang on time!

Then came the shrill whistles of Teacher Zhou and Teacher Zhao.

The school loudspeaker, as always, followed suit and played a song.

Interestingly, the song played this morning was “Spring Water Tinkling,” the very one the 215 dorm had sung joyfully last night.

Zhang Zhiyong ran to the corridor, saw the heavy rain outside, and rushed back to announce the news:

“It’s pouring! The rain’s insane! The heavens are afraid I’ll beat their ass, so they won’t let the sun out—no morning exercises today, no standing on the parade platform! Wahahaha…”

His manic laughter made everyone crack up, grinning broadly.

After all, no one was truly born to be lowly—who wants to stand on that humiliating parade platform?

With so many teachers and students watching, especially girls secretly admiring you, it’s best to avoid it entirely.

After carefully washing up, the group hurried through the rain with astonishing speed, more agile than leopards.

No one used umbrellas; boys in this era weren’t that delicate or fussy—just charge forward through the chorus of “Ohhh ohhh” screams.

The dorm wasn’t far from the classroom building, but not close either; when Li Heng finished sprinting, his hair was slightly damp, feeling slick in his hand.

“Li Heng! Li Heng!”

He’d barely stepped out of the rain and hadn’t steadied his footing when someone called his name from the right corridor.

Li Heng turned and saw—oh—it was Yang Cheng. He was in Class 209, whose classroom sat on the right side of the first-floor corridor.

Li Heng brushed rain off his hair with his right hand and greeted Yang Cheng: “It’s pouring—why haven’t you opened your classroom door yet?”

The entire right corridor was packed with students, boys and girls crammed together, raindrops blown by the wind landing on their heads.

“Our monitor lost the key, and the teacher hasn’t arrived yet.”

Then Yang Cheng shouted loudly: “I heard you scored 602—school’s top score—is that true?”

School’s top scorer? Even more eye-catching!

Instantly, everyone on the corridor fell silent and turned to look.

Even whispers broke out among the crowd:

“He got first? Not Xiao Feng or Song Yu?”

“Probably—he got his score read out in the dorm last night as a lesson.”

“What’s his name?”

“What?! You don’t even know his name? Do you live in the Stone Age? Yang Cheng just called him!”

“I was talking and didn’t hear—was he famous? I just recognize his face; I’ve seen him on the way a few times, but I don’t know his name.”

“His name is Li Heng.”

“Ah? Ah? He’s Li Heng?!”

“… ”

Before Li Heng could answer, Zhang Zhiyong, glowing with pride, cut in: “Yes, he’s the school’s top scorer.”

“By the way, Yang Cheng, how much did you get? Can you make the top 100?”

Asked about himself, Yang Cheng’s face stiffened, but he mumbled:

“I didn’t do well—I thought I’d get over 90 in math, but I only scored 69.”

Then, desperate to save face, he added: “Damn it! I could’ve scored 90—I just got careless.”

At that moment, a boy beside him undercut him: “Liar! Again! You only answered 88 points’ worth of questions—how’d you get 90?”

Exposed, Yang Cheng’s face darkened: “Who said that? Who said I only did 88? Don’t spread rumors!”

The boy replied: “I counted your test questions—it’s exactly 88.”

“Hahahaha…”

“Hahahaha…”

This time, not only Li Heng, Zhang Zhiyong, and Liu Li laughed heartily.

The entire Class 209 burst into laughter.

As they followed the crowd up to the third floor of the classroom building, the group’s cheer vanished instantly.

There stood their homeroom teacher, Wang Qi, face dark as thunder, glaring fiercely at a row of boys in the corridor.

The row consisted entirely of the boys from Dorm 215.

The atmosphere was heavy, chilling even in the cold weather.

Seeing them appear at the corridor entrance, Wang Qi gave them a cold glance but said nothing—yet his aura of death was so intense that Li Heng and the others dared not enter the classroom, instead lining up obediently in the corridor.

At that moment, Teacher Yang from the neighboring Class 205 lit a cigarette and walked over, speaking in a sarcastic tone:

“Old Wang, I heard your boys caused another big scene last night?”

Though Wang Qi was harsh with his own students, he was fiercely protective—he immediately switched to a smiling face:

“Li Heng, step forward! Let Teacher Yang take a good look at our class’s 602-point champion.”

Li Heng’s face twitched—why am I being used as a pawn in your petty squabble?

He glanced left and right, then wisely stayed still.

Teacher Yang exhaled a smoke ring and grinned: “Old Wang, you’re being petty.”

“Li Heng is my student too—I taught him politics; my name’s on his achievement record. You can’t claim all the credit.”

Teacher Wang shot back immediately: “He’s first and foremost from Class 204.”

“He’s yours, sure—but you’re wasting such talent, and I can’t stand it.” Saying this, Teacher Yang stepped up to Li Heng, patted his shoulder, and said:

“Li Heng, Teacher Wang doesn’t appreciate you—he’s making you stand in the corridor!

Why not transfer to my class? Just move your desk over—I’ll handle all the paperwork. What do you say?”

Someone openly poaching his student made Teacher Wang furious—he pried off Teacher Yang’s hand and told Li Heng:

“Li Heng, go into the classroom. Stay away from Teacher Yang—he’s no good.”

Li Heng ventured: “Teacher, really go in?”

Teacher Wang, unusually smiling, nodded: “Keep working hard. Aim for the top three in next month’s mock exam—all in our class.”

Before Li Heng could respond, Teacher Yang retorted: “Dream on! I don’t believe Xiao Feng won’t be in the top three!”

Li Heng ignored their bickering and entered the classroom under the envious, jealous stares of the boys.

Was it his imagination?

The moment he pushed open the classroom door and stepped in with his right foot, Li Heng sensed a change in how his classmates treated him.

Not only did everyone look up at him, but their eyes held a complexity they’d never shown before.

Though it felt elusive, he felt it unmistakably.

“Oh! Our school’s top scorer’s here.”

No sooner had Li Heng sat down than Sun Manning turned around to tease him.

Li Heng gave her a polite smile and opened his Chinese textbook.

Sun Manning asked: “Why did you come in alone? Didn’t you cause trouble last night?”

Hearing this, Mai Sui half-turned from the front-left, curious.

His desk-mate Song Yu glanced at him, then returned to reviewing English.

Li Heng answered honestly: “The atmosphere was too strong—I couldn’t stay aloof.”

Sun Manning clicked her tongue: “Tsk tsk, you caused trouble and still make it sound poetic.”

“By the way, the eunuch’s really favoring you—before, he always thundered but rained lightly. Now he’s openly shielding you.”

Li Heng never denied his homeroom teacher’s favoritism, but he’d never boast about it to annoy others.

He asked Sun Manning her total score.

Sun Manning replied: “572 points.”

That was already excellent—if math difficulty returns to normal next time, she could easily gain ten more points.

Li Heng turned to Mai Sui: “Mai Sui, what about you?”

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(End of chapter)