Grading in Progress

Evening self-study, classroom.

Song He buried himself in mathematics, with "Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics" in his left hand and "Cell Biology" in his right, studying them interchangeably and giving both equal attention.

What? The quiz was over?

Absurd! Was studying supposed to be for exams? He was simply addicted to learning!

Besides, exams could never truly end. Once this one was over, there would be another. Endless test papers awaited ahead—enlisted at fifteen, returned home at eighty.

As he studied, a long leg stretched over and naturally rested on Song He's leg. Even through their school uniform pants, he could still feel how springy it was.

"What?" Song He was three parts startled and three parts shy as he turned to look at his deskmate.

"I'm sleepy. Pinch me hard so I can wake up." Zhao Yiyi lowered her head, looking nonchalant, but her eyes secretly brimmed with anticipation.

"Don't you have hands?"

"Hurry up! It doesn't hurt when I pinch myself!"

Song He decisively made his move, grabbing the flesh of his deskmate's thigh through the thin uniform pants and giving it a vicious twist!

Zhao Yiyi instantly yanked her leg back in pain and curled up in her seat. Her face flushed all the way to her ears. It took her quite a while to recover, after which she weakly sprawled over her desk, breathing out long breaths, her body limp as if she had been greatly relieved.

"Did your exam go well today? Will you get kicked off the team?" Zhao Yiyi asked quietly. As his deskmate, she knew about Ye Lianghan's harsh condition for Song He.

"Right now, the teachers should be grading the papers at full speed," Song He said uneasily. "During the last evening self-study period, there'll be a post-exam meeting for Competition Students in the School Auditorium to announce the rankings!"

"What kinds of questions do you get on your exams? Tell me a small biology question. Let me see if I can solve it." Zhao Yiyi tilted her head curiously.

"Why ask about biology instead of math? Because you know perfectly well that you're a math idiot?" Song He asked.

Zhao Yiyi is angered by your mockery. Resentment Value +15!

"Stinky Song He! You rotten thing! Will you die if you don't mock me?" Zhao Yiyi cursed furiously.

"Actually, there's no need for you to ask biology questions either. Your math is bad, and your biology is bad too," Song He added, driving the knife in deeper.

"Don't look down on me! I've been studying hard lately! Don't think the Competition Team is such a big deal!" Zhao Yiyi clenched her little fists in angry threat.

"From the early Cretaceous Period's Barremian Age to the late Campanian Age, amber fossils were extremely abundant. Why? Where are the amber fossils currently found concentrated? What is usually found in the strata containing amber fossils?"

Silence.

Zhao Yiyi kicked her legs in frustration.

"Did you just make up some nonexistent question to mess with me?" Zhao Yiyi stubbornly said. "You don't know the answer either, do you? You're deliberately making things hard for me?"

"During the Cretaceous Resin Period, atmospheric greenhouse gas levels were high, and frequent volcanic activity altered the composition of the atmosphere. The environment favored the growth of conifers, which produced large amounts of resin and eventually formed amber. Amber fossils are concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere's Laurasia Continent and the northern edge of the Southern Hemisphere's Gondwana Continent. The strata containing amber fossils usually have fusain, a fibrous coal rock formed after plants burn." Song He rattled off the answer. "That was a giveaway question."

"Stop humiliating me! That was obviously hard! How could it possibly be a giveaway?" Zhao Yiyi went wild, angrily punching Song He's thigh.

Song He nimbly grabbed her little wrist, leaving her unable to resist, then fiercely twisted a handful of her thigh flesh.

Zhao Yiyi curled up as though struck by lightning and instantly behaved herself.

Feeling satisfied, Song He lowered his head and continued grinding through questions.

Having a Princess Jianning as a deskmate was actually rather stress-relieving when he could bully her now and then.

"Kid, want to find somewhere after school and have a proper fight?" Zhao Yiyi held out her fair little fist and poked Song He's face.

"That's toxic. Study properly." Song He dodged her fist. "Next semester, I'll be moving up to the Rocket Class. If you don't study hard, you'll drop to the Regular Class. Then there'll be one... no, two thick, tragic walls between us."

After hearing that, Zhao Yiyi's eyes went blank. Her face stiffened for several seconds, and a flicker of fear crossed her eyes. Then she suddenly sat up straight, picked up her pen, and seriously began working on problems.

School Office Building, Marking Room.

The place was laid out like an internet cafe, with rows upon rows of computers. The white glow from the screens lit up the teachers' faces.

All the Competition Team exam booklets had been scanned and uploaded. A full fifty teachers had been gathered to grade them. Though there were only three hundred sets of papers in total, each set was twenty-five pages thick, making the grading an enormous task.

On the computer screens, scanned images of questions kept popping up. No one knew which student had written them, effectively preventing individual teachers from favoring their own students or maliciously deducting points from students on the opposing side.

Enemies had met on a narrow road: Liu Lu and Ban Jianye's computers were separated only by the aisle.

When the two teachers sat down, they shot each other a glare without exchanging a word.

After sitting down, both wore extremely stern expressions, but inwardly they were nervous. The same question sprang into both their minds:

How had Song He done on the exam?!

Deep concern appeared between the two teachers' brows. They absolutely could not give up a promising student like Song He, but Ye Lianghan's higher rank crushed everyone beneath him. The rankings from this exam would undoubtedly determine Song He's fate.

Liu Lu secretly made up her mind. If Song He's results were unsatisfactory and he was cut from the Biology Competition Team, she would definitely go plead with Principal Ren Zhiyuan.

There were plenty of Vice Principals at the school, but only one actual principal. What was Ye Lianghan worth? Principal Ren was the true authority! As long as he nodded, Song He would definitely be allowed to stay!

Ban Jianye was tense as well, making the worst-case preparations in his heart.

After working here for so many years, he had never begged anyone for anything. But if Song He bombed the math exam, he would have to go beg Principal Ren Zhiyuan.

He had even thought of how to plead. He would bring Song He directly to the Principal's Office and have him demonstrate his heaven-defying mental calculation skills. If he showed off hard enough, even a principal with a heart of stone would have to waver!

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Both teachers were anxious beyond measure and desperately wanted to know Song He's results.

But being anxious was useless. Each examinee's questions would be divided among more than a dozen teachers for grading. They could only wait until every teacher had finished before the final rankings could be released!

The Marking Room was silent, filled only with the intermittent clicks of mice.

Finally, some teachers stood up and leisurely took breaks with thermoses full of goji berries in hand. They had finished grading the questions assigned to them!

More and more teachers stood up, leaving only two or three still grading papers.

Once the final teacher finished grading, every student's score would instantly appear!

"You little brat, you'd better not have screwed up! If you did, I'll beat you flat!" Ban Jianye muttered nervously.

"Song He, you did study biology seriously, right?" Liu Lu softly muttered to herself as she waited in silence.

Meanwhile, the Scanning Room.

Several massive scanners and printing machines stood inside. Boxes upon boxes of test papers and answer sheets were piled in the corners, and the lingering smell of ink made the place resemble a bookstore warehouse.

All of the school's exams, large and small, were printed here.

After every exam, the answer sheets were also sent here to be scanned and entered into the computers for the teachers' convenience in grading.

Several teachers were busy organizing exam booklets, all of them handed in by the Competition Students today, arranged in stack after stack on the tables.

The door suddenly opened, and a burly, bald middle-aged man charged in with an imposing aura—Ye Lianghan!

"Principal Ye!" The teachers in the room immediately put on fawning smiles. Ye Lianghan was only a Vice Principal, but dropping the word "Vice" was basic workplace survival for seasoned veterans.

"I came to see how this year's Competition Students are doing." Ye Lianghan nodded, his gleaming bald head reflecting the lights.

"The Competition Students' papers are all here!" One teacher hurriedly gathered the exam booklets on the table.