Chapter 34 Dark Horse

Small tests are commonplace in the math competition class. The results are calculated at the end of each month, and Class S and Class A are reshuffled according to the rankings.

Coincidentally, the results were released one day earlier than the regular monthly exams for the general department.

After class, Xu Jiqing was called to the office.

He shouted for a report and pushed the door open. A middle-aged man, holding a report card in one hand and a pencil in the other, waved at him kindly, "Come here."

There were originally a few teachers gathered there discussing, but as soon as Xu Jiqing showed up, the noises quieted down. Several teachers in the room turned their heads and their eyes were all focused on him.

"I really didn't expect this," Zhang Jianyuan said, his face flushed and he laughed out loud. "Xu Jiqing, are the questions Teacher Hu asked not difficult enough this time?"

Xu Jiqing stood in front of the table and said, "Not bad."

Also a man of few words.

Poor students are talkative, while top students are humble.

Zhang Jianyuan looked at him with a smile for a moment. "I'm often away during your weekly tests. This month's summary was supposed to be out last weekend, but no one sent it to me. I only saw it today after I came in. Xu Jiqing is amazing! Except for the first week when it took a while to adjust, you've been first in Class S on both the weekly and in-class tests since then."

"During the summer before, Mr. Hu took a train to Ontario and said he had opened a short-term rental near your home. He tried to persuade you for half a month. At the time, I thought it wasn't worth it. Now, I realize I was really shortsighted."

Since the competition class was set up in No. 1 Middle School, there are only a handful of students who have received such praise from Zhang Jianyuan.

But Xu Jiqing's face was calm, and he didn't show much joy at being flattered.

...and it's quite uncute.

It's harder than climbing to the sky to make this kid smile.

Zhang Jianyuan curled his lips and said, "Next month is the provincial competition for this year's mathematics league. I hope you can lead the team together with Jiang Zhihao, a senior student. Set an example and lead everyone through these weeks of high-intensity training so that we can achieve good results together."

His words were equivalent to directly offering a captain position of equal rank.

To reach this point, Jiang Zhihao had been climbing for almost three years, while Xu Jiqing's speed was comparable to that of a rocket, and it only took him three weeks.

The entire competition team was shocked.

Xu Jiqing only asked, "Is the contestant from Class S?"

"There should still be one or two spots available for Class A."

Zhang Jianyuan was unsure. He flipped through the folder to the bottom and turned to ask the other side of the partition, "Hey, Lao Hu, the registration materials are all with you. Can Li Rui, the top student in Class A, still go?"

Teacher Hu shook his head twice. "It would have worked in the past, but this year Class S is too crowded, so he can't go."

The extra dark horse is right in front of us and is in the limelight.

The other assistant coach next to him was hesitant to speak, and couldn't help but plead a few more words in Li Rui's favor, "It's a bit early to decide now. The roster will be announced at the end of the month. I don't think Li Rui will be unable to make the team."

"That's just what Old Hu said," Zhang Jianyuan put down his teacup, "There are still three weeks left. We'll see and discuss it then."

His favorite student was still standing there. He looked up and continued, "I've scheduled an extra practice session for you tonight. Every day, you'll collect the most difficult questions that you lost the most points on. You and Jiang Zhihao will take turns working on them, one day each."

"The students in Class A will also attend the lecture. The current classroom is a bit small. I have informed the school leaders. You can go to the empty multimedia classroom on the first floor. After the lecture, you can continue to practice the exercises there."

"I heard from Lin Lang that you like to go back to Teacher Ding's class for evening self-study, right? Try to overcome this this month."

Xu Jiqing paused after hearing the voice, and nodded after a moment, "Yeah."

There's no big news on campus.

As soon as the grade rankings were released, "Xu Jiqing from Class 4, Grade 2" became a hot topic again, lasting longer than the time when he became popular because of his looks.

Soon, it was rumored that this person was the top-ranked student in the Mathematical Competition S class, and was even more impressive than Jiang Zhihao, the senior who had made it to the provincial team last year.

Soon they even dug out his scores in each subject in the monthly exam, saying that Xu Jiqing ranked 26th in his class not because of his poor performance in certain subjects, but because of his hand injury, and he didn't write much in Chinese and English essays.

With the rise of several new hot topics, the recent rumors of self-harm and imprisonment were gradually forgotten and became a side gossip about top students.

The competition class is much less friendly.

When Zhang Jianyuan's new move came out, most people were not convinced by Xu Jiqing and preferred to follow Jiang Zhihao, whom they had known for a longer time.

Their small circle is closed, and there is an inexplicable hierarchy of seniority, which makes it seem like the workplace bullying in Korean dramas. Lin Lang has never been able to get in on it and is happy to see his new partner get promoted.

The next day, after returning from dinner, a group of young men in the house were moving downstairs. Lin Lang was at the end of the group and leaned on his shoulder, "Captain Xu."

Xu Jiqing frowned and dodged, "Don't call me that."

"Hey, let me have some fun," Lin Lang said with a playful smile. "Honestly, brother, just keep your momentum going and destroy those idiots in the provincial competition. We've been putting up with them for a year."

Xu Jiqing zipped up his schoolbag and closed the classroom door. "It's better to rely on yourself than on others."

"Damn, if only I had this ability, I wouldn't have been so frustrated until today."

Lin Lang took two quick steps, his hands in his pockets as he walked backwards, muttering in a low voice, "There are so many bad people. And there's Li Rui from Class A. His father is the school director, you know, he's so weird. He never gets into Class S in every exam, but always ranks first in Class A."

"He and I are in the same Mathematical Olympiad class. I heard that he spends over 100,000 yuan a year on private tutoring alone. 30% goes to the institution and 70% goes to our school's assistant coach. As long as he's the one who makes the test, I get the questions a day in advance. It's so shady."

Xu Jiqing asked, "How can you be so sure?"

"The assistant coach gave the last weekly test. The solution to the second question is wrong. I don't know how to do it. You'll lose all your marks for the entire test. That idiot Li Rui gave the exact same wrong answer and boasted about it for days."

The newly requisitioned classroom is at the end of the first floor.

With only a few steps left to the door, Lin Lang, for once serious, whispered a reminder, "Don't think these people are well-mannered just because they were in good order during yesterday's lecture. Let me warn you in advance: today, when Jiang Zhihao is replaced by you, it's definitely not like that."

"...Just don't get angry. No matter what they say before the game, stay calm. Don't make any mistakes and don't get physical. If they really go too far, I'll help you."

Xu Jiqing's expression remained unchanged, "I know what's going on."

Are you angry?

He learned from a very young age that shame and anger were the most useless things in the world.

Such intense emotions had long disappeared from him.

-

The bell for evening study rang, and the projector in front of the blackboard turned on. The real exam questions from the previous provincial competition were written in black and white, spread across the entire screen.

Xu Jiqing's hands are not convenient for writing on the blackboard.

He had marked the original questions before class, and as soon as he opened his mouth, people started whispering.

A few unfamiliar boys lay on the table without looking up, and their eyelids occasionally glanced at the podium.

"Who is Xu Jiqing? The competition class finished so early, and I recognize every face in the cafeteria, except him."

"You know shit, do geniuses need to eat? They can survive by drinking dew."

"One of your stir-fries is enough for him to eat at the poor student window for two weeks. It's a wonder he can even meet you. If you really want to meet him by chance, next time I'll send you the leftover meat scraps and it will be cooked immediately, believe it or not."

"Damn it, I'd rather fall down then, just in case he recognizes me as his father."

When he was halfway through explaining the question, a student from Class S in the back row raised his hand again and insisted that he write it again on the blackboard, claiming that he couldn't see the words on the screen clearly.

When Xu Jiqing turned around with the chalk in his hand, as soon as he wrote the first stroke of the letter, someone took a picture and the shutter sound was loud and shrill.

Mobile phones are not allowed in the competition class.

A group of boys pinched and enlarged the screen with their fingers, as if they had seen some rare wonder. They lowered their heads and laughed, passing the enlarged close-up of the body part back and forth.

"Look at those two fingers on his right hand. They're all deformed by the pressure on his palm. So disgusting..."

"Oh, I was wondering, no wonder the handwriting is so ugly and he has to use his left hand. It turns out that the little brother is not pretending, his right hand is disabled."

"Can you keep your voice down? Have you forgotten what happened to Brother Rui last time? People like him have criminal records. It's the same no matter how many times they go to jail. Be careful, I'll beat you up like the same person tonight."

Against the wall.

Li Rui remained calm and composed, while the boys around him all exclaimed "Oh".

"Is there any brother who knows, can someone like this who hasn't lost a finger get a disability certificate?"

"We have to do it even if we can't. We are so poor that we only have 3.5 yuan for a meal. How can we let go of a subsidy of several hundred yuan?"

Their voices were not loud, but their tone became increasingly fierce.

"...Fuck, what a bunch of idiots."

Someone couldn't hold it in any longer and cursed.

It was Lin Lang in the middle of the row.