Chapter 233: 3333333

On April 19th, a Wednesday morning, Xia Yu arrived at school.

During the morning reading period, the math teacher walked into the classroom excitedly, holding test papers.

Standing at the podium, he called the two students in the front row to help distribute the papers.

Traditionally, the math teacher would announce every student’s score based on class rankings, aiming to motivate students and help them understand their academic standing.

However, with the college entrance exam just two months away, the teacher feared excessive pressure on students and decided to abandon this tradition.

Xia Yu received his paper and glanced at the score.

148.

This score was already the limit under the LV4 standardized education system. It was nearly sufficient to compete for the top spot in Zilang City, provided that his Chinese and history scores were not weak.

In previous exams, there were even geniuses who scored full marks of 160 in math, but these prodigies often had imbalanced subject scores, preventing them from achieving the city’s top ranking.

“Buddha bless me, Buddha bless me, pizza bless me…” A murmuring sound reached Xia Yu’s ears. Turning his head, he saw Guizixiao praying to his test paper.

His expression was serious and sincere.

After finishing his prayer, he unfolded the paper.

“115 points, perfect!” Guizixiao was overjoyed. This score was not achieved through his previous ability to copy answers, but rather through his own hard work!

He turned to Xia Yu: “Hey Xia Yu, what did you get? Around 140?”

Though he asked for around 140, Guizixiao didn’t really believe it. A score of 140 wasn’t easy to achieve.

When Xia Yu revealed his score of 148, he quietly cursed under his breath, his previous excitement instantly vanishing.

“Your score is just too high. If you also do well in Chinese and history, you could be the top scorer in the entire school,” Guizixiao tried to console himself, “Luckily, your Chinese score isn’t great.”

“Yeah, yeah, the reading comprehension was too hard,” Xia Yu played along.

Guizixiao became cheerful again. He compared scores with other students and quickly regained his high spirits.

On the podium, the math teacher gave a brief review: “This monthly exam paper was jointly created by five schools. Its difficulty level is similar to last year’s college entrance exam. You can basically treat this score as a prediction of your future college entrance exam result. Being mentally prepared early will help you maintain emotional stability when the actual exam comes.”

He paused for a moment and continued: “This time, the top scorer in our class is Xia Yu with 148 points, who also leads among the liberal arts students. However, there’s an even better score in the science class—an impressive 155 points.”

There was indeed someone stronger. A sense of urgency flashed through Xia Yu’s mind.

From LV4 to LV5, approximately 80 experience cards were needed, equivalent to 640 hours of effort. Even if he studied only ten hours a day, he could accumulate 600 hours in two months. He had already spent more than 40 hours studying, which was more than enough.

He took out the “Five Years’ Practice, Three Years’ Analysis” from his backpack and continued solving problems. He had already completed the latest edition, so he was now working on the older version.

The students who glanced at Xia Yu upon hearing the teacher’s words were amazed by his focused attitude.

The math teacher seized the opportunity and added: “Look at him—he’s already been recommended to Huadong University, he’s handsome, talented, and still works so hard. What about you guys who have nothing going for you? How can you keep slacking off like this?”

The students below muttered curses. They had forgotten about Xia Yu’s recommendation, and now the teacher had brought it up again, dragging their moods back to rock bottom.

“Although two months isn’t long, if you work hard, you might be able to increase your total score by around ten points. Ten points can make a huge difference!”

The math teacher started fabricating an example: “There was a senior two years ago named Lixiashuo. His final monthly exam score was at the bottom of the class, barely qualifying for a third-tier university. However, through two months of hard work, he successfully got into a good second-tier university, almost reaching the first-tier cutoff line!”

The math teacher knew that a perfect story might raise doubts, so he added a touch of regret to make it more believable.

Sure enough, many students were fooled and began to look at him with admiration.

This made the math teacher even more enthusiastic. Drawing on skills he had learned long ago when he was lured into a pyramid scheme, he poured out motivational speeches to the students.

Xia Yu stopped listening to what the teacher was saying and continued solving problems at his usual steady pace.

By the last class in the morning, the Chinese teacher entered the room. Having heard about Xia Yu’s achievements from the math teacher’s earlier comments, he was now aware of the situation.

While explaining the test paper, the Chinese teacher strolled around the classroom and paused beside Xia Yu’s seat.

Seeing Xia Yu still quickly solving math problems, the Chinese teacher coughed slightly: “Xia Yu, while you’re working hard on math, don’t forget to put some effort into Chinese. Remember, you’re still a member of my Literature Club. It’s just not right for a Literature Club member to perform poorly in Chinese.”

“Teacher, don’t talk nonsense. What does the Literature Club have to do with Chinese scores? I know for sure that Wenziying often can’t even reach triple digits in Chinese!” Guizixiao interrupted the Chinese teacher.

The Chinese teacher turned red with anger: “Shut up! Who asked for your opinion!”

Laughter erupted around the room, filling the classroom with a joyful atmosphere.

“Don’t worry, teacher. I’ve been studying Chinese too,” Xia Yu replied to the Chinese teacher.

The Chinese teacher had a great relationship with his students and often used his connections with the principal to manipulate things behind the scenes—for example, no matter how chaotic their class’s blackboard newspaper was, it always won first place in school evaluations.

Previously, when Xia Yu participated in a musical instrument competition, the Chinese teacher had also helped out a lot.

Looking at Xia Yu, who was still focused on solving math problems, the Chinese teacher shook his head, feeling that Xia Yu was just humoring him.

Every teacher knew that whenever Xia Yu had free time, he spent it doing math problems, barely touching other subjects. When had he ever reviewed Chinese?

The Chinese teacher guessed that Xia Yu was probably treating the college entrance exam as a game—since he wasn’t chasing the highest total score but rather the experience itself, he had chosen to specialize in just one subject.

Though he understood, the Chinese teacher couldn’t help feeling a bit resentful:

“We’ve always had a good relationship. I even helped you bring your little sister to Kaiyang. Why did you choose that seductive temptress Math instead of coming to my warm and cozy Chinese room?”

Feeling a bit betrayed, the Chinese teacher lost his enthusiasm. He lazily finished explaining the test paper and returned to the office.

Upon entering the office, he saw his colleagues gathered around his desk.

“What are you all doing here?” A sudden unease hit the Chinese teacher. Had they discovered his hidden stash of Chiluochun tea?

“Old Wen, congratulations, congratulations!” The teachers offered their good wishes.

“Congratulations on what?” The Chinese teacher looked puzzled.

“That student of yours, Xia Yu, did really well,” the teachers said.

The Chinese teacher assumed they were referring to Xia Yu’s math score. As Xia Yu’s homeroom teacher, it was normal for them to congratulate him.

Sitting down, the Chinese teacher said: “That’s to be expected. He spends all day solving math problems, like he’s devoted to math completely. It’d be strange if he didn’t do well.”

Then he complained: “Tell me, what’s so great about that seductive math? He doesn’t even touch my beloved Chinese.”

His colleagues didn’t respond, and the Chinese teacher didn’t think much of it. He noticed a stack of newly graded test papers on his desk and assumed the teachers had finished grading. Picking up the papers, he said while searching for Xia Yu’s Chinese score:

“Let me see how many points he got in Chinese this time!”

The surrounding teachers remained silent. The Chinese teacher looked up and felt like they were trying to suppress their laughter?

“Stop looking. The paper is here,” one teacher finally burst out laughing and slapped the test paper onto the desk.