Old Wang was over the moon.
Ye Chen's progress had stunned him.
If he could nurture a Top Scholar, this year's Outstanding Class-Teacher award was in the bag.
Yet the moment Old Wang stepped into the Classroom doorway, his smile vanished.
Seeing his gloomy face, the whole Class fell silent.
Smack!
Old Wang slammed his lesson plans on the desk.
"Still joking around? Look at your scores—we're a full ten points behind Class 2!"
Everyone's heart leapt into their throat.
Old Wang's gaze fixed on Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo.
"Some of you are slipping badly—your papers weren't even finished."
At that, many eyes turned toward Ye Chen.
They assumed the unfinished paper had to be his.
Looks like Ye Chen bombed this time.
Sun Tao and Su Zhe wore the nastiest grins of schadenfreude.
"Hah, show-off! You blew it—Old Wang's going to crucify you."
Old Wang's glare returned to Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo.
"Li Sitong, Xia Yingluo, you've always been top-three. This exam you've dropped out of the top ten. The National Higher Education Entrance Examination is almost here—are your minds even on studying? The last two big questions—others can be excused for skipping them, but you two? Couldn't solve them?"
Learning it was those two who'd left questions blank, the whole Class froze.
The final problem was hard, but Teacher Wang had covered it in class.
For three years of High School, Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo had never left the top three; now they'd slid past tenth together.
It was downright abnormal.
Both girls kept their heads down, lost in thought.
Old Wang's eyes shifted to Ye Chen, his expression softening.
"This time I must praise one student: Ye Chen. He's not only first in our Class but first in the Whole School."
…The room fell deathly still.
What? Ye Chen came first?
The news left everyone dumbstruck.
If he'd ranked last, no one would've blinked.
But first in Class and first in school—Ye Chen?
The whole Class was utterly stupefied.
Teacher Wang pinned the score sheet to the wall.
"All right, check your scores and think about how you'll study from now on."
At that, students surged forward.
Almost every eye went straight to the top line: Ye Chen.
Mathematics: perfect score!
Physics: perfect score!
English: perfect score!
Chemistry: perfect score!
…Only Chinese cost him two points, yet he still led the entire grade.
Worse—because the paper was brutal and everyone underperformed—Ye Chen had beaten second place by over a hundred points.
It was simply unbelievable!
Everyone felt like they were dreaming.
The "dead-last" they used to mock now towered above them.
Just then Ye Chen walked up.
The crowd parted automatically, gazes lifted in awe.
At the score sheet, Ye Chen ignored his own line.
Xia Yingluo: eleventh. Li Sitong: twelfth.
Ye Chen froze for a second.
That wasn't their real level at all. …Period two was Physics.
At the podium, Physics teacher Zhang Ting explained a homework problem.
Ye Chen, however, watched Xia Yingluo brooding in the corner.
Somehow he sensed she was hiding something.
Spotting Ye Chen zoning out, Zhang Ting frowned.
"Ye Chen, tell us how to solve the question I just went over."
Every eye swung toward him.
Still pondering what was up with Xia Yingluo, Ye Chen was miles away.
Seeing him day-dream while the teacher called on him, the Class burst into laughter.
"He zones out in Zhang's class—this guy's toast."
"Haha, Old Zhang hates slackers; Ye Chen's dead."
Beside him, Li Sitong nudged him: "The teacher's asking you."
She'd noticed Ye Chen staring at Xia Yingluo the whole time.
A weird feeling tugged at her heart.
Does Ye Chen like Xia Yingluo, not me?
But yesterday he even wrote me a song!
Ye Chen stood. "Ma'am, were you calling me?"
The Class cracked up again.
Su Zhe and Sun Tao laughed loudest, needling him in sing-song voices.
"Hail the Top Student—daring to zone out in Zhang's class. Miss Zhang, haven't scolded him for so long he's itching for it, huh?"
"Ye Chen, you think being a Top Student means you can skip listening?"
"You two—shut it," Zhang Ting snapped, glaring at Sun Tao and Su Zhe.
The pair, who'd meant to mock Ye Chen, clamped their mouths shut under her scolding.
Zhang Ting pointed at the board. "Explain this problem."
Ye Chen glanced at the question.
The answer should be A.
Zhang Ting was stunned—he'd actually got it right.
She was sure he hadn't been listening.
Besides, she herself had stayed up half the night to crack it.
Yet Ye Chen had solved it at a glance.
Could it be luck?
No way; the problem was so tough she'd pondered it all night—how could he be that fast?
Zhang Ting pressed, "Explain your reasoning for choosing A."
Ye Chen said calmly, "It's actually simple."
"By Newton's Second Law, the answer is A."
Zhang Ting: "…"
Rest of the Class: "…"
Everyone knew Newton's Second Law applied—duh.
Wasn't that stating the obvious?
Zhang Ting's mouth twitched. "Elaborate."
"Since the wedge doesn't move, we can't use the friction formula we know; the given kinetic-friction coefficient is redundant. First judge that the block accelerates uniformly down the slope, then from kinematics…"
Once Ye Chen walked through it, the tricky question became crystal clear.
Many students, even the weaker ones, understood it right away.
Zhang Ting drew a deep breath.
No wonder he'd aced everything—pure genius.
"All right, sit. You may zone out, just don't disturb anyone else—got it?"
"Mm."
Ye Chen sat back down, rested his chin on his hand, and resumed watching Xia Yingluo.
The Class was speechless.
Seriously?
The notoriously strict Ms. Zhang just told Ye Chen he could day-dream in class?
Perks of being a Top Student, huh?