Struck Gold

"Report!"

Xia Yue called out "Report!" at the door of the teacher's office, then stepped inside and said to the homeroom teacher, Teacher Luo, "Teacher, I've brought the person."

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

What do you mean, "I've brought the person"? It sounded like she was bringing in a criminal for interrogation.

At this moment, he completely understood. Xia Yue, who was merely serving as class monitor, had already cultivated a sense of superiority and entitlement.

Teacher Luo was comparing two answer sheets when he saw Li Ye and the others enter. He put down the answers and stared intently at Li Ye without a word.

This was a common tactic teachers used against students who felt guilty. They would first make you feel uneasy, then berate you sternly, making it easier to control you.

But who was Li Ye?

Back in the day, when his boss reneged on a commission, he had quietly planted time bombs in his work. Facing his boss's furious outburst, he had remained unfazed, claiming, "I am wronged, I am innocent." Would he be afraid of a mere stare?

Stare all you want, I'm handsome anyway.

Teacher Luo looked at the expressionless Li Ye and could only put on a stern face. "Li Ye, did you hit Xia Yue with a book just now?"

Li Ye calmly replied, "She called me a child born to a stepmother. If the teacher thinks my actions were inappropriate, I can have my father speak with her father."

"…"

Teacher Luo glanced at Xia Yue, his gaze becoming sharp.

Insulting someone's parents was no minor offense in the eyes of cultured people.

Teacher Luo frowned and changed the subject. "Xia Yue says you copied. What do you say?"

Li Ye said, "I didn't cheat. I believe this is Xia Yue's retaliation against me, or perhaps it's due to jealousy, a false accusation and slander against me."

"…"

Several teachers in the classroom looked over, their faces showing surprise.

Originally, it was just an informal in-class test, and calling it cheating was already making a mountain out of a molehill.

But what Li Ye said was too aggressive, immediately cornering himself and Xia Yue.

If Li Ye were subsequently found to have cheated, the penalty would inevitably be severe.

Conversely, if Xia Yue were proven to have retaliated out of jealousy and slandered him, the consequences would surely be doubled.

Teacher Luo quickly smiled and said, "Li Ye, what are you always thinking about? It's not that serious…"

But while Teacher Luo wanted to smooth things over, Xia Yue wouldn't stand for it.

She had clearly caught Li Ye cheating, so why was she being painted as a jealous person?

So, almost at the same time as Teacher Luo spoke, Xia Yue interjected, "Who retaliated against you? Who slandered you? Your answers and Wen Leyu's are exactly the same. If you didn't copy from her, did she copy from you?"

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

Is Xia Yue stupid or what? Can't she see I'm trying to smooth things over? Doesn't she know how hard it is to prove cheating?

Besides, Teacher Ke is only on her first day of teaching, and you're already causing a scene about cheating in class, involving her daughter. Who are you trying to poison?

A dog chasing a rat…

Li Ye didn't even look at Xia Yue. He said to Teacher Luo, "An hour ago, I reported to you that Xia Yue had privately opened 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 she's the class monitor?"

"Don't rush," Teacher Luo said, picking up the two perfect answer sheets. "Explain to me why your answers are identical."

Li Ye asked strangely, "Teacher Luo, there's only one correct answer to these questions. I can't just deliberately write the wrong answer, can I?"

"…"

Teacher Luo's face darkened slightly. Why were they all so troublesome? Couldn't they just be good students?

In that case, let's handle this officially.

Teacher Luo turned to another teacher and said, "Teacher Jiao, what was Li Ye's English level before?"

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

Teacher Luo scratched his head and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Li Ye, your improvement 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 think I cheated, then just let us do another test and compare."

Li Ye didn't want to drag it out. Facts speak louder than words. With one decisive move, everything would be clear.

As for why his grades had improved so rapidly, he would let the teachers figure it out themselves!

He'd had an epiphany, been possessed, encountered a ghost, or the God of Literature had descended. As long as his grades were good, the teachers would come up with a suitable reason.

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

Teacher Jiao had also been an English teacher at County No. 2 High School and was familiar with Li Ye's past performance. Therefore, he was also curious why Li Ye had gotten all the answers correct.

Li Ye took a mimeographed test paper and said, "Teacher Jiao, can you give Xia Yue a copy too?"

Teacher Jiao asked in confusion, "Why?"

Paper and ink were school property. In this era of scarcity, every sheet of paper was precious.

Li Ye said with mock seriousness, "The only reason Xia Yue is convinced I cheated is jealousy. She's jealous that a classmate whose grades used to be worse than hers has now surpassed her. If she can recognize her own shortcomings, she'll definitely be more humble in the future. Humility leads to progress."

"..."

Teacher Jiao was stunned for a moment before chuckling, "Alright! You're really not being humble at all."

Despite his amusement, he took two more test papers and handed one each to Xia Yue and Wen Leyu.

The anger in Xia Yue's chest hadn't extinguished at all. After taking the paper, she gritted her teeth and attacked it as if it were an enemy.

The difficulty of the second-year high school papers wasn't much different from those for the repeat class. Xia Yue's English grades were good, but 'good' was relative to her classmates; the entire set of papers wasn't easy to complete.

However, Xia Yue firmly believed that with all of Lu Jingyao's study secrets, she was definitely far ahead of Li Ye. The fact that Lu Jingyao got into Beijing Foreign Studies University while Li Ye didn't was proof enough.

As the questions on the paper became increasingly difficult, Xia Yue worked slower and slower. Still, she felt she could answer them all. Whether they were right or wrong was another matter, but in this day and age, just being able to write down an answer was good enough.

But when Xia Yue inadvertently glanced up at Li Ye, she froze.

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

"Is he just scribbling? He must be guessing. Scoring 21 out of 100, it's no wonder he's guessing."

Xia Yue cheered herself on while trying to speed up her work. But the faster she wanted to finish, the less she could accomplish, until her mind was a muddled mess and her eyes felt blurry.

"Teacher, I'm done."

After writing the last letter, Li Ye handed the paper to Teacher Jiao, who had been standing behind him for a while. Teacher Jiao had noticed Li Ye's speed and had stayed behind him. By the time Li Ye finished, Teacher Jiao had also finished reading. Now, without needing to grade it, he knew what score Li Ye should get.

At this moment, Wen Leyu also finished her paper. Teacher Jiao quickly reviewed it and found that she had also gotten a perfect score.

With a mix of jealousy and envy, he said to Teacher Ke, "Teacher Ke, you're so fortunate. With these two students performing so well next year, you're guaranteed to shine."

Teacher Ke smiled and replied, "It's all thanks to Teacher Jiao's excellent teaching. I just picked up a great bargain."

It's a give-and-take situation; cultivating a good student isn't easy, and the credit should be shared.

"Hahahaha~"

The teachers all laughed. None of them noticed Xia Yue, still tearfully struggling with the last paper.

I haven't finished yet, I haven't lost. These questions are simple, I can get 100 too.

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

"Alright, stop for now. Let's talk about you opening Li Ye's mail."