Who Wants to Get into the Top Ten?

"This girl is a bit thin! Her bottom is small too, not good for bearing children."

"Hiss, what kind of taste do you have, you old woman? This little lass stands up straight, walks with a gust of wind, she looks delicate but is actually tough, just like our medic back then. It's this kind of resilience that's much rarer than being 'good for bearing children'."

"Medic? What medic? How come I've never heard you mention her?"

"Haven't seen her in decades, what am I supposed to tell you?"

"Good for you, Li Zhongfa. You haven't seen her in decades, and you still remember her resilience? You have to explain it clearly to me tonight when we get back, or just you try."

"Oh, she saved my life back then, how could I not remember her for a lifetime? What are you imagining?"

Wen Leyu had already entered the school, completely unaware that the two kind elderly people at the school gate were watching her retreating figure and commenting on her, even bringing up a long-standing grievance.

Having been a leader for a few years, Li Zhongfa was good at deflecting, and he immediately changed the subject.

"No matter what kind of girl she is, as long as our Xiaoye likes her, that's all that matters. Haven't you noticed the changes in Xiaoye recently? His spirit and energy are so much better than before."

Grandma Wu Juying let out a "humph" and didn't pursue the matter of the medic any further. Instead, she sighed with a hint of worry.

"I also think Xiaoye has changed, but this girl is from out of town. What if she flies away one day, just like that Lu Jingyao?"

"Where could she fly off to?" Li Zhongfa's eyes widened. "Our Xiaoye is about to become a great writer. If he gets into university next year, I bet he could lure her back even if she flew to a foreign country, believe it or not?"

"That's true," Grandma Li also nodded. "With our Xiaoye's looks, you could pick anyone from ten villages around.

But it would be great if he got into university on his own. Scarcity makes things precious. I say you shouldn't have gotten involved in these things, why help so many outsiders?"

"You know scarcity makes things precious now? Do you know that 'when brothers are of the same mind, they can cut through metal'?"

Li Zhongfa rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "If it weren't for us brothers sticking together and looking out for each other back then, I would have lost my life long ago. When Xiaoye leaves Qingshui County later, won't he still rely on friends? On classmates?"

Grandma Li tilted her head, looked at Li Zhongfa, and said slyly, "You survived because of that medic, didn't you? You owed her a life debt, didn't you ever think of marrying her then?"

"."

Li Zhongfa felt a pang of guilt. How could this woman's intuition be so accurate?

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, over a month had passed since Li Ye, Hu Man, and the others went out for self-study.

The school didn't pay much attention to Li Ye and the others' actions, nor did any trouble occur as Li Ye had feared.

Instead, Li Ye and the others' departure brought back the usual peace to Retake Class One, which greatly relieved Teacher Luo and the others.

The classroom was no longer filled with roughhousing and arguments, only the sound of diligent studying. All 52 students were engrossed in their books, enjoying the hard-won learning environment of that era.

[This is what retake students should look like!]

Teacher Luo also let out a sigh of relief. Recalling the troubles from over a month ago, he regretted his decision to have Hu Man elected as class monitor.

The chaos of the past month had disrupted the students' learning rhythm, and he wondered if those top students would score a few points lower on next year's college entrance exams.

In those days, a few fewer points from their top students could make a teacher heartbroken.

Fortunately, the previous confrontations seemed to have ignited the desire to study in Xia Yue and the others. Seeing Xia Yue and Hu Man studying with determination in the classroom, Teacher Luo had the expectation of "Sài Wēng's horse, who knows if it's a blessing?"

However, what Teacher Luo never expected was that Retake Class One had already split into two completely different groups, like two trains entering diverging tracks, heading further and further apart.

The majority of students, led by Xia Yue and Jin Shengli, were like an old, worn-out but ambitious steam train, puffing out clouds of thick smoke, chugging and struggling uphill.

Meanwhile, Li Ye's group of eight had switched to electric tracks, accelerating silently, accelerating, and accelerating further.

Li Ye and the others left school at 5 PM. Dinner was at 6 PM. While Jiang Xiaoyan was cooking, Hu Man and the others had already started copying and doing problems.

After dinner at 6:30 PM, until 10:30 PM, for a full four hours, Hu Man and the others were pushed by Li Ye into a sea of problems, constantly struggling and drowning.

By the time they returned to the dormitory, their minds were still filled with practice problems, practice problems, practice problems.

After they left, Li Ye would decide the scope and difficulty of the next day's problems based on the situation that night.

With the help of the "Biological Hard Drive" in his mind, Li Ye was gradually instilling the exam papers from his previous life, from middle school entrance exams to college entrance exams, from easy to difficult, into Hu Man and the others.

If Hu Man and the others could solve a type of problem, that type would be directly passed. If they couldn't solve it, they would continue the next day, with a focus on explanation.

During the daytime classes, Hu Man and the others would concentrate on memorization, tackling the knowledge that required rote learning.

In the 1980s, there were no "exam syllabi." Many college entrance exam questions were memorization-based, truly "points for memorization," which was the hallmark of retake classes focusing on the college entrance exams.

Top students like Hu Man and Xia Yue already had a solid foundation in memorization, leaving the students in the middle and lower ranks behind.

Li Ye's "special tutoring" in the evenings was advanced combat techniques, helping them to compete with the best.

Now, many times, while the teacher was explaining a problem, Hu Man and the others would look up and see—

I know how to do this problem.

I've seen this problem before.

Is this problem really this simple?

After several consecutive instances, Hu Man and the others stopped paying attention altogether, dedicating all their energy to memorization.

Anyway, Li Ye would help them sort things out at night, and even if they missed any problems, Li Ye would cover for them.

As the winter break approached, Teacher Luo suddenly announced surprising news in class.

"This semester's final exam will be jointly set by us and County First High School. The same papers will be used for all graduating classes and retake classes in the county."

"You must take this seriously, give it your all, and don't shame County Second High School."

A commotion erupted among the students in the class, and a tense atmosphere quickly spread throughout the entire school.

For ordinary students, the county-wide joint exam might not feel like much, just another regular final exam.

However, for the students in the retake class, who had already experienced the college entrance examination, their psychological feelings were completely different.

This was a rehearsal before the college entrance examination. Only a few students from the entire county could get into college each year. If they couldn't achieve an extremely high ranking in the county-wide joint exam, their hopes of getting into university would be very slim.

However, compared to the tension of some people, Hu Man and others in the group of eight were rubbing their hands together, ready to test their mettle in this exam.

"Do you think we can rank in the top few this time?"

"I don't know about compared to County First High School, but compared to our class... maybe top ten?"

"Yeah, top ten."

Hu Man narrowed her eyes, her words not entirely sincere.

Her goal this time was not to be in the top ten of the class, but to go head-to-head with Xia Yue and Jin Shengli, the top two students in the grade.

Hu Man had not performed well in the college entrance examination last year and was assigned to Class Two when the retake classes were divided. She had been a bit unconvinced from the start.

After joining Class One, she had also been at odds with Xia Yue. Now that she had the opportunity, she naturally wanted to secretly spar with Xia Yue and compete.

But as they were talking, Li Ye, who was directing Jiang Xiaoyan in cooking nearby, turned his head. "Who said we're aiming for the top ten?"

Hu Man blinked, feeling something was off, and then heard Li Ye say loudly, "No one is allowed to rank in the top ten."

"..."

Everyone was stunned. They had learned skills but weren't allowed to show them off. What was Li Ye trying to do?

Li Ye walked over seriously and wrote two large Chinese characters on the small blackboard.

"From today on, you all need to learn a skill – Score Control!"

"Before the college entrance examination, you are not allowed to attract anyone's attention in any exams you take. Your class ranking can only fall behind your previous performance, not improve."

"..."

Han Xia, being impatient, immediately objected, "Why? Why can't we score higher than Xia Yue?"

But Hu Man pulled Han Xia back, as she had already vaguely understood Li Ye's intention.

"Li Ye, are you doing this for secrecy, to avoid trouble?"

"That's right, it's for secrecy."

Li Ye explained, "If your grades suddenly change drastically, the teachers won't just stand by and do nothing. How will you maintain secrecy then?"

"Once our secret is leaked, if Teacher Luo comes to ask me for exam questions, I can ignore him, but what about Principal Chang? Or even more troublesome people?"

This was the reason why Li Ye was trying every means, even willing to suffer losses, to isolate himself from Retake Class One.

Compared to later generations, the 1980s was even more of a "society of connections." If Hu Man and the others' grades improved significantly, believe it or not, someone would use their connections to reach Li Ye's grandfather that very night.

Li Ye said very solemnly, "My ability is limited. I can at most look after a few of you.

If more people join, I won't have the time or energy to adjust suitable exam questions according to each person's different situation.

Furthermore, I won't be able to provide targeted individual tutoring. Your college entrance examination scores will inevitably be affected. Are you willing?"

Hu Man, Han Xia, and the others closed their mouths tightly, no one speaking.

But in their hearts, they all had the same thought: "Anyone who dares to affect my college entrance examination score, I'll tear them apart alive."

Li Ye smiled smugly. "Now, does anyone still want to rank in the top ten?"

But Jiang Xiaoyan, holding the spatula, timidly raised her hand.

"I want to rank in the top ten."