"Class 11 is the only humanities experimental class in the entire grade. Yet in this midterm exam, three students from regular classes made it into the top ten in the grade! Tell me, what is the point of having this experimental class?"
"I won't read out the overall scores and rankings. They're posted beside the blackboard; go look for yourselves."
"Zhang Chao." Liu Shuying suddenly called out a name.
"Here!"
A short, chubby boy stood up nervously.
Liu Shuying said, "You've always ranked in the top eight of the grade, but this time you only came in fourteenth."
Zhang Chao lowered his head in shame.
Liu Shuying continued, "You're a diligent and hardworking student, so I won't say anything too harsh. Once the papers for each subject are handed back, carefully reflect on your own problems."
"Mm."
Zhang Chao lowered his head even further, as though placing fourteenth in the entire grade were some unforgivable crime.
With those scores, he would definitely rank among the top fifty in the whole city!
Liu Shuying continued calling names. "Wei Xiaofeng..."
She called out six students in a row, but Chen Guiliang was not among them.
Chen Guiliang knew perfectly well that he had only done the multiple-choice questions in math. He would definitely be called in for a private talk after class.
After calling the names, Liu Shuying said, "The papers for the other subjects will be handed out tomorrow. Come up and collect your English papers now. Zhou Jing, 131 points. You've slipped compared to the monthly exam..."
"Peng Yang, 106 points. Your subject imbalance is serious. You must make up for your weakness in English."
"Wu Meng, 147 points, first in the entire grade. Keep it up."
"..."
At last, it was Chen Guiliang's paper. Liu Shuying only announced his score without comment. "Chen Guiliang, 82 points."
Chen Guiliang went up to collect his paper without the slightest embarrassment.
After passing CET-4 in college, he had barely touched English. In the more than ten years afterward, the English vocabulary he encountered had basically all been work-related. Being able to score 82 after returning to the past already satisfied him.
But Liu Shuying was especially disappointed in Chen Guiliang.
Xu Haibo scored 130 this time, which was about his usual level.
Xie Yang got 115, so-so. When the kid went up to collect his paper, he even could not resist flicking his hair.
Guan Zhiqiang returned with his paper and said happily, "I improved. I got 5 more points than in the monthly exam."
Chen Guiliang took a closer look and immediately started smiling too.
Guan Zhiqiang's English score was 58... All that could be said was that he still had plenty of room for improvement.
Even with the perspective of a second life, Chen Guiliang truly could not imagine what Guan Zhiqiang had been like as a leader at an art academy.
Once the papers had been handed out, they began going over the questions.
Chen Guiliang listened attentively. His problem was that he had put English aside for too long.
He had forgotten the words, forgotten the phrase combinations, and even fucking forgotten the grammar.
Li Jun felt that his chance had come. He moved his paper, which had scored only 34 points, into the space between their two desks. "Classmate Bian, you don't have a paper. Use mine to follow along."
"No need." Bian Guanyue refused decisively.
Li Jun smiled ingratiatingly and persisted. "Classmates should help each other."
Bian Guanyue pulled up the hood of her hoodie, covering most of her face, then took out her English textbook and silently memorized vocabulary.
Li Jun had run into a soft wall and did not know how to continue.
He was afraid of leaving Bian Guanyue with a bad impression, so he pretended to listen as the teacher explained the paper. But he could not focus at all. Within two minutes, his mind had drifted off, and he sat there dozing with his eyes half-open.
Time slowly passed, and Liu Shuying finally finished going over the English paper.
"Carefully summarize your respective problems. Chen Guiliang, come out for a moment." After saying that, Liu Shuying headed outside, intending to have a long private talk with Chen Guiliang in the hallway.
Guan Zhiqiang held down his novel with one hand and patted Chen Guiliang with the other, offering comfort.
This guy was actually a pretty decent person.
Chen Guiliang followed the homeroom teacher out. The classroom immediately became a little noisier. Most students studied seriously, while a few began chatting in low voices.
Li Jun took the MP3 hanging from his chest and pushed it onto Bian Guanyue's desk. "Want to listen to some music?"
He was both showing off his Meizu MP3 and hoping to take the opportunity to listen to music with Bian Guanyue.
One pair of earbuds, one earbud each. How romantic, just like a couple.
Bian Guanyue seemed not to like talking. She reached into her backpack, took out an MP3, and placed it on the desk to show that she had one too.
Li Jun glanced at the brand: Samsung.
His expression turned a little awkward, and he silently put away his Meizu.
Still unwilling to give up, Li Jun took out his phone again. "What's your number, Classmate Bian?"
He was still showing off, while also trying to pick up a girl.
His phone was a Sony Ericsson T618. Its official price was 3,800 yuan, but it actually cost more than 4,000 to get one. It was a hot seller, and you had to pay a premium.
Smack!
Bian Guanyue had clearly guessed what he was thinking. She immediately took out a chunky phone and slapped it onto the desk. "Stop bothering me."
A Nokia 6600, officially priced at 4,680 yuan—more expensive than even the premium-priced Sony Ericsson.
Li Jun froze on the spot.
His foul mouth made people dislike him, and his grades were poor too. The only two things he could show off were his height and basketball skills, and the fact that his family was rich and lacked nothing.
Now it was obvious that Bian Guanyue was richer than he was.
He could not exactly drag a girl out for a one-on-one game and use basketball to regain his dignity, could he?
He inconspicuously slipped his phone back into his pocket and carefully probed, "Classmate Bian, does your dad do business in Hibiscus City?"
Bian Guanyue said, "My dad is in the mafia. He just got out of prison."
The conversation died on the spot.
Li Jun scratched at his ears and cheeks in frustration. His usual methods for picking up girls had officially failed, and he truly had no idea what to do next.
But he could not bear to give up, because Bian Guanyue was simply too beautiful.
Outside the classroom, in the hallway.
With a stern face, Liu Shuying said, "You get into trouble several times every semester. Under normal circumstances, you should have been expelled long ago. Do you know why you were only put on probation?"
Chen Guiliang said with heartfelt gratitude, "Thank you for pleading on my behalf, Teacher Liu."
But Liu Shuying shook her head. "My plea with the principal was only a secondary factor. The school didn't expel you because your grades are still fairly good. You can at least get into a second-tier university. With a little effort, you can get into a first-tier university, and if you study seriously, you might even get into a key university."
Chen Guiliang sighed.
Liu Shuying continued, "Before the humanities and science tracks were divided, I taught you English in Class 1. I know how good your entrance exam results were. You ranked fifty-sixth in the city on the high school entrance exam! You only lost a few points in Chinese, math, and English. You got full marks in every other subject. If you had studied hard from your first year of high school, you might even have gotten into Tsinghua University and Peking University."
Chen Guiliang laughed openly. He was still quite satisfied with his high school entrance exam scores.
Liu Shuying continued, "When the humanities and science classes were split, you scored over 95 out of 100 in both math and physics. I don't know why you insisted on choosing humanities, but no matter what subject you chose, you should have focused on studying. You're a student. Why are you always doing all that messy nonsense?"
Chen Guiliang had no response.
Because even he felt that his three years of high school had been pretty absurd.
But he did not regret it. He just thought it was ridiculous.
Liu Shuying said, "Li Jun has relatives who are officials, and Guan Zhiqiang's family does business. Their parents have money and influence, so no matter how much they fool around or play, they don't have to worry about the future. What about you? You're a left-behind child. Other than studying hard, what other path do you have to change your life?"
Chen Guiliang agreed completely. "Teacher, you're right."
Liu Shuying said sorrowfully, "Although you used to get into trouble often and didn't put your mind into studying, at least you took your exams seriously. What was this time supposed to mean? You only did the multiple-choice questions in math before handing in your paper, your English score dropped by more than 30 points, and your humanities comprehensive score dropped by more than 50 points. Keep this up, and the school really will expel you!"
Chen Guiliang promised, "I'll definitely correct myself."
Liu Shuying said, "There's a parent-teacher meeting next weekend. You must bring a parent."
Chen Guiliang said, "Teacher Liu, you know my situation. My parents work out of town. If some other relative comes to the parent-teacher meeting, it'll just be going through the motions. Why waste 8 yuan on round-trip bus fare when I could use it to eat meat for two more meals?"
Liu Shuying was so irritated by that she laughed. She truly did not know how to handle this oddball student.
Chen Guiliang was exhausted too. He clearly had the soul of a forty-year-old, yet because of all the stupid things he had done in high school, he had to pretend to be a little kid and obediently endure the scolding.
After a few seconds of silence, Liu Shuying said, "Take care of yourself. Go call Wang Chunlei out."
Chen Guiliang was finally free. He returned to the classroom with light steps and shouted, "Wang Chunlei, Teacher Liu summons you!"
A bespectacled boy heard this and looked nervous. He forced himself to stand and walk outside.
Chen Guiliang returned to his seat and continued reviewing his English mistakes.
Whatever Li Jun said over there, Bian Guanyue rose impatiently to her feet. She saw Guan Zhiqiang drooling over his novel, looking foolish and dim-witted, and decided he would make a suitable deskmate.
So Bian Guanyue picked up her backpack and walked over to Chen Guiliang. "Classmate, can we switch seats?"
"No." Chen Guiliang did not even raise his head as he continued flipping through his English paper.
Bian Guanyue seemed to have misheard him. She forced out a polite smile. "Thank you."
Chen Guiliang repeated, "I said no."
Bian Guanyue: "..."
In his previous life before rebirth, Chen Guiliang had stupidly agreed.
If he switched over to sit beside Li Jun, how would that be any different from sitting next to a pile of shit? He had been disgusted enough in his previous life.
But Bian Guanyue did not know what Chen Guiliang was thinking. No boy had ever refused one of her requests before, and Chen Guiliang's firm "no" had left her at a loss.
After thinking it over, she decided that Chen Guiliang's attitude also made him suitable as a deskmate, so Bian Guanyue turned to Guan Zhiqiang again. "Classmate, can we switch seats?"
Guan Zhiqiang's brain had a long delay. He stared blankly for several seconds before understanding, then grinned foolishly at the girl. "Huh? Oh, okay."
After saying that, the guy began packing up and moving.
He gathered his textbooks, papers, novels, backpack, and exercise books in his arms and carried the whole pile over to Li Jun's side. Grinning stupidly, he said, "Hehe, we're deskmates again."
Li Jun muttered gloomily, "Only an idiot would want to be your deskmate."
Guan Zhiqiang turned back and grinned foolishly at Chen Guiliang. "Chen the Hero, Li Jun called you an idiot."
Chen Guiliang turned a deaf ear, too lazy to lower himself to the level of two idiots.
He suddenly remembered something and finally looked up at Bian Guanyue. "A reminder."
"What?" Bian Guanyue asked.
Chen Guiliang said, "You'd better switch desks too."
Bian Guanyue asked in confusion, "Why?"
Chen Guiliang pointed at the desk Guan Zhiqiang had left behind. "No one knows where that desk might be hiding ancient boogers. The Classmate Guan who just moved not only drools when he reads novels, he also likes picking his nose."
Bian Guanyue felt nauseated just hearing it. She had only just put her backpack on the desk when she quickly picked it back up.
Her backpack was no longer pure. She planned to get a new one.
Bian Guanyue carried her backpack over to exchange desks, and Guan Zhiqiang cheerfully agreed.
Li Jun was still trying to curry favor. "Classmate Bian, I'm strong. I'll help you move it."
"No need." Bian Guanyue refused again.
--
(Old Wang had never met Yueguan in person, nor had he chatted with him online. The female lead has even less than nothing to do with Yueguan. In this book's comment section and chapter comments, it's best not to joke about other authors. I don't mind, but it wouldn't be good if the authors mentioned saw it.)
(Also, based on readers' suggestions, starting tomorrow, updates will be moved to 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Convenient for slacking off at work, and there'll be another chapter to read after work.)
(Thanks to sfqk, Shaking into a New Form, and successor for their Alliance Leader rewards.)
Before you continue