The room fell silent.
Jiang Cheng’s results were already impressive enough, but there was actually another hidden top scorer in the school?
Provincial second place… or even first?
“Quick, check if it’s Lin Xue!” Liu Longsheng was the first to react. Although Lin Xue didn’t have Jiang Cheng’s explosive potential, her grades had always been stable in the elite class. With such a difficult exam this time, her steady mindset might have secured her the top spot.
The thought of having two students in the provincial top three in his class made Liu Longsheng’s heart race with excitement.
“No…” The technician checked several times to confirm before printing out the results, his voice trembling slightly. “It’s Ye Shaohua.”
For this exam, aside from subjective sections like Chinese, Ye Shaohua had barely lost any points.
To boost Class 13’s average score, she had never taken an exam this seriously before—aiming for perfection every time.
This test was no exception. Out of a total score of 750, she had scored 746.
Beneath her name was Jiang Cheng’s score—676, placing him third in the province.
A gap of over seventy points.
This year’s exam was notoriously difficult. For Jiang Cheng to score 676 was already an extraordinary feat, which was why Liu Longsheng and the principal had been so thrilled earlier.
When they heard someone had outranked Jiang Cheng, everyone naturally assumed it was a student from the elite class. Who would’ve thought the dark horse would be Ye Shaohua?
Seeing the printed results, Teacher Wang nearly collapsed in shock.
As the head of the math department and an award-winning teacher, he had never taught a provincial top scorer before.
Over the years, only a handful of students had ever achieved that honor, and they had always come from elite schools like Qingcheng High.
If Teacher Wang was stunned, the other teachers were even more so.
First High had always been realistic about its student quality and teaching standards. Yet here was a student from Class 13—a class the school barely paid attention to—suddenly shooting to the top.
And Ye Shaohua, of all people—the girl Ye Guofu had forced into the school with a hefty donation back then.
Class 13 had never produced a student ranked within the top 200 before. Now, out of nowhere, they had not only broken that record but claimed the very top spot?
Still, unlike the students, the teachers were aware of Ye Shaohua’s past. After all, she had once been the top scorer in the high school entrance exam before her sudden decline.
If she were to stage a comeback now, it wasn’t entirely unbelievable.
“Teacher Wang, congratulations,” the other teachers said, their voices filled with envy.
“Wait,” the technician interjected hesitantly, “did you all miss… the national ranking?”
Whoosh—
The room fell silent again.
Everyone’s eyes followed the technician’s finger to the line on the paper.
A sharp intake of breath echoed through the room.
National… first place?!
This wasn’t just a provincial first—this was on an entirely different level.
Even at her peak back in freshman year, Ye Shaohua had never been this outstanding.
But the surprises didn’t end there.
“Hold on—Teacher Wang, isn’t Yu Hang also from your class? Ranked third in the school and seventh in the province?” someone exclaimed, pointing at another name on the list.
Jiang Cheng, the provincial third-place scorer, was over seventy points behind Ye Shaohua.
This year, 700 points was the cutoff for the national top twenty.
Yet Yu Hang, ranked seventh in the province, was only three points behind Jiang Cheng’s 676—scoring 673, a full ten points above the school’s fourth-place student.
In previous years, the top sixty spots had mostly been dominated by the elite class, with a few students from regular classes slipping in.
But this time was different. Half of the top thirty were from Class 13.
The regular classes hadn’t stood a chance.
The school’s top ninety spots were almost entirely claimed by Class 13 and the elite class.
The elite class was expected, but Class 13?!
Liu Longsheng stared at the paper as if trying to burn holes through it with his gaze. He knew those troublemakers from Class 13 all too well—skipping classes, barely even counted as First High students, most of them just auditing.
“Teacher Wang, congratulations,” Liu Longsheng said with a strained smile. “Your class performed exceptionally this time…”
Teacher Wang, still dazed, reflexively waved a hand. “Ah, it’s nothing. I just taught them casually, and they ended up like this.”
“……”
The other teachers were tempted to dump a trash can over his head.
Every single student in Class 13 had scored well enough to get into decent universities.
Meanwhile, the principal was busy ordering celebratory banners and rushing to update the school records. He remembered that most of Class 13 had disciplinary strikes against them, but now that they’d brought such honor to the school, those strikes might as well be erased.
As soon as Class 13 heard about their results, they marched straight to the school to find Liu Longsheng.
They hadn’t forgotten his bet with Ye Shaohua—the one where he’d promised to apologize if they did well.
Twenty students lined up in a row, standing tall with pride.
For the first time, they felt the satisfaction of turning the tables on someone who had once looked down on them.
Liu Longsheng’s expression was indescribably complicated, especially when his gaze landed on the smugly smiling Teacher Wang.
He couldn’t help but recall the words he’d thrown at these students two months ago—words dripping with disdain:
“A teacher’s competence reflects on their students. Teacher Wang, maybe you should just go home and farm. All you do is ruin futures.”
Since Class 13’s shocking results had made headlines, First High’s campus forum had even published an article titled “The Delinquents’ Comeback: A Rebirth Story.”
Liu Longsheng had replayed his own words in his mind countless times since then.
Every syllable felt like a slap across his face.
He didn’t dare linger. After a hurried apology, he fled the scene.
“Boss, how are you this good? I just followed the study guides you made and scored 600! My whole family’s mind is blown,” Yu Hang said, running a hand through his hair.
Teacher Wang looked at his students, feeling like he’d won the lottery without even buying a ticket.
“But you’re the real legend, Boss! Full marks in math—150!” Another student chimed in. “I heard only two people aced it: you and Qi Linlin. He got 148, and he’s that guy who won the IMO gold last July.”
IMO—the International Mathematical Olympiad.
“Shaohua, have you thought about which university you want to attend?” Teacher Wang asked, turning to the composed girl standing slightly apart. “A few schools couldn’t reach you, so they called me instead.”
“If you’re unsure, you might consider B University. One of their professors—an academician—contacted me. He hopes you’ll join his research team.”
Being scouted by a renowned scholar before even choosing a university was rare, though not unheard of.
But Teacher Wang knew this student was different. After observing her for two months, he’d noticed one thing above all else—
A sense of detachment.
That was why he’d made the suggestion.
The B University professor was a well-known academic who had published multiple papers in New Era Weekly, a prestigious international journal.
Only the world’s sharpest minds could get published there.
Countless students dreamed of studying under that professor, yet he had personally reached out for Ye Shaohua.
With a perfect 150 in math—outscoring even an IMO gold medalist—it was no surprise. If she had participated in the competition…
The thought made Teacher Wang regret not paying more attention to her earlier. But at least she hadn’t gone down the wrong path.
“B University?” Ye Shaohua tilted her head slightly. It wasn’t too far from Qing City and had been a top-two school for the past three years. “I’ll think about it.”
Teacher Wang couldn’t dictate her life, but he added with a mix of amusement and admiration, “Just make sure you fill out your college applications properly. Otherwise, you might have to go home and inherit the family fortune.”
Ye Yun and Yang Qin’s Apartment
“Uncle Meng, Auntie Meng, please stay for dinner,” Ye Yun said warmly.
Her carefully built influence within Ye Corporation had been disrupted by Ye Shaohua’s sudden rise. Now, her only option was to win over other board members—like the Meng family.
The Meng couple had come to visit Yang Qin and her younger brother, so Ye Yun seized the chance to invite them to dinner.
To her surprise, Meng Dong declined. “No need. We still have to visit the Ye residence.”
Old Lady Ye was puzzled. “The Ye residence? Why? It’s not a special occasion.”
“Wait, you don’t know?” Meng Dong looked equally confused. “Today’s the day the college entrance exam results were released.”
“Oh, that. Ye Guofu called yesterday saying he wanted to check that useless girl’s scores,” Old Lady Ye scoffed, bouncing her golden grandson on her knee. “He still hasn’t given up, thinking that delinquent daughter of his could achieve anything.”
She refrained from using harsher words in front of Meng Dong.
But as Ye Yun watched Meng Dong’s expression, a terrifying possibility dawned on her…
