Rapid Progress

Monthly exams, a commonplace occurrence in the lives of third-year high school students.

Perhaps by then, exams would feel like everyday meals, ordinary beyond compare.

So, really, there's no need to care too much about one or two rankings.

What's important at this stage is to identify and fill gaps, to see where your weaknesses lie and to seize the time to improve them.

And just like that, the third-year department of Jinghuai No. 1 High School soon held another monthly exam.

The format of the monthly exam was just like the Gaokao: Chinese and Math on the first day, Science and English on the second.

During the evening study session after the exams, teachers went to grade papers while students studied in their classrooms.

But honestly, they left in a way that didn't put anyone at ease, insisting on writing the answers on the blackboard for students to check themselves.

It was simply torture.

During the evening study session after the English exam, the blackboard was filled with all the correct answers for Science and English.

Students groaned as they checked their papers.

Lu Shuai marked each correct answer with a checkmark, smugly remarking that his Science score should be good this time.

His deskmate, Li Pingqiu, was his usual self, gentle as jade with a smile on his face. He breathed a sigh of relief after checking all his answers.

Well, it seemed like it wasn't bad.

Ding Yebai's female deskmate wore all her emotions on her face.

She'd giggle with delight for each correct answer and frown in pain, muttering regretful words for each mistake.

Ding Yebai rested his chin on his hand, his gaze sweeping over the answers on the blackboard with a hint of languid speed. Then, with a slight lift of his eyebrows, he let out a confident breath.

Sigh, he always got the highest Science score in the class, it was truly a headache.

"Hey, Ye Bai, my Science score, if nothing unexpected happens, should be around 285," Lu Shuai said, turning to him.

Ding Yebai looked at him calmly. "I estimate at least 298?"

Lu Shuai wasn't particularly surprised; after all, this was Ding Yebai.

He patted Li Pingqiu's shoulder. "What about you?"

Li Pingqiu smiled and told him, "I estimate around 293."

"Holy crap, that high?" Lu Shuai didn't hide his admiration.

His female deskmate: "Oh my god. Are you that amazing?"

Li Pingqiu was quite humble. "Actually, Science is just okay."

Ding Yebai watched the three of them for a moment before suddenly saying, "Anyone who can get into Jinghuai University is pretty amazing."

Li Pingqiu: "Ah, it seems you're speaking with a double meaning."

Lu Shuai: "And you're also complimenting your sister."

Li Pingqiu: "..."

Ding Yebai: "Huh?"

He suddenly looked up, meeting the eyes of the three of them. He even started to feel anxious, quickly picking up his pen to pretend to work on a problem. "I wasn't talking about her. I was just genuinely complimenting Li Pingqiu."

He paused, then continued in a low voice, "The graduate students at Jinghuai are even more amazing, I suppose."

Lu Shuai: "Huh? I thought Ding Yuerong wasn't a graduate student."

Ding Yebai: "Huh?"

Li Pingqiu: "..."

Female deskmate: "..."

Ding Yebai: "So you were talking about my older sister? Ding Yuerong?"

Lu Shuai blinked his big eyes, looking confused. "Who else would I be talking about?"

Ding Yebai chuckled softly and shook his head. "It's nothing. Forget it. You guys continue checking your answers."

The four of them had intended to discuss their English scores, but a school leader came to inspect, so they quickly lowered their heads and pretended to study.

Even though they had just finished the exam today, the results started coming out one after another the next day.

The class representative held the test papers and distributed them to the students one by one.

I remember at that time, my heart was soaring, as if it were about to fly out of my chest.

Ding Yebai took his returned paper and silently calculated his total score. "Chinese 120, Math 150, Science 300, Eng--"

"Holy crap, I got 99 in English!" Lu Shuai exclaimed, holding his English test paper and grinning at Ding Yebai.

Ding Yebai looked bewildered and didn't say anything.

Lu Shuai: "My Chinese is 120, Math is 145, Science is 290. Although you're still 15 points ahead of me right now, hmph, my English is definitely higher than yours. Once we factor that in, my total score should be higher than yours."

Female deskmate: "Oh wow, nice one, Lu Shuai, you got 99 in English this time."

Lu Shuai: "Well, I did put in the effort to study for a long time, okay?"

His female deskmate nodded, looking at Ding Yebai with some sympathy. "Ding Yebai, you should be careful. Lu Shuai has gotten good at English this time, but you... how's your English?"

"Yeah, yeah, what did you score on your English test?" Lu Shuai looked at him expectantly, as if watching a performance.

Although Li Pingqiu had his back to them, he was actually listening very attentively to their scores.

Ding Yebai blinked, calmly picked up his test paper, and said, "116."

"What??????" Lu Shuai's eyes widened in disbelief. He snatched the paper over, wishing he could stick his eyeballs onto the bright red score.

"It really is 116!!! Damn, your improvement is lightning fast."

His female deskmate giggled, looking at Ding Yebai. "I told you, your tutoring seems to be quite effective. It's only been a month, and you've broken your eternal curse of scoring in the eighties or nineties, reaching 116."

Li Pingqiu turned around and smiled, looking at Ding Yebai. "I have to admit, Ding Yebai, you don't learn English poorly; you just don't learn it at all."

Ding Yebai felt a surge of satisfaction internally, but his expression remained cool and aloof. "Actually, it's just one test result. It would be good if I could score higher on every exam afterward."

Lu Shuai: "Thinking about it, you still scored higher than me."

His female deskmate smiled sweetly at Lu Shuai. "Try harder next time."

Ding Yebai's gaze fell on Li Pingqiu. "What about you? What did you score?"

Li Pingqiu raised an eyebrow, looked at Ding Yebai, and said slowly, "The same as you."

Ding Yebai nodded. "Oh."

Li Pingqiu: "Next time, I should score higher than you." He said with a slight smile.

"That's not necessarily true." Ding Yebai raised his right eyebrow, replying with full confidence.

Thanks to Xiang Jian Mo Lu for the 4500 Qidian coin tip.