Chapter 16

When the English teacher said three people scored over 130, Jiang Nian's ears instantly perked up like antennas.

After the English exam ended, he compared answers with Xu Qianqian.

It wasn't a hundred percent guarantee, but it was foolproof. Since three people scored over 130, the saying goes: when three walk together, one must be wet.

Even so, his mood remained uneasy.

"The guy who usually scores 130, Zhou Yuan, got 101," the English teacher said sharply. "How the hell did you get such a lonely score? Did you start dating recently?"

The students below burst into laughter; a tall, thin boy scratched his head and shuffled up to the front to collect his paper, filling the classroom with cheerful energy.

Someone behind him whispered that Zhou Yuting must have scored over 130. Her total this time was over 500, probably the highest in the class.

Hearing this, Jiang Nian wanted to laugh—Zhou Ting first?

Even if she aced English, she'd only hit 550, while he only needed 120 in English to easily surpass 550.

Her being first? That's like a bill counter broken—no coins counted.

But opportunities to show off like this were rare at school. Jiang Nian wouldn't laugh like a villain—he sat quietly, waiting for his victory jingle.

Ah, where's my victory BGM? Bring it on!

If someone took a manga-style photo now, Jiang Nian's eyes would be shadowed, his lips slightly curled.

Add a speech bubble: "Heh."

"Chen Niannian, 131."

The class stirred—first person over 130 had appeared. Scores were called one by one, then a girl's name.

"Zhao Fangfei, 137."

The class erupted again—Zhao Fangfei was usually invisible, nearly nonexistent in class. After one summer, everyone was showing off, whether human or ghost.

A girl in the class turned to look at Zhou Yuting.

"Study committee, how much did you estimate? Around 130?"

In their eyes, since three people scored over 130 and two girls had already been called, the last one had to be Zhou Yuting.

"I don't know… maybe around 135," Zhou Yuting pretended to be shy, her heart already dancing—530 would get her promoted out of this place.

Huh, feels like switching sects in a xianxia novel.

"Whoa, 135? That high?" the girl gasped. "Then your total must be over 530—top-tier university material."

"What are you talking about? It's just a diagnostic test, not the real Gaokao," Zhou Yuting gushed inwardly but held back, "Not necessarily 130—estimates can be off."

As if fate had sealed it, the teacher at the front called Zhou Yuting's name.

"Zhou Yuting, 127."

Her expression stiffened, but she stood anyway. At first, she felt embarrassed—she'd just claimed 135.

But then she thought: 127 wasn't that bad—her total still hovered near 530.

Later, she'd ask Liu Feipeng about the Olympiad class cutoff. Maybe the whole grade scored low, and her score would just barely make it.

Back at her seat, she was met with praise anyway: "No wonder you're study committee—only off by a few points, no big deal, even low scores are impressive."

"By the way, if Zhou Yuting only got 127, who's the third person with 130?"

Zhou Yuting froze. "Maybe… Sun Xue?"

Someone said, "Her score was already called—113. There are only a few strong English students in class, and we've all gotten our papers."

Zhou Yuting frowned—this meant there was another "English dark horse." If it was a subject specialist, that'd be fine.

But what if…

"Does anyone know Wang Jie's score?" she asked quietly.

"Around 62—he was called right at the start."

Hearing this, Zhou Yuting relaxed. Wang Jie's total was 499—far behind her. At 527, she was definitely class first.

Oh, right—there was still Jiang Nian.

"Hey, was Jiang Nian's score called?"

The nearby students didn't know why Zhou Yuting suddenly asked about Jiang Nian—no one paid attention.

"Maybe? Didn't notice—sixty or seventy, something like that."

Zhou Yuting felt slightly relieved and began weaving her promotion fantasy again. In the Olympiad class, she'd craft a new persona—avoid too many boys.

But she couldn't cut them off completely—keep one or two, to highlight her charm.

Should she try a new hairstyle? She'd never worn a pure fringe. Dress more demurely, find a good-looking top student to tutor her, build better relationships…

As Zhou Yuting daydreamed, the English teacher suddenly paused.

"The highest English score in our class this time is 141—excellent."

The room, previously noisy, erupted into shouts of "Oh!! What the fuck? Who?!"—they'd already called everyone, hadn't they?

"Quiet!" the English teacher said.

"Teacher, is there anyone in our class named Quiet?"

The English teacher: "……I meant be quiet. Jiang Nian, come up and get your paper."

Normally, few students feared the English teacher—even her "quiet" command went ignored. But when she said "Jiang Nian,"

the entire class fell silent, turning in unison toward Jiang Nian's seat like they'd seen a ghost.

Zhou Yuting froze, pupils shrinking, heart pounding.

Jiang Nian?

Why Jiang Nian?!

The hell—he has a total of 432 across five subjects! How could his English be 141? That adds up to… 573?

Are you kidding? How could someone from the parallel class score 573?

Are you fucking leveling up?!

The class fell silent for two or three seconds, then erupted into enthusiastic cheers. If Jiang Nian had just one subject where he excelled, people might suspect he'd cheated. But if his total score exceeded 570—

Then every doubt would be a joke. A parallel class producing a 570 total was like pulling a golden legendary.

"Holy shit! Holy shit! Jiang Nian, one-forty!!"

"For real? That's insane!"

"Bro, you guys really were studying over summer? Only I was playing around!"

"Me too."

"Same here, I was playing too."

"Anyone who scored 480, scram! If you keep showing off, I'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs!"

Jiang Nian had already stood up when the English teacher read his name, doing his best to keep from laughing, his face the very picture of calm composure.

Honestly, a 140 in English had exceeded his expectations too. His luck wasn't bad.

"Nicely done. You must have put in plenty of effort at home over the summer, yes?" The English teacher, for the first time in living memory, smiled at Jiang Nian. "Any tips you can share with everyone?"

"Uh..." What tips could Jiang Nian possibly have? "Just memorize the 3,500 gaokao vocabulary words thoroughly."

Hearing this, the English teacher's smile widened even further, and she said loudly:

"See? This is what I've always told you—memorize the vocabulary, memorize the vocabulary! You never listen, always trying to figure things out on your own, doing math in English class—did you think I didn't see?"

"If you were all as obedient as Jiang Nian, how much worry would that save me!"

Jiang Nian was already starting to feel embarrassed, his face once again wearing that Ye Hanxiao little-yellow-bean expression—because the person doing math in English class that the teacher mentioned was none other than him.