I Can Tell You With All Responsibility

Li Ye saw Hao Jian, Jin Peng, and Wang Jianqiang off. He closed the door of the small storage room and dragged out a simple wooden blackboard.

This was something Li Ye had asked Jin Peng to make: a wooden frame with two square meters of wooden board. It was crude, but functional.

"Has everyone eaten enough? Eat enough, listen to me say a few words."

"We're full, full! We're stuffed, hehehe."

"Li Ye, what do you want to say? If you regret it and want us to pay more for meals, we absolutely won't, hehe."

"Hahahaha~"

Several girls giggled, finding the serious Li Ye quite amusing.

Li Ye almost got sidetracked by the girls, but at this moment, he had to be serious.

"Bang bang bang~"

Li Ye held a small stick and tapped it hard against the blackboard.

"First, let me explain. Today, we clearly did nothing wrong. Xia Yue and them are the ones in the wrong. So why did I bring you all out of the school?"

"."

The girls stopped laughing. They looked at Li Ye in surprise, full of confusion.

Wasn't it to get extra food?

Wasn't it to avoid being in the same group as Xia Yue and the others?

Li Ye waved the small stick, saying grimly, "Actually, everyone should know that I, Li Ye, am not someone to be trifled with. Even though Xia Yue has been the class monitor for several years and has some tricks up her sleeve, some experience..."

"But I, Li Ye, can responsibly tell you that as long as I use my family's connections, giving Xia Yue a lesson, a disciplinary action, is not a difficult thing."

"Or, like Xia Yue, I could play some dirty, underhanded tricks and force her to drop out and get lost. That's not impossible either."

"But I didn't. Do you know why?"

Li Ye tapped the blackboard, his voice low as he commanded, "Everyone, be serious."

"Swish~"

Including Wen Leyu, all seven young men and women straightened up in unison.

"Because I don't want to stay in that muddy swamp."

Li Ye asked Li Dayong, Fu Yingjie, and Jiang Xiaoyan, "You guys were in Retake Class One before. What did you think Retake Class One was back then? Was it the base camp for top students, the hope of the entire Second High School? The cradle of future university students?"

"And didn't the top students in Class One see us in Retake Class Two and Three as a burden to County Second High School, wishing all the teachers would only teach Class One?"

Li Dayong chuckled without speaking, and Fu Yingjie forced a smile, pressing his lips together.

Jiang Xiaoyan lowered her head and mumbled like a mosquito, "I didn't. They're just spouting nonsense."

But the three of them knew in their hearts that the students in Retake Class One, especially the top thirty, looked down on Class Two and Three. They were the advanced classes, and the fifty students inside came from various rural and county high schools. The students in Class One consistently occupied the top forty spots in the school's rankings. Occasionally, when students from Class Two or Three transferred in, they would complain, "Don't drag down the class's average score."

Yet, even so, students from Retake Class Two and Three were desperately trying to get into Class One. This was because the school's teachers paid the most attention to the students in Class One, dedicating seventy to eighty percent of their energy to them.

The advanced classes at County Second High School might not compare to the advanced classes at County First High School, but they were far superior to many rural high schools outside the county town. All high school students in Qingshui County knew that only by entering the advanced retake classes of County First or Second High School did they have a greater chance of crossing the dragon gate and getting into university. For students from other rural high schools, and even for most students in Retake Class Two and Three, they were largely just participants in a race they couldn't win.

"You don't have to deny it," Li Ye said calmly. "The level of Class One is indeed a little higher than Class Two and Three, but compared to us here..."

Li Ye made a sweeping gesture with the small stick in his hand, circling the small storage room that was only twenty square meters.

"Class One is a muddy swamp emitting a foul odor. Stepping into it will only dirty yourself."

"."

Jiang Xiaoyan and Fu Yingjie were somewhat stunned. They felt that the Li Ye standing there now was a bit like a charlatan.

Charlatans are this handsome?

But there was more charlatanism to come.

Li Ye tapped the blackboard again, tilting his chin up as he declared, "I can responsibly tell you,"

"This little room of ours is the preparatory class for Qingshui County's university students in '82. As long as you join our little group, you will definitely get into university next year."

"Whoa~"

All six students exclaimed in surprise. Even Li Dayong felt that his brother's mouth was opening too wide, and he might just dislocate his jaw. Brother, do you know how many university students Qingshui County produced last year?

Not even seven people if you include vocational and technical schools.

All seven of them got into university? No, add yourself, Li Ye, and that makes eight.

The county education bureau chief must be dreaming if he's bragging like this.

But you can't bite the hand that feeds you. The aroma of braised pork ribs and radish hadn't even been fully swallowed yet, so how could they stick out their tongues at Li Ye and go "nya nya nya"?

Moreover, Li Ye stood there at that moment, exuding a powerful confidence and an intense pressure. It felt as if his words were undeniable.

Li Ye was indeed confident.

In his previous life, he used to browse Zhihu forums whenever he had free time. The topic of "Modern Gaokao vs. 1970s-1980s Gaokao" was always a hot one.

There were two main theories, both of which had been practically verified.

The first theory involved a group of top university students from the late 1970s and early 1980s who competed with their own high school children by retaking modern Gaokao exams.

The results were, as expected, not very good. They were completely stumped by many question types.

However, these former students, who now held important positions, were all certain that if given a year to adapt, they couldn't guarantee a spot in the 985 universities, but they were confident they could aim for a 211.

Why?

Because of their intelligence.

These were people who had fought their way into the top 1% of the 4% admission rate era. Even if the questions back then were simpler, it didn't negate the fact that they were absolute geniuses.

Yet, even with these highly intelligent individuals challenging modern high school students with their eyes covered, they were still flustered and overwhelmed by the modern students' tactics.

The second theory proposed that modern high school students would take the Gaokao papers from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

For example, the most challenging math problem in the 1977 Gaokao was to prove the Pythagorean theorem.

In the following years, up until the early 1980s, the Gaokao difficulty increased slightly, but overall, it felt comparable to a middle school exam.

Even with this level of difficulty, it managed to stump a large number of people. As long as they passed, they could get into university.

Therefore, Li Ye believed that his true Gaokao competitors were never people like Xia Yue or the advanced classes at County No. 1 High School, but rather those exceptionally intelligent geniuses.

After all, there are always those monsters that make life feel pointless.

Fortunately, it was already 1981.

A former professor from Tsinghua University once said that the 1977 cohort was the highest quality batch of students he had ever taught.

Even with the educational gap, those geniuses were like gold in sand, impossible to conceal.

In 1977, despite the simple exam questions, the prolonged period of educational stagnation had accumulated countless geniuses, truly a time of rampant talent.

After the first two years of Gaokao, those accumulated high-IQ talents were finally admitted to universities.

Otherwise, with Li Ye's mediocre abilities in his previous life, even with the "biological hard drive" in his mind to cheat, he wouldn't have dared to aim for Tsinghua or Peking University so boldly.

But Li Ye had confidence, while others did not.

"Ahem, Li Ye, I don't think what you're saying is quite right."

Hu Man, having been a class monitor for a long time, managed to argue back against Li Ye's imposing aura.

She kindly said to Li Ye, "Although we should be full of confidence about the future, we shouldn't be presumptuous."

"It doesn't matter what we say among ourselves, but if Xia Yue and the others were to overhear this, it would cause a huge joke."

"Why would they overhear it? Are you going to tell them?"

Li Ye pointed at the door of the small storeroom and said very seriously, "I warn you all, anything that happens in this room, and anything you see, you are not to reveal a single word, a single sentence, outside."

Li Ye first threw a stack of hand-cut white papers to Hu Man and the others, then turned around and picked up chalk to start writing problems on the small blackboard.

As he wrote, he said, "From today onwards, you will all complete two to three sets of practice papers every day until the Gaokao."

"Ah? Two to three sets of papers every day?"

"How is that even possible? Li Ye, do you mean... you're creating the papers for us?"

"That's impossible, right? Even teachers don't create one set of papers a week, let alone every day."

While everyone admitted that Li Ye was good at studying and explaining problems, no one believed he could create three sets of papers daily.

Creating exam questions isn't the same as copying them. School teachers rack their brains trying to create a new set of questions that are distinctly different from previous ones, exhausting countless brain cells.

The current Retake Class One has a full subject assessment exam every half month, and the task of creating one set of papers for this half month already pushed Teacher Luo and the others to their limits.

It was only with Teacher Ke's help recently that Teacher Luo and the others could catch their breath.

Now, Li Ye, who was eighteen or nineteen, was expected to create three sets of papers daily, and continue this until the Gaokao?

Wouldn't that mean that besides attending classes during the day, all his other time would be spent doing problems?

Where would he get so many papers? Even the Capital City wouldn't have that many, right?

But if it were true, it sounded exciting!

The students started chattering amongst themselves, a mix of disbelief and hidden excitement.

Wen Leyu slowly turned her head, her clear, cold gaze sweeping over the group of "little sparrows." Without any emotion, she reprimanded, "Can you all be quiet? Those who believe Li Ye can stay, those who don't can leave."

"..."

Can't afford to provoke them, can't afford to provoke them. The Little Mute rarely speaks, but when she does, it's always extraordinary.

If she really were to blow some hot air at Li Ye and get him kicked out, then forget about doing three sets of problems a day; he wouldn't even get a meal that costs a dime!

While everyone's thoughts were racing, Li Ye had already filled the entire small blackboard. His handwriting was messy, barely legible.

Li Ye turned around and looked at his stunned classmates, saying unhappily, "What are you all spacing out for? Hurry up and copy the problems. Are you waiting for me to print them for you?"

"Oh, oh."

Several classmates scrambled, hastily copying the problems.

When they finally finished copying, Li Ye casually wiped the board clean and started writing the second set of problems.

The classmates quickly continued copying.

By the time they reached the third board, seeing that Li Ye had no intention of stopping, Hu Man and the others' doubts finally began to loosen.

"Maybe Li Ye can really do it."