Chapter 162

"Your math score improved! I calculated it—you might have six hundred." Chen Yunyun reverted to her usual cheerful demeanor.

"Forget it, you're overestimating me," Jiang Nian said with calm confidence. "Don't worry—my Chinese score definitely won't exceed one hundred."

Chen Yunyun was stunned. Was this something to be proud of?

"How do you know?"

Jiang Nian waved his hand. "My essay went off-topic—definitely thirty-eight."

Generally, in high school essays, if you scribble randomly but stay on topic, you get at least forty. If you go off-topic but write decently, thirty-eight is typical. If you go off-topic and write nonsense, you get thirty—or even zero.

"What did you write?"

Jiang Nian answered honestly. "Perseverance."

Chen Yunyun fell silent for a moment, then offered comfort.

"It's only slightly off-topic, but it's fine—maybe you'll get forty or more."

Jiang Nian made no reply to Chen Yunyun's consolation. He considered the exam a success if his math hit one hundred and twenty; the other subjects didn't matter.

He had a rough score range in mind—no matter how the rest added up, it would be five hundred sixty or seventy. At the very least, he'd passed the demotion hurdle.

The deed was done, so Jiang Nian no longer cared much about the remaining scores and switched topics.

"Is your town lively during the New Year?"

"Of course it is! On New Year's Eve, the streets are packed," Chen Yunyun said, visibly excited. "We have a big bridge where lots of people set off fireworks at night."

"On New Year's Day, the streets are packed too—everyone dressed in bright, flashy clothes. Step outside and you're bound to run into junior high classmates—you know? They even wear makeup."

"That kind of heavy makeup, like they're walking a runway—super scary."

"Why?" Jiang Nian found it amusing.

"Pressure," Chen Yunyun said seriously. "If you haven't washed your hair, you dare not step out. If you're outshone, it's a huge loss of face among girls."

Jiang Nian didn't know how to respond—so washing her hair was equivalent to someone else doing a full makeup.

Advanced faux modesty?

But Chen Yunyun truly had the right to say that—Jiang Nian's eyes had just been spoiled. He had several beautiful girls around him and was starting to suffer from "Dongge Syndrome."

To others, Chen Yunyun's beauty was overwhelming. As for class monitor Zhang Nenzhi and Xu Qianqian, their skin was so flawless he sometimes wanted to lick it.

Let's call it "ice cream type."

A little unsettling, but fine—it was just a private thought, no one knew, and it wouldn't land him on Xiaohongshu's homepage when he woke up.

In the afternoon, the comprehensive science scores were released.

Li Hua's comprehensive science score neared two hundred ninety—exactly 289. Honestly, if not for his terrible English, Jiang Nian would never have met him.

This was the first time Jiang Nian ever felt English was useful—outside of watching Jin Ba.

Huazi's English was sixty-nine—the kind of score that makes parents want to scream. But if his Chinese clears ninety-six, his total exceeds six hundred—that's the dominance of a subject-specialist god.

"What are you staring at? Huh?" Li Hua leaned in close, pressing his forehead against Jiang Nian's like butting horns, his expression theatrical. "How do you know my comprehensive science is 289?"

Jiang Nian looked at him. "Because a father knows his son best—and who asked you?"

As for the class monitor, he glanced back—her comprehensive science was in the two-seventies.

Good grief, what a science demon.

Once the Chinese scores come out, she might hit six hundred eighty.

It wasn't even hot today, yet he felt crushed under someone else's shadow.

Others were just shadows—he was completely surrounded by shadows from all sides: Li Hua, Zhang Nenzhi, Li Qingrong, and Empress Fangfang of the Ordinary Man stream.

This is a disaster.

But logically, a prodigy like a demon should be promoted to Class Zero for advanced training. Yet Li Qingrong had remained in Class Three all along.

Whatever. This class was strange enough already.

The holy class monitor ruled from afar; Vice Premier Cai Xiaoqing governed Class Three. Homeroom teacher Old Liu's presence fluctuated wildly—he mostly just let students fend for themselves.

What amazed Jiang Nian even more was that yesterday's huge incident—the couple's video trending locally—yet Old Liu still kept his cool.

No wonder he's an outstanding teacher—unfazed even as Mount Taishan collapses before him.

Amazing, amazing!

"Class monitor, your score is insane!" Jiang Nian stared at Li Qingrong's test paper, his face nearly touching it, his admiration obvious.

"Jiang Nian, don't drool on the class monitor's paper!" Nie Qiqi shouted from the back row, then grinned lewdly. "Hehe, let me lick it first."

"Rock-paper-scissors. Winner gets it first," Jiang Nian said seriously.

Nie Qiqi puffed up her chest. "I won't lose!"

Farther back in the classroom, Discipline Committee Cai Xiaoqing had had enough.

"Both of you, stop it! It's self-study time—don't do this perverted nonsense!"

"I'm talking to you, Jiang Nian," Nie Qiqi retorted defiantly.

"So what?"

"You!" Nie Qiqi flew into a rage. "Wait—you'll see, I'll get the class monitor's paper first! Ah! Take your dirty hands off the class monitor's paper!"

Jiang Nian glanced at Li Qingrong—she seemed unmoved. Fine, he'd stop. If he annoyed her now, it'd be over.

He pulled his hands away calmly and turned around.

Seeing this, Li Qingrong's eyes flickered with quiet confusion.

Doesn't he like answer sheets?

Thinking of this, she glanced down at her comprehensive science answer sheet, lost in thought.

During third period, Zhang Nenzhi counted her fingers to add up her comprehensive science score—only two hundred fifty-something. She felt depressed.

Don't want to become two hundred fifty.

She turned to glance at the thief-cat's score—Jiang Nian instantly went on alert, hiding his paper.

Hmph, stingy cat!

"What's your chemistry score?" she asked.

"White."

"What?" Zhang Nizhi was baffled.

"Oh oh, I thought you were asking if I preferred black stockings or white stockings." Jiang Nian looked as if he'd just realized something, "What were you just saying?"

Zhang Nizhi: "."

Who could possibly be fooled by such childish tricks?

"Since the chemistry exam paper came out this afternoon, he's been hiding it all along." Li Hua glanced at Jiang Nian, seated between them, and smirked.

"What's the point of being so secretive? We're registering all six subjects' scores tonight—I can enjoy three evening self-study sessions."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Nian showed no expression.

That bastard Li Hua always obsessively studies the score sheet every time results are released.

His conclusion is always the same: if only Jiang Nian's English score were mine, then I'd slam my thigh and imagine Old Liu bowing to pour me tea.

"My scores aren't worth looking at—they're just the usual," Jiang Nian mumbled, shoving his science answer sheet to the very bottom of the drawer, "Alright, everyone, disperse."

Zhang Nizhi was deeply dissatisfied; she thought this was unfair.

She had already seen him naked—why couldn't she see his scores? He was being secretive, yet she herself wasn't this stingy, and she'd see his scores eventually anyway.

"Let me see," she reached out her hand directly.

"Huh? You're being a bit domineering."

"If you won't let me see, I won't bring you food," Zhang Nizhi's face tightened, "Stingy jerk, you deserve only cold water."

"Actually, I quite like drinking cold water—Kangshifu's boiled water is pretty good," Jiang Nian still hesitated, reluctant to reveal his science score.

Brother Ma Yun, please turn off the science score.

Turn it off, turn it off! If you don't turn off the science score, brother, I'll lose all my face!

"Give it to me," Zhang Nizhi extended her hand forward.

Jiang Nian reluctantly coughed and handed his answer sheet to Zhang Nizhi.

"I'm not doing this for the food—I'm doing it because we're close. As long as you'll play with me, I'd gladly spend any amount of your money."

"Okay," Zhang Nizhi didn't listen carefully, took Jiang Nian's answer sheet, and glanced at it.

Biology 80—pretty good; his advanced biology training clearly worked. Chemistry 72—not bad, solid. Physics 68—well, at least he passed.

So Jiang Nian's total science score is 220, averaging about 70 per subject.

No wonder he was hiding it—excluding Chinese, his current score is 487. If he gets 100 in Chinese, that's roughly 590—his chances are still pretty good.

But as anyone who's been to school knows, Chinese is tricky. To scrape a good score on a 150-point Chinese exam, you need solid basics—and luck.

Most of the time, your Chinese score is like opening a blind box.

After reading it, Zhang Nizhi didn't know what to say.

Her little brain frantically recalled past scenes of failing science exams—how had she ever gotten through them?

In an instant, Zhang Nizhi became torn: should she comfort him tonight by chatting with him on QQ, or should she say something reassuring right now?

Jiang Nian felt his arm poked—he turned his head instinctively, ready to hear the girl's outrageous words of comfort.

"You don't have to feel inferior?"

"???"

You comforted me well—I'll handle it myself next time.

The weekend was supposed to be seat-switching day, but since yesterday was the big joint exam and there was no evening self-study, the switch was moved to Monday—today afternoon.

Ceng You was in good spirits, eagerly anticipating the seat change.

He'd sat for a week in the first seat by the door, against the wall. Every self-study session had been nerve-wracking, drastically cutting into his reading time last week.

After class, when we switch seats, the whole class will shift backward.

That way, he could sit against the wall again—if he was careful, he could read to his heart's content. The big joint exam was over—he could read till he went blind!

Yu Tongjie felt numb. He watched Jiang Nian flirting everywhere and felt physically ill. But after the switch, he'd have to move to Group Two.

That meant he'd be even farther from Li Qingrong.

Before the exam, he'd prepared thoroughly, confident he'd score over 600. Now, with only Chinese left unannounced, his dream of 600 was shattered.

He'd endured for a month, buying online courses for English and science and studying furiously.

He even deliberately ignored Li Qingrong, burying himself in work. In ancient times, there was Gou Jian sleeping on firewood and tasting gall; today, there was Tongjie enduring silently. Everything had been going smoothly—until, just before the exam, his book vanished.

In the end, excluding Chinese, he scored only 450—unless he got 150 in Chinese.

Now it all depended on the composition—the composition he'd poured his heart into!

Friendly book recommendation: The Demoness's new novel, "Oh No, They're All Eyeing Me"

Transmigrated into a game world, pursued by a warrior girl, simulating childbirth.