Outside the classroom, it was already getting dark. Xu Sheng played games on his phone for a while and watched as Shao Zhan finished writing his own paper. Then he pretended to scribble some random answers with his left hand, intending to help him with the test.
“Hey,” Shao Zhan glanced at him, the black pen twirling between his slender fingers. “You with the competition talent, care to answer a few questions?”
When Shao Zhan said “Hey,” his voice was low and cold.
Xu Sheng had already laid down with his phone pressed against his face, and he had just put on his earphones to listen to music.
The students in front didn’t dare to turn around, so they didn’t notice the scene behind them, which was quite mind-blowing: the school bully was holding two sets of test papers and actually doing the questions, while the study god had a lazy look, as if he was saying, “I’m drawing a clear line with you competition students,” and was even planning to close his eyes and take a nap.
Xu Sheng was shameless. He thought about it for two seconds before saying, “Then I’ll just answer two questions to showcase my talent.”
The pen in Shao Zhan’s hand stopped twirling, and he made a slight gesture with his hand, saying, “Got it.”
Before Xu Sheng fell asleep, he thought to himself:
Damn, this feels pretty good.
As a mediocre student, who hasn’t fantasised about someone helping with homework, automatically finishing the questions without any effort?
Especially when the one helping was the school’s top student.
This was like using cheat codes in real life.
Shao Zhan had a fast writing speed, and he filled in the framework of the answers. Considering Xu Sheng’s actual level, he didn’t make everything perfect, leaving a few mistakes in the middle.
The competition students didn’t dare to look back, but there was plenty of discussion.
Within the competition group chat.
Anonymous A: Someone in our class encountered the study god and the school bully at the office.
Anonymous B: What happened? I’m curious as to why the school bully came to our meeting room.
Anonymous C: They said the school bully signed up for the Interschool Competition.
The anonymous group fell silent.
For about three full minutes after, exclamations and question marks flooded the chat.
After handing in the competition practice papers, Gu Yanwang, who had heard that Xu Sheng had joined the team based on Shao Zhan’s recommendations, carefully examined the test paper: “…”
The students had already returned to their dormitories.
In the meeting room, himself, Meng Guowei, and Zhou Yuan, were the only ones who couldn’t resist coming along to see the test papers that were left.
Zhou Yuan took a look and exclaimed, “This is amazing! Although there aren’t many correct answers, he actually found the auxiliary line for this geometry question!”
“Not only that,” Gu Yanwang said, “the answer to this question is wrong, but look at his workings.”
After saying that, they all fell silent.
If there were still some concerns about agreeing to let Xu Sheng participate in the competition, the answer sheet in front of them showed them everything they needed to know.
Meng Guowei said, “It seems that Xu Sheng has some talent. He usually doesn’t study, but when he does, he performs well.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Zhang Feng: “Why aren’t you using your mic? Is your phone still not fixed?”
S: No.
While playing games, Zhang Feng also had to gossip, “Can I ask you something… Are you going to participate in the Inter School Competition? Are you serious?”
Xu Sheng replied with a series of ellipses.
Zhang Feng: “They say you joined the competition because of the Study God. Is that true?”
The news spread so quickly, Xu Sheng really didn’t expect it.
Even more unexpectedly, a new post appeared on the Lin Jiang Sixth forum: “As long as you take a step closer to me, I’ll walk the rest of the way towards you.”
The specific content was as follows:
What’s going on? First, we had the School Tyrant changing his priorities for love, and now the School Tyrant is joining the competition out of love?
Was it that challenging for handsome guys to get into relationships these days?
What kind of relationship and love was this?
A game was about to end.
Joining for Shao Zhan’s sake? On second thought, it made sense.
Just a few seconds before the end of the round, Xu Sheng replied to Zhang Feng: “You can think of it that way.”
Zhang Feng didn’t have time to react. The game ended, and he was returned to the lobby without having the chance to turn on his mic to respond.
Xu Sheng quit the game and his mind went to Shao Zhan once again.
Although Shao Zhan could help him with competition papers and regular assignments, he couldn’t just throw everything at him to write. Besides, Shao Zhan needed to properly prepare for the competition, and he probably stayed up until god knows what time completing those assignments… Xu Sheng ignored the plethora of messages sent by Zhang Feng and unconsciously clicked on Shao Zhan’s avatar.
-Open the door.
After squatting outside Shao Zhan’s door and sending these three words, Xu Sheng briefly wondered if he had gone crazy.
Could it be that he, Xu Sheng, was actually having a moment where he was looking to do his own homework?
Shao Zhan’s dormitory looked the same since the last time he had visited. Shao Zhan opened the door and saw Xu Sheng squatting by his doorstep like some kind of large pet. “What?”
Besides his phone, Xu Sheng was holding a pen in his hand. He stood up and said, “I’m bored, so I came to visit you.”
Xu Sheng couldn’t bring himself to say that he came to do assignments. Even a low-achiever like him had some pride and dignity.
But Shao Zhan glanced at him and saved him some face, “Since you’re here, finish your pile of assignments before leaving.”
Xu Sheng let Shao Zhan have the chair and sat himself by the bed, conveniently facing the side of the writing desk. However, he wasn’t being entirely honest. He grabbed a book directly from Shao Zhan’s table, placed it on his lap, and started writing on it.
Xu Sheng chewed on his pen cap and mumbled, “Where’s the math workbook? Question 48, did Mr. Zhou go over it in class?”
It was the first time Xu Sheng had been so aware of his classes.
Although he didn’t pay attention in them, he still remembered to look through the example questions in the books.
Shao Zhan, “He did.”
Xu Sheng, “Then I probably wasn’t paying attention.”
“When have you ever paid attention?” Shao Zhan saw that he couldn’t find the question, so he reached out his hand and flipped the pages of his book a few times. “If you have questions, ask me.”
Xu Sheng always stayed in Shao Zhan’s room until it was time for lights out. The assignments weren’t that hard to do, and the points were clear. If he didn’t understand after looking at the example questions, Shao Zhan would explain them concisely. In the end, Xu Sheng actually managed to complete all the assignments that Zhou Yuan assigned to them.
After he finished the last question, he glanced up at Shao Zhan.
Shao Zhan was halfway through the competition mock papers, and was doing calculations on a rough piece of paper.
Whether he came here to do assignments or to visit this person, Xu Sheng wasn’t even sure himself.
Maybe it was both.
Xu Sheng lowered his head, and under the light of the desk lamp, he looked at the assignment he had completed today. Suddenly, he realised something. He wasn’t… as perplexed by this class anymore.
In the following week, Xu Sheng spent almost every day in Shao Zhan’s dorm room doing assignment questions. Sometimes, Shao Zhan would even show him the common problem solving methods used in the competition questions.
This was the second time Xu Sheng was under Shao Zhan’s tutoring, and he was even more receptive than last time.
Actually, the tutoring hell he had gone through just before the monthly exams had been more effective than either of them expected. Shao Zhan could predict the questions, but Xu Sheng’s knowledge from his first year was really bad, so they spent a lot of time on first year topics. All of the subjects, other than English, saw great improvements.
That “special training” gave Xu Sheng a little bit more confidence to face the Inter School Competition that was starting on Saturday.
The reason for the competition being held on a Saturday was very simple.
The audience would not only consist of students from Lin Jiang Sixth, but also students from the other three schools who would also be arriving in buses. The committee had done a draw, and it was decided that the event would be held in Lin Jiang Sixth’s gymnasium.
The last time Shao Zhan had become champion was at Lin Jiang. This time, the results of the draw had the school’s committee overjoyed, and they all thought that this was a good sign.
Lin Jiang Sixth’s facilities were famous. The gymnasium had been renovated a few years ago, and could accommodate up to a thousand or so people. It was separated into two levels.
In order to prepare the place for the competition, the gymnasium had been locked a week prior, and students were forbidden from entering.
As such, the gymnasium had been fully furnished. Not only did they set up a stage, they had even prepared seats for the audience. There was a bright banner hanging over the entrance to the gymnasium: Fifteenth Annual Inter School Competition.
“They’re selling binoculars.”
Some students had taken advantage of the venue not having opened to set up some business opportunities.
“Let’s take a look around.”
“The distance between you and the study god is but a mere pair of binoculars away. Don’t you want to clearly see how the study god writes his answers? Don’t you want to experience the excitement of the competition from up close? 50 for a pair, no refunds.”
As one of the contestants, Xu Sheng had to report to the meeting room at 9A.M.
At the same time, the contestants from the other schools were arriving one by one.
The first bus that drove through Lin Jing Sixth’s gates belonged to Ying Hua Experimental Middle School.
Ying Hua’s uniform stood out. It was red and black. The black school pants had a red stripe going up the side. The bus doors slowly opened, and the teacher in charge alighted first, standing by the doors to watch everything over.
Gu Yanwang simply explained the rules. “There are some changes to the competition this year. It is split into team and individual components. The team competition is a round of ten rapid fire questions. The individual competition is a written exam. One paper has five questions. Don’t be nervous, just remember to read the questions properly. The other three schools have done their due diligence this time, so we have to be extra focused.”
Meanwhile.
A second and third large bus followed right behind Ying Hua.
The morning sunlight shone on these buses until they were glowing. Several Lin Jiang Sixth students were gathered around the school gates to see what was going on.
“Was that Ying Hua? That bus is Song Ye’s, right…”
“The hell, they look so aggressive.”
“They haven’t even got off the bus yet and I can feel their murderous aura. Especially Ying Hua’s.”
“A once a year battlefield. Last year was fierce enough, who could have imagined that this year would be even worse.”
There were several large buses parked outside the gates of Lin Jiang.
Song Ye Middle School and Xing Jian Middle school had also arrived.
Gu Yanwang finished his speech and glanced at the time. It was about time for the competition preparations to start. “Let’s head to the gymnasium then.”
Xu Sheng had barely memorised the format of the team competition in the first half and the individual component in the second half. Before he even made it into the gymnasium, he could feel the nervous tension in the air. There were banners everywhere showing their support, and hanging from the two trees nearest to the gymnasium was a banner that said: Reigning Champion Shao Zhan.
“Sit next to me during the team match,” Shao Zhan said. “There are a total of ten questions. When I tap your table, press the buzzer immediately.”
The team competition wasn’t a big deal.
With Shao Zhan’s heads up, all Xu Sheng had to do was answer on his behalf.
Xu Sheng made a noise of acknowledgement. Other than going on stage to read his self-reflections, he had never been on such a huge stage before. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous, especially when he was carrying the honor of Lin Jiang Sixth’s reputation on his shoulders.
Xu Sheng raised a hand to loosen the collar of his shirt a little.
His mind was a mess of thoughts: Maybe it would be better if he just quit school.
Why was he even in this competition?
Was he suited for this place? Was this where he should be?
There were too many people gathered around the main entrance. The contestants were lined up and entering in from the back door.
Before they entered, Shao Zhan’s hand rested on Xu Sheng’s head for a second. After that very short moment of contact, that voice that was as cold as ever said, “Don’t be nervous.”
The gymnasium was filled with the clamor of voices.
Lin Jiang Sixth’s contestants entered to the enthusiastic cheers that thundered throughout the gymnasium.
The Interschool Competition League had begun.
Omg I’ve caught up?
Eeeeep!!!!! I’m excited, nervous and tensed!!!! Jiayou!!!
Ohh! I’m nervous (─.─||）