Lu Ming looked around and discovered that Ran Yanyue, the tallest mountain and longest river in the second year, was in the examination room next door. Now he would not be able to watch her seriously answering questions.
Lu Ming saw someone sit down in the seat beside him. Turning his head, he raised an eyebrow.
Well, well. Enemies really did meet on narrow roads.
Yu Wenshan did not look kindly upon Lu Ming. With a teacher present, he believed Lu Ming would not dare lay a hand on him.
"You won't be able to copy answers this time." Yu Wenshan sneered.
Lu Ming rolled his eyes.
Yu Wenshan would not let it go. "What's so impressive about being tall? Once you enter university and society, you'll understand that diplomas and connections are what really matter. At best, your grades can only get you into some no-name university."
Lu Ming pretended not to hear him.
Seeing that Lu Ming ignored him, Yu Wenshan's expression grew even more irritated.
He felt that all the students around him were idiots. Someone like him, who had grasped the truths of society so early, was instead treated differently in high school. Girls like Tang Zhiqing ought to like him, not someone like Lu Ming, who was merely handsome and well-built with no future whatsoever.
People like him were the real winners in life. Why did high school girls still not understand that?
"Handing out the test papers and scratch paper!"
The proctor began distributing the papers. Yu Wenshan glared at Lu Ming and started answering questions.
His grades ranked in the top fifty of the year. Compared to someone like Lu Ming, he was leagues ahead!
He would prove himself with his grades.
Lu Ming received his science test paper as well. After giving it a quick once-over, he swiftly began writing.
The classroom suddenly fell quiet, with only the soft rustling of pens sliding across scratch paper and answer sheets.
Lu Ming had been good at science subjects and mathematics in his previous life, while Chinese and English had been somewhat weaker. He answered quickly, spending only a few seconds on the simple multiple-choice questions before marking his answers.
Rustle!
Hearing Lu Ming turn the page, Yu Wenshan froze.
How is he writing so fast? I'm still looking at the fourth multiple-choice question.
No, he's trying to fool me.
How could Lu Ming possibly write faster than me? He wants to take the chance to peek at my answer sheet!
Yu Wenshan covered his answer sheet more tightly with his arm.
More than ten minutes later, the sound of another page turning echoed through the silent examination room.
It was Lu Ming again!
He had already reached the third page.
Yu Wenshan could not believe it. He was definitely cheating!
Yu Wenshan stared intently at Lu Ming, but after half an hour, all he saw was Lu Ming seriously working through the paper without even glancing his way, as though there were some stray dog by the roadside taking an exam beside him.
That made Yu Wenshan even angrier, and he stopped putting as much care into his own test paper.
Then he suddenly saw Li Deng secretly toss Lu Ming a crumpled ball of scratch paper, which Lu Ming caught. Yu Wenshan's eyes widened, and he nearly burst with joy. Slapping the desk, he stood and pointed at Lu Ming. "Teacher, he's cheating!"
That cry, born from half an hour of pent-up frustration, was deafening!
The proctor immediately looked over. Showing favoritism to neither side, he strode directly toward Lu Ming.
"The paper ball is right there." Yu Wenshan hurriedly pointed it out.
Seeing that Lu Ming remained calm, the proctor opened the paper ball and glanced at it. After a few seconds, he frowned. "Just call the teacher for this sort of thing. Don't pass notes around."
Huh?
Why was the teacher so calm?
Yu Wenshan froze, then leaned forward and saw the words on the paper ball.
[Lu Ming, close the window. The northwesterly wind is a little cold. (And whoever plays unrestricted Tearlaments again is a dog.)]
Yu Wenshan almost exploded with rage as he stared incredulously at Li Deng in front of Lu Ming.
You passed a note for something this trivial?!
Are you seriously that bored?!
Seeing that the proctor was about to leave, Yu Wenshan hurriedly said, "Teacher, check again!"
He still refused to believe Lu Ming could write faster than him.
Who do you think you are, Ran Yanyue?
The proctor walked over to Lu Ming and examined his paper. It was neat, and his solution methods were clear enough to make the proctor's furrowed brow relax. He nodded in satisfaction. This was the most worry-free student he had seen all year. Then he took two steps forward to Li Deng's seat, and his brow furrowed again. Finally, he looked at Yu Wenshan's paper and criticized, "You haven't even written much yourself, yet you're worrying about others? Hurry up and write!"
Yu Wenshan was scolded speechless.
If it were not for Lu Ming, he would have gotten much farther by now.
Lu Ming paid no attention to Yu Wenshan at all and simply focused on completing his paper.
Another hour passed. Lu Ming stretched, checked his test paper several times, and handed it in early. Seeing this, Yu Wenshan hurriedly scribbled down a little more before handing his in as well.
"Teacher, can you grade our papers early?" Yu Wenshan asked.
"What are you in such a hurry for?" the proctor frowned.
Yu Wenshan could not come up with a reason and stammered.
He simply wanted to humiliate Lu Ming in front of everyone in the examination room.
At that moment, Lu Ming raised his hand as well. "Teacher, I want to know my score early too."
Yu Wenshan was stunned.
Lu Ming had actually said it himself.
The proctor had a decent impression of this quiet student, Lu Ming. He nodded. "Since you're both in such a rush, I'll grade these two papers first."
Lu Ming looked at Yu Wenshan and smiled. "Remember to let me see the standard of the Rocket Class."
Yu Wenshan's face darkened, and he prepared to make Lu Ming look bad in a moment.
After a while, the proctor finished grading the papers. He glanced at one and said, "Yu Wenshan, 245 points."
Yu Wenshan frowned, then relaxed. The score was below his usual standard, but it was still decent. At the very least, Lu Ming definitely could not match it.
After a pause, the proctor added, "Lu Ming, 269."
Everyone in the examination room immediately widened their eyes. Some even turned around to stare at Lu Ming in astonishment despite still being in the middle of the test.
That was insanely good!
269!!
That was practically the level of a science quasi-emperor!
If the current Great Emperor were not Ran Yanyue, you would have almost become the Great Emperor!
"Teacher, cheating!" Yu Wenshan suddenly shouted.
"You're saying I helped him cheat?" the proctor looked at him unhappily.
"No, no... I mean Lu Ming cheated. He didn't even score 200 points on the last exam. How did he get 269 this time?" Yu Wenshan could not believe it. That was even better than his best score!
The proctor was already dissatisfied with Yu Wenshan, the noisy nephew of the dean of discipline. His tone grew sharper. "Are you saying Lu Ming copied the paper of Li Deng, the student in front of him?"
Li Deng was still sweating profusely as he fought the mark-and-recapture method.
Everyone in the examination room laughed.
Only Li Deng did not laugh.
The examination room was immediately filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
"Then... maybe he copied mine!" Yu Wenshan's face alternated between green and white. Unable to save face, he hurriedly said it.
The proctor picked up the two answer sheets. "You only got one point on the final major physics question, while Lu Ming nearly filled in the entire solution and only lost a few points through carelessness. Do you think he could have copied you?"
Could a father really copy from his son?
Besides, Lu Ming did not have such an unfilial son.
Just as Yu Wenshan was about to speak, he suddenly heard a girl mutter softly somewhere in the examination room, "Just sit down already. You keep yapping like a woman and acting like you're so amazing. Turns out you're not even as good as Lu Ming after he crammed science for a week. What a joke. You're not even worth one of Lu Ming's hairs."
Hey, what did that have to do with my hair?
Were you spreading dirty rumors about me too?
Lu Ming was a member of the Student Council. Under Tang Zhiqing's lead, he often helped others, so his reputation in their year was countless times better than Yu Wenshan's.
Her voice was soft, but the examination room was extremely quiet. Everyone heard those words.
The room instantly erupted with stifled laughter.
The well-informed students had all heard about the earlier argument and unanimously reached the same conclusion: Yu Wenshan was an idiot.
Yu Wenshan's expression worsened, but he could only sit down.
"Sorry, I can probably only get into some no-name university," Lu Ming said to him with an innocent smile. "But your grades are even worse than mine. It's fine. Vocational colleges aren't inferior to universities."
Yu Wenshan was so angry that he wanted to curse.
He wanted to prove that Lu Ming had cheated, but no one would believe him at all!
Could it be... Lu Ming really didn't cheat?
Then how did his grades improve so quickly?
After the exam, Lu Ming returned to his classroom and found a bottle of Tea Pi on his desk. Who had given him this fancy convenience-store drink that cost more than five yuan? It was practically bribery.
Lu Ming saw several girls from Class One giggling and waving at him from the classroom door. One of them, acting as their representative, boldly walked over and said, "Yu Wenshan is so annoying. He acts like some eighth-grader who thinks he discovered the truth of the world, always believing that we girls should like him. Watching you embarrass him felt great too, so this drink is for you!"
"And if you and Zhiqing aren't dating, what do you think of me?" The girl representative winked at Lu Ming.
Why was everyone spreading rumors that he and Zhiqing were dating?
Who was secretly spreading false information?
"Sorry, but my type is a beautiful girl with 530,000 combat power who can transform four times."
"Hehe, all right then. Forget it."
The girl was very cheerful. She did not get angry after being rejected and left with a smile.
The girl representative jostled and laughed with the girls from her class as they left.
High school classmates really were quite innocent.
After they left, Li Deng and the rest of his classmates crowded around him.
"No, when did your grades improve that much?!"
"So you're Lu Ming? I'm a student! Hurry up and teach me!"
"I was wondering why you kept talking to Ran Yanyue every day. Were you dual-cultivating your studies?!"
Was that dual cultivation even proper?
Ran Yanyue and I had a pure desk-mate relationship.
The 38th Parallel was still there.
His classmates were truly shocked. Lu Ming's grades had not been particularly good or bad before. They had all muddled through their days together and been suppressed by Ran Yanyue together, but how could he secretly start studying? What a bastard!
If Lu Ming had become rich overnight from demolition compensation, everyone would have only congratulated him on his good luck. But if he started opening books and studying, then everyone would start getting anxious.
Ran Yanyue returned as well. Sitting down, she said, "It has nothing to do with me. Lu Ming studied on his own."
Since Ran Yanyue said so, everyone believed it.
Had Lu Ming really evolved?
How many times had he evolved already?!
Previously, he had beaten Cao Guang from the third year at bullfighting. This time, he had also crushed the students of Class One academically!
He was skilled in both academics and martial arts!
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