Chapter Nineteen: An Uproar

Half an hour earlier, Chen Qiusheng led Wu Tong into the office. There weren’t many teachers on duty at this hour; those responsible for early morning supervision had gone to the classrooms to monitor the students. The teachers who didn’t need to oversee morning reading weren’t due to start their shifts yet, and the science office for the second-year students was quiet.

Chen Qiusheng told Wu Tong to wait a moment and handed her a mathematics test, inviting her to sit at his desk and solve the problems. With the intention of teaching Wu Tong a lesson, he’d brought this year’s freshly released college entrance exam paper.

Back then, information on the internet wasn’t as fast and widespread as it would be in later years; the exam paper wasn’t yet flying everywhere as soon as the test ended, and resources weren’t so easy to obtain. The copy in his hands was specially procured by the third-year teachers to broaden the horizons of this year’s graduating class, with extra copies made as backups.

Compared to previous years, this year’s exam was a bit easier; the questions were basic, but to score well, a student had to thoroughly master three years’ worth of knowledge. He wasn’t trying to make things difficult for Wu Tong—he simply wanted her to understand that the college entrance exam was no easy feat and left no room for complacency.

Wu Tong took the test, raising an eyebrow. The college entrance exam? She’d already practiced plenty of past papers and was no stranger to them; this year’s would hardly faze her. After a quick glance over the questions, she picked up her pen and began to write.

For Wu Tong, the foundational questions were already within her grasp; answers unfolded readily in her mind and flowed onto the page. In the silent office, the only sound was Wu Tong’s pen, swift and continuous, without a single stumble.

Chen Qiusheng’s curiosity was piqued—she really could do it!

Teachers can tell whether a student knows their stuff just by watching. He glanced over; only a few minutes had passed, and she was nearly done with the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank sections. On the scrap paper he’d provided, her steps were clearly outlined, proving she wasn’t filling in answers at random.

The speed! Now Chen Qiusheng finally understood the astonishment of the two invigilators earlier. If he hadn’t seen it himself, he wouldn’t have believed that a student could breeze through the college entrance exam as easily as solving 1+1.

Perhaps, this was genius—true genius.

He was stunned for a moment. When he came back to himself, Wu Tong had already handed him the completed test. A quick glance at the clock showed that only a little over twenty minutes had passed since he’d given her the paper.

Chen Qiusheng’s feelings were complicated; from last night to today, he’d been surprised by this student so many times! He pulled out the answer sheet he’d brought and double-checked—every multiple-choice question correct, every fill-in-the-blank correct... and all the long-answer questions were correct as well. In his hands was a perfect score on the college entrance exam! Such speed and accuracy—no one in this year’s graduating class could match it.

He had truly witnessed something remarkable.

To achieve a perfect score on the college entrance exam through self-study—honestly, as a teacher, his feelings were even more complicated. Was it the teacher who was useless, or the student who was simply extraordinary? He suspected any teacher faced with this would have doubts in their heart.

With results like these, if she performed similarly in other subjects, keeping Wu Tong in the second year would indeed be a waste of her time.

After some thought, he pulled another test from his desk. “Full score is 150. You’ve mastered the material very well on your own. This is this year’s science comprehensive exam. I originally planned to go over these questions in class as examples, but you can take your time to study them and get familiar with the types. I’ll discuss your situation and intentions with the school leadership.”

“All right, Mr. Chen!” Wu Tong spread out the new paper and, borrowing the pen and paper from the math test, continued to write smoothly. These questions didn’t pose any difficulty for her. From the moment she entered the office, Wu Tong had been giving it her all to achieve her goal.

The science comprehensive paper had a large number of questions—she needed to hurry and try to finish within forty minutes, before class started, to give her homeroom teacher more evidence to present to the school.

Chen Qiusheng left the office, pulled out his phone, and dialed Duan Hong’s number.

“Director Duan, it’s me, Old Chen from Class Seven. Our student Wu Tong wants to skip a grade and take the college entrance exam early. I just had her do this year’s math paper—twenty-four minutes, full marks. She’s already self-studied the entire high school curriculum and mastered it well!” The grade coordinator was now formally called the grade director; speaking officially, Chen Qiusheng used the proper title.

“Really?” In the recent assessment, Duan Hong had already suspected the student had studied ahead, but to have completed all high school coursework was still astonishing.

“It’s true—I saw it with my own eyes. Are you in your office now? Should I bring the test to you?” The honors class was in the front building, and their teachers’ offices were there as well.

“She’s in my office now, working on this year’s science comprehensive paper. I originally just wanted her to familiarize herself with the question types, but it looks like she’s actually solving them. If she works at the same pace as the math paper, it shouldn’t take long to see how well she’s mastered science.”

If she could score high on science as well, then the student truly had the ability to skip a grade. Such students were rare, but as teachers, it was their responsibility to help them.

While the two teachers were discussing matters, the second-year cohort was in an uproar. Class Seven was especially abuzz after Chen Qiusheng and Wu Tong left the classroom.

Those in the front rows, with the best view, broke their silence and shared their shock: “My goodness... we’re doomed! Five subjects with perfect scores, and Chinese over a hundred and thirty—how are we supposed to live up to that?”

“When did our class have such a legend? It’s only the beginning of the semester and we’re already blown away!”

“When did Wu Tong become so incredible? Wasn’t she ranked around thirty or forty before?”

“Seven hundred thirty-three—did a human even score that? Are we sure the test paper didn’t grow a mind of its own?”

“Is this what ‘not bad’ means? Seven hundred thirty-three is ‘not bad’?” Zhang Shumei heard the news from the front rows and turned to the empty seat beside her, exclaiming in disbelief.

Across all the classes, homeroom teachers, inspired by Wu Tong’s results, had entered the classrooms early and launched into full-throttle lectures.

In the honors class, Duan Hong’s face was dark. “Did you all have a wonderful summer? Look at your scores—what are they? The top student isn’t even in our class. Do you know how much the top student scored? Five subjects, all perfect marks, Chinese 133, total 733! And you? None of you even broke seven hundred—is that the kind of gap we’re going to accept?”

“I won’t even mention other subjects for now—just math. Such basic questions, and not a single one of you scored full marks? What have you been doing? Sleepwalking through the exam? With this performance, how will you fare in the college entrance exam? It’s understandable that other classes didn’t get full marks—but what about you? Is there any topic we haven’t covered or pointed out?”

“Everyone had the same summer vacation. That student studied hard and scored five perfect subjects, 733. What about you? Where have you all regressed to?”