"Today must be my lucky day, write it down, write it down!" Zhang Lei muttered to himself. His best friend had written to him, and his crush had spoken to him again. This was much better than those who would be smug for half a day after hearing their crush say "Get lost!"
This was Zhang Lei's inner thought. He still refused to back down in front of Kong Liang; his pride wouldn't allow him to do so. Besides, women rarely like weak men. If he acted spineless, it would probably backfire.
"Zhang Lei got the highest score in physics, 94 points, just two points higher than me. He's lucky!" This time, Kong Liang seemed unwilling to speak directly to Zhang Lei, which made Zhang Lei a little disappointed. However, what she just said was clearly meant for Zhang Lei to hear, otherwise she wouldn't have spoken so loudly.
"Alright, alright, that's all for now. The others are still adding points, so it'll probably be a while before the results come out!" Kong Liang sat back down in her seat, and the group of people who had gathered around dispersed, regardless of whether they had heard the answers they wanted.
"It should be about time now. Let's go ask about the scores in biology and chemistry. Teacher Lin said it would only take about twenty minutes!" Chen Zilai nudged Kong Liang.
Kong Liang clung tightly to the table like a koala. "I'm exhausted from running around, I don't want to go anymore. Can you ask for me?"
These words were spoken very softly, more like whispers between deskmates, but Zhang Lei could still hear them clearly.
Since Zhang Lei used his internal energy to impact his ears last time, his hearing seems to have improved a lot. Even the students sitting behind them might not be able to hear these whispers clearly, but Zhang Lei can hear them perfectly.
"Little lazy pig, be careful you don't really turn into a fat pig!" Chen Zilai quickly reached out and flicked Kong Liang's nose. "Hehe, little pig nose!"
"You're so annoying! You're asking for trouble!" Kong Liang took her hand off the table and fiercely retaliated against Chen Zilai. The two girls laughed and joked around.
"Stop it, stop it! Look, Zhang Lei is peeking at you again!" Kong Liang nudged Chen Zilai.
"Let them look, it won't make you gain any more flesh!" For guys, this is more like losing a piece of flesh, but for girls, gaining a piece of flesh seems much more terrifying.
However, perhaps because they had been classmates for a long time, or perhaps because Zhang Lei's grades had earned them some favor, their attitude towards him when he glanced at them was much better. In fact, good students are not only treasures in the eyes of teachers, but also easily attract envious glances from other students.
"Okay, I'm going! I'll ask for you too!" Chen Zilai stood up.
"Hmm, ask Zhang Lei, the one who was spying on you, too!" For some reason, there seemed to be a hint of sourness in Kong Liang's tone.
"You're going to die! But little Liangliang, it's not like you like him, is it? Hehe, I remember now, you specifically asked about his scores in math, English, and physics! Haha..." Chen Zilai dodged Kong Liang's grabbing hand and ran out of the classroom with a coquettish laugh.
Although Zhang Lei's main focus was no longer on her, he still had to admit that her voice was really beautiful. Even with that seemingly arrogant laugh, it still drew the attention of many boys in the class. Zhang Lei heard several wooden fish tapping on the underside of the desks, so it seemed he wasn't the only one who liked that delicate voice.
"If you're so capable, don't come back! Come back and see how I deal with you!" Kong Liang angrily waved her small, white fist at Chen Zilai's back. Her eyes met Zhang Lei's, and Zhang Lei quickly looked away.
"What are you looking at? Look again and I'll stab you, hehe!" Kong Liang threatened in a voice only she could hear, and shook her little fist at Zhang Lei a couple of times. Of course, she didn't know that Zhang Lei could hear most of what she was saying!
Zhang Lei lowered his head, trying to hide his face, which was beaming with joy. He wanted to control himself, but what could he do when he couldn't? Using self-reflection at this point would be absurd. As for what kind of flower it was, let's just imagine it was a blooming Rafflesia.
The teachers seemed to know that the students would likely have difficulty concentrating today, so each teacher, even when they came to class, would only give a few words of instruction or hand out test papers, which gave the students a lot of free time. Most of the grades were obtained through questioning, but there were bound to be some minor errors; after all, memory can be flawed.
"You're back, you're back! Don't come any closer! I'm afraid of you!" You don't even need to look to know that it's Chen Zilai who's back, with such a sweet voice.
"Kong Liang, you're not first in biology! Teacher Lin just told me to put more effort into biology. After all, you're the biology class representative!" Chen Zilai tried to dodge Kong Liang's chubby little paws. Kong Liang was too lazy to get up from her chair, so she just scratched at her with her little paws.
"What? Who is it? Who is so disrespectful? Huh?! Who is it? Confess yourself!" Kong Liang stood up, looking around with an air of authority, only to be greeted by crumpled pieces of paper thrown at her from all sides.
"Guess what?" Chen Zilai whispered in her ear, "It's your sweetheart!"
"You're going to die! He's clearly your suitor!" Kong Liang suddenly attacked, pulling her into his arms and tickling her relentlessly.
Their playful antics naturally attracted the attention of many boys, and Zhang Lei could easily blend in. No need to peek secretly; watching openly was much more enjoyable. 'Make it more intense, preferably break the bra strap!' I believe most men would be chanting this mantra in their minds.
Unfortunately, life is full of disappointments. The two girls were quite well-behaved in their antics in the classroom, and their clothes were not defective as the boys had hoped. The boys' beautiful and righteous wishes could only be disappointed.
These two subjects were indeed Zhang Lei's strengths, and his scores once again took the lead. Chemistry was his first subject to stand out, and he also outscored Kong Liang by half a point in biology, which was the subject that Kong Liang was most unhappy about.
Zhang Lei scored 96 in chemistry, and the second-place student scored 89. The chemistry questions were quite difficult this time. Kong Liang also scored 86, which is not a low score; even in Class 1, it would be in the top ten. However, Zhang Lei's outstanding performance made the score difference seem quite large.
In just like that, Kong Liang's lead in English was completely wiped out, and she was even overtaken by Zhang Lei by half a point. Kong Liang suddenly became nervous, not wanting to be outshone by that little hooligan, which would be extremely embarrassing.
Zhang Lei isn't the only one with self-respect; for Kong Liang, being surpassed by Zhang Lei is probably more unbearable than being surpassed by anyone else.
Surprisingly, that little hooligan was actually quite good at studying. After calculating her current scores, Kong Liang glared resentfully at Zhang Lei's retreating figure.
Zhang Lei was also calculating his scores at this time. In fact, he felt that these exams were too easy. Even if the difficulty were higher, Zhang Lei could still guarantee that his scores would be at this level. On the contrary, even if the exams were easy, the improvement in scores would be limited.
The difficulty level wasn't high enough, so Zhang Lei's hopes of using these subjects to improve his score were dashed. Kong Liang was worried because she didn't understand Zhang Lei, but Zhang Lei knew that of the remaining subjects—Chinese, history, and geography—he was probably only doing well in geography; he was prepared to lower his score in Chinese and history.
...
Starting today, I'll be updating three times a week. This is the second update! Please bookmark this page. For those who feel the progress is slow, I've decided to correct my course. Once the backlog of chapters is published, the plot will develop at a rapid pace.
Episode 2: Metropolis, Chapter 28: The Roaring School
The exams started on Monday and lasted for four days. Then, Friday was a half-day off followed by half-day classes, leaving two days off every other week.
When I returned to school, it was already Monday of the second week. Even the teachers who were slow to grade the papers had already released their scores, and these scores were accompanied by the exam papers, making them virtually impossible to change.
Just as Zhang Lei predicted, he was only good at geography out of the remaining three subjects (there was no politics in the first year of high school), but this one subject was not enough to make up for the gap in the other two subjects.
As expected, her score was three points lower than Kong Liang's. She wasn't the highest in those two subjects either, but she excelled in her average score. Basically, none of her subjects were outside the top group. Although Zhang Lei ranked first more often, the score difference wasn't significant. On the other hand, Kong Liang's scores in English and Chinese were enough for Zhang Lei to make up for it with all his other subjects.
Zhang Lei turned around and saw Kong Liang had finished calculating the scores and was looking up at him. Perhaps she was too happy, because Kong Liang gave Zhang Lei a victorious smile, which made him a little stunned. Maybe letting her win first place was a good idea? At least he could see her smile?
Kong Liang looked at Zhang Lei, whose eyes were somewhat dazed, and did not expect that he was staring at her in a daze. She thought he was a little discouraged after calculating the scores and found that he had not been able to beat her in the end, so she decided to give him another blow.
Kong Liang stretched out her two fair fingers, making a V-shape, and waved it in front of Zhang Lei several times, her chubby little hands revealing two shallow dimples on the back. Her adorable appearance almost made Zhang Lei pounce on her.
Unfortunately, that was just a thought. If I actually did it, I'd probably be treated like a thug and taken to the police station.
With a smug look on her face, Kong Liang deliberately turned her head and tilted it upwards. Her cute little ponytail swayed along with it, looking just like a little rabbit's tail, swinging back and forth as the rabbit ran, occasionally revealing its bottom.
As Zhang Lei conjured up this image in his mind, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"What are you laughing at, Zhang Lei!" Liu Can leaned closer. "Your score is higher than Kong Liang's?"
"No, I'm three points behind her, so I'm probably second!" Zhang Lei said casually.