The Grading Teachers' Shock

In the grading room, the other teachers overheard this and grew curious. "Oh? What did Teacher Zhang say? I recall you were the one proctoring Exam Room 4 today, right?"

Teacher Zhang nodded. "That's correct."

"Don't tell me that student actually got a perfect score?" one teacher joked.

"Entirely possible," Teacher Zhang replied.

Hearing his answer, the other teachers exchanged bewildered glances.

Really? For real?

A perfect score?

Among this year's Grade 2 students, the best performer was Shen Xing, whom they'd just mentioned. Since the start of Grade 1, he'd never dropped out of the top three, and most of the time he was first. His math was consistently the best in the grade—he was almost never anything but first. On exams where the paper wasn't particularly hard, he'd reliably score 150. When it was tough, like this time, he could still pull off a high score like 148.

If his overall grades weren't already solid enough to secure him a spot at Tsinghua or Peking University, the school might have suggested he try his hand at the Math Olympiad.

And now, out of nowhere, a student had appeared who could surpass Shen Xing in math?

And from Exam Room 4, no less?

Teacher Zhang didn't elaborate. He only said, "Let's start grading slowly. When we get to Exam Room 4, you'll see."

Hearing this, the other teachers dropped the subject and resumed grading, though they unconsciously sped up their pace.

A paper this difficult—could a student really get a perfect score?

Time passed quickly. They graded in order by exam room, so after finishing Exam Room 1, they moved on to Exam Room 2.

According to the tally, the highest math score in Exam Room 1 was indeed Shen Xing's 148, followed by 145 in second place, and 141 in third. Only these three in that room scored above 140.

Soon, grading for Exam Room 2 was complete. This time, no one scored above 140.

Exam Room 3 was the same.

"Alright, we've finally reached Exam Room 4. Teacher Zhang, we've been looking forward to this," the grading teachers said in unison.

Teacher Zhang waved his hand. "Don't worry. Exam Room 4 is definitely going to surprise you."

Just then, the door to the grading room opened, and Grade Director Qin Song walked in.

"Oh? I heard you all talking about Exam Room 4 from outside. What kind of surprise is it going to bring us?"

"Director Qin."

The teachers present greeted Qin Song in turn.

Qin Song nodded and smiled. "You haven't answered my question yet."

"Oh, Teacher Zhang was just saying that the Exam Room 4 he proctored today might produce a student with a perfect math score—higher than Shen Xing from Class 1," one grading teacher explained.

Qin Song raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Teacher Zhang.

Having watched the surveillance footage all day, he naturally knew that Teacher Zhang had proctored math in Exam Room 4.

It seemed Teacher Zhang had already discovered Xiao Yi's results.

He then nodded and said, "Indeed. Exam Room 4 might very well produce such a student. You can certainly look forward to it."

Hearing Qin Song say the same thing, the teachers grew even more puzzled.

"Does Teacher Qin know something?"

Qin Song smiled but didn't answer. He only said, "Keep grading. You'll find out soon enough."

Of course he knew—that was exactly why he'd come here.

But the teachers present, hearing his words, silently grumbled to themselves.

Good grief, another riddle-speaker, huh?

Exactly the same script.

Still, they said nothing more and continued grading faster, hoping to find that student as soon as possible.

And so, time passed quickly.

They graded on computers, each teacher handling one problem. After every exam room, they'd compile the results to catch any omissions.

To get the final score for this room, they had to finish grading all thirty papers.

Thus, time slipped by until all papers were graded and the tally began.

Finally, the results for Exam Room 4 were out.

All the teachers in the room stared at the screens, eyes fixed on the top spot. Then, almost everyone's eyes went wide.

There, in first place, it read: [Xiao Yi, Class: Grade 2, Class 3 of Science Stream, Math: 150 points.]

"A student actually got a perfect score!"

The teachers exclaimed in surprise.

This paper—someone had actually managed a perfect score!

And not from Exam Room 1, nor from the elite Class 1 of Science Stream, but from Class 3 of Science Stream!

For a moment, the teachers present all downloaded the student's complete answer sheet and began to read it.

There was no need to say much about the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions—all correct. What they focused on most was the student's solution to the final challenging problem.

This was a problem that even Shen Xing had gotten wrong!

Then, Xiao Yi's approach to this final problem left them all astonished.

"This method is much more elegant than the standard solution."

"Yes, relatively speaking, it's a lot more streamlined."

After a round of exclamations, these grading teachers couldn't help but turn their heads to look at Qin Song and that Teacher Zhang.

"This student named Xiao Yi is indeed impressive."

"But, Teacher Zhang, it makes sense that you knew Xiao Yi could get a perfect score, since you were in charge of invigilating their exam session. However, Director Qin, how did you know?"

Qin Song laughed heartily, then said, "You should all know about what happened last week over in Grade 3, right?"

The teachers present nodded one after another. They did know about that incident, but it seemed that Director Chen from Grade 3 had requested that the student's real information not be disclosed for the time being, so these Grade 2 teachers had no idea which specific student it was.

This was naturally what Qin Song and Chen Liang had agreed on earlier—not to widely publicize Xiao Yi's matter until after the results of this monthly exam came out.

And at this moment, these teachers also caught on. "Could it be, Director Qin, you mean that this Xiao Yi is the student who was selected by the Gifted Class?"

Qin Song smiled and nodded. "Yes, it's him."

Instantly, the teachers present burst into a chorus of amazement.

Before this, they had all assumed that student must be from Class 1 of Science Stream. But they never expected that the student wasn't in the top class at all—he was in Class 3 of Science Stream!

Truly... too unexpected!

But just then, that Teacher Zhang, after his initial surprise, showed a look of sudden realization on his face.

"So that's it—that explains everything!"