120 points

A perfect score in math was very hard to get. Some people might consistently score 95 percent or even 99 percent, but full marks were another matter. In later years, only a few dozen students per province on average earned perfect scores on the college entrance exam's math paper. In some provinces that set their own, harder papers, only one or two students in the entire province managed it.

In Xibao Middle School's neither particularly long nor short history, there was no record of any student earning full marks. Not on the college entrance exam, not on a mock exam, not even on an ordinary classroom test.

Holding Yang Rui's paper, Teacher Lu felt helpless and found it strange.

This test had primarily been designed to simulate July's college entrance exam, and most students in the repeaters' class had scored a little above or below their entrance exam results. The highest score among them was 82, equivalent to 69 on a hundred-point scale. The lowest was only a single digit, earned by a new student whose performance varied drastically between subjects.

Yang Rui had beaten second place by 38 points and scored 80 points higher than he had on the college entrance exam not long before.

To Teacher Lu, who had been keeping an eye on him all along, such a result was simply inexplicable.

I'd better ask him about it privately. With that thought, Teacher Lu pulled out Yang Rui's paper and slipped it to the bottom of the stack before walking unhurriedly into the classroom.

The students sat up straight and all looked toward Teacher Lu.

The eighties were undoubtedly an age that belonged to top students. People at the time regarded the college entrance exam much as they had the imperial examinations. Students and people out in society alike still spoke of learning and knowledge with reverence.

In such an environment, students placed unprecedented importance on their scores.

Class monitor Liu Shan clenched her fists slightly and called out, "Stand up!"

"Good morning, Teacher!" the students greeted him in unison, their eyes still fixed on the papers on the lectern.

Liu Shan turned her head slightly and glanced at Yang Rui, trying to spot a guilty conscience.

Yang Rui's expression was as calm as still water, without a trace of embarrassment at having his cards revealed.

Could he really have gotten a high score? The girl knew nothing of poker faces, and her thoughts could not help wandering.

Teacher Lu usually liked to say a few words at the start of class, but today he was not in the mood. He picked up the top paper and said, "Li Xuegong, 82 points. You did very well. Come get your paper."

A rustle of amazed murmurs rose from the class.

In an era when 370 points could get someone into a bachelor's degree program and 340 into a junior college, a math score of 82 was truly enviable.

Li Xuegong stood up, his face full of delight, and retrieved his paper.

Teacher Lu coughed and said, "Take a good look at the questions you lost points on. Put some pressure on yourself when you practice, and time yourself on mock exams. If you'd performed like this on the entrance exam, wouldn't you have saved yourself this extra year?"

Li Xuegong lowered his head and stammered, "My heart was pounding so hard during the exam..."

A burst of laughter came from the class.

Li Xuegong had scored only 61 in math on the college entrance exam, a full 21 points lower. With his performance also somewhat uneven across subjects, his final total had only been in the 350s, well short of admission to a bachelor's degree program.

Students like him were often deeply unwilling to settle for junior college, because the difference after graduation was simply too great. They were better off repeating another year and enjoying a lifetime of happiness.

The repeaters' class had plenty of such students, especially those from families that were not particularly well-off. They came back year after year precisely because they were so close to the cutoff-too close to bear giving up-and so they gritted their teeth and persevered.

By contrast, students whose scores fell far short, certain they could not reach the cutoff, would leave dejectedly after repeating for a year or two at most.

Yang Rui studied Li Xuegong for a while. His timidity and stage fright showed that he knew fear and knew when to advance or retreat. Scoring 82 under these circumstances showed that he did not lack perseverance either. Compared with some of the educated youths who had returned to the countryside and spent five or six years at this, Li Xuegong was more worth cultivating.

He silently entered the name in a brand-new red-covered notebook.

At the front, Teacher Lu picked up the second paper and said without even looking, "Xu Jing, 71 points... far too careless. You need more practice with functions. You lost too many points on the fill-in-the-blank questions."

The gap between second and first place was the largest-without counting Yang Rui, of course.

"Understood. Thank you, Teacher Lu." Contrary to the quiet suggested by her name, Xu Jing was a broad-backed, powerfully built girl. Her thick arms and sturdy waist came from regular farm work, and her rosy cheeks brought to mind a propaganda poster from the seventies. She was exceptionally lively, managing to horse around with someone in the few short steps it took to collect her paper.

Now that's a real tough girl. His family probably puts him to work like a man, too, Yang Rui privately remarked.

Teacher Lu read out name after name and soon reached class monitor Liu Shan. She was sixth, with 65 points.

As Teacher Lu handed her the paper, he deliberately pointed to the stains on it and said, "I deducted five points for presentation. Be careful from now on. You absolutely must not get your paper dirty. Otherwise, if an examiner thinks you deliberately marked it during the exam, you'll be in trouble. Understand?"

"Yes." Liu Shan lowered her head, secretly resenting Yang Rui. If it had not been for him, how would she have stained her paper? She should have had 70 points and third place.

After putting her paper away, Liu Shan was about to turn back when she stopped and asked, "Teacher Lu, are you handing out the papers in order of score?"

Teacher Lu hesitated, then nodded.

Liu Shan did not dare ask any more and hurried back to her seat.

Teacher Lu continued handing out papers, invariably offering a couple of comments on each one. He felt that this was when his teaching had the greatest effect.

Wang Guohua had scored 46. Most importantly, he had lost only two points for his working on the trigonometry problem. This proved that memorizing problems really did work, and he could not help scratching his head and fidgeting with excitement.

Liu Shan listened intently as the scores dropped from the sixties to the thirties. With Yang Rui still not called up, she felt both amused and disappointed. His grand claims amused her; what disappointed her was that he had led both himself and others astray. His good looks were wasted on him.

Near the end of class, Hu Yanshan also retrieved his paper: 15 points.

Hu Yanshan acted utterly unconcerned. Sitting in the back row, he even lit a cigarette to convey his attitude.

But behind the drifting wisps of smoke, his eyes remained fixed on Wang Guohua and Yang Rui.

Hu Yanshan was well-informed. One question had told him Wang Guohua's previous scores, and a comparison naturally showed that his score had risen-by nearly 20 points.

How long had it been since the college entrance exam ended? If this study group of Wang Guohua and Yang Rui's really worked, he wanted to join too.

These days, never mind the son of a local power supply station chief-even the son of a power supply bureau director would do everything he could to squeeze his way into university.

Whether they would spend the rest of their lives sipping broth or eating meat depended on getting past the hurdle of the college entrance exam.

Hu Yanshan did not want to take the route of joining the army, being demobilized, getting hired, and then being promoted to a cadre position. That was too hard, took too much time, and meant slower promotions than others received. It was stifling.

Yet the fact that the teacher still had not called out Yang Rui's paper deepened his doubts.

The last few papers were soon handed out. Teacher Lu checked his watch and said, "Take a ten-minute break, everyone. I'll start going through the paper next period."

Hu Yanshan, whose mind had been wandering, quickly looked toward Yang Rui.

The fellow had not received his paper, yet remained perfectly composed, which sent Hu Yanshan's imagination running.

He immediately stood up, ground his cigarette butt against the desktop, and called, "Teacher Lu, you haven't handed out Yang Rui's paper yet."

As he spoke, he rushed to the lectern.

Teacher Lu was slow to react, and with so many students watching, for a moment he did not know where to put the last paper.

Without ceremony, Hu Yanshan picked it up from the lectern and smiled when he looked at it. "Isn't this Yang Rui's? You must've forgotten it. Let me see, he got 12... 120 points?"