Chapter 66 Winds and Clouds Stir from All Directions

After finishing their meal, the four of them returned to the dormitory to rest. On the way back, Old Liu pulled Xu Wenhua into the shade of a tree in the courtyard.

Pulling a cigarette from his pocket, Old Liu handed it to Xu Wenhua. After lighting their cigarettes, the two puffed away in silence for a moment before Old Liu finally spoke.

"Wenhua! You heard what Teacher Wang said. Do you think there's any possibility that student is Yang Xingwu from our class?"

Hearing this, Xu Wenhua's hand holding the cigarette paused for a moment.

"Sigh, I wish even more than you do that he was Yang Xingwu from our class! But just listen to those scores—they sound nothing like him!"

Xu Wenhua had simply regarded this person who achieved a perfect score in math, physics, and chemistry as a student with the exact same name. While he envied such a student, he was also somewhat worried that the students in his own class wouldn't perform well. The mathematics paper this year was so difficult that he had no idea how many could even reach the admission threshold!

Hearing this, Old Liu was momentarily speechless. He took a deep drag from his cigarette, slowly exhaled a ring of smoke, and then said:

"Wenhua! Look at Yang Xingwu's academic background in our class, combined with what Teacher Wang said just now. Haven't you figured anything out?"

"Figured out what? If it's not downtown Luoshi, it could be someone from the counties! Places like Song County! After all, the Luoshi Prefecture is huge, and our Sanchuan City also falls under its jurisdiction!"

"Hasn't Yang Xingwu in our class been an outstanding student since he was little? He wins the title of Three-Good Student every single year, right?"

"Right! What's your point?"

Hearing this, Old Liu stopped beating around the bush. Trying to play guessing games like this with a science teacher was purely asking for trouble!

It was enough to drive a man half to mad!

"Of course there's a point! Didn't you hear Teacher Wang say that Group Leader Zheng of the grading committee asked around everywhere and couldn't find the person?

And that some teachers are guessing this student was hiding his light under a bushel, only revealing his true strength at the crucial moment?"

"That's right!"

"Then think back to two years ago, when Yang Xingwu took the secondary specialized school entrance exams. Suppose—and I'm just supposing here—suppose Yang Xingwu passed, but his spot was stolen by someone else?

And what if he happened to find out about it? Then, over the past two years in high school, he studied with such fierce determination, coupled with that sudden faint a little over two months ago... could this be a young man enduring hardship and self-discipline to exact ultimate revenge?

And then, during this year's college entrance exams, he releases a massive shockwave! Scoring marks like these—marks no one would dare to steal!

When you think about it this way, doesn't it make complete sense?

Besides, the Book of Changes says under the Initial Nine: 'Hidden dragon, do not act.'

That matches the exam from two years ago precisely!

And the gaokao right now? That is the Ninety-five: 'Flying dragon in the sky!'"

Hearing Old Liu's elaborate analysis, Xu Wenhua's jaw dropped wide open!

If things really were as Old Liu analyzed them, didn't it seem logically sound?

Yet somehow, he still felt like problems lurked in every corner!

"My goodness, hearing you put it that way, it really does seem to check out!"

"Now you get it, right!"

Old Liu immediately looked quite pleased with himself.

"I get it, all right, but why does it still feel a bit unsettling in my gut?"

Xu Wenhua considered himself a conscientious teacher who gave his all to his profession. The mere thought that a student had kept secrets from him left a sour taste in his mouth.

"What's wrong? Are you still upset that Yang Xingwu didn't tell you? Is that the kind of thing you just go around telling people?"

"Well, that's true too!"

Hearing Old Liu's words, Xu Wenhua immediately felt a lot better.

Once his mood improved, a surge of spiritual excitement followed closely behind.

"Goodness gracious, this is the national top science scorer! Just think, in over a decade of teaching, I've guided seven or eight batches of students. Forget a provincial top scorer; we've never even had a municipal one! To be suddenly struck by such a massive pie falling from the sky—how could my heart not race?"

At this thought, Xu Wenhua grew immensely excited.

Looking back at Old Liu, the two of them were cut from the same cloth. They leaned against the tree and laughed heartily for a long while before finally calming down.

As a physics teacher, Xu Wenhua tended to think more rationally.

After the initial wave of emotion, logic quickly reclaimed his brain!

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves and celebrate too early. Since the scores are already out, let's just wait and see! Haste makes waste. If we celebrate prematurely and it turns out to be nothing, we'll be the laughingstock of the town!"

"That's true as well."

Hearing this, Old Liu nodded in strong agreement.

...

In Beijing, Han Yueming stood in the conference room, roaring.

"Are these the students you've been training? An average score of 17 points!

Out of a total of 120, the average doesn't even reach a fraction of the whole. What use am I paying you for?"

"Team leader, this really isn't our fault! If you want to blame someone, blame the test-writing committee. Making questions this difficult—this isn't even about selecting students!"

"That's right, Team Leader."

"Indeed, it's all the fault of the test-writers. They're utterly devoid of conscience. We need to find the media and tear them apart!"

"Silence! Everyone took the exact same test. Why did students in other provinces score 120 plus 10, or even 118?

And us? Huh? The highest score is merely 108, and out of more than twenty thousand papers, not a single one broke 110?

It is damn well humiliating to speak of! You still have the nerve to blame others. I don't even have the face..."

Han Yueming raged in the office for a long time before finally dismissing the teachers.

Watching them leave, he reached up and messed up his hair, making himself look thoroughly disheveled, before knocking on the director's office door.

After staying inside for quite a while, Han Yueming finally walked out looking thoroughly satisfied!

...

In the vast lands of Jingchu, at the grading center.

"Are the score lines all out?"

"They're out. Arts is 430, Science is 426. The key university threshold is 490 for Arts and 498 for Science. Our province has the highest admission cutoff in the entire country!"

"Not bad, not bad! How many years has it been? Jingchu is finally claiming the top crown once again!

By the way, what was our province's top scorer's score? Is there any chance of contending for the national number one?"

"Director, we couldn't quite reach the top for Arts, but in Science, a student from the provincial capital scored 637 points, ranking second in the nation!"

"Oh? The runner-up, not bad at all! How many points behind?"

Chen Dongsheng waited for a moment, but when no answer came, he looked up at the staff member. Seeing him hesitate with words hanging on his lips, Chen immediately reassured him:

"What? Is the gap a bit too wide? Don't be afraid, speak boldly! If there's a gap, we'll catch right up! Acting like this only makes people think we're cowards!"

"Yes, Director. The gap to first place is 30 points!"

"Hiss... the maximum score for Science is only 690, and first place got 667? Only a total of 23 points deducted? That's a lot of near-perfect sections!"

"Correct, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology were all perfect scores. On top of that, the advanced bonus sections for Math, Physics, and Chemistry were entirely correct, and Foreign Language was nearly a perfect score as well!"

"the competition is this fierce! Then losing this time is nothing to be ashamed of!"

...

In Jiangsu Province, at the grading center.

"How is it? Are the score lines out?"

"They're out. Arts is 422, Science is 421. The key thresholds are 492 for Arts and 491 for Science. Our Arts admission cutoff ranks third in the nation, and our Science cutoff is second only to Jingchu!"

"The cutoffs are all out? How did the four provinces of the Central Plains and North fare?"

"They're all out. Among the four provinces, Shanxi has the fewest people and the lowest scorelines. The other three provinces have large populations; grading wrapped up yesterday, and all the data has been pooled.

I've looked it over, and only Shandong and Zhongyuan are decent, though their rankings are mediocre. Shandong's Arts scores are second only to ours. Other than that, there's no threat!"

"Don't grow arrogant and complacent. We're merely middle-of-the-pack overall! Isn't there anyone truly eye-catching?"

"Our mathematics scores rank first in the nation. How about that?"

"Huh? An average of 32 points, and that's first in the nation? What's the highest math score?"

"Right, rumor has it Beijing's average is only 17. The highest math score in our province is 118, belonging to a student named Liu Dapeng!"

"Liu Dapeng? What a magnificent name! *With the wind, the roc soars up high, rising ninety thousand li!*"