Chapter 64

Another Monday, another chaotic day in Class 8, Grade 12.

"Is there anyone who hasn't handed in their math homework? If not, I'm taking it to the teacher."

Chu Xiang, the study committee member and math class representative, wove through the aisles.

Class 8 had a full roster of 58 students, but usually, he could only collect about 40 assignments.

Of course, while it looked like 40 were collected, in reality, only a third were written by the students themselves; the rest were all copied.

In truth, by the time they reached Grade 12, teachers didn't even care whether homework was copied or not; it was purely a matter of some students feeling uneasy about slacking off, and that unease leading to guilt—they were just lying to themselves.

Changes had already quietly taken place; if someone were to count carefully, they would find there were only 55 students in the classroom today, as three had stopped coming to school entirely.

This also meant the youth of those three students had come to an absolute end, and they were preparing to step into society, filled with both excitement and bewilderment.

But teachers wouldn't explain such things specifically; if anyone asked, they would only calmly say, "XXX has asked for leave."

When Chu Xiang passed by Zhai Da, he directly ignored him.

Following Zhai Da's repeated "fame," he no longer dared to look for trouble with him; there was a subtle "niche" among the students.

Since Zhai Da's niche was higher than his, even if he were chasing his crush, he had to hold back, not to mention that it seemed his crush was the one chasing Zhai Da.

Zhai Da, however, pulled a test paper out of his schoolbag and handed it over; he had to do what he promised Ding Rong, and from this week on, he would try his best to hand in his homework—anyway, for the current Zhai Da, it didn't take much effort.

Taking a step back, couldn't he also "co-create homework" with Lu Wei?

Chu Xiang said in surprise, "You can do homework?"

Zhai Da: "Are you insulting me again?"

"No... I didn't mean that..."

Just as they were speaking, the math teacher walked into the classroom; Chu Xiang had been shouting constantly precisely because the first period was math.

After collecting Zhai Da's test paper and placing the whole stack on the podium, Chu Xiang returned to his seat.

Because Zhai Da's was the first one, the math teacher specifically picked it up to take a look.

Then he nodded with satisfaction...

Zhai Da was indeed, in all likelihood, not copying...

You can't copy the highest score in the class.

132 points (160+40), which included ten points from an extra-credit question; that question involved Olympiad math knowledge, and Zhai Da was the only one in the class who got it right.

You have to know that for most students at Maofang Middle School, the "extra-credit" part was about the same as scrap paper.

Opening his thermos, taking a sip of tea, and spitting out two leaves, the math teacher began today's main topic.

"Wu Yue, stand outside!"

After a long while, no one in the class responded.

Zhai Da looked toward Wu Yue's seat; it was empty. He had been reading before, and only then did he realize someone hadn't come.

The math teacher was silent for a while, his initially good mood dimming a bit: "Then let's move to the next step. A few students, come and hand out the previous quiz papers; we'll go over them today."

A few students in the front row volunteered to stand up, and the classroom returned to its chaotic state. Taking advantage of this, the math teacher said:

"In this quiz, several students have made significant progress, especially Zhai Da, who got the highest score in the class."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole class was in an uproar.

Zhai Da looked left and right... he was only at a 120-130 level...

Are you all that bad?

You have to know that the science math total was 160+40 extra credit, so there were 200 points to be had... During the quiz, he didn't feel he was that great, but these past few days, relying on 【Lu Wei's Math Notes】, he had improved further.

Very coincidentally, the person handing out Zhai Da's paper was none other than Lin Shuyao.

Her hand holding the paper couldn't bring itself to hand it over, until Zhai Da grew impatient and snatched it back himself.

132 points.

Zhai Da nodded to himself.

Not bad, it lived up to his efforts.

Sure enough, the teacher wouldn't let go of any opportunity to make an example of someone, and immediately said:

"Don't think that just because there are a few dozen days left, there's no room for effort. Look at Zhai Da; as the saying goes, 'An old steed in the stable still aspires to gallop a thousand miles; though the divine tortoise may live long, its neck is also long...'"

After that, 800 words of "blah blah" were omitted.

And the "old steed" Zhai Da thought, why is a math teacher showing off his literary knowledge! It's purely exposing his own shortcomings!

Following the grading of the previous quiz, the entire day was basically spent going over test papers for various subjects, and Zhai Da was called out by name in basically every class.

It wasn't the highest score in the class for every subject, but he was the person with the most progress in every one.

Being called out repeatedly and praised repeatedly, to the point that the people in the class were numb to it.

English teacher: "This time, there's a student in the class who has made great progress, worthy of special praise!"

Dragging out a long tone, the English teacher teased: "That is~ Zhai Da! Don't you feel a Surprise~!"

What greeted him were dozens of numb eyes.

As for surprises, once they happen enough times, you get used to them; at worst, you just go to the hospital.

Only Fan Junwei, no matter how many times it happened, clapped as always, so abruptly that even Zhai Da felt embarrassed...

With all the quiz results distributed, Zhai Da had already calculated his own score; it was even better than his usual predictions, plus the previous Chinese quiz.

370, first in the class.

But as the saying goes, be indifferent to gain and calm in loss; as a reborn person with a mature soul, he wouldn't waste time being smug.

He was already looking down at his phone, deciding which 211 university to choose.

Isn't this just a random choice? He could get in with his eyes closed!

As a result, after taking a look, oh... Jing University and Qing University are also 211s. My apologies, my apologies; I was speaking too loudly just now.

Let's talk about it next month; his grades would only get better and better.

It's just that today, with so many small things to be proud of, the classroom was missing someone who usually shouted and hollered, and it felt quite strange.

Zhai Da sent a text message to Wu Yue, but the other party didn't reply for an hour.

There were only four words: "Closing the net today."

Zhai Da curled his lip; he was a bit worried about this matter.

After all, he was a rebellious son with no blood relation, so he decided...

Just send a text tomorrow to ask if the other party is still alive.

After the last class of the afternoon ended, that is, before evening self-study, Zhai Da, under the surprised gazes of his classmates, packed his schoolbag and walked out of the classroom with a flourish.

Then he turned left and headed toward the area for the key classes.

It was just during the gap between evening self-study sessions, and the hallway was chaotic, but the key class area was relatively quiet; some people were walking back and forth, but more were sitting in their seats reading.

It was completely different from the noise of the regular classes.

Zhai Da peered into the doorway for a moment, immediately drawing many curious gazes.

People from other classes standing at the door were still quite eye-catching, especially those in the key classes, who basically only hung out with people from the other key class.

Finally, Zhai Da saw someone secretly eating snacks in the third row against the wall, near a blind spot.

The way they were hunched over, rustling about, couldn't be more obvious.

Zhai Da coughed lightly: "Lu Siwen."

Lu Siwen looked up, her lips still glistening with oil, her face full of bewilderment.

After recognizing who it was, she stood up in a hurry, her cheeks flushing slightly.

There was a sense of embarrassment at being caught in the act of snacking.

Many boys in the key class stared at Zhai Da as if he were a thief stealing vegetables from their garden.

Being called away by a boy from another class, the prettiest girl in their own class—how was this any different from killing one's father and stealing one's wife?

Even if they usually didn't even dare to make eye contact with Lu Siwen, it didn't stop them from glaring at Zhai Da with resentment, as if warning Zhai Da not to have any funny ideas.

Zhai Da smiled gently, showing his gentlemanly demeanor.

Your red noses have fallen all over the floor; hurry up and pick them up.