Chapter 14: Class Report Card

At noon, after lunch, Class 3-5's homeroom teacher Zhang Wei returned to his office.

"Teacher Zhang, Teacher Wang, here are the report cards." The administrative office teacher walked to the office door, knocked, and said.

"Coming." Teacher Wang, closer to the door, stood up and took the two report cards.

The administrative office teacher then smiled and said, "Class Six's results are pretty good—two prospects for Fuyi High."

"Lin Yuan and Hua Xiuxiu, right?" Teacher Wang smiled; he'd expected this result, then added, "Still, Class Five is stronger."

"Class Five is indeed slightly stronger," said the administrative office teacher. "This time, three students are guaranteed admission to Fuyi High."

At this moment, Teacher Zhang also stood and walked over, taking the report cards from Teacher Wang—he'd already anticipated what the teacher would say.

Three students… That matches his expectation exactly.

It must be Shao Heqi, Xu Yinghuan, and Jin Yuting.

Thinking this, Zhang Wei looked at the list.

The top spot should be Shao…

Shao…

Huh?

Li, Li Luo?

Huh huh huh?!

The moment Zhang Wei saw Li Luo's name, his eyes flickered in surprise—he wondered if this list wasn't ranked by score.

But Li Luo's student ID isn't number one either.

Thinking this, Zhang Wei's gaze shifted to the scores column.

Chinese: 110 points… That high?

Math: 112 points… What the hell? Are you kidding me?

English: 114 points… Are you sure the name isn't written wrong?

Science: 142 points… Politics and History: 47 points…

Total: 555 points!

Top of the class.

18th in the school, 86th in the district.

Zhang Wei stared at the report card, fell silent for a moment, then looked further down.

Shao Heqi: 554 points, Xu Yinghuan: 520 points, Jin Yuting: 508 points…

Since Fuyi High's cutoff in past years had always been between 507 and 515 points, Jin Yuting's situation was still uncertain—quite risky.

But the top three were definitely secured.

Yet among those secured, there was someone Zhang Wei never could have imagined.

"Li teacher," Zhang Wei looked up at the administrative office teacher and couldn't help asking, "Are you sure Li Luo's score is correct?"

"Huh? What about Li Luo?" Teacher Wang leaned over curiously, glanced at the report card in Zhang Wei's hand, and immediately saw Li Luo's scores—"What the hell! 555 points? Chinese 110? Is this real?"

Teacher Wang was the Chinese teacher for both Class Five and Class Six; seeing this Chinese score, he was utterly stunned.

He knew that except for the Chinese class representative Hua Xiuxiu, who scored 111 in the Chinese portion of the entrance exam, no one else in their class had broken the 110-point threshold.

And in his memory, Li Luo had never once scored above 90 in Chinese!

"Oh, Li Luo, right?" The administrative office teacher clearly knew the student and shook his head with a wry smile. "Your student Li Luo is incredible—he improved by a full 130 points from the third mock exam, right?"

"The school has already verified this—the scores are accurate."

"And…"

"And?" Zhang Wei blinked, curious.

"And his Chinese composition got a perfect 40 points!" Teacher Li said. "There's a meeting this afternoon—all homeroom teachers must attend. We might add an extra slot for an outstanding graduate."

…

On the other side, after finishing lunch and leaving the breakfast shop, Ying Chanxi asked: "We have to wear uniforms for the graduation ceremony, right? Should we go home and change first?"

"Yeah, let's go," Li Luo nodded.

Zhao Rongjun had already come in his uniform and followed Li Luo to his house.

After Li Luo changed into his uniform, Ying Chanxi stepped out too, carrying a backpack.

"Why are you carrying a backpack?" Li Luo asked curiously.

"I brought this," Ying Chanxi pulled out a camera from her backpack and shook it twice. "This might be our last time at school—I want to take some photos as keepsakes. Let's take lots of group pictures later?"

Looking at the camera in Ying Chanxi's hand, Li Luo fell into rare silence.

He remembered how, in his past life, he had broken ties with Ying Chanxi the day before the entrance exam.

Later, during the graduation ceremony, he had indeed seen her carrying the camera, taking photos around campus.

At the time, though their relationship had grown cold, both of them still harbored faint hopes of reconciliation.

But Li Luo, stubbornly proud, never took any actual step toward mending things.

To find a reasonable excuse to ask him for a group photo and ease the tension, Ying Chanxi carried the camera and took pictures with every single classmate.

Yet when Li Luo saw that scene, he thought: she took photos with everyone—so in her heart, I must not be special at all.

What they called childhood friends was just ordinary friendship.

So Li Luo had flatly refused her request for a photo.

Now, thinking back, he really wanted to slap himself twice.

"Let's head to school early," Li Luo said. "The graduation ceremony is at three. Getting there sooner lets us take more photos."

The three set off for school.

Yucai Middle School was just two blocks away—after a few minutes' walk, they reached the school gate.

The three students in uniforms walked straight in, not rushing to report to their classrooms, but first strolling around the campus.

"That road by the old school gate seems almost finished," Li Luo said after entering through the new gate. "The new dorm building is done too, and the basketball court's getting renovated this summer."

For some reason, every school term, the school's facilities would start being renovated or expanded.

But by the time students graduated, these improvements would finally come into use.

Li Luo vaguely remembered that when they started middle school, construction on a new teaching building had begun across the river from the campus.

It wasn't completed until their third-year second semester.

To ensure the third-year students' daily learning environment remained stable and didn't affect their performance on the high school entrance exam.

So only first- and second-year students moved into the new building; third-year students stayed in the old one for their final semester.

Now the new dorm building is finished and will officially open next semester.

It's said the dorms went from eight-person rooms to six-person rooms, with air conditioning installed and larger bathrooms.

But it has nothing to do with us graduating students anymore.

"I heard the old teaching building is getting renovated too," Ying Chanxi said, holding her camera and searching for a good spot. "I still feel the old school had more character. After renovation, it looks new, but also a bit unfamiliar."

Li Luo nodded: "Then perfect—take some photos to preserve it."

On the other side, Zhao Rongjun glanced at Li Luo and Ying Chanxi, blinked, thought for a moment, then said: "Why don't you two go take photos? I'll head to the classroom first and see if Teacher Zhang needs help."

"Where are you running off to?" Li Luo grabbed his shoulder. "How are we supposed to take group photos with just the two of us?"

Zhao Rongjun, who had wanted to slip away, was forced to stay and became a willing cameraman.

But it wasn't just Li Luo and Ying Chanxi taking group photos—everyone was classmates, so naturally everyone took pictures together.

Compared to Li Luo and Zhao Rongjun's photos with arms slung over each other's shoulders, and Ying Chanxi pressed close to Li Luo, their uniform sleeves touching, her head slightly tilted toward him.

Zhao Rongjun and Ying Chanxi's photos were much more formal.

There was still room for half a person between them; Zhao Rongjun's face was tense, and even giving a peace sign was hesitant.

"Remember when you climbed down there before?" Ying Chanxi stood by the railing beside the stream, pointing downward.

Li Luo nodded—he remembered clearly.

A small stream ran through the middle of the school, but for student safety, it was enclosed by tall railings.

Only at the two bridges were the railings slightly lower, and if you really tried, you could climb over.

Back then, Ying Chanxi's uniform jacket accidentally fell off the bridge, and Li Luo climbed down to retrieve it—only to be caught by a teacher and publicly reprimanded across the school.

But he did manage to get the uniform back.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

As they stood by the bridge taking photos, their homeroom teacher Zhang Wei passed by after finishing a meeting.

Seeing Ying Chanxi and the others from afar, he walked over curiously.

"Teacher Zhang," Ying Chanxi lowered her camera and greeted him. "We're taking photos. Would you like to join us for a group picture?"

"Sure," Zhang Wei smiled, then his gaze landed on Li Luo, and he stopped in his tracks. "Oh? Li Luo's here too."

Zhang Wei stepped forward quickly, laughing and clapping Li Luo on the shoulder. "You kid, you've really impressed us this time—several teachers were just talking about you in the office."

"Good morning, Teacher Zhang," Li Luo chuckled. "What did they say about me? I love hearing this."

To be fair, though as homeroom teacher, Zhang Wei was most exasperated by the mischievous students during daily life,

when it came to graduation, the teachers who left the deepest impression were always those troublemakers.

After all, good students who study well all behave the same way, while the troublemaking underachievers each had their own bizarre stories.

Li Luo wasn't that extreme, but over three years of middle school, he'd done plenty to give Zhang Wei headaches.

Now, suddenly, he'd risen from barely scraping past the regular high school cutoff to scoring dozens of points above the entrance line for the prestigious Fuyi High School—giving Zhang Wei a tremendous surprise.

"You really scared the hell out of us teachers," Zhang Wei shook his head, laughing. "When I saw your score sheet, I thought I'd misread it—how did you get 112 in math?"

Zhang Wei was a math teacher and knew the subject best.

He genuinely couldn't understand how Li Luo, who'd normally scored only 70–80, had improved so drastically in just over a month.

Remember, just half a month before the exam, they'd taken their third mock test, and Li Luo's math score was only 82.

How much time had passed since then?

His math score jumped a full 30 points on the actual exam!

"Of course, I have to thank our dear Zhao Rongjun," Li Luo grabbed Zhao Rongjun's arm and slapped his shoulder hard, grinning. "He taught me so well."

"What about the other subjects? You improved by thirty to forty points in Chinese, math, English, and science!"

"Do I even need to answer?" Li Luo didn't hesitate—he slapped Zhao Rongjun's shoulder a few more times, making Zhao's mouth twitch.

Zhang Wei stared at Zhao Rongjun, looking him up and down, left and right, then couldn't help saying: "I never would've guessed—should I return your 'Outstanding Teacher' title to you?"

"No no no, Teacher Zhang, don't joke like that," Zhao Rongjun waved his hands frantically, looking helpless. "It's mostly because Li Luo finally got serious about studying—it has nothing to do with me."

"Alright, let's take the photos now," Ying Chanxi interjected. "Teacher Zhang probably has other things to do—let's finish quickly."

The three of them pulled Zhang Wei aside, standing by the bridge with their backs to the teaching building, and took several group photos.

Then Zhang Wei headed toward the classrooms, turning back with a smile to Li Luo: "Pay attention during the graduation ceremony—don't zone out. There's a surprise for you."