The Value of a Set of Exam Papers

When Li Ye and Wen Leyu started "testing each other with problems and explaining them," many students in Class One were "watching the show."

"Li Ye actually has the nerve to explain math problems to Wen Leyu? What score did he even get?"

Although people weren't openly mocking Li Ye like He Weiguo, that troublemaker, quite a few were secretly laughing.

However, after the two of them spent five or six consecutive days non-stop creating and explaining problems, someone finally noticed something was off.

These weren't like the later times when you could "do so many practice problems you'd puke." There weren't many supplementary materials available on the market. Teachers had to rack their brains for days just to put together a set of papers that were slightly different and had a bit of novelty compared to previous ones.

Students back then had a very narrow scope for acquiring knowledge. If they wanted to do problems, they could only repeatedly review the ones the teacher had already tested them on, or the ones the teacher had explained in class.

Occasionally, if a student managed to get a set of exam papers from another middle school, everyone would excitedly copy from each other, then enthusiastically discuss and study them.

The students in the retake class had a strong desire for exam papers. They had learned everything they were supposed to. The avenues for improving their grades were very limited. Every new set of exam papers was precious to them.

They couldn't even imagine what "doing so many practice problems you'd puke" meant. If they could imagine it, just thinking about it would be a form of happiness.

Therefore, when the students in Class One noticed Li Ye and Wen Leyu were still non-stop explaining problems after five or six days, they all started to stir, wondering what kind of difficult problems these two academic underachievers couldn't solve for five or six days. "Why not let me give it a try?"

"Bro, what problems are you guys doing? Can I see them?"

Li Dayong craned his neck to watch his older brother for two days, and finally couldn't help but "disturb Li Ye's good deed."

Li Ye casually tossed Li Dayong a math practice notebook and said, "Here, if there's anything you don't understand, ask me, and I'll explain it to you."

"Got it, Bro!"

Li Dayong didn't pay much attention to Li Ye's offer to "explain it to him." He knew perfectly well what level his older brother was at.

But after he took the notebook, he quickly became bewildered.

Densely packed practice problems filled over ten pages. Only a small number of the problem types were ones Li Dayong had seen before; the rest were all new types.

"Hiss, where did my brother get these problems from?"

Li Dayong was like a cat that had fallen into a mouse hole, excitedly biting here and pouncing there, wishing he could swallow all the targets at once.

But after a short while, his brows furrowed tightly.

The earlier problems were fine, but many of the later ones, even with the answers provided, were still incomprehensible to Li Dayong.

He tried covering the solution process and only looking at the original problem, but his eyes went blank, and he couldn't understand a thing.

"Hiss..."

Li Dayong gasped, looking incredulously at Li Ye and Wen Leyu not far away, wondering which of these two was the academic genius.

Based on his observations over the past few days, it seemed Li Ye spent more time explaining problems to Wen Leyu, and Wen Leyu would occasionally whisper lessons to Li Ye.

But his own brother...

"Dayong, Dayong, let me copy them!"

Fu Yingjie, Li Dayong's deskmate, leaned over, begging Li Dayong with a hint of flattery. He had been watching for a long time, and the exam questions in the notebook were like ginseng fruits on a ginseng tree, making his mouth water.

Li Dayong didn't agree immediately. Instead, he asked Li Ye and received the reply, "You decide." Only then did he give it to Fu Yingjie.

This one agreement caused several classmates around them to crowd over, starting to copy the problems under the dim yellow lamplight.

Li Dayong had a sudden inspiration and said, "How about you guys try copying only the problems, not the answers, and see how many you can solve?"

"Okay, let's try it."

Everyone accepted Li Dayong's suggestion and excitedly buried their heads in copying.

The more they copied, the more surprised and excited they became. By the time they had finished copying all the problems, they were almost dancing with joy.

It was like a martial arts fanatic who considered himself a martial arts genius receiving a martial arts manual. Although he hadn't understood it yet, he could already foresee his improvement in strength.

But after just half an hour, these "martial arts geniuses" were doused with cold water and sobered up.

"Are they that difficult?"

"How many can you do?"

"Eight. Maybe six! What about you?"

"I'm not saying, it's embarrassing."

Li Dayong squinted and said with a put-on tone, "A few days ago, who was laughing at my brother? Now you know how deep the water is, huh?"

"Hehehe, yes, yes, yes, Brother Yong, Master Yong, can you let us copy the answers!"

"You can copy the answers, but from now on, don't join in the commotion with certain people, and don't let people who like to take advantage and act superior copy the problems."

"Mhm, mhm, mhm."

Li Dayong's sarcastic remarks drew the displeasure of several people in the front rows of the classroom.

They were all part of Xia Yue's inner circle, with the core members being the former class monitor Xia Yue and Class One's study committee member Jin Shengli.

In the past, they had relied on their good academic performance and their supposed "understanding of literature" to repeatedly exclude Li Dayong, Li Ye's close friend. Now that Xia Yue had lost her position as class monitor because of Li Ye, the two sides had become mortal enemies.

So, most of the voices mocking Li Ye a few days ago came from Xia Yue's small group, which had made Li Dayong feel quite stifled. Now that he had the chance, how could he not make a few sarcastic remarks?

Study committee member Jin Shengli had already stood up, preparing to come over and copy the problems. Upon hearing Li Dayong's words, he sat back down in shame.

He had also been among those who had mocked Li Ye a few days prior.

Xia Yue had a bad temper too. After hearing Li Dayong's words, she said indignantly, "Hmph, just a few difficult problems, are they that amazing? A failing student is still a failing student. Some people, even if you give them a mountain of problems, still won't pass."

Li Dayong immediately retorted, "We've all taken exams before, so it's not like only one of us has passed."

Xia Yue abruptly stood up, ready to get into a shouting match with Li Dayong.

Compared to her academic performance, her skill in verbal arguments was even more impressive.

"Knock, knock, knock~"

Li Ye tapped the desk with one hand, his steel pen not stopping in the other.

But Li Dayong immediately stopped arguing and, dragging a stool over, came to Li Ye's side with a fawning smile. "Brother, do you have a moment? Can you explain these problems to me?"

Li Ye looked at the burly, bear-like Li Dayong and couldn't help but feel a chill.

The impact of Li Ye's questions spread much faster than he had anticipated.

By the afternoon of the next day, the homeroom teacher, Teacher Luo, had found him.

"Li Ye, where did those test questions of yours come from?"

Li Ye looked at Teacher Luo, not understanding why he was so anxious.

In fact, Li Ye had underestimated the value of the questions he had created. Teacher Luo taught physics, and that morning someone had brought him a few questions for consultation, which immediately caught his attention.

He had never seen this type of question before, and they were "very interesting" to solve.

Different fields have different challenges. Teacher Luo, who spent all day racking his brains to create questions, could deeply understand the value of these problems.

As the homeroom teacher of Retake Class One, he wouldn't let go of any factor that could improve the class's performance. Asking a student for questions was nothing to be ashamed of.

Li Ye thought for a moment and said, "Some of them were found by my family, and a few sets were given to me by Teacher Ke."

"Teacher Ke? Alright, I'll go find her."

Teacher Luo immediately believed Li Ye's words. After all, he would never have imagined that the questions Li Ye created could "astonish" him, a teacher, and even nearly stump him.

However, as Teacher Luo turned to leave, he casually took Li Ye's notebook with him.

But what Li Ye didn't know was that when Teacher Ke received Li Ye's notebook, she was also almost dumbfounded.