Chapter 45: That Makes Me Lose Face!

Li Yanwang stood on the podium, hands pressed against the desk, and gave Qin Tian a harsh dressing-down without the slightest bit of courtesy.

Qin Tian could only offer a bitter, awkward smile.

How did it feel like he was being criticized even more miserably than when he had scored at the bottom of the class!

This was quite embarrassing for a top student who had successfully made a comeback!

To the side, Xia Nuannuan covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, looking very happy.

After criticizing Qin Tian, Li Yanwang took the opportunity to praise several students who had shown significant improvement in their Chinese grades.

Xia Nuannuan was among them; Chinese was already her strong suit, but this time she had performed beyond her level, actually scoring 140 points.

In terms of Chinese alone, she ranked third in the class, second only to Qin Tian and the Class Monitor, Mu Nan.

Subsequently, Li Yanwang had the Class Monitor, Mu Nan, distribute the answer sheets.

After Wu Xin received his answer sheet and glanced at his score, his expression turned ugly; he crumpled it into a wrinkled ball and shoved it into his desk drawer.

This scene was seen by many students who were watching him, as well as by Li Yanwang, who was standing on the podium.

Li Yanwang's expression sank, and he called him out directly: "Wu Xin, take out your answer sheet and flatten it out for me!"

As the words fell, everyone's attention in the classroom immediately focused on him.

Wu Xin clicked his tongue reluctantly, but under Li Yanwang's stern gaze, he still slowly took the answer sheet out of the drawer.

"You have disappointed me greatly recently."

Li Yanwang looked at him with an expression of frustration that he wouldn't live up to expectations, then suddenly roared: "Wu Xin, tell me, when we studied *The Old Man and the Sea*, what spirit of the protagonist did I tell you to learn?"

Wu Xin's heart trembled from the roar; his mind was a bit chaotic for a moment, and he didn't answer.

Li Yanwang looked toward the others.

"Everyone, tell him together."

"A man can be destroyed, but not defeated!"

The students responded in unison.

This was a phrase Li Yanwang often kept on his lips after teaching the article *The Old Man and the Sea*, and everyone remembered it very clearly.

"Very good!"

Li Yanwang nodded and looked at Wu Xin again, saying: "Wu Xin, did you hear that!"

Wu Xin hung his head and didn't respond, his heart filled with unwillingness and humiliation.

Having been the "child of someone else's family" since he was small, he had never suffered such a setback in his studies, and it was hard for him to accept in such a short time.

Li Yanwang sighed inwardly, knowing when to stop, and decided to find an opportunity to have a good talk with this student after class.

It is a troublesome matter when a student who views academic performance as everything encounters a blow or setback.

"Additionally, the Science Comprehensive results are also out, and I already have the total score rankings for everyone's exam this time."

As Li Yanwang spoke, he took a folded piece of paper from his pants pocket.

Below the podium, except for a few students who had already given up struggling, everyone else looked at the ranking sheet in his hand with burning eyes.

In the eyes of the incredulous crowd, a smile appeared on Li Yanwang's face, which was a rare sight.

"I must praise you all first; our class did quite well this time. The class average ranked third in the grade, second only to the two key classes, and the score gap is not large."

"Hiss..."

Several sounds of gasping for air echoed in the classroom.

The students were all as excited as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

One must know that in this year at Yucheng No. 4 High School, there were a total of fifteen graduating classes, and the only two key classes had long occupied the throne of first and second in the grade.

The average grade of their Class Ten had always been at a mediocre level.

This time, they had actually pulled far ahead, ranking at the very front of all the ordinary classes.

Thinking of this, the look of pride and self-esteem on everyone's faces was plain to see.

"Teacher, is student Qin Tian in first place?"

A girl in the front row asked abruptly.

The classroom instantly fell quiet again, and curious and expectant gazes were cast toward Li Yanwang on the podium.

Xia Nuannuan's beautiful eyes sparkled, and her hands on the desk unconsciously clenched into fists.

She was even more nervous than Qin Tian himself.

Qin Tian's expression remained calm and composed; he had basically already guessed the result.

Science Comprehensive subjects were all objective questions with accurate answers; for him, they were the least likely to have problems.

"Yes, student Qin Tian's Science Comprehensive is also a perfect score, with a total of 745. He is not only our class's first place, but also the first in the entire grade."

"Furthermore, his total score is a full thirty points higher than second place."

"One thing is one thing, this matter still deserves praise."

Li Yanwang looked at Qin Tian with a calm expression and encouraged him: "Keep working hard, and don't intentionally score poorly for me again in the future!"

Qin Tian was speechless and quietly rolled his eyes.

Hey, hey, hey, this praise of yours is completely not on the same level as the criticism from just now, okay!

Give me a do-over, hey!

Also, that last sentence doesn't count as praise; it should count as a threat, right?

Regardless of what he thought, all the students in the classroom were shocked to the point of being unable to speak.

Three perfect scores, a total of 745—what kind of god is this!

In the more than twenty years since Yucheng No. 4 High School was founded, the highest score in the history of the college entrance exam definitely hasn't been this exaggerated.

In the back row of the classroom, Wu Xin was already dumbstruck, his brain as if it had crashed.

Even he, who had always been confident in his own academic performance, would absolutely have no possibility of scoring such a high grade.

"I lost, I lost..."

His face was full of bitterness as he muttered to himself in a low voice.

The disparity was too vast, causing him to lose the courage to continue competing with Qin Tian.

"Xu Ying, I'm sorry."

He looked at Xu Ying on the side with a guilty gaze, only to see that she was also like a soul lost, staring blankly in the direction where Qin Tian was, completely failing to hear his apology.

"So... so amazing, Qin Tian, you are really too amazing, you're the grade first place!"

After Xia Nuannuan recovered from her shock, her watery eyes shone brightly, and she praised him repeatedly in an excited tone.

"I know, I know, calm down, calm down."

Seeing that her little face was flushed red with excitement, Qin Tian hurriedly comforted her with a smile.

"Hoo... hoo... right, right, right, calm down, calm down."

Xia Nuannuan also realized she had lost her composure and hurriedly patted her chest lightly while taking deep breaths.

Qin Tian's eyes widened slightly, and he moved his gaze away with some reluctance.

This girl had no idea how lethal her unintentional actions were!

"Alright, later after class I will have the Class Monitor post the ranking list on the back blackboard, everyone go look for yourselves, for now continue with self-study, Qin Tian, come out with me for a moment!"

Li Yanwang spoke up again.

Qin Tian was stunned upon hearing this.

What's the situation? Talking to him alone again?

"Oh!"

He responded helplessly, stood up, walked over, and followed Li Yanwang out of the classroom.

It was still the same stairwell entrance as that day.

Li Xueping recalled the few words he had exchanged with Qin Tian at this very spot during that evening self-study, and his mood was quite complex.

He stared at Qin Tian with a subtle look in his eyes and said, "This time, you kid successfully played the pig to eat the tiger, feeling quite proud of yourself, aren't you?"

"Ah? No, no, how could that be, you're overthinking it."

Qin Tian shook his head repeatedly to deny it.

"Heh!"

Li Xueping couldn't be bothered to let him keep pretending and went straight to the point: "Your exam results this time have caused a huge sensation in the school; you can be considered to have made a name for yourself in one go, but you got full marks on three exams, and only my Chinese subject deducted points, which makes me lose a lot of face!"

Qin Tian was dumbfounded and asked with a wary expression: "Teacher Li, what... what do you mean by that?"

"Come find me during lunch breaks from now on, I'll give you some proper tutoring on composition and reading comprehension."

"Huh?"

"What? Is there a problem?"

Li Yanwang glared with his tiger-like eyes.

"No, no."

Qin Tian shook his head like a rattle-drum.