Chapter 15: Picking Up a Big Bargain

"Report!"

Xia Yue shouted "report" at the entrance of the teachers' office, then stepped inside and said to the head teacher, Mr. Luo, "Teacher, I've brought the person."

Li Ye, following behind, couldn't help but want to laugh.

What does "brought the person" mean? It sounds like they're interrogating a prisoner.

At this moment, he thoroughly understood that Xia Yue, despite only serving as a class monitor, had already cultivated a sense of superiority typical of a privileged class.

Mr. Luo was currently comparing two sets of test answers. Seeing Li Ye and the others enter, he put down the answers and stared at Li Ye without saying a word.

This was a common tactic teachers used to deal with guilty students—first, make them feel uneasy, then follow up with a stern reprimand; it made things much easier to handle.

But who was Li Ye?

Back in the day, when his boss reneged on commissions and he secretly planted "landmines" in his work, he was the type who could face the boss's thunderous rage without changing his expression, claiming, "I am innocent, I am kind." Would he be afraid of a few extra stares from you?

Stare all you want; after all, this young master is handsome.

Mr. Luo looked at the expressionless Li Ye and could only pull a long face and ask, "Li Ye, did you hit Xia Yue with a book just now?"

Li Ye replied calmly, "She cursed me as being 'raised by a stepmother.' If you, Teacher, believe my behavior was inappropriate, then I can have my father come and have a chat with her father."

"........."

Mr. Luo looked at Xia Yue, his gaze sharpening.

Insulting someone's parents was, in the eyes of educated people, no small offense.

Mr. Luo frowned and changed the subject: "Xia Yue says you cheated. What do you have to say?"

Li Ye said, "I did not cheat. I believe this is Xia Yue's retaliation against me, or perhaps it's jealousy at work, a false accusation against me."

"........"

The several teachers in the classroom all looked over, their faces filled with surprise.

After all, it was just an informal in-class test; calling it cheating was making a mountain out of a molehill.

But Li Ye's words were too aggressive, instantly backing both himself and Xia Yue into a corner.

If Li Ye were subsequently determined to have cheated, the corresponding punishment would inevitably be exceptionally severe.

Conversely, if Xia Yue were proven to have engaged in retaliation and jealous slander, the consequences would surely be doubled.

Mr. Luo hurriedly smiled and said, "Li Ye, what are you thinking about all day? It's not that serious......."

But while Mr. Luo wanted to smooth things over, Xia Yue wouldn't have it.

She had clearly caught Li Ye cheating red-handed; how did she end up being the jealous villain instead?

So, almost at the same time Mr. Luo spoke, Xia Yue shouted, "Who is retaliating against you? Who is falsely accusing you? Your answers are exactly the same as Watching Wen Leyu's. If you didn't copy from her, did she copy from you?"

Now it was Mr. Luo's turn to be annoyed.

Are you, Xia Yue, stupid or what? Can't you see I'm trying to smooth things over? Don't you know that cheating is hard to prove?

Besides, Mr. Ke is here for his first day of teaching, and you're causing a cheating scandal, even dragging his daughter into it. Who are you trying to sabotage?

Meddling in other people's business........

Li Ye didn't even look at Xia Yue and said to Mr. Luo, "An hour ago, I filed a complaint with you, Mr. Luo, about Xia Yue privately opening my mail. An hour later, Xia Yue accuses me of cheating.

I don't understand; Xia Yue is just a student, what qualifications does she have to determine I cheated? Is it just because of her status as class monitor?"

"Don't be in such a rush," Mr. Luo had no choice but to pick up the two perfect-score papers and ask, "Explain to me why your answers are exactly the same."

Li Ye said strangely, "Mr. Luo, there is only one correct answer to these questions. I can't exactly write the wrong one on purpose, can I?"

"........."

Mr. Luo's face darkened. Why is no one easy to deal with? Can't they just be good little students?

Since that's the case, let's do this by the book.

Mr. Luo turned to look at another teacher and asked, "Old Jiao, how was Li Ye's English level before?"

Mr. Jiao, who had long noticed the situation, said, "In the last mock exam, Li Ye's English score was 21."

Mr. Luo scratched his head and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Li Ye, your progress is too great. Can you share your experience with us?"

"I had a fever during the last exam. Actually, discussing this is useless. If you, Teacher, feel I cheated, then just have us redo a paper to compare."

Li Ye didn't want to drag this out. Facts speak louder than words; throw out a big move, and everything will be clear.

As for why his grades improved by leaps and bounds, let the teachers fill in the blanks themselves!

Had a breakthrough, got possessed, saw a ghost, or a star of literature descended... as long as the grades are good, the teachers will find a suitable reason for you.

"I just printed a set of papers here, prepared for the second-year students. It's a bit simple, but it should suffice."

Mr. Jiao had been concurrently serving as an English teacher at County No. 2 Middle School and knew about Li Ye's past situation, so he was also curious why Li Ye could get everything right.

Li Ye took the mimeographed paper and said, "Mr. Jiao, can you give Xia Yue a paper too?"

Mr. Jiao asked in confusion, "Why?"

Paper and ink were public property of the school; in this era of scarcity, every sheet of paper was precious.

Li Ye said solemnly, "The reason Xia Yue insists I cheated is jealousy—jealousy that a classmate whose grades were previously inferior to hers has surpassed her.

If she can recognize her own shortcomings, she will surely be more humble in the future. Humility leads to progress."

"........."

Mr. Jiao was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but laugh, "Alright! You're certainly not humble."

But he still took two more papers and gave one each to Xia Yue and Watching Wen Leyu.

The anger in Xia Yue's heart had never been extinguished. After taking the paper, she gritted her teeth and attacked it as if it were an enemy.

The difficulty of the second-year paper wasn't much different from the repeat class paper. Xia Yue's English grades were good, but that "good" was relative to other students; doing the whole paper wasn't easy.

But Xia Yue firmly believed that having obtained all of Lu Jingyao's study secrets, she would definitely be far ahead of Li Ye.

Lu Jingyao was able to get into the Capital Foreign Languages Institute, while Li Ye didn't—this was proof.

The questions on the paper became increasingly difficult, and Xia Yue worked slower and slower, but she felt she could answer them all.

Never mind whether they were right or wrong; being able to write down all the answers in this day and age was pretty good.

However, after Xia Yue inadvertently glanced at Li Ye, she was stunned.

Li Ye was holding his fountain pen, "swish, swish, swish," writing on the mimeographed paper as if he were doodling, and in the blink of an eye, he had reached the last page.

"Is he just writing nonsense? He must be guessing... scoring 21 on a 100-point test, it's no wonder he's guessing......."

Xia Yue encouraged herself while speeding up, but the more she wanted to finish quickly, the less she could do. In the end, her head was a mess, and she felt her eyes were going blurry.

"Teacher, I'm done."

Li Ye wrote the last letter and handed the paper to Mr. Jiao, who had been standing behind him.

Mr. Jiao, having noticed Li Ye's speed, had been standing behind him, and by the time Li Ye finished, he had also finished reading.

Now he didn't need to grade it to know what score Li Ye should get.

And at this moment, Watching Wen Leyu also finished her paper.

Mr. Jiao reviewed it quickly; it was also a perfect score.

He said to Mr. Ke, half-jealous and half-envious, "Mr. Ke, you're in luck. With these two students bringing you glory next year, you're guaranteed to make a big impression."

Mr. Ke smiled and said, "It's all thanks to Mr. Jiao's teaching. I just picked up a ready-made big bargain."

People praise each other; it's not easy to cultivate a good student, so the credit should be shared.

"Hahahaha~"

Several teachers laughed, and no one noticed Xia Yue on the side, still working hard on the last page with tears in her eyes.

【I haven't finished yet, I haven't lost, this paper is simple, I can also get a hundred....】

After an unknown amount of time, a gloomy voice finally reached Xia Yue's ears.

"Alright, stop working for now. Let's talk about you privately opening Li Ye's mail." ===== CHAPTER 16 =====