Mayor's Scholarship

The homeroom teacher left as soon as he finished speaking, leaving Chen Zhao to return to his seat in a daze.

Go to... the principal's office?

Chen Zhao had a vague feeling that something major was about to be dumped on his head, and as for what that major thing was, he would only know once he got there. In his mind, the principal's office had always been like the Forbidden City—off-limits to unauthorized personnel, and entry meant certain death. So why was he being asked to go now?

Xu Lanlan leaned over, "What did the Baldy say to you?"

The homeroom teacher had been losing his hair quite severely lately, so Xu Lanlan called him Baldy in private.

"He told me to go to the principal's office during the morning run," Chen Zhao said, scratching his head in a low voice.

Xu Lanlan was stunned for a moment, then looked at Chen Zhao with a gaze of sympathetic pity. "We've been desk-mates for a while, so I'll be sure to visit your grave every Qingming Festival from now on. What color flowers do you like to have placed in front of your tombstone?"

Chen Zhao: "Why are you already visiting my grave! The principal isn't a man-eating monster!"

"You're definitely doomed!" Xu Lanlan said with certainty. "Think about what you did yesterday? You made a teacher lose face in front of so many people. How could such a rebellious Chen Zhao be let off easily? You've read fantasy novels, right? You beat the small fry, the big ones come; you beat the big ones, the old ones come... Maybe he'll bury a landmine at the office door, or the moment you walk in, you'll see the principal standing behind a heavy machine gun, smiling at you..."

Chen Zhao shivered, realizing that Xu Lanlan made a good point.

"I want small yellow chrysanthemums for Qingming Festival," Chen Zhao said in despair.

After two classes spent in trepidation, it was time for the morning run.

The students in the class all rushed off to the playground for the run, leaving Chen Zhao to head toward the principal's office all by himself.

The door to the principal's office was slightly ajar, and there were people talking inside. Chen Zhao knew the principal must still be working and it wasn't his time to enter yet, so he waited honestly outside.

And took the opportunity to eavesdrop.

The principal's amiable voice drifted out from inside:

"Ma Jianjun, how have your studies been lately? Are there any difficulties? Is the tutor we assigned you working out? I see you've lost a lot of weight; you need to eat more. Without proper nutrition, your stamina won't keep up, which isn't good for your studies..."

Chen Zhao's expression tightened; it sounded like Ma Jianjun was inside talking to the principal.

Ma Jianjun's name was known to everyone at No. 2 High School. He had ranked first in the school in nine out of ten exams. Standing at 1.88 meters tall with a fair, cold, and handsome face, he was a master at basketball, much like Rukawa Kaede from Slam Dunk. He was the kind of person who made Chen Zhao crane his neck just to look up at him.

"Zhao Xiaobai, you haven't been getting perfect scores in math on your recent mock exams. Is there some kind of bottleneck? Do you need me to change your math teacher? No? Then just let me know if you need anything..." the principal continued.

Chen Zhao's expression tightened again; it seemed Zhao Xiaobai was also inside.

The school beauty Zhao Xiaobai's name was also known throughout the school. The one time out of ten that Ma Jianjun didn't take first place, it was inevitably taken by Zhao Xiaobai. The rest of the time, she sat firmly in second place. Besides being a talented student, she was also a peerless beauty with skin as white as snow and long, cascading hair. She often wore simple, plain white dresses, yet her temperament was very much like a movie star.

"Zhang Fan, you've made great progress these past few times, but you can't be arrogant. You must keep working hard! Strive to rank in the top two of the school before graduation..."

Chen Zhao's expression tightened for the third time; it seemed Zhang Fan was there too.

Zhang Fan's label was simple: the eternal third place. Throughout his high school career, he had basically always been third in the school in major exams. He wasn't worth mentioning in other respects. His appearance was mediocre, and he had no distinguishing features.

Ma Jianjun, Zhao Xiaobai, Zhang Fan. The top three in the school were all in the principal's office. It looked like an elite meeting.

If you like this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose it next time.

The principal seemed to be talking to the top three students in the school, encouraging them. After all, these three were seedlings capable of getting into Tsinghua or Peking University, so the school naturally valued them.

Next, Chen Zhao suddenly heard his own name.

The principal's voice was full of confusion: "The morning run has already started, why hasn't Chen Zhao arrived yet?"

Immediately followed by the homeroom teacher's voice: "I told him earlier; he should be here any second."

Principal: "This kid Chen Zhao... how has he performed over the past three years? I looked at his previous exam results, and they don't seem very satisfactory."

Homeroom teacher: "Satisfactory? They're absolutely abysmal! Chen Zhao has attended my classes for three years, listening attentively and doing his homework on time, yet he fails every single exam. After three years, he really showed me what it means to be 'rotten wood that cannot be carved' and 'mud that cannot be plastered onto a wall.' It wasn't until yesterday that I found out he was holding back..."

Chen Zhao's face was covered in black lines, knowing it was time to go in. He knocked on the office door and pushed it open.

He greeted the principal and the homeroom teacher. Chen Zhao stood honestly in the corner, feeling at a loss.

The three top students all turned to look at Chen Zhao, their faces showing confusion, as they had never seen such a person before. The top few dozen students in the school were in the same testing room, and the group of top performers was always the same; even if they didn't know each other, they were familiar faces. But they had absolutely no impression of Chen Zhao.

Zhang Fan couldn't help but ask: "What place did you get in the midterm exam?"

Chen Zhao: "Third place."

Zhang Fan frowned, "I'm the one who's third in the school?"

Chen Zhao wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. "You're third from the top; I'm third from the bottom."

The three top students were dumbfounded.

Third from the bottom?

Why would they call someone who was third from the bottom?

"Although student Chen Zhao hasn't ranked in the top tier, he has actually been hiding his strength," the principal said with a smile. "Who will be in the top three for the next exam is still uncertain. That's why I called you all here to discuss something."

The three top students were all confused. Hiding his strength? What did that mean? A student who was third from the bottom of the grade—even if he was hiding his strength... how much could he really be hiding?

"There is a good opportunity this year: the Mayor's Scholarship," the principal began to get to the point. "Next month, we will hold a province-wide joint exam. All high schools will have their senior years participate. The top one hundred in the joint exam will receive the Mayor's Scholarship. The first place gets a prize of 100,000, second to tenth place get 10,000, and eleventh to one hundredth place get 1,000!"

"I hope the four of you will work hard and strive to win the Mayor's Scholarship," the principal's gaze swept over the four students.

The three top students all nodded, while Chen Zhao felt a bit dazed.

He was actually being encouraged to win the Mayor's Scholarship?

He had ranked third from the bottom of the grade in the midterm exam! Just because he solved two math problems yesterday, the principal thought he could win the Mayor's Scholarship?

There are an estimated three hundred thousand science students in the entire city, and to break into the top one hundred out of those three hundred thousand—what kind of concept is that! It's practically carving a bloody path through an army of thousands!

After a brief moment of shock, Chen Zhao also made up his mind; since the principal trusted him so much, he had to strive to achieve it!

Isn't it just a province-wide joint examination?

I have a system! My IQ is exceptionally high!

What kind of score can't I achieve?