Chapter 50: Chapter Fifty: Who Wants to Rank in the Top Ten?

This girl’s too skinny! Her butt’s small too—hard to bear children.

Hmph, what kind of eyes do you have? This girl stands straight, walks with purpose—seems delicate but is tough as nails, just like our old medic back in the day. That kind of grit’s far rarer than being “good for childbearing.”

Medic? What medic? I’ve never heard you mention her.

We haven’t seen each other in decades—what’s the point of telling you now?

You Li Zhongfa, after all these years you still remember her grit? Tonight, you’d better explain everything—or else.

Hey, she saved my life back then—how could I forget someone like that? What are you imagining?

Li Ye had already entered the school, unaware that two kind-looking elders at the gate were watching her back and passing judgment—even stirring up an old grudge.

Li Zhongfa, having served as a leader for years, was adept at tai chi—he immediately changed the subject.

Doesn’t matter what this girl’s like—as long as our little Ye is happy. Haven’t you noticed how much our little Ye has changed? His energy and spirit are far better than before...

Grandma Wu Juying sniffed, dropping the medic business, but sighed softly, worried.

I think little Ye has changed too, but this girl’s an outsider—what if one day she flies away like Lu Jingyao?

Where could she fly to? Li Zhongfa glared: “Our little Ye’s about to become a famous writer. Next year she’ll get into college—she could even run off to another country and I’d still drag her back. You believe me?”

“That’s true,” Grandma Li nodded: “Look at our little Ye—go anywhere in the county, you won’t find another like her.”

But if only he got into college himself, it’d be better—rarity equals value... I’m telling you, you shouldn’t be doing all this—why help so many outsiders?

You know about rarity equals value? Then do you know that unity among brothers can cut through gold?

Li Zhongfa rolled his eyes, annoyed: “If we brothers hadn’t stuck together and looked out for each other back then, I’d be dead. When little Ye leaves Qingshui County, who’s he going to rely on? Friends? Classmates?”

Grandma Li tilted her head, staring at Li Zhongfa with a sly glint: “You lived because of that medic, didn’t you? Didn’t you ever think of repaying her life-saving grace by giving her your own?”

“........”

Li Zhongfa felt a chill inside—how sharp was this woman’s intuition?

Time flew by. Before they knew it, Li Ye, Hu Man, and the others had been studying outside for over a month.

The school paid little attention to Li Ye’s group, and no trouble arose as Li Ye had feared.

On the contrary, their absence restored peace to the remedial class one, bringing great relief to Teacher Luo and others.

The classroom no longer echoed with fights or shouting—only the sound of students reading aloud. All fifty-two classmates buried themselves in study, savoring the hard-won learning environment of this era.

【This is how a remedial student should look!】

Teacher Luo sighed with satisfaction, recalling the chaos of over a month ago and regretting his earlier democratic vote to make Hu Man class monitor.

That month of chaos disrupted the students’ study rhythm—he wondered whether those top students would lose a few points on next year’s college entrance exam.

In this era, even a few lost points from a top student could break a teacher’s heart.

Fortunately, the recent conflict seemed to have ignited the study drive in Xia Yue and others. Watching Xia Yue and Hu Man grit their teeth and study, Teacher Luo felt the old saying—“Misfortune may be a blessing in disguise”—was coming true.

But Teacher Luo never imagined that the remedial class one had already split into two entirely different groups—like two trains diverging onto separate tracks, moving farther apart each moment.

The majority of students, centered on Xia Yue and Jin Shengli, were like an old, worn-out steam locomotive—spewing thick smoke, chugging and straining uphill with fierce determination.

But Li Ye’s eight-member group had switched to electric tracks, silently accelerating, accelerating, accelerating again.

Li Ye and the others left school at five p.m., ate dinner at six. While Jiang Xiaoyan cooked, Hu Man and the others had already begun copying and solving problems.

After dinner at six-thirty, they studied until ten-thirty—four full hours of being drowned in problem sets, struggling, gasping, choking.

By the time they returned to the dorm, their minds were still filled with problems, problems, problems.

After they left, Li Ye would decide the scope and difficulty of tomorrow’s problems based on tonight’s performance.

Using his mental “biological hard drive,” Li Ye gradually fed Hu Man and the others problem sets from his past life—from middle school entrance exams to college entrance exams, ordered from easy to hard.

If Hu Man and the others could solve them, he’d skip them. If none could solve them, he’d repeat them the next day—with detailed explanations.

During daytime classes, Hu Man and the others focused on memorizing knowledge that required rote learning.

In the 1980s, there was no “exam syllabus”—most college entrance questions were memorization-based, truly “the more you memorize, the more points you get”—and this was the remedial class’s core strategy.

Students like Hu Man and Xia Yue already had strong memorization foundations, leaving the lower-tier students far behind.

Li Ye’s nightly “private tutoring” was the next-level combat technique, helping them climb Huashan Peak to challenge the best.

Now, often during class, when the teacher explained a problem, Hu Man and the others would look up—

I’ve solved this before,

I’ve seen this problem,

This one... is this really that easy?

After several such instances, Hu Man and the others stopped looking altogether, focusing all their energy on memorization.

After all, Li Ye would filter and handle everything for them at night—even if they missed a problem, Li Ye would cover for them.

As winter break neared, Teacher Luo suddenly announced an unexpected piece of news in class.

“This semester’s final exam will be jointly set by our school and County No. 1 High School—the same test will be used for all graduating and remedial classes across the county.”

“You must take it seriously, give it your all, and don’t bring shame to No. 2 High School...”

The class erupted in murmurs; tension spread rapidly through the entire school.

For ordinary students, the county-wide exam might feel like just another final test.

But for remedial students who had already taken the college entrance exam, the psychological impact was entirely different.

This was a rehearsal for the real college entrance exam. Each year, only a handful of students from the county got into university—if you didn’t rank extremely high in this county-wide exam, your chance of getting into college was nearly nonexistent.

But while some were tense, Hu Man and the others in the eight-member group were sharpening their claws, ready to test their mettle in this exam.

“You think we’ll rank how high this time?”

“I don’t know how we’ll do against County No. 1, but compared to our class... top ten, right?”

“Yeah, top ten.”

Hu Man narrowed her eyes—though she wasn’t entirely sincere.

Her real goal wasn’t top ten in class—she wanted to challenge Xia Yue and Jin Shengli, the two top students in the grade.

Hu Man had performed poorly in last year’s college entrance exam and was placed in Class Two during remedial reassignment—she’d been resentful from the start.

After moving to Class One, she’d clashed with Xia Yue. Now that the chance had come, she’d definitely test her mettle against Xia Yue in secret.

But as they spoke, Li Ye, who had been directing Jiang Xiaoyan in the kitchen, turned around: “Who said we’re aiming for top ten?”

Hu Man blinked, sensing something was off—then heard Li Ye shout: “No one is allowed to rank in the top ten.”

“.........”

Everyone stared, dumbfounded—learning skills but not allowed to show them? What the hell is Li Ye playing at?

Li Ye walked over seriously and wrote two large Chinese characters on the blackboard.

“From today on, you all must learn a new skill—score control!”

“Before the college entrance exam, in every test you take, you must avoid drawing attention. Your class ranking must fall, never rise.”

“........”

Han Xia, impulsive as ever, immediately objected: “Why? Why can’t we score higher than Xia Yue?”

But Hu Man grabbed Han Xia’s arm—she had begun to understand Li Ye’s meaning.

“Li Ye, you’re doing this to keep things secret, to avoid trouble?”

“Exactly. To keep it secret.”

Li Ye explained: “If your scores suddenly spike, the teachers won’t ignore it—how will you keep it hidden then?”

“If our secret leaks, Teacher Luo might come asking for problems—I can ignore him. But what about Principal Chang? Or someone even harder to deal with?”

This was why Li Ye had gone to such lengths—even at personal cost—to isolate himself from Remedial Class One.

In the 1980s, more than today, it was a society of personal connections—if Hu Man and the others’ scores suddenly improved, wouldn’t someone be knocking on Grandpa Li’s door that very night?

Li Ye spoke solemnly: “My ability is limited—I can only help you few.”

“If more people join, I won’t have the time or energy to tailor problem sets for each person’s needs.”

“I won’t give you individual explanations anymore—your college entrance scores will suffer. Are you willing to risk that?”

Hu Man, Han Xia, and the others stayed silent, lips tightly shut.

But in their hearts, they all thought the same: Whoever dares mess with my college entrance score—I’ll tear them apart.

Li Ye smiled smugly: “Now—who still wants to rank in the top ten?”

But Jiang Xiaoyan, holding a spatula, timidly raised her hand.

“I... want to rank in the top ten.”