At those words, the Second High School group leader froze mid-sip. Teacher Zhou's smile stiffened at once, and even his neatly combed-back hair seemed to quiver. The other teachers all turned to look at Zheng Huai, their eyes brimming with shock and disbelief.
Wait, was that number a mistake?
335!
This wasn't exactly an astonishing number, but they had just heard Teacher Zhou say that at the last major exam, this kid named Lin Ye had a Blood Qi Value of only 218. Just over 200. And now they were being told that after two months of practice, his Blood Qi Value had skyrocketed to 335?
Did that make any sense?
One teacher didn't believe it. He even turned to the female teacher from Fourth High School and took the statistics sheet from her to check. In the end, that conspicuous 335 leaped into everyone's eyes.
There was no mistake!
"So it really is 335."
After reluctantly reading through the provisional statistics sheet, Teacher Zhou finally came to his senses. His voice had gone a little strange as he murmured, "Wait, wasn't he at 218 in the last mock exam? It's only been a little over two months, and he's already at 335?"
He looked a little lost. Lin Ye's progress had shattered his common sense about improvement.
But a moment later, he came around. As an experienced Martial Arts Stream teacher, he knew all too well what this kind of improvement meant.
This wasn't something that could be achieved simply by "funneling resources" to a student. Zhou Zhen in his class had received the same treatment, yet his Blood Qi Value had risen by just 48 points over two months. Even so, Teacher Zhou had already thought Zhou Zhen was working incredibly hard.
But Lin Ye had gained nearly 60 points in Blood Qi per month on average. Could a person really improve that efficiently?
That was downright shocking, all right.
If this weren't such a serious matter as the High School Entrance Exam, he'd have wanted to question whether the testing device was faulty. This was way beyond what an ordinary person could accept.
"Old Zheng, what... what have you been feeding him?"
The Second High School group leader asked half-jokingly, half-seriously, his eyes full of shock.
"Is it really 335?"
Another teacher pressed, "The device didn't malfunction, did it?"
As everyone fixed their gaze on him, Zheng Huai remained as composed as ever. Only the faintest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "The devices are calibrated uniformly by the city and approved by the province. If you have an issue, you can submit feedback. I'm sure the leaders at the Bureau of Education care about this sort of thing even more than all of you do."
Then he set down his thermos. His tone remained steady as he said, "Lin Ye is a pretty diligent kid. His improvement this time really was a bit greater than usual."
Pretty diligent?
A bit greater than usual?
The group fell silent, their lips twitching. How was this merely "a bit greater"? That was explosive growth, all right.
From 218 to 335—that was a gain of 117 points in two months!
Among this year's Martial Arts Stream students across all of Nanjiang City, his rate of improvement was probably in a league of its own.
At this point, the smug look on Teacher Zhou's face had vanished without a trace, replaced by intense shock and a hint of awkwardness at having his words thrown back in his face.
After all, he'd just said that Lin Ye would be doing well if he got close to 300. In the blink of an eye, the kid had tested at a Blood Qi Value of 335. But how was that merely holding steady?
It was progress that had left the timeline in the dust.
Looking at Zheng Huai's unruffled expression, he figured the man had known the truth about Lin Ye all along. He'd simply been too lazy to show off. Meanwhile, Zhou Ming had gone and bragged first. The thought made his face burn.
The other teachers exchanged looks as well, and the way they regarded Zheng Huai changed.
Having a genius student like Chu Tiange was one thing. But taking a student who'd originally been somewhere in the middle of the pack and guiding him to this level in just over two months—that kind of teaching and mentorship took real skill.
Of course, Lin Ye had talent too, but that didn't diminish Zheng Huai's ability as a teacher.
At that moment, the Martial Arts Stream group leader from Second High School looked at Zheng Huai, his eyes darting as he calculated how much it would cost to poach him for his school.
After all, in this era, Martial Dao was everything. Strength in Martial Dao was the only strength that mattered.
But Zheng Huai paid the others no mind. He picked up his things and said, "It's almost time. I'll go check on the testing equipment."
With that, he headed straight out of the Rest Room without so much as a pause.
All that remained was a roomful of teachers with complicated expressions, watching him go and wondering what he was thinking.
Before you continue