Chapter 12: The Rankings Are Out

Evening self-study.

The entire senior high school teaching building was brightly lit.

In Class 14, however, a constant murmur of whispers could be heard.

Whenever an exam finished, students—whether they were high achievers or struggling—would inexplicably become a bit restless.

Reflected in their behavior, this meant students gathered in twos and threes to whisper to one another.

Some discussed games, others talked about celebrities; the situations were endless.

Of course, there were also students who could settle their minds and study quietly.

Wang Donglai scanned the classroom before fixing his gaze on Guo Xing.

Guo Xing’s grades were nothing special in the context of the entire grade level, but in Class 14, she was top-tier, especially in mathematics.

It was precisely because of this that Wang Donglai set his sights on her.

Having made up his mind, Wang Donglai stood up and walked over to Guo Xing.

"Guo Xing, could I take a look at your math notes?"

Concise and to the point, he stated his purpose directly.

Guo Xing put down her pen, looked up at Wang Donglai, and after a brief moment of hesitation, pulled a notebook from her books.

"Here, this contains the math notes and error corrections I’ve made over my three years of high school."

In the span of a short breath, two choices surfaced in Guo Xing’s mind.

Refuse or agree!

The two didn't have a deep friendship; they were merely classmates with a casual acquaintance.

She was under no obligation to lend out these math notes.

Yet, Guo Xing quickly made her decision and lent them out.

The reason was simple: she had seen Wang Donglai’s recent attitude toward studying, and she was willing to help.

"Thanks! I’ll finish reading them as soon as possible and bring them back to you!"

Wang Donglai nodded to show his gratitude, then turned and returned to his seat.

On one side of the classroom, Chen Mengni happened to witness this scene, a flash of curiosity crossing her eyes.

Shaking her head, Chen Mengni went back to her book.

Holding Guo Xing’s math notes, Wang Donglai returned to his desk.

The math notebook was thick; upon opening it, he saw elegant handwriting inside.

"Host is reading math notes, gained +2 experience points."

He hadn't been reading for long when the system’s notification sound rang out.

Wang Donglai’s heart stirred, and he took out his phone to start a timer.

Three minutes later.

The system notification sounded again.

"Gained two experience points in three minutes. To level up, I still need over twenty-three hours."

"Compared to before, the speed has increased more than threefold."

After calculating silently, Wang Donglai felt a surge of excitement.

Level 2 math was truly holding him back.

There were only two weeks left until the next weekly exam.

For these two weeks, Wang Donglai had set a goal: to raise his math to at least Level 4 and improve his English by one level as well.

The reason he set a two-week timeframe was that once he finished reading these math notes once, the rate of gaining experience points would slow down.

Unless, of course, these notes could keep him occupied for over twenty-three hours.

Pushing his plans to the back of his mind, Wang Donglai focused his attention once again on the math notes before him.

...

The sun rose in the east, the moon set in the west.

91 days until the college entrance exam.

Early in the morning, everyone entering the classroom looked toward the area next to the blackboard.

This was where the grades were posted every time.

Huang Cheng quietly put away his phone, turned his head, and asked, "Old Wang, how did you do this time? Seeing how seriously you've been reviewing lately, you must have done pretty well, right?"

"You'll know once the grades are out in a bit!"

Wang Donglai didn't look up, speaking calmly to Huang Cheng.

"Uh..."

Huang Cheng hadn't expected such a response. He paused, then let out a soft huff after realizing what had been said, and went back to secretly reading a novel on his phone.

Morning reading time arrived.

Just as morning reading was about to end, Meng Fang came into the classroom.

She held a sheet of paper and stuck it directly to the side of the blackboard.

"The results for this time are out. See for yourselves; I don't feel like talking about it."

After saying this, Meng Fang left the classroom.

The students weren't fools; they could naturally hear that something was off in Meng Fang's tone.

Clearly, the results of this weekly exam were not satisfactory.

Sun Yan, who sat in the front row closest to the rankings, ran to the grade sheet immediately after Meng Fang left and began to read them out.

"First place, Chen Yanqiang, total score 376, liberal arts rank 167."

"Second place, Guo Xing, total score 352, liberal arts rank 251."

"Third place, Xie Yaolin, total score 348, liberal arts rank 284."

"Fourth place, Wang Donglai, total score 334, liberal arts rank 312."

"..."

Name after name was read out by Sun Yan, all the way to the tenth place.

As Sun Yan read the scores, many people crowded around to check their individual subject grades.

In the past, Huang Cheng wouldn't have been curious and wouldn't have squeezed in to look.

But this time, he suddenly felt interested and pushed his way through.

A moment later, Huang Cheng returned to his seat and said, "Old Wang, I saw your scores for each subject. Want to hear them?"

"Doesn't matter, I don't care."

Wang Donglai didn't even look up, speaking calmly to Huang Cheng.

Wang Donglai had actually expected these results.

After all, he had long forgotten his high school knowledge. If he hadn't improved his scores in the three liberal arts subjects, he probably wouldn't even have reached this total.

He knew without looking that he had failed Chinese, math, and English.

Likely, only the three liberal arts subjects were passing.

Huang Cheng hadn't expected this answer either. He was stunned for a moment before saying, "If you don't care about your grades, why are you studying so hard?"

Hearing this, Wang Donglai stopped reading, turned his head to look at Huang Cheng, and said calmly, "Huang Cheng, first of all, I need to correct you: it's not that I don't care about grades. It's just that I already knew the results of this exam, so I don't care about them—that doesn't mean I don't care about the college entrance exam results. Secondly, I am a student; coming to school is for the purpose of learning. Studying hard is what I should be doing; it's a matter of course."

"Lastly, I want to say that the college entrance exam is really important!"

Wang Donglai didn't offer any further advice. The world wasn't lacking in logic or the words of sages.

What it lacked was perseverance, the steadfastness and drive to put logic into practice.

Besides, Wang Donglai wasn't Huang Cheng's father; whether he got into a vocational college or a university had nothing to do with him.

Saying that much out of consideration for their time as desk-mates was enough.

The world is inherently indifferent; having been reborn, Wang Donglai naturally wouldn't waste his energy on people who didn't matter.

"Oh."

Huang Cheng frowned, feeling that Wang Donglai's words were somehow off, but unable to pinpoint why, he simply kept it to himself.

"Your three liberal arts subjects totaled 180, 60 points each. Chinese 89, English 50, math 15. Total score 334, fourth in the class, 312th in liberal arts."

In the end, Huang Cheng reported the scores anyway.

Hearing these results, Wang Donglai felt no fluctuation in his heart.

In truth, his score could have been higher, but he hadn't pushed for it.

He wanted to use this exam to gauge his true level.

In the following classes, as each teacher entered, they handed out the papers and began to go over them.

This continued until the math teacher, Luo Zhibin, entered the classroom.

(End of chapter)