Chapter 14: The Best Brother Lost His Dream

Xu Qingzhou: Chinese 132, Math 146, English 145, Comprehensive Science 287, total 710

Ding Jiahui wondered if she had misread, or if the teacher had misranked the scores, but then realized it was impossible—teachers weren’t blind, and there was a clear #1 right in front of them.

Zhang Yuquan was pushed to second place with 691 points.

Three points higher than his first mock exam.

The third place was his deskmate Song Yao, with 682 points.

One point higher than her first mock exam.

Indeed, top students don’t pick and choose exams.

Wait, is this the time to marvel at that? The point is Xu Qingzhou—how could he be #1! “Yao Yao, Xu Qingzhou scored 710!”

“Mm, I saw it,” Song Yao pressed her lips together—this guy was indeed formidable.

Zhang Yuquan looked incredulous, repeatedly checking his score sheet, and finally concluded: cheating—definitely cheating!

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“It’s me.” “I need to be alone.” Guo Ziyang’s expression was like he’d swallowed a fly—seeing Xu Qingzhou fall behind hurt, but seeing him become #1 hurt even more!

Some students glanced suspiciously at Xu Qingzhou, finding the situation too bizarre.

Although everyone said the second mock exam was the hardest, his score was still three points higher than his first mock—normally a cause for joy—but who could have imagined he’d ended up as #2?

Zhang Yuxin was stunned—had Xu Qingzhou, who had always been low-key, suddenly improved by over seventy points? Had he taken desperate risks to obtain the exam answers to prove himself?

She wondered what heinous act he’d committed to warrant other teachers reviewing his answer sheets.

Liu Ying nodded, scanning the classroom before speaking: “Yes, this exam particularly commends student Xu Qingzhou, who scored 710 and ranked #1 in the grade—unless something unexpected happens, he may also be #1 in this Chengdu joint exam.”

During this period of interaction, she’d found Xu Qingzhou’s math and physics abilities terrifyingly sharp—he solved problems that were extremely difficult in under a minute.

After distributing the score sheets, Liu Ying had someone hand out the Chinese answer sheets.

“Start from the beginning,” said the girl in front.

“So you really believed him yesterday.”

Xu Qingzhou was called to the office.

Zhang Yuquan felt terrible—it was like a Golden Core master being instantly slain by a Foundation Establishment student.

“Your score surprised everyone,” Liu Ying said after sipping tea.

“Aren’t you surprised?!”

The students who had been scolded involuntarily glanced toward Xu Qingzhou.

“Sit,” Liu Ying said, holding her flower tea and gesturing for Xu Qingzhou to take the chair opposite her.

“It’s me,” Xu Qingzhou nodded.

“This is you?” Guo Ziyang swallowed hard, staring stiffly at Xu Qingzhou.

Xu Qingzhou is so mysterious—the girl’s eyes curved into a smile, her beautiful gaze swirling with an indescribable emotion.

“Teacher Liu, is Xu Qingzhou the grade’s #1?” Zhang Yuquan couldn’t hold back and asked first.

After the student returning the answer sheets sat down, she spoke: “No harvest without labor; great results come from deep accumulation. I hope you don’t just see his score, but also his daily efforts.”

“I know,” Liu Ying waved her hand, pulling out a stack of answer sheets and flipping through them: “I’ve been your homeroom teacher for three years—I know your character well. But this time it’s truly excessive, so other teachers reviewed your answer sheets.”

Liu Ying’s words fully vindicated Xu Qingzhou; those who had suspected plagiarism now abandoned the idea. “This is you?!”

Seeing the students’ strange expressions, Liu Ying continued: “All subject teachers reviewed Xu Qingzhou’s papers. His problem-solving approaches are original, and several answers are even more accurate than the official key.”

The office was lively—some teachers had five or six students standing around them, heads drooping, all those who had performed poorly on this exam.

“Mm.”

“No problem,” Xu Qingzhou said confidently.

Still, no one directly accused Xu Qingzhou of cheating—they were all in the same class, saw each other daily, and lacked the courage to pin such a grave accusation on a classmate.

This guy’s been acting weird lately. Guo Ziyang wondered how to comfort his brother, but then noticed something else—he scanned the names below and panicked: “What the hell, your name’s not here!”

Most importantly, this is just not scientific.

Total score 608, rank #45 in grade—he searched ten names above and below his own, yet still found no trace of “Xu Qingzhou.”

“Could there be a system glitch during score compilation?”

Song Yao’s expression remained calm as she softly uttered two words: “Intuition.”

The girl’s gaze turned mournful; Guo Ziyang blinked, confused, but still looked back at the top of the score sheet.

Xu Qingzhou felt embarrassed—unless he was mistaken, he and Guo Ziyang had spent plenty of time at internet cafes lately, calling it “balancing work and rest.”

Xu Qingzhou was also checking the score sheet—Chinese, math, and English were as expected, but his Comprehensive Science had been docked thirteen points—this shouldn’t have happened. He felt more and more eyes turning toward him.

He thought: damn, Xu Qingzhou probably lost his composure because of his confession.

“I didn’t cheat,” Xu Qingzhou said, spreading his hands.

Ding Jiahui had no reply, but soon noticed something odd—she stared at Song Yao: “Yao Yao, when did you get so familiar with Xu Qingzhou?”

!.

Song Yao shook her head, set down the score sheet, and said matter-of-factly: “Xu Qingzhou handled these questions fine—he could solve them all.”

“Holy shit, he’s really #1.”

1. Xu Qingzhou, Chinese 132, Math 146—Guo Ziyang’s eyes glazed over, his whole body drained of spirit.

Chengnan High School enforced plagiarism rules strictly—anyone caught was expelled; few dared risk such a foolish act.

A strange atmosphere spread through the classroom—more and more students noticed the anomaly.

A murmur of low conversation erupted in the class.

By the window, Guo Ziyang was also checking the scores.

“No issues,” Liu Ying asked. “They said you used methods taught only in university during problem-solving.”

“Yes, some problems become simpler with calculus equations—direct and efficient. Though the steps differ, the path leads to the same result, and the final answer is unchanged.” Xu Qingzhou didn’t mention he’d simply forgotten the high school methods.

The students’ expressions froze—calculus? University knowledge? Are we even still in high school?!

“What are you staring at? He’s grade #1, 710 points—he’s mastered high school material and even picked up university-level knowledge,” the male teacher said, exasperated.

(End of chapter)