Their homeroom teacher, Yin Yanqiu, had been a key member of the teaching staff for years. She knew exactly how to get inside her students' heads.
After entering the classroom, she said nothing. Her face was so dark it looked ready to drip water, and her stern gaze swept from the left side of the room to the right, then back again.
Every student instinctively held their breath, terrified that their name might suddenly be called. It was so quiet they could have heard a pin drop.
Now that's a death stare.
Even with Chen Zhu's current mental fortitude, he still felt as though he were sitting on pins and needles.
Then Yin Yanqiu piled all the exam papers onto the lectern. The heavy stack landed with a dull thump that echoed through the silent classroom.
The students of Class 11 lowered their heads even farther.
An uncertain amount of time passed before Yin Yanqiu finally spoke coldly:
"This exam exposed a lot of problems. Some of you thought you'd done a good job reviewing, but you haven't retained any of the key material you should have mastered. Don't assume you're guaranteed a place at a top-tier university. Judging by these results, some of you will only get into an ordinary university..."
Some students were so nervous their hands began to shake, afraid they were among the "some of you" their homeroom teacher meant.
In truth, a teacher like Yin Yanqiu, who led an advanced class, would never be completely satisfied with any set of exam results. Student A might underperform this time, and Student B might underperform next time.
Of course, this was also how experienced teachers operated. These teenage high achievers were far too prone to becoming proud of themselves, so they had to be kept under constant pressure.
Only after she finished dissecting the problems revealed by the exam did she add, seemingly offhandedly, "However, some students have improved tremendously. You could call it a leap forward."
Although Chen Zhu still had his head lowered, he felt as though his homeroom teacher glanced at him as she said that. He wondered whether it was one of life's three great illusions.
"Now we'll hand out the math papers."
Yin Yanqiu picked up a stack of papers and said clearly, "Come up and collect yours when I call your name."
When handing out exam papers, Yin Yanqiu liked to announce everyone's scores to the class in descending order.
Perhaps this let the high scorers enjoy a sense of honor while prodding the lower scorers' pride. It could also be called the "mock exam subject MVP results screen."
"Deng Qian, 148. Chen Zhu, 145. Kang Liangsong, 144... Song Shiwei, 138... Huang Bohan, 127..."
Like an emotionless robot, Yin Yanqiu read out the scores one paper at a time.
As the students who had scored over 140 went up to collect their papers, their classmates watched with envy and anxiety, hoping their own names would be called soon.
When Huang Bohan collected his math paper and saw the 127, he finally relaxed. That was his usual level in math. If only he could maintain it through the Gaokao.
The last few students to collect their papers did not even dare lift their heads. Yet Yin Yanqiu deliberately emphasized their names: "Ding! Liang! 102. Pan! Yun! Biao! 100..."
Ding Liang and Pan Yunbiao flushed crimson with shame.
After handing out the math papers, Yin Yanqiu gave them no time to catch their breath and immediately picked up the physics papers:
"Come up and collect your paper when I call your name. Kang Liangsong, 142. Fei Dingxian, 140. Chen Zhu, 140. Deng Qian, 139... Song Shiwei, 132... Huang Bohan, 118..."
The physics exam really had been difficult, but that did not mean no one could score highly.
Chen Zhu once again enjoyed everyone's envy. Huang Bohan felt a little dejected at having scored only 118, and immediately compared his paper with Chen Zhu's to check where he had gone wrong.
Chemistry came next. Chen Zhu scored 141, Huang Bohan scored 131, and Song Shiwei scored 138. As expected, there was no particularly large gap.
After that came English.
Having guessed his way through the entire listening section, Chen Zhu unsurprisingly scored 92.
Sure enough, exams were the fairest competition. The results would not play along with your act.
Huang Bohan scored 115, which was not especially high. Song Shiwei had the highest English score in the class at 140.
With one subject finally placing him ahead of Chen Zhu, Huang Bohan could not help puffing out his chest a little, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face.
He knew his total would definitely be lower than Chen Zhu's. Countless monthly exams had already proven that. Their final gap depended on how much his Chinese and English scores could make up for the lead Chen Zhu had built in math, physics, and chemistry.
Huang Bohan calculated silently. Although he was more than fifty points behind Chen Zhu in math, physics, and chemistry, he was twenty-three points ahead in English.
Based on their usual results, he generally scored around 110 in Chinese, while Chen Zhu was only at the 95-point level. That would recover another fifteen points, leaving them only ten or so points apart overall.
We're still just about in the same league.
Huang Bohan felt satisfied with that thought. He hoped they would end up at the same university so he would not be lonely.
"Next are the Chinese exam results."
Yin Yanqiu picked up the final stack of papers. For some reason, she suddenly paused, and this time her gaze really did linger on Chen Zhu for a few microseconds.
"Deng Qian, 138. Mou Jiawen, 137. Song Shiwei, 136... Chen, Chen Zhu..."
Perhaps because this was the first time Chen Zhu's name had appeared this far up the Chinese rankings, even Yin Yanqiu was not quite used to it. She coughed before enunciating clearly:
"Chen Zhu, 136!"
"What?"
The classroom instantly erupted. Everyone had grown used to staying calm when Chen Zhu scored over 140 in math, physics, and chemistry.
But hearing that he had scored 136 in Chinese shattered their composure.
Did I hear that right?
Chen Zhu scored 136 in Chinese?
Wasn't he always around the 95-point mark before?
Could he have guessed his way through it...?
Come on, this is Chinese! You might cheat or guess correctly in math, physics, and chemistry, but how do you guess your way through Chinese?
Can you guess your way through poetry analysis?
Can you guess your way through classical Chinese translation?
Can you guess your way through an eight-hundred-character essay?
Chinese was what made this so bizarre. If his scores in math, physics, or chemistry had suddenly risen this much, everyone could have found some explanation to convince themselves. But how could someone improve by forty points in Chinese within a month?
Under his classmates' shocked and bewildered gazes, Chen Zhu calmly walked up to the lectern to collect his paper.
Only 136? Could the teacher have marked it wrong?
That was what Chen Zhu was thinking beneath his expressionless exterior.
Yin Yanqiu had apparently already gotten over her own shock. As she handed him the paper, she even added, "Your essay was actually discussed by the entire Chinese marking team. In the end, the head of the teaching group made the final decision and awarded it a high score of 58."
The essay was worth sixty points, so fifty-eight was indeed very high.
"Ms. Yin, what were they discussing?"
Chen Zhu asked curiously.
The essay prompt had been to write at least eight hundred characters on the theme of "following trends."
Using the currently red-hot Super Girl as his opening example, Chen Zhu had criticized local television stations everywhere for jumping on the talent-show bandwagon.
Yin Yanqiu thought for a moment. "I think they felt your essay took too broad a perspective for a high school student. You kept elevating the discussion to the provincial and national level. But..."
As a math teacher, Yin Yanqiu was not particularly satisfied with the Chinese teachers' vague explanation. She said bluntly, "But you don't need to worry about that. Any essay that earns a high score is a good essay!"
Chen Zhu nodded. He understood the problem now.
He had previously written industry documents covering the entire province, so he naturally viewed issues from that level. He simply had not adjusted his thinking yet.
It was understandable, then, that the markers had disagreed. He should be careful too. What if the marker for his Gaokao essay lacked the ability to understand what he had written? His next essay would have to be a little more down-to-earth.
Still, no matter how you looked at it, such a dramatic improvement this far into the second semester of senior year was astonishing.
Chen Zhu returned to his seat and, seeing Huang Bohan's dumbfounded expression, could not resist grinning. "Babe, I only went up to collect a paper. You don't recognize me anymore?"
Huang Bohan ignored the teasing. His eyes were unfocused, and even his voice sounded hollow. "Chen Zhu, do you realize your total has broken 650?"
Chen Zhu froze for a moment. It really had!
Math 145 + physics 140 + chemistry 141 + English 92 + Chinese 136, for a total of 654!
What did a score of 654 mean back then?
In 2007, Peking University's admissions cutoff in Eastern Guangdong was 653.
(There'll be another chapter around eight tonight.)
(End of chapter)
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