The Mayor's Scholarship

The homeroom teacher left as soon as he finished speaking. Chen Zhao returned to his seat, looking dazed.

The principal's office...?

Chen Zhao had a vague feeling that something big was about to land on his head. What it was, he wouldn't know until he went. In his mind, the principal's office had always been like the Forbidden City: unauthorized personnel were forbidden entry, and anyone who entered was as good as dead. So why was he being summoned now?

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

The homeroom teacher had been losing his hair pretty badly lately, so Xu Lanlan privately called him Baldy.

"He told me to go to the principal's office during the exercise break," Chen Zhao said quietly, scratching his head.

Xu Lanlan froze for a moment, then looked at Chen Zhao with a sigh of pity. "Since we've been deskmates, I'll visit your grave every Qingming Festival from now on. What color flowers would you like me to leave on your tombstone?"

Chen Zhao said, "Why are you visiting my grave already? The principal isn't some man-eating monster!"

"You're definitely doomed!" Xu Lanlan said with certainty. "Think about what you did yesterday! You embarrassed a teacher in front of so many people. How could they let someone as rebellious as Chen Zhao off so easily? You've read fantasy novels, right? You beat up a kid, then the big brother shows up; you beat up the big brother, then the old man shows up... Maybe they've planted a land mine outside the office, or maybe you'll walk in and see the principal smiling at you from behind a heavy machine gun..."

Chen Zhao shivered, realizing Xu Lanlan had a point.

"I want little yellow chrysanthemums for Qingming," Chen Zhao said despairingly.

He made it through two nervous classes, and then it was time for the exercise break.

His classmates streamed out to the field for their exercises, while Chen Zhao headed to the principal's office alone.

The office door was ajar, and voices came from inside. Chen Zhao figured the principal was still working, so it wasn't time for him to go in yet. He obediently waited outside.

And eavesdropped while he was at it.

The principal's warm voice came from inside.

"Ma Jianjun, how have your studies been lately? Any difficulties? Are the teachers we assigned to you working out? You look like you've lost a lot of weight. Make sure you eat more. Without proper nutrition, you won't have the stamina to study..."

Chen Zhao's expression turned serious. It sounded like Ma Jianjun was inside talking to the principal.

Ma Jianjun was famous throughout No. 2 High School. In nine out of every ten exams, he ranked first in the entire school. He was 1.88 meters tall, with fair skin and a cool, handsome face. He was also a great basketball player, a lot like Rukawa Kaede from Slam Dunk. He was the kind of person Chen Zhao had to crane his neck so far to look up at that he could practically snap it.

"Zhao Xiaobai, you haven't gotten full marks in math on your last few mock exams. Have you hit a bottleneck? Do you need a different math teacher? No? Well, if there's anything else you need, just let me know..." the principal continued.

Chen Zhao's expression turned serious again. It looked like Zhao Xiaobai was in there too.

The school beauty Zhao Xiaobai was known throughout the school as well. Whenever Ma Jianjun failed to come in first in an exam, she was the one who took his place. The rest of the time, she held steady at second place. She was not only a talented student but also a peerless beauty, with snow-white skin and long, flowing hair. She often wore a simple white dress, yet had the air of a movie star.

"Zhang Fan, you've made a lot of progress on your last few exams, but don't get too proud. Keep working hard! Try to get into the top two in the school before you graduate..."

For the third time, Chen Zhao's expression turned serious. It seemed Zhang Fan was there too.

Zhang Fan's reputation was simple: the perennial third-place student. Throughout high school, he'd ranked third in the school in just about every major exam. Otherwise, there wasn't much to say about him. He was average-looking and didn't stand out in any way.

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

The principal seemed to be talking with the top three students in the school, encouraging them. After all, all three of them had a shot at Tsinghua University or Peking University, so naturally the school took them seriously.

Then Chen Zhao suddenly heard his own name.

The principal sounded puzzled. "They've already started the exercises. Why hasn't Chen Zhao come yet?"

Then the homeroom teacher spoke. "I told him ages ago. He should be here any moment."

The principal said, "That Chen Zhao... How has he been doing over the past three years? I've looked at his exam results, and they don't seem very promising."

The homeroom teacher said, "They're not just unpromising—they're downright terrible! Chen Zhao's been in my class for three years. He pays attention and turns in his homework on time, but he fails every exam. After three years, he's really shown me what it means to be a piece of rotten wood that can't be carved, or a lump of mud that can't be shaped into a wall. And then yesterday, I found out he'd been hiding his real abilities..."

Chen Zhao's face went dark. He knew it was time to go in. He knocked on the office door and pushed it open.

He greeted the principal and the homeroom teacher, then stood awkwardly in the corner, unsure what to do with himself.

The three top students turned to look at Chen Zhao, puzzled. They'd never seen him before. The top few dozen students took their exams in the same room, so the same group of high achievers showed up again and again. Even if they didn't know each other, they'd at least recognize one another. But they had no impression of Chen Zhao at all.

Zhang Fan couldn't help asking, "What place did you get on the midterm?"

"Third," Chen Zhao replied.

Zhang Fan frowned. "But I'm third in the whole school?"

Chen Zhao wanted to crawl into a crack in the floor. "You're third from the top. I'm third from the bottom."

The three top students were stunned.

Third from the bottom?

Why had they called in someone who was third from the bottom?

"Although Chen Zhao has never ranked very high, he's actually been hiding his abilities," the principal said with a smile. "We don't know who the top three will be in the next exam. That's why I called you all here—to discuss something."

The three top students were completely baffled. Hiding his abilities? What did that even mean? Even if someone ranked third from the bottom in the entire grade was hiding his abilities... how much could he possibly be hiding?

"There's some good news this year: the Mayor's Scholarship." The principal got down to business. "Next month, we'll hold a province-wide exam. All the senior students from every high school will take part. The top one hundred will receive the Mayor's Scholarship. First place gets 100,000 yuan, places two through ten get 10,000 yuan, and places eleven through one hundred get 1,000 yuan!"

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

The three top students nodded. Chen Zhao was still a little dazed.

So the principal was encouraging him to win the Mayor's Scholarship?

He'd come third from the bottom in the midterm! Just because he'd solved two math problems yesterday, the principal thought he could win the Mayor's Scholarship?

There were probably at least 300,000 science students in the whole city. To break into the top one hundred out of 300,000—what did that even mean? It was like fighting your way through a vast army!

After his brief shock, Chen Zhao made up his mind. Since the principal trusted him so much, he had to work hard and win it!

It was only a province-wide exam, right?

He had a system! His intelligence was off the charts!

What score couldn't he get?