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Chapter 75: Chapter 67 Blinding Achievement (Seeking Recommendations!)_1
Sunday afternoon.
"What? Tang Qing is ranked first in the whole grade? You’re not joking, right, Group leader You?" Holding the class’s total score list, Shen Mei exclaimed in shock. She had known before that Tang Qing got a full score in mathematics, but she thought that he was only bearing down hard on mathematics during this period. She thought his other subjects were probably falling behind. Even if he kept up with his previous performance, there wouldn’t be much progress. However, this score sheet had smashed all of her assumptions.
What did she see?
Chinese 128, Mathematics 150, English 149, Physics 112, Chemistry 96, Biology 80, with a total score of 715, a full sixteen points higher than the second place. The second place was He Peng from class 7, with 699 points.
This was simply inconceivable.
This dark horse was too dark. It was shining black, glowing with an aura of purple.
"It’s, of course, true. It’s written in black and white. We’ve reviewed the first-placed papers all over; there can’t be any mistake." Group leader You chuckled. She had been as shocked as Shen Mei when she first received the score sheet. A student had gone from ranked over a hundred to first in just two times. This was simply like a tale of marvels. And whether he cheated?
Ha-ha.
Who would Tang Qing cheat from?
"This is too unbelievable. He was just tenth last time." Shen Mei hadn’t recovered from her astonishment.
"You should be gleeful. Although it’s difficult to move from tenth to first, it’s not impossible. This is a good sprout. We should pay more attention to him in the future." Group leader You chuckled.
"Yes, group leader, I understand." Shen Mei returned to reality and replied. Even without the group leader’s reminder, she knew that as long as Tang Qing kept it up, there was still half a year until the National College Entrance Examination. By then, it wasn’t impossible for him to become the top scorer in the province. Although Tang Qing was unlikely to top nationwide, it was still hopeful within the range of the nationwide paper.
As for He Peng, although he had been staying at the top of the grade for years, he was obviously losing steam. Unlike Tang Qing, who soared and surpassed He Peng considerably. A difference of sixteen points was like an insurmountable gap at this level. Unless Tang Qing messed around, He Peng would no longer have a chance to overtake him.
With such a genius emerging from her class, Shen Mei’s feelings were understandable. She felt as thrilled as if she had hit the lottery. If Tang Qing became the province’s top scorer, it would be a great honor in her teaching career.
"Well, according to custom, the first place in monthly exams will receive a 500 Yuan bonus. As soon as the school starts tomorrow, go to the school’s Finance Department to collect it and remember to collect your own bonus too." Group leader You laughed.
"Right, okay, group leader," Shen Mei said in excitement. The 500 Yuan for maths and the 100 Yuan for a full score in biology, plus the 500 Yuan for being the class teacher of the first-place grade student, which totaled 1,100 Yuan. This was a considerable amount of money, which could feed her entire family for two months.
"All right, go ahead," the group leader You chuckled.
Shen Mei couldn’t sleep well that night. She wanted to call Tang Qing’s home immediately to wish them good tidings, but she withheld this impulse. Being a class teacher herself, it wouldn’t look nice to call just for this.
...
Monday.
Morning self-study.
Walking into the classroom with the score list, Shen Mei was over the moon. She could barely suppress her grin. She felt like she was floating.
She put down the test papers and teaching plans on the podium, looked up and scanned all around. Seeing the expectant faces of her students, especially Tang Qing’s, her smile grew even brighter. Although Tang Qing’s indifferent expression stood out amongst the other expectant students, for some reason, Shen Mei thought he looked adorable at this moment.
Seeing Shen Mei’s uncontrollable smile as soon as she entered the classroom, the students realized that they must have done well in the test. They became more eager. Faced with the judgment of their hard work, they were all too nervous.
"I have to admit, when I received the score sheet yesterday afternoon, I was very excited. You all have given me a lot of surprises. Your hard work over the past month has been rewarded and many of you have made great progress. But, one person’s progress has inspired the entire school’s teachers and leaders. I won’t reveal who this person is yet. You will know who it is when I announce the grades. Okay, let’s move on to the ’most anticipated’ part." Having finished speaking, Shen Mei pulled out the total score list. She looked at the name and score of the first name on the list, unable to contain her excitement. She took a deep breath and read out:
"First place: Tang Qing, with a total score of 715, ranked first in the grade!"
After announcing, she didn’t continue. She thought the students might need some time to digest this news.
Upon hearing this news, the students were more or less dumbfounded. Liu Ming, who originally thought he would be the class’s first place, had a frozen smile on his face.
The class’s first place wasn’t him but Tang Qing?
Was this some kind of joke?
And he was the first in the grade?
With 715 points?
Was he dreaming? Liu Ming pinched himself and the pain made him realize this wasn’t a dream. He was dejected. Having been the class’s first place for a long time, he couldn’t accept that he had been dethroned.
The rest of the class weren’t faring any better.
"Tang Qing is the first in grade?"
"Oh my god, this must be a joke."
"Did he cheat?"
"Why don’t you cheat and show me a first place? Whose answers will you copy?"
"Quickly pinch me. Am I dreaming?"
"715 points! Is this a score a human can achieve?"
"He Peng from class 7 must be heartbroken."
"Haha, exactly. Let him be arrogant, always hogging our basketball court. He got what he deserved this time."
"...."
"Clap clap clap..." Shen Mei rapped on the table a few times to quiet their classmates’ discussions.
"Alright, everyone quiet down. Let’s all warmly congratulate Tang Qing for achieving first place in the grade. We hope he continues to perform well and I hope everybody will learn from him." After speaking, Shen Mei was the first to start clapping. This time, she didn’t distract everyone with a lengthy speech. Last time, she talked so much that she forgot to clap, and only remembered afterwards, which caused her some embarrassment.
"Alright, let’s continue with the results."
"Second place: Liu Ming, total score 691, third in the grade!"
"Third place: Wang Yan, total score 683, fifth in the grade!"
"Fourth place: Xiong Jun, total score 671, ninth in the grade!"
"...."
When Liu Ming heard his own score was only 691, he felt no more regret. The gap wasn’t just a few points, it was twenty-four points difference, making them seemingly in different leagues. In his mind, he was willing to take the loss, but he refused to believe he was worse than Tang Qing.
As for Wang Yan, she didn’t even listen to her own score. The only thought in her mind was ’Tang Qing scored 715, first in the grade’.
And Li Kai felt the same, he was shocked by Tang Qing’s score, staring at Tang Qing with a ghost-like expression.
At last.
The morning self-study session ended with everyone having different thoughts, but the impact was far from over.
"...."
"Old Tang, are you Old Tang?" As soon as the morning self-study ended, Li Kai approached with a look of disbelief, still not recovered from the shock of the ’huge’ result.
"Nonsense, if it’s not me, then who is it?" Tang Qing laughed and scolded. Despite Li Kai always being a troublemaker, it was a good thing, since life needed such friends to create a fun atmosphere. 𝔫𝖔𝖛𝖕𝔲𝔟.𝔠𝖔𝖒
"Then how did you score so high? I would believe it if you moved up one or two ranks, but bumping all the way up to first place, I can’t accept it. I don’t care, give me back the old Tang." Li Kai started to blabber again, even shaking Tang Qing with his hand.
Oh my god.
A grown man whining.
Tang Qing pushed him away.
"You... damn, how could I return him, do you want me to retake the exam?" Tang Qing was speechless.
"Then I don’t care, you need to compensate me for my emotional distress." Li Kai started to act defiantly.
"Scram."
Tang Qing directly lowered his head to read, ignoring him. With his skill of turning any situation into his favor, Tang Qing truly felt he couldn’t win over him. His shamelessness, Tang Qing would say he was in awe.
"Tang Qing, you’re really amazing." Wang Yan looked up at Tang Qing with a bright smile, her smile was truly very happy. Tang Qing knew, this girl had fallen deeper for him. Sigh... it’s giving him a headache.
"Well... of course, in order to celebrate my first place, I have decided to go to Li Kai’s house for dinner tonight..." Tang Qing proposed as he cast his stray thoughts aside.
"Why is it freeloading, why not treat us instead." Li Kai immediately feigned dissatisfaction.
"I’m giving you a chance to flatter the top performer. You still have the money you were planning to spend on treating us last time." Tang Qing looked at Li Kai with an amused smile.
"That was for a donation to children out of school." The moment Li Kai heard this, he immediately refused and clutched his pocket. That was his private money.
"Did you donate it?" Tang Qing asked impatiently.
"I’m going to save it up before I donate it." Li Kai didn’t blush at all when he said those words.
"I... despise you, this meal is on me..." Tang Qing said.
"Alright, as long as I don’t have to pay, you can put it on your tab." Li Kai said with a wink and a grin.
"Do whatever you want. No more kidding around. Tonight I’ll bring my uncle’s family over, you ask Uncle Li to save the biggest private dining room for us." Tang Qing said seriously.
"No problem, I’ll text my dad right away, so he doesn’t book it out at lunch." Li Kai said with a laugh.
"Hm."
"Old Tang, do you want to invite your childhood sweetheart too? I haven’t seen her yet." Li Kai hinted, he didn’t know about Wang Yan’s crush on Tang Qing, otherwise he wouldn’t have said such silly things.
"No, she’s busy studying." Tang Qing said, Wang Yan would also be there tonight, if Lin Jiaxue felt upset about this, it wouldn’t be good.
"Oh."
Upon hearing about Tang Qing’s childhood sweetheart, Wang Yan’s expression inevitably dimmed. Her pride wouldn’t let her become a third wheel. She felt destined but not fated with Tang Qing, and they might only remain as friends for their whole lives. With sorrow in her heart, Wang Yan had a grim expression for the whole morning, which Tang Qing didn’t notice, assuming she was just having her period.
After all, at this age, girls can feel upset for various reasons. In his past life, Tang Qing heard a joke about a little girl who cried several times a day. When asked what the reason was, it turned out to be because her school uniform clashed with someone else’s. He hadn’t expected this, but ultimately, wouldn’t try to guess a woman’s mind!
