First place: Hu Man, 61 points;
Second place: Han Xia, 57 points;
Third place
Tenth place: Yan Jinbu, 35 points;
After the skinny, slight Teacher Hu began class, he first announced the top ten scorers in this math mock exam, then started going over the problems.
Only then did Li Ye understand that the little old man had not been trying to comfort him. His score of 28 really was just "a little low."
Thinking back to what that shit-stirrer He Weiguo had said earlier, Li Ye had been seven points short on his last college entrance exam—meaning he had scored only 21 points.
And at this time, high school students had to first pass the Provincial Preliminary Exam before they could qualify for the college entrance exam, and its pass rate was under 50%.
A score of 28 could actually sit securely in the middle range across the province. Would you believe it?
But you really could not blame the students of today for being stupid, nor could you blame them for being lazy.
Because after listening to Teacher Hu explain problems for five minutes, Li Ye realized that Teacher Hu's level was still a cut below his own!
And this was a math teacher in the Retake Class of a county-level high school.
How long had it been since the college entrance exam was restored in 1981? What was the educational environment like now?
It was not only middle and high school students from the closed-off era whose education had gaps; the teachers' self-study had gaps too.
So this was an era when education as a whole was reviving. The students of this era were no less tenacious or hardworking than those of later generations, but their reserves of knowledge were truly weak.
In his previous life, Li Ye had heard a college student from the late seventies say that when they received their college entrance exam notices, they did not even understand linear equations in one variable.
At the time, Li Ye had taken it as a joke, but now it seemed... not all that far-fetched.
Just look at Li Ye's Retake Class. There were students from eighteen or nineteen all the way to their late twenties.
Many of them had to start over from the foundations of first-year middle school, then compete with people over ten years apart in age to cross the single-log bridge.
In Li Ye's era, that thirty-four-year-old who had taken the exam for fourteen straight years was a rarity. But in this era, Educated Youth examinees nearing thirty were not uncommon at all.
After all, a dozen or so years ago, they too had been fresh young youths in the prime of life!
At this time, the nationwide university admission rate was 4%. Not 4% of fresh graduates, but 4% of the entire youth population from sixteen or seventeen to their early thirties.
It was perfectly normal for high school students now to take the exam three or four years in a row. Li Ye had classmates who had taken it for four consecutive years, and the students admitted each year were basically repeaters too.
Even so, on a college entrance exam worth over 600 points, scoring just over 400 could get you into a key undergraduate university, while a little over 300 could get you into a junior college.
Surprised or not?
Unexpected or not?
Li Ye did not know that Ma Ali had scored only 19 points in math when he retook the college entrance exam, nor did he know that the current average score in college entrance exam math was only in the thirties. He only knew that he had this in the bag.
For the problems on the paper before him, Li Ye did not even need to summon the painful memories of his previous life. Relying only on instinct and mental conditioned reflexes, he could crush them into scattered petals and flowing water.
He really was not bragging. Sending Li Ye to take the college entrance exam of this era was a colossal BUG.
You expected a group of high school students still muddled over linear equations in one variable to compete with the cram-raised kids of later generations?
A mountain of books and a sea of questions, forged and tempered a thousand times over—what kind of experience was that?
Could students nowadays understand the brutal beatings delivered by Huanggang Secret Papers? Could they endure the devastation of Hengshui-style special training?
Compared with them, Li Ye was the Monkey King who had leaped out of Supreme Lord Lao's alchemy furnace, tempered into a spirit.
For basically the entire rest of the class, Li Ye barely listened to what Teacher Hu was saying at the podium.
He was afraid that if he listened too much, he would not be able to stop himself from standing up and making the teacher taste the agony of "the student is Wei Shen," only for Teacher Hu to leap over and throw old fists at Li Ye.
Teacher, do you know this solution of yours is far too long-winded?
Teacher, I know another, better method.
"Pah! Take this punch!"
Less than one day after transmigrating—dead.
Li Ye let his mind wander, quietly activating his brain and beginning to retrieve that long-sealed "painful memory" from his "hard drive" for some self-review.
Back then, he studied until midnight every night. Endless practice problems, endless equations to solve; with mountains of books and seas of questions as his bitter boat, one careless slip and the waves would smash him under.
And now, those exam papers that had strained his eyes blind, those pages of notes that had rubbed his fingers raw—so long as Li Ye wished to look at them, they could clearly appear before his eyes.
Moreover, the knowledge points and detailed annotations within them seeped into the brain of Li Ye's current body, merging together in a lively, nimble whole.
Copy, paste, transfer successful.
So easy.
Those experiences, once so cruel they had made him want to cry, had now become Li Ye's supreme secret manual for a fish leaping over the dragon gate.
In the early eighties, there really was a dragon gate.
No need to compete over fathers, no need to compete over grandfathers. Even if you were just a wild little tadpole, you did not need to look for Mom.
As long as you leaped with all your strength over the gates of the college entrance exam, you could crash into heaven-shaking fortune, ride the clouds, and transform into a dragon.
The talent gap created in previous years had given the capable, accomplished, credentialed younger generation vast room to display their talents.
There were plenty of college students in the early eighties who rose straight up the blue clouds to the central government, and even more who held important posts in major state-owned enterprises.
It could be said that as long as they were not terribly unlucky, college students at this time could take the shortcut of the college entrance exam and reach the pinnacle of life.
Even the dogs in the village became police dogs—it really was no joke.
Of course, nothing in the world was absolute. Among those admitted to university at this time were also some watered-down "special talents."
For example, Master Ma, who had displayed the Lightning Five Consecutive Strikes, was one of the first-generation college students from 1977. By his own strength alone, he had smashed a hole in the reputation of "traditional martial arts," making him an awesome-plus figure who stirred the winds and clouds.
The bell rang for class to end. After dragging class out for three minutes, Teacher Hu left the room. The students went out in twos and threes to get some air, and many of them actually lit cigarettes openly in the hallway outside the classroom.
There were Educated Youth in their twenties in the Retake Class, all veteran smokers. Teachers generally did not bother with them.
Li Ye did not go out for air. After running a high fever for two days straight, this body of his was somewhat weak, and he did not feel like moving.
He lay facedown on the desk with his eyes closed, casually flipping through fragments of the original owner's memories so that he could fully adapt to this world.
But just a few minutes later, chaotic footsteps rapidly approached from outside the classroom.
"Li Ye! Li Ye!"
Hu Man, the class monitor at the desk behind him, cried out in alarm.
Li Ye hurriedly turned around, only to find Hu Man staring fearfully at someone charging in through the doorway.
The newcomer was a big, broad fellow with a pancake face, gripping a broken stool leg in his hand. As he charged in, he shouted murderously.
"He Weiguo! Fuck your mother! You want to get my brother killed? I fucking told you last time—mention that bastard again and I'll break your legs!"
The students in the classroom quickly scattered, clearing a path for the guy whose rage had gone to his head.
Meanwhile, He Weiguo at the back of the classroom grabbed a weapon of his own and roared harshly, "Li Dayong, you're from Class One, so stay out of Class Two's business! Your grandpa isn't afraid of you!"
"I'll make you call me Grandpa."
The big pancake-faced man thundered past the podium. His huge feet made the classroom floor boom and thud as he charged at He Weiguo like a bear.
But as he swept past Li Ye, Li Ye grabbed his arm.
The original owner's lingering memories told him that this crazed big fellow was his childhood friend and sworn brother. He had come to avenge Li Ye over what had happened before class.
But Li Ye had underestimated Li Dayong's strength and fury, and his body was still weak. Not only did he fail to hold Li Dayong back immediately, he was instead dragged into a stumble by Li Dayong's sturdy frame.
Li Dayong stopped at once, supported Li Ye, and asked worriedly, "Bro, are you okay? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Li Ye steadied himself, smoothly snatched the stool leg from Li Dayong's hand, and pulled him toward the classroom door.
Seeing that Li Ye had "backed down," He Weiguo and several of his lackeys, who had already tensed up and prepared for a fight, immediately started acting smug again, letting out taunting howls of "Awoo! Awoo!"
Li Dayong's explosive temper could not be held down on the spot, but Li Ye reacted even faster than he did.
He neither cursed nor rushed over to tear into them. He merely turned around and raised his hand.
"Whoosh—"
"Clang-clang-clang—"
The stool leg flew from Li Ye's hand, streaking across the entire classroom and smashing into the rear blackboard after grazing past He Weiguo's ear.
He Weiguo jumped in fright. If that had hit him on the head, a huge bump would have been the least of it.
His face full of fury, he looked toward Li Ye—and saw those terrifyingly calm eyes again.
Five seconds. Ten seconds. He Weiguo could not say a single harsh word. He did not even dare breathe loudly.
It was as if he felt that so long as he moved even a little, Li Ye, this tiger, would pounce upon him with savage force and kiss his cheek with sharp fangs and claws.
After all, tiger hunters were legends from textbooks. He Weiguo knew he could not pull off the ultimate move of using an axe and a sliding shovel to rip open a tiger's belly.
It was only because Li Ye had just transmigrated from forty years later, from an era where if you punched him once, he would immediately lie down and order the newest motorcycle model, that his law-abiding restraint had not yet adapted to the circumstances of this era.
Otherwise, he might really have pounced on He Weiguo and bitten his face into a bloom of peach blossoms.
But even this simple suppression of aura left He Weiguo temporarily cowed. Only after Li Ye had pulled Li Dayong out through the classroom door did He Weiguo let out a "whoosh" and resume breathing normally.
Why had he never felt that Li Ye was this fierce before?
He Weiguo took two breaths, then looked up and immediately froze.
Because everyone around him was looking at him, and their expressions were all strange. A few even showed contempt in their eyes.
There was nothing more uncomfortable than this kind of situation.
One moment you were pounding your chest and howling like a gorilla; the next, you had tucked your tail and acted like a lapdog. Was that contrast not a little too sharp?
"What are you laughing at?"
"I just can't be bothered to argue with a Huang Shiren like him. So what if he's some dog landlord?"
"Pah!"
He Weiguo spat and swore, "If he can get into the capital, then Heaven itself must be blind."
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