Everyone was answering the paper quietly—except Ye Chen.
He propped his chin on both hands, the test sheet spread flat on the desk, even his pen tossed aside.
First he glanced at Li Sitong, then at Xia Yingluo, a grin still on his face.
Teacher Wang lost his temper.
He'd seen cocky, but never Ye Chen-level cocky.
This was an exam; Ye Chen wasn't even writing, just gawking around.
Was he planning to hand in a blank sheet?
Wang Chao walked over and rapped the table.
"Answer properly; stop looking around."
Ye Chen looked up, all innocence: "Sir, I finished."
Wang Chao checked his watch—only thirty minutes had passed.
Finished?
With a paper this hard? Half an hour—impossible.
Wang Chao flared up.
"Slacking off daily is bad enough—now you're treating the exam like a joke."
"You're not aiming for first place; you're racing for last!"
He snorted and snatched the paper.
"Done, huh? Think you're some genius who can finish this set in thirty minutes?"
His eyes skimmed the sheet—and froze.
Every question was answered.
Wang Chao examined the answers.
Question 1—perfect.
Question 2—perfect.
What stunned him more: several killer questions that many Top Students had left blank were all correct.
And the solutions were neat, the methods elegant.
He couldn't spot a single mistake.
He stared at Ye Chen in shock.
The boy sat there smiling up at him, cocky as could be.
"Looks like his tail's about to poke the sky."
Wang Chao opened his mouth, hunting for some retort.
Before he could speak, Ye Chen said, "Sir, I've checked the whole paper—should be zero errors."
The words Wang Chao had just found were shoved right back down his throat.
"So sure you're perfect? Check it again—twice."
He slapped the paper onto the desk and stalked off.
Yet the moment he turned, a grin slipped across his lips… They'd spoken softly so as not to disturb anyone.
Thus the rest of the class saw only the teacher talking at Ye Chen and assumed he was being scolded.
Sun Tao and Su Zhe—both at odds with Ye Chen—watched with gleeful eyes.
"With that attitude, Ye Chen's gonna get shredded after the exam."
Li Sitong, having noticed the long whispered exchange, shot Ye Chen a worried look.
She glanced at her own paper.
The final big question was exactly what Ye Chen had explained yesterday.
But she bit her lip and flipped the page over.
"Too hard—I'll skip it."
Xia Yingluo was also staring at the last problem.
She'd seen Ye Chen singled out by Teacher Wang.
That last question—Ye Chen had covered it yesterday.
She laid another sheet on top.
"Didn't see it."
…The first Mock Exam finally ended in tense silence.
Those who'd done well were beaming; those who hadn't looked gloomy.
In the Office, teachers marked papers nervously.
"The questions were all tricky—results look poor," the Physics Teacher sighed.
"The panel deliberately raised the difficulty to give the kids a wake-up call."
Suddenly a shout rang out: "Full marks on such a hard paper!"
"Really—full marks? Lots of strong students floundered this time."
"It's a student from Class Five—Teacher Wang's class!"
"We've got a perfect score in Physics too—also Class Five."
"Chemistry as well—again Class Five."
Many teachers froze; checking the scripts, they realized the handwriting was identical.
All eyes turned to Teacher Wang.
"Old Wang, nice—when did your class get such a monster card?"
"Monster card?" Wang Chao blinked.
"Look for yourself—your class has birthed a Top Student; every subject but Chinese is full marks."
The Chinese Teacher added: "Only two points off in the Essay—I docked them to keep him humble."
The rest: "…"
Wang Chao leaned in, saw the script, and his jaw dropped.
That handwriting… he was dumbstruck.
He grabbed the math paper—yep, confirmed.
All those sheets belonged to Ye Chen.
He'd seen Ye Chen's answers earlier—no mistake.
"These papers are Ye Chen's," he declared.
"Ye Chen?" Several teachers who'd taught him exchanged glances.
Every subject teacher knew Ye Chen's usual level.
A rock-solid bottom-three in the grade—how had he become a Top Student?
"Teacher Wang, you sure you're not mistaken?"
"Mistake? Impossible. Every student's handwriting is burned into my brain."
With that he tore the seal—sure enough, the name read Ye Chen.
The Office fell dead silent.
Teachers who'd taught him were stunned speechless.
"Right—didn't Ye Chen bet that if he ranked first in the Whole School he'd join Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo's study group?" asked the Chinese Teacher.
Wang Chao nodded. "Never thought the kid really did it—knew he had potential."
Watching him beam, the Chinese Teacher rolled her eyes: "Potential? The other day you kept saying he didn't know the height of the heavens."
Old Wang flushed. "I was being modest—of course I know my own student's ability."
The Physics Teacher said, "With papers this tough and still perfect scores across subjects—Huaqing or Peking University is a lock."
Teacher Wang preened, "Yup—but the boy needs knocking into shape; only flaw is he's a bit full of himself."
"Yet Ye Chen's grades were always awful—why the sudden sprint right before the National Higher Education Entrance Examination?"
"Ever heard 'thirty years east, thirty years west—don't bully the young for being poor'?" Wang Chao said. "He was playing pig to eat tiger. This time, to get into Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo's group, he actually studied and took the test seriously—and shocked everyone."
He took a drag of his cigarette, legs crossed: "Kid's impossible to discipline now; all my lectures useless—yet for a crush he accidentally scored first in school. Most troublesome kind of student."
"Sure, my class produced the school champion, but imagine the headaches I'll have—so annoying."
Listening to his cheap humility—Versailles Wang—teachers from other classes felt an urge to throttle him.